The President is on right now announcing that he accepted Shinseki’s resignation. Shinseki says that he doesn’t want to “be a distraction” from fixing the Department of Veterans’ Affairs problems. Good riddance. But, like I said, I’m more concerned about who this president will nominate to replace him.
ADDED: Sloane Gibson will be the interim Secretary. Fox News says he was a Ranger. Wiki says that he was an infantry officer; a step up from an armor officer, I guess. More bio at VA.GOV.
And the new guy’s qualification is that his grandfather and father were veterans? Better than nothing, but other than that, is he qualified?
Mattis!
Putting Mattis in charge would signal that this administration is dedicated to helping veterans. So that won’t work…..
Mattis is the embodiment of everything the Glorious Leader and his cronies hate and fear. The next administration will hopefully make good use of him (hell, if we were really lucky as a nation the next one would be the Mattis Administration), but this one will avoid him like the plague.
After being a distraction for 5+ years, now Eric the Hat doesn’t want to be one? If the whole thing wasn’t so tragic, it’d be pure comedy.
That’s Eric the beret to you, thank you very much!
As long as this is only the START of the house cleaning at the VA.
-Ish
This country probably has thousands of very qualified administrators that oversee competent, efficient and profitable institutions and could turn the VA around. Unfortunately, I doubt even one of them will be looked at for the position. More than likely, there will be another smiling face/talking head/crony that will get the job and tread just enough water to keep afloat. To say I have zero confidence in this administration is an understatement. They have proven time and again that they couldn’t find their ass with a handful of fish hooks.
Wouldn’t an MSC/AMEDDS veteran with experience in command/control of a joint medical command be a better choice for this assignment?
A combat arms guy is not, IMO, the best possible choice for this posting.
I think I’ll withhold all but one comment until I see more – and specifically, who’s nominated to replace Shinseki.
My one comment: hopefully this doesn’t turn out to be a case of “Better the devil ye know . . . . “
Sloan, or so the occupier-in-chief says, is coming from DHS, or some other agency in which he was an undersecretary. Or some such. Has an impeccable record, so he says. But he is only “acting.”
There are many, many fine asskickers in the private sector who have experience remaking companies awash in failure and medocrity. None of them will be sought. If the past is prologue, look for a former congressman, lobbyist, or master of political fundraising to be appointed. BTW, Shitseki was so good, he lasted longer than any of his predecessors! And the fact that he lasted so long and was allowed to resign does, indeed, confirm that the Meterosexual in Chief is a Mom-jeans wearing, can’t-throw-a-baseball pussy. What he should have done was send a note to Beret Boy and had it delivered by a message service. the note? “Get out now. We’ll forward your personal items to you in a week or so. Go.”
Your first three sentences nail it. At this point, I am not concerned with a Veteran as the Secretary. I want someone with some goddamn experience running a major hospital network. I want someone with a proven track record of taking terrible companies, hospitals, etc. and remaking them into model examples of efficiency and competency. I want someone who is going to come in and shake up the culture of the VA, not just put a band aid on a sucking chest wound; because based on the President’s remarks about throwing money at a scheduling system, that is what we are doing.
You hit the target center mass Zedechek ..
Unfortunately, I am afraid we will not have any shaking up of the culture at the VA. I retired as a DOD employee this past November. I don’t know how may times upper management closed ranks when the shit got deep. VA officials will (and already have) lied, shredded documents, and Lawyered up.Congressman Jeff Miller of Florida has issued many subpoenas and requests to the agency for information related to the systemic mismanagement but has met resistance from employees, who have hired lawyers and clammed up. Dad state of affairs. I won’t hold my breath for fundamental change.
I doubt I have to tell you this AC, but no competent adminstrators in the private sector who know anything about this job would want it. They’d take a hell of a cut in pay, go to work knowing they’re a scapegoat, knowing they have little or no ability to hire/fire the people that need it, and have little or no control of the budget they need to do the job correctly.
If it were me, I’d rather go play in traffic first.
