The Daily Background

Calls for resignations didn’t stop after Secretary of the Army Franci Harvey resigned earlier this month over the Walter Reed scandal and Walter Reed head Gen Maj. George Weightman resigned as well. Today the third high-ranking official has announced he is stepping down.

Army Surgeon General Lt Gen Kevin Kiley, who testified before Congress submitted his resignation today over the scandal. Kiley, who had managed Walter Reed until 2004, resigned shortly after being temporarily being assigned to his old position after Weightman stepped down over the scandal. As such, Kiley’s resignation marks the second departure of a Walter Reed commander in days.

One wonders if Kiley will be given the same type of taxpayer-funded lavish farewell ceremony, complete with soldiers in revolutionary war costumes that the former Secretary of the Army received Friday.

At least one Republican congressman has said that resignations were not warranted over Walter Reed. Representative Phil Gingrey of Georgia last week expressed his surprise that there were resignations over the Walter Reed scandal, which he said was not so bad as people were making it out to be.

“I’ve heard some of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle suggest that specific heads should roll. I don’t know that… I was a little bit shocked, quite honestly, that the Secretary of the Army was relieved of his command and the commander at Walter Reed, General Weightmann was relieved of his command and a change has been made there,” Gingrey said last week.

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