If you were offered a one-on-one with the Newly Elected POTUS, what would you try to change about the military?

Very good question COL Mikel J. Burroughs. I would let the POTUS know that believers throughout this nation are praying for wisdom for him/her.
1st I would ask the POTUS to pray for wisdom as he/she establishes the cabinet and staff.
2nd I would encourage the President to pick civilian overseers of the DoD and military services who respect and honor the military and hopefully that many would have served in the military or their spouses did.
3rd I would tell the President that the POTUS needs to have honest military leaders who are not yes ,men or women and that he should seek good counsel early in the decision process.
4th I would encourage teh POTUS to treat all citizens with respect and not to pander to particular groups. That would include comparable pay raises for military and civil servants throughout the administration term in office.
5th. I would encourage the President to streamline the healthcare process in the military medical system, the indian affairs hospital system and in the VA medical system. These systems should be distinct and never lumped together for easy budget cutting.

It is hard to say since I am one of those nut jobs that thinks the POTUS should have served in the military. I think you need to know first had what you are sending the brave men and women of our military into. If you have seen or felt the lose many have you might not be so quick to go to war. And I mean the real military not the ones who took a press secretary with them to Vietnam. P.S. When you do open the can of whoop ass it is not to be the police of the country. Just my two cents.

It would take congress to fix, but I would like to see concurrent receipt over turned so that retirement and VA compensation goes to those who need it vice this Rube Goldberg, pay you and take it back and taxable vs non taxable fend shui that takes a CPA to figure out.

I would also want an external validation of where the VA puts facilities. There are over 100,000 veterans in Colorado Springs and they build a VA Hospital out in the plains in Aurora. I am sure there are hundreds of other examples.

Do we need a VA to do treatment? Can't we pass that to private health care and allow them to write it off their taxes. We are talking .5% of the population. Use the VA as an Ombudsman to ensure private healthcare is providing the requisite treatment on a punitive basis.

I would try and instill the virtue of fighting declared wars. We are hopelessly decoupled from the American People. Declaring a war through Congress closes all the political escape routes. You are either in or out and need to be accountable later on, vice blaming a President, a SECDEF, or a Strategy (or lack there of). Resolve is the largest strategic enabler. People need to understand we are going to break stuff and kill people. Calling something what it is, is a start:war.

Again, Congressional, sequestration has to go. It goes back to resolve. Are we going to resource services or not? Senior leaders can then prioritize over the long term, vice guessing about the future.

Until we get fusion to happen at room temperature in something the size of a beer cooler and get composite armor the same weight per volume as balsa wood, the Army will need equipment that is big, heavy, and lethal to dominate and deter enemies. They will need other stuff that is fast and light to pop out of nowhere, knock somebody out and disappear. We will need great Americans to be ready to serve. The Air Force needs to be redirected to pay attention to the specks on the ground and their requirements like intra theater lift and close air support or stop fighting the Army for those assets and let them do it. The Army will have stuff that is big and heavy - get it there and sustain it as required. The world is 78% water, but 100% of people live on the green and brown parts. War is about people yielding to our will. The Navy impacts the daily life of people in that they help secure the global commons, allowing trade. Those costs to security, loss and risk are passed to consumers. We need enough Navy to do that, support the Army and Marines, defend themselves in brown-green-blue environs, and compliment Air Force capabilities. All of this is predicated on fighting "away games" so we don't have a 7th game final showdown at home. All of that is sustained at a cost that makes it effective and only selectively efficient. Embrace it and move on.you have to pay to play.

Connection to the people we serve is a mix of being a representative sample of who we serve and presence across the spectrum of those we serve. The regional mega base concept needs to go. As the number of congressional districts we are in decreases, there goes our leverage to operate, be supported, and be resourced. Rockaway NJ, Clarksville TN, and Oakgrove KY are great examples of connection and support. We need a tended and positive connection to those we serve. Connection will engender better support and desire to serve. Focus on away games will also demand OCONUS bases and presence

The Nation State system is our best shot at international peace and stability. Compelling nations to control their borders and security is best for all. Allowing lawlessness and havens for terrorists, Pirates, cyber criminals, etc degrades peace, stability and commerce. They should be hunted and killed. Borders need to be controlled (doesn't mean a wall or a moat, everyone calm down, it is a measure of governance) We need a foreign policy that drives that. Transnational bad actors destabilize.

We need domestic policy to return manufacturing and capital investment to the U.S. Belief in purely services, lack of vocational training, and everyone goes to college isbhurtingbthe nation. We need a mix of thinkers, builders, spear carriers, and doers to make this all work. They need an environment that supports that. We also need a strategic industrial capacity study to ensure we can mobilize to protect the nation and honor our international commitments. I think we will find we may no longer be the Arsenal of Democracy.

We need to decrease the width in the partisan aisle in congress. We are getting nothing done as people are busy polarizing, being offended, tending pet projects, and generally not serving America. Much of our time is dominated by non issues. Against abortion? Don't get one. Against guns? Don't get one. Against Gay marriage? Don't marry a gay guy then. There, we fixed it. Let's get on with governing the nation.

We have a populous who generally can't pass a urinalysis to get a CDL, serve in public trust, operate a bulldozer, nor defend the nation. If they could pass, they are either unable physically, morally, or mentally to do so. We have a national problem.