Remarks by Secretary Eric K. Shinseki
Blinded Veterans Association, 65th Annual Convention
Las Vegas, NV
August 17, 2011
Roy, thank you for that kind introduction and for inviting me to join you here in Las Vegas. Let me also acknowledge Senator Heller, Congresswoman Berkley, and Congressman Heck.
Tom Miller, your Executive Director, thank you for your exceptional leadership and devotion to America's blinded Veterans, and congratulations on your upcoming retirement.
Patty Hale, National Blinded Veterans Auxiliary;
Dr. Sally Dang, your husband, Rob's, legacy of service and healing has been memorialized in the new blind rehabilitation facility in Long Beach, California, bearing his name: We honor his memory.
Gale Watson, Dr. Mary Lawrence, friends from DOD; other VA colleagues; other distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen:
I'm pleased to join you at your annual national convention. Thank you for having been the significant voice in championing the needs and well-being of America's visually impaired Veterans for over 65 years now.
Congratulations also on the economic boost BVA is providing by holding its convention here in Las Vegas. Doing so means jobs, mortgage payments, food on the table, children in school for families facing tough economic times.
VA joins you in this effort. Our infrastructure in Nevada includes two Medical Centers, ten Community Based Outpatient Clinics, six Vet Centers, and a VBA Regional Office. And on top of all this, we will open a new, Las Vegas VA Medical Center next year—something Congresswoman Berkeley has been working on for years now. This $600 million dollar construction project will generate an estimated $1.2 billion in economic impact over the following five years: 730 hard-hat jobs, with an average salary of $85,000, during the construction phase, and 1,850 permanent medical jobs, 450 of them new, with an average salary of $108,000 per year, once the medical center opens its doors.
VA spends nearly $1.3 billion a year in Nevada, providing care and benefits to many of the state's 244,000 Veterans, and adding over 2,700 jobs state-wide.
I am thankful to President Obama for this opportunity to serve Veterans. You don't get many do-over's in life, and for me, this is a do-over. I get to care for the folks I went to war with 40 years ago in Vietnam. I get to care for the youngsters I sent to war as Army Chief of Staff. And I get to care for the true giants who saved the world during World War II and those who marched to the guns in Korea in 1950.
Like some of you, I grew up in Vietnam. I went to war with patriots who were tough, determined, courageous, and capable of unbelievable acts of courage and sacrifice. It is said that we honor the fallen by how we care for the living, the ones who made it home. That's what President Obama and I, and all in VA, have been committed to for the past two-and-a-half years.
These are tough economic times, especially for Veterans. As of June this year, one million Veterans remained unemployed, and the jobless rate for post-9/11 Veterans was 13.3 percent. As troops return from Iraq and Afghanistan, an additional one million servicemembers are projected to leave the military between 2011 and 2016.
So, this week, in New Orleans, we are conducting our national Veteran-owned small business conference. We are providing both Veteran-owned and service-disabled, Veteran-owned small businesses an unprecedented opportunity to build capacity, grow their businesses, and connect directly with VA procurement decision-makers. Over 4,300 people are in attendance, roughly 1,600 of them represent Veteran-owned small businesses, and they are learning a lot.
Additionally, we recently awarded seven of our 15 major T4 [Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology] information technology contracts to service-disabled Veteran-owned or Veteran-owned small businesses and we are requiring all 15 awardees of our contracts to meet aggressive subcontracting goals for service disabled and Veteran-owned small businesses on their teams. Historically, Veterans hire Veterans. So, in boosting the number of Veteran-owned small businesses, we intend to increase jobs for Veterans.
Incidentally, 30 percent of our own VA workforce over 100,000 employees are Veterans, and our goal is to up that to 40 percent.
Two weeks ago, President Obama again demonstrated both his unwavering support of Veterans and his concerns about their employment opportunities by announcing bold, new initiatives to get Veterans back to work:
- First, a Returning Heroes Tax Credit, for firms that hire unemployed Veterans—a maximum of $2,400 for every short-term unemployed hire and $4,800 for every long-term hire. Also, the existing Wounded Warriors Tax Credit for all Veterans with service-connected disabilities [max of $4,800] will continue, with an increase for firms that hire Veterans with service-connected disabilities who are long-term "unemployeds"—a maximum credit of $9,600 per Veteran.
