to talk about their military experiences and their transition back to civilian life. dr. journalist and author suzanne gordon will talk about issues facing veterans. ♪ host: good morning. it is "washington journal" on veterans day. on this day, a live in view of the vietnam veterans memorial in washington, d.c. alongside that statue, a wall with many, many names of vietnam veterans who are honored on that wall, 58,000 names at last cou nt. also on this veterans day, we are interested in hearing from veterans only. in our first hour. here is the question, we want to get you to give advice on what commander-in-chief president-elect donald trump should do when it comes to america's military, not only

when it comes to how they're used across the world. someis your chance, give advice to donald trump as he is the president-elect and preparing to take office, specifically in his role as commander-in-chief. what advice would you give give him? in the-8001 if you live mountain and pacific mountime zone. and on facebook.com/cspan. if you go to the military times, there is a look, taking a look at what the new commander-in-chief what it may bring when it comes to management style. " inside the pentagon, early fears that trump will micromanage the generals more than obama did. some observers say the president-elect's is this background of being a shift to

the white house management style allowing for the pentagon to make more decisions independently about the execution of military strategies and policies. there will be a natural inclination to shift day-to-day decision-making back to the generals. with mr. trump setting the basic philosophy." that was michael rubin, a former pentagon official. "but there are plenty of reasons to believe trump's white house will continue obama's pattern of heavy-handed management." worse, another military officer and was among the several who talked to the military times and speculated about the future administration wednesday on condition of anonymity. that is the military times. if you go to the pages, or the website of politico, taking a look at foreign policy. not only under the current administration but also the future one as well. this is a story this morning you can see the headline, "trump t obama not to.

make major moves on foreign policy." now they are on the verge of power, mr. t rump's aides say -- " just a couple of stories to set the thought this morning among veterans in our audience this morning. here's your chance to give some advice to the incoming commander-in-chief donald trump. if you want to let us know what you think you should be doing with america's military, here is your chance. eastern and central time zones 202-748-8000. those of you in the mountain and pacific time zones, 202-748 -8001.

we'll start off this morning with mike. not far way here, potomac, maryland. good morning. tell us about your service as a veteran. 1972,: i was in stationed in germany. and i was against the war in vietnam. so i was fortunate i did not have to defect to canada. is my advice to mr. trump start giving us -- getting -- stop getting us involved in all these overseas wars. stop using our air force to support isis rebels who are fighting assad who hwewe have no business overthrowing. stop getting us involved in unconstitutional wars, but take care of the veterans. host: what is the value of

keeping america's troops from all sources of conflict? caller: we have no business being in the middle east. [indiscernible] bombing all of these people, killing all these innocent people who have not harmed us? host: we will hear from larry in richmond, virginia. good morning. you are on. go ahead. caller: good morning. my advice for the new commander-in-chief is to, and i believe he will with his business background, he will assemble the best generals to make the decisions mi5's him is to let them make the decisions as let them to him do their job, do not try to micromanage like obama has done, which is very frustrating. host: when you say the current president is micromanaging, what gives you evidence of that? caller: what makes me say that? manyact that there are so

restrictions on the ability to fight. iraqst isis or earlier in and in afghanistan. too many restrictions on rules of engagement that handcuffed the generals and handcuff our troops. host: larry from richmond, virginia. ernest from south carolina. thiss for calling on veterans day. good morning, cohead caller: good morning. my advice for the new commander-in-chief would be to build our military backup what we are supposed to have -- we stay ready for war anytime. my suggestion is put god first a nd rebuild our military have respect for our flag. i come from a family with -- back to the revolutionary war. host: what makes you think that america's troops need to be built up or more forces added?

what gives you reason to believe that? isis is building up. there's. turmoil in all the world i think we just need to be strong. if we be strong for war, build we willaryr up, then not have a nation -- we have got to be ready for war and hope and pray for peace. host: for veterans, your chance to give advice to the new -8000nder-in-chief, 202-748 for the eastern and central time fors and 202-748-8001 mountain pacific time zones. defense website, not the department of defense, defense news.com, has a story about a request from the white house for more money when it comes to overseas operations. he writes the administration is requesting $11.6 billion in

wartime funding bringing the total fiscal year 2017 overseas operations funding request to $85.3 billion. extra money comes in the form of two budget amendment requests. to first is for dod funds support the afghan national defense and security forces and to help in the ongoing campaign against the islamic state group commonly known as isis or isil. the second funnels funds through the state department and usaid for assistance in nonmilitary aspects. larry from flat rock, north carolina. good morning, your next. caller: good morning. in vietnam inurs the 1960's and the 1970's and flew. helicopter gunships so, i think there are a lot of us out there that knows that we need to have a strong army and we need to start by making sure

that people in the army, like sergeant bergdahl, are fully charged. if we can bring honor and respect back to the army, we will bring honor and respect back to our. country. host: being a person involved directly in this, what is the best way to bring honor back, specifically what steps do you think need to be taken? caller: the steps we need to be taking is, first of all, that bergdahl should be put on trial. the military needs to be built up so we're not having to rely on the national guard. right now, we cannot function without the national guard. so, donald trump has talked about increasing 100,000 of permanent troops, i believe, that we need to have those. and i believe that we need to become more active. i do not see a war where we are

going to have 1000 takes a 1000 battleships. and we need to focus more on cyber warfare and to be able to use the technology we have developed to integrate our drones with the people on the ground. host: do you think, because you mentioned technology, if we have more technology available, do we still need the numbers of troops you are talking about? caller: we do need the numbers and troops we are talking about, because you do not want to have all of the troops. the troops can perform at 110%. unfortunately, they cannot 10% forever. this is what is happening. we cannot have situations where we just have people rotating overseas, because we do not have enough. i think we need to have people so that we can use our troops to protect our border.

use our troops to protect our. peopleuse our troops to protect even our nuclear sites. we have a tremendous amount of security that is handled privately that could be turned over to the military. so, they are not having to just go fight wars. spend a year on a security and spend year or two years, every two or three years, going overseas. host: here is if you are adding this to the conversation saying "the president-elect should take a lesson from jfk. always support the true but never completely trust the generals." you can make her comments on twitter, on facebook and on the phone lines this morning. the advice for veterans, the advice he would give to the president-elect donald trump on as commander-in-chief. 202-748-8000 for the eastern and 8001ral time zones, 202-748- for mountain pacific time zones. jefferson city, missouri, steve

is up next. go ahead. caller: good morning. i think that donald trump has got a pretty good idea already with building our military back up. we need a strong civil force. it keeps people from getting bold like iran. i spent four years in the navy. my brother has got going on 17 years in the navy. that just made my stomach flip and womening our men down on her hands and knees, their hands above their head while these iranians are out here pointing guns. that is totally unsatisfactory. obama should have been impeached when that happened. but we need to build our military back up, and it does need to be for micromanaging. seat,ng $800 on a toilet so so many politicians can pack their pockets. we need to build a military up

and tell the world we are the ones to contend with. you cannot push us around. and in case the country don't know it out there, we are the most technical military in the world. our technical people are up on top of their game. we just need the commander-in-chief to let loose the rieins and let them do their jobs. that but you would say you also say donald trump needs to be more of a micromanager about how these things work. caller: about how the spending and stuff, yes. yourike jfk said, let troops go but keep your eye on your generals and stuff. host: bobby, you are next from georgia. good morning. how are you? tell us about your military service. the united, i was in states navy. twove been out about

decades because i am 55 now. host: anything from your time of service that could be applicable to donald trump as he takes on the position of commander in chief? caller: i just wanted to say it is more applicable to today, to stop the social engineering. i mean, you do not have to regress back to slogans like don't ask don't tell, but someone needs to get a memorandum or something, say your personal life is your own business. we're going to be respectful of you. but just be advised if anything should come out, you know, it may or may not result in some adverse, you know, situations. it's best to keep your social business to yourself. host: bobby, specifically, what you talking about? caller: don't ask don't tell. you know, having "the new york times" headline the army, the

first gay army chief. or something like that that you read. you know, they are trying to let , everybody know who is what people's sexual orientation are. the military is made to break things. and morale is very important. and just say, like, when they had that don't ask don't tell, it kept things that were coming to the fore in the last three years, it kept it out of the front, you know, the headlines. social engineering. things like. would like the commander-in-chief to resist the urge to put women in combat. just remember what the military is for. it is to protect people like you, too, pedro. so it is strength. this is at some point, let men be men again.

that is all i'm saying. host: a story in "usa today" about troops looking for assistance in gender transition. these troops came forward after the pentagon's policy allowing the open service of transgender troops went into effect on october 1. 55 enlisted sailors and officer seven formed their commanders they want the transition to the other gender -- you can read more at usa today's website. here is dean, louisville, kentucky. go ahead. caller: yes, i'm a vietnam veteran. i also, president trump should

be, take care of the v.a. i do not have any other choice other than going to the v.a. hospital. [indiscernible] choice.o other i was taking five pills. they took me off four of the pills. [indiscernible] had -- v.a. only lets you have -- a choice, where they -- if they are going to pay for sex changes, they can give me some blood pressure pills. host: homer up next. and homer is in shreveport, louisiana. good morning caller: how you doing this morning? appreciate your taking my call. my biggest gripe is they putting

us on hold. i've been trying to get through -- at least about 20 years now. and they tell you to go, we got a backlog. i wondered where this backlog is. host: you are talking about your v.a. facility? caller: yes. rouge, whatever you want to call it, new orleans. that's where everything is going. i get pretty good service here in shreveport. but i'm talking about, i got major problems and -- they just put you on hold. i have been on hold off and on for the last 18 years. host: for the same condition or different conditions? caller: same condition. host: why do think you're

getting fast service on one end and slow service on the other? caller: that is what i'm saying, the system is rigged. once they leave, i have no gripe with the doctors in shreveport, but when they leave shreveport, your total assistance is, uh, i just, need a little more help or something. attention.pay you no it's almost more, cheaper for me to go, i'm on. social security. i'm retired. it is cheaper for me to go to the social security than to the veterans. i gave them 8 years of my life. host: that's homer in louisiana. veterans only for this first hour. your advice to the new commander, president-elect donald trump. 202-748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones.

