The secretary-designate of the Veterans Affairs Department has declared war on unnecessary delays in processing veterans' claims.
In a Deseret News interview Tuesday, Hershel W. Gober said most VA centers take 125 to 145 days to decide if veterans' requests for help should be granted. His top priority, he added, is "to reduce the time it takes to process claims for veterans. I would like to get it down to 60 days.Gober talked with the newspaper shortly after he addressed the joint convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and its Ladies Auxiliary, which is continuing in the Salt Palace.
He took over as acting director of the VA in July, when the previous secretary, Jesse Brown, resigned.
On Aug. 1, President Clinton formally nominated Gober as secretary. He is a friend of Clinton's from Arkansas and had a 20-year military career that included service in both the Marine Corps and the Army. In Vietnam, he won the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and the Soldier's Medal.
During his speech, vets applauded enthusiastically when Gober said he has 26 million members of his board of directors: America's veterans. "I work for every one of you," he added.
Although many VA hospitals are exemplary, he said, some have problems.
"We're focusing in on the places we do have these problems and we're determined to address it," he said.
One of the problems he cited was the "waiting time we have in getting prescriptions."
Gober said he wants to make VA hospitals the place that veterans would choose to go for care. "If you want my business, you're going to have to treat me right, and that's what we want in our VA hospitals," he said.
If staff members at VA hospitals are rude to veterans, they ought to find work elsewhere, he said. He doesn't want people at the hospitals to see only the stooped old people coming in for treatment; he wants to look into their eyes and "see that 19-year-old Navy guy who drove the landing craft at Anzio."
He grew up hero-worshiping the World War II vets, he said. "I remember so many of you. I remember when you were young."
Gober drew more applause when he quoted President Clinton, from the president's visit to the D-Day beaches of France. Veterans of that invasion may be stooped and frail, with dwindling ranks, "but when they were young they saved the world."
He pledged the VA will continue to search for an answer to gulf war syndrome until it had an answer. The syndrome is a collection of strange ailments that many veterans of the Persian Gulf War have suffered since returning home.
Gober ended his speech with an Elvis impersonation, imitating the King's voice: "I finally made it to the big room. Thank you very much."
On Monday, Secretary of the Army Togo D. West Jr. touched veterans when he quoted a black soldier whose medal of honor was delayed for more than 50 years.
West said the words of Vernon Baker, when he received the long-overdue recognition in January, betrayed none of the bitterness he might have felt about discrimination. Baker was one of seven black soldiers of World War II to be honored in the ceremony, and the only one still living.
Baker, a resident of St. Maries, Idaho, said people should give respect. " `Before you expect, respect,' " West quoted.
" `Remember the mission. Set the example. Keep moving,' words of a soldier," West added.
The tribute was especially poignant because West himself is black.
He told the thousands of veterans assembled in the Salt Palace that they were like West, in that "you have remembered your mission."
West told them they actually served twice: first, in the military during wartime, then in the VFW, which works hard to help veterans in hospitals, looks out for the rights of former service members and seeks to assist present members of the services.
West singled out for praise "Operation Uplink," in which the VFW provides overseas servicemen and women with prepaid telephone calling cards so they can keep in touch with their relatives.
"Your 2.1 million members across the country give definition to the term `selfless service,' " West added.