Open Letter to the Veterans Affairs Department<\/p>\n
Honorable Robert Wilkie, Secretary\r\nUS Department of Veterans Affairs\r\n810 Vermont Ave\r\nWashington, DC\u00a0 20420<\/pre>\nNovember 29, 2018<\/p>\n
Secretary Wilkie:<\/p>\n
The news just broke, that you shorted a bunch of veterans\u2019 newly legislated educational benefits, finances that those veterans depended on to cover their costs.\u00a0 And now, we are told you are unable to \u201cfix\u201d those mistakes, because if you do, you have to audit the entire program.\u00a0 Auditing the program will slow benefits to future veterans, so rather than make your first mistake right, you\u2019re going to leave the veterans who were shorted, short.<\/p>\n
We are also told that you are unable to implement a new program, the \u201cForever GI Bill,\u201d supposed to go into effect this year.\u00a0 You are saying that you can\u2019t do this until December of 2019.<\/p>\n
This is from the same agency that seems unable to fix their medical programs, leaving veterans in long lines waiting for treatment.<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s some suggestions on what you can do.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m no IT guy, but I can give you a possible fix for your educational benefit screw-up.\u00a0 It\u2019s called mirror programs.\u00a0 Take the computer program that you have to audit, mirror it onto another system, then hire some people to go and audit and fix the mistakes.\u00a0 This way you can go on with the new applicants, without leaving the others hanging out to dry.\u00a0 Yes, it will cost money, and time, and personnel.\u00a0 Looks like you don\u2019t have the folks to deal with it, so you\u2019ll need to find some more. I know that doesn\u2019t fit the President\u2019s \u201csmall government\u201d goals, but this is for our veterans.<\/p>\n
I guess the same goes for the new program that you somehow can\u2019t figure out.\u00a0 I know we have people in the US government who have the knowledge and skills to build the program you need \u2013 and it shouldn\u2019t take more than two years to do it.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to find \u201ccontractors\u201d to suck up all of the funds, you should search the government for the skills you need.\u00a0 There are folks available who want to help our warfighters, especially those who sacrificed their well-being for our country.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t just \u201csome program,\u201d this deserves \u201cemergency action\u201d to get it going.<\/p>\n
You have an awesome responsibility:\u00a0 caring for those who made the sacrifice of serving their nation.\u00a0 We know the transition from military service to civilian life is tough — what the Hell is wrong with you that you would jerk these folks around.\u00a0\u201cHere\u2019s the money for your classes \u2013 oops we don\u2019t have it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Unless, this is some great \u201cplot to prove\u201d the VA is ridiculously incompetent.\u00a0 If that\u2019s what you want to do, you\u2019re doing a great job!!!!!\u00a0 The \u201cplot\u201d goes like this:\u00a0 let\u2019s be completely incompetent, unable to do what we\u2019re supposed to do, and the case for privatizing the VA is strengthened.\u00a0We\u2019ll follow the Conservative-Right-Republican agenda of giving the VA services over to the private sector.\u00a0Just a bet (I don\u2019t know for sure) but I bet you\u2019ve already done that with your computer services, the very thing that\u2019s screwing up.<\/p>\n
You know, this country is already pretty divided.\u00a0 Right and Left, Trump and Anti-Trump, urban and rural.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t a whole lot we all agree on.\u00a0 But taking care of veterans is one on them.\u00a0 After seventeen years fighting a war in Afghanistan, and with our young men and women in Syria, and Korea, and spread throughout the world; there\u2019s lots of arguments about our policy.\u00a0 But there\u2019s no argument about our need to take care of the vets.<\/p>\n
So get it together.\u00a0Failure, especially failing the vets, is not an option.\u00a0 Turning this over to someone to make a profit shouldn\u2019t be an option either.\u00a0 Get the people together, spend some money to do it and do what Americans do when it\u2019s crunch time.\u00a0 Get this done, fix the problem; no political agenda, no point to make, except making things right for those who have sacrificed for us.\u00a0 It the most important problem, and the least we can do.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n