748-8001 for mountain and pacific time zones for the make up a changing with the addition of veterans to its ranks. this is the military time saying congressionaln races tuesday with a handful of races still in the balance, the current congress includes 26 veterans with times and those two war zones, including 18 incumbents and three senators not facing contests this cycle. the only veteran from either war who served mark kirk a series of two-week reserve deployments. he lost to tammy duckworth. tammy duckworth, she is profiled in the pages of "usa today," talking about her service, saying that she had led by doubled it is in the poll against mr. kirk. she is a veteran who lost both legs when the helicopter was

shot down in iraq in 2004. tammy duckworth, among the new senators profiled in "usa today." walt is next, in garden prairie, illinois. go ahead. caller: good morning. yeah, i was in, in the navy from 1982, station aboard an aircraft carrier as a officeror, petty supervisor and an intermediate maintenance shop, that repair aircraft hydraulics. one of my responsibilities prior to getting out was to inventory all of the tools and so forth in the shop while we were in the shipyard under, we were basically being regunned by the reagan administration in 1980. and i was just shocked at the prices.

the earlier caller mentioned the price of a screwdriver $800 and so forth. being an engineer and working in the government, the government contracts my whole life, after the service, watching over spending their, too, i noticed the similarity. gets passed on. they have special tools that do not need to be utilized for the equipment. it could be a craftsman tool or some competitive commercial tool being used that need-- meets the same specifications. specifications as the highly screened. the reason for the high cost -- they can -- of those tools. that cost $800 for a screwdriver. but i really believe that you can find something that would be

just as worthy. that fact is based on that while being an engineer, getting back to that, we went to commercial items back inf the 1990's. away from the 833 military standard, a very highly screened componentry. guest: host: marie, you are next up. hi. caller: ho. i. how are you thins morning? host: tell us about your military service. caller: i served from 1995 to 2003. i served in the navy as well as the united states army. my advice to the new commander-in-chief is that i hope that he brings about the morale as well as the issues with the racism in the military,

not only towards just the females but naming the african-americans. he also, i hope that since won the state of mississippi that he definitely do something to help veterans here. i'm a single-parent of three. i'm a disabled veteran 100%> th. there are no extra benefits to help us here, where unlike other states. happen to pay for everything out of what you get a month. it is very hard and difficult to try to save. or build any kind of equity. host: why do you think there is a morale issue when it comes to african-americans and women? caller: basically, i can only speak on my own experience. i was at a command where the

statement was simply "if you're white you're right, if you are black get back." i was told by is a. i had three strikes against me. one i was female, second i was back and thirdly, i was a single-parent. host: that's marie in herissippi telling us about experience and giving her advice to the new commander-in-chief. we have been showing you throughout the morning video from vietnam veterans memorial there in washington, d.c. and especially on this veterans day, several people already gathered outside the wall, according to the memorial website. as of 2015, 50 8000 names -- 5 8,000 names on this wall. in the pages of "the new york times" jan scrubbs says another memorial needs to be added to

washington, d.c. we need a war on terror memorial, she says. she says we do veterans a disservice if we imagine them as broken and battered. there is no prototypical post 9/11 veteran. most are doing well in civilian life and like those of my generation will end up being more financially successful -- that is "the new york times" this morning. we will go next to david in garland, texas.

caller: good morning, pedro. my advice to president elect trump would first and above all to get rid of the negativim in government and to hold to his campaign promise, the one he made about allowing vets to go to any hospital they wanted to. i myself am a cancer survivor, 17 years in the army. they could not get my surgery in time so they sent me to a civilian hospital to get my surgery done, which i was very grateful for, but the problem with that is my medications post-surgery, they were not in the v.a. so i had to come out of pocket via my insurance. the v.a.just, i think really needs to be overhauled. i think that benefits need to be more freely given. with regard to medical care,

because the vast majority of veterans suffer from some type of medical, mental disorder from all of the stress from that. i myself am a desert shield vet. it's not good. i just don't feel like we get the respect reserved -- we deserve with regard to medical care. talkingyear-old kid is to you like you are child. it is pretty he million. -- pretty humiliating. host: the, commercial point, ohio. caller: good morning, sir. host: host:-- nathanial. caller: i served for 8 years united states air force. problems you are going to face today are kind of like right in my wheelhouse if you pardon the pun. i see president elect trump

focusing more on individual training. as a person who is partially disabled, i understand the need for that. i've seen racism. i have seen favoritism against bt community. but the truth of it is, if our sailors cannot swim in our soldiers cannot fight, we are not going to get the mission done no matter what we focus everybody else on. i can tell you from my time in, i watched countless a modest of time to get wasted on useless programs and things that had nothing to do with getting the mission done. host: useless program such as what? caller: there is so much time was spent. every year, everybody is required to do so much auxiliary training. i mean, you spend, we are going to have a wingman's day so everyone can have a barbecue. that is all fine and dandy but there are people behind on their training schedule that are still going and doing miscellaneous squadron fountains. i'm all -- functions.

i am all for camaraderie on row. at the end of the day, if you cannot flyer fight, you're not going to win. host: from twitter, a couple of tweets saying also -- listen to your troops and intel. on twitter and facebook, give us a call and give your advice to the commander-in-chief donald trump. veterans only for this next half hour as we hear from you on what you would tell the commander-in-chief. we have heard things about military training and operations overseas, health care and other issues related to the military. what would you add to the conversation? what advice would you give to donald trump as his role of commander-in-chief?

we will continue on this conversation. first, a couple of things when it comes to policy and things going on. you may remember that donald trump and the current president barack obama met at the white house for what was slated as a 15 minute conversation. you probably heard that extended to about 90 minutes. they addressed the media after that talk. here's that exchange from yesterday. [video clip] >> just had the opportunity to have them excellent conversation with president-elect donald trump and it was wide-ranging. we talked about some of the organizational issues in setting up the white house. we talked about foreign policy,

domestic alice he -- policy, and as i said last night, my number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a that ensures -- our president-elect is successful. encouraged byry the interests in president-elect trump's wanting to work with my issuesound many of the that this great country faces. forlieve it is important all of us regardless of party and regardless of political preference to now come to gather and deal withher the many challenges we face. in the meantime, michelle has

had a chance to meet with the incoming first lady. she had an excellent conversation as well. we want to make sure they for desiree feel welcome as they prepare to make this transition. most of all, i want to emphasize president-elect, that we want to do everything we can to help you succeed. thank you very much, president obama. this was a meeting that was going to last for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. we were just going to get to know each other, we had never met and i have great respect and a meeting lasted for almost an hour and a half. as far as i'm concerned, it could've gone on for longer. discussed a lot of different

situations, some wonderful and some difficulties. i very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future including counsel. he explained some of the difficulties and some of the highflying assets and some of the great things that have been achieved. mr. president, it was a great honor being with you and i look forward to being with you many more times in the future, thank you. host: veterans only, your advice from -- for the commander-in-chief. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: go right ahead. my advice to the ed new administration is to date -- is to reinstate some of the draft.

for our local servicemen, they have served several tours and to eliminate that an install of will notraft so people have to keep going back and .ossibly getting killed and keepgo over there the regiment or battalion there until the job is completely done instead of rotating these guys all the time. from grayling, michigan, good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. do, he with they should and congress, ought to reinstate universal service. i think every man and woman who is healthy should spend six months in the armed forces. improve our base of

trained people and also people would understand what is going on. it would be good for the people and good for the country. does the six months include a sick training or six months total? i hadn't thought about that but it could include basic training. it would be to train the civilian population i hadn't tht that but it and to give them the sort of self-respect you have from serving your country. host: do you think that would change the morale or overall operation of the military forces to have these groups of recruits coming in and exchanging out over six months? think the, i don't military thinks it would help morale. i don't think that's the general

consensus. they have to make a decision that's good for the country and good for the people. i think the morale of be fine. i served in the service. served with an i awful lot of draftees who did a fine job. the first six months, you get most of your training. host: that's dave in michigan. protestse sites of around trump tower in new york. you have seen pictures this morning. now that donald trump has become the president-elect, even the skies above the tower are restricted having been declared national defense airspace. that occurred on wednesday by the federal aviation administration.

tammy from massachusetts, thanks for calling. your advice to president-elect donald trump? caller: hi, my name is tammy. in 1975, i signed up for the marine corps when i was 17. paris island, south carolina for training and onto the department of defense school to become an information specialist/journalist. the amount of growing up that one does from graduation from high school until your 20's is astounding. i agree with so many callers to say that i believe there should be a two-year mandatory service

after graduating from high school because that's the bridge between home and becoming an adult. you learn discipline, a skill, you are trained and travel. i believe those who benefit from the quality given in this country have a responsibility to also defend this country in order to continue benefiting. in st.ay is up next petersburg, florida. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm a 23 year veteran of the marine corps. address everybody talking about the draft. it's honorable for many people to serve in the military but i believe that during two years, people tend to other innings -- other things like service teachers in other areas.

not everyonebelieve is slated to into the military and do a great job. situation that has then leaked to the press related that oh backists from the mistake accounting system is something that i think would be great to take a look at the system and get overhauled and make it into a third-party. if therent system, service person makes a mistake and sends a vet to that agency, it to acy takes collection agency who works in conjunction with the treasury department. that armed services person has no recourse in which to address that debt timely and efficiently

leading to a lot of situations including homelessness because of an errant that. that needs to be overhauled and brought up to date. debt widespread among those serving in the military? do you get a sense of the common issue? caller: i know it is a common issue. called up toist serve in 2001, i was placed in the same situation as were many other reservists. their marine corps to date has not addressed this issue. they took the basic allowance of housing away from single reservist and made them repay the debt up to $75,000 to serve our country. these are issues that have never been addressed and this thing with the army has just started to peak. host: have you settled that

issue? caller: still dealing with it. they say there is a time limit on the veterans to get that resolved, not on the service to address it. after 10 years later when army was trying to hide it, it's coming out in the army will still go to collect. that's why they tried to go through the press and a reporter picked up the story but it is widespread. host: that call was from florida. terrence from cincinnati, ohio, you are next. caller: good morning and happy veterans day to all my fellow listeners and callers. thank you again for taking my call. the calling to advise

president of elected to be mindful of his rhetoric and calm down the racial overtones that are affecting the population in america. the platform that he capitalized upon is an ugliness inside of all of us. ofpolarized each spectrum the political parties that are part of the process in terms of electing a candidate for any position. we see widespread issues in america attacks upon and the overtones that invoke racial problems, racial disparity. the segmentation of people because they are different, i would hope he would become more mindful and cognizant of the impact upon people's actions in regards to his language. headed intore

uncharted territory we have not seen in this generation. hadrandmother and my father experience of america. every veteran, we know when we serve alongside somebody who is different from us but we care enough to make sure the person to the left or right of us makes it home from our mission. we should have the same type of connotation in terms of how we engage our neighbors to our left or right. host: that's terrance in cincinnati, ohio, one of the first things the president-elect and his administration will have to deal with is how to address the affordable care act law and those under it. because of this week's election, jayne o'donnell from usa today tells us there is a big rush of those signing up for help and

assistance saying that more than 100,000 consumers signed up wednesday for obamacare, the most since any day since enrollment started november 1. there is a story in usa today looking at whether that would happen" policy expert saying what might or might not happen in terms of the affordable care act and the health care plans, saying that legislation passed by both houses of congress last year before it was vetoed by

president obama left 20 million without insurance. the penalties if they don't buy butould cover the cost neither party is likely to vote for without the assurance of a residential veto. frank from egg harbor township, new jersey, you are next. i served in the infantry in vietnam in 1968-1969. to not getise trump us involved in situations like iraq and the a nominal and -- and vietnam and when he deploys our units that they know why

they are being sent out and there is a clear and present danger to the united states these thingsome of that seem to be more like wars that are fought to protect corporate interest instead of protect the citizens of the united states. that's about all i have to say. host: josh in california, go ahead. ander: good morning, pedro the rest of c-span. one of the things that i really hope is that we can brings country together. i can hear the words civil war. i have been so involved with other countries especially korea , vietnam.

