True story. I spoke with an Army veteran who had a below-the-knee amputation recently, and he had this to say via text message about his experience with the Veterans Administration (VA).

“I’m 8 weeks past amputation and the VA won’t even listen to the prosthesis they referred me out too!”

“After talking to Hanger orthotic every veteran that needs a prosthetic is getting delayed some guys 4-6 months after amputation.”

We have a term for this in the military, and it’s called UNSAT (short for unsatisfactory).

Mr. President, there’s a reason the tree at the VA is not producing any fruit – it’s dying and incapable. During my service in the Special Operations community, I learned a tremendous amount about good and bad leadership, and I can tell you that if an organization is plagued by long-term problems, it’s not the people in the organization that are the problem, it’s their leadership.

Shinseki doesn’t have much to be proud of during his time at the helm of the Veterans Administration (VA) since being appointed by President Obama in 2009. His list of accomplishments include an internal investigation by the Inspector General (IG) that found his organization guilty of millions of dollars in fraud, waste and abuse (off-site meetings and federal acquisition bribery), and more recently, we’re starting to get eyewitness accounts of massive veteran record purges.

“If these allegations prove to be true, it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it, period,” said Obama

The situation has been bad for years, and the Veterans Administration has become more like the movie “Hunger Games,” with Shinseki and his inner circle eating and drinking themselves fat in the “Capital” city, while millions of veterans go without proper help, medicated into submission, and purged of all things important.

I’m glad that this topic has finally caught fire in the mainstream media and DC – although the writers on this site have been covering the VA debacle since long before it became trendy in politics or the media.

The solution is a simple one, Mr. President: Shinseki and his top staff need to go. Until the Secretary and his leadership are held accountable, we’ll continue to see the problem get worse for veterans everywhere. Time to lead by example or have one made out of you by American veterans.

(Featured Image Courtesy: VA.gov)