there were several by assistanters who were close to hysteria at this point and this was concern for the suspect's safety. >> watch real america. sunday. at 4:00 p.m. eastern on. c-span3. now deputy veterans affairs secretary thomas bowman talks about his department's efforts to ensure that homeless veterans are getting the services and help they need. he spoke at the annual coalition for homeless veterans. this is 45 minutes. >> good morning. it is a distinct pleasure for me to introduce our speaker. aid career here in d.c. i was on the house veterans

affairs committee staff. i was on the senate committee stat. 19 years at the department of veterans affairs. most which of i served as the director of homeless veterans programs. i will tell you inside washington, there are people who make things happen. and one of those people is one of those i'm here to be here this morning. tom bowman has a long and distinguished career. you got his bioin your book. he is a proud marine core veteran. 21 years of active service, 30 years total. but more importantly, to what we do here. he is a man who listens, evaluates and takes action.

when i was at the v.a., i worked directly with secretaries, deputy secretaries and chiefs of staff on a daily basis. and i can tell you, there is no finer person than i've worked with than tom bowman. he will make some remarks. unusual for top leadership officials. he will stick around and take some questions from you as well. it is a distinct honor and pleasure for me to introduce tom bowman, the deputy secretary of veterans affairs. >> it is truly a pleasure for me to be here. i'm wearing my flashy tie. there is a little story behind that that i'll share with you in a minute.

listening to pete talk about our time together, it was. if you want to talk about a class act and a real advocate for homeless veterans, in keeping the leadership focus on program and actual execution, it was pete dougherty. it was a real pleasure to work with him. now, pete, for that, as i was parked in front of a library there, i found this on my car. i figured i would give it to you to -- that was easy. so i thank you for that introduction. i want to acknowledge some folks who are here. especially chick.

we worked together in years past. he's been not only a tremendous advocate but also for veterans at large across the country. and i thank individuals like chick are represented here, who i don't know most of you but i do know of the reputation that your organization has in the community. i do have some prepared remarks. i'm going to deviate from him. this is going to be my last public event as the deputy secretary. i've announced my retirement on the 15th of june. it is only my retirement from the v.a. i do plan on staying very active in the world of homeless veterans.

it is a pleasure to be here and i can think of no better way. the, departing from my prepared remarks, one of the things i would like to dispel, i know over the past year, there has been some consternation, some confusion about whether or not the department of veterans affairs is truly committed to homeless veterans and programs for homeless veterans. let me straighten the record. we are and there is going to be continued focus and funding in support of homeless veterans. despite the fact that there is some movement in place right now

regarding a new secretary, we will have a new secretary and we will have a new deputy secretary. and the department is going to be in good hands. this is a process that you all are aware of, that political appointees come and go depending on what their personal or professional circumstances are. the department remains. you have 360,000 employees in the department of veterans affairs across the country. 260, 270,000 oriented more in the health arena with the veterans health administration, all focused on one thing. taking care of veterans. their opinion to do that, based on my years working at the v.a.,

also an officer my roughly last four years at the pentagon. in the country, we especially in the department of veterans affairs, i believe, are at an inflection point. there is something happening at the v.a. to move us in a direction of where do we need to be as a department, what grooms we need to have into the future, and that assessment is going on right now in any number of ways. there was over the last, what? six or seven months, the issue of the veterans choice bill. the difficulty of having it

passed. we now have the mission act. we have a piece of legislation that is going to help redefine the issue of choice in the community. health care choice in the community. now, why is that important? i think the reason it is important is because it is going to help solidify the understanding and the reality, the outpatient clinics and its vet centers, that's not the total picture of v.a. health care. it is also what occurs in the health care that is provided by providers in the community. and i think what you'll find over the next three to five years is a, not a redefinition but some greater clarity on exactly, when somebody says v.a.

health care, what does that mean? what first came to mind was v.a. hospitals, vet centers. when needed. veterans go to the community. but it was not used as an integral part of v.a. herring. it was what was looked at because we couldn't provide it inside the campus. here we are, we're giving greater clarity as to what we expect of health care being provided in the community and they are a part of that need.

and you all help tea fine the ned for veterans and their families. a homeless veteran was living in tents. i spent a number of years living in florida, in hernando county and there were ten villages for homeless and integrated in were veterans. they were not well taken care of by the health care system that we had in st. pete's and tampa. we didn't do as good a job as we should. we're doing much better.

