RE: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,142757,00.html Maybe Michael Moore will take the job!

I'm thinking of some grizzled 'Nam Vet nurse.

Talk about getting things done?

Hmmm ... then I qualify! I can commute - where do I sign up?

Wow, my 9 yr old niece COULD do that job!!

What really should happen is a complete change of how the VA operates and...the Whole Military Medical Services.
Question? Why does each branch of service have their own Medical Service?
Why not appoint a 5th Department of Defense (Office of Medical Services), Combine All Medical Services into one Organization (Much like the Air Force back in 1947), Consolidate all Doctors, Nurses, Medics/ Corpsmen (and call the EMT for emergency Medical technicians). Take all the different Training organizations and consolidate and use the best of the best, discard the useless or reduntant. Pull all of the equipment into one Logistics/ supply system (cause we all know the Army doesn't have what the Navy has, that doesn't have what the Air Force has). Pull all the Admin and support groups together. Pull the VA into this new Organization and make it part of, not just a bastard child that it is, of the DOD medical system. Put a real Medical Adminastraive Staff CEO member incharge of the whole shee-bang
And really Start taking proper care of our Active and Veterern Groups.
Just think what kinds of miricalse can be pulled off by doing this....there would always be a full amount of Dr, Nurses and EMT available for deployments, plus the proper equipment needed. Each branch os service wouldn't be able to hide or squander their medical units because they wouldn't belong to them...they would be "attached" to them. So, a much larger pool to pull from in time of need.

It wouldn't be that hard.

quote:

Originally posted by Lucyfan: Wow, my 9 yr old niece COULD do that job!!

And what's really cool is, your niece would be 15th in the official Presidential Line of Succession.

Its astonishing ... I hadn't quite realized that this constitutional loophole existed ... namely, a nine-year-old *could* become President! There is surely a Walt Disney / Tom Clancy movie just waiting to be made ... The Nine-Year-Old President!

Frankly, looking at the fourteen people ahead of your niece ... Cheney? Pelosi? Robert Byrd? (who is 90 years old!!!) ... maybe we'd better let your niece take a whirl at it!

I can think of half a dozen pissed-off, retired Command Sergeants Major, Master Chief Petty Officers, Master Gunnery Sergeants and Command Master Sergeants. They'd all do an outstanding job.

I'd pay really good money to sit in on the first staff meeting when one of these NCOs took over the office and started firing the deadwood in the VA.

I can but wish.

What if the the most funding could go to the strongest cabinet member ?

Imagine new VA Secretary Chuck Norris wailing on Interior and Justice while Asst VA Secretaries J. Body Ventura and and I (weak link) neutralize State & HHS with pile drivers. With a decisive victory in hand, the VA could then commandeer the best funding and support this side of Blackwater & Halyburton.

Of course this ridiculous scenario is as silly as the VA debacle is frightening. I think that the private sector might represent a radical solution at this point - implement some sort of "eminent domain" policy where hospitals and their staffs/supplies could be utilized as military support facilities for however long it takes to provide the necessary short and long-term healthcare for our brave veterans.

Or better yet: take the excellent and total health care system enjoyed by our highly successful congress and extend it to the military! Hmmm..

Don't get a vet who's never had to deal with VA.

Some of them, at least on this site, and like the retiring secretary, don't seem to think there's much wrong - either with the system or some guys who have to use it.

In America, there's nothing sadder than a sick soldier.