(Army Times) Editorial: Shinseki as VA secretary

[unhappycamper]

Shinseki as VA secretary

Nominating retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki as secretary of veterans affairs is the latest bold move by President-elect Barack Obama to reassure troops and veterans that he intends to look out for their welfare.

Like his decisions to keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates in that job and naming retired Marine Commandant Gen. James Jones as his national security adviser, Obama’s nomination of the former Army chief of staff to lead VA has the potential to prove similarly inspired.

Shinseki served for 38 years, despite losing part of a foot to a land mine in Vietnam. As a combat veteran and a disabled veteran, he has instant credibility as VA secretary.

But in his years as Army chief of staff, Shinseki showed a quirk that could work against him at VA — he sometimes went into a defensive crouch when his views and decisions were criticized.

When he decided in 2000 that all soldiers would wear black berets, for example, his refusal to define his reasons for such a dramatic change and to make any effort to sell it to his troops led to a public relations fiasco that dragged out for many months.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_editorial_shinseki2_122208/%2e

[rosesaylavee]

1. Oh oh. So he's the one that made the beret decision?

My nephew was Airborne at the time - red berets... he was not at all happy about that as the berets are obviously more than a fashion statement. Well, it would be great if he could explain that or he will be harder sell to the special force troops.

[MADem]

2. Yes, it was a big joke at the Pentagon at the time.

To make matters worse, a whole bunch of those berets ended up being MADE IN CHINA despite the Berry Amendment ban on uniform items being made offshore. They weren't issued after a stink was made. The entire process of shifting to that beret was unvetted--it was a unilateral decision, and an error in judgment, really.

Then, we had that problem with the P3 that was forced down after the Chinese clipped the wing, and the Chinese had an Intelligence field day while they held the crew hostage under the guise of "questioning" them....the joke was

Why did the P3 land in China?

To pick up an order of Shinseki's berets...


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3731/is_200106/ai_n8992683

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/02/news/mn-45841

All that said, he'll overcome. Shinseki lost a big chunk of his FOOT in Vietnam....he's got "cred" as a disabled vet, himself. I think he'll do OK in the job.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Interesting article. Thank you for posting. k+r, n/t