Washington Conference Day II: Revenge of the Blue-cappers

We will be heard. Day 2 at Washington Conference is upon us, and while it was a late Guinness fueled evening of friendship and trivia games last night, nothing a few dozen purchases at Starbucks can't overcome. Just as a shout out to my commenters yesterday, I will be addressing the Women's Veterans Forum. You are right that you should hear what I thought of it all, only collecting it into something useful may take me a bit. I have some down time tomorrow morning that will be devoted to it. I can assure you that your comments were registered by Seventh Son who I stood in line with for coffee this morning, and he also views getting under-represented demographics into the Legion as a crucial endeavor. Anyway, the highlight for me today will be the attendance of my friend Jim Marshall, Democrat from Georgia. Regardless of what votes Jim might ever cast, what party he is with or anything else, I will always be proud to have met the man, to have talked to him alone on many occasions, to even have borrowed books from his bookshelf when on leave from Afghanistan. Just read the man's bio:

The son and grandson of army generals, Marshall was born in Ithaca, New York, but moved frequently during his childhood and graduated from high school in Mobile, Alabama. He entered Princeton University in 1966, but left college in 1968 to enlist in the United States Army. He served in Vietnam as an Airborne Ranger reconnaissance platoon sergeant and earned two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. (Marshall was recently inducted into the Army Ranger Hall of Fame.) He returned to Princeton in 1970 and graduated in 1972. Marshall worked various jobs for two years before entering law school at Boston University, where he earned his J.D. in 1977. He practiced law, taught at Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law in Macon, and from 1995 to 1999 served as mayor of Macon before running for Congress. Marshall lives in Macon with his wife Camille Hope, the daughter of National Hurricane Center meteorologist John Hope (and the namesake for Hurricane Camille). The couple has two children, Mary and Robert. His great-great-great-grandfather is former U.S. Congressman and famed inventor Hezekiah Bradley Smith.

We will also have Secretary Shinseki and a host of others. I will live blog it all, save a few minutes when I go upstairs to meet Congressman Marshall when he arrives. I hope to get some info out of him on how he feels (as a veteran, a congressman, and as a law professor) about the ACLU attempts to invalidate the Stolen Valor Act on Constitutional grounds. Anyway, we are still bout 10 mikes out from our SP time, (little Infantry talk this morning) but I will update as the morning progresses. OK, here we go, salute and pledge to the flag, opening prayer, introduction of the PR Chairman, and now watching the video that the PR Staff made, that frankly I think is awesome. Jim Koutz, the Legislative Chairman, and an absolutely wonderful man from the mighty city of Boonville, IN is now introducing our National Commander Clarence Hill. Commander Hill is now giving out the operations order for everyone to head up on the Hill, detailing past successes and what challenges remain to be done. Discussing some of the problems with the Post 9/11 GI Bill, praising Shinseki for at least addressing those issues as fast as he can. Ditto the claims process problems. The backlog is still growing. Deputy Secretary of Defense Bill Lind is now speaking. Discussing the Jared Monti Medal of Honor ceremony. (Lind identified Monti as a New Hampshire guy, but as a proud Massachusian, we are claiming him as ours.) "We face tough new changes in Afghanistan." Great risks from IED's and other threats, but the initial phase of Marjah is reaching completion. But military is only part, the Afghan Gov't and Armed Services must also step up. Success in Paki as well, but (again) tough challenges ahead. DoD budget increases are tough when domestic budgets are frozen, but the Pres believes that we need to preserve the Nat Sec budget. (Amen) Support the troops on the ground is always top priority. "Rebalanced" procurements to emphasize immediate wartime needs. (Now referencing the Quadrennial Defense Review, which can be found here.) Discussing cuts in weapons systems for budget discipline. Greater accountability is also about doing business in better ways, smarter buyer, best equipment, less reliance on outside groups. Increasing size of the Army and Marines, and stopping any drawdowns on the other services. Medical Care: Successes on the battlefield with saving lives. De-stigmatize PTSD, depression etc. Keep faith with the troops and their families, especially the wounded ones. FLOTUS Michelle Obama has made this a top priority. Congressman John Boozman from the 3rd District of Arkansas is speaking now. In my former life as a lobbyist I got to meet the Congressman repeatedly, and he's a heck of a good guy, Arkansan through and through. He is the ranking member on the Economic subcommittee with Chairwoman Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin. Stephanie is always a crowd favorite here, and she's my second favorite Member of Congress after Marshall. Which is somewhat interesting, since when I met her I was on leave from overseas and I met her in Marshall's office. I thought she was a staffer. Anyway, Boozman is talking about how the partisan wrangling does not occur on his subcommittee, and from what I have seen, that's 10% true. Wish that applied to the committee as a whole. Discussing his parents, specifically his dad who is a retired Air Force veteran. Explaining why all of these issues are so important to him. On a return trip from overseas he stopped at Landstuhl. He was in the ICU there when he met a guy who was severely imaged. Double amputee. The wounded soldier was on pain killers, apologizing for slurring his speech. He asked about his buddies, then about his wife. He wanted to know if he would ever walk again. And the Congressman was proud to tell him yes, that because of the great work of the VA on prosthetics, and the emphasis we have put on this issue, he will walk again. Ray Jefferson, Assistant Secretary for Veterans' Employment and Training for the Department of Labor. Honestly, I am not sure what he is discussing, because I got all dreamy over his bio. Check this out:

