WEBVTT 00:00:04.969 --> 00:00:08.789 All across America and around the world, this 00:00:08.789 --> 00:00:15.310 is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And 00:00:15.310 --> 00:00:19.370 now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 00:00:24.769 --> 00:00:26.929 Good afternoon, American. Welcome to Veterans 00:00:26.929 --> 00:00:29.449 Radio. My name is Dale Throneberry, and I have 00:00:29.449 --> 00:00:31.469 the privilege and honor of talking to you today 00:00:31.469 --> 00:00:34.270 about veterans. Everything Veteran. We've got 00:00:34.270 --> 00:00:36.250 a great program lined up. We're going to be talking 00:00:36.250 --> 00:00:39.270 about a new organization that is in the Detroit 00:00:39.270 --> 00:00:41.409 area that has to do with Major League Baseball. 00:00:41.929 --> 00:00:44.350 And we've got some news for you. And then in 00:00:44.350 --> 00:00:46.689 the second half of the program, we've got the 00:00:46.689 --> 00:00:50.909 former Under Secretary of the VA who's going 00:00:50.909 --> 00:00:53.310 to be talking about the changes that have occurred 00:00:53.310 --> 00:00:57.070 at the VA over the last five years. If you'll 00:00:57.070 --> 00:00:59.350 remember when we were, we've been covering this 00:00:59.350 --> 00:01:02.719 story for. 12 years now already, is that the 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:06.799 backup at the VA was up to over 600 ,000 veterans 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:09.379 trying to get benefits and so on and so forth. 00:01:09.859 --> 00:01:14.040 And because of our guest, I think a lot has to 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:17.780 do with our guest. And this is a retired brigadier 00:01:17.780 --> 00:01:21.099 general, Allison Hickey, kind of streamlined 00:01:21.099 --> 00:01:23.480 the VA and finally brought in some magic technology. 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:25.799 So you got to stay tuned for that. That's an 00:01:25.799 --> 00:01:28.540 interview that I did with Jim Falzone and General 00:01:28.540 --> 00:01:31.340 last week. So that's pretty exciting stuff. So 00:01:31.340 --> 00:01:33.760 we're very excited to talk about that with you 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:36.019 and all the other things that are going on. We've 00:01:36.019 --> 00:01:37.799 got some events that are happening in the local 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:40.939 area and we've got just many, many things to 00:01:40.939 --> 00:01:43.599 talk about with you. So I'm anxious for that. 00:01:43.659 --> 00:01:45.480 If you wanted to get in on the conversation, 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:48.040 you can always give us a call here at Veterans 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:54.819 Radio at 734 -822 -1600. We are coming to you 00:01:54.819 --> 00:01:59.579 from the studios of WAAM. Chalk Radio, 1600 A 00:01:59.579 --> 00:02:01.560 .M. in beautiful Ann Arbor, Michigan. The sun 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:05.859 is out, the snow is melting again. And so we're 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:07.560 going to be talking right now with the baseball 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:11.979 season coming up. And one of our favorite players 00:02:11.979 --> 00:02:14.199 is Justin Berlandert. No, Justin couldn't make 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:16.120 it. He's got to play baseball starting this week. 00:02:16.460 --> 00:02:18.560 But he did start an organization called Wins 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:21.180 for Warriors Foundation. And joining me right 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:25.849 now on the line is the CEO and Big cheese over 00:02:25.849 --> 00:02:27.610 there at the Wins for Warriors and that's Sandy 00:02:27.610 --> 00:02:30.750 Hudson. Sandy, welcome to Veterans Radio. Thanks 00:02:30.750 --> 00:02:33.490 Dale. Glad to be with you. I'm very happy to 00:02:33.490 --> 00:02:36.810 have you with us as well. Here in the Detroit 00:02:36.810 --> 00:02:40.870 area, hope springs eternal as we always say for 00:02:40.870 --> 00:02:42.930 all of our sports teams and we're hoping again 00:02:42.930 --> 00:02:46.229 that this year the Tigers will finally get to 00:02:46.229 --> 00:02:49.810 the World Series and win this one for us. We've 00:02:49.810 --> 00:02:53.050 been very patient. They've got a real shot this 00:02:53.050 --> 00:02:56.729 year, and from Justin's perspective, the team 00:02:56.729 --> 00:03:00.430 is complete in terms of pitching and hitting, 00:03:00.669 --> 00:03:02.909 and so I really look forward to the season as 00:03:02.909 --> 00:03:04.590 well. I do too. I think it's going to be very 00:03:04.590 --> 00:03:08.270 exciting, but almost as exciting as Justin Verlander's 00:03:08.270 --> 00:03:10.129 wins for Warriors Foundation. Can you tell our 00:03:10.129 --> 00:03:13.250 audience about that, please? Sure can. Justin 00:03:13.250 --> 00:03:15.129 launched this initiative about two and a half 00:03:15.129 --> 00:03:19.250 years ago. He wanted to give back and he has 00:03:19.250 --> 00:03:23.770 two grandfathers that were veterans and did service 00:03:23.770 --> 00:03:27.069 and he wanted to do something but he just didn't 00:03:27.069 --> 00:03:29.050 want to do something just for veterans. So what 00:03:29.050 --> 00:03:32.830 he did is he really focused his efforts around 00:03:32.830 --> 00:03:37.090 the hidden killer of PTSD and traumatic brain 00:03:37.090 --> 00:03:41.069 injuries. So when he launched it with a commitment 00:03:41.069 --> 00:03:44.289 two years ago with a million dollars, he really 00:03:44.289 --> 00:03:49.360 focused some giving around some top -notch national 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:52.659 organizations, such as Give an Hour, the Michigan 00:03:52.659 --> 00:03:55.879 Continues, even some of our grant dollars went 00:03:55.879 --> 00:03:58.719 to Ann Arbor, to the University of Michigan's 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:01.300 discretion center, where they have a MSPAN program 00:04:01.300 --> 00:04:04.259 that supports veterans and the families on weekend 00:04:04.259 --> 00:04:07.800 retreats, all in the effort to help to diminish 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:10.099 the effects of transition back into civilian 00:04:10.099 --> 00:04:15.800 life and and the effects of PTSD and traumatic 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:19.379 brain injury. It wasn't until about last year 00:04:19.379 --> 00:04:24.139 when we launched an event called the 9K, which 00:04:24.139 --> 00:04:27.420 was a road race, that he realized that he really 00:04:27.420 --> 00:04:32.980 wanted to raise some serious money from his efforts 00:04:32.980 --> 00:04:35.040 as well as others that wanted to be a part of 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:38.800 it. And so that's when he decided to form a foundation. 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:44.360 that public charity 501c3 that could certainly 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:47.459 allow for him to continue his efforts but get 00:04:47.459 --> 00:04:49.680 others engaged as well including other celebrity 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:54.439 athletes. So he is really set out to make a difference 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:58.579 with not only the issues of mental health in 00:04:58.579 --> 00:05:02.899 veterans but also as the foundation's mission 00:05:02.899 --> 00:05:05.879 states to really advocate for and invest in resources 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:09.360 that enable veterans and their families to live 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:12.240 resilient lives. And so it's very positive. It's 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:15.079 very, you know, leveraging all of the great things 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:19.139 that veterans have going for them, but also to 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:23.120 help to make those great things better. So go 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:25.379 ahead. No, I was just going to say it's a great 00:05:25.379 --> 00:05:28.060 organization and we've talked with people from 00:05:28.060 --> 00:05:31.060 Give an Hour here in the local area or in the 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:34.540 state of Michigan. And it looks like it's probably 00:05:34.540 --> 00:05:36.639 the similar thing around the country where they 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:39.680 donate time. These are psychiatrists and psychologists 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:44.240 who donate an hour a week to talk with veterans 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:47.139 and to help them through their, I guess, their 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:49.079 recovery hopefully from their post -traumatic 00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:52.319 stress or their traumatic brain injury and many 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:54.579 of the other things. And in fact, we just a couple 00:05:54.579 --> 00:05:58.019 of months ago, I had a chance to meet Justin 00:05:58.019 --> 00:06:01.939 up at the Ann Arbor VA Hospital where they They 00:06:01.939 --> 00:06:04.379 donated a new waiting area up in the, I think 00:06:04.379 --> 00:06:07.399 it was the physical rehabilitation wing. Yep. 00:06:08.060 --> 00:06:09.839 And that was cool because it's got all kinds 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:12.379 of baseball pictures and memorabilia and so on 00:06:12.379 --> 00:06:14.839 up there. He just seems like a genuinely nice 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:18.540 man. He's a very nice man. He's a very caring 00:06:18.540 --> 00:06:22.519 man and he's a very smart man and he wants his 00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:25.660 investments to go a long way. It's not just about 00:06:25.660 --> 00:06:28.500 giving away dollars. And so the creation of the 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:31.230 foundation And the kind of things that we're 00:06:31.230 --> 00:06:35.569 