- Post starter
- #13
Mission accomplished.
Had him squirming like a worm on VA and General Veterans issues. Pointed out that his plan for "additional medical support outside the VA" for Nebraska's veterans is pointless, as our VA works just fine in the Omaha Area. To use his words, "ambulatory outpatient facilities", are not needed as the DoVA just opened 8 brand new VA clinics to support the population density in our area. I asked him outright how he planned to make such services available to our rural veterans, most of which have to travel 100 miles or more, or get their care in the next closest state. He bowed, backpedaled as one would expect. No one ever seems to think about our rural veterans, anywhere. Nailed him hard with that one.
My spy in the back of the room, my son, was instructed to keep an eye on Ashford's handlers, who worked very hard to keep him from allowing me to present more questions.My son texted me each time she gave Ashford visual cues and my phone sent to vibrate, let me know what she was up to. Stuff that she cleared to answer, one message buzz. Stuff they tried to gloss over or change the subject on, two buzzes. Perhaps we watch too many con game shows and read too much on social engineering around our house...
Luckily there was two other like minded veterans in the panel, one a retired Pentagon -classified-dealt with the house and senate in person type, the other an E6 Nasty Guard recruiter, caught on fast and helped to keep the fellow and his support staff squirming. These guys were both equally well armed, and between the three of us were able to keep things on topic
Called him out publicly on and had him sweating over the much touted HR22 "Hire More Heroes Act" with the simple fact that while hiring veterans is a good thing, but a few thousand more 9-12 dollar an hour jobs won't support any families. This is when his main handler shut things down and got him the hell out of there in a hurry. Got backed up by the Guard guy and the Pentagon guy.
Proud to say, we were able to demonstrate that if one wants to glad hand veterans, one better come prepared- we arent just a bunch of whiney, broken down drunks or young'uns with an overblown sense of entitlement.
I assure those of you that helped me out and provided input, I got your messages across, or one of the two previously mentioned vets beat me to it. I also gave them multiple copies of my questions and bullet points to make sure they had everything. Half of that page was the concerns voiced here with a few hours worth of Sludge style research to back it up.
Monday, I explain to his handlers, who requested a meeting with me personally, why they will hire me on and then stay the hell out of my way while I get this guy to the place he claims he wants to be- known as a supporter of veterans and military.
I will admit I have hope for this guy, he does seem to be genuinely concerned about military veterans and is man enough to admit he doesn't know anything about us. That takes balls. Also he has a handshake like a pair of Irwin Vise-Grips made before 1995. My knuckles still hurt.
So, hang in there guys. There is hope. I am going to continue to lean on this guy and see if I can weasel my way into a paid position playing military advisor to a glad handing desk jockey lawyer.
Had him squirming like a worm on VA and General Veterans issues. Pointed out that his plan for "additional medical support outside the VA" for Nebraska's veterans is pointless, as our VA works just fine in the Omaha Area. To use his words, "ambulatory outpatient facilities", are not needed as the DoVA just opened 8 brand new VA clinics to support the population density in our area. I asked him outright how he planned to make such services available to our rural veterans, most of which have to travel 100 miles or more, or get their care in the next closest state. He bowed, backpedaled as one would expect. No one ever seems to think about our rural veterans, anywhere. Nailed him hard with that one.
My spy in the back of the room, my son, was instructed to keep an eye on Ashford's handlers, who worked very hard to keep him from allowing me to present more questions.My son texted me each time she gave Ashford visual cues and my phone sent to vibrate, let me know what she was up to. Stuff that she cleared to answer, one message buzz. Stuff they tried to gloss over or change the subject on, two buzzes. Perhaps we watch too many con game shows and read too much on social engineering around our house...
Luckily there was two other like minded veterans in the panel, one a retired Pentagon -classified-dealt with the house and senate in person type, the other an E6 Nasty Guard recruiter, caught on fast and helped to keep the fellow and his support staff squirming. These guys were both equally well armed, and between the three of us were able to keep things on topic
Called him out publicly on and had him sweating over the much touted HR22 "Hire More Heroes Act" with the simple fact that while hiring veterans is a good thing, but a few thousand more 9-12 dollar an hour jobs won't support any families. This is when his main handler shut things down and got him the hell out of there in a hurry. Got backed up by the Guard guy and the Pentagon guy.
Proud to say, we were able to demonstrate that if one wants to glad hand veterans, one better come prepared- we arent just a bunch of whiney, broken down drunks or young'uns with an overblown sense of entitlement.
I assure those of you that helped me out and provided input, I got your messages across, or one of the two previously mentioned vets beat me to it. I also gave them multiple copies of my questions and bullet points to make sure they had everything. Half of that page was the concerns voiced here with a few hours worth of Sludge style research to back it up.
Monday, I explain to his handlers, who requested a meeting with me personally, why they will hire me on and then stay the hell out of my way while I get this guy to the place he claims he wants to be- known as a supporter of veterans and military.
I will admit I have hope for this guy, he does seem to be genuinely concerned about military veterans and is man enough to admit he doesn't know anything about us. That takes balls. Also he has a handshake like a pair of Irwin Vise-Grips made before 1995. My knuckles still hurt.
So, hang in there guys. There is hope. I am going to continue to lean on this guy and see if I can weasel my way into a paid position playing military advisor to a glad handing desk jockey lawyer.