Perzactly. Nobody would do this for the money. Top salary for a cabinet member is so low, most mid-tier hospital administrators make more. I have a number of friends, also retired MSC’s, in C-suite position for private sector hospitals making $250K-1.2M a year. These are hospital systems executives, they’re single hospital executives. A couple of our (Navy) former Surgeons General are making big bank as hospital systems CEO’s ($3-4M, plus big, big performance bonuses).
The person who takes this job has to have extraordinary leadership skills and will have to know and understand that it won’t be this job that gives him/her the big payday, it’ll be the next one.
Mattis.
Megan McArdle explains the problem: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-05-27/why-obama-can-t-fix-the-va
What that means in plain English is that when you put reforms in place, you can’t just rip out the stuff that’s not working and do something different. What you’re actually reforming is the process, and because many of the current elements of the process are functionally mandated by other government rules, or court rulings, or bits of legislation that your reform effort didn’t amend, you have to layer your reform on top of the system you wanted to reform, rather than in place of it. Many of your reforms simply stack another layer of bureaucracy on top of the bureaucracy that was already causing problems. This is a problem that CEOs don’t face, unless they’re in some heavily regulated business such as banking or oil refining.
“Shinshiatkaned”
😀
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHQLQ1Rc_Js
http://youtu.be/Qy9_lfjQopU
I don’t think shinsekies the witch, He was at Best a Flying Monkey.
If that bio is current, and he is now an appointed official at the VA, he is one of the folks who should be out of a job today. Unless his was the lone voice that has been calling for corrective measures all along, he is part of the problem.
I know this won’t be popular, but I think Shinseki is getting a lot of c*&p here he does not deserve.
Lets think about him a bit. We all hate the Beret decision, I get it. But seriously, that was about A HAT. More importantly, it was about a vision that, in 2000, was SPOT ON. that vision was that we had to move to be an expeditionary Army with less distinction between the CA and CS units. In 2000 that was revolutionary and, it turns out, spot on. If senior NCOs had done their job as opposed to kvetching about it and enforced standards, it wouldn’t have been so bad. Ask the Rangers what they think about their Tan Berets.
Next, he wanted a sub 20 Ton, modular, survivable, combat vehicle. Turns out, that WAS exactly what we needed and didn’t have five years later.
Next, he stood up to Rumsfield and had the guts to tell Congress his honest assessment on required troop levels and got canned for his troubles. Turns out, he was right about the required number of Soldiers needed.
At the VA, he inherited a broken system at a time when demand for services, diverse services, were ramping up exponentially. I can’t say how well he did. It looks like the answer is: not so good. But blaming him for the whole debacle over the standard “the man in the corner office goes” is unfair.
What I see here, and elsewhere, is an unfair demonization of a General who was right an awful lot of the time, tried to put troops first, and paid the price for it. It seems to come from three different places: 1) the Obama is at fault for EVERYTHING crowd. 2) the I-can’t-get-over-the-beret crowd, and then the legitimate 3) if you are the head of the agency, its your head that rolls group.
So lets be honest with ourselves, maybe he had to go. Maybe he was not performing up to scratch. But give the man some respect.
Was taught at Benning that a commander is responsible for everything his troops do or fail to do.
But the commander also has extensive power over those troops…to reward or punish, keep or separate, revoke their passes or let them go out, work and train to all hours or let them rest.
The less power the leader has, the less responsibility he ought to carry.
(How much this applies at the VA I do not know; simply pointing out that you shouldn’t apply “strict command responsibility” to people without “strict command powers.”)
Fair enough. Did Eric know about these problems? If yes, what did he do? Did he go to his higher and seek resources/authority? If yes, let’s see it. If no, then he should have been fired. Wonder how his Army subordinates were treated by him in similar, albeit, smaller situations.
It’s too easy of an out to say that lazy GS’s cause everything and they can’t be fired. They can be fired…it does take time and effort. I remember a COL telling my GO boss that a GS’er was the reason for all his problems. The Gen had me pull the GS’ers file and surprise, surprise: said Col had been giving the GS’er Outstanding performance appraisals. The Gen fired the Col.