A 1988 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Jefferson went on to serve as an officer with three elite military and special forces units – the Presidential Honor Guard, the 3rd Ranger Battalion and 1st Special Forces Group/Green Berets. In 1995, Jefferson was wounded in the line of duty; after his recovery, he enrolled at Harvard, where he subsequently obtained both an MBA and a master’s degree in public policy. His activities at Harvard included working with Easter Seals on a campaign to educate amputees about prosthetics and founding the Hawaii-Harvard Initiative, a program that brings Harvard students to Hawaii to cultivate future students and share knowledge and resources.

He was "wounded" in that he lost all his fingers on his left hand. But, his academic record is like his military one. I will do a separate post on what he is talking about later, but he is one impressive individual, and a very dynamic speaker. ******** OK, we seem to be off schedule here, but the agenda is more aspirational than one might expect. I am trying to hold out to hear Secretary Shinseki, but need to go wait on Congressman Marshall at some point soon. Looks like I will also miss the address of my friend, Mark Arneson. In addition to being the National Sons of The American Legion Commander, Mark is also on of my "company mates" from the mighty Romeo Company at The Citadel. He was a junior when I was just a knob being beaten up daily by Skeletor James Darren Byers, my knob Platoon Leader and a man whose name even 21 years later strikes me with fear as I discussed last night. Anyway, Mark is an awesome individual and I was pleased to enjoy an adult beverage and some OLD memories with him and his beautiful wife last night. OK, now we seem back on a schedule. A schedule, just not he one I have. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Gen Eric Shinseki. Here is his bio. Starts by discussing the VA Budget. "Largest budget in 30 years." GI Bill issues, but moving on it. "Fixes in place." Fully automated by the end of this year. Access to care is expanding. New and improved facilities, expanding Group 8, opening new cemeteries(?). We will work to provide health care to areas that are further away. New CBOCs etc opening as we move along. By 2011, we will have 70 more CBOCs, 31 Vet Centers, and 40,000 chronically ill veterans who qualify for remote monitoring, using technology to provide health. Really pushing "tele-health." Major investment for the VA. Homelessness, 131,000 on streets each night as of last year. Pledged to end homelessness in 5 years. Down to 107,000 remain homeless. (I will try to get these stats from other sources since I know others will have questions, as I have.) To end homelessness, we heed to take a holistic accounting of everything involved, depression, suicide, substance abuse, education opportunities, JOBS, dignity, all must be part of the "full court press." Welcome collaboration. Backlog....not progressing as fast as he wanted. 974,000 claims finalized last year. Received a million new ones. That leaves us in the red, and we understand that. Outreach efforts are clearly working since we have more people applying for benefits they earned, now we just need to pick up the pace a little more. Long standing obstacles must be addressed, faster and better processing with higher quality decisions. Seamless transition also a focus. Joint DoD/VA effort, so that medical records travel with the soldier (marine etc) when they move up and out and into the VA, then the file moves with them. No lag, no "where is your DD214, last physical" etc. This is how we will beat that challenge, by leveraging IT assets to make it much smoother. All right, I just got to walk down with Congressman Marshall, and he is up next. I asked him to speak slow because I am a grunt and my typing skills are not so good, but I doubt he will honor my request. I was happy to note 2 things about the Congressman's attire, his Combat Infantryman's Badge lapel pin, and his Infantry crossed rifles tie. Congressman Jim Marshall, 8th District of Georgia. Campaign to end the disabled veterans' tax is ongoing. HR 333, is his bill, and he wants everyone to focus getting their Members of Congress on as co-sponsors. Made some advancements on Chapter 61 retirees, but more needs to be done. More trips to A-stan and Iraq than any other Member of Congress. Trips with General Schoomaker, General Casey etc. Can't police the world but must develop partnerships interested in global