Texas Gets it Together

Last week I attended the 10th Annual Texas Veterans Summit, sponsored by the Texas Veterans Commission.  The Executive Director Mr. James Nier provided a forum for Veterans’ groups, leaders, service officers, agency heads, and Texas legislators could come together to share information, update each other on ongoing projects and areas of focus, and generally ‘strategize’ about how to show support and care for Texas Military Forces, Veterans, and Family Members.   Ms. Wyonda Laurence really set me up and arranged for me to present information on IAVA to the group who were very enthusiastic, welcoming, and positive about what I had to say.  One theme of the day that really resonated with me were discussions of the consolidation of information. 

From the start of the war (and probably before) there have been a lot of services available to Veterans.  Since then it seems like every legislator, agency, volunteer group, or department has created three new services, outreaches, or offers for troops and Veterans and it is this very information overload that I think is a problem sometimes.  I use the anology that a young Soldier can find himself out of the Army, outside the front gate of Fort Hood, with a duffel bag FULL of pamphlets but no idea of where to sleep or how to pay an electric bill.   Our DC office has sometimes struggled just to keep a list of all the various bills and their status as each Congressman feels obligated to introduce new legislation.  Groups and agencies are realizing this – even the Army began to consolidate its portals at the MALT (My Army Life Too) site.  Texas now, has a great one – called TexVet, connected to the 2-1-1 system in Texas.

According to the site itself:  “TexVet provides a forum for collaboration between Texas leaders, government agencies, organizations, and key Texas businesses committed to serving and supporting military personnel and their families.” and it is partnered with Texas Information and Referral Network (2-1-1 – the number you can dial in Texas to get info on these programs), the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, the Veterans Administration, and others.

So, if you’re in Texas, click the links to see much of what is available.  If not, bug your state’s Veterans Commission to “get it together.”  If you have something similar already, let us know and post a link. 

Hoo-ah to the Senate

Last Thursday (January 24) I had the opportunity to testify in front of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee: Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security.  This rather lengthy title is bestowed on a panel of Senators concerned about the manner in which tax dollars flow out of the treasury.  In this case – to private contractors on the battlefield in Iraq and what their effect is on our troops.  As I prepared to depart for the hearing my director asked me “what makes you such an expert?”

That gave me pause but I told him, as I did Senator Carper and the others on the panel “because I lived it.”  I sat next to Dina Rasor and Bob Baumann, authors of “Betraying the Troops” and long time waste-chasers in DC.Although I felt pretty much like a color commentator as I described the conditions my Soldiers found in Iraq and why I thought it wasn’t right, I felt less bizarre as I listened to the supposed expert panel that followed.   The gentlemen were all well spoken and at least as well-versed in acronymage as I was but I was pretty surprised by their conclusions.  In short the hearing went something like this:

Stuart Bowen, Special Instructor General for Iraq:  There were huge problems with contracting in Iraq.  The planning, supervision, and current execution is all jacked up and should be fixed.  Major changes are needed – get a contingency force of contractors and auditors.  Mr. Solis: Contracting’s all jacked up and DoD’s not fixing it.  Dina Rasor: Contracting’s all jacked up and is doubling in cost every year – there is about a one to one ratio of contractors in Iraq and they are a big rip-off.  Me:  Contracting’s all jacked up in Iraq – it affected my Soldier’s missions and welfare.  We should go back to the old doctrine and let commanders control their logistics.  Then the next panel stood up, a collection of retired generals and state department types.  Basically they said:  We thought that contracting was great but realize that it is all jacked up.  We want to fix it by adding five generals, more contractors, and less bids.  Oh – and one guy said that he should get to do it all for USAID because they had teams ready right ‘friggin’ now (except of course – they aren’t really ready to go anywhere)  To be fair – the only one that I thought made much sense was retired General Maddox, who wants to add the five generals back in (because basically there is no one to watch over all the contractors).

I guess my biggest problem with all of this (besides the camouflage of bewildering technical detail, unneeded acronyms and a lack of focus on results) is that no one even considered fewer contractors or letting the combat commanders have MORE control over their logistical chain.  They only considered and made recommendations on how to add or better supervise the current or an even higher amount and rate of contracting.  I may seem a bit flippant in all of this but it was pretty amazing to me.  Some of the gentlemen testifying have previously insisted that there were NO problems with contracting in Iraq.  I was happy to refute that and to remind them that Soldiers and Marines executed their plans and ideas – we weren’t just spreadsheet calculations.  But in this session, they seem to have all realized that but then to only consider pouring more money and effort into a plan that had demonstrably failed. 

I’d like to point out too that the Pentagon is still not able to be audited because their books are so (you guessed it) jacked up.  It’s probably germane to mention that Iraq may not be the biggest war we’ll ever face.  If the contracting corps can’t monitor the effort there, how big and how costly would the failure be on a truly grand scale?  The costs in Iraq have gone up by 50% each year we’re there – how long could our treasury (or our great-grandkids’ treasury) sustain a really big effort?  