Hi SJ, I am not saying he should stay. I agree the guy in command is responsible for the failures of his command. What I am saying, is that the nastiness and demonization is not appropriate nor is it fair.
Matt, we’ll just have to agree to disagree on friendly terms. I was on The Army Staff during part of his reign and never heard a good thing said about him including guys that had been in his command in the field. You visionary points seem to be good ones. He had ample time to fix things at VA IMHO. Thanks.
Since I was out of the Army in 70′ it’s hard for me to really form a good opinion of the man, but I do like what Matt said, and respect SJ’s well informed opinion also. Both of you have helped me come to a much more informed opinion. Having been both a VA and DOD employee I have seen major incompetence at all levels and don’t see how anyone can fix this but sure hope they do.
Thanks AirCav. This is a text book case of the difficulty of debating on a blog. I suspect that if Matt and I were debating in person with an adult beverage in hand, we’d be agreeing and nodding our heads 99% of the time. He pleasantly brought up things that I had never heard of and I appreciate that.
nearly everything that you wrote has nothing to do with his failed leadership at the VA. And you wrote quite a bit. The only thing I see regarding his VA tenure is that he inherited a broken system. Okay, he had five years. Did he fix it? No. Did it actually worsen under his leadership? It sure looks that way, doesn’t it? And what’s with MAYBE he had to go and MAYBE he wasn’t performing up to scratch? Is that your idea of being honest? He was an abject failure who should have been gone before now and who was, at last, force fed the horrors of his department and who, presumably to placate those calling for his head, had no problem axing others. He should have led by example and said, “I failed. I did my best but the VA is not better than it was when I took over; therefore, I am resigning, effective immediately.” Or he could have concocted some excuse to save his buddy (The Emperor, the guy who is NEVER wrong) some embarrassment over selecting him.
THEN, had he done that, he would have garnered some respect. Otherwise, no. There’s your honesty.
To get respect he has to be respectable first…
Says “Anonymous.” Way to set the standard.
Anyone who rises to wear 4 stars is due some respect. Other than that, as VA Secretary Shinseki was a somulent, uncaring hack.
This has nothing to do with berets or any other stupid thing. This has to do with 40 vets dying on his watch because a hospital didn’t feel like taking care of them in a timely manner.
He is responsible for the problems that were plaguing the VA. OK, he was handed a shit sandwich as a job. He could have found ways to handle it but he didn’t.
Specifically in regards to berets: Back before 9/11 how tight was the budget? It was pretty significant. Shinseki spent a stupid amount of money to give the Army a new hat. (Clinton cut our force and budget by 40%, but raised our OPTEMPO 300%)
There were reserve units that couldn’t even fire once a year, but we spent money for a new hat. There were Soldiers who couldn’t go to schools to get better at their job, but we got a new hat. There were units who didn’t have functioning equipment and had to “simulate” most of their training, but we got a new hat.
I could go on and on Matt, but that’s enough example I think.
And the Rangers now “might” enjoy having a Tan Beret, but there were any other number of colors he could’ve picked to use for a new hat. He picked Black to purposely tell the 75th “hey, fuck you guys” and that’s it.
As far as the Strykers, they were a part of the “Objective Force” program. So, Strykers out of that entire program were functional. the rest of it was pretty much scrapped. (google Objective Force Warrior if you want to see)
I recall something about a broken clock being right at least twice a day.
This is the Obama Administration. It CAN get worse.
IMHO, B. Hussein 0bama doesn’t have a soul or a conscience, and I think the only reason he canned Shinseki was because the heat is on his administration over VA Healthcare. I also think the next appointee will probably be little more than just another political hack. After all, the problem people in the VA are usually its most entrenched bureaucrats, aren’t they?
bringing in a genuine kick-ass-take-names type would set an extremely dangerous precedent – expect Civil Service to fight that to the death.
The VA Secretary is a political appointee. The career Federal workforce has no say in who is appointed. Regarding who the POTUS appoints, only the Senate’s opinion matters.
but the government employees’ unions carry clout, and some of the higher-level folks know aides to Senators, and others who may owe them favors may know where some juicy dirt is on a candidate… they may not vote but they can still be a force in the voting process if they choose to be. And sure as hell can drag their feet and be obstructive to whomever comes in. Never underestimate an entrenched bureaucracy’s ability do run at slow speed.