make these with them [indiscernible] and i think this president has no idea what is going to happen. i hope you token, guys in the future with enough people calling in about the draft. whene in to the military it became integrated. a complete change in the country after it went away. for people that state in some type of military obligation to this country, that should be necessary, i completely agree. host: we just had someone saying that perhaps not everyone who signs up for the draft should be involved in military service and they could do other things to serve their country. caller: that's agreeable but it should be mandatory.

just the fact that everyone that some typeould perform of duty that would involve some type of government involvement. i think they will better understand what is happening here. there has to be something to bring us back together. mike int's hear from oklahoma city, good morning. caller: good morning. to talk to you today and a good day to all my veterans. i would like to see donald trump sit down with the regular men and women in the service from the rank of e-5 and down and see what their concerns and spend a day or two with them and see how they interact with their want and the people around them and interact with their base and maybe he will have an

understanding about what these people do on a day-to-day basis and what they have to go through. i think it would be good training for him to understand what our men and women actually doing the service. ,ost: ok, here is henry virginia, go ahead. iller: i am a democrat and voted for secretary clinton. i respect the office of the commander-in-chief. trump, like to see mr. just don't let the people who elected him into office against his better judgment. just make the right decision. it's a big job. obamalistens to president and they had a good discussion, follow some of those rules and use his own mind and don't let him just change everything

because they will turn on him and ruin his presidency the same way they did president obama. host: when it comes to his role as commander-in-chief, what does he have to think about? think he is president of all the people, not just the few crazy people that put them in office. everybody needs to with him and he needs to work with everybody else to keep this country great like it's always in. have a wonderful day. caller: the president-elect and his wife were given a birds eye view of washington. host: he was visiting the house and senate leaders. ryan led him paul out to the house balcony and showed them washington as seen from this video and some of our monuments and landmarks but also gave him a sense of where he

will be standing on inauguration day in january and giving him a sense of his role in what things will occur that day. that video was yesterday. along sign him -- alongside him as his wife and vice president-elect mike pence. that was house speaker paul ryan giving him a tour and view of washington. let's hear from dallas, texas. zede.: i'm my advice to the president-elect to get our him national business in order. i would like to see him go ahead and run the country how he said he was wild running for president. advice should he begin as commander-in-chief? caller: my advice would be to go said hed do what he

would do when he was running for president. host: from ohio, good morning. i served eight years the army. i was born on the fourth of july. it's kind of the thing to do. i think the president should so that working veterans can take their insurance money they have from their job to the va to help support the v.a. and support the veterans that don't have outside insurance and strengthen the the a v.a. due to healthoe care in the v.a. but if there's better health care, veterans can support themselves by taking their insurance money to the

v.a. and strengthen it. generallywould you rate -- you said health care at the v.a. is poor? delays causedhe the infection on the loan in my toe to go clear into it and the loan is sticking out by the time i got to steve -- and the loan is sticking out by the time i got to the doctor. host: from when did you report this to when you were actually seen about it? it for he was working on three weeks and i had an appointment a week later and they canceled the appointment and moved it back another week. i told him i was having problems with this thing. they did not set me up to see another doctor and did not do anything until it was too late.

they had me sign a paper or tried to saying that it's not their fault. of course it was their fault. i lost it. host: that's tim in ohio. the president-elect is said to be part of a hearing taking a look at trump university. lawyer is looking to delay or push out that hearing saying --

robert from hot springs, arkansas, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. the first 40nt years of my life since hice will in the navy. -- since high school in the navy. i had a good time and had no problems. i would tell the new president the same thing i told the old 1 --

pull all the troops out of the middle east and apologize and see if we can start a new. host: even in the current condition, you would advise the president to take the troops out? caller: all the people out, not just the troops. we don't belong over there. we're just causing trouble. host: derek, last call for this first hour of listening to veterans only giving advice to the new commander-in-chief. derek from lakewood, california, good morning. good morning all, my fellow veterans, happy veterans day. i would suggest to the future president that hopefully he goes through with the commitment he

said about rebuilding our footprint around the globe. mandatoryth the service. we need to reinstate that for the whole nation. everybody needs to be a part of this nation. i think it would make relationships among all of us better if everybody felt they had something invested in it. of being at sense part of something when it's mandatory. host: that's derek and lakewood, california. the vietnam veterans memorial in washington, d.c. is seeing some visitors as is custom when people visit and they leave the mentos and gifts. those are collected and capped an archived. that is a final shot of that memorial.

will continue on our conversation taking a look at the life of the veteran not only while they are in service but what happens once they leave service. this will give us a sense of getting into the day today at tiffany's of military service -- day-to-day activities of military service. from an iraqhear veteran and take a look in a moment. later on, we will look at medical issues facing veterans, talking about the current condition of the v.a. as you heard several people comment on it in this first hour. we will have a guest talking about that in what she feels are necessary changes. on this veterans day, it was yesterday at the white house when the white house press secretary updated about the role of u.s. troops currently serving in iraq.

this is what he had to say about what they are doing on his made clear oure service members when they go to iraq, they are trained for combat. they are not the given a combat mission. that is an important distinction because the president does not believe american troops should be in the situation in which they are expected to be at the tip of the spear and take and hold ground. the idea of the u.s. military being an occupying force in iraq is not one at has yielded success for our country. it has not made our country safer. what the president has envisioned and what they have been given is a dangerous one. one in which servicemembers are asked to assume great risks so they commit a position, and some

cases to train or at the security forces. in other cases, they can offer advice and assistance as iraqi forces undertake important military objectives. there are situations where if some of those trainers or advisors end up in a dangerous position, there are additional u.s. forces mobilized to get them out. it is dangerous work. it puts mm harm's way and situations where they have to use their combat training and equipment to defend themselves. that is much different than been in a situation they are asked to take an old territory. that is a different strategy and a different mission. both of them are dangerous. of them require current of professionalism and skill and sacrifice. courage and professionalism and skill a sacrifice. >> the kind of troops you are

sending now, they hold a briefly? recognize that the service members that president obama has sent to iraq do have extraordinary combat capabilities. they have a sense of training and the combat equipment you would see in a theater of war that you would expect our service members to have. the mission of they have been given is different than the mission given by president bush that involved occupying a foreign country. that did not work out well. president obama believes we should use a different strategy. in iraq, will taken back fit percent of the popular item -- populated territories. of the advisors and trainers, the u.s. forces offering assistance, i security forces have isolated mosul and beginning of the painstaking isl of injecting iso---

from mosul. we are making progress. this is a strategy that requires a service members to assume great personal risk. it is yielding progress in making america safer. >> washington journal continues for host: the vietnam veterans memorial. visiting that memorial not only remember friends and family who served in wartime and honor their commitment, but also walking around washington, d.c. as well. and our studios in washington, we have the honor of talking to to veterans of wars in iraq. to learn about what it is like to be a soldier, not only during a period of in active service but as they transition to civilian life. whoed by ashley nicolas served in afghanistan from 2012-2013. and brennan mullaney, an iraq veteran.

both of you, happy veterans day. you think is the perception of soldier and active life by most people and what is the reality? everything with think about veterans is depicted by the media and in movies and if that depiction is not exactly the truth. i know from my time in active service which i valued very much. i did a couple of tors to iraq and some of the things did not look like that. 80%-90% did not look like that. a lot of hanging around with my guys and our hurry up and wait mantra. -- metric -- it does not look sexy. ands grinding it out improving day after day. spending time with your team and

getting to know each other and practicing. host: what did you do? guest 1: i was at calvary scout. i spent my time in fort hood, texas. i was lamenting with ashley when she asked me what i did. i was assigned to be in front of the main elements looking for the enemies and scouting and that is not what happened. most of us on the ground were doing similar jobs, working with the iraqi security forces. anding on governance economic development projects. building a rapport with the nationals. same ashley nicolas, question, what is the perception, what is the reality? guest 2: brennan is right. it is the hard work of leadership and building trust and relationships and building teams which is not a flashy stuff you see in movies.

taking care of soldiers, especially leaders, they spend a lot of time doing. does not stop it when we leave active-duty service. work was the of my hard work behind the scenes as an intelligence officer and make sure our teams and soldiers were informed and prepared to be successful in the battlefield. that is not what you see. guest 1: it is a great point. there is a credible cast of individuals, their collective efforts makes it work. thesee whether it is special operators, the navy seals, the army rangers, you see the league teams. a host of people behind them that are doing their jobs and must do it effectively. host: both of you talk about teamwork. this teame have with work that is already established, is that the case?

or is it more needed to submit that -- see meant that? guest 2: you are fortunate because you start with, and a shared mindset. you have a baseline. there's camaraderie that gets built that does not start from the beginning and it does not happen by magic. it happens through long days in cold weather and long nights and being a miserable, that shared misery is magic for teamwork. guest 1: definitely. the experiences that forged that camaraderie and units and get stronger whether training experiences, difficult decisions , situations, i am sorry. or the point you are deployed. that heightens of those experiences and strengthen those bond. tot: our guests joining us tell their service and give you the viewer a sense of what a

military person does day today. you can ask them questions. we divided the lines for veterans. regionally, give us a call at -- we are joined by ashley nicolas who served in afghanistan and brennan mullaney who served in iraq. fivesure it is not a 9 to job. tell us what your day. guest 2: every day is a very long day. most days is long. it starts in the dark in a formation where you will work out and do some sort of physical fitness, prepare you for the long days ahead. and from there, it is job depended. what is your main task? some of my days were spent preparing intelligence for units from our home state.

some were spent in the field prepare for deployment ourselves. some days were spent expect -- inspected vocals and taking care of soldiers. beauties of military service. it is never boring. guest 1: there is definitely that task and the things you have to accomplish day-to-day, i was an officer. the paperwork side of things and the administrative side of things, building training plans and executing that training. it is about leadership. that is the full-time job. it is not a 9 to 5. i was responsible for a number of phenomenal soldiers. if they needed help, whether after-hours or early morning, i was there for them and they knew that. they would have been there for me. there must chemical things that happen whether you are stateside . -- mechanical things that happen when you are stateside or

abroad. the sense of team and a sense of purpose that is not replicated in many civilian jobs. that is one of the challenges civilians have from the transition to whatever else is next and they miss those things. host: let's hear from callers. this is arkansas. good morning. you are first up. caller: good morning. i want to mention the door did after. the president should take up the information from wounded warriors and cannot do anything after the military or need help, that can put them back into the military but not military situations. that would help immensely for many of them instead of putting them out. and to help the military personnel, put them in places where there do not have to have combat. there are people who want to be

warriors. let them do that. after military, i personally would like to see our military come home from places we don't need to be like japan. which would help our benefits and our country by taking care of their country. we have been doing there for 40, 50 years. i do not know the exact time. us. money could be for host: dusty, thank you. guest 2: absolutely. there is a tremendous need at home for service. i think it is lost sometimes when we talk about what the typical image of a bitterness, their services done. i do not think that can be more untrue. your service continues. that is already happening. , theirimage of a veteran services done.

