A veteran’s hopes for the next secretary. 

When he reviewed Iraq military memoirs on NPR recently, Washington Post reporter Thomas Ricks pointed out an instance of incredible combat leadership. During one scene described in a Marine officer’s book, he was checking his platoon’s perimeter fighting holes at night in Afghanistan when he came upon Marine Gen. James Mattis also checking on the men. As commander of all Marines in Afghanistan, Mattis soundly proved the extent of his compassion for the average grunt.

General Mattis is the type of leader one hopes for in a combat zone, but that doesn’t mean you stop needing noble leaders when you come home.

One day it would be nice for the VA secretary to live as consciously in the mind of a veteran, as his/her division commander once did. You may never have met him, or know too much about him, or even know what it is he exactly does, but you know he’s out there leading you. No vets I talked to ever knew the former VA secretary’s name.

Let’s take a look at President Bush’s new nominee for VA secretary, retired Lt. Gen. James B. Peake. From the White House fact sheet released upon his nomination:

[Peake’s] distinguished military career began in 1966 with service as an infantry officer in Vietnam, for which he received the Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster for wounds sustained in battle. He retired from the Army in 2004, following service as lead commander in several medical posts, including four years as the U.S. Army Surgeon General.

Sounds good to me--a decorated combat vet and Army doctor who made it all the way up to general. Just stop there.

I don’t want to hear the nice things the Republicans have to say about him:

"He's been on both sides. He was a patient after he was wounded in Vietnam, and he spent much of his career as a caregiver."

Or, the criticisms Democrats have:

"Given Dr. Peake's past posts running the Army healthcare system, he will have serious and significant questions to answer about failed preparations for our returning wounded warriors."

I don’t want to hear about past scandals. I don’t want to know why the president thinks he’s right for the job. Just show, don’t tell. If he passes the Senate nomination process, let him in and let him do his job. Give him a clean slate. I only ask a few things of Lieutenant General Peake:

Please don’t let me ever read or hear of another Veterans Administration foul-up again. Yes, we know there will be problems. We know you can’t fix everything--at least right away. You’re being placed in a tough situation, we know that. The country will work with you because I don’t know one person who doesn’t care about our veterans’ well-being.

Communicate. Tell us what you’re doing. Tell us what your challenges are. Heck, start a blog. Just don’t let there be any more bad surprises.

This is all what the veteran in me says. I don’t want excuses, I don’t want b.s., I just want a leader. The journalist in me, however, realizes one also needs to look at specific issues Peake must attend to.

A new report by the Cambridge Health Alliance just announced its findings that one in eight work-age vets is uninsured. I can relate. Until enrolling in grad school last August, I spent nearly four years uninsured. Now I’m afraid of going to the doctor and seeing what he’ll find. What type of solution did researchers give for this problem? More VA funding. Who will need to make sure this happens? Peake will.

According to The Associated Press, 283 combat vets who left the military between October 2001 and the end of 2005 committed suicide. The VA can say it’s ramping up suicide-prevention initiatives. But what does that mean? How will the average soldier, depressed and living in middle America, know the VA is there for him? That’s up to Peake.

On Wednesday, the Bush administration announced it would hire a staff to coordinate veterans care between the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs, as they have joint responsibility when it comes to caring for wounded vets. On the surface, this sounds good, but who’s going to ensure the initiative doesn’t fall by the wayside after the press releases stop coming? Who will ensure political wrangling from both sides doesn’t bog down veterans-care reforms? Peake will. Peake will have the power to literally change lives. The only way he can do this is meeting these lives face to face.

As General Mattis did in Afghanistan, Peake should walk the trenches, the hospital corridors, the VFW halls, the Memorial Day parades, the funeral processions. Don’t just walk through, but stay, sit, talk and listen. Do all of these things not always as secretary of Veterans Affairs--but sometimes simply as a fellow veteran.