I went to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, to attend the retirement ceremony of Colonel Mike Ceroli.
About Col. I have written about Ceroli before – including: from Iraq, where we met for the first time over 10 years ago. When I was there, he was the commander of the Psychological Operations Battalion.
The ceremony took place on Friday at the special warfare center. John F. Kennedy, of which PsyOps (now called Military Information Support Operations – MISO) is an element.
This wasn’t my first trip to Ft. Bragg. I once spent the better part of 10 weeks there in the behind schedule 1960s when I received my basic training there.
Early in my tour of duty in Iraq, I had to go to a place called Ramadi, which at the time was under the control of the 82nd Airborne Division stationed at… Ft. Bragg.
While I was there, some youthful soldiers asked if I had military experience. I said yes; a total of six years in the New Jersey and Ohio National Guard.
Then, as youthful soldiers usually do, they asked where I “learned the basics”; where I received my basic training.
“Well,” I said, “thankfully I passed the basics at Fort Bragg.”
Their BS antennas soared high because in Ft. basic training operations are not carried out. Bragg, so how could I…
“But remember,” I continued, “this was back in the days when gas lamps provided most of the interior lighting and mules were the main mode of transportation.”
I am proud of my friendship with Mike Ceroli, as I am proud of the many other brave men and women who allowed me to stand in their collective shadow during my time in Iraq.
A few years ago, I gave a speech across the Potomac River from Mullings World to the 89th Airlift Wing units at Joint Base Andrews. I told them that when I served in the National Guard – at the height of the internal turmoil of the Vietnam War – some of my colleagues preferred to wear civilian clothes to and from training rather than endure soiled looks – or worse – from Americans who otherwise he would have seen them in military uniforms.
I told them that largely because of their high level of participation in an all-volunteer military, Americans viewed active-duty service members in a completely different and entirely appropriate lightweight.
Except, it seems, the leadership of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Veterans Administration became a full-fledged Cabinet department on March 15, 1989 – just over 25 years ago. At the time, President George H. W. Bush, a World War II veteran, said:
“There is only one place for America’s veterans: in the Cabinet Room, at the table with the President of the United States of America.”
Now we’re told that at least one Medical Center in the VA system maintains secret lists of when veterans will be called so they can make their first appointment with a doctor at the hospital.
The Arizona Republic quoted the program analyst’s explanation:
“When the meeting is created, it can take 14 days, but we make them wait 6-20 weeks for the meeting to be created.”
As many as 40 veterans may have died while waiting for their first visit to their primary care physician.
It should come as no surprise to the Department of Veterans Affairs that a enormous number of veterans request services at an Arizona hospital. Arizona is, I think it’s fair to say, well known as a major hub for retired civilians and military personnel.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told CBS news that the Phoenix scandal “makes me angry.”
Does it annoy him? That should make him go away.
Perhaps this level of disengagement by Cabinet secretaries was the norm in both Republican and Democratic administrations. However, the fact that Shinseki is completely unaware of this situation – despite numerous complaints to the VA Office of Inspector General – indicates willful ignorance, not just terrible management.
It’s a bit like HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius never thought to ask whether Obamacare’s computer systems would be ready to go when the change was implemented last October.
We owe much to Mike Ceroli and all retired service members. We owe them at least access to the basic medical care they were promised, in his case during 30 years of uniformed service.
If what we have been told about the level of service at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona is true, then America is failing all of its veterans.
On Secret decoder ring page today: Links to discussions about PsyOps, to the 89th Airlift Wing, and to a timeline of the mess at the VA Hospital in Arizona.
And Mullfoto on the occasion of Mother’s Day.
