Dr. David Shulkin has been pushed aside (read fired) as the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”). Without taking sides in what appears to be yet another partisan issue, Dr. Shulkin did a reasonably good job in bailing water in a sinking ship: the VA.
As such, it was with regret that we read Dr. David Shulkin’s self-serving departure editorial in the Continue Reading →
As 2017 draws to a close, SFTT is delighted with the early initiatives undertaken by Dr. David Shulkin to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”).
While SFTT still believes that the VA is “too large to succeed in its mission,” we applaud the Herculean effort by Dr. Shulkin to regain management control of this large rudderless ship.
Our brave Veterans simply need a far more responsive system.
Found below ...
Continue Reading →Found below are a few military news items that caught my attention this past week. I am hopeful that the titles and short commentary will encourage SFTT readers to click on the embedded links to read more on subjects that may be of interest to them.
If you have subjects of topical interest, please do not hesitate to reach out. Contact SFTT at info@sftt.org.
Why You May Not Know Anyone in the Military
Active-duty military now ...
Thomas Brennan, a former sergeant in the Marine Corps, is the founder of The War Horse, a veterans’ news site, and a co-author of “Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War,” makes an impassioned plea to “make pot legal for Veterans with TBI.”
In an “Opinion” piece for the ...
Continue Reading →As we reported earlier, Veteran Eric Bivins committed suicide after being unable to find the support and care he needed from the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”).
Found below are a moving – AND MOST SAD – series of videos by Kimi Bivins, Eric’s spouse which describes her experiences with the VA in attempting to find the proper care for her husband.
Kimi’s experiences with the VA are not dissimilar from my own and countless of others who have ...
Continue Reading →Can Secretary David Shulkin fix the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”)? The answer is an emphatic NO!
This is not a commentary on Dr. Shulkin’s inspired leadership or his vision for a vastly improved VA, but a consequence of competing ideologies and a dysfunctional institution.
As Stand for the Troops has stated several times over the past year: “THE VA IS SIMPLY TOO LARGE TO SUCCEED IN ITS ...
Continue Reading →Found below are a few military news items that caught my attention this past week. I am hopeful that the titles and short commentary will encourage SFTT readers to click on the embedded links to read more on subjects that may be of interest to them.
If you have subjects of topical interest, please do not hesitate to reach out. Contact SFTT.
Tensions High over North Korea
“Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should ...
Like the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”), the NFL has eloquently side-stepped the effects of brain trauma caused my massive or repeated concussive events.
In a most disturbing study, the Journal of the American Medical Association has concluded that “110 of 111 NFL players were found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative disease believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head.”
This ...
Continue Reading →In a rather unusual setting: the White House press room – Department of Veterans Affairs’ Secretary, Dr. David Shulkin, announced that the VA “will be overhauling its electronic health records, adopting a commercial product used by the Pentagon that he hopes will improve care for veterans and reduce wait times for medical appointments.”
While many have been pressing for a complete overhaul of the VA’s inefficient medical ...
Continue Reading →Meet J. David Cox, who many consider “Dr. No” of badly needed reforms within the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA’).
J. David Cox is President of the American Federation of Government Employees and is the person most likely to block any meaningful reform within the VA. SFTT has had an eye on Mr. Cox who in the run-up to last year’s Presidential election, threatened the previous secretary of the VA with physical violence:
Continue Reading →Cox was “prepared to whoop Bob McDonald’s a – ...