Posted on Aug 28, 2015
SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S.
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Ben Carson: ‘We Don’t Need A Department Of Veterans Affairs’. Do you agree?

Ben Carson stated that, “We don’t need a Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Affairs should be folded in under the Department of Defense” in order to reduce the size of the government.

Carson, appearing on the “Dave Ramsey Show” Wednesday, stated there needs to be a support system for soldiers that should assist “a year before their time of discharge to be working on their integration back into society. There shouldn’t be a period of unemployment when they come out of the military.”

Ben Carson: The other thing that has to be done, is the size of the government has to be reduced significantly. There’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing that doesn’t make any sense. We have a Department of Veterans Affairs. We don’t need a Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Affairs should be folded in under the Department of Defense. And it should be a smooth transition. We need to be looking at the way we take care of soldiers. You know, 14% down recruitment for our volunteer army right now. Why, because they are looking at what we are doing to our veterans. When a person applies for the military, they should be in a support system immediately from day one. Particularly when they go through combat because that is when all the trauma is occurring. And we should have people in place a year before their time of discharge to be working on their integration back into society. There shouldn’t be a period of unemployment when they come out of the military. And they should have a health savings account which allows them to go to any medical facility in the country and we should be delighted to take care of them. And we should use our VA facilities for specialized care for traumatic brain injury, limb replacements, and research.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/08/26/ben-carson-we-dont-need-a-department-of-veterans-affairs/#ixzz3k7F3OCiO
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SGM Erik Marquez
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Edited >1 y ago
Lets take the WHOLE of his statements, not cherry pick one line.
he NEVER said we do not need to take care of our vets.. Just that the VA administration is poor, and we can do better. His opinion that it should be folded into the DOD has valid points, but so do those that point out what a quagmire getting anything done in the DOD can be.
"We need to be looking at the way we take care of soldiers,"

"They are looking at what we are doing to our veterans," he told Ramsey. "When a person applies for the military, they should be in a support system immediately from day one. Particularly when they go through combat, because that is when all the trauma is occurring.

"And we should have people in place a year before their time of discharge to be working on their integration back into society. There shouldn’t be a period of unemployment when they come out of the military."
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Cpl Software Engineer
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>1 y
Exactly, SGM Erik Marquez! I despise the lefts' attempts to derail anyone without context.
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LCpl Christopher McCrady
LCpl Christopher McCrady
>1 y
Always check to see if there's more to the story. I like the idea.
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Capt Seid Waddell
Capt Seid Waddell
>1 y
SGM Erik Marquez, he also said "And they should have a health savings account which allows them to go to any medical facility in the country and we should be delighted to take care of them."

That would certainly eliminate the waiting lists that the VA has now.

His comments seem good to me.
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WO1 Satellite Communication Systems Operator/Maintainer
WO1 (Join to see)
>1 y
It seems like any program could be better than the one that exists now. It's definitely a hot topic.
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COL Mikel J. Burroughs
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SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. I totally disagree. I think they would lose sight of the funding they get now. It needs to remain separate because of the vast number of veterans we have today and those we will have in the future. Veterans are living longer, so that number will not go down. I believe there are more wars yet to be fought in the future as well. We need to fix the VA we currently have, we need to employ and train veterans to run it, we need to hire senior leadership from the retired veterans ranks to build a much stronger leadership base. There should be no compromise or fighting in Congress between any party for supporting, funding, and recommending change for the VA going forward. We need to make sure we are hiring and recruiting the best and brightest medical personnel for the VA as well.
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COL Mikel J. Burroughs
COL Mikel J. Burroughs
>1 y
Sgt Sabrina Williams Nicely stated - totally agree
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CPL Jason Simpson
CPL Jason Simpson
>1 y
Sgt Sabrina Williams - I agree totally! one of them told me " I could go away and Die for all they care" when I was trying to get my Disability paperwork done put in for! I haven't been back since and that was probably in the late 1990`s it has been so long I can`t even remember, It was very upsetting to me to be treated like that from someone who probably didn`t even serve!.
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Sgt Sabrina Williams
Sgt Sabrina Williams
>1 y
CPL Jason Simpson - They wouldn't even have a job if it wasn't for veterans. I go off on them in a heartbeat. I've had people tell me you don't look sick to me. I tell them but you do look stupid. You can't tell me jack. We are the reason why you have the freedoms that you have today. To bad doctors can't fix stupid.
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TSgt Sandra Scott
TSgt Sandra Scott
>1 y
Now tell how you feel about this: I work with someone who went to the Army because his family members that work at the VA told him that he just needed to serve the minimum amount of time and be sure that he lived at sick call so that when he got out he could file for VA disability and get at least 30 percent, which is his door into government jobs. This was before he knew I was a veteran that retired. He really has no experience, but the nepotism here is so rampant he doesn't need any. I completed 20 years as Personnel/Admin, but can't qualify for an HR position here. But I can qualify at other government agencies at higher GS grades, go figure. They need to get rid of the dead weight, people that have worked here 20 to 45 years, and tell management what they won't do even though it is in their position description. Just imagine, an airman telling the Chief, "I'm not doing that, you got me twisted". It is so much that I can throw out about the treatment of VETS here. But it would be a book. And all the mismanagement.
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SFC David Davenport
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I don't have an issue with the VA being rolled under the DoD. The bigger issue is the inefficiency of the VA and the inability of the VA to remove an employee that does not want to leave. During my break in service I worked at a VA for over a year witnessed this tragedy first hand. I will say for the record the majority of the people working at the VA are good people who want to help veterans.
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SGM Steve Wettstein
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Maj Lessie Bear Claw
Maj Lessie Bear Claw
5 y
The problem of removal of ineffective employees is not a VA problem, but a OPM problem. It’s an issue with all federal agencies.
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