More than Yellow
Ribbons: Hillary Clinton’s Plan for Veterans
Jamie Barnett, Rear
Admiral USN (Ret'd)
December 23, 2015
The yellow ribbon
has become an iconic American symbol for a heartfelt welcome home, with all of
the comforts and care that home connotes. I remember yellow ribbons first for
the American hostages in Iran in 1981, but then I saw them for my comrades-in-arms
and me when I came home from Saudi Arabia in the First Gulf War. And in my last
job in the Navy as deputy commander of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, I
saw yellow ribbons as we welcomed back our sailors from service on the ground
in Iraq and Afghanistan, disarming IEDs, protecting dams and sea-based oil
rigs, and re-building the infrastructure. I am extremely proud of their service
and that pride fueled the warmth of the welcome home.
But our veterans
deserve more than yellow ribbons and parades. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
have added some 2.5 million new veterans to the millions still living from
previous U.S. conflicts. These men and women of action deserve our action.
America makes a solemn vow to the men and women who serve the military:
Dedicate your life to the protection and well-being of the United States, and
we will care for those who have borne the battle and their families. This means
those who have served should, at a bare minimum, have timely access to
top-notch healthcare and educational opportunities aimed at capitalizing on
their unique experiences and skills sets for competitive civilian jobs.
A lot of people
might be surprised to know that Secretary Hillary Clinton has long been a
leader on this front. I am not talking about speeches; she has actually made
tangible progress for veterans. No other presidential candidate comes close to
her record of accomplishment for veterans and their families. She has worked
with, and will continue to work with, Republicans and Democrats alike to
improve the quality of life for veterans, service members, and their families.
One particularly
enlightening example was her fight to expand military healthcare benefits to
reservists and guardsmen — as well as to their loved ones — guaranteeing that
they were covered by Tricare even when they were not deployed. Before she,
along with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, fought to expand these service
members’ access to Tricare, they were only covered while on active duty orders
and for a limited time afterward. Not only was it a travesty that some military
families didn’t have healthcare, but it posed a serious hurdle in military
readiness for today’s expeditionary force. She was able to include this
provision in the FY2005 National Defense Authorization Act, when nearly 40
percent of Americans serving in Iraq were reservists. The next year, she
partnered with future Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on working to increase
the gratuity paid to families of those who perish in service to the country
from $12,000 to $100,000 (over and above any service members’ life insurance).
While in the Senate,
Secretary Clinton also championed legislation signed into law to broaden
protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act for family members of
wounded Sailors, airmen, soldiers, and Marines. This protects the jobs of
family member caregivers so they can focus on looking after their spouse,
parent, or child, and not whether they will still have a job when they try to
go back to work.
She also knows that
the VA has not lived up to its mission in recent years and something must be
done about it. The VA’s problems will not be found in privatizing veterans’
medical care — that doesn’t mean we can’t learn some lessons from business, but
the needs of those who have sacrificed the most for their country should never
be trumped by the bottom line. Secretary Clinton’s policy proposals show she
fully understands that we must fix the systemic problems plaguing the VA by
first tackling the outrageous wait times veterans face when seeking care,
streamlining the claims process, and giving veterans a workable appeals
process. The proposal is in depth and detailed, and tackles each of these
problems one by one.
Take, for instance,
the claims process. First, she will simplify the benefits claims process by
eliminating barriers between DoD and VA processes and combining their medical
evaluations. She will also promote the expanded use of “fully developed claims”
and implement rules-based automatic adjudication, both of which will make
processing claims faster and more efficient. She will also ensure the appeals
process has the resources it needs to make sure the VA does right by those who
serve their nation in uniform.
Second, she will
strengthen ties and information sharing between the VA and DoD so these
agencies can better plan and prepare for future waves of VA claims. Doing so
will give these the agencies far better anticipation, allowing them to surge
resources well in advance to avoid out-of-control claims backlogs.
Lastly, she will
launch an Innovation Initiative, connecting the VA with the brightest minds in
business, academia, and civilian service organizations. These groups can help
the VA develop the dynamic solutions necessary to better manage current
problems like the benefits claims and appeals process, while putting the best
ideas to work toward meeting future challenges.
She knows that it is
not just about fixing VA’s medical systems, but about modernizing the full
spectrum of veterans’ benefits. Our contract with veterans does not end with
their medical concerns — we must follow through with education and jobs. I know
from my own experience, both in and out of government after I retired from the
Navy, that military training can lead to professional success as a civilian.
Secretary Clinton has pledged to expand jobs programs with private companies so
that our veterans can succeed once they are out of uniform. That means ensuring
the GI Bill can be used to cover education for tomorrow’s jobs and
strengthening ties with leading private sector companies and labor groups. And
to promote the hiring of veterans across the board, she will look to make
permanent existing tax credits, like the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, for
companies that employ veterans and expand incentives for employers to make
workplace adjustments for disabled veterans.
Another prime area
set for Secretary Clinton’s attention is helping those that may fall through
the legal system’s cracks by expanding Veterans Treatment Courts. These courts,
which emphasize treating mental health and substance abuse over simply punishment,
are practical alternatives to traditional criminal prosecution for veterans who
commit minor offenses that are aggravated by these conditions.
Most veterans are
tired of hearing empty political promises from candidates every few years only
to be forgotten once they take office — and then suddenly being remembered
again during reelection season. To maintain focus and momentum on her veterans
agenda, Clinton is promising to convene a White House Summit on Veterans. It
will meet early and often to hold ALL those in her administration accountable
for veterans’ policies and programs. Veterans’ advocacy has to be bigger than
just the VA; her proposal for a President’s Council on Veterans, focused on an
all-of-government approach, is unique in recognizing how our promise to
veterans remains, at best, incomplete.
George Washington
knew how central to America and its security the treatment of veterans is. In a
statement widely attributed to him, he said, “The willingness with which our
young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly
proportional to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars were treated and
appreciated by our nation.” Not just yellow ribbons. Action. I trust Secretary
Clinton to take effective action because she already has a proven track record
of doing so for veterans and their families. And she is the only one in the
race who has such a record. For American veterans and their families, I support
Secretary Clinton.
Jamie Barnett, a
rear admiral, retired in 2008 after 32 years of military service. His last
position in active duty was deputy commander of the Navy Expeditionary Combat
Command, which had 9,000 Sailors serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to a new
survey, 89 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans say they would join the
military again, while also reporting a spike in suicide, reduced physical
wellness and feelings of disconnection. Gwen Ifill talks to two veterans, Tom
Tarantino of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and Nathan Smith of Hire
Heroes USA, as well as Rajiv Chandrasekaran of The Washington Post.