After visiting victims, SecNav Ray Mabus decries ‘horrific blow’
Saying the service had suffered a “horrific blow,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus on Monday vowed Navy personnel would rally as a family from the attack at one of the Navy’s oldest and most storied bases.
Addressing reporters at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, where three of the Navy Yard shooting victims were being treated, Mr. Mabus announced that he had immediately conferred “designee status” on injured personnel, allowing the wounded civilian employees access to medical and dental care from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and other military medical facilities.
He added he did not expect anyone would need medical treatment beyond what the city’s local hospitals could provide. Counseling for the wounded and those who survived the attack was also being provided.
“The Navy family today suffered a horrific attack — and we are a family,” he said. “The civilians that work in the Navy and do the critical work that has to be done suffered just a stunning and horrific blow today.”
Washington Times
9/16/13
Magnolia Tribune
