12.1.2016 To: _ President Elect Mr. Donald J. Trump 725 Sth Avenue New York, NY 10022 Re: Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Selection President Elect Mr. Donald J. Trump, We write this letter today to advise you on the requirements we feel are of the utmost importance for your upcoming selection for the position of Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Each of us are Veterans of the United States Military who served this great nation honorably and have continued to do so with the Department of Veterans Affairs helping our brothers and sisters. We are all proud to call ourselves VA Whistleblowers and each of us put the harder truth of what is really going on within the VA over the last 3 years, over how much easier it would have been to simply ignore the atrocities that were occurring in each of the VA facilities we represent. Because we each told the truth, the VA worked harder to destroy each of us and our professional careers than to actually admit to the problems occurring and doing whatever was needed to truly fix the issues. We are Shea Wilkes, an Army officer and Veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom. As a current social worker at the Shreveport VA, Shea witnessed firsthand the out-of-control bloated bureaucracy and bravely reported scheduling wait lists and continued manipulation of Veteran wait times. For this, he found himself under a federal criminal investigation — for securing a wait list that the VA swore did not even exist. Shea testified at the request of Senator Ron Johnson the Chairman of the Senate HSGAC on September 22, 2016 regarding ongoing whistleblower retaliation within the Department of Veterans Affairs. ‘We are Joseph Colon, a Navy Veteran and current employee of the San Juan Puerto Rico VA. Joe reported his director was cited for a driving under the influence and for illegal possession of prescription medications. His VA attempted to sweep it under the rug and after Joe reported the wrongdoing, the director attempted to terminate him. Joe testified at the request of Senator Ron Johnson the Chairman of the Senate HSGAC on September 22, 2016 regarding ongoing whistleblower retaliation within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Joe continues to fight the corruption in San Juan, a facility that has worked harder to protect employees that are convicted felons, then the San Juan VA does to provide state of the art health care for our Veterans. ‘We are Ryan Honl, a former Army Officer and WestPoint graduate. As an employee at the Tomah Wisconsin VA, Ryan first reported the overmedication of Veterans on prescription pain medications. Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick a psychologist at the Tomah VA also reported wrongdoing with overmedication of pain medications. Unfortunately, Dr. Kirkpatrick was stillon probation when he reported wrongdoing and instead of admitting to and attempting to fix the problem the Tomah VA illegally terminated Dr. Kirkpatrick’s employment and he was so distraught that he went home and committed suicide the same day he was fired. Ater a Congressional Investigation requested by Senator Ron Johnson it was determined that Veterans were dying because of overmedication issues. The facility would come to be known throughout the country as “Candyland” and the Chief of Staff Dr. David Houlihan came to be known as the “Candy man” for illegally prescribing these drugs and fortunately with much work led by Ryan, Dr, Houlihan was later terminated. Mr. Honl was forced to quit his job at the VA because the retaliation was so bad at his facility. He now works in the private sector in the retail industry where he continues to say wait times for his customers are much more acceptable than for Veterans stuck in the VA Healthcare system. We are Brandon Coleman, a United States Marine Corps Veteran and father of three current active duty Marine children. Brandon believes in service to this nation. Brandon is now employed as an addiction therapist at the Anthem VA Commi Based Outpatient Clinic. As an employee at the Phoenix VA Brandon reported that suicidal veterans were not being properly monitored after being determined to be suicidal. His personal medical records were also rifled through illegally by 4 different employees of the Phoenix VA in direct violation of the HIPAA Act. Brandon was sent home with pay over 400 days as the director Glen Gripen attempted to fire him for being a whistleblower. It was later determined through the VA’s own internal investigation that up to 10 suicidal Veterans had escaped from the Phoenix VA and that Brandon ‘was retaliated against by the director Glen Gripen because he came forward as a whistleblower. Gripen was allowed to retire with his full pension and never faced punishment. With the help of the Office of Special Counsel Brandon was