- Second, a presidential call for a career-ready military: VA will work closely with the Department of Defense, other federal departments, and the President's economic and domestic policy teams to develop reforms to ensure that every member of the service receives the training, education, and credentials needed to successfully transition to the civilian workforce or to pursue higher education—including the design of a "reverse boot camp," extending the transition period to give servicemembers more counseling and guidance to prepare them for civilian careers.
- Third, better transition to the private sector for all Veterans. The Department of Labor will establish an enhanced career development and job-search service package for transitioning Veterans.
- And last, a challenge to the private sector to hire or train 100,000 unemployed Veterans or their spouses by the end of 2013.
President Obama handed me two priorities when he offered me this appointment: First, make things better for Veterans—that's what the jobs announcement was about—and then, transform the Department of Veterans Affairs so that it better serves Veterans throughout the 21st century.
Well, I didn't grow up in VA, and I'm not a clinician, so there was a lot of learning that first year. You watched me struggle a bit in implementing the new Post-9/11 GI Bill, without any automation tools for what was, in 2009, a massive, brand new program. The new law directed VA to implement it on the fly—and we did.
Everything had to be done by stubby pencil, but we put 173,000 youngsters into college that fall—the hard way. At the same time, we fast tracked development of IT tools that have arrived and are today in operation administrating the education of over 518,000 Veterans and family members under the new GI Bill program. And when VA's other educational assistance programs are added, that number of Veteran and family member students exceeds 840,000.
This fall, we will expand that GI Bill program to provide vocational training and other non-degree job opportunities for Veterans who want to work but who aren't necessarily interested in spending four years in a college classroom—another opportunity for Veterans to add value to their communities.
There are clear lessons from implementing the new GI Bill: First, VA is tough and agile enough to implement a new program on the fly. Second, as it does that, it is also innovative enough to simultaneously develop new tools to better administer that new program for the long haul.
What that told me is that good, dedicated, creative, and reliable people come to work at VA every day. My job is to unleash their initiative, grow and develop their leadership skills, and provide them the right tools, which have been sorely lacking.
Now, besides strategic guidance, the President also provided personal support and leadership; he assured availability of much needed, scarce resources; and then he allowed me the freedom to make decisions and act.
Well, two-and-a-half years ago, here were some of the things you told me: Too many Veterans could not access VA's services and benefits, and when they tried, the claims process was difficult to navigate—some said "near impossible"—creating a massive backlog in disability claims. In fact, some Veterans suggested that VA was waiting for them to die so it wouldn't have to pay them their benefits. Pretty strong stuff for a new secretary to hear. But OK, I got the picture. I asked you to give me a chance to try to fix a backlog that had been years in the making. I just needed resources and a little time.
You also told me that it was wrong for any Veteran in this country to be homeless, and I agreed with you. In fact, the President was ahead of both of us on this—he had already decided this was immoral.
Some of you also told me that VA had an attitude problem—that we didn't always treat Veterans with dignity and respect—and that women Veterans, in particular, were not being well served in many cases. It was not that we were doing anything disrespectful, but that our entire system was heavily male-oriented, so women Veterans didn't feel comfortable or welcomed. OK, we needed to do something about both of these perceptions.
Finally, you felt we were too slow to react to real changes in Veterans lives. An example here might be the impact of rising gas prices or the cost of medications. Three-and-a-half-years ago, the beneficial travel rate was 11 cents per mile; today, it is 41.5 cents per mile, and we have controlled co-pay costs on medications to the benefit of all Veterans for the past one-and-a-half years.
So, based on what you told me and other things I learned that first year, we crafted budget proposals to address these concerns and a number of others. In response, and with congressional support, President Obama increased VA's 2010 budget to $115 billion–a 16 billion increase over the $99.8 billion, congressionally enhanced, budget I inherited in 2009, the largest single-year increase in over 30 years. This year, the 2011 budget grew to $126.6 billion, and the President's 2012 budget request for next year, currently before the Congress, is for $132.2 billion. Very few organizations—public, private, profit, nonprofit—have had this kind of resourcing support over the past three budget cycles. And every bit of it has been needed to fix longstanding issues in this department.
Thanks to the President, we have a clear direction, predictability in resourcing, and unwavering support. Now, it's up to us to deliver. Veterans remain a very high priority with President Obama; I know that personally, and it goes deep with him. That commitment will be reflected in the care and benefits VA continues to provide the men and women, who have safeguarded the Nation.
