Although the library is available to all at Walter Reed, it is located at the Molonge House, which is an outpatient dorm for patients and their families. There is going to be a lot of stuff that the wives, children, and the small number of female soldiers there would find appealing.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the library is run by volunteers. As I understand it from the info the Molonge House front desk was willing to impart, the person in charge is named Barbara. Maybe her tastes influence the requests somewhat.

James

Re: the hellishness of military hospitals… my experience with them (well, one) is limited to the one at Ft. Knox when I was in basic training. I developed what was diagnosed as, IIRC, pneumonia. In any case I was hacking up green crap and lung bits and had a nasty fever. So they put me in the hospital where they zapped me with Gaia knows what sort and dosage of antibiotics, a decongestant that drained and mummified me, and put me in an ice cold shower every four hours (or so it seems). All that and the fear of having to repeat that Gaia-forsaken thing called Basic Training had me back on duty in 48 hours. A classic case of the cure being worse than the affliction. Of course that was many years ago and they’ve probably become kinder and gentler since then.

While in the service a comrade was involved in a bad auto wreck and was sliced up pretty badly. He was in a German hospital for a while (until he could be transferred to an Army one) and the most memorable part of it – especially for him – were the flies climbing all over him; he found that to be miserable. They had completely open windows, no screens.

When Euros come to visit they always remark about the “nets” on my windows. I wonder if they even use “nets” yet on their hospital windows.

Oh well, off to Amazon.

My son-in-law was injured in training and had to spend a few months in rehab. For some bizarre reason, they didn’t let him do anything but play video games. He wasn’t even allowed access to the textbooks he needed to study for his specialization. Apparently, they structured the system to deter malingerers but for individuals who wanted to recover and get back to duty and their careers it was a hellish experience akin to being in prison.

His experience might have been particularly bad because shortly after he left the hospital got reorganized top to bottom but historically military hospitals are unpleasant and resource starved placed.