​PROMISES I CAN KEEP TO VETERANS

"As a non-veteran, the most important thing I can do to ensure that my office will be focused on the right veteran's issues at the right time is to have a veteran Veterans Liaison on staff, and that's a promise I can keep.

Of particular interest to veterans should be my AUXILIARY ACT proposal, which puts actual veterans in meaningful roles in Veterans Clinics and Hospitals (and any public facing agency of the VA).

Already, organizations like AMVETS and VFW and others are granted presence in VA clinics and hospitals, including office space and resources. But this is not a uniform presence in all facilities.

An Auxiliary would have the right to be regularly heard and respected in an advisory capacity within the facilities, and of course would be inclusive of the already present veterans advocacy organizations such as mentioned above.

Auxiliary eyes and ears on the front lines of care would ensure that problems are recognized early, and solutions implemented timely, when resources or processes fall short of the mark.

The potential of Auxiliaries in each and every facility, communicating with their peers throughout the system, means that those in Congress whose job it is to appropriate resources adequate to the task will be constantly apprised of situational deficiencies."

                                                                              -- Mike