In a move to squelch discord and discontent, VA has surreptitiously quit reporting the physical number of claims that are way overdue for adjudication. Simply put, if you don’t know the score, you can’t complain. Congressmen can’t be rolled that easily. Not that they are unaware of the problem; they’re all over it like white on rice.

Public Relations is a touchy subject at the VA. Having been stung so many times by Under Secretary for Incredible Excuses Allison “in Wonderland” Hickey, some of America’s politicos are not accepting the dogma being regurgitated by VA’s newer talking heads.  Increasingly larger numbers of more believable PR hacks without blonde hair and long eyelashes are being trotted out but to no avail. What’s a government agency to do?

Sometimes answers are so simple you cannot discern them. Here, it was nothing more than a quick shutdown of the information pipeline and no further discussion on the subject. Hell, it worked for the Clintons with Whitewater and the Rose Law firm billing records. Unfortunately, the cat is out of the bag on this one and dynamic metrics once supplied cannot be summarily dismissed as immaterial or not indicative of the overall problem. America wants to know how bad it is. More specifically, Vets do. They want cold, hard facts- numbers they can wrap their heads around. By suddenly ceasing to report the enormity of the dilemma,  VA is sowing the seeds of their own credibility demise (again).

VA is going through a rebirth. We fortunately have  Gen. Shinseki at the helm on this or I’m sure that they would still be debating the efficacy of switching over to electronic records. Birthing pains abound at the moment. The hierarchy at VACO (VA Central Office) have been fighting him tooth and nail over every change -be it minute or otherwise. Were it me, I suppose I’d be making a clean sweep and installing those committed to change. Obviously, the old paradigm isn’t working. We would think that fact alone would produce meaningful change. Remember who you’re dealing with here.

Change at the VA cannot come about until those who are employed to  serve us begin to do so. I hear report after report of surly, rude employees treating Vets with shoddy service. Certainly this does not tar and feather all who work at VA but is a matter of concern.  By suddenly not reporting physical numbers to the public, it draws even more attention to the fact that the backlog problem is not being cured. This, in and of itself, is another form of rudeness.  Can this be the reason for the back door, “we’ll give you an extra year of bennies if you just file the Fully Developed Claims”, bonus package panacea?

Things are coming to a head down at Vermin Ave. and the finger-pointing will begin soon. Following closely on it’s heels will be the heads rolling. Wait. We’re talking VA. Strike that. We’ll be seeing promotions and transfers to faraway VAROs in Montana and Manila when the HVAC subpoenas ensue. Get real. It would take five consecutive, motivated VASECs of Shinseki’s calibre to effect meaningful change down at 810 Penny Lane NW. For all his efforts to motivate them, he still lacks a vociferous, no-holds-barred offensive plan and relies instead on Shinsekigrams like Admiral Zumwalt’s edicts. If you have the muscle and the wherewithal to back that up, you get things done. If it’s just hot air and chutzpah, you’re doomed to being an object of scorn.