A federal commission voted Thursday to close the crown jewel of Army hospitals as it began its second day of decision-making on sweeping plans to restructure U.S. military bases.
Located in the nation's capital, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington has treated presidents and foreign leaders as well as veterans and soldiers, including those returning from the Iraq war.
The realignment is expected to affect 1,300 people.
Under the Pentagon plan, the hospital's staff and services would move from Walter Reed's historic main post to the National Naval Medical Center in nearby Bethesda, Md., to create an expanded facility, as well as a regional hospital at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
The Pentagon calls this "jointness" -- the services combining their strengths rather than working separately. Walter Reed's care is considered first-rate but the facility is showing its age, the commission found.
"Kids coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, all of them in harm's way, deserve to come back to 21st-century medical care," Commission Chairman Anthony Principi said Thursday, adding that the hospital is old. "It needs to be modernized."
One-time costs, including construction and renovations, would total $989 million. The Pentagon would save $301 million over 20 years, the commission said. The expanded facility would be renamed Walter Reed. The current hospital has about 185 beds, but the expanded facility would have 340.