you are the echo chambers to make sure that here in washington to feel the unique needs of the homeless veterans and their 15 years ago that was never part of the dialogue. and it is. that is real pros rest so now it isless families. if you're going to you can help address what may be a

dysfunctional family, just by helping the disabled veteran. another point that i would like to make, some people say the v.a. is broken. it's not broken. it is changing. like any large department or health care system, we have problems. let me ask you this. how many private health care systems are as open and transparent when a problem occurs than the department of veterans affairs? you tell me one, united health? they're good. is humana? they're not going to push out. they may become known.

our obligation is to be transparent and to make the problems known. once we make them known, they'll get corrected. and why are they going to get corrected? because organizations like yours are guardian. to make sure that it does follow through. the congress relies upon you all to be their echo chamber. you inform them as to what's working or not working right. we are a better department because of organizations like yours. i think that you take it personal. make it personal as an organization. if we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing, we want to hear about it. your obligation is to make sure we hear about it.

that's where the v.a. is beginning to move. some people say it's broken because of the culture. i think that's worn out right now. the culture that we have at v.a. is, we have a significant employee force that wants to do the right thing for veteran and their families and the definition of the right thing is never changing. if you take the quote, the word care to me is the most important. back then, what was the care being provided? many times it was to take them off the battlefield and try to bind up their wounds and then they were just sent home. and then it began to develop that there was a greater sense of obligation that the country had to take care of them.

and the word care began to have a broader definition than just minimal health care. it was pension and benefits. i think the last inflection point of significance was as world war ii was ending and general bradley was tasked by president truman to come one a manner, means and method, how do you upgrade the veterans administration to take care of all these sailors, soldiers, airmen and marines? they have needs. they need to be reintegrated into the community. if you look at what he organized, structured back then, it is the same organizational structure. the three administrations, the g.i. bill, home loans, the

affiliates to medical v.a. medical center and medical schools. that was all designed and thought of at the end of world war ii. we still have that structure. it has been enhanced and matured and it still is. the culture of v.a. is you change to be able to accommodate the specific needs of the veterans of today, yesterday, and anticipate what will be the needs tomorrow. you all will help shape that need of tomorrow. especially in the realm of the homeless veteran and their

families. be aggressive about it. don't be timid. make it personal. if you take anything away from my remarks today, your mission, make it personal. because the more personal it is to you as individuals, as well as an organization, the greater clarity and the greater impact you're going to have in the congress as well as in the department. make it personal. i don't know how many of you have heard of the speech by admiral mcraven, make your bed. let me see a show of hands of people who have seen it. a little less than half the room. i strongly recommend. just google, make your bed.

a 19-minute set of remarks in 2014 by admiral mcraven who was the head of u.s. special operations command at the point that he was retiring. shortly after he made speech, he retired and became the chance lore of the university of texas system. i am a graduate of the university of texas. the same rotc unit -- [ laughter ] the same unit that is admiral mcraven. he graduated probably seven or eight years after me. it's the same rotc unit. you saw how successful he is. and i take all the credit for that because of the leadership lessons that i left for him to follow through on. i haven't been able to community that to him.

but he is a wonderful man. you will enjoy listening to his remarks. what it is, it is how do you change the world? that's his theme. and he gives 10 points to it. i would like to talk to you about a couple of them. it is well worth your time watching him present. i think the lessons that he speaks about are not only lessons for you individually but they become a template of how many of our homeless veterans, are coming out of homelessness and they are reengineering their lives based about the simple principles. the first is wake your bed. you wake up in the morning. ever since i got that, i have

been intimidated. occasionally, well, not occasionally, most of the time you didn't make my bed. after listening to the admirals. i said gee, it just takes a minute or two and i made my bed. his point was, if you make your bed but the rest of the day was a failure, you had a success. he talks about failure. success can be born out of failure. we're all going to fail. i've had any number of failure experiences. so have you all. each one of them gave you an insight into how you can turn that failure into a success. and i think many of our homeless

veterans are beginning to do that. more so now than in the past because of the programs the v.a. has and that would be developed into the future, influenced and shaped by people like you. so don't hesitate. you want to try, if you fail, you're not successful, you get up and continue. there will be a success. and that success may be for one person. but that one person then can generate three or four other people just by reason of their experience, and what you did. what you individuali to change that one person's life. and that one person can influence three or four others and they influence 10 to 12 others. and that happens. that is happening today.

