[Vision2020] "No Excuse, Sir" Is The Only Answer

[Tom Hansen]

>From Bob Schieffer's closing commentary on today's (March 4, 2007) "Face the
Nation -

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"No Excuse, Sir" Is The Only Answer
By Bob Schieffer

When I was in the Air Force - a long, long time ago - I was told there were
only three acceptable answers when the commander called you on the carpet:
"yes, sir," "no, sir," and "no excuse, sir." 

Nowhere is "no excuse, sir" more appropriate than in response to the
disgraceful treatment we now know that many of our wounded soldiers have
been getting. 

"No excuse, sir," across the board: from an administration that forgot
"support the troops" is more than a bumper sticker; to a military that tried
to blame it all on low ranking sergeants. 

To a Veterans Administration whose leaders tried to play down the number of
serious injuries, yet were so unfamiliar with their own system that too many
times, the injured were sent to facilities unequipped to treat their
particular injuries. 

And, yes, to a Congress and news media that should have uncovered this long
ago. 

Only three people rise above this mess: Washington Post Reporters Dana
Priest and Anne Hull and the remarkable Bob Woodruff of ABC News. 

The Posties did what the rest of us should have. When they heard the rumors,
they took the time to check them out. Not rocket science, just the first
obligation of journalism. 

Then there is Woodruff, who went to Iraq to get one story, was badly wounded
and after months of treatment recovered to find another: the unacceptable
way that many who suffered the kind of serious brain injury he suffered were
lost in a nightmare of red tape and going without the treatment they needed.


The rest of us should have paid more attention. We can only be grateful to
three who did.

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Pro patria,

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.