Gee. I remember this. In the Air Force when you were the poor O-2 wearing the slats and screwed up, off to Thule AFB, Greenland it was. They must have had a lot of openings up there in Air Force Purgatory  Then came Vietnam and a new dumping ground. Nowadays the government makes few efforts to rehabilitate you unless… you’re talking about the VA. Well hello? This article reveals a few fell on their swords but the proclivity to swat your hand and promote you now that you have been “reformatted” is still rampant at the VA. I surmise Tonya Deanes is either well-connected politically or has much pulchritude that is artfully and subtly exposed (displayed?)when she is in danger. As for the musical chairs between Service Center managers with backlogs running 3 years like Ulrike at Oakland, what could be more natural than a posting back to VACO  on Vermin Ave. This list is far larger than her but Vets get the idea.

Once you pass the dirty fingernails stage at the VA and graduate to a salaried tenure as a professional outside the GS-system, your future isn’t as clouded. Minor professional mismanagement is overlooked and you simply “get over it” and move on. After all, VA has a lot invested in you and cannot keep replacing all those inept employees for minor discrepancies like Orlando. A few sacrificial lambs-yes-but not the whole kit and caboodle. Continuity in how to obfuscate is at a premium and the HR krewe are in high demand.

Thus, we award January’s A.E. Neuman Award to Alice Muellerweiss for duty above and beyond and also award her the Sword of Disembowelment with oak leaf cluster for taking the bullet meant for Tonya.

Onward through the fog to 2015.