Nation Building 101

( Your friend Perry sent you the following story from GovExec.com. )

Story’s Title:

Pentagon, State struggle to define nation-building roles http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0407/043007nj1.htm

Yinglings’ Truth-telling

Although he’s got a battalion now, I suspect that his career prospects rate somewhere behind McMaster’s.

You officers amuse yourselves with God knows what buffooneries and never dream in the least of serious service. This is a source of stupidity which would become most dangerous in case of a serious conflict.- Frederick the Great

http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2007//05/2635198

Magic Plug

The magic “plug”…

Gary Motsek, assistant deputy undersecretary of Defense for program support, said the interagency program to train Iraqi security forces had suffered from poor planning. “We had a contractor plug that was going to go in there, and it was going to be kind of like magic,” he said, noting that the agencies involved have generally been successful in learning from experience.

( Your friend Perry Jefferies sent you the following story from GovExec.com. )

Story’s Title:

Lawmakers hear flurry of reasons for failure in Iraqi police training http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0407/042507m2.htm

Go to the link above to read the story.

VA Systems from Military News

3. VA, Vet Groups Oppose Claims-System Changes

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The Department of Veterans Affairs, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the

Paralyzed Veterans of America have registered objections in Congress to

two bills aimed at reducing the VA’s current disability backlog of

600,000 claims. H.R. 1490 would provide benefits as soon as a veteran

applies for disability compensation. H.R. 1444 would authorize $500 per

month for veterans awaiting benefits appeals decisions for more than 180

days. VFW spokesman Gerald Manar said that H.R. 1490 would encourage

veterans to file increasing, spurious and sometimes fraudulent claims.

He said that H.R. 1444 would encourage more veterans to file appeals,

which would corrupt and further complicate the claims process. Carl

Blake of the PVA said that paying veterans on the presumption the claims

were valid would be a mistake. He also said that interim $500 payments

would encourage frivolous claims and add to the workload.

7. VA Claims Backlogs Vary by Location

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According to AMVETS, statistics compiled by the Department of Veterans

Affairs show that claims backlogs vary based upon where the veterans

file, as well as the number of VA employees processing claims at that

location.

Veterans in Fargo, N.D.; Boise, Idaho; and Providence, R.I., for

example, enjoy some of the fastest claims turnarounds in the country,

with fewer than 6-to-7 percent requiring more than six months to

resolve. Twenty-eight percent of claims filed in Buffalo, N.Y.,

Hartford, Conn., and Los Angeles take more than six months to process.

More than 40 percent of claims in Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, New

Orleans and Montgomery, Ala., take longer than six months to resolve.

Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and Montgomery, Ala., have

some of the longest backlogs in the country, but Washington, D.C. takes

the most time, with 63 percent of claims taking more than six months to

resolve.