like the pat tillman foundation, these organizations take the unique experiences of veterans and put them at work at home. that is already happening. veterans are feeling a huge need. a huge need. guest 1: dusty had a few questions and we appreciate them. the one i would tease out is after the military peeves. -- peace. that is why work today. does a, the military good job of making your soldier, navy, airmen. sometimes they do not do nearly as good of a job as transitioning you back into society. there been tremendous stride to bolster that. it is something we have a responsibility to servicemen and women to be thinking about.

the reality is whether you do your four-year enlistment and get out or you do 30 or 35 years and are a general or something. there is something beyond that military service. if we are not doing the things to prepare ourselves even when we are in uniform, we are doing ourselves and fellow serviceman a disservice. host: here is ken from south carolina. caller: how are you don't? -- doing? my question is different. i am a veteran. id. i permanent duty station was in new york. my concern is the war in iraq. -- i did my permanent duty station in new york. after desert storm, we went in and hussein was back and

george bush in dick cheney said it was dangerous because the country is difficult. we invaded and we saw how difficult. we assisted our soldiers for 10 years but when it was time to fight, they ran. i am worried about the soldiers. we cannot fight for country if they do not fight. we relinquishul, it again and have to go back and take it again. i do not wantht, any more soldiers dying in a foreign land when we know down deep, like egypt, they wanted a change. it was chaos. libya, saddam hussein. even though they were dictators, they kept the lid in. host: we will let our guests respond. brennan mullaney it was difficult -- guest 1: it was

difficult. 15 years of combat in iraq. i do not think anybody anticipated the conflicts to drive on a that long. there is an important policy component to that question. one i am not qualified to answer. it is something that we as a country needed to be very cognizant of. when our civilian leadership makes these decisions and decided to send our sons and daughters into the phone for -- intoo conflict, conflict, it means a lot more what plays on the maybe a -- major media networks. their transition back from these combat experiences and that lives on for years and decades. it is not until 40 years after the actual service or conflict that the repercussions of that really take place through the body or

mind. it is an important thing for us to consider. when we make those decisions, there is in effect. guest 2: absolutely. it is important to realize after these years of conflicts, veterans in a unique position to provide a policy position. for some of the veterans to step up and be involved of some of the moves as a nation so we do not repeat some of the mistakes. host: when it comes to redeployment, what is it like when you get the notice? tim arango i never -- guest 2: i never got that. once i was home, i was home. guest 1: we were on a year on, year off cycle. i was in 2 of them. i spent 15 months in my first deployment in baghdad. home, which was -- it is an incredible feeling. that elation of being back home

here in the country. there are so many things we take for granted, you really realize what we have when you are in other environments. try to embrace that in hold on to that feeling as long as you can. it starts the cycle of training and you go back. therek i knew all along would be a second or even third tour. you understand it. in some ways, you look forward to it. the experience, that sense of personal -- purpose, the people you're sharing with it, that part is phenomenal. that is something all servicemembers really value. host: you get a phone call, e-mail, how does it work? guest 1: you get it through the rumor mill first. you start to hear. the dod, it is all out there. you get orders.

sayinga piece of paper you are going wherever. and the same thing when you come home. a date everybody is waiting for the first sergeant. forward to both aspects of it. you are excited to go and frankly, you are relieved and stoked to go home. host: let's hear from james and arkansas. caller: hi. hi. retired from the years.y with a 21 i served in 1974 to 1994. i appreciate your program. years. question? is your caller: my question is, after you get out of the military, you

do not get enough pay to make your bills. i served 21 years and -- host: the idea of pay, how does it work? you're on active duty as an officer, a comfortable life. he is a challenge for many. that be aeave, it's challenge if that transition is not clear. a clearo not have understanding of where you are going, it can be a challenge. that is where it is important to have a community supporting of veterans to help lift up and bridging that gap between you leave uniform and find your new direction on the civilian side. host: how often are you paid? guest 1: you can take either option -- tim arango you can take -- guest 2: you can take either option. i was paid every two weeks. guest 1: once you make the

transition, why are there not high paying jobs for veterans? i know there are a number of organizations who are very aware of this. a number of private companies who have hiring veterans initiatives. let peopled to do is understand veterans are assets. as they are people who want to continue to serve. be rock star performers in your organization. they know how to perform under duress. they know how to solve difficult problems. as long as we shake that narrative, you want to hire veterans and pay them a salary they deserve. they are capable of so much more. and giving them an opportunity and compensating them appropriately is what we're striving to do. we hope that conversation continues. they may veterans

edition transition, can have opportunities and continue to walk the two jobs that will provide them the resource. host: when you are serving outside of the united states, do you get hazardous pay? receive that pay when you're deployed and also skill base pay. you jumpe airborne and out of airplanes, you get additional pay. you have a unique skill. you will receive a stipend for that. of base pay beyond that pay if you're qualified for it or serving in the area that qualifies you. guest 1: something that is important with a pay, you tend to be paid in a manner in which you live quite comfortably. whether you are a lower listed soldier and live in the barracks or an officer like we were. the really interesting thing is what you consider, you perform in your job in the military, get ,romoted, get a pay increase

qualified with a different skill or a pay increase. when you make the transition, all of the stability you had in terms of pay and life insurance and health care for you and your family and the resources that sat and the military installation you had access to, goes away. whoou think about somebody lost their job, imagine everything you relied on, that is a daunting proposition. that's why a lot of veterans in this transition are looking for those things are struggling. there are organizations trying to provide all of the stability. host: that is brennan mullaney who served in iraq. also joined by ashley nicolas who served in afghanistan to give you a look in the life of a military person not only in active duty but transitioning. orlando in colorado. caller: good morning. yeah i'll have to bear with me. i have short-term memory loss.

, i was with the first airborne division. -- i didn't 9.5 months in the jungles of vietnam. our mission is basically where to go and, search and destroy and whenever there was an emergency and we had a bunch of choppers down somewhere, they dropped is in their -- there. we went through quite a bit of -- what happens after we get back from vietnam? people are flipping us off. nobody spit in my face or i would have decked them. now, they treat me like -- i waited one year and two months for an appointment one time.

the only reason they did that, a couple of reasons was being -- i would argue with them. said, they quit giving me travel pay because they said there was a glitch in the system. saying i chose that is he a split -- the v.a. specifically and i tried to drive that far. host: thank you for telling us your story. guest 2: a lot of challenges we face with his v.a., a large with aation and people lot of needs. we have seen improvements. care has been largely positive. one of the bigger challenges, one of the biggest is met the shores of the v.a. is inclusive and address needs like the caller had.

a long way org you feel like you're not a valued member. that is something women face a lot, it's a male driven organization and women do not always feel like they belong or assumed they do not. certainly, we are going to face challenges in addressing multi-generations and why varying needs. it is something we will have to keep an eye out and address. guest 1: i think it is, the point i would like to address is the climate of the veteran came back to. our generation has came back to welcoming public and has been able to decouple the conflict and the politics with the service of the individual or the service member. we have been fortunate and i know the vietnam generation was not as fortunate. one we arend that,

getting better at that. it is needed. in a country as how we welcomed our generation of the enough veterans was wrong. i hope it would never happen again. the more interesting point is the way the vietnam generation has welcomed us as veterans home. they have been the was advocating for veterans issues for so long. they have said, no, this will not happen again. i cannot beteran, more thankful to the vietnam veteran and grateful for what they have done in shaping the space. host: i am sure when you are back home in your civilian life, you hear the phrase "thank you for your service." what goes through your mind? guest 2: it can sometimes be at loaded statement. you will be hard-pressed to find does not enjoy the sit there. sometimes, it can be seen as an empty statement.

for an action. i appreciate you thanking me for service a but follow-up. start the conversation, ask me about my experience. go to an event. go to vietnam veterans memorial and ask questions. ask for stories. those are the ways you can show gratitude. be involved. that goes a lot further. sometimes it can be an empty statement if it is not followed up. guest 1: i would agree. it is a start. i'm personally very uncomfortable when people say thank you, i am not sure how to respond. there's a lot of great things and experiences i have had. i am very proud of it. it is the start of a conversation. thank you for your service, followed by what did you do? what are you doing now? how can i help you? the knowledge i am a veteran, but having transitioned into the local community, i'm facing a

lack of the same things you are. who am i going to vote for, the election went past. where my kids are going to go school. what my next job is going to be. to be involved in a veterans life is a powerful thing. it validates of their service, hey, the best way to thank him is to welcome him back. the organization i work for is a fact has a medium. we bring veterans and civilians together over simple activities and to build those relationships. that is a very human thing. we all need that. whether transitioning from war or going to rely. relationships are really the glue that keeps it together. host: have you ever been criticized for your service? guest 2: i do not think so. it is a lesson although vietnam generation. i will get comments that are

policy questions. you will hear, we love the troops or preshow what you did, but we do not agree with what is going on. aat can be the start of conversation. among the veteran population, there is a nuanced understanding of what we participated in. be prepared to get answers you do not necessarily expect. guest 1: i do not think i've been criticized but misunderstood, probably at better characterization. i had of the opportunity to grasp all after the army. i was in a fantastic program and i was amazed at the many my colleagues who would going on to be decision-makers and will never spoke one on one to a veteran who served in iraq or afghanistan. it was amazing. all of my friends, as i go through my iphone, 90% of them served. a different thing, it is so important to have those conversations.

if you do not have a service your life, brother, whoever, seek someone out and have a conversation and learn. ask them about their service and what they did. the same questions you are asking us, these are important things for people to know. sort of brigid that divide between our military and civilian community. guest 2: do not be afraid to ask. arele of never served scared to ask the questions because a day do not know if they are asking something offensive or difficult to talk about. to start a willing conversation, it is never going to change. host: let's go to john. he is in louisiana. good morning. caller: 50 years ago, i started my air service career. i was a pilot and flew for delta airlines. you mentioned people come of assaying me for my service and my response is i was blessed by god with the abilities to become a pilot.

it is my honor to have been selected to do that. am in northwest louisiana neared airport and i am close to it. whenever i go to the base and the man or woman checked my id, havenk them for what they started to do. something i did for 28 years and i wish them well in their career. i hope they stay. the way i feltn in the 20th years i spent. i served in combat from vietnam to desert storm and everything in between. i try to encourage young people to look the military. i think it is a wonderful thing they can do for their country. it makes my heart feel good to see these young people serving. they are every bit as good as i was when i started. i hope they continue forward and serve the country. i am active in several

organizations were we go to high schools, the rotc in the area. we have a huge military retiree population in this part of the state. we always try to go out and encourage others to follow in our footsteps whether one tour or spent a career. it is service to their country. host: gotcha, john. we are running a little short on time. guest 2: absolutely. after i left uniform, i became a high school teacher. i was always encouraging of my students to consider the military. there are very few ways to start your life that will give you such a great set of values and the lessons and support you in a way that sets you up to be successful forever. said, one term or 35 years, it will be valuable. it is something that should still be considered. guest 1: my military experience

was phenomenal. i learned things, met people and learned lessons and expresses i rely on today. i was a 22-year-old platoon leader responsible for 30 soldiers. there is not leadership like that in in other organization in this country. is important for people to consider service -- if service is right for them. and it is in for people serve to provide them with the ability to ask questions asked the us out in our communities serving. like the call mentioned with the vfw. my organization in the d.c. area, we are going to read in elementary schools today. i'm going to all project, which is another phenomenal organization. andjust any veterans service a uniform but making the transition and still being leaders in their church, their kids' school, coaching, teaching. these are the important things and that will shape our future

generation's view of service. host: bill from pennsylvania. caller: thank you so much for having me on. i served in vietnam, 1968, 1969. overtake. operation i was there for 15 months. i was very proud to do my duty and i was very lucky. and the lord was with me. what waseally realized going on until i got back to oakland, california and we were met by thousands of people with eggs, throwing rocks, bananas. we were treated to terrible the first 20 minutes i set foot on american soil.

