{"id":49226,"date":"2014-06-04T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-06-04T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=49226"},"modified":"2015-01-14T09:33:08","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T14:33:08","slug":"va-issues-part-iii-whats-the-vas-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=49226","title":{"rendered":"VA Issues, Part III: What\u2019s The VA’s Mission?"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Part 3 of a series. Part 1 can be found here<\/a>; part 2, here<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

IMO one of the biggest problems with the VA today is blindingly simple.\u00a0 Unfortunately, that problem will be very difficult to correct.<\/p>\n

The VA doesn’t really know what it\u2019s trying to do as an organization<\/span>.\u00a0 The problem begins with the VA’s mission statement itself – and as a result, permeates the agency.<\/p>\n

Compounding the problem, the VA is also trying to do too damn much. It\u2019s become unmanageable.<\/p>\n

. . .<\/strong><\/p>\n

The VA traces its origin to this lofty phrase from President Abraham Lincoln\u2019s Second Inaugural Address:<\/p>\n

\u201c. . . . to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan . . . .\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Indeed, the VA\u2019s formal mission statement<\/a> includes exactly this phrase \u2013 and not a helluva lot else.\u00a0 It\u2019s the VA\u2019s formally-stated raison d’\u00eatre<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But what does that phrase really mean<\/em>?<\/p>\n

I regard Abraham Lincoln as the one of the two truly indispensable figures in all of US history; the other IMO was George Washington. Without either IMO today we would not have a United States.<\/p>\n

With all due respect to Lincoln, remember:\u00a0 he was also a politician.\u00a0\u00a0 Politicians deal in flowery phrases that, on analysis, are ambiguous as hell by design. It\u2019s simply what they do, and how they get elected.\u00a0 Then as now, good “sound bites” worked – even when they actually said nothing.<\/p>\n

Lincoln\u2019s statement above was no exception. That fine-sounding phrase? It means pretty much whatever the hell you want it to mean.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s IMO essentially what the VA has done:\u00a0 whatever.\u00a0 It’s “chased the latest bright shiny object” for the last 50 years..<\/p>\n

Just about every time the \u201cgood idea fairy\u201d has flitted by during the last 40 or 50 years, the VA seems to have listened to her – cost be damned. Congress and the US public has gone along with it.\u00a0 Hell, Congress has even added some extra stuff from time to time.<\/p>\n

. . .<\/strong><\/p>\n

Theoretically, the VA is organized into a HQ (plus associated staff elements) and three major functional elements:\u00a0 the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration, and the National Cemetery Administration.\u00a0 A formal organizational chart may be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, IMO that chart doesn’t really tell anyone very much about what the VA actually does.\u00a0 So allow me to try.\u00a0 I’ve looked over their website and done a cursory analysis of what benefits they provide – and what functions the VA actually performs.<\/p>\n

In addition to the normal internal administrative and management functions that any large organization performs to maintain itself (payroll, HR, IT, legal, etc . . . ), VA does a whole lot more.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what I believe is a partial<\/em> list of what the VA does today to \u201ccare for\u201d veterans. I say \u201cbelieve is a partial list\u201d because I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019ve missed something.<\/p>\n