it is going to happen tomorrow. in the world of homeless veterans. our part is to make sure that every day, at the department level, every day that we make sure that people who are involved with the homeless veteran programs and the execution of those programs, that they do their job and they do it willingly. if there is one cohort that i have found in my experience, my ten to 12 years in the v.a. where there is really a heart felt mission dedication, it is in the realm of homeless, taking care of homeless veterans and their needs. it is heart felt. because each of those veterans has a story. and each of those veterans are experiencing failure. but from that failure and you, your organization, you individually, taking it personal, are going to change

the lives of many, many more homeless veterans. i think it is part of the reason why when we start talking about the number of homeless veterans decreasing, our goal is functional zero. that's a bureaucratic term. there will always be individuals who are experiencing homelessness or near homelessness. so we're going to get better at trying to see those individuals, before they become homeless. that's where we want to be. what are the indicators? and then we have programs. they're into the future. we're going there. we're going to be much better at predictive analysis. but it will be organizations like yours that will have to keep us as a department focused on moving in that direction. making sure the right amount of resources are dedicated to it.

the extensions, the veterans courts, the treatment courts. those are extensions. and i think they were motivated in the beginning. the first was in buffalo. they're going to be more. there are more judges who want to have either calendars on their docket or actual courts if they can get the resources to help address the veterans who come in. many of whom are from the world of homelessness or will find themselves moving into it if the

programs offered aren't there. we as a country are looking at homelessness, and veterans' homelessness to me is how the country can lead the way in hoping the address the homeless issue at large nationally. how well we do it in v.a. can back temperature mate for communities around the country. and you all to me are the messengers. not only going out but also, it can be done better and you bring the other back. one of the principal points. i did make my bed this morning. i want you to know that.

he was talking about hell week and wednesday of hell woke is when they go to tijuana. they're in the water. it is cold. it is all men to really test the fiber, that the point in training, to see who else do we need to weed out? who els, december that it the cold weather, despite the pain, they're fg to stay. the instructors are significant,

we need five of you to quit and while take five out of the mud. come on. the admiral was hook around and they rkt they figured those people would step out. he was a participator in the which is a. he was in the mud. he was not going to be one that was going to quit. but to prevent somebody in that group, he can't tell you who. somebody knew that there were three or four of these individuals ready to quit. what that individual did was to start singing. here you are, four to five hours in. you're colder than you've ever

been. you're hungry. y you haven't elementary school in four or five the instructors are coming down hard. come on. five people. we'll take you home. it was two morris's then he said the night got shorter, and everybody in the mud naps went home eight hours later as a group. the four or five who were close probably didn't. was individually, you have your own you have your own thought about what is the maximum that

you can take, whether it be pain consternation. there's always more that you can experience, more that you can do. find it within. don't quit. his last point was, in s.e.a.l. training, there is the bell. now, the bell, all you have to do if you want to quit, at any point in training, go to the bell and ring it. and then you go and you pack your stuff. you're not human i will waited in any way. you just made a decision this is not where you want to be. you ring the bell. the whole purpose of the s.e.a.l. training is to convince you, you don't need to ring that

bell. you can be successful. you can overcome adversity. you can do more than it can always start with something simp simple. he finishes his 10 points by saying, don't ever, ever allow yourself to ring the bell, to admit that you cannot do more than what you have done alone. find a partner. find somebody to work with. that's what you are as an every homeless veteran that you impact, that you deal with.

this is a success story. not everybody will be successful. but we don't know that. it is a question of who had a chance. you have saved lives, marmings, children. make it personal. don't give up. you held to department of veterans affairs accountable for what we offer as successful. we will be even more successful based on what you do and how you communicate to us. this is my last public outing as the deputy secretary. i am probably going to be joining the ranks of those who

volunteer. working with homeless veterans. i consider it being a godsend. it is my part to say that during my last 12 years, i want to get out there and live under the same policy. they're going to be better because i'm going to be part of you. with that, thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. i will take some questions.

if i can't answer them, i'll take them down and make sure that an answer gets either to pete or to chick and make sure. >> that's the kind of leadership that has made such a difference. you really need leaders. especially as that message goes to the local folks who control the resources that allow us to get the results we do. the hospital directors, the vision directors, the skilled nurses there, all that clinical support that is crucial to get veterans off the street and keep them off the street and alleviate suffering. my concern is to make sure that integrated care that has been developed over the years continues in a robust fashion. so that recent act that was

passed. i'm very concerned with how that's implemented. to ensure the strong message remains where the local resources are. we had such a struggle to get the hospitals represented. they felt they were outside what was going on with homeless services. i would hate to give that up. we struggled to get them into our mission. >> right. and we're not going to move backwards. part of the reap is you're not going to allow it. congress won't allow it if they're made aware this is what's happening. i think the attitude of the leadership that is going to be within v.a. they're going to want to move forward. i do believe the v.a. you see today is not the v.a. you'll see five years from now. change will occur.