and the same thing with the job market. when i got home, i put everything away and forgot about my military service of 440 something years. then i started to become deal. went to my local doctors and i already had information on agent orange. -- and then i started to become ill. i asked about agent orange and they shrugged their shoulders. we know nothing about agent orange. they treated me like a regular patient. host: thank you so much. the first 20 minutes i was in the u.s., we were greeted by is in no veterans. those lessons that were learned. -- we were graded -- greeted by vietnam veterans. those people were treated so terribly and they make sure it is not like that for current generations.

i am so grateful for what they have done. guest 1: it is beyond the welcome and the health care providing to our veterans. agent orange, which was one of the elements on the vietnam conflict we knew nothing about. you juxtapose of with today's conflict and our knowledge of traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress. aribale bit of lag in his holistic league we are in a position where we know a lot holistically winter position where we know more and provide appropriate care. learned hope we have our tough lessons from vietnam and we do not have to learn again. host: you mentioned transition. what there something that took you by surprise? or was it a difficult? guest 2: i think you missed the camaraderie. thatse of shared mission you are custom is surrounded by people of that share the same

ideas and values and mindset. uniform, you lose that a little bit. for me, i became an educator. i had a sense of mission and surrounded by people doing the same. if it takes you lose that support. you lose that feeling of being part of a team all the time. it can be jarring. guest 1: i had somebody tell me when you enter the military, with your team a uniform, eua cup compass things you never thought was possible. when you leave, they take them away. -- your team and uniform, you accomplish things you never thought was possible. you lose that team. , what on wherever you are ever community, whether a month after, a year after, you start to miss that. maybe that is an important point. finite.on is not not the day i took uniform off

and put on a suit or whatever. it happens over a prolonged period of time. for some, it is years and years. for me, it is still happening. i left years ago and i am still thinking about what my life ahead is going to look like. these are very humid things. knowingsome consolation some of the struggles or things i'm challenged with, my neighbor has been through. host: when you went to go looking for jobs, what happens when the potential employer sees that line of your service? guest 1: i think it is a changing sort of discussion. a lot of people see that essay it is great, you are a veteran insert. a lot do not know what that means or translates into. get it translated from the military jargon into normal, civilian resume speech can be difficult. from what i can tell, a number

of employers who welcome that. is it an advantage while jobhunting? guest 2: it can be. if you could describe your services and and access to that ploy or and understand, it can be to a great advantage. there is a challenge in making sure you were able to translate that jargon as speaking the language the employer understands. guest 1: just say you were a mechanic in the military, that may not be what you are in civilian. working under the rest and teens and solving problems, those are what you want to highlight. host: arthur from virginia, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. host: go ahead. caller: a little background. 20 years in the army. 70 years on the -- seven years lookingeel look -- hill

at the v.a. issues. a couple of thoughts on transitioning. i had the opportunity to travel to the v.a.. i look at the v.a. budget. year,$182 billion this this coming year. a huge growth that was $90 billion when i came to the hill in 1995. there is now 325,000 people working. it is not a money issue. both your guests have a great perspective. i got to talk to a lot of people on a trips to afghanistan and iraq. i think we need to take care of arthur verrilli wounded soldiers and every body, ptsd and the issues and we do not address those correctly. i do not think the military addresses tbi. i interviewed someone it in

iraq, a national guardsman, he allegedly had been, he had been 07 different tors and was in 4 different ied's pre-we need to look at the symptoms. i am stepping back a little bit. president-elect, i would hope that his cabinet selections that he picks some veterans. to be the new secretary of the v.a. secretaries i had where secretary peaks. it offers a unique perspective on what needs to be done. the procurement issues in the v.a. in the job opportunities needed to be explored and worked on. said there wass tremendous opportunity. i think it is. host: we will leave it there. i am sorry. guest 2: the tremendous opportunity that exists when you

leave uniform, a lot and the nonprofit around. organizations outside of the the a to help the -- of the v.a. to have the transition. one of the may at first is to translate -- one of the main aspects is to help translate the jargon and make it an asset. there are organizations that exists inside of the v.a. and outside. guest 1: the caller talked about the jump of the v.a.'s budget and as the manifestation that the full effects of the conflict are not seen until 40 years later. largely taking care of our vietnam veterans and there are still going to be over time and will see the different elements of our iraq and afghanistan veterans. something to be pretty too. point, whether the head of the v.a. or on the hill,

whitney veterans to step up. -- we need of interest to step up. we needed them to be leaders. your service is now where it ends. i would encourage veterans to find ways to serve this country. mentioned ptsd issues. there is an op ed by mark jackson. he writes about what it means to be a veteran. he says -- does it reflect your experiences considering what you did? guest 1: not to mind. that is the point. veterans are all different. our lives are going to be different. have been because i

deployed and i have seen combat and been with these weapons, the fireworks on the fourth of july would cause me to put the sign that of veteran lives here, it is not true. does it mean there is not another veteran that experiences this? obviously, it does. when we start painting with these broad brush strokes, we are doing all of us a disservice. we are people. serve people who chose to this country. our experiences will be different. west 2: it is dangerous when paint the broad strokes about what service and maintenance. being deployed is not the only servicemembers. or theplane mechanic sailor on the ship is serving legitimate as anybody on the front lines. that service look different and have different consequences. we get into a dangerous area

where their service is painted as less than that what somebody did on the combat zone. host: david. go ahead. caller: top of the morning. i have a couple of things. one is, exception of the gentleman about we learned from our mistakes. from agent orange. burningiraq, we had tips that have affected our soldiers that we have not addressed. the other thing i would like to .ring up is the general his name was butler. honor thatmedals of everybody in the service and everybody thinking of going to disservice should think. it will tell you exactly what we are doing over 4 wars.

thank you very much. have a good day. host: one more call. good morning. caller: good morning. love your show. militarypoint is misdiagnosis. i was diagnosed with one disease . all of the doctors, everybody out of the v.a., including the v.a. said they misdiagnosed but they rejected my claims. ofsecond point is, the theft the v.a. stole $400,000. were not prosecuted. veterans put to their kidney on the table. host: thank you, caller. anything from those calls? guest 1: i will clarify my previous comment.

i do not know for we completely, but i hope we have. if we stop learning, we are doing ourselves a disservice. v.a. a lot about the of times. i am not a user of the a care so -- v.a. care so i cannot speak. one, the challenges that the v.a. are dealing with is incredibly complicated. if they were easy, they would have been solved. nuance, itracy, the is not a very easy. in my professional capacity with the team at the central office. i have seen things change in the past few years. i know people go to work there every day are committed to veterans and making the change. if people have grievances, have them -- the v.a. wants to improve. guest 2: my experience with the v.a. has been positive. the providers of the v.a. and people who work, the day-to-day

work with veterans are dedicated civil servants that value and want to do good. i think a lot of times, the flashy headlines and the failures are what get attention. it takes away from the fact with a lot of civilians and veterans working in the v.a. trying to do good and being successful everyday. a sense of the life of military person in active duty and outside of it and civilian life. ashley nicolas who served in afghanistan. tell us about your organization. guest 2: i am a law student at georgetown area a member of the pat tillman foundation. it was established to honor the legacy of pat tillman by his andly and enable veterans military spouses to pursue education after their service to continue to change the world. who: and brennan mullaney

served in iraq with the team red, white, and blue. regionali serve as a director 14 red, white, and blue to enrich the lives of veterans through physical and social activity. we have hundreds of chapters across the country breaking the veterans and their civilian communities over positive events. and getting to know each other and building relationships. you can learn more about us at -- host: to both of you veterans joining us on veterans day. thank you very much. we have been sure you size across washington, d.c. area. to honorn wine meant veterans, specifically of wars of the korean war. that is one of the shots or at least one of the things you'll see if you visit. coming up -- we will talk and ask, what advice you would give to the incoming

commander-in-chief from veterans. an update of what is going on in iraq. more as "washington journal" continues after this. announcer: this weekend on american history tv on c-span3 -- saturday night, after 7:00 eastern, kings college london visiting professor discusses the role u.s. army chief staff and america's world war ii victories, arguing the general's skills as a strategist transformed the u.s. army. gentlemannnsylvanian with gentle manners was single-mindedly and astonishingly calm. --ouncer: on reel america the 1921 silent film honoring the unknown soldier of world war

i. >> it was tremendous. the streets of washington were whoned with houses of folks waited for the casket to be removed and brought by the under guard down pennsylvania avenue and across the bridge. and what i have read is one of the largest turnouts for parade in the city. announcer: sunday on american artifacts -- >> a beautiful building. from the moment it opened, it was too small. constructed to handle 500,000 people a year, it ended up handling in 1907, 1.7 million. island.r: we tour ellis and before 9:00, in 1916, -- thent woodrow wilson common the first jew to sit on

the high court. hishe 100 anniversary of talks aboutrandeis him. >> is trying to limit a specific role, one at is defined by the constitutional network in which all government operates and which limits or should limit any one branch from exercising power beyond prescribed. announcer: for our complete schedule, go to www.c-span.org. c-span where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. announcer: washington journal continues. host: a view of the korean war

monument in washington, d.c. some of the things you will see as you go to the memorial. not only pictures of soldiers but quotes from that era. at least the statues you will see honoring those who served during the korean war. one of the many memorials in and around washington, d.c. that honor veterans, especially on this veterans day. especially to you veterans before our next half hour or so, we want to hear from you. the repeat of the question -- if you advise would offer the incoming commander-in-chief, donald trump. offer. how you would go ahead and make those calls. we will take the momentarily. international headlines to show

you. this the irish times. the headline. many u.s. companies will leave ireland for u.s. said trump aides. saying large companies will leave ireland and relocate to the u.s. to take advantage of a thatorporate tax regime the president will put in place. stephen moore, one of the senior economic advisers to the president-elect. he said the plan of the new administration was awarded back -- wooing back multinationals. cutting the rate from 35% to 15%. this the koran times. some of the shots of the protests going on around the united states. story, "trump victory nerves koreans in the

u.s." how --ef and problems many of the younger generation korean-americans who teamed up to campaign for trump's opponent, hillary clinton. guardian" newspaper, picture but when the current president barack obama and president-elect donald trump. if you want to see video of that, you can go term website at www.c-span.org. you can take a look at that. events taking place on this veterans day. we will ask you veterans to give your sense of advice for the incoming commander-in-chief. but first, an

update on the efforts in iraq, we take mosul. joining us on the phone, tim arango, the new york times bureau chief. good morning. guest: good morning. last new events over the 12 hours or so, can you give us a sense of what is going on to retake mosul? guest: it is a very tough and slow going fight in recent days, over the past week or so. city last reached the week. it has become very slow because isis is putting up a fight for eastern mosul, the first foothold the forces have gotten into the city. slowed things down to go more methodically house to house and clear areas.

