Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20140526

Us, congressional reporter with military time about how the v. A. Health care system works. We will be right back. In some respects, apple and google arguably started at the same time. Obvious he started in the 1970s, but then steve jobs got fired from the company in the mid1980s and then apple went through a. Where itsor 15 years fortunes really declined steadily. It wasnt really until 1997 when steve jobs returned that apples fortunes really began to rebound. It is pretty wellknown among people who Pay Attention to what is going on in the valley, when steve jobs came back, apple had 90 days of cash left before it in some to augur in. Respects you could say both companies started around the same time. Tracing the origins of apple and google, tonight on the communicators at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Thanks for your service. Glad youre here. Youre going to have a very nice surprise when you going to the memorial. It is beautiful. Thank you. Get my wife and here, where e . She jaco are you in the navy . I was in the marine corps. That was tough. Well, thank you for being here today. And thank you. Thank you for all the service you have given. Former world war ii veteran and senator bob dole as part of this threeday Holiday Weekend at American History tv. Tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan3. Welcome back to the washington journal this morning. We have our live shot for you this morning on the National Mall at the world war ii memorial. You can see it there, as we continue our discussion about the significance of memorial day. This author and historian is joining us from austin, texas this morning. What does memorial day mean to you . Let me ask you a question. As an american historian i immediately think of Decoration Day in the civil war and what it is like when 600,000 or more soldiers on the bloody battlefields everywhere. When i was a kid, my mom and dad used to take us to places like gettysburg and shiloh and antietam. It is about death and celebrating and honoring the lives of those who gave us our freedom. Memorial day is not going to cemetery or a memorial Like Arlington National Cemetery and reflecting a little bit about the sacrifice of our ancestors. What is the historical significance of memorial day . When did it start . Date heres a lot of debate about it, but i go with david blight, a professor at yell university. It reallybout that comes out of charleston, south carolina, and combined in many ways with the africanamerican freedom from slavery. It became a ceremony of honoring the war dead out of charleston. 1966dent Lyndon Johnson in officially declared waterloo new york the birthplace of memorial day. I think that is why it is the birthplace of the we consider day. Odern memorial theres a fine museum there in waterloo which i recommend people visit, which talks about the history of the state. I have three kids. For them we are getting near the beginning of summer vacation. Sometimes, sadly, you try to do a little bit too raise consciousness of our brave soldiers and veterans and people who died in your for america. My mothers brother was killed in guam and world war ii. When i grew up, memorial day was a big deal for her. She would talk to us about what her brother was like. I think a lot of families see this as a bonding moment all across the country. It will be going to cemeteries are having a picnic or going to a reflection pool or a forest and try to think about somebody that they lost and admire them for caring enough about the country that they put their life on the line for. Mr. Brinkley, you talked a little bit about that in your personal experience, but how has honoring the fallen on memorial day evolved over the years . Guest i think had has evolved to the point where it has become a must for the president to do a wreath cemetery. Arlington National Cemetery has become the National Cemetery. Presents are buried there, people of military service, you get a map and you go around. Each grave is an amazing story. There so many medal of honor winners there. If you are a president , you have and you happen to be in d. C. , you go to Arlington Cemetery. A lot of tourists go there. We have military cemeteries all over america. Look into, just like we have had problems with some of our health care, some of our military cemeteries need to be kept in better shape. Hopefully, memorial day is a time that we pause and think and say how can we make it a little bit better. The tradition it is ancient opening flowers and peoples graves or briefs. Becoming related to dj which is the same time of year. Rehab is reflection on the sacrifice of war. Better and stay, which is in november, is for armistice of world war i. As more about celebrating and honoring our veterans. Memorial day is more about the war dead. Guest i couldnt agree with that more. When commercialism bleeds into a sacred holiday like moral day, i dont like it very the only thing you can do is try to educate people about memorial day and try to make the holiday mean something very december same with the fourth of july or veterans day. We need to put some effort into teaching people about what it is. It is not just a day off from school or a day to get a tan and have a barbecue. Unfortunately, not too many of our fellow citizens treated that way. If you know anyone who has lost , for example war in afghanistan or iraq, recently, reach out to them today, and tell them thank you. Maybe your family really helped protect america and make our lives better. James howard on twitter ays is a big military divide in this country . Guest i think most americans absolutely love our troops. We are consummate talking about a broken politics of washington, and rightfully so. We dont like money in politics. I think most americans are so proud of our troops. That is a good thing. I think the military is not broken. We are the best in the world. In that case it is a wonderful thing, but, we are really getting on a question of what we do for service. I am very worried that we have young people in the 20s that dont really think in terms of Public Service anymore. I have recently been writing fdr in 1933 and the depression. Half a million young man planet planting a billion trees and building roads and erosion dams and picnic areas. They all had to get up at bugle call in the morning. It was giving young people a sense of service and that they could do something that mattered. Im afraid that is what were losing a little bit. We dont have the draft anymore and we dont have that sense of young people serving their country. Hopefully, we will be able to come up with some recipes for that, because theres Nothing Society wheren a its young people, particularly in their early 20s, feeling disconnected from the system. Well go to bob in pennsylvania, a democratic caller. Good morning to both of you. This is a very sad day. I think all the veterans should be able to take your card, go to any hospital they want, and we should either close the va hospital down totally or give them to the private sector. This is not working. It is too big. As a democrat, this isnt the hope and change a voted for. Host bob, i dont know if you missed it earlier, but we were reading a report that the administration said that veterans would be able to go visit a hospital or doctor outside of the v. A. System. That, but they should make it permanent. Bishop olivier hospitals in the private sector. We should close them, get rid of them, do something. The city to scandal. As a democrat, i am very sad about this. Host what are your thoughts, historical as well, on the news about what is happening with Health Care Facilities inside the v. A. Department . As a society, we have never done right by our veterans. We try, but we never really have paid them right once they come back from their service or if there will did or have ptsd, we tried we kind of treat them like theyre in our way. We pay them a lot of lip service. Funding goes to private organizations like Wounded Warriors and the like. No doubt heard we have to do more to make the lives of our veterans better. The caller sounded very frustrated. We dont want to think we are society that does not take care of our soldiers when they come back from war. There is really nothing more sad and tragic than that. Yes, sometimes it does take Something Like what is happened recently in phoenix, arizona, to wake us up, a problem that we really have not been treating our veterans, particularly in regard to the health care, as a national priority. I think on this issue we might be able to get some bipartisan action. I am not convinced yet that general shinseki should be fired, perhaps. I am more concerned that as a society, with congress in the allowed thisas consulate to get worse. It is not one verse and problem, it is that the American People have not demanded it up their politicians that we have to put a lot more capital and resources in the hospitals of our veterans. Hopefully, this crisis will lead to something positive. Mr. Brinkley, is it different today than when we had soldiers returning from world war ii or world war i . In world war i, the soldier sadly had the bonus army and had to camp out for pensions and basic rights. This is been a longtime grievance with veterans, that we are always on we treat our soldiers well when theyre in the military. The question is how we treat them that everyone stay get out. This is a longterm problem. It is cyclical and happens at different times. We did not treat our world war i vets particularly well when they came back. We did better with world war ii vets because we had the g. I. The gip the g. I. Bill creating education. It was a landmark legislation. We spent decades. We have got to get our acts together. All right, david in new jersey, independent caller. Good morning. Go ahead. Caller the best channel on television. And good morning. You, a pleasure talking to mr. Brinkley. I am a world war ii veteran. It is amazing how little the young people know about our history. I speak to high school and college graduates. How many ofhey know our soldiers were in world war ii. I got answers of 1000, ive doesnt, 10,000, up to 100,000. 60 million of us served in world war ii, as you know. 600 andosing between 1000 every single day. Veteran of a gray country. During theoem vietnam war and i dedicated to my three beautiful daughters and all the young people of the world. Today, i would like to dedicate it to the young people of the world, my five grandchildren, and to our veterans and to the members of the armed forces. Writing a poem is a wonderful dream. Last night, i had a wonderful dream, a dream i have had before. I dreamt that people, everywhere, had put an end to war. The members of the armed forces, in each and every land, found their guns, picked up a plow, reached out a helping hand. The fighting in the killing stopped. Whenever you saw a welcome sign, inead welcome home school. Patient no longer fought against nation. Idealists dont find it hard to believe it. In every town, you heard people say the human race, love it or leave it. The generals and the admirals became civilians like you and me. Through the hearts of people everywhere from sea to shining sea. , warheadt the world lost its lease and the lord looked down with a smile on his face. For his children lived in peace. Thank you. Douglas. Brinkley. Thank you. It was eloquent and beautiful. Perfect sometimes on memorial day to read a poem like that. I tend to like to look at some of those oaks i have of world and the korean war, vietnam, the gulf war, on and on. Remembering the engagement for some of our soldiers in combat. Point is the amnesia we have in this country about history. That is preaching to the choir. Im trying to dedicate my life to get young people to engage more in American History. With veterans, if Public Schools told adopt veterans, go elementary school, try to talk about things and bring some photos, perhaps, i think that is a useful project. At high school age, history teachers should have each student to an oral history interview of a veteran. Your uncle serving in the korean war, or great uncle or Something Like that, to go and do an oral history with somebody who has and create a High School Level oral History Collection of the voices of our soldiers very we have got to find ways to get young people engaged in history particularly early and engage in world war ii. I inc. It is essential. A seminal event in the 21st century. And dday. Marking the 70th anniversary, john kerry writing today on a blog on the state Department Website that he and the president will go to normandy to mark the anniversary. Put that in Historical Perspective. Im sorry, what was the question . John the president and kerry will go to normandy. Put that into Historical Perspective . Glad they are doing it. Every 10 years, the numbers, we try to do something. 19 before. Une 6, 1954, the white eisenhower was now president , and he decided not to go to normandy dairy he did not want to be grace and a on his greatest. A very simplee comment about dday. Generationreatest sense. We did not do much about it in 1954. For the next anniversary, Lyndon Johnson said after john f. Kennedy was killed, i will not go abroad. He did not go over to normandy. Watergate, june of he was trying to focus on the middle east to salvage his reputation of peace. He did not go. It was really Ronald Reagan who did justice to dday in 1954 when he famously gave his voice to this beach talking about u. S. Armys and second rangers and tryinge cliffs to decommission a 155 millimeter of the cliffs there with great heroism that occurred. Here, but also utah reagan would even use first Reelection Campaign commercials that were so popular. Reagan for gold triggered a National Celebration of dday. Up until that time, the date was pearl harbor. Made ddayreally not the day to reflect on world war ii and not pearl harbor day. We did not win the battle and pearl harbor but decisively one dday. Squarely after reagan, bill clinton went to normandy and also george w. Bush. It is fitting that barack obama is going. I like the president is going to poland coming up, talking about the liberation from soviet domination after world war ii. Winter coming this early 2000 or team, the anniversary of the berlin wall coming down, another great milestone in American History. Douglaslas history for time. Com. Ng a tweet guest i cannot really i am probably missing one. I maybe have not done my homework. They are usually trying not to grandstand and put focus on a silent 21 gun salute, on the tomb of the unknown soldier, trying to make it a day of prayer and memories, not one where you are trying to over car and are camera attention. Our mall now is so well seated for memorial day dividends because of memorial. The National World war ii memorial, they are holding one or dwight eisenhower. It is on the mall. It will be the last main monument on the wall. Disputetied up in a between the eisenhower family and what that should look like. Of theld be a statue late eisenhower, and oldfashioned public servant. You also get a lot of motorcycle groups coming in recent years, veterans coming in washington, and take journeys together on vice, which garner a great deal of attention. Dday has become the time barack obama will want a great uplifting the. These things are interconnected. Of memorial day gesture barack obama happened yesterday. And spoke dennis van with our troops. How exciting to them their and brad paisley performed and the president of and they got to meet him. They talked about the winding down of that long were in afghanistan. They will be leaving about 5000 troops there in the immediate future for counterintelligence and the like. It was a significant memorial day. If you follow the war in afghanistan and the residents journey. On when they, in between the afghanistan memorial day and before dday, he is going to less when, which will his ex limitation of obama foreignpolicy right now, what is going on with the country in regards to serious, the you rain, russia, and the lot. There is a lot of attention on the military these days. It has already started. Bet president obama will dissipating at Arlington Cemetery at 11 00 a. M. Eastern time and it 00 a. M. On the east coast. With the author and president ial historian on this memorial day, may 20 6, 2000 or team. Here is a live shot of the Arlington Cemetery at the tomb of the unknown. President obama will be there around 11 00 a. M. Eastern time here at i want to show our viewers the metro section of the Washington Post and this picture and caption. A member who bombed japan during world war ii, visiting the graves of james h doolittle. A 98yearold x pilot in washington to accept the congressional gold medal on behalf of 80 airmen who bombed japan. Yourughts as to mark thoughts . I started reading more and more about him. If you go to the air force academy in colorado springs, they celebrate like no one else. Franklin roosevelt knew we needed a big morale boost. Youve got to give fdr a lot of credit for record rising it restructure band, it would create a more rally in america. Still licking the wounds of world harbor pearl harbor. Japan, dropping bombs, psychologically telling the japanese we would be able to take the war to your homefront, then having to do an Emergency Landing in china, it is a remarkable story of jimmy doolittle, the stuff of hollywood film and legend very he was a great admiral, promoting the american nation in particular, and Naval Aviation he is a marvelous example of americans at his best. Do legal doolittle said he could fly a plane blindfolded in all sorts of weather conditions. Webecame one of those pilot produced so many of in america and they are a remarkable group. A group of 80 u. S. Airmen whose action in japan inspired americans reeling over the pearl harbor attacks and other isanese victories here it part of the dwindling ranks of surviving world war ii veterans and one of only four surviving raiders, richard toll, featured here in the Washington Post, said the honor was joyful but also a bit lonely. You are here to pay your respects to him but you wish they were all still here. The 16 million americans who fought in world war ii, 1. 5 million are still alive. The 80 u. S. Airmen volunteered our giants among the generation of veterans, even though the theoits at the drama of more recent wars eclipses their significance. In ohio, a republican color. Caller. Caller i was in vietnam. I just want to talk briefly about homeless veterans. For 30 years, i have taken in 30 of them. Came of collecting benefits homeless veterans, and i want to my brothers and sisters and veterans, and i have maybe a spare better bedroom. Let them in and get them so they can have their benefits and they can get out on their own. We have got to help each other. Say. Is what i wanted to guest absolutely. If there is any veteran you know that you can help, do it. It is great to get your kids involved getting to know a veteran. Named after a soldier who lost three limbs in a grenade went off. My son has gotten to know him. We live in austin but this veteran lives in georgia. They write each other and Exchange Notes and talk to each other. Anything you can do to get to know veterans, you do not have to talk to them about what they did at work, but all gestures of up richey agent to let them know you care. Veterans one see the streets who have a hard time adjusting to life. Anything you can do, whether it is checked to a local veterans group, whether it is just handing someone a dollar, it is probably worth doing. Class our line for republicans, you are on the air. We have to have respect for our soldiers, because they are dying for us and for nothing. Do not have to be involved in any work, because we have so many problems in our country. Yesterday, i ran declared television. Own your youre getting confused by the feedback there. We get your point. Tell us dislike war more than anybody. Dwight eisenhower with have to put on music and have a pile of papers and would recognize each one of the letters he was sending was about a dead american soldier. He had enough of a heart and imagination to recognize this case this piece of paper saying someone had died, this was chaos in a familys life. A wife lost a husband, mother lost a son. It is a heavy burden. He did not want war. The notion our generals are hawkish is not true. Occasionally, there is a curtis figure who wants to bomb everything in sight. Most people who come out of our like rushes do not to work. I think there are times where a poem was read a little bit ago and i think sometimes antiwar helpful to remind us we all want peace. I was thinking of a bob dylan youngbout people who rush people into war without kerry and the people who send soldiers to work. Peace protesters, often times, they do our country a great service, reminding us if we go in, we have to win and take care of our soldiers throughout the work, but also take care of them when they get back. Democratic caller, jack. Good morning. I am a self educated military historic and historian. In my localrved served amount will serve in world war ii. Correctly if i am wrong. The campaign was just as large from our perspective as dday, but, a key point i want to make his world war ii was decided and it is not talked about on the eastern front. The largest invasion in history was the campaign that occurred june 2 june 22, 1941. Most people do not know this. The german objective was to destroy the soviet union with a massive, threemonth knockout blow. If they did that, i do not believe there would have been a dday. My father served in korea and my uncle in world war ii two. Had three basic enemies. The large numbers of the russian army, hours eyes, and on the western front, britain as a landbased to move forward. If you want to study history and be honest, the best army, if you study it objectively, it was just eaten by overwhelming numbers. They delivered the knockout blow, even Joe Scarborough said there would not be a dday. In my personal opinion, there would have been a settlement in have had ad we would cold war with them. Class a lot in on the table. I would simply say the turning point is dday. They have over 150,000 americans calling it dday. If they failed, i do not know what plan b would have been. One of the famous documents was a world war ii letter eisenhower wrote, taking some responsibility for the failure of dday. How we were able to catch it completely and utterly off guard is storybook stuff. It is about counterintelligence and deception. The idea that we were able to cross the channel