whether it be assessing the capital asset, the physical plant, we take a look at the demographics of, where have the people gone? they've moved south. whe we have to look at where our foot present needs to be to have addressed and take care of the foot present, the footprints. you will not regress. >> my name is ralph cooper. i don't know if you remember. when secretary prirnsippi had his veterans homeless advisory

committee with robert van kern, the father of standdown. i know pete remembers. our recommendations went to him. and my fellow founder just about what's going on. now and in the future. i want to thank you for being there for us. so that those kinds of recommendations just didn't get skipped over. the homeless veterans advisory committee. we had a direct line to the secretary. that was amazing back then. and the results of it today, god bless you. and may you have a fantastic retirement.

regarding the reports, the advisory committees, my belief is that these reports, copies of these reports should go to capitol hill. they go to the secretary because they are advisory to help the secretary and the deputy and the other senior leadership decide, what are the needs of the veteran community? whether it be in the homeless area or whether it be women veterans. whatever is the specific mission purpo purpose. i believe it should go to the hill. i know many of them do. as you continue on executing the mission that you have as an

organization in the community, when you work with congressional members and you're going into their offices and briefing them, you can happen to drop the hint and say, have you seen the last advisory committee report that was provided to the secretary? and i'm willing to bet you, in better than 50% of the cases, the answer will be no. again, that is the reason you're there. to ask the department for copies of the recent report. and if congress asks, they'll get it. they'll get it. >> good morning. i'm with catholic charities. my first question is about women veterans. i feel, even though i'm grateful for the v.a., i'm a veteran myself.

even though i'm grateful for what the v.a. has done so far. i feel v.a. can do more. a lot of our female veterans have older children. a lot of the shelters won't house 16-year-olds. they won't even take children. a hot of the grants we receive are more male driven. and some of them allow easier access for our male veterans. what do you suggest? and second, as far as our female veterans again, is there a type of co-workers or something that's making major changes, to know more female friendly as far as health care a lot of times we

have to wait 30 days to see a gyno. we have the same benefits as the males. thank you for your service. i really resh everything that you have done. >> well, let me try answer both questions. one, i have to say that the v.a. is attempting to do more to accommodate our women veterans. there is a women veterans advisory committee. i would recommend that this organization connect with that advisory committee and make them aware of any resolutions you have, any ideas you have, as it rehates to women veterans. and it is a very active group.

the fastest growing group of veterans are women veterans. across the country, medical centers have attempted, and not all of them have been as successful as others. to try to upgrade the structure, the facilities, the clinics, to accommodate women veterans. in washington, d.c., i went through their clinic over there. i was impressed by the difference that i saw from when i was first this about ten years ago. down in tampa, florida, there has been a separate building constructed. just specifically focused on women veterans. the idea, the particular needs for a woman veteran to feel comfortable in congress to a

v.a. medical center. that's where they're trying to have to medical center directorn to come to my hospital? >> there is a significant amount of funding that is being oriented towards upgrading and creating women veterans clinics at the major medical centers. one of the problems is staffing. you can build the most beautiful clinic but if you cannot staff that you have not provided what the women veteran need. at the same time, then you would attempt to contract with ob/gyn clinicians to come in. i

think they are attempting to do this. we are not where we need to be, we will get there. because of the focus and comments that you have just made. because of this focus and because that is the need for the future. why would a young woman want to go into the military, maybe even serve a career with the belief that i serve my country, my country will take care of me when i leave? especially if i incurred illnesses or injuries as a result of service. that is an expectation and a promise that the country makes. you have heard this. it is clichi. it is true. it is a promise. we owe this to you. like i said, make this personal. make sure that your voice is heard. >> okay, i just got the hook.

>> again, i thank you, i wore my special tie for you all because this is my last event and my daughter happen to pick this out and it happened one day when i was getting dressed and i was going to speak to a research advisory group and i was face timing with my oldest granddaughter.. and they say boring -- my oldest granddaughter. and they say boring, and i said, this is a great group and it is a rewarding experience. they asked what i would wear and i said, i will wear a suit and tie.

and i sent a picture around and they said i was wearing a yucky tie. they asked me to wear a cool tie, i asked them which one that was and they said, the cool one with all of the colors. >> i went and said, is this the one? and they said yes, that is the one, they will really like you. [ laughter ] that was the goal. with that, thank you very much. i look forward to being part of this.

tonight we hear from former secretary of state, hillary clinton. being honored with the recent award from harvard university during a conference on the u.s. role in the world. during the ceremony, ms. clinton was honored by madeleine albright, another secretary of state. she also took part in a conversation with the massachusetts attorney general. watch that at 8 pm eastern on c- span3. c-span's washington journal is live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. friday morning, republican congressman, tom reed, will discuss immigration and the trump trade policy. and california democratic congressman, ted lou, can talk about the upcoming summit in singapore.