VA CIO Roger Baker stepping down
FCW.com
By Camille Tuutti
Feb 15, 2013
After 15 years in government, the Veterans Affairs Department CIO is leaving public service.
Roger Baker made the announcement Feb. 15, in an internal memo to the VA IT department. saying he would retire "in the near future."
A source speaking on the condition of anonymity told FCW that Baker will be moving to the private sector, did not plan to reveal where until he has formally left government service. Baker's announcement made no mention of what he plans to do next.
In his dual role as CIO and assistant secretary for information and technology, Baker has directly managed the $3.3 billion organization of more than 7,500 IT professionals. Under Baker, IT became a critical part of the agency's fabric, focused on the transformative power of technology. When Baker joined the department in 2009, he and Secretary Eric Shinseki agreed VA should first "renovate IT and then use IT to renovate the department."
read more here
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Suicides and spying at Tampa VA?
Yesterday I received two emails about James A. Haley Veterans Hospital (Tampa VA) and I struggled with wanting to post it but being unable to verify the stories. Today the senders responded with pleas for help. While I am not a reporter and do not have the means to verify these allegations, if they are serious enough for these two people to be reaching out, they need to be investigated!
The other email came from a Korean War veteran's family member about the hidden camera in his room. The email stated Tampa VA has refused to release the taped videos to the family.
James A. Haley VA reports contradict its claims on covert camera
Senator Nelson wants answers on hidden camera at Tampa VA
Vietnam veteran's suffering causes new allegations against Tampa VA
Again, where are the reporters? Why aren't they fully investigating this? Why do veterans feel they have no other choice but to contact a blogger tracking reports?
"Unfortunately, this veteran's death remains one of Haley's well kept secrets. My prayers remain with his loved ones and their unanswered questions. We witnessed this vet motionless; and slumped over in his chair in an enormous pool of blood. His identity was protected with a white sheet that was placed over his head. His name remains unknown.Where are the reporters with the means to cover this story? Where are the elected representatives of this state?
Therefore, I named him the Valentine Veteran.
Unfortunately, multiple suicides are taking place in or on the premises at Haley; and kept a secret. This is obviously their last cry for help! The very next day there was no sympathy or remorse. For the most part, if the nation realized how many vets took their lives at this one hosspital in a short timeframe. Suicide amongst vets will be taken more seriously. These actions are blatant disrespectf to all veterans; especially, those vets suffering with PTSD and suicidal ideations!
There was a VA chaplain present the entire time. She was compassionate, understanding and hurt. Most importantly, she is a vet. Therefore, she provided support for the bystanders...Kathie, if possible can you pass this story along; and maybe one day this veteran's last cry for help may be heard?"
The other email came from a Korean War veteran's family member about the hidden camera in his room. The email stated Tampa VA has refused to release the taped videos to the family.
Tampa VA removes hidden camera
VA says covert camera was only one hidden, no plans to use again
By Matt Grant
CREATED AUG. 9, 2012
FORT MYERS - The James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital has removed a covert camera hidden inside a smoke detector that was used to videotape brain damaged Korean War veteran Joseph Carnegie against his family's wishes.
Congress began investigating the Tampa VA's use of covert cameras last week. The VA tells Fox 4 the type of camera used to monitor Carnegie's condition was the only one they've ever used like that.
"There are currently no cameras of this type installed, in use or in stock for use at Tampa VA," said spokesperson Mary Kay Hollingsworth. "The camera which was removed from Mr. Carnegie's room will not be placed back into stock."
read more here
James A. Haley VA reports contradict its claims on covert camera
Senator Nelson wants answers on hidden camera at Tampa VA
Vietnam veteran's suffering causes new allegations against Tampa VA
Again, where are the reporters? Why aren't they fully investigating this? Why do veterans feel they have no other choice but to contact a blogger tracking reports?
Monday, February 18, 2013
Home from war, troops face 'white knuckled' first month
Home from war, troops face 'white knuckled' first month
By Bill Briggs
NBC News contributor
February 18, 2013
In the first month home from war, one Marine routinely searched his darkened bedroom for the rifle he'd left in Iraq, while another Marine shunned his favorite nightspot for fear that someone in the club might carry a gun.
In the four weeks after their homecomings, one infantryman drove “white knuckled” at 55 mph while another soldier purposely began living even faster — losing her virginity, going blonde and drinking hard with battle buddies.
Some 34,000 service members will ship home from Afghanistan during the next year, President Barack Obama told the nation last week.
Amid the gleeful glow of arrivals, many of those troops may quickly confront sensory overloads, social awkwardness and, perhaps, deep cravings for personal freedoms, according to interviews with four younger veterans who weathered such moments.
“The first 30 days are interesting,” said Alex Horton, who spent 15 months in Iraq as an Army infantryman, including during the 2007 troop surge in Baghdad and Diyala Province.
Today, he works for the Department of Veterans Affairs. "I’ll call it the unraveling. That first week back you’re still high on everything, kissing your wife or girlfriend, sometimes seeing your kids for the first time. But then the tension starts to build.
read more here
By Bill Briggs
NBC News contributor
February 18, 2013
In the first month home from war, one Marine routinely searched his darkened bedroom for the rifle he'd left in Iraq, while another Marine shunned his favorite nightspot for fear that someone in the club might carry a gun.
In the four weeks after their homecomings, one infantryman drove “white knuckled” at 55 mph while another soldier purposely began living even faster — losing her virginity, going blonde and drinking hard with battle buddies.
Some 34,000 service members will ship home from Afghanistan during the next year, President Barack Obama told the nation last week.