doing with veterans and their families is really 00:06:35.569 --> 00:06:39.430 across the board, trying to not only get after 00:06:39.430 --> 00:06:41.250 the clinical side, as you mentioned, with Give 00:06:41.250 --> 00:06:44.370 an Hour. The mission continues with their programs, 00:06:44.430 --> 00:06:48.430 but also doing things like the Thousand Christmas 00:06:48.430 --> 00:06:50.610 Salutes, which is a dinner that we hosted last 00:06:50.610 --> 00:06:53.250 December for a thousand veterans and their families 00:06:53.250 --> 00:06:57.170 in a top -notch facility called the Gross Point 00:06:57.170 --> 00:07:00.240 1 Memorial. and we served a fabulous dinner and 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:03.540 actually even gave away three all -expense pay 00:07:03.540 --> 00:07:07.000 trips to Disney World to three deserving veterans 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:09.540 families that could not otherwise couldn't go 00:07:09.540 --> 00:07:13.019 on their own. So, you know, it's really we look 00:07:13.019 --> 00:07:15.699 expansively about what we can do for families 00:07:15.699 --> 00:07:18.360 as well as the veterans themselves and we're 00:07:18.360 --> 00:07:22.560 committed to getting the public involved in the 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.279 effort. We have a new program launching on our 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:28.089 winsforwarriors .org website. And it's going 00:07:28.089 --> 00:07:32.370 to be where Tiger fans can play along with Justin 00:07:32.370 --> 00:07:36.370 and basically pledge dollars to help veterans. 00:07:37.449 --> 00:07:40.610 And the better that Justin does, the more that 00:07:40.610 --> 00:07:44.029 folks get to see their pledge dollars go to work 00:07:44.029 --> 00:07:45.910 for veterans. So that's going to be exciting. 00:07:46.110 --> 00:07:48.029 I like that. How's that one going to work? Because 00:07:48.029 --> 00:07:51.329 the season begins in two days. It's going to 00:07:51.329 --> 00:07:54.329 be up and running for the first start on Tuesday. 00:07:56.310 --> 00:07:59.009 It's called Pledge It, and you basically are 00:07:59.009 --> 00:08:01.949 pledging for every strikeout that Justin has. 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:04.769 You're able to donate a certain dollar amount, 00:08:05.490 --> 00:08:07.509 and that continues throughout the season. So 00:08:07.509 --> 00:08:12.870 it adds a dynamic that, as our name says, you're 00:08:12.870 --> 00:08:15.550 able to win for Warriors, as Justin is, and hopefully 00:08:15.550 --> 00:08:18.029 the Tigers are, but we wanted to get fans involved 00:08:18.029 --> 00:08:23.339 as well. I think that's a great idea. donated 00:08:23.339 --> 00:08:26.819 a dollar a strike out, and if Justin is back 00:08:26.819 --> 00:08:29.759 to his normal ratio there, that could generate 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:33.080 a lot of money. That's how we feel about it, 00:08:33.179 --> 00:08:36.500 Dale, and we really wanted to make sure that 00:08:36.500 --> 00:08:40.360 we were not just getting those that might be 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:43.080 able to give bigger gifts involved, but we really 00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:45.460 wanted to get everybody involved. I have so many 00:08:45.460 --> 00:08:47.929 people that come up to us. almost on a daily 00:08:47.929 --> 00:08:49.789 basis and said, you know, this is great that 00:08:49.789 --> 00:08:52.269 Justin's doing this. How do I get involved? And 00:08:52.269 --> 00:08:55.850 so we really, we revamped the website, made it 00:08:55.850 --> 00:08:58.210 much more user -friendly and allowed for folks 00:08:58.210 --> 00:09:01.269 to really understand the issues because that's 00:09:01.269 --> 00:09:04.629 important, but also then to have many call to 00:09:04.629 --> 00:09:08.750 actions that allow for them to donate, to advocate, 00:09:09.330 --> 00:09:12.529 you know, and to volunteer if that's their thing. 00:09:12.529 --> 00:09:15.110 So we wanted to have many call to actions that 00:09:15.110 --> 00:09:17.700 allow for folks to engage. Well, it's certainly 00:09:17.700 --> 00:09:20.200 something that we here at Veterans Radio are 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:22.019 very excited about. We'd like to talk to you 00:09:22.019 --> 00:09:25.179 off the air more to see how we can help promote 00:09:25.179 --> 00:09:28.080 the Wins for Warriors Foundation. The other thing 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:29.980 I know, and I've been aware of this for quite 00:09:29.980 --> 00:09:33.179 a while, is that every time that Justin Verlander 00:09:33.179 --> 00:09:36.080 pitched a game at home, he would invite veterans 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:39.820 into a private suite there. Yes. It's a program 00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:42.460 that we've been very proud about. It's in partnership 00:09:42.460 --> 00:09:44.539 with the Detroit Tigers Foundation. It's called 00:09:44.539 --> 00:09:47.600 Verlander's Victory for Veterans. And every Saturday, 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:51.919 home game, it's not just when Justin pitches, 00:09:52.580 --> 00:09:56.159 it's every Saturday home game. We invite through 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:01.220 our relationship with the VA, it turns out to 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:03.379 be about 13 home games, but we invite veterans 00:10:03.379 --> 00:10:06.879 and their families to join together up in Justin's 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:10.059 suite. So you'll see more of that this upcoming 00:10:10.059 --> 00:10:13.480 season and we're proud of that. uh... that program 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:15.879 and and and really it's the detroit tigers foundation 00:10:15.879 --> 00:10:17.659 that does a lot of the heavy lifting for that 00:10:17.659 --> 00:10:20.519 so uh... weekly uh... we were going to be doing 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:24.100 a lot more around uh... tiger games uh... this 00:10:24.100 --> 00:10:26.139 year and we're uh... we're going to keep our 00:10:26.139 --> 00:10:28.679 eye out for a game in late late august where 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:30.779 we're going to be inviting all sorts of veterans 00:10:30.779 --> 00:10:34.080 and uh... and uh... to a special game uh... at 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:36.440 the end of the at the end of august so lots to 00:10:36.440 --> 00:10:38.320 come on on that whole front because they really 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:40.799 want to tie in with not only the veteran community 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:44.000 but also the fan community and see what great 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:46.580 things we can do for them. Well it's always very 00:10:46.580 --> 00:10:48.720 exciting to go to a Tigers game when they have 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:52.500 a veteran who takes the ball out to the mound 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:55.320 before the game begins and everybody gets to 00:10:55.320 --> 00:10:57.620 their feet and you can actually see tears in 00:10:57.620 --> 00:11:01.250 their eyes. It's very emotional. And, you know, 00:11:01.409 --> 00:11:03.450 people in Detroit, they're blue collar type of 00:11:03.450 --> 00:11:05.990 people, very supportive of their military. And 00:11:05.990 --> 00:11:07.870 this is something that can, I think they're going 00:11:07.870 --> 00:11:10.909 to grab on to this Sandy and just really help 00:11:10.909 --> 00:11:13.669 you guys raise a lot of funds for what you want 00:11:13.669 --> 00:11:17.309 to do. And we certainly appreciate what you are 00:11:17.309 --> 00:11:20.090 doing and what Justin is doing to get this whole 00:11:20.090 --> 00:11:22.789 thing started. When I was talking to you earlier 00:11:22.789 --> 00:11:26.750 in the week, I wanted to know if, are there other 00:11:26.750 --> 00:11:28.669 organizations like this with other major league 00:11:28.669 --> 00:11:31.450 teams? Because we broadcast across, actually 00:11:31.450 --> 00:11:33.950 across the world, but I was wondering if there 00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:35.629 were other organizations that people might be 00:11:35.629 --> 00:11:38.490 interested in for their team. There certainly 00:11:38.490 --> 00:11:43.269 is. I mean, many sports teams support veterans 00:11:43.269 --> 00:11:46.990 in various ways. One that's similar to what we're 00:11:46.990 --> 00:11:50.570 doing is a program that the Boston Red Sox have. 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:52.980 and a couple of their players have been involved 00:11:52.980 --> 00:11:57.059 with. It's a program called Home Base and it's 00:11:57.059 --> 00:12:00.299 a program that raises money for a freestanding 00:12:00.299 --> 00:12:04.460 facility that specifically treats veterans with 00:12:04.460 --> 00:12:08.059 PTSD in a clinical setting and it's a partnership 00:12:08.059 --> 00:12:11.740 with Mass General whereby the veteran pays nothing. 00:12:12.259 --> 00:12:14.539 It's outside of the VA system but it allows for 00:12:14.539 --> 00:12:17.960 the access that the veteran needs and that program 00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:21.220 is now expanding into some other markets. to 00:12:21.220 --> 00:12:24.500 create some new facilities and we're taking a 00:12:24.500 --> 00:12:26.960 look at it right now to see if that's something 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:29.679 that Detroit might want to move in that direction 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:32.879 with and explore some partnerships with some 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:35.500 health systems. So there are some exciting programs 00:12:35.500 --> 00:12:39.720 out there that are doing great work and we at 00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:43.940 the foundation certainly are active in our research 00:12:43.940 --> 00:12:46.340 and trying to hook up and connect with as many 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:49.529 programs as possible. Well, again, it's a great 00:12:49.529 --> 00:12:51.750 idea. We're talking with Sandy Hudson. He's the 00:12:51.750 --> 00:12:54.830 CEO and executive director of the wins for warriors 00:12:54.830 --> 00:12:57.669 and Sandy if somebody wants to get involved with 00:12:57.669 --> 00:12:59.190 the wins for warriors in Detroit How do they 00:12:59.190 --> 00:13:02.169 do that? The best way to do it is go to the website 00:13:02.169 --> 00:13:09.309 at wins winf for For warriors org. Okay, that's 00:13:09.309 --> 00:13:13.110 wins for warriors org support Justin Verlander 00:13:13.110 --> 00:13:15.549 and his his foundation here and of course support 00:13:15.549 --> 00:13:18.279 the Tigers and We'll always be happy to do that 00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:19.879 and hope to see you down at the ballpark sometime. 00:13:20.019 --> 00:13:21.960 Thank you very much, Sandy. Thank you, Dale. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:26.960 All righty. There you go, folks. I am just constantly 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.720 amazed at what civilian organizations are doing 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:33.700 to help veterans. We're going to be talking about 00:13:33.700 --> 00:13:36.240 this a little bit later in the program, but we 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:38.379 always seem to feel that the VA is the one that 00:13:38.379 --> 00:13:40.919 has to do all of these things. And we know that 00:13:40.919 --> 00:13:44.000 the VA just gets overwhelmed sometimes. with 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:47.539 just the pure number of veterans out there. There's 00:13:47.539 --> 00:13:53.220 still 22 million living veterans in America today, 00:13:53.220 --> 00:13:56.379 and we've got to take care of them. And if they 00:13:56.379 --> 00:13:58.700 all went to the VA, it's going to get a little 00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:01.240 crowded over there because the people in Washington, 00:14:01.299 --> 00:14:03.879 for some reason, they don't seem like they want 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:05.519 to do all these things, but nobody ever wants 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:08.379 to pony up the money. And if they don't pony 00:14:08.379 --> 00:14:11.320 up the money... We've got to go outside to civilian 00:14:11.320 --> 00:14:13.440 organizations like the Winds for Warriors and 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:15.279 some of the other organizations that we've talked 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:18.860 to here on Veterans Radio. So we want to know 00:14:18.860 --> 00:14:21.820 if you have an organization out there that is 00:14:21.820 --> 00:14:25.059 helping veterans in any way possible, let us 00:14:25.059 --> 00:14:26.799 know and we'll be glad to get you on the air 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:28.659 and give you a little promotion, give you a little 00:14:28.659 --> 00:14:31.820 PR, a little advertising and so forth because 00:14:31.820 --> 00:14:33.720 we know that this is the way. We always take 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:35.559 care of our own here in America and this is what 00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:39.389 we have to do. Pay attention to that. We've got 00:14:39.389 --> 00:14:40.929 some events coming up. We're going to take a 00:14:40.929 --> 00:14:42.330 break right now, and I'll come back, give you 00:14:42.330 --> 00:14:44.850 a list of upcoming events in the local area and 00:14:44.850 --> 00:14:47.970 around the world. So stay tuned. You're listening 00:14:47.970 --> 00:14:50.269 to Veterans Radio. And we're back on Veterans 00:14:50.269 --> 00:14:53.809 Radio, and that sound effect that we just played 00:14:53.809 --> 00:14:56.570 was kind of gives me a good lead into some of 00:14:56.570 --> 00:14:58.309 the things that are going on in the local area. 00:14:58.350 --> 00:14:59.870 And I don't know how many of you are aware of 00:14:59.870 --> 00:15:02.309 this, probably all of you in the local Ann Arbor 00:15:02.309 --> 00:15:06.590 area. We are very, very lucky to have an organization 00:15:06.590 --> 00:15:09.289 called the Yankee Air Museum. And the Yankee 00:15:09.289 --> 00:15:11.330 Air Museum is over in Ypsilanti, Willow Run, 00:15:11.850 --> 00:15:16.149 and it's at the former bomber plant from World 00:15:16.149 --> 00:15:19.159 War II. They've done all kinds of things, but 00:15:19.159 --> 00:15:20.700 the main thing is they've got all these great 00:15:20.700 --> 00:15:24.080 static displays over there of airplanes and jet 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.919 planes and B -52s and helicopters and simulators 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:32.059 and uniforms and libraries and all kinds of things. 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:35.100 And I just wanted to let you know about a couple 00:15:35.100 --> 00:15:37.940 of events that are coming up with them. We've 00:15:37.940 --> 00:15:39.639 been involved with the Yankee Air Museum since 00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:42.940 we went on the air in November 2003, and it's 00:15:42.940 --> 00:15:45.379 always a pleasure to give them a little boost 00:15:45.379 --> 00:15:48.279 here. So number one is that periodically they 00:15:48.279 --> 00:15:50.600 have these presentations that they give where 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:52.820 somebody will come in and give a lecture on some 00:15:52.820 --> 00:15:58.559 sort of historical event or plane or something 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:00.799 along those lines, and coming up on this Wednesday, 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:06.179 August? Yeah, August, right? April 6th. April 00:16:06.179 --> 00:16:10.639 6th. At 7 .30 p .m., there's a free presentation 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:12.860 night, and this one is talking about saving the 00:16:12.860 --> 00:16:17.320 Willow Run bomber plant. And in 1942, the largest 00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:20.500 factory in the world, the world, I want you to 00:16:20.500 --> 00:16:23.159 know, was built in Washtenaw County, Michigan, 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:25.019 and they called it the Willow Run Bomber Plant. 00:16:25.059 --> 00:16:28.840 And this is where they built airplanes for World 00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:33.019 War II. And they were turning out 8 ,000, you 00:16:33.019 --> 00:16:37.490 know, bombers and mostly bombers. and B -24s 00:16:37.490 --> 00:16:39.769 and B -25s and so forth and I know that I'll 00:16:39.769 --> 00:16:41.809 be corrected if I don't get the names of planes 00:16:41.809 --> 00:16:44.549 right because I never seem to remember what plane 00:16:44.549 --> 00:16:48.090 is which one. But, so anyway, so they've got 00:16:48.090 --> 00:16:50.549 that coming up and then they've got another event 00:16:50.549 --> 00:16:55.049 that's coming up next weekend that's at the April 00:16:55.049 --> 00:16:58.590 9th and that is from 10 until 2 o 'clock and 00:16:58.590 --> 00:17:01.429 this is what they call their annual bomber buffing. 00:17:01.610 --> 00:17:04.789 And what you do is you go over there and you 00:17:04.789 --> 00:17:07.289 get to mingle with all these great people in 00:17:07.289 --> 00:17:09.809 the local area who just love flying and love 00:17:09.809 --> 00:17:11.990 World War II aircraft and you're going to clean 00:17:11.990 --> 00:17:15.009 up the airplanes and you get to buff them and 00:17:15.009 --> 00:17:16.990 they end up looking just like they did in the 00:17:16.990 --> 00:17:20.769 1940s during World War II. And they've got a 00:17:20.769 --> 00:17:24.309 B -17 that they'll be cleaning up. And let me 00:17:24.309 --> 00:17:25.910 give you a little bit of history here on that. 00:17:26.250 --> 00:17:29.190 It says, this polishing party is especially meaningful 00:17:29.190 --> 00:17:33.269 because in 2016 is the 30th anniversary of the 00:17:33.269 --> 00:17:36.410 Yankee Air Museum's purchase of the B -17. The 00:17:36.410 --> 00:17:40.750 Yankee lady is only one of 10 B -17s still flying 00:17:40.750 --> 00:17:43.690 and one of only five on which people can take 00:17:43.690 --> 00:17:45.369 a ride. That's right, folks. You can go over 00:17:45.369 --> 00:17:48.009 to the Yankee Air Museum, go to their website. 00:17:48.250 --> 00:17:51.930 And you can sign up to take a ride on a B -17. 00:17:52.029 --> 00:17:54.710 How cool would that be? Some of you out there, 00:17:54.789 --> 00:17:57.349 your grandfathers, and maybe even your grandmothers 00:17:57.349 --> 00:18:00.369 probably flew some B -17s. And you can take a 00:18:00.369 --> 00:18:01.990 ride in that. My partner Bob Gould did that. 00:18:01.990 --> 00:18:04.150 I have not done that yet. I'm anxious to try 00:18:04.150 --> 00:18:07.430 it at some point. But you can do that. So if 00:18:07.430 --> 00:18:09.170 you don't want to go to the presentation on Wednesday, 00:18:09.250 --> 00:18:12.650 you can go over to the Yankee Air Museum on Saturday 00:18:12.650 --> 00:18:19.629 the 9th from 10 to 2. Buff up these. airplanes 00:18:19.629 --> 00:18:22.009 and perhaps you can work your way into a ride 00:18:22.009 --> 00:18:23.690 on one of them. I think it'd be kind of cool 00:18:23.690 --> 00:18:27.089 really. And let's see the other event, oh another 00:18:27.089 --> 00:18:29.349 big fundraiser, these guys are always trying 00:18:29.349 --> 00:18:31.410 to raise money. These things are not cheap to 00:18:31.410 --> 00:18:33.609 run. I mean you're talking about a couple of 00:18:33.609 --> 00:18:36.130 thousand dollars an hour just to keep them in 00:18:36.130 --> 00:18:39.390 the air. So if you want to find out more about 00:18:39.390 --> 00:18:41.569 what's happening over there you go to yankeeairmuseum 00:18:41.569 --> 00:18:44.769 .org and you can find all kinds of information 00:18:44.769 --> 00:18:46.309 about how to get tickets if you want to get a 00:18:46.309 --> 00:18:48.279 fly. One of the things that they've got that 00:18:48.279 --> 00:18:51.079 I just got in a message this week was corporate. 