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It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country

Author : David Shulkin

Publisher : PublicAffairs

Page : 367 pages

File Size : 30,60 MB

Release : 2019-10-22

Category : Political Science

ISBN : 1541762649

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Book Description

The former VA secretary describes his fight to save veteran health care from partisan politics and how his efforts were ultimately derailed by a small group of unelected officials appointed by the Trump White House. Known in health care circles for his ability to turn around ailing hospitals, Dr. David Shulkin was originally brought into government by President Obama to save the beleaguered Department of Veterans Affairs. When President Trump appointed him as secretary of the VA, Shulkin was as shocked as anyone. Yet this surprise was trivial compared to what Shulkin encountered as secretary: a team of political appointees devoted to stopping anyone -- including the secretary himself -- who stood in the way of privatizing the agency and implementing their political agenda. In this uninhibited memoir, Shulkin opens up about why the government has long struggled to provide good medical care to military veterans and the plan he had to solve these problems. This is a book about the commitment we make to the men and women who risk their lives fighting for our country, how the VA was finally beginning to live up to it, and why the new administration may now be taking us in the wrong direction.



It Shouldn't be this Hard to Serve Your Country

Author : David J. Shulkin

Publisher :

Page : 360 pages

File Size : 39,43 MB

Release : 2019

Category : POLITICAL SCIENCE

ISBN : 9781541762633

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Book Description

The former VA secretary describes his fight to save health care from politics and money-and how it was ultimately derailed by a small group of unelected officials with influence in the Trump White House. Known in health care circles for his ability to fix ailing hospitals, Dr. David Shulkin was originally brought into government by President Obama, in an attempt to save the broken Department of Veterans Affairs. When President Trump made him VA secretary, Dr. Shulkin was as shocked as anyone. Yet this surprise was trivial compared to what Shulkin encountered as the VA secretary: a team of political appointees devoted to stopping anyone-including the secretary himself-who stood in the way of privatizing the organization and implementing their agenda. In this uninhibited memoir, Shulkin opens up about why the government has long struggled to get good medical care to military veterans and the plan he had for how to address these problems. This is a book about the commitment we make to the people who risk their lives for our country, how and why we've failed to honor it, and why the new administration may be taking us in the wrong direction.



Wounds of War

Author : Suzanne Gordon

Publisher : Cornell University Press

Page : 465 pages

File Size : 22,44 MB

Release : 2018-10-15

Category : History

ISBN : 1501730843

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Book Description

No detailed description available for "Wounds of War".



10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military

Author : Elizabeth Weill-greenberg

Publisher : The New Press

Page : 176 pages

File Size : 22,94 MB

Release : 2006-04-18

Category : Political Science

ISBN : 159558675X

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Book Description

So you're walking out of school and parked at the gate is a new, bright red Ford Mustang with a hulk of a man in the front seat. He's sporting a razor cut and wraparound shades. Before you can pass he's out of the car and blocking your path. “Mind if I take a minute”—he has you by the arm now—“to tell you about the great life in today's Army and why you should seriously think about signing up?” The armed forces are having a tough time attracting new recruits lately, in no small part due to the mess in Iraq. Young people are getting wise to the many excellent reasons not to join the U.S. Military, and this handy book brings them all together, combining accessible writing with hard facts and devastating personal testimony. Contributors with firsthand experience point out the dangers facing soldiers, describe the tricks used by recruiters, and emphasize that there really are other options, even in a sluggish economy. It's essential reading for anyone thinking of signing up.