There are some real issues here.  For sure there will be contracting and a discussion about where, when, and with what supervision is long overdue.  Senators Carper ( a twenty-three year Navy Vet who graciously explained my “hoo-ah” when given as an answer, Akaka, Collins, and McCaskill should be saluted for the time they are spending on this matter.    But the polyannish assumptions of Mr. Bell and others should be put aside or looked at in a realistic fashion.  As Senator McCaskill asked, with no serious answer from anyone – after this greatest failure, after all the wasted dollars, after the destruction of lives, equipment and property – who has been fired or even held accountable?  And the answer, so far, is no one, and no plan to do so.

(All the information about the hearing, including my statement (yes! I did get to write the phrase “shitting bricks” into the Congressional Record) is here at the official page of the committee)  ABC Interview is here: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4184740

Texas Research Into Brain Injuries

The Austin Chronicle reports on a great new initiative that combines a state of the art brain scanner and the expertise of the VA to do fundamental research into brain injuries.

“There’s a lot more art than science,” in modern rehabilitation methods, said Dr. Robert Van Boven, UT’s brain-imaging lab director, in a keynote address to a roomful of men and women in uniform, doctors, and others who came out to avail themselves of the tasty breakfast buffet at the research center’s wooded campus

The snarky tone of the article belies the subject matter, but it is a great new method of study that may yield insights into brain injury that have been impossible to see until now.

The VA and UT hope to combine scientific research with qualitative methods like psychological analysis to determine new, more effective treatments for soldiers returning from war with brain trauma. Of 1.6 million deployed troops, there may be as many as 150,000 who ultimately suffer brain trauma, according to Van Boven, who consulted with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the estimate. The imaging lab at UT is remarkable because of the methods its researchers will combine to create images of the brain.

Yael

Recognize it?

 Yep – the music for the Mac Air

Cool

Sweethearts for Soldiers

Something to get your blood up in another way, from the Professional Cheerleader Blog (who knew?):

Soldiers R U.S. is on a mission to send more than 150,000 individual “Freedom Helmet” care packages to our troops serving overseas. Now America has a way to Energize Our Troops!

Save a Soldier’s Kid

I might be blending my work in a bit here, but it’s important.  From the Killeen Daily Herald:

The 14-year-old son of a 1st Infantry Division soldier is suffering from an aggressive form of leukemia, and the family is asking all prospective bone marrow donors to complete a simple test at the Robertson Blood Center on Fort Hood to see if they may be a match.

Courtesy photo
Patrick Mancuso, an eighth-grade student at Eastern Hills Middle School has been diagnosed with acute myleloid leukemia (AML). Without treatment, Patrick may only have weeks to live.

Registering for the National Bone Marrow registry is something we should all do anyway.  For servicemen and women, it is usually as easy as contacting your local blood donor center, if you have one on post.  The C.W.Bill Young bone marrow program insures that Defense Department donations end up in the same registry as civilians – that’s at the National Marrow Donor Program.  All types are needed, especially minority and racial sub-types and once you are registered, you’ll never have to do it again. It is important to cast as wide a net as possible.  It is always important, but the clock is ticking on this young man.  Go now – and do the right thing.

‘Mazin’ Times

From the AABB newsletter:  Like my friend Teri says “that’s ‘mazin’!”

Liver transplant patient switches blood type
Transplant doctors say a 9-year-old patient who received a liver transplant changed blood types after her surgery. Stem cells from the transplanted liver migrated to her bone marrow and most of her immune system has switched over to the blood type of the donor. Doctors are now trying to determine whether the outcome can be replicated in other patients. Google/Agence France-Presse (1/24)

Medill Reports: Todd Schools the Witness Panel

A real American hero Todd Bowers testifed in front of the Senate about the Scott report:

 Medill Reports: Veterans groups push for reform of disabled veterans benefits

The photographer there told me that he was the only one to show a spark of life on the panel.  He certainly came up with a great line at the right time:

Now, the vets said, they want to see some action and enforcement from the government on recommendations made by the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission.

“You’ve got the riffle, squeeze the trigger,” Todd Bowers, director of government affairs for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said at a hearing of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

(emphasis mine)  There’s a reason they get so much done in the IAVA DC office.

Those College Republicans

Just can’t seem to keep their hands to themselves.  Raw Story is reporting:

A former aide to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney who also played a leadership role in Iowa’s College Republicans was arrested by Des Moines-area police earlier in the week on outstanding warrants related to his status as a convicted sex offender.

I don’t suppose we’ll see this get the same kind of prominence that people that donate and DON’T work for Hillary get.

Additionally, Elliott was a leading College Republican in Iowa while attending Drake University, where he served as student body president. Elliott also served as director of the Iowa Republicans’ Legislative Majority Fund.

Iowa state records show he was convicted on the sex charges in October 2006, months after leaving the Romney campaign.

Good Editing

I’m on the ABC Webcast (java script)

Contractors Gone Wild
Jan. 24, 2008