FORT HOOD - Nearly two years have passed since a scandal that spotlighted the inadequate care of troops recuperating at the U.S. Army’s Walter Reed Hospital led to the creation of the Warrior Transition Unit and the Wounded Warrior program. Because of that, soldiers are receiving better care.

Spc. Donald Sohler, 20, who served with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Iraq, was in theater for six weeks when he was wounded.

Sohler, who is in a wheelchair, was shot in his left arm and left leg on Dec. 26, 2007, while he was on patrol.

Since his injury, Sohler said he has received excellent care.

“My platoon sergeant and squad leader worked very well taking care of me and made sure I had the stuff I needed,” Sohler said.

He’d hoped to make the Army his career, but a medical evaluation board may have the final say in what road he ultimately takes.

“I’d hoped to stay in for 20 years,” he said. “I am not even thinking about getting out right now.”

Although the transition units often care for soldiers who have a chronic illness or who’ve sustained an injury from training or an accident, it is soldiers like Sohler, who’ve been wounded in action, that the unit was actually created to serve.

Since its creation, the transition unit population Army-wide has doubled from 6,000 troops in July 2007 to its current population of 12,000 wounded soldiers, which equates to about 900 additions per month.

Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek, the Army’s assistant surgeon general for warrior care and transition, said commanders of the transition units are doing a tremendous job of managing the increasing levels of wounded soldiers but changes could be on the horizon.

“We have several things that we are trying to look at and probably the most important thing that we have been asked to do ... is to make sure that we can develop an enduring program for warriors in transition,” Cheek said.

Part of that involves recruiting officers and non-commissioned officers, physicians and nurse case managers to look after the wounded and ensure their needs are being met.

Of the Army’s 35 Warrior Transition Units, Fort Hood’s has the largest contingent of wounded or injured soldiers with more than 1,200 assigned to the unit.

That number is expected to grow to 2,000 by the start of 2009.

To meet those needs and the expected growth, the transition unit is hosting a hiring fair today in Round Rock at the Austin Marriott North Hotel in located at 2600 La Frontera Blvd.

The medical center has positions for nurse case managers, physicians, social workers, occupational therapists, pharmacists, behavioral health clinician and many others.

“For positions directly related to medical care, Fort Hood representatives have ‘direct hire authority’ that allows us to make on-the-spot job offers to qualified candidates,” said Alex Shahan, chief of Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center’s Human Resources Liaison Office. “It gives us the ability to hire candidates directly without following traditional procedures. Competitive pay and a great benefits package are definitely selling points, but the No. 1 selling point is the fact that we are a military medical center, here to support those who defend and protect our country day in and day out. This is the greatest reward for a civil service position.”