world war ii is not just about the soldiers. Was about the industrial mobilization of america. The war was won in places like detroit and norfolk and san diego and 100 other towns. We were manufacturing things and were able to get our food and rations to our troops. The logistics of dday was something the world had never seen the word. It was a testament like none candoism. Rican in dday, we lost a lot of lives on the beaches of normandy and dday did not happen in a day. It continued. On in the march of berlin. Because we picked the european theater as the one to win first, it was essential to win to be able to do the conclusion of the war against the japanese and that occurs with hiroshima and the atomic arms. Host caulk talking with historian Douglas Brinkley. This camera over at arlington the tomb of the unknown, president obama will be in debt participating at 11 00 a. M. Eastern time. To talk for another 30 minutes or so. We want to show you american war deaths through history. Take a look at world war i. And compare it to world war ii doubts. Over 4005000. The korean war, 516. The vietnam war, 60 8000, 200 and and nine. As president obama returns, the war in afghanistan fit in the history books and what will be the significance . It will be attached to 9 11. It will be a horrific event. The bombing occurred at the pentagon. There was a fear that gripped the country. This was the response, to get and take outtan the enemy. Some people call that stateless terror to some. Into thele went campaign and it was not easy. Will look like we prevailed in afghanistan. Who knows what will happen when we leave. We are leaving five thousand or so troops left. We are basically now, by the end of 2014, getting out of afghanistan. Another longen as war, but a war part of a larger war on terror that has been going on. Theyre almost sister wars, battlefields, if you like. Iraq in a post9 11 climate erie it many world war i soldiers would have died because they had such did not have such advanced health care. , the healthldiers care that they received. Were all human beings. The history of medicine is that we are constantly Getting Better and we have more longevity and are able to solve problems. Imagine if you lost a limb in world war i. With anbasically left amputation and a crutch. Today, we have different types of technology to rebuild a soldiers limbs in ways that are quite remarkable. I can tell some of the callers are concerned about veterans administrations. If there is something positive, americans want to fix this. You talk to people. Everybodys angry about it. I think something will be done. Heads have got to roll in washington to get the problem fixed. The American People have a huge love for the troops and veterans. It is bipartisan. I think this has slipped our radars dream, how often the health cares have become veteran hospitals. I read 151 of these veterans administrations are getting reports and trying to find out what is going on there and why. Ooks are being cooked it is an Ongoing Investigation but the American People are demanding immediate activation at after world war ii, one of the things during the were to kill off mosquitoes, we would spray soldiers and hose them down because you did not want to get the lariat. Youre starting to see agent orange and in vietnam. A huge problem for Vietnam Veterans and soldiers and what it does to the nervous system and Health Issues. There is almost a new medicine going on. That is a modern term. They certainly have the same syndrome in valley forge and in the sobel war. It just was not called that. It was not diagnosed in such a way. Of stress ont veterans, and particularly today if youre in afghanistan or iraq and in a tense situation and you are suddenly dumped back in america. There is a lot of disconnect going on. To make our systems deal with Mental Health and create stability for soldiers. Host world war i featured on the cover of the recent addition. One of the legacies is the first weapons. Dern chemical germans employed them first but many major combatants listed chemical agents over the course of the work. Also, the widespread use of other forms of industrialized warfare that forever changed how nations fight. Tanks and machine guns, submarines, fleets. Lets here in texas, a republican. Good morning. Thank you to our troops and veterans. Day that theevery iraqi people, president bush, our troops, and all the Freedom Fighters around the world helped to live infreedom democracy. They have their rights and they can vote. Sorry for people like obama and the democrats who do not believe in any of those things. The lies that were told this morning about the a not refunded, we know that is a lie find it more every year. It is cynical of democrats and obama to try to cover up another thing they have done to our troops. Year we are coming up next talking with next with leo shane about the v. A. System, how it works, how the Healthcare System worse, but also the funding question of how the funding has worked over the year, what is the level at compared to other years. We hope you continue to watch. We go to james in california. Independent caller. Go ahead. I would like to not be cut off. Whenever they talk about the agenda in the last segment, the caller gets cut off. I would like to ask what he thought about the book mentioned , the israel lobby and u. S. Foreign policy and how president associatecally has an married to project for new americans it is what we see unfolding in the ukraine versus russia and the middle east versus iran, syria, and iraq. You can go back to the document building american defenses. I will leave it there. Let me explain. We earlier had a call saying all of the wars are tied to fighting wars on behalf of israel. Historically, can you weigh in on that . Guest it is a lot to get my hands around. Israel is our great ally and friend. They are a true democracy in the middle east. U. S. And israel friendship, which is a good thing. The idea that somehow israel could be responsible for 9 11, it was not israel that bombed the United States. It was islamic terrorism. Not quite understand. I guess i have not read the book the caller is talking about, but i get a little tired when i hear about all of these conspiracies and all. The United States has a great friendship in israel and hopefully that will continue. I have nothing but huge admiration for the country of israel and what they have been able to accomplish in the middle east. Class ok. Independent caller. Yes. I want to tell you, i do not think you are educated or what. Greate 8, 1963, your ally, israel, tax u. S. Liberty. I know one of the survivors on that ship. He has got a radio show and talks about it. Were trying to wake people up to it. They spy on us and are stealing our information. Congress passed an act where supposedly all of these soldiers are going in all of these foreign wars for israel. Opinion. T is marys what about the history she sites . Did not hear history. I heard a rant. Just jump on everybody about it all. It is uncouth. Liberty is an important story. In and a broad sweep sigh israeli comments, they start sounding antisomatic. Host i was more asking about the history. It is significant. I would rather skip it. They keep calling anytime anyone is on and it gets redundant. Host ok. Independent caller. Caller i am a vietnam veteran and i want to comment on the va hospital fiasco. The va hospital here in pennsylvania, we get excellent service. I note the Republican Leadership seems to be dumbfounded by all of this and caught off guard. Committeeoversight has been shared by republicans for the last several years. And i wonder if you could explain to me what the function of the House Oversight committee is anna faris. That host i will save for leo shane. Right now, we are talking about Douglas Brinkley and the significance of memorial day. I. I want world war to read a little bit about their article. So many of the trials and hasedies america has faced origins in world war i. Without the great work, there would have been no general and no moon nato, landing. All were connected to the new world order. It caused the collapse of three empires and it could be argued it gave rise to the United States. Guest that is wonderfully written and it is utterly true. We talk about memorials. They are hard to find but they are quite well done. It forced them to go hunt them down. You would be inspired by some of the simplicity and beauty. I now recommend people go to the world war i museum in kansas city. A worldclass museum we have told to honor veterans. After the world war i, there used to be a lot of preplanting , a way to memorialize somebody whos lost her it is a nice idea. If you are a family out there who lost something in the war and plant a tree for them so future generations and watch it grow, and it is a way to go and memorial,d have a they were going to create a National Memorial surrounding all of washington. It got very close to being done. Part of it, and this is going to be a massive memorial. The country went really deep into the memorial. Is just that the mechanical horrors of the world war, the indiscriminate bombing, you mentioned the gas and the barb wire and the chemicals. It was no longer troops lining up in an open plan and then counties who lost the most soldiers. Emingway saw a bomb world war i is the beginning of warfare. Ustrial it is heinous on what it can do for a community. The article, 100 years later. The lasting blueprint, if folks are interested. With an author and president ial historian. President obama later today will do what other president s have done in the past them a taking part in the ceremony at the tomb of the unknown. Coverage. Ve bob, go ahead. Ago, i was ayears disabled vet. Another year for a decision to receive an insulting check for 70 and things got worse in terms of waiting for ofointments in the words 2000. It got better and things popped up in the atlantic area. Would probably wear the American Flag on the chest area i will continue to see soccer moms for his cruising with the support of troops. All four are funding the latest adventure number regardless of our nations budget. As the professor said, the public will always express outrage at the latest controversy. End, when it comes to the rubber meeting the road, they do not care. How many people in the public oh call the congressman this week . I listened to the fellow earlier, saying Everybody Knows i wonder if you set your hours in a clinic to see a doctor with other vet. I was on the fence whether or not i was going to accept a gravesite at the National Cemetery, the beautiful National Cemetery in the mountains. Was on the fence, but i decided i would. The only thing i would be proud those toys,with those men, forever. Was ronaldr in chief reagan. There is no service like the service. Guest that was very emotional. I thank you for your service and calling in. It is exactly the kind of sentiment we need to hear on memorial day, saying, look, we need to do better. It is at a breaking point, a Tipping Point right now with what happened in phoenix. It is the tip of the iceberg. We have got to rally behind people. Unconscionable men serve our country and then get a runaround that the hospitals. We all know how frustrating medic of facilities can be for all of us in general. Unconscionable men serve our