Early this year, The Washington Post exposed shockingly substandard treatment for wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center's outpatient facilities. Follow-up investigations soon turned up evidence that problems extended beyond shabby conditions at the military's top-drawer hospital. On the battlefield, military surgeons are saving many more lives than ever before. But once they return home, men and women recovering from sometimes devastating war injuries confront a red-tape jungle of laws and regulations. Moreover, many wait months for treatment or benefits, and some even have had reenlistment bonuses withheld after wounds forced them out of active service. A history of disgraceful treatment of veterans of past wars, including the Vietnam conflict, looms over the issue. Amid the present uproar, a presidential panel on military and veterans' health care has called for far-reaching changes, but some critics say changes need to go deeper if the country is to live up to its promises to its troops.

Peter Katel is a CQ Researcher contributing writer who previously reported on Haiti and Latin America for Time and Newsweek and covered the Southwest for newspapers in New Mexico. He has received several journalism awards, including the Bartolomé Mitre Award for drug coverage from the Inter-American Press Association and awards for investigative and interpretive reporting from the New Mexico Press Association. He holds an A.B. in university studies from the University of New Mexico.