On the verge of taking off. I havent made any decisions yet. I have managed over what my future might look like and im excited by some of the possibilities. Im sure you guys will be among the first to know once i have showed up. I am happy to talk about myself. I will as long as its not my last briefing and i will probably have a few more polished things to say at some point before i go. I obviously want to thank the president , the Vice President , first lady and dr. Biden. Its been an amazing experience, just so fulfilling. And i said as we surprised some folks in here and the minutes before i came out that probably the best part about it is that in midlife you dont often make a whole new set of friends. Not just friends but people you would fight by and for under any circumstance and that is what i have been lucky enough to get over these past five and a half years. People more often than not say to me that you have one of the hardest times. Im not saying its easy every day but i love it. Its an important interaction that takes place here. Its not always pretty. It could certainly be better. But its to be a part of it is an honor and a joy for me. And no matter how tough tough the briefing is, i walk out of here having been glad to stand here. I will take more questions and talk about me. There you have it. To make the formal to make the second announcement here. Somewhat of a surprise. In second terms, white house officials get burnt out or want to move on so its not a total surprise. No its not. And before working for thement of the united states, he was the press secretary for the Vice President of the united states. Before that, he was a journalist at Time Magazine so he made the transition from one side of the podium asking the questions to being at the podium. Thats a very difficult transigs to make. Joe biden is not the easiest person to defend. During the Veterans Affairs issue, its a tough job. He has had a bunch of fights with journalists as one would expect but as he said, it was an experience he wouldnt have traded for anything. Former Time MagazineWashington Bureau chief. Lots of news going on in the meantime. Lets turn it over to brooke baldwin. Brooke . I what a day. Lets begin. Embattled as a soldier. Eric shinseke proved he was a it was announced that shinseke is stepping down. This comes after weeks of revelati revelations. Hundreds of veterans simply. With considerable regret, i accept it. He was coming in today. What made the difference he will be a distraction from the task at hand, which is to make sure that whats broken gets fixed. His fellow veterans Getting Services that we need. I want to reiterate i dont mean that he has been an outstanding soldier and an accomplished man, hes a good person. The president took that podium a couple of minutes before shinseke was at a podium himself. He did get emotional after announcing a string of reforms. Eliminating patient wait times is is a measure of bonuses loved ones who i have been honored to serve. I cant explain the lack of integrity among some of the leaders of our health care facilities. This is something i rarely encounter during 38 years in uniform. Joining me now, the man who broke this story a retired va doctor from that phoenix facility. Did shinseke resign on his own or did the president ask him to . I dont know that it really matters. So many people on capitol hill were calling for him to resign. We have talked in the past and you have said. After the announced reforms, do you still believe that . Yeah, im still worried about it. And i think thats really a crying shame. Drew, how shameful is it . Shameful that it took everyone including members of congress to really highlight the problem and to act. I still to this day dont understand it. