At a time when politicians of every stripe are falling all over themselves to show support for the troops, the conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center Building 18 is a repudiation of all of their self-serving blather. Here, sick troops coexist with vermin, cockroaches and mold. Paperwork is often lost. Troops get the runaround when they ask about the status of their disability claims.

When the Washington Post shone a light on the deplorable conditions at the facility in a recent investigative series, the rush to fix things began almost immediately. "The senior Army leadership takes full responsibility for the lack of quality of life at Building 18, and we're going to fix it," said Gen. Richard Cody, the Army vice chief of staff.

While the Pentagon belatedly gives these troops the care they deserve, it also must find and eliminate the underlying causes.

In Building 18, too many of 700 physically and mentally wounded outpatients have languished for months, even years, while the Army decides their fate. What a shabby, shameful welcome home for men and women who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Walter Reed, the country's top military hospital, still delivers state-of-the-art medical care. Yet its outpatients' program is in shambles because of a bumbling bureaucracy and the unremitting demands of 5Z\x years of treating a steady stream of soldiers and Marines injured in Afghanistan and Iraq.

While some troops await treatment, others wait for a decision on whether their disabilities are war related. If so, there is extra pay. If not, they are returned to duty or discharged.

Many have been stuck in this limbo without help or guidance to navigate the bureaucracy. Some are on medications that affect their mental capacity. Others are amputees struggling to rebuild their lives.

In addition to the ineptitude, there is a more-appalling reason these soldiers are languishing. According to Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, commander at Walter Reed, a major reason outpatients stay so long "is that the Army wants to be able to hang on to as many soldiers as it can, 'because this is the first time this country has fought a war for so long with an all-volunteer force since the Revolution.' "

Putting these soldiers' lives on hold because the Army is stretched thin is an outrage.

The plight of Reserve and National Guard members is especially poignant. The older Reservists and Guards, disabled or suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, worry about returning to civilian life and whether they will be able to work again. Some of their spouses have quit jobs to care for them, and their income is vastly reduced.

These soldiers fall through bureaucratic cracks that must be sealed — for them and all of those who follow.