Shinseki Resignation

SFC Benevidez - First, let me preference my comments with the following; I spent one year in Korea and two years in Vietnam. I was wounded three times and was awarded the Silver Star among my other decorations. So, a game plan? Here you go:

1. You come in as a former 4-star general with credibility and gravitas.

2. You announce that there are no sacred cows at the VA and that under the mission of 1st class care to our veterans, you are going to inspect the operation, take suggestions (in the blind to protect whistleblowers), and begin to improve the system over the next 12 months.

3. When you find (just like the IG was able to) the corruption, bureaucracy, slackers, liars, and inflated salary union workers taking advantage of the system (and indirectly our veterans), you write a detailed report to your immediate boss in the chain of command and copy in the Commander in Chief.

4. You gain an audience with those two and spell out that if you cannot change things to improve the system because of unions, negative inertia, bureaucracy, etc. that you will respectfully resign in protest (I'm thinking you either don't need the money, you can secure an even higher paying job in the private sector as a former 4-star, and that you are an honorable man).

5. Upon resigning, you submit your report to Congress, where all Hell would let loose (as it should when veterans are being mistreated), you testify when subpoenaed by Congress and let the chips fall where they may, you do what every honorable man should do when he sees an injustice - you stands tall, speak the truth (even if unpopular), and if need be, bares what you know about the incompetence and if need be, seek justice in the court of public opinion. Now what part of that game plan would an honorable man find a problem with?

Scapegoat for sure. I worked at the VA in the 90's and those issues about conflicts in the scheduling process has always gone on. Only now it has become a national issue. I have seen a lot issues that needs to be addressed but far to often it gets swept under the rug. Now the Director of the Phoenix rightfully should have been fired, however the Secretary that just stinks to high heaven, as he stated himself that he trusted what his subordinates relayed to him, however those career-status employees were only looking out for themselves and their own selfish desires (ie performance bonuses)

Scapegoat definitely, Obama even admitted political pressure forced him to accept the resignation.

Too bad its not a solution to problem at hand.

I feel that this situation is VERY similar to what happened at Malmstrom AFB earlier this year. GREAT Wing Commander (Base Commander), I feel was blind sided by senior leadership below him that were not doing what was right, passing off no info/poor info. They all got relieved and sent elsewhere. He resigned/lost his star.

In this case, the fault is in the SYSTEM. With that system, the leaders of each facility set their own standards and expectations to make them look good. He took the hit, now we will only have to wait and see how many get canned after him before they get back to business as usual....

I have been working behind the scenes helping to improve the system for our vets and their families. The VAMC I go to in Northport is for the most part at least as good as any civilian medical facility I have visited, and they care much more than the standard medical folks.

The VA has had corrupt practices embedded since at least WWI, when benefits were issued in the form of bonds that expired many years hence, and when the veterans went to DC to camp out on the mall, they were shot at by our otherwise legendary heroic leaders from WW2.

Secretary Shinseki overrode the Agent Orange mentality existing in the top medical ranks when he authorized the treatment for Gulf war Illnesses after a report specially commissioned by Congress was delivered in November, 2008, affirming the existence of GWI. Within a few months, both the DoD and VA medical gurus replied that they did not feel there was substantive proof, or words to that effect, and the Secretary fired right back and told them to pretend it exists and start treating everyone. That led to an even larger backlog of cases, and the introduction of bonuses to help process the cases backfired. The Secretary gave more credit to a number of folks than he should have, and they torpedoed him in the finest tradition of any longstanding REMF.

He has (had) somewhere close to 300,000 employees. By contrast, the Army has about 520,000 AD soldiers, with 240 some-odd generals. Without coming in with his own auditing team to do a forensic study on everyone in the VA, he took two years to listen to problems and develop strategies to make corrections based on the information given him. He made revolutionary changes in positive ways, and when purported solutions did not work he scrapped them to find new ones that would work.

When people use collusion to commit fraud they are hard to detect. This is a concern in every certified audit performed by CPA's. The fact that the Secretary made as many positive steps forward as he did is to me incredible, and he is Davy Crockett at the VA Alamo with election-year political agendas attacking him at every level. To their great shame, in my book.

I locked horns with the Secretary's office from time to time, but there was never any doubt that he ALWAYS had the best interests of the veterans at heart. The VA still has legions of problems, but there are fewer legions of them than there were when he came into power. When the lower ranks lie, cheat and steal and do it under cover of darkness, they are hard to spot - and for them to let him hang for their transgressions is morally depraved.

If the RP family has concerns that they want to air to the new Acting Secretary, please communicate them with me, and I would be happy to work with the RP creators to put a position paper together that will get to the new Secretary.

He is being used as a scapegoat. It is a political move. Personally, I think he is protecting the president by resigning. The press releases are just for show. I think there is much more going on than meets the public eye.

I do not think the Secretary resigning is going to change anything. The only thing this serves is to smooth out some political wrinkles that were caused by the scandal.

Until there is some accountability, nothing will change. This will slide into obscurity just like all the other scandals and be brushed aside when it surfaces in the future, as "That situation was taken care of."

Political posturing and BS.

He may have been a good leader. Somewhere along the way he might've disconnected from what was happening in the front lines of VA dilemmas. Should've played "undercover boss" card (for those who saw the series), maybe could've intercepted some of the tragedies. Nevertheless he decided to resign. I'm sure the VA will take good care of him

Many times a job assignment can be overwelming in all things under the sun. Against all odds of changing a system riddled with systemic issues and problematic waiting-in-lines, Shinseki gave it his best shot. IMO.

I believe that Shinseki tried to create change but the needs of the system and/or veterans was too great. I also believe that our country does not have the resource to create change and to appease all veterans with their specific issues.

Meeting all the needs of all veterans at this time in our country is not doable. We send our young men and women to war, we should be able to take care of them when they return home. This is a milestone...Shinseki's work will remain undone until we as a nation can come to our own senses; taking care of all veterans is not possible at the VA organizational level.

Veteran treatments must be honored in other health organizations that can help with open arms, hearts and resources.

One of our country's weakness stems from the isms affecting veteran health treatment, sustainment and a veteran's survivabiility. Health care organizations are about business casual and capitalistic values. We, as a nation have a long way to go in preserving the veteran experience.

My take... Shinseki did all he could, now it is up to the American people to pitch in for this great cause; taking care of the American Veteran.

Someone in Rally Point said, "If you do not want to take care of your veterans, then do not go to war." In truth, our USG was ..and is overwelmed with this issue and with the downsizing and sending military personnel home by the hundreds and thousands, these challenges will remain.

I foresee a Veteran March in DC in the near future. It happened before, post WWI veterans and with Vietnam veterans.

We all want to believe our subordinates when they tell us things are wonderful in their command, as the Regional Hospital Administrators told GEN Shinseki. But leaders have the obligation to check things. Especially things that look suspicious. The Administrators got bonuses for getting veterans their appointments within 14 days. GEN Shinseki should have known that there were not enough doctors and nurses to accomplish this goal. In other words, the goal was not attainable with the resources available, yet his subordinates were meeting the goals routinely and getting those lucrative bonuses. If he was unable to create a culture where bad news gets to the top and he did not have the wherewithal to get out to the filed to check himself, then he needed to go. I don't think he was a scapegoat as much as he was simply unsuccessful. He should have known his subordinates could not meet the unrealistic goals set for them without manipulating the data. I would like to think that he didn't lead that way when he was the CSA.

Now that General Shinseki is resigned, which I believe is by design, the Congress has to act by use of the purse. He has also opened the door to firings of top leaders and if we have Union members who are in on this. You to should go.