00:18:51.940 --> 00:18:53.900 How do you like to take your corporate team out 00:18:53.900 --> 00:18:56.859 for a team building experience? And in the meantime, 00:18:56.920 --> 00:19:00.740 you get to ride on a V -17 or a V -25. I think 00:19:00.740 --> 00:19:02.759 that's pretty exciting stuff. You know, they 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:06.359 take you out to these fancy resorts and stuff 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:08.220 to do these, but you could just go down the road 00:19:08.220 --> 00:19:11.039 here and instead of going swimming in a swimming 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:12.859 pool, you actually get to go for a ride in a 00:19:12.859 --> 00:19:16.119 V -17, the Yankee Lady or the V -25, the Yankee 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:19.539 Warrior. It's a 30 minute flight. You need to 00:19:19.539 --> 00:19:22.200 give the Yankee Air Museum a call. His name is 00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:26.460 Dave Wright. And give Dave a call at 734 -483 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:33.240 -4030. And that's 734 -483 -4030. And ask for 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:37.359 extension 236. And he'll set you right up. The 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:41.660 other thing that's going on, finally. And this 00:19:41.660 --> 00:19:43.869 is that. How many of you like to swing dance 00:19:43.869 --> 00:19:46.190 out there? I know, I do. I'm such a great dancer 00:19:46.190 --> 00:19:48.089 anyway. Nina's over there going, yeah, right. 00:19:48.930 --> 00:19:52.190 This is what we try to do. But there's a 1940s 00:19:52.190 --> 00:19:54.730 USO dinner and dance coming up at the Yankee 00:19:54.730 --> 00:19:57.509 Air Museum called American Bistro Night. And 00:19:57.509 --> 00:20:00.150 this is going to be on Saturday, April 30th, 00:20:00.210 --> 00:20:03.190 2016. The door is open at 5 .30. Dinner's at 00:20:03.190 --> 00:20:06.650 6 .30. It's going to be in hangar one. Tickets 00:20:06.650 --> 00:20:10.430 are $40 in advance. For members, $45. For non 00:20:10.430 --> 00:20:13.109 -members, $50 at the door. It's available at 00:20:13.109 --> 00:20:15.490 the Yankee Air Museum. You can give them a call 00:20:15.490 --> 00:20:21.289 at 734 -483 -4030 or go online at yankeeairmuseum 00:20:21.289 --> 00:20:25.750 .org. Again, the Bistro Night, American Bistro 00:20:25.750 --> 00:20:29.269 Night, a 1940s USO dinner and dance. Music is 00:20:29.269 --> 00:20:31.670 going to be provided by the couriers, swing dancing, 00:20:31.869 --> 00:20:34.569 and the ladies for liberty. Sounds like the Andrew 00:20:34.569 --> 00:20:38.079 Sisters have come back. to entertain you on that 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:39.819 night. So put it on your calendar right now, 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:42.880 Saturday, April 30th. And that's at the Yankee 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:45.180 Air Museum. And again, all kinds of things over 00:20:45.180 --> 00:20:47.299 there. So go to their website. You'll be able 00:20:47.299 --> 00:20:48.839 to find out how much it would cost you if you 00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:52.420 want to take a ride on a B -17 or a B -25. And 00:20:52.420 --> 00:20:56.700 I think you're going to really enjoy that. All 00:20:56.700 --> 00:20:58.920 right. I got about four minutes here. I had some 00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:03.619 more stuff to give you information on. The second 00:21:03.619 --> 00:21:06.660 half of the program, as I mentioned, is a pre 00:21:06.660 --> 00:21:08.880 -recorded program that my partner and I, Jim 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:14.619 Falzone, did with retired brigadier general Allison 00:21:14.619 --> 00:21:18.400 Hickian. Allison was the undersecretary for benefits 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:22.259 at the VA from 2011 up until last October, I 00:21:22.259 --> 00:21:25.859 believe it was. And her job, she'll tell you, 00:21:26.039 --> 00:21:30.039 but her job was to modernize the system. Remember 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:31.900 all the news we've been reading over the last 00:21:31.900 --> 00:21:34.400 couple of years, about 600 ,000 veterans and 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:36.759 constantly waiting for appointments and so on 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:39.700 and so forth. So she's going to give you the 00:21:39.700 --> 00:21:42.539 down and dirty on what was going on at the VA. 00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:45.019 And one of the things was that their archaic 00:21:45.019 --> 00:21:47.200 system of keeping records, everything was on 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:49.480 paper. They didn't utilize the computers enough. 00:21:49.819 --> 00:21:51.480 They didn't have computer systems that could 00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:53.039 talk to each other. Sounds like the government 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:56.039 in general. And she was given a short amount 00:21:56.039 --> 00:21:59.269 of time to do this. I want you to imagine that 00:21:59.269 --> 00:22:03.250 you're on like an aircraft carrier and that you 00:22:03.250 --> 00:22:06.630 are supposed to make a 95 or 90 degree turn in 00:22:06.630 --> 00:22:10.650 about a minute. And if you've ever seen the size 00:22:10.650 --> 00:22:13.369 of an aircraft carrier, you can't turn that thing 00:22:13.369 --> 00:22:17.869 in a day sometimes. And so this was her mission 00:22:17.869 --> 00:22:23.269 was to modernize the VA's benefits system. And 00:22:23.269 --> 00:22:25.049 she'll tell you what was involved with that. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:27.140 It is pre -recorded. Jim sounds a little bit 00:22:27.140 --> 00:22:28.920 like he's in a tunnel. We worked on that. I think 00:22:28.920 --> 00:22:31.460 I got him pretty much fixed up. And about 10 00:22:31.460 --> 00:22:33.019 minutes into this interview, there's a little 00:22:33.019 --> 00:22:34.759 break up on her phone. But otherwise, I think 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:37.220 this is a really, really important interview 00:22:37.220 --> 00:22:40.279 for you to listen to. So make sure that you stay 00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:42.980 tuned after the news to listen to this interview 00:22:42.980 --> 00:22:47.359 with Brigadier General Allison Hickey. And she 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:50.380 was one of the first female graduates of the 00:22:50.380 --> 00:22:52.400 United States Air Force Academy. She was a pilot, 00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:56.420 which to me is always cool. And so we talked 00:22:56.420 --> 00:22:57.940 about that a little bit before, and you'll be 00:22:57.940 --> 00:23:01.259 able to find out more about her interview if 00:23:01.259 --> 00:23:02.940 you go to our website, click on our podcast. 00:23:03.259 --> 00:23:05.079 We have a whole other half -hour interview that 00:23:05.079 --> 00:23:08.599 we did with her about her military career. But 00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:10.759 the reason that we wanted to talk about this 00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:15.039 issue was that the VA is continually trying to 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:18.380 upgrade their systems. And what we need you to 00:23:18.380 --> 00:23:20.490 do This is all of our listeners, is we need you 00:23:20.490 --> 00:23:23.190 to contact your senators and your congressmen 00:23:23.190 --> 00:23:27.289 and tell them to just do something. They all 00:23:27.289 --> 00:23:29.029 keep saying, well, we're going to help the veterans. 00:23:29.130 --> 00:23:30.549 We've got to do this for the veterans. We're 00:23:30.549 --> 00:23:32.009 going to do that for veterans. And then suddenly 00:23:32.009 --> 00:23:34.250 it gets lost in the committee somewhere and we 00:23:34.250 --> 00:23:37.930 never hear anything about it. So I want you to 00:23:37.930 --> 00:23:40.710 contact your congressman or congresswoman and 00:23:40.710 --> 00:23:42.670 let them know that you're getting tired of all 00:23:42.670 --> 00:23:45.569 of this waiting around. You can't wait for another 00:23:45.569 --> 00:23:49.390 president to come in to donate or to give money 00:23:49.390 --> 00:23:52.369 to the VA system itself. You can't wait for things 00:23:52.369 --> 00:23:56.349 to change because right now the Vietnam era veterans 00:23:56.349 --> 00:23:59.349 are going into their 70s and are going to be 00:23:59.349 --> 00:24:01.690 utilizing the VA system more and more and more 00:24:01.690 --> 00:24:05.910 and more. You've got these veterans today that 00:24:05.910 --> 00:24:08.470 during World War II they wouldn't have even survived. 00:24:09.390 --> 00:24:11.970 And today they are surviving but they have so 00:24:11.970 --> 00:24:14.339 many different issues. not only mental, but so 00:24:14.339 --> 00:24:17.440 many physical. I mean, we've got double, triple, 00:24:17.619 --> 00:24:20.779 quadruple amputees that are alive today that 00:24:20.779 --> 00:24:23.440 wouldn't be alive 60 years ago. And we have to 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:25.740 make sure that we take care of them for the rest 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:28.279 of their lives. This is the deal that you made. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:30.339 If you want people to be in the military, you've 00:24:30.339 --> 00:24:33.839 got to agree to take care of them. Otherwise, 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:36.140 you're not going to get any people in the military. 00:24:36.700 --> 00:24:39.019 So I just want to remind you that. I'm not going 00:24:39.019 --> 00:24:41.539 to come back and reintroduce the interview after 00:24:41.539 --> 00:24:43.220 the news at the bottom of the hour, so I want 00:24:43.220 --> 00:24:45.799 to make sure that you stay tuned for Jim Falzone, 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:50.299 me, and Brigadier General Allison Hickey right 00:24:50.299 --> 00:24:53.539 here on Veterans Radio, and we will be back after 00:24:53.539 --> 00:25:10.519 the news. Our guest today is the former Under 00:25:10.519 --> 00:25:13.079 Secretary for Benefits for the Department of 00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:15.660 Veterans Affairs, Allison Hickey. Allison, say 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:18.500 hello to the veterans radio listening audience. 