country and then get a runaround that the hospitals. But the v. A. , it is worse. Does not mean you cannot eventually get their attention. It does not mean there are not rate doctors working at the hospitals. We know that but the bureaucracy needs to be fixed and it has to become a national priority. Fingerpointing blaming democrats and republicans. It is an american problem we need to fix. I appreciate the caller calling in. Stay strong. Our camera is also out at the National Mall at the vietnam memorial. You can see people are already starting to come out in washington on this monday morning. Go to the memorials along the National Mall. Doug, you were talking about all the different memorials you can see if you come to washington. What is the significance of having the National Mall . There are some world war i memorials people are not aware of. Ways it is about finding to reflect. Walk into a catholic cathedral, and no one is in it and i can sit there and write a candle and have a moment of reflection. The way it has been designed, you go to the vietnam war memorial and if you know somebody who died in the war, you mentioned earlier 58,000 soldiers. You can go there and do an and touchf their name the name. Seeing that many people who lost their lives for the country, it is quite moving. We have extraordinary War Memorials all over the country. Just go downtown indianapolis and look at the memorial they have. It is one of the finest in the world. It is where one of our veterans activities take place in downtown indianapolis. Oft cities have some kind memorial. Lets care about them here nothing makes me sadder than we have anial obligation to keep these soorials in pristine shape the people who need to go there are able to in and on her and setting. One last phone call from a republican caller. Caller thank you for all the good news reporting from your dad. He is a wonderful man. Guest he was not my father. That was a different brinkley. He was good. Caller the name is good. Is, i think the difference here is that with walter reed was a hospital going out of business and he got on it immediately. Here, we have our boys dying because they did not get care. They did not die in the war. They died here. I think we have to do more and get serious about this. Your boys my son was in two wars. You want them to go to work. You have to do better than what we are doing. This is a disgrace. It started when those two soldiers were on top of those holdings with guns between them and nobody came. We are the best military in the world and no one came to help them. Can hear, people are emotional and paying a lot of howntion to the story our veterans have been treated. He talked about how americans love veterans and want them taken care of. What does this mean for and his tenure, when the history books are written . Does it have a Lasting Impact . He becomes a hero because he fixes it. I do think he has an opportunity if he makes it his priority. Kind of issue where he tries to get a new cycle of. Lets stall for a couple more weeks and then peoples emotions will die down, because every year there is a memorial day and every year, we will be getting more and more stories about va hospital speared we need a massive overhaul. President obama has been looking for a big second term, bipartisan issue. He tried to do Immigration Reform and it has gone nowhere. Unitek the country could behind president obama is he way to fix the va hospital to make sure there is no more degradation of a veteran, so they have to feel like theyre nothing but a for somethingrson that happened to them when they are in were. He needs to make this issue right now. Maybe the president will. Lets see what happens this week. We appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. We will continue the conversation this morning, and the on veterans veteran affairs. We will talk with leo shane about how it works and then jobs, the coo about prospects for returning veterans. First, a news update from cspan radio. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] the u. S. Marine corps chaplain speaking sunday to a manhattan congregation that tied gold ribbons on the churchs fence since the iraq war again. A lot of the sacrifice for veterans around the world. And admiral says what veterans have done has allow us to be here. A surprise visit to afghanistan yesterday very the president does the president s like Vladimir Putin when he referred to russian backed separatist groups who sought to disenfranchise entire regions are the president went on to congratulate ukrainians on president ial elections, calling them an important step forward. International observers are hailing the ukraine vote in a general election, saying it was held freely and fairly. New president elect is promising to negotiate an end to a prorussia insurgency in the east and says he is willing to begin talks with moscow. The associated up press reports welcomed the offer, raising hopes his election would indeed ease the crisis that has fueled tensions unseen since the end of the cold war. Those are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. Book, sunday at 8 00, includes author malcolm gladwell. Youdo not write cannot write in a calculating way. You cannot sit down to write about you should not think about the issue at all when you sit down to read right. What you should do is to write what you find interesting and follow your own curiosity. When i was writing to influence, i can honestly say i never for a moment tried to imagine how well the book would sell. I just wanted to write something cool and i was interested. I wanted to write something my friends would read that my mother would like. Read more with other featured interviews cspan sundays at 8 00, now available as a fathers day gift. We are back on this memorial day. A live shot this morning from Arlington Cemetery at the tomb of the unknown, where president obama will be taking part in the at the amphitheater at Arlington Cemetery, where the president was expected to make a few comments on this memorial day, 2014. Back is to deal, a congressional report with the military times here to talk about how the v. A. Health care system works. Lets begin with what is happening since friday. What did the administration announced over the weekend . Theyre going to work to of places. Number the Health Administration has been an internal bureaucracy. Have their doctors and folks look them over here it with the recent scandal and the time concerns and the care delays, they will expand them and see ways they will take the transoutside private hospitals. A lot of details have to be worked out but this is a egg move for the veterans administration. It is something veterans groups have had concerns about over the years. Just tell well the v. A. Can work. There is a momentum swinging now to see how much these scandals, just how long veterans have to wait. There is recognition the v. A. Might not have enough folks to help everyone. , one heard over the weekend newsmakers, our program, from the chairman of the senate , theans Affairs Committee independent in vermont saying i am open to that, allowing thats to go outside the system, but not permanently. He was very clear he and others would not support some sort of privatization and this would only be shortterm. Why is that . There is a lot of concern about privatization. Veterans groups have been concerned for years, the idea that we need to dismantle the v. A. And get rid of this. Veterans groups in america really like having their own Veterans Health care system. They like having that idea. There have been many other agencies and industries right. Ow to move to privatization , right now, itum eems inevitable. There is more flexibility, without dismantling the v. A. It is what we will see on the coming months he months here. Does the system work . If you are a veteran returning from war, how do you get into the v. A. Health care system . You have got several levels of priority groups that veterans can fit into. The v. A. Becomes a catchall internal system for just about all of these folks. If you are someone who just recently returned from war, you have got five years of free ealth care with the v. A. This is going for any number of psychological appointments, ob gyn for female veterans. Just about anything you can think of. Dental care, service related, we have done a little different. Just about anything, the folks who get put into different categories, you do not have anything related to their time are prettynce, and high earners. These folks are on private systems working through their own employer at this point. It is a massive system. You have got 1700 health care sites through the v. A. And the country. 8. 7 million veterans. The v. A. Said recently 85 Million Health appointments last year. We are talking about a system that encompasses a lot and has a lot of different moving parts. Host what types of different facilities do veterans have access to . Guest guest hospitals, mobile , it depends on where you live. If you live in a major city, youre talking about a Major Hospital for private care. They can get to Something Like that. There are Outpatient Clinics and handshake agreements with local facilities to get some of those resources to folks. Who oversees these . Guest the Veterans Health association. I am youre aware with the resignedandals, robert early. He was forced out because of concerns about what the weight time issue has become. What is that persons his role . That is the number one person to oversee Health Issues with the v. A. Hes in charge of the entire department. There is a nominee pending in the white house right now. Secondary six szymczak onein the second secretary szymczak he was in the senate, there was concern he seemed to be talking about the larger issue but they knew of specific problems that had come out there. Could see the concern on a lot of senators faces that if you knew about these things, why has this not been addressed better . What about the role of congress overseeing the Health Care System . Guest congress is trying to figure out where they dropped the ball and have been ignored. A lot of fights going on in the house and senate. The house veterans Affairs Committee in the last week issued a subpoena a second subpoena to several top v. A. Officials. They are concerned there is not enough information about what it happened in the next system. The Health Care Time scandal started. Worried a few documents may have been destroyed and emails going back and forth have not been provided to congress and they just do not the an idea of what he bible was. Subpoenas. New wednesday and friday, one of those two days, they will see folks come in. The senate is doing the same thing in the meantime. Just about every day, talking about what the current concerns are. Day, talking about what the current concerns are. Host when it comes to money, lets look at the proposed budget for the Veterans Affairs department. A 6. 