Westfield - For the first time, top Army brass are answering disturbing questions about neglect surrounding the death of an Indiana National Guardsman.

Sergeant Gerald Cassidy, of Westfield, died in September at a Fort Knox, Kentucky medical facility. The army now says it failed this soldier. Sgt. Cassidy's mother agrees.

Just weeks after her soldier son's death, Kay McMullen said she knew the troubling truth. "The Army's lack of care and lack of medical treatment killed my son."

Sgt. Gerald "GJ" Cassidy, injured in Iraq, was in the Wounded Warrior Transition program. He never got the requested transfer to specialized doctors in Westfield. He died at Fort Knox after being left alone for days with a brain injury.

On Capitol Hill Thursday, Senator Evan Bayh pressed military leaders about Cassidy's care.

"The enemy could not kill him, but our own government did," Bayh said.

Pete Geren, the Secretary of the Army called it "unacceptable." Geren said Cassidy's death was isolated, and that Fort Knox was understaffed, even though the military boasted at the time, it had help for wounded vets.

"That doesn't appear to have happened here. It failed," Geren said.

Kay McMullen said that admission doesn't offer much vindication.

"The Army admitted that they were essentially in the wrong only because Evan Bayh pinned their ears to the wall. To suffer the pain that we are, the unbearable pain that we are all suffering, just them admitting they killed him doesn't bring him back," McMullen said.

The Army since fired three of Sgt. Cassidy's immediate superiors. It also guaranteed transition units will be fully staffed by the end of the year. When Senator Bayh asked if this kind of thing would happen again, Geren said "I can assure you we hold nothing closer to our heart than our commitment to that very principle."

That's what Cassidy's mother fought for, so no other soldier loses a similar battle here at home.

"That's the sad thing, that it took our son's death to make these changes happen. And had they done their job correctly, he would still be with all of us," McMullen said.

On Capitol Hill, military leaders promised systematic changes in medical care. The Army continues to investigate Sgt. Cassidy's death. His family is awaiting those results, as well as final autopsy results on their soldier.

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