President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrived at Walter Reed medical center in Maryland to visit U.S. service members who have been wounded.
The White House announced the president and first lady visited Walter Reed on Thursday night. It has not been made clear which service members are being visited by the Bidens.
President Biden and @FLOTUS arrive Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to visit wounded warriors pic.twitter.com/0oujYRwS39
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) September 3, 2021
Fifteen service members who were wounded during an attack just outside an airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, are reportedly being treated at Walter Reed.
President Biden and the first lady are at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to visit wounded warriors, the a White House says. It’s where 15 service members who were injured during last week’s ISIS-K suicide attack in Afghanistan are being treated. pic.twitter.com/1tuNBLeLwY
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) September 2, 2021
According to Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Jim Stenger, out of the 15 service members, “One is in critical condition, three are in serious condition and 11 are in stable condition.”
The Bidens’ visit comes just days after they attended the “dignified transfer” of 13 service members who lost their lives in the attack.
Joe Biden received significant criticism from families of some of the service members, as IJR reported. Mark Schmitz, the father of Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, said it did not seem “appropriate” that Biden spent so much time talking about his son.
“I think it was all him trying to say he understands grief. But when you’re the one responsible for ultimately the way things went down, you kind of feel like that person should own it a little bit more. Our son is now gone. Because of a direct decision or game plan — or lack thereof — that he put in place,” Schmitz said.
Roice McCollum, the sister of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, told The Washington Post, “My dad and I did not want to speak to him. You cannot kneel on our flag and pretend you care about our troops. You can’t f*** up as bad as he did and say you’re sorry.”
She added, “This did not need to happen, and every life is on his hands. The thousands of Afghans who will suffer and be tortured is a direct result of his incompetence.”