what we learned it now is it will be quite a long ordeal. sayinghere are stories the isis commander has been killed in mosul, can you expand? guest: we have heard that but we have not confirmed. these reports come out quite often. a indication they decapitated serious later. it is a grueling fight. host: can you give us a sense of the amount of force is involved in fighting isis and how much isis half as far as people and resources in their attacking? guest: the iraqis have put together a group of many different sources with tens of thousands and there are kurdish forces, the army, malicious, the .ounterterrorism and shiite all of these groups come together with a common purpose of fighting isis even though they have different agendas with

what comes next. in terms of isis, the estimates are 6000 fighters in the city. the most densely populated areas have not been reached yet. the big question is how they will fight for those? sense of the a forces of the iraqi forces. how are they performing? guest: they get good marks. ,ne of the big problems especially to the populated areas of eastern mosul, at first, they got a little overconfident and did not clear areas behind them. that made them susceptible to attacks. are going much slower in going house to house. and they are not as vulnerable. host: what has been offered and does that continue? americans with the

undergoingave been airstrikes. what we are seeing is different compared to the other battles and other iraqi cities i have covered. the americas on the ground of a not on the front lines, we drive , groups ofunits american soldiers in their vehicles. before, closer than helping to carry out airstrikes. saying they are still supporting in a supportive nature but not frontline? guest: yes, exactly. i have not seen that. role.re in a advisory and air support role. host: when you take a look at the city of mosul and its terrain and make up, what challenges do the iraqi forces infighting that isis?

guest: the challenges will be great. it has been going on for almost a month. going after a lot of villages mostly populated. they have gone into eastern mosul and western mosul which is across the tigris river is much more densely populated. host: are forces ready for a ifferent tactic than they are doing now? guest: particularly the counter forces, they are taking the lead fight against isis and it is essentially a force created by the united states, beginning 2003, working closely with american special forces, so they

in that, you ed know, that type of training, although it will not be easy and seeing some precursors of how bad that could be with eastern mosul. host: tim arango baghdad bureau hief of the "new york times" from there telling us about the latest iraqi defenses to retate mosul. thank you. guest: thank you for having me. to your call, on advice and consult for the commander-in-chief. 202-748-8000, for eastern and central time. mountain 01, for the and pacific time zones. et's hear from kirk, in salem, oregon. kim, you are on, go ahead, please. caller: good morning. in the last segment, you talked bout young people coming onboard with the military, i'm a vietnam veteran and i would say young people, the work experience you can get, if you

whatsoever, work experience you will have as a unbeatable in s civilian life. 20s and k in my young civilian life, people 35-38 it is a workng, so experience that because you're the person in the room, you get job and you grow as a resu . regard to the current administration and defense department policy and so forth, advocating universal service. some period of time between the of 18-25, they each young regardless of their physical or mental capabilities in national turn service. host: got you. thank you. mosley, xt from virginia. if what is your advice for

incoming mp, commander-in-chief. me?ler: you talking to host: yes. caller: i want to say how great mcguire, they saved most e three times and recently with open heart surgery of eight hours. can't tell you how great .he va is host: that is ed tells us about veteran's nce at administration. again, if you are veteran's affairs. if you want to let us know about advice you would give, for incoming to commander-in-chief. 202-748-8000 for eastern and central time zone. 202-748-8001 in the mountain and pacific time zone there is a story in washington times this look at the ng a press and how they're reacting elect donald trump. this is miller's piece, concerns

bay during the trump presidency. the white house correspondent mason said in a statement, he was "deeply concerned by mr. trump's reject traveling his first ers for visit to washington n. addition to breaking prez dense and first this could inciple, leave americans blind about his being in the d event of national crisis. pool of reporters are ready to elect and resident the association urges president trump to allow us to do its job, including being present for interactions. not allowing the journalists to with the president is unacceptable. san antonio.from caller: hello, how are you doing? ost: what advice to commander-in-chief? caller: i would like to him to

1863 marshall law and of the emergency powers i would love for him to cut the size and cost of so we, the people, can live better. ost: why is it important to repeal the two first things you mentioned? caller: it is important to what? it important to repeal the first two things you mentioned? marshall law, we don't have a constitution, first thing, okay. long as you listen to 1933, america ct, s still tied, america is tied to trading with the -- of 1917. these things, it will be better for all of us. host: ruth in sterling height, michigan.

good morning. aller: this has to do with a couple things. the media, okay, during the ietnam war, you guys seem to forget the enemy has t.v. sets, watch.d they you used to tell everything action hey had any happening, you guys would tell where it is going to be, so the and ready and p it got our guy necessary vietnam murdered. have a privilege where it is automatic that you go with the president in the and on the aircraft. that was not always there. kennedy brought some of them in, had vited them in when he something to say and then they offices.k to their own host: so what would your advice incoming president? caller: have spies in the white house. port, ohn fregulf

mississippi. hi, johnny. caller: good morning, america there.u veterans out i went in in 1948, retired in 1970. what i'd like to tell the president to do, incoming get his to do, haircut. thank you. lisa in the "washington post" this morning, the election is over, and longer a inton is no candidate, look intoing her e-mail use is still a priority the house, saying representative jason chafith, utah, finishing first term leading the government reform committee, ade it clear the partisan bitterness that marked the presidential campaign is not going away. of us to e remiss dismiss the e-mail investigation because she is not going to be a duty and have obligation to get to the truth bout one of the largest breaches of security at the state department. tens of thousands of documents have not been turned over. elicited response from

elijahcummings, ranking member oversight committee. after everything our country has just been through and given that ryan have p and paul called for healing our nation's division, i think the american eople deserve more from congress than to continue skwanderring tax-payer monobaseless republican accusation and partisan attacks from the "washington post." you go to the new york times his morning, liam stack, takes a look at victory of donald trump this week, seen through the gay and transgender communities. this is the story, saying mr. reputation for personal animosity toward gay peep and he will gay and lesbian organization congratulated him on his victory. in the trumppeople organization and surprised some republicans this year when he transgender people should use the bathroom they feel appropriate, a view held by others in the party.

lgbt leaders say, even if people believe that about trump, true, he would be held to the gop platform, executive national lgbtq anti-lgbtq the most platform in recent history. from alabama, if you had a chance to talk to donald trump, what would you advise him of commander-in-chief? caller: basically three things this morning. good morning. veteran's day. first thing would be to replace above that have been obama-ized, and all joint chiefs appointed by obama. repeal women in combat arms third, to fire ashton carter. go in reverse, why fire ashton carter? caller: he is a disgrace. is a disgrace to the united states of america.

his his policies and actions in the last since he's been in office, have been a disgrace to the military. 07s, as far as firing the explain what an 07 is. 07 is, they are the general ranks from brigadier up four star and all the generals need to go. obama-ized generals, the liberal generals, the ashton carter generals, those generals need to hit the road. host: philip up next from wonder robin, georgia, good morning, ahead. go caller: good morning. advice to commander-in-chief, if he wants to get to know the military as commander-in-chief, no experience, is to go unannounced to infantry army or marine corps and spend two weeks there.

for a what it is like private to live under the rules engagement and really get down in the dirt with them and like and do that for two weeks unannounced. you as far as what do think specifically it will teach them? you mentioned the life of a private. it teach them? caller: it would teach about the anxiety of living under the engagement they are taught. nfantry man, he has to get in the face of the enemy, literally nothe face of the enemy and shoot first or be shot at, that is the ultimate test of the rules of engagement. i mean, it would put you right there to know what it is like to live by those rules and that i think it ety, leeds to ptsd, to be honest with you. william is next. del ray beach, florida.

good morning. caller: good morning. i have a quick comment and question. uestion is, i'd like to know beach va st palm practices nepotism and my second question would be, why doesn't the west palm beach va take care of their veterans with respect to dental care? from what i understand, you have be a certain percentage of disabled to get proper and quality dental care. you is a big issue because could be as fit as a horse, but of your teeth could be mouth and of your they will not do anything for you unless you're 100% disabled. host: william, i advise you to stay for the next segment, we will look at va health issues momentarily n. this segment, look at your thoughts and advice the new commander-in-chief. ike from alexand dria, virginia. go ahead. caller: mouth and

they will not do anything for vietnam veteran. i'm a i reflect what the earlier about serving a the military ting si site. i suggest also from his high jump to not quickly but spend time negotiating face-to-face with other national leaders. colin powell, i remember doing a omewhat insincere visit to saddam hussein and coming back ending up nutes and in 16 years of war. thank you. host: from the washington xaminer this morning, prot filed members of congress, newly elected members of congress and experience they'll bring, including jimmy panetta,

reserve as vy intelligence officer from 2003 in 011, won a seat 20th district. his service will give them a better understanding of today's military operation, often consist of special operators, not for large-scale ground forces, similar to conditions afghanistan from july 2007 to july 2008 to work operations.pecial former --ather of the son of former defense secretary leon panetta. texas, hello., caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. yes, i try to make a comment in your prior show, i couldn't get through. what is vice to -- or president trump's opinion, idea, -- wee veterans, they get haven't had recent compensation

in eight years. know it is tied to the cost of iving, but still a lot of veterans are not getting the income to make it. they talk about the private sector, there is no jobs, you know, people are getting paid too little, so are veterans. 100% or 90 or 80, you are in a ot of trouble, you can't make it. so you talk about wars and going here and there and over there hurt over here, getting hurt over there, guys eight years, we aven't had a raise in compensation and nobody, i've heard nobody say anything about that. tied to cost is of living, but president trump come out with a number, maybe have a little half a ercent of raise in compensation. that is my opinion and thank you for taking my call. host: that is abel, el paso,

many talking to us, as have about advice you would give to president trump. today at arlington national cemetery, president obama will lay a wreath at the the unknown soldier. go to our website for more c-span.org, about other events today, including this memorial day on memorial day, cot rean war emorial, one of the sites in washington, d.c., and flowers laid there to remember those. that. show you some of in the next segment, take a look involving es veteran's affairs, joined by suzanne gordon, healthcare ournalist following closely what is going on at the va and that, r thoughts on "washington journal" continues this. >> republican donald trump the ed next president of

united states and nation elects republican lead u.s. house and senate. as ill take tou key events they happen without interruption, watch live on c-span. c-span.org, and at listen on the free c-span radio app. >> with donald trump elected as melania is the second first lady born outside of the united states. ladies," will t look into the life of every presidential spouse in american history. companion to c-span's biography t.v. series and interviews with 54 of the nation's leading first lady biographies of 45 first ladys and archival photos from their lives. "first lady," published by available ir system

