Op-Ed: 'After the Uniform' Lays the Groundwork - Time toTranslate Intent into Action

One thing has become abundantly clear after listening to what this panel had to say.  We know what the major issues are that face our transitioning service members and our current veterans: Unemployment, homelessness, women's issues, PTSD and TBI, timely care for our veterans, substantially more efficient claims processes.  I could keep on going, but those are the major issues.  When I was listening to everyone talk and listening to the concerns raised by others during the Q&A, I also discovered a larger and more disturbing issue that is impeding everyone's endeavors to render aid:  overdeveloped and cumbersome government bureaucracy.  Time and time again, it was brought to everyone's attention that the bureaucracy at the VA is causing most of these issues.  I would contend that it is government bureaucracy as a whole that is the problem.  The VA is run by an even bigger bureaucracy - Congress and it's army of administrators, chiefs of staff, assistants, office clerks...

Yes, we've identified the problem.  Now it's time to do something about it.  Find ways to facilitate private and public organizational hand shakes so that we can all become part of a network of support, working toward a common goal.  Even if it takes time to make this happen, the process needs to start now.  In the interim, we have a year until the next panel discussion and I am throwing down the gauntlet:

• Quantify what you have done over the course of the coming year to help veterans.  I want to see progress, not more rhetoric.  As Barbara Banaszynski said, "It's not what we say, it's what we do."
• Start at the local level - find out what the deficiencies in care/services are at the local level and work your way back to the organizations that can make a difference.  Reverse engineer the aid pipeline. 
• There are thousands of organizations and individuals that are chomping at the bit, waiting for the time when they can bring their resources to bear.  Find a way to bring them into the fold, whether by absorbing like-minded local charities or by creating affiliate programs, where local charities act in your stead.
• Everyone needs to understand that the folks at the VA are hamstrung by the state of the current system.  The only way we affect change in that system quickly is by lending our support and resources and know-how.

I am a member of IAVA, but I have been disconcerted by the anti-VA vitriol constantly spewed by the leadership of that organization.  We can't reinvent the wheel.  The IAVA is creating an even stronger environment of distrust, leading to more veterans being reticent to come forward for help.  We need to understand that focusing on problems and not offering to work with the VA on solutions hurts everyone.
The Volunteers of America and ReMIND illustrate how cooperation leads to results.  Let's continue to focus on solutions and cooperation.  Thank you for being organizations of rare vision and action.  Please let me know what I can do to further advocacy over the course of the coming year!