5 increase from last year. For health, largely care, a three percent increase. How has the money for health care, 68 billion, how has that changed over the years . Has this been increasing . Since 2004, the entire budget was only 64,000. In just 10 years, we have seen a genetic growth in the amount of money. This is one of the concerns of congress now. When folks from the v. A. , the and, they have said time time again, this is what we need, this will fill our goals, and congress has been generous with the money and met a steady increase, after you have seen from troops in iraq and afghanistan coming back. Iirespond to world war injuries. Congress is asking, if that , if you needed more facilities, why were we not aware . Are we getting blamed now for not providing enough when you told us we provided 20 . 20 plenty . Doing their own investigation, the white house has sent over the deputy chief of staff to look into the care larger, in some of the systemic administrative problems. This week, the v. A. Is supposed to come back with an audit of their appointment time scheduling systems to let the president now, here is what is working and heres what is not, is there a systemic problem with people waiting . Is doing its own investigation. Supposed to be done until august. We have heard some information here and there about what they found. This will be an issue we hear about all summer. To senatorwe talked sanders on newsmakers, his Committee Heard testimony from aig about the 40 deaths in phoenix. They are tied, here is what chairman sanders had to say. Clip was market goes 40adline veterans die while on waiting lists. What is the implication of that . That is the allegation, coming from a doctor in phoenix. All that we know about the allegation is at the hearing i held last week, i asked the Inspector General, give me a preliminary report. He said, as of now there was not one list of 40. There are a number of people who are deceased. Remember, in phoenix, the hospital has 88,000 patients. Some of them are old, some of them are sick. Of the first 17 names that we looked at how but we could not one we could not contribute we could not attribute one death to a waiting list. Not one. As of right now, on the first list that we saw that was given to him, zero deaths would be attributed to it. That what do you make of explanation . Guest it is true, that is what they found 17 cases of folks who had delayed care and know directly connected deaths. A lot of the folks are cancer patients, serious issues, a delay in care of two months may mean the difference between life and death, it may mean nothing. They may have passed away no matter what. But i think one of the keys there are two keys. No evidence so far that any of are directly connected deaths, but the Inspector General has said lets take our time, we have to do a thorough investigation. Of allegations all over. This push for lets wait and see they also said it will be august before the full investigation is finished. That is a long time for folks worried that they might be waiting and it might be costing veterans lives. Host we have divided the lines differently here this morning. Ive duty, call 28 2025853880. Veterans,ns 2025853881. Good morning. On twitter and i am a freelancer. Itside of mr. Brinkley, posted a couple of articles was morning. One that i found was put out by democracynow. Org. It reports that 17,000 troops were wondered in 2004, which means that the v. A. Was overwhelmed. For the republicans to now act as if all of this is president obamas fault is ridiculous. Host we will take that point, the v. A. System overwhelmed. Guest that is what the concern is now. I dont know about the number from 2004, but we have seen a number of troops come back thomas and we have learned a lot about prosthetics, about posttraumatic stress disorder, treating Mental Health issues. Of,e is a lot of concerned have the issues outgrown what bva was intended to be what the v. A. Was supposed to be, a safety net for folks who did not have access to other systems. Reportsseen a lot of that a number of Mental Health specialists in the country are simply too low to meet the needs. There are some expectations the v. A. Would also be short on those folks, but you hear from folks on the hill and within the v. A. , too, say we are supposed to be the gold standard, that we are here to sacrifice for folks. Mark is watching us in florida. What are your thoughts on the v. A. Health care system . Caller i understand that the money given to the v. A. Has increased every year over the last nine or 10 years. Thereunderstand also that is this internal Incentive Program where bonuses are paid to the a members and workers and managers, and i cannot it is the same kind of selfserving programs that we had on wall street, the bubble, and here we are incentivizing people to cheat so that they can make versatile money. I dont understand where the common sense is in an approach like that. Host leo shane . Guest there is a lot of concern about the bonus system in the v. A. Right now. We have heard similar from not just veterans but from folks on the hill. Should there be accountability within the v. A. . That is part of the review going on right now. The v. A. Has taken steps in the last several years to freeze or canceled benefits, but they have also stood by and said like any private sector industry, you want to reward your top performers, we want to have the best of the best. If we are putting artificial caps on how these folks can advance or what they earn, we will not get the best. Folks who havee an interest in providing top quality care. It is an issue that the folks on the house on the hill have hammered. Looking at benefits that they think were unfairly handed out the. A. Officials, and officials have pushed back on that, saying some of these are legitimate. When we find issues, we can rescind bonuses or punish folks, but you cannot throw a blanket on that no one should be getting bonuses, everyone should be working out of the kindness of their hearts. Host lenny on twitter wants to know, how does the bonus system work in the v. A. . What is the total amount of bonuses paid to each v. A. Location . How does it work, and is there a role of unions here . There are some federal unions in there. There are supervisors who can put their employees in for performance awards, who can be recognized for high performance. It is really just it is supposed to be an incentive for folks to work harder. The criticism on the hill has been this is a rubberstamp that folks higher up to not have any more oversight over them, dont have any real critiquing of their work, and they are just getting this as part of their salary grade we will say. I would expect more legislation coming. Some restrictions have been put in v. A. Budget plans for 2015. This is one that i expect to hear more from. The ave says what are what other services for veterans fall under the v. A. , and what are those budgets . How does the budget for everything outside of health care compare . Guest health care is the biggest portion, the same mandatory spending and discretionary spending. The Memorial Services are much smaller in comparison. The disability benefits are part of the mandatory spending, so we have it is an incredibly complicated system. There are a lot of moving parts, there is a lot of concern. We have not talked about the backlog, which is a major headache for this v. A. All of last year, and this goes into what we talked about before, congress saying we have given you this money, giving you what you asked for, when do we see the result . If it is not enough, why arent you asking for more . There was a lot made last week of the white house knowing about the failures in the Health Care System. If the white house was told about it back in 2008, does that Mean Congress knew about it as well . Guest in the hearing, senator patty murray brought up several reports one from to wanting a from one from 2010, one 2012, talking about the headaches that the veterans were facing. Those are reports that were issued to congress. There were several hearings on these, and to her credit, she demanded some answers from v. A. Officials. She said i thought we had talked about this, dealt with this, and here it is resurfacing again. It is not something popping up in the last few months, but there are many on the hill who said we have talked to you about this before, we thought you were dealing with this, we have provided you more resources. Why are we seeing worse problems than before. Host we will go to georgia next. Steve is a veteran. Go ahead, steve. Caller the problem with the v. A. System is it is a bureaucracy. It is run by bureaucrats. You cannot change it at the top if you do not change the bureaucracy or at the top. I am fully supportive of it. A lot of them do a great job. Give every veteran a voucher and let them to go whether private or v. A. You do not have to destroy the v. A. If you want to see it work, make sure that every executive department, every agency, every member of Congress Make them use the v. A. Or have their choice for a private system. Privatization the issue, and a lot of folks feel like at this point in the v. A. , the v. A. Is a failed system and we should throw our hands up in the air and say there is enough health care out there, lets figure out vouchers and let veterans go where they would like to get their care. As you said, senator sanders is a fierce opponent of that. Major veterans groups have said were promised some protections here, and just throwing us out folks who live in a rural area or an area with substandard care, that does not help us. So we need to have the v. A. System really keep us there. Senator sanders says they frequently have high Customer Service satisfaction in the v. A. Guest some larger concerns about the bureaucracy and the narrative of the uncaring department they have done internal surveys. They have done some private sector style surveys and found high marks for patient care within the system, high marks for quality of care, high marks for the responsiveness of staff. From thenecdotally veterans i have talked to, from the veterans groups i talked to, they all like the v. A. When they can get in. Once you see the doctor, youre dealing with doctors who are the and a lot offield the issues that voters care about in posttraumatic care, mental care, prosthetics. So when you see a doctor, they tend to be happy about it. It is the process of seeing a doctor treat does that take me a month, six months, eight months to get in there . President obama in his visit to afghanistan yesterday talked about veterans returning home. [video clip] we have to take care of our veterans. It is not just a promise, it is a sacred obligation. Some of you will return to civilian life, and we want to make sure you can enjoy the American Dream that you helped defend with the transitional systems to help you begin the next chapter of your life. The credentials and licenses to help you find a job worthy of your incredible skill. That will keep america strong. Making the post9 11 shiite bill bill is in g. I. Place for you. President obama talking about caring for our veterans. What next from the president on this . V. A. we are expecting the to supply some information about their internal audit this week to the white house. , deputy chief of staff neighbors will issue his report as well and we will see what the folks on the hill do. There are a lot of questions. I expect that will be a major moment where folks will say this is a real time of reflection for the department. Have they found problems . And they found widespread gaming . Up until this point, do they think this is all isolated at the eventual places . They are looking into 26 different facilities with care delay problems. There becomes a lot of, are they recognizing the problem, are they reacting appropriately . A number of folks have already called for the secretary to resign after this. If that report comes out, and it looks like it is handling the v. A. Too gently or not getting to the root of the problem, those calls will get out her and we will have to see what the white house does. Host you are on the air with leo shane of the military times. Good morning. Caller a comment. My son was in the first gulf to, and it took him 15 years get his disability. They would not see him when he first got out with the things that was wrong with him. Congressman to work on it, and finally he got his disability. And you are saying it is a problem right now he act a 15 years. That was back in 2010 when he did finally get it. It is not the president of today. Years,been going on for and they cannot blame the president for Something Like this that is an internal system. It is not up high, it is down below. They deserve their disability. My son was in the hospital, and the guys said you got your disability, you got your 100 . What have you got to say . That is a smart attitude for an employee in the hospital. Any mr. Shane, do you have comments on that . Guest he is talking about the backlog, which has been a problem for many administrations. A veteran comes back with an injury that prevents them from working, and there is concern over the years as to how long that process takes. Within. Has a goal of 120 five days they want to get you a response, a ruling on how much you can get for a check if you are eligible to read for some folks it can run several thousand dollars. For others, it might just be a few hundred dollars. If you cannot work because of a war injury, it affects Everything Else you do. You do not know how you will make the bills, support your family. So the v. A. In the last year has seen a dramatic drop. The problem was for years before that they saw a dramatic increase in the backlog. It is not something new to this administration, but it is something that a lot of effort has been thrown at to try to fix. Host robert is next from indiana, a veteran. Caller thanks for taking my call. I am a veteran and i also work at the v. A. In indianapolis. Andve gotten great care that sort of thing. Working at the v. A. I think the v. A. And the military need to do a better job of informing people how to get access to the v. A. The other day some lady told me that her grandfather died 20 years ago and she is still waiting on veterans benefits. I said did he apply . That goes on. Of a lot of the public just does not know how the v. A. Operates. Fault is that, that they do not know how to operate it . Caller i think it could be part of the military when a person gets discharged, not letting them know how to go about accessing the v. A. Also it could be the v. A. Not telling benefits how to come in and apply for benefits. Host how does the claim process work . Caller mainly when people come in, if they are new to the v. A. , they first go to health benefits, they bring in their discharge papers, which is 8214. Banksee a person in their and they start the process. After that, i believe they are putting in a test they are put in a priority group, depending on, like your guest said, veterans just eating out of the military five years prev. A. But also it has to be or are certain protocols, for lack of a better word, and honorably discharged person. He has to go through a whole ,rocess and the person goes in and i dont know how long that process lasts. When i went through it in 2004, to threeithin two weeks, i found out i was eligible, and since then i begin my health care there. I have had great results. Do you know how long the process takes that you are just that that robert was describing . Was a two or three weeks pretty short amount of time. We are looking at a lot of different levels. For some folks it has been one year. 125 days is the goal that the v. A. Has set, and that is what they are aiming for. They have instituted a lot of new programs, working with Service Groups to streamline this. It is a process that involves a lot of ringing military records in, looking over, having doctors look over and see what the conditions are, see what the problems are, and having folks decide based on that. If you have pain from a war 20 ry, it is not worth disability, 80 disability, looking at that. This has been an issue for years in the v. A. There is an appeals process, if the come back too low, target for the initial claims has been headed in the right direction. Process is heading in the other direction, taking longer. That on average is 250 days, i believe. Host the administration and outing saturday that veterans in the short term would allow eterans to go outside the v. A. Did they say when veterans could start doing that . The details are still being worked out, but they were talking short term in the next few weeks, so they will have to figure out a process for how they will take those vouchers. Again, for veterans who are looking for care, for some sort of attention for a pending issue, figure is better. Host we will go to cindy in texas. You are on the air. Know, a lot of these soldiers are coming home sick already, and we have paid contractors to make sure there are there is clean drinking water. Then we find out that 60 of what they were supposed to , the water had malaria and Everything Else in it. I am not following. How is this related to veterans . Caller they dont even take care of them while they are fighting, and we find out in 4, 2008, we had soldiers the representatives we have, they do not even know what is going on. They dont really care. They just come out with if there is a scandal, there is a scandal. We have wasted how much time and on whether or not the president was born in the United States. Your point, cindy. We go on to harold in ohio, a veteran there. Mr. Shane, i would like to comment that i saw on the internet there are 21plus million veterans in the united actually a small percentage of veterans are being treated by the v. A. Is, i dont understand recognize that the v. A. Has a lot of expertise in war injuries and so forth, but i have heard a lot of these veterans that are having problems are waiting on colonoscopies and things like that, and i dont understand why people like you dont look into the statistics of these things. A number of veterans who are waiting and waiting for just normal medical treatment. Sanders,e like senator who i think is a worldclass jerk for not wanting to let these people have vouchers. Toould like to ask you express an opinion, rather than just saying that mr. Sanders was doing this temporary. What do you really think about that . Thank you very much. Host leo stands here as a congressional quarter a congressional reporter for the military times. About the caller talked the number of folks involved. There are 22 million veterans in the country today. 8. 7 million of them are using the v. A. Health care in some way, and that is an increase since the Obama Administration began. More outreach, how many folks do we need. Not all veterans need the v. A. Health care system. Some folks are healthy, maybe theyre only interaction with the v. A. Is a home loan or the g. I. Bill. But for someone who needs health care, it is an important concern. John, part of a military family. Go ahead. Caller i have seen this going on since the 1970s. This is in or not this is International Economic government and corporate fascism. Host why do you say that . Caller because look what happened to the banks. We bailed them out, nobody went to jail. Host how do you tie this to what is going on . William in texas, a veteran. Go ahead. Good morning. My name is william and i am a disabled vietnam veteran. I got drafted in 1968. Host we are listening, william. Caller i went on to vietnam and did my time and got hurt over there, and i got agent orange in my system. It took years for them to go ahead and give me my benefits. They swept that all under the rug and said they did not know anything about it. Years later. Saying this just started. You put that on president obama, that is not fair. That is all i have got to say today. Thank you. Host thank you, william. Leo shane . Anst agent orange is example of the complexity the the a has to do with here. Over the years there were certain illnesses connected to agent orange, that in 2010, the v. A. Opened it up even further and said there are more diseases directly related to that chemical exposure. That decision to give out more disability benefits was very popular with veterans, especially in the vietnam era, but it is also the reason to back off a spike on disability claims. We infuriate folks over here because the backlog gets worse as a result. Host ohio, a veteran. Go ahead. Roberta, andi am we were in 32 years, my husband force he went in the air and was their bank for 32 years. My boys went into the navy out of high school. There was a problem in the 1970s with drugs, and he got mixed up with a bunch of hoodlums and he was picked up for smoking a marijuana cigarette. Host roberta, can i ask you to turn your television down . Was your son seen by the v. A. For this . Navy ande was in the he got his leg hurt. There was an explosion in the kitchen and his leg was hurt and burned. Then they sent him to the racktal over there, in a in iraq. , andy, he was sent home they put him in water therapy, and he had to wait between appointments, three to six months sometimes. He still is limping on his leg. Host we will leave it there, roberta. Leo shane, not only is there a delay in seeing someone, but like roberta just shared, there is a delay in the amount of care you are getting . Ofst it is part and parcel the same thing. You might get in for the first appointment, but then it might be three months before the followup appointment. Roberta, these are folks who served overseas. This becomes a very emotional issue very quick for folks because they feel like these are people, veterans who did their part to serve the country. They deserve to be treated well when they come home, and these questions of are they getting in quick enough, are there enough resources here they concern everyone in the country. Shane, military times congressional reporter. You can go to militarytimes. Com to follow his reporting. We appreciated. We will continue on the washington journal on this monday, may 26, 2014, memorial day. A live shot of the tomb of the unknown. President obama and other officials will take part in the annual wreathlaying ceremony at 11 00 a. M. Eastern time. We will take a short break and be talking about deployment and returning veterans with Peter Gudmundsson. Right after this news update from cspan radio. Usa today reports the bright house the white house blew the cover accidentally of a top cia officer when his name and title were released in the mail sent to reporters traveling with the president to afghanistan. The cia officers identity was released as part of a list of u. S. Officials attending a military briefing with the president at the grumman airbase. Agramndividual at bottom airbase. President obama met with troops at the airbase and in his remarks he touched on the election in ukraine. There is word this hour that you can military