00:25:18.779 --> 00:25:20.619 Hello, and it's great to be talking with you 00:25:20.619 --> 00:25:23.019 all today. Well, we're glad to have you and my 00:25:23.019 --> 00:25:25.400 partner, Dale Throneberry, is in the council 00:25:25.400 --> 00:25:27.460 room with me. Dale, say hello to everyone. Hi, 00:25:27.559 --> 00:25:29.720 good afternoon, General. Hi, Dale, how are you 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:32.819 doing? I am terrific and we're anxious to learn, 00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:36.140 we've already learned about your military background 00:25:36.140 --> 00:25:38.740 and you know just to review kind of for our audience 00:25:38.740 --> 00:25:40.740 is that she's a graduate of the Air Force Academy, 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:44.099 a pilot, which is always cool, did a lot of great 00:25:44.099 --> 00:25:46.940 things with the Air Force, was in for 27 years. 00:25:47.369 --> 00:25:51.769 and retired in November of 2007 and offered this 00:25:51.769 --> 00:25:54.470 position, I'm guessing, as Under Secretary for 00:25:54.470 --> 00:25:57.109 Benefits of the Department of Ventures Affairs 00:25:57.109 --> 00:26:01.650 on 6 -6 -11, D -Day for Alison. And I'm claiming 00:26:01.650 --> 00:26:05.690 the victory forward. There you go. So, Alison, 00:26:05.750 --> 00:26:10.410 let's start with this. Our veterans who are listening 00:26:10.410 --> 00:26:14.339 to... Veterans Radio may be very aware of what 00:26:14.339 --> 00:26:16.920 the undersecretary for benefits is involved in, 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:19.579 but I suspect most people in the general public 00:26:19.579 --> 00:26:22.339 don't know what an undersecretary is and don't 00:26:22.339 --> 00:26:25.160 know what an undersecretary for benefits is at 00:26:25.160 --> 00:26:27.039 the VA. Maybe you can give us a little background. 00:26:27.420 --> 00:26:30.500 Yes, so there are, in VA, there are three major 00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:34.940 areas that respond directly to the cabinet secretary 00:26:34.940 --> 00:26:38.339 and then to the president on all the issues of 00:26:38.339 --> 00:26:40.970 veterans. One of them is the health side. The 00:26:40.970 --> 00:26:43.829 person that leads all the medical side or health 00:26:43.829 --> 00:26:46.390 side is the Under Secretary for Health. Then 00:26:46.390 --> 00:26:48.529 there is the Under Secretary for Benefit who 00:26:48.529 --> 00:26:51.690 leads about eight different programs, many of 00:26:51.690 --> 00:26:54.089 which some of your readers may have leveraged, 00:26:54.349 --> 00:26:57.829 whether it's a disability claim, a pension, a 00:26:57.829 --> 00:27:00.630 going to school on the GI Bill, a VA home loan 00:27:00.630 --> 00:27:03.390 program, a book rehab and employment kind of 00:27:03.390 --> 00:27:05.970 program, and insurance, so all the service group 00:27:05.970 --> 00:27:09.289 life insurance. for our military members and 00:27:09.289 --> 00:27:11.630 then veteran group life insurance and others 00:27:11.630 --> 00:27:14.269 for our veterans after they separate or retire. 00:27:14.849 --> 00:27:17.049 And then finally, while I was there, I stood 00:27:17.049 --> 00:27:20.950 up the transition portion of VBA or the Veterans 00:27:20.950 --> 00:27:23.369 Benefits Administration as well. And then the 00:27:23.369 --> 00:27:25.710 last administration is Memorial Affairs that 00:27:25.710 --> 00:27:29.210 handles all of the memorials, all the cemeteries 00:27:29.210 --> 00:27:35.029 that VA has responsibility for and works in that 00:27:35.029 --> 00:27:38.339 space. Well, and listeners, we're going to refer 00:27:38.339 --> 00:27:40.740 to the general with her permission as Allison 00:27:40.740 --> 00:27:44.759 during this podcast and interview. Please do. 00:27:45.019 --> 00:27:47.460 I've actually asked everyone to do that even 00:27:47.460 --> 00:27:49.960 while I was in VA, so I appreciate you're doing 00:27:49.960 --> 00:27:54.200 that. Allison, give us some sense of how big 00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:58.660 this benefits portion of VA is in terms of either 00:27:58.660 --> 00:28:02.799 budget or people. It's amazing to me how big 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:06.240 it is, and I think a lot of folks don't understand 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:08.839 that, and it later on leads to why there are 00:28:08.839 --> 00:28:13.019 some complexities. Yes. So if there are 22 million 00:28:13.019 --> 00:28:17.940 veterans alive today, the Veterans Benefit Administration, 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:21.319 between the veterans and the actual service members 00:28:21.319 --> 00:28:24.059 that they support as well in VA home loans or 00:28:24.059 --> 00:28:27.019 GI bills, because they do that as well for currently 00:28:27.019 --> 00:28:31.859 serving members, it's a 12 million population. 00:28:32.220 --> 00:28:36.680 When I left, the budget was $95 billion of which 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:39.779 all but $3 billion of that goes directly into 00:28:39.779 --> 00:28:41.599 the hands of veterans, their family members, 00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:46.740 and survivors. So it's not $95 billion for VA, 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:52.259 it's $92 billion for veterans, their families, 00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:55.740 and survivors. So basically it means there is 00:28:55.740 --> 00:29:01.529 enough staff in this world for three cents on 00:29:01.529 --> 00:29:04.009 the dollar it takes to distribute 92 billion 00:29:04.009 --> 00:29:07.690 dollars to veterans every year. The size of the 00:29:07.690 --> 00:29:11.210 organization was about 21 ,000 employees, of 00:29:11.210 --> 00:29:14.670 which about 10 ,000 are doing what people are 00:29:14.670 --> 00:29:17.869 most familiar with, at least it seems, but those 00:29:17.869 --> 00:29:21.250 are disability compensation claims. And then 00:29:21.250 --> 00:29:23.829 another couple thousand are doing the education 00:29:23.829 --> 00:29:26.940 claims, the GI Bill claims. And then it spreads 00:29:26.940 --> 00:29:30.079 out over the other portfolios of benefits that 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:33.539 are provided to veterans, including some 700 00:29:33.539 --> 00:29:36.559 or 800 people answering phones every day for 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:39.720 call -ins and things of that nature. Well, and 00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:43.460 again, geographically, division or department 00:29:43.460 --> 00:29:47.319 that you were responsible for covered the entire 00:29:47.319 --> 00:29:50.869 country. a lot of physical presence. So we had 00:29:50.869 --> 00:29:54.549 56 regional offices. The one in Michigan is obviously 00:29:54.549 --> 00:29:57.349 in Detroit, but they also touch other parts of 00:29:57.349 --> 00:30:00.390 the state. We also, though, have an overseas 00:30:00.390 --> 00:30:04.809 presence. Like I say, we have one. VA has one. 00:30:06.529 --> 00:30:10.369 They're the large office in Manila that handles 00:30:10.369 --> 00:30:13.430 a lot of the veterans who are stationed over 00:30:13.430 --> 00:30:16.700 there and overseas, and they also now help take, 00:30:16.700 --> 00:30:18.799 you know, surge work from stations who may be 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:23.400 a little swamped. There are also VBA employees 00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:26.680 in all kinds of countries that are there for 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:29.680 separating service members. And there's not a 00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:32.920 lot of veterans who live overseas. And so these 00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:36.099 people support, you know, the questions they 00:30:36.099 --> 00:30:38.700 might have, the filing concerns, the help they 00:30:38.700 --> 00:30:41.839 might need from those kind of forward deployed 00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:44.240 locations. There's also a footprint in Puerto 00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:47.859 Rico. and they serve the Virgin Islands and some 00:30:47.859 --> 00:30:51.160 of the other Caribbean areas as well. When you 00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:55.660 first came to the job in June of 2011, what was 00:30:55.660 --> 00:30:58.640 the status of the benefits group that you were 00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:01.980 taking over, did you feel? So first I will tell 00:31:01.980 --> 00:31:03.960 you that everybody probably well remembers in 00:31:03.960 --> 00:31:09.500 2011. They had just started responding to the 00:31:09.500 --> 00:31:12.160 new three presumptive conditions for our Vietnam 00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:15.279 veterans exposed to Agent Orange. And that put 00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:19.519 260 ,000 new claims overnight in their inventory 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:22.180 in October of 2010, just before I arrived. And 00:31:22.180 --> 00:31:24.500 so they were trying to work through those and 00:31:24.500 --> 00:31:26.799 sort through those and get staff trained on how 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:28.940 to do them and get them stood up and try to move 00:31:28.940 --> 00:31:31.559 forward to start tackling those, which they were 00:31:31.559 --> 00:31:36.240 required by law to do first. And so by the time 00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:40.660 I got there, the... A backlog of claims, which 00:31:40.660 --> 00:31:45.920 are claims older than 125 days, had grown to 00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:50.980 nearly 550 ,000 claims. They were doing them 00:31:50.980 --> 00:31:54.539 all by hand, in paper, with little rubber fingertips 00:31:54.539 --> 00:31:57.960 on their hands, looking at claims files that 00:31:57.960 --> 00:32:01.759 could be, you know, upwards of two feet tall, 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:03.740 you know, not unlike, you know, looking at a 00:32:03.740 --> 00:32:08.519 little toddler. and memorizing 850 diagnostic 00:32:08.519 --> 00:32:13.119 codes in their heads. And it was just, when you 00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:16.720 looked at it, just not an efficient, not an effective 00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:20.160 process that a lot of really hard working people 00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:22.579 were trying to do to their very best. And about 00:32:22.579 --> 00:32:25.779 52 % of them were veterans themselves, kind of 00:32:25.779 --> 00:32:29.309 frustrated with the tools they had on hand. And 00:32:29.309 --> 00:32:31.549 they were falling further and further and further 00:32:31.549 --> 00:32:34.109 behind. And they didn't like it. Veterans didn't 00:32:34.109 --> 00:32:37.349 like it. And everybody deserved a better answer. 