Dear Mr President,

First and foremost, Congratulations on becoming the 45th President of The United States. Let me start by saying that I really do hope that you have a successful and positive term not because you were the best candidate but simply because I’m also aboard this ship and wishing for your failure is wishing for the ship that I am on to sink. So I do truly wish you all the success and positivity in your next four years.

I am also here today to talk about something that is extremely important especially in my household. I am the daughter of a United States Marine Corps Veteran. Meaning your plans to fix the VA are something that I am here to hold you accountable for.

To “Ensure our veterans get the care they need wherever and whenever they need it. No more long drives. No more waiting backlogs. No more excessive red tape. Just the care and support they earned with their service to our country.” I cannot express enough how important this is. I see time and time again my father who is living every day with constant pain and PTSD struggling to get basic and necessary appointments through the VA. To see his struggle and to also know that there are veterans out in the world who are unable to get the help they need from the VA is extremely disheartening and concerning Constant and unnecessary paperwork and phone calls just trying to get simple care and simple answers.

To “Support the whole veteran, not just their physical health care, but also by addressing their invisible wounds, investing in our service members' post-active duty success, transforming the VA to meet the needs of 21st century service members, and better meeting the needs of our female veterans.” PTSD is something that I constantly watch my father live with and suffer through everyday. PTSD is something that I feel we need to make more people aware of as a whole. PTSD is an invisible wound that we constantly tell them to suppress. We have to address things such as depression and other “invisible wounds” without doing so the suicide rate of veterans will continue to rise as we see it constantly doing each year. When speaking of Investing in post-active duty success a major area of concern is The Transition assistance program. The Transition assistance program is something that needs a huge reform it needs to have a lot more time invested back into our veterans to get them back to a civilian life style. There needs to be follow up appointments and follow up care with the veterans and offer more assistance with their care and how to handle the outside world and make sure that they are successful in all aspects this also ties to Transforming the VA to meet the needs of 21st century service members by preparing them, for the jobs and lifestyle they will face once they are on the outside world. As far as better meeting the needs of female veterans we need to ensure that each Veteran no matter their sex is receiving the necessary care that each individual needs. Care shouldn’t be a one size fits all thing especially between genders.

To “Make the VA great again by firing the corrupt and incompetent VA executives who let our veterans down, by modernizing the VA, and by empowering the doctors and nurses to ensure our veterans receive the best care available in a timely manner.” We need an executive sweep in the VA office. Its time to stop letting someone who sits at home or in an office make decisions on the needs of our veterans and leave that to the medical professionals. In no way should any of our Veterans have to have someone who never sees them and has no insight to their care and progress make decisions for them. Empowering the doctors and nurses is something that absolutely necessary in order to make progress possible. Making a more permanent medical staff will also help with this progress and this goal of success its time that we start cutting the ties and make the necessary changes.

With all that being said there are many things that still need to be done and I hope that you stay true to your word and do all the necessary means to help the veterans as so many of them are counting on you to make these changes. Do not let them down. Do not let their families down. Do not let the veterans slip through the cracks once again as they have time and time again. Be the voice and the change that they need.

Sincerely

The Daughter of a Veteran