has launched an airstrike on gunmen occupying an airport in the eastern capital. Military presented an ultimatum to unknown armed men who had occupied the airport to lay down their arms great when the gunman did not comply, the military launched the airstrike. Healthte on the v. A. Care controversy. General martin dempsey, general of the joint chiefs of staff, the king on abc this week, said that everyone involved in affair scandal must be held accountable. Said that it is outrageous that the allegations actually are documented and proven, and i suspect some of them will be. He added that at some point the chief executive, chairman, whoever it is, has to take responsibility for the entire organization and its performance. We will see general dempsey at 11 00 a. M. This morning when he joins president obama and others at Arlington National cemetery. You can watch live coverage of the memorial day event on cspan or listen live on cspan radio. Those are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. Years, cspan brings Public Affairs and defense from washington directly to you, wouldnt you in the room at congressional hearings, white and conferences, offering complete gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. House, all as a Public Service of private industry. We are cspan, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago, brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Us onus on hd, like facebook, and follow us on twitter. Cspan with you wherever you go with our free Smart Phone App for or tablet. Listen to all three channels or theres a schedule on each network so you can tune in whenever you want. Play podcasts from recent shows on signature programs like afterwards, the communicators, and q a. Download your free at online for your iphone, android, or blackberry. Welcome back to the washington journal on this memorial day, may 26, on a 14. This live shot on the national war andm the korean vietnam war memorial. ,he Vietnam Veterans memorial listing the names of more than 50 of thousands of listing the names of more than 50 thousand american to give their lives to their country. We will continue on the washing can journal, talking about veterans issues. We are joined by Peter Gudmundsson, president and ceo military. Com, talking about the jobs situation for returning vets. Is a company that specializes in helping Companies Hire veterans. We help companies attract, appreciate, and retain high quality veteran talent. Host why did you start the company . Not started, i joined it recently. To solve the quandary that all Companies Need high quality people, and veterans are high quality people, so we help them find a high quality people. On the of it is focused supplyside, which is what do we do with these veterans as opposed to the demand side, who needs these highquality veterans and help them make that connection. Any Company Needs highquality people. I have yet to find a company that does not. Government entities at the state, local, and federal level all need high quality people. Veterans, because of their skills and attitudes in tradability are highquality people. Host how do you convince companies that the skill sets that veterans have on the battlefield or in the military Services Work on the civilian side . It is really not that hard. Most Companies Either get it or they do not. Level, youre the senior the hiring manager level, or recruiting function, most of why understand up front military service or veterans status is such a positive. If they do not get it, they probably never will and that is their letter that is their loss and they will probably not win in the marketplace because they most of it is not a stretch. Most will pause and say i never thought about that. Veterans would be a great source of talent, and they utilize hours your our services to find those veterans. It is not as much of a stretch as you might believe. Host what do they tell you about the challenges for them, these Companies Come in hiring veterans . They brandis how do themselves as being different. You will see a lot of announcements. Companies love what we call rose garden recruiting, they love getting it out there with the lady,aybe the First Talking about hiring veterans, 50,000 in the next 10 years or so, that sort of thing. So the branding how do they differentiate and show they are more hip to the potential veterans as others in the industry. The second challenge is where do they find veterans . There are 10 million working veterans in the country, but a lot of Companies Site that they do not know where to find them and are they nationwide, and how do they connect with them . Finally, we hear some talk about understanding in veteran experience. It says here you were an infantry squad leader, a sergeant in the army or marine corps. How do i make sense of that . How does that fit my need to hire a Customer Service manager or manufacturing supervisor . At is really a twosided challenge, both the employer and employee have to learn to speak the language to translate their skills. Host is there a benefit for these companies that hire veterans yucca tax incentives, etc. . Guest they actually come and go. There is new legislation in congress to renew the tax benefits from a year ago, but they are more restrictive than one might think. They specialize were focus in companies that hire veterans that have been out of work for a while. It does not work for all veterans. Yes, there are those types of benefits. But in my observation, in our spirits, the benefits do not really drive behavior. If you think that a 9,000 tax benefit is worth it to hire someone who is not right for your organization, you will find you will spend a lot more than effortsthis up in their or retention challenges for having hire the wrong person. Much better off to hire the right person without the tax benefits than the person with the tax benefits. Are there retention issues for these companies that hire veterans, and for some reason they cannot retain them, they will get fired, or the veteran quits and moves on . Companies i just finished surveying some of our larger clients, and most of them cited that veteran retention is higher than regular nonveteran employees, so it is anecdotal, hard to tell with any specificity. But again, it is a whole narrative that one hears over and over again about veterans as victims, that there is something wrong with them, that if we do not step out and somehow make extraordinary efforts to employ the unemployable, and we are somehow letting them down. One aspect of that narrative, which i strongly disagree with, is a sense that retention is an issue. In our survey, our data shows that veterans actually retain higher on the job than regular citizens. We are talking with Peter Gudmundsson about employment and returning veterans. If you are a veteran returning 2025853883. Led michigan and new jersey have the highest Unemployment Rate among veterans, both over 10 . Delaware iowa, north dakota, virginia, and vermont have the lowest Unemployment Rate among voters. Can you tell us what is happening at the state level . You would have to look at those numbers and compare them to unemployment in general. If you look at the nationwide numbers, if Something Like this at labour statistics last month they said it was 5. 6 for veterans, and 6. 3 for veterans as a whole . Veterans are actually more employed than citizens as a whole. That shocked people. A lot of people are so new to this whole narrative that veterans are unemployed in huge numbers that they are shocked to learn that veterans are actually more employed. It is actually different for young veterans at 25. Still pretty close to citizens as a whole. 21. 4 unemployment for veterans between 18 and 24. What is going on there go . There . Is going on very similar to non veteran college students, or of course High School Graduates or dropouts. It is hard when you are 20something to figure out what are you going to do in life, how will you find the first opportunity echo how do you find a job, write a resume, conduct yourself on an interview . All of them are common problems. Another thing that excuses the problem with young veterans, it is not uncommon for a young veteran when they get out, especially if they are unmarried or dont have the attendance, if you spent four years in the field, done two deployment in afghanistan, you might want to take a few months off, move in with your parents, assess your next move. Should i go back to college . Get a trade certification . Should i take a job . Sometimes there is, but sometimes there is not. They are parttime students working on other ways to advance themselves. Hear from debbie, ohio, a republican caller. Caller i just want to know. You are in the employment business and that. How is this extension of unemployment affecting veterans . You need more than 26 weeks of unemployment. You get retrained, refocused on what you need. I understand it does not take two or three years, but how can these politicians do this to veterans and the people . Those veterans were in the , and they areng eligible for this. We do you handle, or what do do to our congressmen besides calling for you to explain. It takes more than 26 weeks to find her job or update your skill. Host guest Peter Gudmundsson. Guest i am not a macro economist, so i dont know the details. Some polls show that some studies show that if you extend unemployment, you extend the problem longer. It might not be a compassionate thing to say. The department of defense spends just under 1 billion a year on unemployment to some number are really in very understandable transition, trying to figure out what to do next. Isn you are 24 years old, it a good time to pause and do a Little Research and figure out what the next chapter is. That does not mean they are chronically unemployed, it just means they are trying to figure it out. Host the Veterans Affairs department has a Veterans Retraining Assistance Program and they have received and processed more than 143,000 v oneapplications over hundred 26,000 approved applicants, or than 76,000 have a role in a training program. Dva has paid more than 886 Million Dollars in these benefits to unemployed veterans age 3560. How does this help from your perspective as well as the veterans perspective in these companies. It may help in terms of taking a piece of raw material, which is really what a labor resource is, and finishing it out a little bit, if you follow the metaphor. Most companies that really get it when it comes to veteran hiring are not afraid to provide their own training, and generally private Sector Training is going to be better than government supplied training because it is much more in tune with the needs of the organization, which is tied to the market place. The problem with a lot of government sponsored Work Programs is very often they are training on older gear or older assumptions, and the nature of bureaucracy, they do not tend to be as up on what the marketplace is demanding. A fairsult, there is amount of waste that happens through those types of programs to generalize. Host democratic caller in michigan, youre on the air. Caller yes, calling from lansing. I am concerned that the post office, which is said to be the may the largest employer of veterans ash there is an effort ongoing right now to shut down the post