00:32:37.630 --> 00:32:40.329 There wasn't a technology system. There wasn't 00:32:40.329 --> 00:32:43.890 a way to file claims online. There weren't standard 00:32:43.890 --> 00:32:46.650 forms. There weren't rules -based calculators. 00:32:46.750 --> 00:32:49.329 There was no enabling capability in the technology 00:32:49.329 --> 00:32:52.170 realm. They weren't organized to do the work 00:32:52.170 --> 00:32:55.690 in lanes with the work segmented at all. So everything 00:32:55.690 --> 00:32:59.759 went through one filter. Whether you were the 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:02.759 best employee, the longest, most mature employee 00:33:02.759 --> 00:33:04.559 who really knew the work, or whether you were 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:07.400 brand new in the door, you had the equal opportunity 00:33:07.400 --> 00:33:10.819 to pull some of the hardest cases. And it just 00:33:10.819 --> 00:33:13.819 wasn't very well organized under the people process 00:33:13.819 --> 00:33:16.720 or technology realm. And that's what we set out 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:20.240 to do, was to create an integrated plan, deliver 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:22.980 that plan in 45 days, and execute it on the next 00:33:22.980 --> 00:33:27.279 three years to get that backlog down 90 % from 00:33:27.279 --> 00:33:36.000 where it peaked. in 2013 at 611 ,000 claims and 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:39.000 today it hovers between 70 ,000 and 80 ,000 claims 00:33:39.000 --> 00:33:41.180 and some of those have very good reasons for 00:33:41.180 --> 00:33:44.039 not getting done in 125 days which wouldn't help 00:33:44.039 --> 00:33:46.779 a veteran if they did them fast. Well one of 00:33:46.779 --> 00:33:49.180 the things that as somebody who's been a practitioner 00:33:49.180 --> 00:33:52.019 in this area during that period of time we've 00:33:52.019 --> 00:33:55.079 seen tremendous progress been made over those 00:33:55.079 --> 00:33:58.799 last three or four years. And it was, I think, 00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:03.279 surprising to everybody when they found that 00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:06.579 it was all paper. When I tell a veteran, no, 00:34:06.700 --> 00:34:09.780 it's all paper. It'll take them so many days 00:34:09.780 --> 00:34:12.059 to get it from the mail room to the file room. 00:34:12.400 --> 00:34:15.900 How did you drive change in an organization that 00:34:15.900 --> 00:34:21.619 big, which in 2011 didn't have the information 00:34:21.619 --> 00:34:24.829 technology systems? and other things that you 00:34:24.829 --> 00:34:28.070 would have expected in a business or corporation 00:34:28.070 --> 00:34:31.250 of similar size? So I had not only had that experience 00:34:31.250 --> 00:34:33.289 in the Air Force where I had to fundamentally 00:34:33.289 --> 00:34:36.869 change a big part of the Air Force portfolio 00:34:36.869 --> 00:34:39.510 where nobody really wanted to change, but we 00:34:39.510 --> 00:34:41.989 had to. We had a bias for action that said we 00:34:41.989 --> 00:34:45.070 had to. I then went over to industry for three 00:34:45.070 --> 00:34:47.050 years where I learned about some fundamental 00:34:47.050 --> 00:34:51.159 things. that added to my understanding of how 00:34:51.159 --> 00:34:53.179 to make those kinds of large transformations 00:34:53.179 --> 00:34:58.000 in change management. And so when I arrived in 00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:03.960 NVA, one, I had a mandate from the Senate SBAC 00:35:03.960 --> 00:35:08.480 chair to deliver a plan in 45 days. And so what 00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:11.699 we did was what I know that works, and it works 00:35:11.699 --> 00:35:16.559 in industry, which is we pulled all the key stakeholders 00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:19.139 together. People were a little surprised. We 00:35:19.139 --> 00:35:23.059 had not only VBA people, but we had field people 00:35:23.059 --> 00:35:25.340 and headquarters people, and we had VSOs, and 00:35:25.340 --> 00:35:32.320 we had lawyers, and we had union reps, and we 00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:35.380 had people with just industry people that had 00:35:35.380 --> 00:35:37.880 great ideas, and we just pulled them all together 00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:40.219 and locked ourselves in a room for three or four 00:35:40.219 --> 00:35:44.449 days. and went through, siphoned through an entire 00:35:44.449 --> 00:35:47.610 list of about 600 different good ideas that had 00:35:47.610 --> 00:35:50.110 been submitted through an innovation effort, 00:35:51.010 --> 00:35:54.190 and culled those down to about 45 of what we 00:35:54.190 --> 00:35:58.090 thought to be the most promising, and integrated 00:35:58.090 --> 00:36:00.610 them into whether or not they would be a people 00:36:00.610 --> 00:36:02.289 initiative, something that would change the way 00:36:02.289 --> 00:36:04.969 we're organized or trained to do the work, a 00:36:04.969 --> 00:36:07.030 process initiative, something that could be leaned 00:36:07.030 --> 00:36:09.269 up or re -engineered or had already started that 00:36:09.269 --> 00:36:13.340 process, improved some metal. and what technology 00:36:13.340 --> 00:36:16.519 would need to do to enable all of that. And we 00:36:16.519 --> 00:36:19.599 literally put that on paper, put all those initiatives 00:36:19.599 --> 00:36:23.119 into those categories, integrated it, and then 00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:25.900 I asked every one of the regional offices to 00:36:25.900 --> 00:36:28.000 identify a change management agent. So a new 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:32.420 position we stood up, who was a very well -respected, 00:36:32.539 --> 00:36:35.840 a little more junior in the organization, but 00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:37.980 employees could approach, VSOs could approach, 00:36:38.079 --> 00:36:42.300 anybody could approach. And they became part 00:36:42.300 --> 00:36:45.579 of the impetus to help us move through not just 00:36:45.579 --> 00:36:48.639 the structure of change, but the culture of change. 00:36:49.500 --> 00:36:52.219 And I think... I think, General, there's a good 00:36:52.219 --> 00:36:54.880 example, again, of one of those pearls of wisdom 00:36:54.880 --> 00:36:56.579 you're giving us that I want to make sure our 00:36:56.579 --> 00:37:00.320 listeners focus on. It takes a culture of change. 00:37:00.699 --> 00:37:03.119 You can't just say, do it, and here's the process. 00:37:03.420 --> 00:37:06.159 You've got to change that whole culture of people 00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:11.159 buying in. And were there special steps or activities 00:37:11.159 --> 00:37:14.219 that you undertook to make sure folks throughout 00:37:14.219 --> 00:37:17.679 the 56 regional offices were buying into the 00:37:17.679 --> 00:37:20.059 cultural change? Yeah, so one of the things that 00:37:20.059 --> 00:37:23.400 I believe that every senior leader needs to do, 00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:25.739 and I personally did this, is when you're going 00:37:25.739 --> 00:37:27.559 to do that kind of a large change, you've got 00:37:27.559 --> 00:37:31.929 to get in it up to your, I say armpits. And I 00:37:31.929 --> 00:37:34.329 really did that so in the first week or two I 00:37:34.329 --> 00:37:36.809 was there I asked for the all -employee email 00:37:36.809 --> 00:37:38.829 list and there was a little nervousness about 00:37:38.829 --> 00:37:40.949 giving me that well they might respond to you 00:37:40.949 --> 00:37:43.630 if you send something and I commented that's 00:37:43.630 --> 00:37:47.610 kind of the point and So I started sending personal 00:37:47.610 --> 00:37:50.210 emails from me. Nobody wrote them for me I wrote 00:37:50.210 --> 00:37:54.269 them if they responded back I responded if it 00:37:54.269 --> 00:37:57.409 got to a veteran which it typically did I responded 00:37:57.409 --> 00:38:01.500 and I just got involved in a very open communication 00:38:01.500 --> 00:38:06.079 strategy. Because I felt like if you don't let 00:38:06.079 --> 00:38:08.920 people voice their concerns to you and you don't 00:38:08.920 --> 00:38:13.280 listen and respond, then they don't keep talking 00:38:13.280 --> 00:38:15.280 to you and you're going to walk off a cliff when 00:38:15.280 --> 00:38:17.039 you're trying to lead that large of a change. 