In my experience with the VA it’s some of the lazy ass , low level workers that are the problem, some don’t give a shit and others give 100%. Start firing some of them and people will start changing their ways. If the body has cancer, replacing the head don’t cure it!
The Obama administration will try to sweep the whole ordeal under the rug now.
Over and under on next VA chief:
Duckworth.
Has congressional friends, strong Dem from IL, has VA experience, backing of Prezzy. Won’t have issues with passing muster in Senate- she’s a disabled vet herself.
Don’t say I agree with it, but I can see this happening
Dunno. That would put Duckworth’s seat back in play in 2014. Her election in 2012 was a relatively close thing (54/45).
I’m expecting someone from outside Congress.
Maybe she can use more of her vet benefits and get another degree of some kind, and still not help anyone else out like her last time working for the VA.
Ever hear of Major Burch, USMC? He was the CO of the USMC’s Reconnaissance Training Company. He “was” because he has been relieved of duty b/c a PFC drowned in a pool in a training accident. Was the major present? No. Was the major aware of exactly what was occurring when the PFC drowned? No. Had he done anything personally that contributed to the PFC’s tragic death? No. So, why was he relieved of command? You know why.
“Shinseki says that he doesn’t want to “be a distraction” from fixing the Department of Veterans’ Affairs problems.”
Distracted by what!!! Golf, vacations? Dipshit. Glad he’s gone and it should have been a LOT sooner.
You forgot the all important “fund raising” there, Sparks. A prez needs to keep his priorities in perspective.
Car repair shop manager: “Calm down, sir. I know you’re upset, but you’ll be plaesed to know that I was hired to solve issues like yours, to get this shop up to speed, to increase responsiveness to our customers and deliver what we promise!”
Car owner: “Well, my car has been in your shop for six years, dammit!”
Car repair shop manager: “Six years, you say? Well, sir, you can’t blame me for that. I was hired five years ago so it was all ready broken when I got here.”
When your enemies catch you flat footed and threaten to overrun your lines, you stage a withdrawl, trading space for time. And yes, this is hard on the troops you leave behind to hold up the enemies advance, but it works.
That’s all this is. The administration is trading space for time at the expense of a few senior leaders and some cash (in the way of bonuses that won’t be given at this time). They know this is ugly, but they know they can turn this around by saying “See we are taking steps! See we did this! And now we’ll move forward with our grand vision and reforms!” and in two years, they are out. So for the next two years, they get to continue to shaft people, saying “Give us time, look we just did a major house cleaning, we need time…”
And then we’ll have a new administration, which hopefully is a damn sight better than the old one. But unless this administration is held accountable, I wouldn’t expect to see major changes or improvments until then.
I wish Mr. Gibson well; we’ll see how he does. A good military background is a plus, but as we know, it’s not the be-all and end-all.
To the extent that I sympathize with any general officer who is put in charge of a civilian organization, I sympathize with Shinseki’s probable culture shock attempting to command his employees without the controls at all levels built into the military. Does that excuse his inability to adapt? No. Does it relieve him of responsibility? No.
We shall see if the public attention span on this outlasts the administration’s ability to tap dance.
First VA Sec now Jay Carney. Any one wanna guess/bet who’s next?
This just in: Jay Carney is also resigning, as of lunchtime news.
Bodaprez is on TV announcing it to presspeeps.
We hardly knew ye, Opie. Bon voyage.
http://rt.com/usa/162632-obama-spokesman-carney-unexpectedly-resigns/
POSITION WANTED: Accomplished professional liar. Able to lie with a straight face and to feign umbrage when hint of someone questioning veracity is detected. Extensive experience at manipulating media and using them to employer’s advantage. Fluent in doublespeak, adept at misdirection and deflection while pretending clarity and responsiveness to difficult questioning.
So most lawyer turned politicians?
