Name:   MrHodja - Subject:   Shinseki Date:   5/21/2014 11:47:47 AM (updated 5/21/2014 11:48:53 AM)

Flag officers are often hired for big bucks not because of what they can do but who they know and can influence.  Generally (pun intended) they are kept for a few years until those they know or can control or at least influence move on, then they are sacked or just fade way into the sunset.

And no, success in the military does not always mean the individual will succeed in business.  The military has very clean lines of authority and communcation, and subordinates have one real choice:  do as the boss says.  My experience in the real world....which isn't that real because we are a defense contractor...is that the structure is more loose and one can't easily mandate that a particular order be implemented.  Others can say no or just not do it and the person doing the demanding might not be able to do a solitary thing about it.

And in an organization as big and established as the VA, making changes is extremely difficult.  An awful lot of the employees I'd bet will quietly do things that are in their personal best interest but not that of the veterans they are there to serve.  And they do it with impunity becuase of the Civil Service Rocket syndrome.