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.