whereever you buy books, available in paperback. >> we're asking students to participate in this year's documentary competition by most g us what is the urgent issue for the next president, donald trump, and the congress to address in 2017. open to all on is middle school and high school students, grades 6-12. students can work alone or in a up to three to produce 5-7 minute documentary on the issues selected. $5000 will go to the student or team with best overall entry. $100,000 in cash prizes will be 150 ded and shared between students and 53 teachers. this year's deadline is january 2017, inauguration day. or more information about the competition go to studentcam.org. >> announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: more of the sights and

ounds from the korean war memorial in washington, d.c. several people making their way this memorial on veteran's day. we thank you for joining us, as long as we all morning have talked about issues and concerns, particularly related veterans, healthcare, as you probably heard from many calls one top issue veterans are concerned with, oining us to talk about healthcare is suzanne gordon, joining us from california, a ealthcare journalist and author. mrs. gordon, thanks for joining us on c-span today. me, : thank you for having pedro. host: could you give us your assessment of the current available to veterans and the quality of that care? is t: veteran's healthcare the largest integrated in the united states, the biggest. of the tually one largest in the world. 've spent three years covering

the v.a. and writing a book about v.a. healthcare and i amazing healthcare. it's integrated healthcare. the only integrated the u.s. system in the doctors are on salary, no overtreat or undertreat. it has, negotiates drug prices companies so it has better prices. the kes care of some of most difficult and deserving patients in the united states, 9 million veterans, not all veterans are eligible for which is hcare, something we should talk about and something the new president about. do something but it is really extraordinary healthcare, it is kind of serves you if you have an amputation, if you ptsd, mental health problems, if you're aging, if

ne of the main things that brings veterans to the v.a. ealthcare system, which surprised me is tinnitus and hearing problems, no branch of military doesn't have over exposure to the noise. delivers high quality care, which survey after survey and assessment after independent assessment has it has some problems much to do with the kind of by ibility problems imposed congress and under funding. lot of waittimes, a times have to do with shortages of providers that are created by our larger healthcare system. extremely highis quality care. people do not have to get on the phone like a young woman i to yesterday, who called in tears about sitting on the hours because she's just gotten done $1000

private sector healthcare and worry body her credit rating, that is something mercifully veterans do not have to go through. i'm 70 and i wish i had the kind of healthcare that veterans receive. host: mrs. gordon, questions about the issues we've heard waitour veterans about the times, concerns about management structure, it led to concerns times, especially the phoenix hospital, that was highlighted in the news and on congress. do you think the current administration is doing enough problems and make the changes? guest: yes, i do. i think there could be more done. need to deal with the requirements that cause a lot of wait times, which by congress osed because congress is not giving the v.a. enough money, that eans they have to create eligibility requirements. i personally think that every

served our country should get v.a. benefits, healthcare..a. most americans think that all 22 v.a. million veterans get healthcare, they don't. the v.a. is only given enough care for about 9 million people. not quites, you know, that d of veterans and means that veterans have to prove they have this problem or have to go tothey the veterans benefit are istration, where there delays. if you want to fix something, fix the vda. there is a terrible problem now 8000 eterans who are about a year denied healthcare they them ecause the army gave a discharge status, other than onorable discharge, which the discharge because maybe they got into a fight or they were drunk

on the weekend and they're out of the army, it is not a dishonorable discharge, 300,000 veterans problems who have exacerbated or acquired in the military, many mental health problems that resulted in "bis they are denied benefits they deserve and congress could fix that. gordon, i want to interrupt to let the viewers now, if you have questions, 202-748-8000 for veterans in the audience. 202-748-8001. suzanne gordon, professor at california, san francisco school of nursing, and affiliated scholar at wilson center at university of toronto faculty of medicine. is a piece in the gordon, by times, mr. david walker, to salute american heroes, talks about the v.a. and

management structure. this is what he says. in a word, critical problem is or lack thereof. private sector, people prove incompetent, they are dismissed, people who demonstrate ompetence are promoted to higher levels of responsibility, basic components of efficiency and accountability, but do not exist in the federal bureaucracy, how would you respond to that? is a fantasy about the private sector we need to get rid of. in managementlems and private sector just as management in the v.a. 'd be happy to talk about problems in management about the people who are countless o this, private sector examples of ospitals or other kinds of firms where toxic managers, are allowed to continue, people leave, people are fired, people quit and i

problem in e a american management that is way beyond the v.a. of talk in the v.a. about whistle blowers and to be friendly to whistle blowers. well, nurses in private sector been fighting for protection for whistle blowers for as long as i've been healthcare, 35 years. they are fired in the private raise issues.ey the cleveland clinic has been shining example of healthcare to the v.a., recently a book nurse who wrote about doctor/nurse relationships clinic.leveland i think that the person at the washington times is just a of management and the private sector. there are some firms that are some firms fire people when they need to be you know, firing is, firing managers has been a big

at the jeff miller house veterans affairs committee. nd you don't solve culture problems by firing people. obviously if people are reckless criminals, you want to fire them and fire them right away, management in v.a. are not going to be solved by firing a lot of people, it is culture of ng management, changes things so they are more open and so people feel free to speak up if there are problems going on. i think that just chop off their heads, if you look at management people and punishing blaming people is not the way hat you change complex culture like in a healthcare system. host: go to the first call, john north carolina, a veteran, for our guest, suzanne gordon. john, you are on with the guest, go ahead. caller: thank you. i appreciate you taking my call. being is i got orders, september --

right? four to six weeks. me, after ie telling called and asked when they didn't show up, took me to yesterday afternoon to find out going to take eight weeks or right, from the -- that i had called. director's office, atient rep and all you get is the answering machine and no call back. v.a. is r sum of the exactly that, admin side. the doctors and stuff you have down there, will do great as long as they have, they can get you in and out and have the staff. guest: i think that -- i'd be curious to know what v.a. you talking about. i think that there are problems v.a.s, at in many problems like that in other healthcare v.a. is exactly that, admin side. the doctors and stuff you have down there, will do great as long as they have, they can get well.r, as i think some v.a.s have short

more staff.ed one of the issues with wait times that is very significant that the american healthcare system is not producing enough providers in general for the entire population. we're a shortage, getting 2020 population ages, we'll have shortage between of 45,000 primary care v.a. is s and the dependent on the supply of physicians and primary care providers like nurse practitioners that the american educational stem system, medical schools, nursing chools, produce, and it is really frightening. pedro, because they are not producing enough primary care providers, not producing primary providers for you, for me veterans. it is really a big problem. they are not -- there aren't enough staff in some places. the caller was in a rural area, but in rural

tis very hard to get staff, not only in the v.a., but sector.rivate recently in new york spending time, i'd love to talk to folks about the suicide have now a, and they full compliment, but they have a very hard time recruiting people to come to upstate new york to man a veteran crisis line where they are listening to people who are in crisis day after day, for eight hours per day and the v.a. people to move to clinics as to work in and so forth. we need more incentives, we need and healthcare workers competitive prices with sector, but even the private sector has a hard time people in certain

areas in the united states and this is something that is a very vexing problem in our healthcare system, as a whole and may be responsible for some problems that the gentleman caller reported. veteran 's fw to tom, in michigan. tom, good morning. go ahead, please. caller: yeah, good morning. to c-span. i'm vietnam veteran. driver.uck and i go to the v.a. to get my great, physical. as a truck driver, cdl license, to have a medical card. the v.a. used to be able to give us our medical card, but now they can't do it anymore, we have to go elsewhere. i was just wondering why. i could answer that question, i have no idea, i don't know if that is egislative problem with the state of michigan, if it is congressional, i mean this of ously is some kind regulation, i'm sure that the v.a. would be happy to give you

could, i if they don't -- it's quite an interesting question and i'm an answer forhave it. host: elanorefrshgs illinois, on all others, good morning. caller: good morning. npr, of all, according to 40% of all crisis calls that make are left, they have to leave a message. of ink anyone in that kind situation needs to talk to someone. warriors, can you tell me legitimate groups, i nded warriors had trouble, sent money and i found out they were making money on the side having parties. also, social action ministry and a place to maybe go for help. veteransll, i think if need help with mental health issues and social issues, they to the v.a. he wounded warrior system a

problematic organization. they are one of these new kinds veterans, not really veterans service organizations, they do a it is not raising, clear how much goes to veterans. that if there are delay necessary v.a. care, those have to be solved by not gthening the v.a., going outside the v.a. we should use going outside the it and the need v.a. has always sent people get care. i think the issue of the crisis line in canada i spent time , there, it is important for people to understand, they have they a lot of criticism, .re now them, it is very interesting, the veteran service

to is, the crisis line has deal with every veteran and every veteran family member who from any place in the world, it deals with act duty and any american ivilian who calls a suicide crisis line and is too upset to if you're e message, a veteran, press one, it is not one, they -- the responders cannot say, sorry, we veterans, i'm sorry, you are suicidal, hangup, them.ave to deal with they also have to deal with a lot of veterans who call, when i guy called 12 times per day. he was not suicidal, he had issues, he called 70 times that month, they have to deal with them. of complex lot reason yes people may be sent to another crisis line. that is an exaggeration, that

calls are not answered and the veterans crisis line very effectively, but it's problem mplex responding to the enormous olume of calls and we may need another facility, but it would be interesting to see what the atlanta facility is fully running. host: what do you think as far donald trump's proposal to care to veterans, particularly reliance on the private system that?lp with guest: i thank you, pedro, such a good question. give a ould love to little bit of advice to donald rump about how he talks about mentally ill veterans, if you that, i think privatizing the v.a., which is what trump has favored, it is miller has favored, in a lot of republicans

veryess have favored, is a bad idea. these people unfortunately don't know enough about the realities of private sector healthcare, which is fragmented, which gives some good quality in some areas, are huge wait times in the private sector and san francisco, for example, i just to switch from one primary care physician to another, i yelp, every went on physician in san francisco, in the bay area, because of the of primary care closed ns, they have their practices. there are no wait times, there are no wait lists. fortunate to pull strings with some docs i know and find a provider, but the "new york times," who is very biassed v.a. criticized the v.a. for long wait times, stories s been running about the wait times in private

sector healthcare. americaage wait time in is 19 days, donald trump was concerned about veterans waiting five to six days. it's not a pretty picture out terms of wait times. get a have, you want to total hip replacement or expensive procedure, you may not long, althoughhat youville to wait for a topnotch surgeon. care want to get routine or mental healthcare tis very bad out there. host: so let me pause you to give you another call. georgia, a nta, veteran. good morning, go ahead. caller: good morning, folks, listening to this conversation with great interest. mrs. gordon, thank you for appearing. i was in the military, i ran a usiness and earlier what prompted me to call, you saying that we got our problems, but problems, too.