Ever hear of a TV show called undercover boss? Ever hear of loss prevention staff being placed in a store to watch the employees, not the customers? How about baby-faced LEOs being planted where young people congregate? You see where I’m going with this? If the next Secretary wants to know what he is dealing with, he or she ought to see daily ops without fanfare. Place a call to a VA facility. Drop in unannounced on Friday at 3:00 without an entourage. Observe the parking lot on Monday morning. Get snapshot reports on leave usage and other factors affecting productivity and announce, beforehand, that you will personally read reports at random and will personally conduct follow-up. There are so many things that a new Secretary can do, IF real change is desired and a culture change is to be effected.
Kinda like the movie Brubaker. I like your ideas.
Drudge says Carney fired. Cant stand the guy but what did he have to do with anything? He just tells whatever lies Barry tells him.
Can’t imagine his doing anything which would result in being fired, unless he finally said, “NO,” to some lie he was told to repeat.
I suspect that he’s going to work for NBC or something ala Stephanopolis.
It’s never anyone’s fucking fault in this goddamn administration. Zero has said it’s the old computers’ fault!
http://twitchy.com/2014/05/30/unreal-obama-blames-old-computers-for-va-scheduling-abuses/
Gotta throw BS flag. If they needed new computers, then why did they buy new furniture right before the furlough and not computers? (Its usually the same pot of money).
Shinseki is one of those “leaders” that doesn’t get results.
It’s why he was replaced in Iraq by a guy that could.
All I keep hearing regarding the man from his defenders is he’s a wounded Vietnam veteran. That’s cool and all, but you have to deliver results. Neither in Iraq nor the VA did this occur.
Later!
FatCircles0311: I don’t think Shinseki ever was in Iraq, except perhaps to visit while TDY. He doesn’t seem to have the SWASM and retired in June 2003.
http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/v2_article_large/public/2014/05/14/eric-shinseki-gives-evidence.jpg
FNC’s Bill O’Reilly flubbed it last night making reference to Shinseki’s failure in Iraq & being replaced by Petraeus. Actually George Casey was MNF-I commander & was succeeded by Petraeus. Casey was “rewarded” by getting bumped up to be the CSA.
Good. He can take his ******* black beret with him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZkYGcz1DgI
DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU WHERE THE GOOD LORD SPLIT YOU, RIC!!!!!!
Isn’t just effing “swell” that the yardbirds at the VA can get the website updated instantaneously with the interim guy’s start date?!?!
Some criminal charges need to come out of this cooking the appointment books fiasco…
Im more concerned about the career civil servants in the VA that let this get so out of hand, took bonuses and will never be fired. Until the house is cleaned the culture there will remain breast beating inquiries or not
I heard he actually submitted his resignation about three years ago, but it just got through the VA…
Now that’s funny, I don’t care who you are.
Tammy Duckworth
Mark my words
As many of you know I am getting ready to retire from the Army
As soon as I find a job. Hear is where my “fun” VA story comes in.
We have a local VA hospital that is huge. I have the whole USAJobs federal application process down…having received many interviews…so before you go there that isn’t the issue. And I don’t apply for shit I am not qualified for.
Since September I have applied for 7 jobs at the local facility. Usually in the GS-11/12 range. 5 times…FIVE times they have magically cancelled the job posting after the posting closed and my packet made it through the screening process.
The last time was the straw that broke the camels back.
Applied for a GS-11 Management Analyst position.
Got a nice letter telling me I “don’t meet the minimum education and experience requirements”
Yeah. A field grade officer with nearly 26 years of service, service as a battalion S-3 and XO and currently a primary staff officer (Brigade S4) on a Brigade Combat Team, and two Master Degrees…one of which is in Management. Yet I don’t have the requisite “education and experience” to be a GS-11 Management Analyst in the fucking VA.
You apparently missed distribution of the code book – you did not take the correct number of community organizer courses, do not belong to the correct union, and did not contribute the correct amount to the last campaign.
Sadly OWB that is probably closer to the truth than anything
They probably have an outside contractor doing the initial screening, and that contractor probably uses a software algorithm that searches your resume (no more KSAs) looking for the ‘right’ keywords.