able to get back to work helping Veterans with addiction issues at a safer facility outside of the Phoenix VA’s control. Brandon testified at the request of Senator Ron Johnson the Chairman of the Senate HSGAC on September 22, 2016 regarding ongoing whistleblower retaliation within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Our Endorsement Over the last 2 years the VA has continuously and erroneously reported its numerous positive changes since the VA Scandal erupted. Mrs. Clinton even attempted to say the problems with the VA were “isolated incidents,” that “overall Veterans are happy with their healthcare,” and that the problems at the VA. were “not widespread.” The VA has worked much harder to destroy the whistleblowers who have reported wrongdoing that has been proven than to actually attempt to fix the many issues regarding unsafe patient care at hand. The reality is very little has changed within the VA system. It remains a bloated bureaucracy that looks out for its own well-being and does not put the Veterans first. We each represent a different part of this great nation from Louisiana to Puerto Rico to Wisconsin to Phoenix and we are stating now overall Veterans are not satisfied with our current VA healthcare and the lack of “Choice” we are offered in where to seek the healthcare we have eamed through service to this great nation, in a timely manner.This is why we have come together to give you our endorsement of Pete Hegseth as the next Secretary of the Department of Veterans AMfairs. Each of us are the “boots on the ground” that know the pulse of VA Healthcare, We are not decorated generals but are the eyes and ears of ‘what has happened, and continues to happen all across the country at the VA with wait times and as Veterans continue to die awaiting the care they have each earned yet can’t properly access. This is not an easy decision to name the next Secretary of the VA and requires “outside the box” thinking to properly address the many varying issues effecting the department currently. We each are certain that Veteran Service Organizations and the American Federation of Government Employees VA Union will fight harder to keep Pete from being selected than all of them together have done to try to address and fix the ongoing issues within the VA. These organizations cach want to keep the “status quo” and to keep lining their pockets at the expense of our nation’s heroes. This is exactly the reason Mr. Hegseth is the right choice to run the VA. ‘The current problems with the VA are not a funding issue, as they are a bad management issue. For the VA to move forward we need and demand a leader that is willing to make large scale changes. The new VA leader needs to understand the bureaucracy that hampers the VA at every level. This leader must not hesitate to take on the ‘good ole boys’ that have run the VA system into the ground and are entrenched at every level. Pete Hegseth understands this better than anyone else. During Mr. Peter Hegseth’s tenure as Chief Executive Officer for Concerned Veterans for America, he was interested and affected by Veterans issues. He constantly engaged with his, ‘Veterans on finding solutions to improve the Department of Veterans Affairs. Pete has the ‘mental fortitude to take on the bureaucrats and the unions that place their interests over the needs of our nations heroes. He believes in accountability, because as we all know, the success of an organization depends on it. Unit cohesion to accomplish the mission is a must and currently the VA lacks said cohesion and over the last two years it has become worse. Pete served on the bipartisan Fixing Veterans Health Care Task Force. This is the policy proposal for VA reform that Newt Gingrich called a “historic document.” We agree with Mr. Gingrich’s assessment. Pete understands the root issues and the challenges plaguing the Department of Veterans Affairs. Those root issues are the inability to terminate corrupt federal employees without an erroneous and lengthy process that protects wrongdoers instead of disabled veterans. Pete is not the kind of person to accept the excuses of bureaucrats and false optimism that routinely surrounds VA secretaries. Pete has been active in creating and pushing a real plan to address VA failures. It's one that includes a disabled veteran's right to seek medical care anywhere he/she chooses whether that be at the VA or the private sector without bureaucratic red tape. He understands that letting the customer choose where to get care will raise the bar in quality at a reformed VA. Using community providers will make the VA better in providing both primary and mental health care services. Closing Each of us has been a part of reporting VA wrongdoing and have followed the VA scandal from its inception. We were told by Secretary Bob McDonald during his “60 Minutes”