00:38:18.019 --> 00:38:20.719 Part of this was demonstrating that leadership 00:38:20.719 --> 00:38:23.900 cared and wanted to change. Yes, and what I found 00:38:23.900 --> 00:38:27.480 too, I went out and immediately went to 12 different 00:38:27.480 --> 00:38:30.139 regional offices and instead of going and letting 00:38:30.139 --> 00:38:32.699 a leadership person give me a briefing sitting 00:38:32.699 --> 00:38:35.219 in a room with nice chairs and everything. I 00:38:35.219 --> 00:38:37.500 said, no, we're not doing that. You're going 00:38:37.500 --> 00:38:39.519 to walk me around through the regional office, 00:38:39.559 --> 00:38:43.219 and I'm going to start wherever the veteran stuff 00:38:43.219 --> 00:38:46.820 starts. So if it comes in the mail room, I want 00:38:46.820 --> 00:38:51.079 to have a full experience of that veteran's information 00:38:51.079 --> 00:38:53.920 and communication to us from the get -go, and 00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:56.800 then how that claim is handled. every step of 00:38:56.800 --> 00:38:59.000 the way and I want you to make me a claim and 00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:01.920 take me through the process. I only had to do 00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:04.239 that about three different regional offices before 00:39:04.239 --> 00:39:07.219 it became really clear to me where things were 00:39:07.219 --> 00:39:10.519 broken. And you know who knew it all along were 00:39:10.519 --> 00:39:13.900 the actual employees. They just didn't have before 00:39:13.900 --> 00:39:17.900 a sort of the focused effort. They didn't have 00:39:17.900 --> 00:39:20.880 the resources to make the change and they just 00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:23.659 needed someone to say okay here we go and be 00:39:23.659 --> 00:39:29.800 just absolutely dogged persistent on making that 00:39:29.800 --> 00:39:32.119 transformation happen and improving the way they 00:39:32.119 --> 00:39:35.519 could do the work, which they really wanted to 00:39:35.519 --> 00:39:37.880 change. They just needed someone to help get 00:39:37.880 --> 00:39:41.420 them there. And then all for the betterment of 00:39:41.420 --> 00:39:43.460 the veteran themselves. So when I arrived, veterans 00:39:43.460 --> 00:39:45.159 were waiting, as you well know, and many of your 00:39:45.159 --> 00:39:47.639 readership knows, more than 300 some odd days 00:39:47.639 --> 00:39:51.440 for their initial claim decision. And today it's 00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:54.739 down to something like, you know, 70 to 90 days 00:39:54.739 --> 00:39:57.179 they're waiting. In some cases, it's really light, 00:39:57.340 --> 00:40:00.019 depending on how many issues are in the claim, 00:40:00.980 --> 00:40:03.639 but substantial numbers of days taken off that 00:40:03.639 --> 00:40:06.059 wait. So one of the things, General, you mentioned, 00:40:06.320 --> 00:40:08.900 I'm sorry, Allison, you mentioned were that you 00:40:08.900 --> 00:40:12.800 reached out to all the employees. Dale's reading, 00:40:12.900 --> 00:40:15.500 I think, one of the things you're referring to. 00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:18.699 Yeah, it's where your average claim went down. 00:40:19.079 --> 00:40:21.780 I can't believe these numbers. My claim took 00:40:21.780 --> 00:40:25.699 almost a year and a half. We now complete 99 00:40:25.699 --> 00:40:30.400 % of the claims in less than 90... 92 days is 00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:33.880 your average. That's pretty good. So the way 00:40:33.880 --> 00:40:36.960 we did that was we increased the productivity 00:40:36.960 --> 00:40:41.280 of our employees by 81%. You know, when you give 00:40:41.280 --> 00:40:44.639 them a better way to organize around the effort, 00:40:44.699 --> 00:40:47.059 so we segmented all the work so the really fast 00:40:47.059 --> 00:40:49.719 planes could go down the express lane. You know, 00:40:49.719 --> 00:40:51.860 unlike when you go to the grocery store, if you 00:40:51.860 --> 00:40:53.619 only have one or two items, you don't want to 00:40:53.619 --> 00:40:55.679 wait behind the person's got a cartload full. 00:40:56.619 --> 00:40:59.599 And so we did that. We segmented the work according 00:40:59.599 --> 00:41:02.079 to lanes, which is what industry does, too. So 00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:06.780 we adopted an industry model. Then we also completely 00:41:06.780 --> 00:41:09.519 changed our training program. Our poor employees 00:41:09.519 --> 00:41:12.619 in many cases were showing up, basically sitting 00:41:12.619 --> 00:41:15.559 next to someone well -intentioned and learning 00:41:15.559 --> 00:41:17.639 how to do claims by looking over the shoulder. 00:41:18.340 --> 00:41:20.940 And you just can't do that. Military people know 00:41:20.940 --> 00:41:22.940 one of the best things about our military in 00:41:22.940 --> 00:41:25.539 this country is how well we train people to do 00:41:25.539 --> 00:41:29.840 this mission. We weren't doing that in VBA. We 00:41:29.840 --> 00:41:32.940 fundamentally overhauled the complete training 00:41:32.940 --> 00:41:38.360 program and now mandated a complete long training 00:41:38.360 --> 00:41:41.840 program before you ever even got involved in 00:41:41.840 --> 00:41:45.659 really touching veteran planes and really got 00:41:45.659 --> 00:41:47.940 people up to speed faster with a much higher 00:41:47.940 --> 00:41:51.380 level of quality. And then we built the technology 00:41:51.380 --> 00:41:54.420 like crazy with things in it, job aids in it 00:41:54.420 --> 00:41:56.980 that helped people to make better decisions. 00:41:58.099 --> 00:42:00.400 They never had that before and it wasn't fair. 00:42:00.829 --> 00:42:03.349 For them, you know, people weren't happy with 00:42:03.349 --> 00:42:06.210 what we were doing in VA in those days before 00:42:06.210 --> 00:42:10.389 all this. But it wasn't the employees' fault. 00:42:10.429 --> 00:42:14.989 It was the lack of good people process and technology 00:42:14.989 --> 00:42:18.230 capability that just didn't exist and now does. 00:42:19.130 --> 00:42:22.469 Well, I was just reading your final love note 00:42:22.469 --> 00:42:26.510 to all the employees of the VA. And one of your 00:42:26.510 --> 00:42:29.070 comments was that I thought was very appropriate 00:42:29.070 --> 00:42:32.300 was, You know, most of these people aren't going 00:42:32.300 --> 00:42:35.360 to file a claim willy -nilly. And so you've sat 00:42:35.360 --> 00:42:38.300 down, remember integrity, quality, grant if you 00:42:38.300 --> 00:42:42.519 can, deny only if you must. And I thought that 00:42:42.519 --> 00:42:46.599 that was very interesting because the reputation 00:42:46.599 --> 00:42:50.019 of the VA among veterans up until the last couple 00:42:50.019 --> 00:42:53.280 of years has been deny, deny, deny. Until you 00:42:53.280 --> 00:42:54.940 die. Until you die and then they don't have to 00:42:54.940 --> 00:42:57.500 worry about your claim because you don't qualify 00:42:57.500 --> 00:43:00.360 by then. And that was one of the problems that 00:43:00.360 --> 00:43:03.260 was going on. And that's the perception that 00:43:03.260 --> 00:43:06.460 you have obviously had a great deal to do with 00:43:06.460 --> 00:43:09.420 changing that perception. And now we just have 00:43:09.420 --> 00:43:12.360 to continue that on with the people that replaced 00:43:12.360 --> 00:43:15.480 you. Yeah. So I think we got a pretty good culture 00:43:15.480 --> 00:43:19.800 of, you know, I'm not sure that everybody in 00:43:19.800 --> 00:43:23.340 the organization felt like they had the permission 00:43:23.340 --> 00:43:27.920 to do that somewhere way back when There were, 00:43:27.920 --> 00:43:30.320 you know, processes I think even prior to the 00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:33.820 2000 time frames where there was a lot of, that 00:43:33.820 --> 00:43:38.699 was the sort of model operation. And so, you 00:43:38.699 --> 00:43:42.159 know, I said to them, no, you know, you do what 00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:45.159 you can to say yes. And believe it or not, our 00:43:45.159 --> 00:43:47.480 employees really do want to come to work every 00:43:47.480 --> 00:43:52.159 day and if possible say yes. Giving them permission 00:43:52.159 --> 00:43:54.119 to do that, I told them to put a little sticky 00:43:54.119 --> 00:43:56.139 note on the computer that had those three things 00:43:56.139 --> 00:43:59.539 on it to remind them that that's the way we approach 00:43:59.539 --> 00:44:03.079 this environment. We figure out how to say yes 00:44:03.079 --> 00:44:08.699 unless we absolutely can't. By the way, I will 00:44:08.699 --> 00:44:11.679 tell you there's a little bit of some misunderstanding 00:44:11.679 --> 00:44:15.300 in that because even prior to my arriving there, 00:44:15.500 --> 00:44:17.929 the grant rate was hovering around 60%. 65 to 00:44:17.929 --> 00:44:20.269 70 percent, and that's where it still is in the 00:44:20.269 --> 00:44:25.769 65 to 70 percent range. But for those who aren't 00:44:25.769 --> 00:44:28.789 granted, I fully understand that sometimes that 00:44:28.789 --> 00:44:31.849 feels, it's not even about the resources or anything 00:44:31.849 --> 00:44:33.849 else, it's just about somebody acknowledging 00:44:33.849 --> 00:44:37.329 something that you're dealing with, whether that's 00:44:37.329 --> 00:44:41.329 a visible wound of war or an invisible wound 00:44:41.329 --> 00:44:45.829 of war, this process for some reason really helps. 00:44:46.699 --> 00:44:49.739 them to feel validated in what they deal with 00:44:49.739 --> 00:44:52.420 every day. Yeah, absolutely. That's what we hear 00:44:52.420 --> 00:44:54.820 from the veterans. They just want somebody at 00:44:54.820 --> 00:44:58.480 the VA to hear the whole story and give a reasoned 00:44:58.480 --> 00:45:01.280 approach, which they can accept or not, but they 00:45:01.280 --> 00:45:04.159 want to feel like they were heard. In our final 00:45:04.159 --> 00:45:07.039 five minutes, I'd like to cover three topics. 00:45:07.360 --> 00:45:09.559 I know that in the four and a half years you 00:45:09.559 --> 00:45:12.000 were the undersecretary of benefits at the VA, 00:45:12.500 --> 00:45:15.130 you were in the hot seat. And I want you to talk 00:45:15.130 --> 00:45:17.909 to us a little bit about that hot seat. I also 00:45:17.909 --> 00:45:20.650 want to hear your view on certified case managers 00:45:20.650 --> 00:45:24.570 and finally talking a little bit more about successful 00:45:24.570 --> 00:45:27.070 transformation and change. But let's start with 00:45:27.070 --> 00:45:29.949 the hot seat. You know, so I fully expected to 00:45:29.949 --> 00:45:33.030 arrive, you know, and sit directly in the hot 00:45:33.030 --> 00:45:35.289 seat and stay there for all four and a half years. 