They probably also had an internal candidate selected, too. :-/
“They probably also had an internal candidate selected, too. :-/”
Correct. Which is why they “magically” decide to cancel 5 of the postings when resumes like mine come in out of left field.
Yeah, I think you’re on to something there. The procedures must be satisfied and the appearance of impartiality established before the ringer is selected. And the more a position pays, the more likely it’s a done deal, I speculate.
“The more a position pays, the more likely it’s a done deal, I speculate.”
The alternate scenario is one where the pay-to-work/responsibility ratio is very high. i.e., the archetypal do-nothing desk job.
0-4E: Seriously, it may that the “experience” you possess is not in the very narrow specialization the position actually requires. The reason I say this is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all management analyst description but is, after the general bullshit, particularized to a specific agency need (e.g., budget.) The exasperation you are experiencing is a fine intro into gov’t service. The route is fraught with angles and curves that are both unreasonable and altogether nonsensical.
The time to be doing what your doing is now–before need arises–so don’t quit on it. Pester the shit out of them until they shut you up by hiring you. Good luck.
You are correct. And that particular position was focused on budget and budget execution.
Of which I manage between $20-24 million a year spread out in about 18 different programs.
Yep, definitely one of those:
“well, we HAVE to post it, but once we post it, we’ll just put in the by-name request specifically for your brother so he can take the job. don’t worry, you hooked me up, so I’ll hook you up this time. We don’t know these other candidates, doesn’t matter how much experience they’ve got, once we say we picked someone, that’s it.”
Which is pretty much how it works. Once you’re in the system finally, it makes it a lot easier, but getting in is really the tough part. Unless someone wants to specifically by-name you unfortunately.
I have some dealing with hiring low-level civilians and its crazy some of the BS that happens.
I’m certainly no fan of shinseki, but anyone out there joyously thinking that the VA will now be ‘fixed’ is in for a rude awakening.
Seriously, if any of you think that the VA isn’t a textbook case of a bloated, corrupt, inefficient b-cracy, then y’all are seriously in denial.
Come back in a year and let’s see how things go.
Definitely won’t be. The problem is, they knew about the problems when Barry came in.
If Shinseki had started then to change the culture and the issues, there would be improvements by now. 5 years blown and Vets dying because of administrators who wanted performance bonuses.
So now it’ll take that many more years to change things culturally. Though yes, anyone in any VA who put people on secret lists needs to be in prison for 20+ years.
And yes, you have DA Civilians who bilk the system and always will. My last unit has a DA Civilian who still works there and is down to about 2-3 hours a day, but still gets paid for 8. Why? Because everyone is “afraid of her and her connections” but in reality if she was charged with Fraud, no one would stand behind her and she’d be fired.
But who is going to do that? Someone with a spine, which Shinseki doesn’t have as VA Secretary. Regardless if his war record.
That’s exactly my point. The VA is like a multi celled organism, part of a collective, yet operating independently and on its own. No leader, no matter how inspirational, strong minded, or tough, is going to be able to fix those kinds of rot that festers throughout the organization.
What interests me is that nobody seems to point to the original problem that has helped cause all this crap today. When President Clinton opened the VA to ALL veterans he did not increase the funding this expansion needed. It was more feel good legislation gone bad. I believe the solution to this problem is quite simple or I am…
First: All Veterans Rated 50% or more should be given a Disabled Veterans Card good for anything to be used at the doctor and hospital of their choice. At 50+ you rate that.
Second: All Veterans Rated 40% or below would have PRIORITY, real PRIORITY at their closest VA Facility.
Third: All non-service connected veterans must use their local VA in space available after the Service Connected.
With all the 50-100% leaving the system there should be room for everyone else. Also, any 50-100 that wants to use the VA still could but I’d be willing to bet, they won’t.
Sure Shinseki inherited a broken VA, but his job waa to start fixing it. He Did NOT do that. Also remember that he was the boss om 2011 for the GI Bill late payment thing that Tammy ended up taking the hit for. The honorqble thing for him would have been to resign his position, but go back to work till he fixed VA, only drawing his double-dipped pension.