Amid the gleeful glow of arrivals, many of those troops may quickly confront sensory overloads, social awkwardness and, perhaps, deep cravings for personal freedoms, according to interviews with four younger veterans who weathered such moments.
“The first 30 days are interesting,” said Alex Horton, who spent 15 months in Iraq as an Army infantryman, including during the 2007 troop surge in Baghdad and Diyala Province.
Today, he works for the Department of Veterans Affairs. "I’ll call it the unraveling. That first week back you’re still high on everything, kissing your wife or girlfriend, sometimes seeing your kids for the first time. But then the tension starts to build.
read more here
Human Terrain "teams" deemed worthless or worse
Army plows ahead with troubled aid program
By Tom Vanden Brook
USA Today
Posted : Monday Feb 18, 2013
A $250 million Army program designed to aid U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has been riddled by serious problems that include payroll padding, sexual harassment and racism, a USA Today probe has found.
As the Pentagon plans for sizable budget cuts beginning next month, the Army is planning to use the teams in other potential hot spots around the world despite the allegations outlined in an unreleased Army investigation obtained by the newspaper and in subsequent interviews.
The program, known as the Human Terrain System, sends civilian social scientists overseas to help U.S. troops better understand the societies in which they are operating, avoid bloodshed and smooth relations with local populations.
A 2010 Army investigation shows the program was plagued by severe problems, including:
The problems drew the attention of Gen. Martin Dempsey, then the commander of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). Dempsey, now the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in an April 2010 memo that the Human Terrain System program needed government oversight of “all phases including recruiting, training, organizing, deploying and redeploying, and in all aspects of employment including hiring and compensation.”
read more here
By Tom Vanden Brook
USA Today
Posted : Monday Feb 18, 2013
A $250 million Army program designed to aid U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has been riddled by serious problems that include payroll padding, sexual harassment and racism, a USA Today probe has found.
As the Pentagon plans for sizable budget cuts beginning next month, the Army is planning to use the teams in other potential hot spots around the world despite the allegations outlined in an unreleased Army investigation obtained by the newspaper and in subsequent interviews.
The program, known as the Human Terrain System, sends civilian social scientists overseas to help U.S. troops better understand the societies in which they are operating, avoid bloodshed and smooth relations with local populations.
A 2010 Army investigation shows the program was plagued by severe problems, including:
• Team members were encouraged to maximize their pay and comp time by inflating time sheets.
• Allegations of sexual harassment and racism were made against the government contractors who recruited and trained Human Terrain teams and a soldier who worked in the program.
• The program relied on unaccountable contractors and inadequate government oversight.
• Many commanders deemed worthless — or worse — the reports the teams produced. In one case, the commander of a brigade combat team in Iraq told the Army investigator that he “relied very little on his (Human Terrain team) and viewed them as incapable and of little value. He never looked at his team’s products and believed their survey efforts actually created anxiety among the local Iraqi populace.”
The problems drew the attention of Gen. Martin Dempsey, then the commander of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). Dempsey, now the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in an April 2010 memo that the Human Terrain System program needed government oversight of “all phases including recruiting, training, organizing, deploying and redeploying, and in all aspects of employment including hiring and compensation.”
read more here
Are South Korea's gun laws preventing US military suicides?
South Korea mostly suicide-free for U.S. troops
By Gregg Zoroya
USA Today
Posted : Monday Feb 18, 2013
Even as the Army recorded its worst year in decades for soldiers killing themselves — with 323 deaths in 2012 — there were places in the service where suicides are rare.
One is South Korea, where among the nearly 20,000 GIs stationed there last year, there was one suicide: a soldier hanged himself. Leaders there say they are encouraging troops to seek help and to look out for one another, and that effort is paying off.
Last December, Army Spc. Andrew Korpash, 26, who is stationed near the Korean demilitarized zone, contacted a chaplain about desperate text messages another G.I. sent after being jilted by a woman. “The thing that got my attention was the actual list of ways he would do it (commit suicide),” said Korpash, a Korean language linguist. “That’s when it seemed like it was pretty serious to me.”
But there is another reason that underscores how U.S. troops die by suicide: the use of firearms. In South Korea, troops are effectively barred from keeping private firearms because of strict national gun control laws.
“Most soldiers in the military, the majority, commit suicide through firearms,” said Maj. Gen. Edward Cardon, commander of 2nd Infantry Division and some 10,000 soldiers in South Korea. “So the restrictions on firearms is clearly a factor (in reducing the deaths).”
read more here
By Gregg Zoroya
USA Today
Posted : Monday Feb 18, 2013
Even as the Army recorded its worst year in decades for soldiers killing themselves — with 323 deaths in 2012 — there were places in the service where suicides are rare.
One is South Korea, where among the nearly 20,000 GIs stationed there last year, there was one suicide: a soldier hanged himself. Leaders there say they are encouraging troops to seek help and to look out for one another, and that effort is paying off.
Last December, Army Spc. Andrew Korpash, 26, who is stationed near the Korean demilitarized zone, contacted a chaplain about desperate text messages another G.I. sent after being jilted by a woman. “The thing that got my attention was the actual list of ways he would do it (commit suicide),” said Korpash, a Korean language linguist. “That’s when it seemed like it was pretty serious to me.”
But there is another reason that underscores how U.S. troops die by suicide: the use of firearms. In South Korea, troops are effectively barred from keeping private firearms because of strict national gun control laws.
“Most soldiers in the military, the majority, commit suicide through firearms,” said Maj. Gen. Edward Cardon, commander of 2nd Infantry Division and some 10,000 soldiers in South Korea. “So the restrictions on firearms is clearly a factor (in reducing the deaths).”
read more here
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)