President Bush announced that a new task force headed by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson will be launched to help streamline the paperwork and other processes combat veterans must go through to receive benefits.
Nicholson is a Republican partisan who served as the RNC's national chair from 1997 through 2000. Despite never being elected to office, he has held numerous leadership positions, including an ambassadorship to The Vatican. The 69 year old Iowan is a West Point alum who served in the Army for thirty years, including combat duty in Vietnam, where he won a Bronze Star among numerous other medals.
The task force's mandate is to accomplish the following in 45 days:
* Identify and examine existing federal services that currently are provided to returning Global War on Terror service members;*
* Identify existing gaps in such services;
* Seek recommendations from appropriate federal agencies on ways to fill those gaps; and
* Ensure that appropriate federal agencies are communicating and cooperating effectively.
Public perception of the care combat veterans is receiving has fallen in recent weeks in the wake of a scandal at well known Army hospital Walter Reed Medical Center. Brigadier General Michael Tucker was transferred yesterday from Fort Knox to lead the embattled healthcare facility. Tucker, who served in Iraq, will oversee all operations of the military hospital, which is scheduled to be merged with Bethesda (MD) National Naval Medical Center in 2011 as part of the costutting base closure bill signed in 2005.
Labels: healthcare, VA
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