The President's budgets have kept faith with Veterans and enabled VA to address the early concerns you asked me to take on when I arrived:
Access: To your concerns from 2009, that not enough Veterans could access VA's benefits and services, we have aggressively outreached to Veterans who did not know about VA or their earned benefits, or had lost faith in us some time ago. Veterans' enrolled for VA healthcare has increased by nearly 800,000 in the last two-and-a-half years—a 10 percent uptick.
We will continue to outreach and to broaden our appeal to women Veterans. With women's program coordinators at each major medical center, with over 1,200 providers having received advanced training in women's healthcare, and with our efforts to give women Veterans their own larger voice through a national women's summit, we believe we are anticipating the coming surge in women Veterans.
We are particularly proud of our partnership with BVA in serving visually impaired Veterans. We remain committed to a continuum of care for blinded Veterans that meets all their needs. Last year, our inpatient blind rehabilitation centers served more than 2,000 Veterans and servicemembers; our blind rehabilitation outpatient specialists served another 8,500; and, more than 50,000 Veterans are receiving lifetime case management by our visual impairment service teams. Also, nearly 17,000 Veterans and servicemembers were served in one of our new 55 outpatient blind and vision rehabilitation clinics.
Since 2008, we've established 35 new blind rehabilitation outpatient specialist positions to serve Veterans and servicemembers in their homes and communities. We've hired 11 new visual impairment team coordinators, and provided funding to ensure that every blind rehabilitation center has a full-time psychologist and recreation or creative arts therapist on staff. In keeping with the times, all blind rehab facilities and sole practitioners are being equipped to provide telehealth services for Veterans and their families.
We will continue to find new and better ways to improve the quality of life for blinded Veterans. We began accepting applications for the new family caregiver program in may of this year. So far we have nearly 1,814 applications in process and have approved stipends for nearly 759 family members.
Thank you for recognizing and supporting better coordination between DO and VA to provide services for Veterans. By the end of this fiscal year, the Vision Center of Excellence will have two permanent office facilities, one at the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Bethesda, Maryland, and the other at Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis, Washington.
We will test a pilot application of the joint Defense and Veterans Eye Injury and Vision Registry this fall and, after that, will commence large scale patient data entry for eye wounded servicemembers and Veterans.
DOD has committed funds for the Hearing Center of Excellence, and we are collaborating with them as part of the Hearing Center of Excellence Working Group. A decision on VA funding will be made once business and operating plans for the center are final.
Homelessness: In 2009, you told me that no Veteran should live homeless in this rich and powerful country .Our progress has been significant. Since 2008, VA has helped permanently house over 29,000 homeless Veterans. Another 30,000 have been assisted through the homeless call center, and we have hired approximately 330 homeless or formerly homeless Veterans to provide peer support and to help ease the suffering of other Veterans who find themselves homeless. We intend to reduce the number of homeless Veterans to below 60,000 by June 2012, with the goal of ending this national embarrassment in 2015.
What we have learned over the past two-and-a-half years is that we cannot end Veterans homelessness through street rescues alone. We must develop robust prevention initiatives that protect an "at risk" population that is difficult to define and see. But we know this "at risk" population exists because Veterans lead the Nation in homelessness, depression, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, and are well up there in joblessness, as well. Unless we are conducting a full-court press in all these areas, street rescues of the estimated 80,000 homeless Veterans alone will not be enough.
VA is leading the fight against homelessness with all of our substantial capabilities: primary medical and dental care; mental health; substance abuse treatment; education; case management; housing; and jobs counseling. Importantly, street rescues must continue, but they have never defined the entire problem. We are outreaching to states and communities to collaborate at the local level with nonprofit partners who know the homeless situation first hand.
We are also conducting justice outreach to support the creation of Veterans courts, which would remand Veterans—those facing minor charges, petty crimes, and repeated substance abuse offenses—to VA for treatment in lieu of incarceration. And we're working with state and federal prisons to afford Veterans being released from prison an opportunity to break the cycle of incarceration-homelessness-incarceration, which plagues many of them. We are committed to ending Veterans homelessness by 2015, and we are after it.
Claims backlog: You asked me to fix the backlog in disability claims, and I have committed to ending it in 2015, by putting in place a system that processes all claims within 125 days at a 98 percent accuracy level. Of the things you asked me to take on, this one's taking longer to achieve momentum. But we have a host of promising options being piloted today and expect them to begin paying off in 2012, as we begin fully automating the disability claims process. Our success in automating the new GI Bill program on the fly gives us a measure of confidence that we will soon have the automation tools needed to begin beating the backlog in the short term.