00:45:38.510 --> 00:45:40.449 I would say when you're leading that kind of 00:45:40.449 --> 00:45:43.329 a change and the process has been so broken that 00:45:43.329 --> 00:45:48.210 people had some concerns that you have to do 00:45:48.210 --> 00:45:52.010 something fast. For change, by the way, this 00:45:52.010 --> 00:45:55.170 magnitude of change, I don't know anybody in 00:45:55.170 --> 00:45:57.949 the federal government or even the civilian work 00:45:57.949 --> 00:46:02.389 industry that has made such huge change with 00:46:02.389 --> 00:46:05.469 such major positive outcomes. I've just never 00:46:05.469 --> 00:46:09.559 run across it. You just don't bring on six enterprise 00:46:09.559 --> 00:46:13.099 IT systems that are all customer facing that 00:46:13.099 --> 00:46:16.019 all enable you to do better across all eight 00:46:16.019 --> 00:46:19.460 areas that you have responsibility for that meet 00:46:19.460 --> 00:46:22.519 the needs of a veteran or family member or survivor 00:46:22.519 --> 00:46:25.219 in a three and a half year period of time. It's 00:46:25.219 --> 00:46:29.860 just unheard of. But still, people are in pain 00:46:29.860 --> 00:46:33.239 and there's these feelings that you've got to 00:46:33.239 --> 00:46:36.059 go faster, faster, faster, well sometimes faster. 00:46:36.110 --> 00:46:40.650 Too fast can be also the undoing of do it well. 00:46:41.369 --> 00:46:44.369 You can spend too much time talking to the critics 00:46:44.369 --> 00:46:47.789 or those who are taking resources away from what 00:46:47.789 --> 00:46:51.210 needs to be done. You don't have to say anything 00:46:51.210 --> 00:46:54.489 nasty about Congress, but I do wonder sometimes 00:46:54.489 --> 00:46:56.530 whether or not all those committee meetings actually 00:46:56.530 --> 00:46:59.230 move the ball forward or just take resources 00:46:59.230 --> 00:47:01.349 from the top away from what they should be doing. 00:47:01.840 --> 00:47:06.820 So I would say that they have an oversight responsibility. 00:47:06.960 --> 00:47:09.340 But I do think sometimes it would have been better 00:47:09.340 --> 00:47:13.280 to let us do that great change without taking 00:47:13.280 --> 00:47:17.280 quite so much fire from the tree line. Because 00:47:17.280 --> 00:47:21.239 it did, we were ending up writing lots of responses 00:47:21.239 --> 00:47:24.780 that we could have instead have been moving another 00:47:24.780 --> 00:47:27.320 new initiative forward. And I think that there's 00:47:27.320 --> 00:47:30.400 a balancing that has to be done around the oversight. 00:47:30.719 --> 00:47:33.320 and the work that people are trying to do to 00:47:33.320 --> 00:47:35.280 make things better. And so I would encourage 00:47:35.280 --> 00:47:38.800 good collaboration in those environments to watch 00:47:38.800 --> 00:47:42.869 the balance there. And I know I'm sounding very 00:47:42.869 --> 00:47:46.269 political right now, but I am. That's OK. That's 00:47:46.269 --> 00:47:48.610 the world in which you live. I don't, and so 00:47:48.610 --> 00:47:50.510 I get to be a little more blunt. Let me move 00:47:50.510 --> 00:47:53.010 you to the concept of certified case managers. 00:47:53.250 --> 00:47:55.030 You and I had some exchange on this, and I think 00:47:55.030 --> 00:47:56.530 it's really important to get your views out. 00:47:56.670 --> 00:48:01.030 Yeah. So one of the things I have seen a growing 00:48:01.030 --> 00:48:03.929 requirement of in industry since I've been out, 00:48:03.929 --> 00:48:08.039 and even while I was in, It's this idea that 00:48:08.039 --> 00:48:10.159 patients, and I'll use the word patients, that 00:48:10.159 --> 00:48:12.239 will convert, you'll see in a second, over to 00:48:12.239 --> 00:48:18.400 veterans, that human beings have more than just 00:48:18.400 --> 00:48:21.900 their medical care requirements in life. They 00:48:21.900 --> 00:48:26.699 have the complete physical socioeconomic window 00:48:26.699 --> 00:48:29.679 of a view of their life. You're not going to 00:48:29.679 --> 00:48:32.199 get a patient or a veteran to pay attention to 00:48:32.199 --> 00:48:35.280 their diabetes plan. When they don't have a job, 00:48:35.480 --> 00:48:37.280 their family doesn't have food on the table, 00:48:37.579 --> 00:48:39.880 they're worried about staying in their home, 00:48:40.380 --> 00:48:44.199 and all the rest of those non -medical side of 00:48:44.199 --> 00:48:49.059 things. Interestingly enough, we have in certain 00:48:49.059 --> 00:48:52.300 places in VA case managers around some of our 00:48:52.300 --> 00:48:55.619 most wounded, ill, and injured, where they are 00:48:55.619 --> 00:49:00.900 coordinating the efforts of sort of the the physical 00:49:00.900 --> 00:49:04.780 medical response, the non -medical benefits response, 00:49:04.960 --> 00:49:07.000 and even the end of life palliative care and 00:49:07.000 --> 00:49:10.440 memorial affairs response. And I think, you know, 00:49:10.639 --> 00:49:13.460 growing that capacity, growing that capability 00:49:13.460 --> 00:49:16.340 so a veteran has a case manager to work with 00:49:16.340 --> 00:49:21.079 of some kind will take a lot of the confusion, 00:49:21.380 --> 00:49:24.099 the navigation issues, the who do I talk to, 00:49:24.179 --> 00:49:27.530 how do I talk to someone. that knows and understands 00:49:27.530 --> 00:49:29.429 the integration of all these things, because 00:49:29.429 --> 00:49:33.329 this is my life. I'm not a medical person, and 00:49:33.329 --> 00:49:37.710 then I'm a benefits person, and then I'm a memorial 00:49:37.710 --> 00:49:41.809 affairs survivor. All these things are part of 00:49:41.809 --> 00:49:44.329 my life, and I need somebody to help me navigate 00:49:44.329 --> 00:49:48.590 that in a broader way. Industry is moving this 00:49:48.590 --> 00:49:51.489 way towards certified case managers who not only 00:49:51.489 --> 00:49:53.730 have the responsibility to make sure all the 00:49:53.730 --> 00:49:56.579 cross -medical communities are issues are addressed, 00:49:56.739 --> 00:49:59.679 but they're also now calling on and looking for 00:49:59.679 --> 00:50:03.800 benefits for homelessness or for employment services 00:50:03.800 --> 00:50:08.280 or transportation needs or all those kind of 00:50:08.280 --> 00:50:12.280 things that we do by our DNA and VA. They actually 00:50:12.280 --> 00:50:14.760 look at us and go, man, you guys have actually 00:50:14.760 --> 00:50:17.579 got a good mile for this. Why aren't we doing 00:50:17.579 --> 00:50:20.420 more of this in industry? And there's now a growing 00:50:20.420 --> 00:50:23.000 discussion around that. Well, I think it's a 00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:27.880 great idea. It would also help be on the whole 00:50:27.880 --> 00:50:31.219 customer service front where I had somebody I 00:50:31.219 --> 00:50:35.179 could call and feel like they know me and they 00:50:35.179 --> 00:50:36.880 care about me and they'll navigate me through 00:50:36.880 --> 00:50:39.860 the system. I think it's a great concept. I hope 00:50:39.860 --> 00:50:42.039 folks in Washington DC are listening to you on 00:50:42.039 --> 00:50:46.380 this and we see it blossom a little bit. I do 00:50:46.380 --> 00:50:48.659 have one thing in closing if I can share with 00:50:48.659 --> 00:50:51.099 you, which is for all your women veterans out 00:50:51.099 --> 00:50:53.280 there or even your male veterans or your non 00:50:53.280 --> 00:50:55.380 -veterans who know of women who have served, 00:50:56.159 --> 00:50:58.340 please, please, please have them go register 00:50:58.340 --> 00:51:00.940 at the Women in Military Service Memorial. They 00:51:00.940 --> 00:51:03.179 can do it online. That's one of my new other 00:51:03.179 --> 00:51:06.099 advocacy perspectives is to get more women to 00:51:06.099 --> 00:51:09.360 come forward and... and other family members 00:51:09.360 --> 00:51:11.599 to bring women forward who haven't yet registered. 00:51:12.360 --> 00:51:15.119 So we'd also leave you with that thought and 00:51:15.119 --> 00:51:20.820 that passion as well. And that was General Allison 00:51:20.820 --> 00:51:24.699 Hickey on Veterans Radio. Jim Calsone and I interviewed 00:51:24.699 --> 00:51:27.699 her last week talking about some of the changes 00:51:27.699 --> 00:51:30.559 that have been occurring at the VA, especially 00:51:30.559 --> 00:51:33.059 the Veterans Benefits part of it. And I think 00:51:33.059 --> 00:51:35.420 it's important. that you know about this, that 00:51:35.420 --> 00:51:37.340 the VA is doing everything that they can. As 00:51:37.340 --> 00:51:39.119 I mentioned earlier in the program, it's like 00:51:39.119 --> 00:51:41.699 trying to turn an aircraft carrier, you know, 00:51:41.800 --> 00:51:44.719 in a very small room. It doesn't work and it 00:51:44.719 --> 00:51:46.900 takes a lot of time. People are very territorial 00:51:46.900 --> 00:51:49.800 and so we want to make sure that we continue 00:51:49.800 --> 00:51:55.280 this process of updating the VA. You know, one 00:51:55.280 --> 00:51:57.380 of the things that we have been saying here at 00:51:57.380 --> 00:52:00.940 Veterans Radio since the very beginning is that 00:52:01.530 --> 00:52:05.329 We like to feel that we are an advocate for veterans 00:52:05.329 --> 00:52:09.010 issues and politics has no place in determining 00:52:09.010 --> 00:52:11.809 what is fair for American veterans. We just want 00:52:11.809 --> 00:52:14.510 our politicians to keep their promises. We encourage 00:52:14.510 --> 00:52:16.690 our listeners, all of you out there, civilian 00:52:16.690 --> 00:52:19.510 and military alike, to get involved in the political 00:52:19.510 --> 00:52:21.909 process and to make sure that our voices are 00:52:21.909 --> 00:52:26.449 heard because these people were some of the ones 00:52:26.449 --> 00:52:28.590 that Allison had to deal with. They started to 00:52:28.590 --> 00:52:30.980 cut her budget. They want you to do these things, 00:52:31.099 --> 00:52:33.400 but then they don't want to pay for it. So get 00:52:33.400 --> 00:52:35.659 on the horn. Let these people know what's going 00:52:35.659 --> 00:52:38.079 on. Next week on Veterans Radio, we're going 00:52:38.079 --> 00:52:40.260 to have another great story for you. I want to 00:52:40.260 --> 00:52:42.019 make sure everybody knows also that my partner 00:52:42.019 --> 00:52:44.340 Bob Gould is doing well. He had some surgery 00:52:44.340 --> 00:52:45.800 this week. If you want to send him an email, 00:52:46.199 --> 00:52:48.760 send it to Bob at veteransradio .net. Until next 00:52:48.760 --> 00:52:50.159 week, you are dismissed.