Veterans Administration -Leading the Fight for Veteran Rights - Case Study Example

Veterans Administration: Leading the Fight for Veteran Rights The intention to serve and help American war veterans has been there for a long time. The Department of Veterans was has its history in the later quarter of the 19th century. During the American Revolution war, the government wanted to encourage people to enlist in the army. As a result, it came up with army incentives that would take care of the men in arms (Toropov 78). They were given ways to deal with the problem that men who went to war were facing. To begin with, the government offered pension for soldiers who would be injured at war. The soldiers were also given the direct medical and hospital care. However, none of these services were given at the state level. By the beginning of the 19th century, the first domiciliary and medical facility was established to help firmer soldiers who suffered at war (Leonard 359). This service was offered by the federal government and covered not only the veterinary by their families, especially the widows and the orphans of the veterans as well as their dependents (Pencak 45). After the way, every state had established veteran homes and the medical services that were given were complete. The soldiers would get medical services even for medical needs that did not emerge from military service. Improvements to veteran services were made after the World War I (Korb 124). At this time, the United States congress established new systemic ways to serve the veterans. The new system made it possible for veterans to have more benefits. This includes compensation for disability emanating from military service, insurance for service men/women and veterans well as rehabilitation of the veterans who had suffered psychiatric injury during the war (Kanel 75). As early as the 1920s, the services were administered by various federal agencies. These agencies included the veteran bureau, the bureau of pensions for the interior department and the national home for disabled volunteer soldiers. By this time, the veteran services had not been consolidated and the services were given under different agencies, some of which were administered at ht estate level. By 1930, the United States congress authorized the United States president to consolidate the veteran services so that they could be operated form a central pint. the three agencies as named above were therefore consolidate into one and made to be one agency, not named the veteran administration. In this move, these three agencies automatically became bureaus that were managed under the veteran administration. Frank T. Hines became the first secretary in the Veterans Bureau which at the time was called the Veterans Bureau. The served from 1923 until the end of the Second World War in 1945. At the time, the Veteran Bureau was still full of corruption and scandals. Frank T. Hines tied to make the Veteran bureau with as much honesty and accountability as was possible and became known as a man of stern honesty. It became apparent that veterans were not getting the aid they required. An organization of the Veterans Administration (VA) had been formed to help former soldiers to live a good life and to access services that would hem to do so. The Veterans Administration has had a number of heads since then and by Secretary Eric Shinseki of Veterans Affair states. His priority is to fix the issues and ensure our veterans are getting the care that they need The Veteran Administration mission is to fulfill President Lincoln’ s promise, which was to care for men and women of service who had served their country in war. The Veterans Administration is has since its establishment worked towards serving veterans and other beneficiaries. In the united states, veterans live in dehumanizing conditions such as homelessness, substance abuse (Francisco 156). Most of them suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) suffered as a result of their hardship at war in foreign countries. On any given night, more than 57,000 veterans have no shelter, about 45% of these veterans who are homeless suffer from pshychological and mental ailments illness. Of these, more than 70% are suffering from alcoholism and or other drug abuse problems (Taylor 146). About 40% of veterans live in areas that are considered rural, where community hospices and VA health care programs are not available. Veterans who are in the rural areas do not have an easy access to a VA health care service. As a result, the biggest challenge that the VA faces today is to put in homes these many veterans who are homeless in rural areas. Most of these homeless and even some who are not homeless veterans do not have access to reliable and effective healthcare. In fact, most of them cannot access any healthcare at all (Longman 189). While this is happening, the VA has been having wrangles that continue to choke its ability to make the lives of the veterans easier and comfortable. As Eric Ken Shinseki, took leadership, he inspired other organizations and people to support the veterans as well. The VA provided benefits which took care all of their financial part, health care to solve their physical and mental problems, and national cemetery, to honor those veterans who suffered in war while serving their country. Reducing homelessness among veterans. Despite his scandalous departure at the Veteran Department as the secretary, Shinseki had archived to reduce the number of homeless veterans. One of the issues that were at hand by the time Shinseki joined the veteran’s administration was the large number of homelessness among the veterans who had come from war, especially the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. His promise to the veteran was that he would improve the living conditions for veterans. For instance, under his tenure, Eric Ken Shinseki started a program that would end homelessness among the veterans in the United States of America. The program was started in 2010, barely a year after his start as the secretary of veteran affairs. The program was intended to end veteran homelessness in the United States by the year 2015. Despite the fact that this was not achieved as planned, probably due to systemic and administrative issues that Eric Ken Shinseki faced during his tenure, it achieved a lot in terms of putting thousands of veterans in homes. However, as of 2015, there are still many former soldiers who are homeless in the United States. By 2011, 67,000 former soldiers were homeless. This number was reduced after the program that Eric Ken Shinseki put up in 2011, to just a few thousands. However, more efforts needs to be asserted in this area. Tax Credit, for businesses that employ Veterans In conjunction with the Obama administration that hired him, Shinseki was able to lobby for tax credit fro firms that would hire veterans who were unemployed. This move was very important in making sure that the number of unemployed veterans who were suffering economically and finally was reduced. In the US, a serious problem that veterans face is lack of employment, forcing them to be homeless and to start abusing drugs. With this particular initiative started by Shinseki, over 20% of veteran unemployment would be solved as more firms would now consider hiring veterans who were not employed. Legacy The legacy that Eric Ken Shinseki can be said to have left behind in the VA is his honesty and determination to make things work. Right from the time he was appointed to lead the VA, he showed his commitment to make the VA better and to reduce the wrangles that the firm faced and that made it harder for the organization to serve its mandate. One of the things that he started was to lobby for more powers for the VA to have more powers to hire and fire staff. This was geared towards making sure that the VA had enough control over its staff in order to smooth out administrative and operational logistics at the VA. Even for those who hated him, he will be remembered as a person who was committed to clean the VA and make it a better tool to serve veteran as opposed to serving selfish interests of some individuals. In fact, for most, it is almost very clear that the reason why there was pressure for him to resign from the VA was because of his lobbying for the betterment of the VA. Conclusion The service and demise of Eric Ken Shinseki at the VA is a clear indication that the VA requires a good leadership for it to be able to come back to its original status as a service to the veteran. At the same time, it can be seen clearly that the VA has been having management and administrative wrangles from as early as the 1930s when Frank T. Hines was in the driver’s seat. The need for leadership for this organization is imminent and there is a need to make sure that the leaders who will be given this position are able to handle the controversies. Eric Ken Shinseki time at the VA is an important part of the history for not only the VA but also the United States. Works Cited Francisco, Fernando. Statistical Handbook on the Social Safety Net. New York, NY: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Kanel, Kristi. A Guide to Crisis Intervention ed 5. London, UK: Cengage Learning, 2014. Korb, Lawrence. Serving Americas Veterans: A Reference Handbook Contemporary military, strategic, and security issues. New York, NY: ABC-CLIO, 2009. Leonard, Barry. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, 1999. New York, NY: DIANE Publishing, 1999. Longman, Phillip. Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Health Care Would Work Better For Everyone. New York, NY: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2012. Pencak, William. Encyclopedia of the Veteran in America [2 volumes]. New York, NY: ABC-CLIO, 2009. Taylor, Richard. Homeward Bound: American Veterans Return from War. New York, NY: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. Toropov, Brandon. Encyclopedia of Cold War Politics: Facts on File library of world history. New York,, NY: Infobase Publishing, 2000. Read More