Attitude: Two years ago, you told me that some in VA had an attitude problem. And so, since last December, with input and recommendations from a variety of panels, work groups, and VA senior leaders, we have settled on five core values that underscore the moral obligations inherent in VA's mission: integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect, excellence.
- Integrity—Because "I CARE," I will act with high moral principle, adhere to the highest professional standards, and maintain the trust and confidence of all with whom I engage.
- Commitment—Because "I CARE," I will work diligently to serve Veterans and other beneficiaries, be driven by an earnest belief in VA's mission, and fulfill my individual and organizational responsibilities.
- Advocacy—Because "I CARE," I will be truly Veteran-centric by identifying, fully considering, and appropriately advancing the interests of Veterans and other beneficiaries.
- Respect—Because "I CARE," I will treat all those I serve, and with whom we work, with dignity, showing respect to earn respect.
- Excellence—Because "I CARE," I will strive for the highest quality and continuous improvement, be thoughtful and decisive in leadership, and be accountable for my actions, willing to admit mistakes, and rigorous in correcting them.
You will begin to see our core values demonstrably at work in our daily conduct of business. You have my assurance that these are promises VA has embraced with serious dispatch.
With two operational campaigns still underway and continuing economic challenges at home, VA's mission is clear and compelling. We, in VA, must be more demanding on ourselves to get every penny out of every dollar invested on behalf of Veterans. And when the last combatant comes home from Iraq and Afghanistan in a few years, DOD's missions may be over, but VA's requirements will still be growing, something that is likely to continue for another decade or more beyond that point. We must be vigilant to not create another Vietnam generation, whose unaddressed medical needs continue to challenge its members, even today.
With your help and support, we've had more than two good years for Veterans. There's still much to be done, but we have momentum in key areas and clear directions for the future. We will not fail to honor the dedication and selflessness of the men and women we serve—warriors like Army Ranger Sergeant First Class Joe Kapacziewski, who was severely wounded by an Iraqi grenade, which shattered his right leg, extensively damaged the entire right side of his body, severing a nerve and an artery in his right arm.
Doctors feared he would never walk again, let alone fulfill his wish of returning to the Ranger Regiment and becoming a squad leader. Then, again, most of us don't fully appreciate iron will. In Sergeant Kapacziewski's words, "I don't like people telling me I can't do something."
Kapacziewski had been serving with the Rangers since May 2002. When he was wounded in 2005, he was on his fifth combat deployment. After multiple surgeries, slowly regaining use of his right arm, and enduring unimaginable pain, he made the courageous call to have his right leg amputated below the knee, opting for greater mobility and faster recovery with a prosthetic leg.
In March 2007, the leg was removed. Five months later he was running. After six months, he rejoined the Ranger Operations Company at Fort Benning. Ten months after surgery, Kapacziewski completed an Army PT test, a five-mile run, and a 12-mile road march with 40 pounds of gear. In March 2008, one year after his surgery, he became the only amputee ever to assume combat duties in the Ranger Regiment, as a squad leader. He has since deployed four more times, he's been promoted to platoon sergeant, and he's received a Bronze Star with "V" device for helping to save a severely wounded comrade.
Sergeant Kapacziewski is a member of the "9/11 Generation." More than five million Americans have served in the military during the past decade. Three million of them joined after 9/11, knowing full well that they would be deploying to combat. Their accomplishments are extraordinary—unseating the Taliban, pushing al Qaeda from its sanctuaries, capturing Saddam Hussein, delivering justice to Osama bin Laden, and training Iraqi and Afghan forces to defend their own countries.
The 9/11 Generation includes more than a million spouses and two million children of service members, many of whom have lived their entire lives in a nation at war. More military women have served in combat than ever before. Hundreds of thousands of troops have deployed multiple times. They have all borne a heavy burden on behalf of the Nation. But despite the enormous strains of ten years of continuous operations, our military remains as strong as it has ever been.
They have all borne a heavy burden on behalf of the Nation. But despite the enormous strains of ten years of continuous operations, our military remains as strong as it has ever been. Sergeant Joe Kapacziewski's 9/11 Generation is defined, just as every previous generation of America's Veterans has been defined, by the virtues of selfless service, sacrifice, and devotion to duty. These men and women who serve and have served, are the flesh and blood of American exceptionalism—the living and breathing embodiment of our National values and our special place in the world.
God bless our men and women in uniform, God bless our Veterans, and may God continue to bless our great Nation.
Thank you.