office, but yet the post office does not take a dime of taxpayer money to operate on. Will there be some effort on part of your organization to oftect and defend the jobs those veterans who work for the post office . Well, i am not an expert on what is going on with the post office, per se, so i cannot comment with any specificity. I know that Government Agencies in general do consume a lot of veteran talent, again, primarily because of the quality of the talent, but on a secondary basis, there are requirements, there are de facto quotas, if you will, for Government Entities enter contractors to make sure that the workforce is typically 8 veterans. There is no question that they do get veteran talent, but as to how that fits, look at federal policy with the subsidies host president obama talk veterans about returning home and urged companies to hire veterans. Heres what he had to say. [video clip] i keep saying back home if you want somebody who knows how to get a job done, higher of re a vet. Hier re a vet. Because like generations before you, we need you to help us write the next great chapter in the american story. I know you will do that because i have seen the character of your service. And i know the strength of our country. Host does it help when the president takes to the bully pulpit and urges companies to hire veterans . Guest it is a surprisingly nuanced situation. On the one hand, yes, it helps in the sense that it brings awareness to the highquality talent that is out there. The flipside, where it is unintentionally harmful, is that it perpetuates the narrative that someone has got to pitch in and do their part. No organization will long survive if they make compromises in their hiring decisions and hire people they would not have hired otherwise. So which is it . Are veterans highly skilled, desirable employees, or are they somehow damaged and broken, and if we do not all pitching, they will not get jobs. I believe very strongly in the former. But politicians by their nature, s, largecompany ceo they cannot resist the ability to be seen to be doing something. I do not question what they are trying to call bush or their incentive, but in many ways i think it undercuts the quality of the story that we want to take grade for example, you would not hear of a president or a politician or a ceo talking about arent we doing a great job . You would not think that deserves any special pat on the back, that is just common sense. It is smart to recruit highquality talent from top colleges. Military is very much veteran experience is very much like a top college, and in many ways i would argue better than a top college. Here is a tweet from laura. Guest it is true. I would say there are those who get it. At our events, we do 77 career fairs in 40 markets around the country. Next year we will do 104 events. In a typical event, we have 70 or 80 Companies Home depot, prudential, gamestop, amtrak. These Companies Get it. They come to me veterans and they realize that there is no better highquality talent pool, and the numbers bear that out. It is the reason why, even in a tough economy, veterans are more employee, almost one percentage point more because they are great employees. Host what makes them great employees . Guest it is a combination of skills, both tangible and in tangible. On the tangible side, it might be a skill like Truck Driving or small unit leadership, that kind of thing. But there are intangible skills. In our society today, there is no other institution that teaches what some would consider oldfashioned values showing up on time, taking pride in your personal appearance, having respect for your supervisor, working as a team read these are values and skills that are sorely needed, even though they are somewhat out of fashion in society as a whole. So Smart Companies rely on the military to inculcate those values in a very lifechanging way for our veterans. The second thing is attitude. Attitude and screening. Only about 40 of American High School kids are eligible for military service because they have finished high school, are drugfree, passive physical already a so they are stronger subset of society as a whole, and then they go through the camp of whatever service and military specialty operational training, and they follow specific to leadership and other skills. So they come really vetted and helps toin a way that set them apart from other applicants. You hold these job fairs and you talk about Company Names that people would recognize. And how many veterans show up . Guest at a typical event we have about 400 50 veterans. Weve around 450 veterans. The skills that they bring, really the attitude, is what the military calls bearing. The ability to look someone in the eye and shake a firm hand. Human resource managers, recruiters, like to pretend hiring is a science, but it is partially a science that primarily an art. T will still hire on instinct so the sense that someone can do the work is important. What is needed is an open mind on behalf of the employer to realize that i will take a concrete example if youre hiring for a Customer Service manager at a company on all the one hand you have candidate a who worked at a competitor or two or three years, and on the other hand you have an interest or sergeant an infantry ,ergeant the second person it is an intangible stretch, but that ability to deal with people under pressure is huge. And how easy would be to deal with an irate customer who is unhappy making a return or a complaint when you have dealt with a village elder in afghanistan, where it was a life or death decision how you routed your patrol . One has to take a little bit of a stretch to breakdown, what are we really hiring for . The challenges Many Organizations hire defensively. They think if i hire this person, what will go wrong, what will will my boss criticize me for making this choice . That is where it is most useful where a ceo can set the tone in an organization and says i will provide a little political cover. If you take a chance on a veteran whose resume did not exactly hit the specs but you believe in your heart that this person will be outstanding, we will give you some air cover, so to speak, politically, for hiring that individual. Host a veteran in south carolina. Hi, duke. Caller think i for cspan. To askers, i am going you these questions and then hang up and listen to your response. I was drafted during the vietnam era, and i am trying to find out , how do you feel about the senate bill in 1982 that was introduced by currently the chairman of the Veterans Affairs commission, vernon sanders. I want you to expound a little bit on the the wrap program. Back . Duke, can we go what is the legislation, for those who do not know. Caller mr. Peters should be informed there, he should be in tune to that. But it is the senate bill from 1982, sponsored or introduced by vernon sanders, the chairman of the Veterans Affairs. I cannot get technical with it, but it is there. And mr. Peters is connected. He should know in that sense. That is a very good program, putting out a hundred Million Dollars. But that program is successful. Governmenthave the involved because private industry is not willing to shell out that money in order to train veterans by anyone else. America needs jobs, and that is an agreement to kind of kill jobs. I could go on and on. We are in a mess right now. We need leadership. In the v. A. , we need leadership in our country. We need that leadership. Peter gudmundsson, do you know about the Senate Legislation . The number not know of that bill, but the caller brings up an excellent point. Inside our company, we talk a lot about to what degree should we engage with Government Entities . Finally we came up with an understanding internally that we are much more about main street van k street. End i mean by that, one can a lot of time inside the beltway tracking bills, lobbying, and a lot of people do that. I would argue a lot of that is wasted effort, and that really out in main street in the rest of the country, that is where the battle is fought and won. Companiesng sure the make the effort to understand veterans, and when they do, this is the key when they do make the effort to understand what veterans bring to bear, they will be sold for life and they will employ veterans for life. Programs come and go, bills come and go. One has to look at what are the political motivations . No politician on the right or left wants to be seen not supporting veterans. Of course. But what is the return of investment on that money as opposed to private entities or government or nonprofits that all have an incentive to fulfill their missions, succeed through leveraging highquality people, which of course veterans are. The storyhill has from february Senate Republicans stops democrats from advancing a bill that would have expanded health care and Education Programs for veterans. Vote thursday, the motion to waive a budget point of order against the bill failed. Allow aid refused to gop sub commitment to get an up or down vote because it included iran sanctions. Mike, good morning. Caller two questions real quick. The program we heard over the weekend for the v. A. , is that the first step of privatizing the v. A. System . Because that is the first thing i felt when he came up is that they were trying to privatize it. Host that was a conversation we had with our previous guest, so if you missed it, go to our website, the washington journal session, and you can watch our session with leo shane of the military times. Could you speak to the difference between their unemployment statistics by race . Eck guest by race, i cannot. Employers are interested in two different types of diversity when it comes to veterans. Racial diversity is one, and disability status is another. In our own database, we have such hundred 80,000 veterans come and 26 of them cite some sort of disability. It might be only 10 , but our clients are very eager to access those populations. One of the great things about the military experience, going back to integration in the late 1940s and 1950s, is that from a racial perspective our military is very reflective of america. That is hugely attractive to employers. Less so, because somewhere around 15 or 16 percent are female, so it is tough to achieve a gender equity or access through the veteran pool. But from a racial perspective, from an economic difference and military status, the veteran pool is a great place to be fishing for those sources of benefits. Host Peter Gudmundsson, when is the next job fair . Guest this next thursday, three days hence, we will be in baltimore. If you go to recruitmilitary. Com, you will see all of them listed. All access is free to veterans, of course. Throughout the country, we are in 40 different cities, so probably not too far from where any of our veterans are. Gudmundsson, thank you very much for your time, sir. That does it for todays washington journal. A. M. Morrow morning, 7 00 eastern time, we will begin again with Michael Waldman about then we will talk to the Senior Editor at the Senior Editor ponnuru. Aboute will talk foreignpolicy challenges that president obama faces. We will see you again tomorrow morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Enjoy the rest of your memorial day. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] 4]