security. Must find ways to partner more effectively. DoD must take the lead on this because of the funding streams. In A-stan, it is crunch time now. Longest war in the history of America. Reasonable progress in next few years, or we won't be able to sustain it on the street. Partisanship is a huge problem, and he believes that Gerrymandering is a prime contributor. Too many safe districts. Primary is too important and general election less so in some of these districts. Iowa has non-partisan redistricting, as a result, more closer races in Iowa than Florida, California and Illinois combined. Looking at the spectrum, these races throw off the bell curve, and we see dual humps on the right and left fringes. Clear progress in Iraq. Most worried about the election violence and Shi'ite/Sunni/Kurd problems. We did it, we are there, need to see it through, and we must feel good about the performance of our troops. In A-stan, counter-terrorism or counter-insurgency....Clear and hold, or strike and pull out. We need the INTEL on the ground, so we need the COunter-Insurgency approach. Very solid leadership team there now. Massive logistical challenge, but we are headed in the right direction operationally. Tribal culture is that they are survivors not wedded to a specific ideology. So, we must use our assets to leverage them away from the Taliban that they don't like anyway. We must go in in force, sort them out, and try to convert Tali's to our side. Give them no place to go, and that includes Pakistan. We must win there, or Al Qaeda will only look like the winner and walk away with greater strength. Proud of our troops. Most part, professionals, conceded in the officer ranks that we are the best trained and equipped military in history. New Rules of Engagement: do they put troops at risk in favor of civilians? Judgment is that if we continue to make errors and kill civilians, then the effect is to turn the populace against us, and we NEED them on our side, to talk, to provide INTEL, etc. Can't happen if we turn them against us. It is an approach that we have to try. We may sometimes disengage, and there is a fear we may miss some bad guys. Legit concern, they may get away to fight another day. But it is a judgment call that I think we need to make. Lastly, need to address narco-money and corruption. Weaker than they were, but hard to quantify. If the underwear bomber is the best that they can do, we are doing fairly well. Guarding our borders and not going overseas is COMPLETELY unrealistic. We must be pro-active with partnerships and taking the fight to the enemy. I am on the Board of Visitors at West Point. Dad went there and asked him to promise him to make a life in the military. His Dad and Grandfather and the rest of his family interred on the West Point grounds. I Want to share what I will put on the marker there. (He then broke his promise by speaking too fast, but I found what he was referencing, and I share it in full here:

As he lay a-dying, the soldier spake: “I am content! Let my mother be told, in the village there, And my bride in the hut be told, That they must pray with folded hands, With folded hands for me.” The soldier is dead — and with folded hands His bride and his mother pray. On the field of battle they dug his grave, And red with his life-blood the earth was dyed, The earth they laid him in. The sun looked down on him there and spake: “I am content.” And flowers bloomed thickly upon his grave, And were glad they blossomed there. And when the wind in the tree-tops roared, The soldier asked from the deep, dark grave: “Did the banner flutter then?” “Not so, my hero,” the wind replied. “The fight is done, but the banner won, Thy comrades of old have borne it hence, Have borne it in triumph hence.” Then the soldier spake from the deep, dark grave: “I am content.” And again, he heard the shepherds pass And the flocks go wand’ring by, And the soldier asked: “Is the sound I hear, The sound of the battle’s roar?” And they all replied: “My hero, nay! Thou art dead, and the fight is o’er, Our country is joyful and free.” Then the soldier spake from the deep, dark grave: “I am content.” Then he heareth the lovers laughing pass, And the soldier asks once more: “Are these not the voices of them that love, That love — and remember me?” “Not so, my hero,” the lovers say, “We are those that remember not; For the spring has come and the earth has smiled, And the dead must be forgot.” Then the soldier spake from the deep, dark grave: “I am content.”