Our Year of War

Author : Daniel P. Bolger

Publisher : Da Capo Press

Page : 393 pages

File Size : 17,32 MB

Release : 2017-11-07

Category : History

ISBN : 0306903245

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Book Description

Two brothers -- Chuck and Tom Hagel -- who went to war in Vietnam, fought in the same unit, and saved each other's life. They disagreed about the war, but they fought it together. 1968. America was divided. Flag-draped caskets came home by the thousands. Riots ravaged our cities. Assassins shot our political leaders. Black fought white, young fought old, fathers fought sons. And it was the year that two brothers from Nebraska went to war. In Vietnam, Chuck and Tom Hagel served side by side in the same rifle platoon. Together they fought in the Mekong Delta, battled snipers in Saigon, chased the enemy through the jungle, and each saved the other's life under fire. But when their one-year tour was over, these two brothers came home side-by-side but no longer in step -- one supporting the war, the other hating it. Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and his brother Tom epitomized the best, and withstood the worst, of the most tumultuous, shocking, and consequential year in the last half-century. Following the brothers' paths from the prairie heartland through a war on the far side of the world and back to a divided America, Our Year of War tells the story of two brothers at war -- a gritty, poignant, and resonant story of a family and a nation divided yet still united.



Breach of Trust

Author : Andrew J. Bacevich

Publisher : Macmillan

Page : 257 pages

File Size : 14,96 MB

Release : 2013-09-10

Category : History

ISBN : 0805082964

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Book Description

A blistering critique of the gulf between America's soldiers and the society that sends them off to war. As war has become normalized, armed conflict has become an "abstraction" and military service "something for other people to do." Bacevich takes stock of a nation with an abiding appetite for war waged at enormous expense by a standing army demonstrably unable to achieve victory.



The Battle for Veterans’ Healthcare

Author : Suzanne Gordon

Publisher : Cornell University Press

Page : 160 pages

File Size : 19,59 MB

Release : 2017-04-04

Category : Medical

ISBN : 1501714562

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Book Description

In The Battle for Veterans' Healthcare, award-winning author Suzanne Gordon takes us to the front lines of federal policymaking and healthcare delivery, as it affects eight million Americans whose military service makes them eligible for Veterans Health Administration (VHA) coverage. Gordon’s collected dispatches provide insight and information too often missing from mainstream media reporting on the VHA and from Capitol Hill debates about its future. Drawing on interviews with veterans and their families, VHA staff and administrators, health care policy experts and Congressional decision makers, Gordon describes a federal agency under siege that nevertheless accomplishes its difficult mission of serving men and women injured, in myriad ways, while on active duty. The Battle for Veterans’ Healthcare is an essential primer on VHA care and a call to action by veterans, their advocacy organizations, and political allies. Without lobbying efforts and broader public understanding of what’s at stake, a system now functioning far better than most private hospital systems may end up looking more like them, to the detriment of patients and providers alike.



Head Space and Timing

Author : Duane K. L. France LPC

Publisher :

Page : 155 pages

File Size : 43,81 MB

Release : 2019-05-26

Category :

ISBN : 9781070403090

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Book Description

Every veteran has a story. You just have to listen to it. It can be surprising how difficult it is...and also how easy...for a veteran to be able to tell their story. The impacts of combat, deployments, or even just military experience in general are felt long after a veteran leaves the service. The guns do not always go silent when a veteran leaves the military...neither should the veteran. When combat veteran and retired Army Noncommissioned Officer Duane France retired, he knew he wanted to continue to serve his fellow veterans. As a grandson, nephew, and son of combat veterans, he grew up knowing the impact of combat and military service on veterans and their families, and as a leader with five combat and operational deployments, he saw the same things happening in the service members of his generation. After starting to work as a clinical mental health counselor exclusively for veterans and their spouses, Duane started to write his observations and experiences on his blog, Head Space and Timing, located at www.veteranmentalhealth.com. This book is a collection of 52 articles designed to help veterans, those who support them, and those who care for them to understand the military experience and to change the way they think about veteran mental health.



A Country That Works

Author : Andy Stern

Publisher : Simon and Schuster

Page : 242 pages

File Size : 31,20 MB

Release : 2008-05-20

Category : History

ISBN : 0743297687

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Book Description

The maverick leader of the fastest-growing union in the United States proposes a revolutionary paradigm for America and labor--in which workers and management and all Americans can thrive in the global economy.



The Man Without a Country and Other Tales

Author : Edward Everett Hale

Publisher : Wildside Press LLC

Page : 226 pages

File Size : 37,38 MB

Release : 2008-10-01

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1434476456

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Book Description

A collection of short stories by Civil War-era author Hale, including a short fantasy entitled "My Double and How He Undid Me."