you don't fire your people when are not performing, that is not true. the v.a. over the last 15 years indigative, people don't know what they are doing or they are not focusing on the problem. it is not help to feel say, we problems in the v.a., look at the private sector and that. fire, v.a., under wounded, you went to war, it is a different situation and you bad, ying to say, we're look at them, it is not helpful we i think the best thing could do as i shut off here, and my call. for taking guest: i'm sorry if the caller misunderstood. i'm not saying that the v.a. has to improve. and that it has to improve management. i'm simply saying that there are problems with management in all areas where people manage people. i think that the solution to the

problems of the v.a. are to look at the best-performing v.a.s veteran's vhs, health administration understands we have in the invested,tes, we have we have made 70-year investment veterans healthcare. we have invested in a system very nderstands the specific problems of veterans. veterans have very specific problems, very specific mental health problems. provider would probably not be able to recognize the difference between traumatic brain injury and a severe traumatic brain traumatic moderate brain injury. they wouldn't know not to paint practices f their certain colors or put certain on the floor leum because a veteran with ptsd would freak out, they don't problems that veterans have.

that ently read a study showed that 50% of primary care private sector never even ask people if they have been in the military. years old, i could have served in multiple wars, i've billions of -- not billions, many different ealthcare providers and never once been asked if i served in the military, much less where i in combat.f i was trained, very specially especially -- people who have on the job experience with veterans veterans well f. we want to fix the v.a., fix some thing that we e have to do if we want to fix to gs is we want -- have stop the media bashing of the v.a. and the "new york times," "washington post," etcetera, because the v.a. does a huge amount of things sxriet some things wrong and to focus only

to really wrong is hurt veterans, to do a disservice to the many veterans the v.a. and helped by the v.a. f. we want more veterans to be helped by the we have to look inside the v.a. and find out what works and standard practice everywhere, which is what, by the way, their model is. from nancy, in franklin, north carolina, others, on the line for on a conversation with suzanne gordon. go ahead.d morning, caller: thank you for your program, i really appreciate it. a veteran, my father was a world war ii veteran. away in 1999, he was disabled, but worked through his life. california, the v.a. hospital him many years before he passed, most wonderful service. nobody, i never heard from my father's group, korean veterans,

with the v.a.blem 9/11, orward, we get into us in ts tax twice, gets two wars, has no way to finance, he even said, no way to finance wars. he cut v.a. he had no explanation for why coming home, but no idea how to take care of the wounded.that were he took away from social security, medicare, etceterathis, is why the v.a. is a mess. i remember not four years ago, whistleblower hit phoenix, arizona, senator mccain arizona, said he knew the mess that was going on before 2008, right there is tape and cupull it up. host: okay. he knew about it, why didn't he take it to the hill war elp veterans, he is a hero. host: let the guest response,

thanks. underfunding of the v.a. has been a huge problem for a long time. i think that the service that our father got is typical of the service that many veterans et once they get into the system. edro, you asked about privatization, a number of privatization bills or semiprivatization bills have floated since the choice act. was by kathy mcmorris-rogers, which would veterans go to anybody they want in the private sector. veterans organizations, veterans service organizations, not like wounded warriors, the veterans of wars, disabled american veterans, vietnam veterans of paralyzed veterans,

etcetera, got together to bill.st the the veterans service organization that serve millions f veterans do not want privatization. they want the v.a. to be lots thened and there is of ways we could talk about how strengthened. be but congress tends to be very stories that are they are notd, but characteristic of what goes on phoenix was a en but not f some v.a.s, all v.a.s. i would argue the media is on a anti-v.a. mission and i get calls or talk with veterans service organizations that tell me they get calls from a media outlet to know bad the es, only, and when veterans service organization says, we actually have mostly

basically s, they hangup and i think that you see unbalanced media narrative or media story being projected out there because they a bone and they are gnawing n it and not interested tragically in some of the really good stories about what is going veteran v.a. around suicide, around primary care, research, teaching, etcetera, i would like to see and see ries get out more veterans speak about the care hey get and the good they get so that if there are facilities that aren't giveing that care that gives mod and he will benchmark against which we could measure things. host: let's go to bridgewater, new jersey, line for veterans, this is dan. there. caller: hi. -- in the past, i can't speak

bout what is going on now, one of the most important things to keep in mind, these are and systems -- medics that had learned tremendous skills in combat and stabilizing patients in vietnam, for example, and these people are adequately used after they military tour. the v.a.s are heavily what isatic set up, but not realized is that in the community as a whole, we now twice as many patients for less than half as many doctors really need now is a teaching development and program that wons expanding v.a.ps medical core of people who deal with specialty problems that you deal with in veterans and not

just psychological one, cyclical ones. a lot of psychological problems are cyclical problems. i don't think that the professional side has discussed when it comes to v.a. expanding its benefits for expands load of bureaucrats who don't know what doing, secondly as far as bureaucrats are concerned. we'll let our guest respond. guest: well, i think that many and american nies management is top heavy and this true in private sector healthcare, as well. the bureau of labor statistics a graph of the increase -- i thinkns between 100% and 2010 and about increase of physicians in healthcare and 3500 percent increase in

administrators. i mean so staggering i wish we could show it online. problem in g american healthcare outside of he v.a., the growth, the failure to dproe enough physicians, particularly primary care physicians and the huge in administrators. i think that we have to get more physicians, nurse practitioners, physician etcetera into the private sector healthcare, as well, and give incentives. enough .a. cannot hire primary care providers, mental social roviders, workers, etcetera, if the supply to them by the training institutions that of uce these kinds professionals and these are not -- the v.a. does not have own training institutions, it depends on medical schools,

schools, physician assistant schools, pt schools, schools, etcetera. for the bigger supply whole society and then the v.a. can get what it needs. also has to be able to pay competitive salaries, market salaries. i sit in offices in v.a., v.a. professionals ho are losing staff because some other facility in the private sector will offer 40, 60,000 dollars more. we have to show that we care enough to pay people market salaries, so that we can get the stat that veterans need. people will not sacrifice 40, 50,000 dollars in a city like new york, boston or any american city. incentives e to have to get people into rural areas.

of american counties have no psychiatrist, or social worker to provide mental healthcare and counties.ral we have to solve the problem if the v.a. is going to be able to people for their clinics in rural areas. we can't just turn on a spigot, and expect people to pour out, it will not happen. got you. our guest is assistant adjunct professor at university of san francisco school of nursing. healthcare journalist working on book looking at the v.a. suzanne gordon is joining us, to more information go suzanne gordon dot com. guest: suzanne gordon dot com. no c. host: suzanne gordon dot com. charles is next. for l hill, maryland, line veterans. hi. caller: good morning. charles on, my name is and i'm 77 years old and i was

times in germany and frankforthospital reason, the army cannot find my records. think at least they should keep accident reports. last thing, mrs. gordon, why many my cannot find so black servicemen medical records. thank you very much. dav is handling my claim. guest: the dav is disabled veterans, a great organization. recommend if anybody watching wants to find out more about solutions for the v.a., youtube and look d.a.v., setting the record straight, a great series of lever videos talking about solutions to the -- to make the

v.a. stronger. healthcare stronger. charles, you know, i hear that a lot. and prior to the problem with or the veterans benefit fact that ion is the has lost papers veterans need. another problem, and i really veterans all over and to active duty service members, important, if you get an injury, that you go thehe medic, that you go to doctor when you're in the military service to get a record that. there are many service members do not do that. it out, they're discouraged, they're called wooses, or sick rangers, they injury their back because 100-pound rrying packs, they get into a car

kinds of things happen to them f. they don't go they're not this, going to have evidence to prove a claim of disability, which need later. this is particularly important and the l healthcare army and the military says it is working to destigmatize mental it th conditions, i think could do more, because many of the service members, veterans to say that if you said you had mental health over, ms, your career was you were out. and they do not have good models military of people who talk about their mental health conditions. of the amazing things the v.a. has done, veteran's health done, producen has a series, about 400 interviews with veterans speaking to veterans, encouraging people to say they need help when they conditions. health one of the pieces of advice, i

listen, but will that i have for new commander-in-chief is that he putting down veterans with health conditions and calling them losers because there has been a huge effort department of defense and inside the v.a. to mental health conditions, to ask people to get and i hey are poignant believe donald trump could serve service members by reflecting compassion toward veterans with mental health or physical problems that is advanced in this kind of campaign. host: up next, we'll hear from in south carolina, a veteran, this is hank. hi there. taking my nks for call. to say, i don't know where you talking about mr.

wanting to privatize the v.a. every v.a. committee meeting that is on c-span and i get that at all, wanting to privatize v.a. wanted to improve it. talk about money, they have been yearsng money at v.a. for and years and haven't improved. the hospital in denver, talk about that. lady, i don't know where you come from with some of this. heard trump talk about losers and mentally ill, you now, i don't know where you're coming from. host: go ahead. guest: thank you. i mean, it's on t.v., he castigated mccain, he said he people who got, who

ere captured, mccain, as we know, john mccain was a prisoner said very he has also unflattering things about people with mental health problems, perhaps the caller that.missed and i'm sorry if there is a miller's tanding about views on privatization, but i think he has over and over again favored channelling more and ore veterans into private sector healthcare and i'm -- we could agree to disagree here. ost: here is don, iron michigan, veteran, don, we're running short on time. ust jump in with question or comment, go ahead. aller: yes, what i would like set e is a civilian court up that deals nothing with veterans healthcare. take people from the private

sector, put them through school, pay for their tuition, once they require them to do so many years of service f. they to stay in, give them a ension, just like they would any other gs worker within the v.a. system. you. guest: i think there are lots of interesting ideas like that get more people and rk in primary care mental healthcare in the v.a. think that the v.a. has been trying to do loan forgiveness and get people involved in v.a. care. i think, the media needs to of the more of some wonderful things the v.a. is doing. how many people in america know research that the .a. brought us shingles vaccine, first implantable

know, the you patch, ptsd care, etcetera, and i think the media really needs to change narrative about v.a. healthcare providers. i watch people everyday and some allers talk about the people, who give their all to patients who have very sick, very old, a sense and they have of mission that i have never seen in private sector healthcare. tell you, i've been covering private sector healthcare for 35 years and devoted.ple are i've spent three years in the field and maybe met one provider i thought was not topnotch. that in a system with 300,000 employees people who are many e greatest, but so people who are wonderful, we have to remember when we think to privatize v.a. healthcare, mean putting 100,000 a third of the workforce to have the workforce vha eterans facilities,

facilities are veterans themselves. i think we have a huge the v.h.a. to make better, i think the va slay healthcarea model for in the private sector and i think there is so much more we an do to strengthen the v.a. and i hope that the president takes the new president takes of this opportunity to strengthen veteran's health and strengthen the 70 year investment that a very s have put into fine healthcare system that has like many healthcare systems to be s that need addressed. host: talking with suzanne gordon, healthcare journalist v.a. the thanks for kwlour time. greekt pedro, thank you, delightful. host: at 11:00 president obama will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. you can see that on c-span and other platforms. information go to

c-span.org. again, we've been showing many sounds of ts and related to veteran's day across washington, d.c. this ve seen a couple morning and then this is the national world war ii memorial. we will leave you on veteran's day. another edition of "washington at 7:00 coming your way tomorrow morning, we will see you then. >> president elect to donald trump back in new york city after a busy day yesterday with the meetings and washington and back on twitter.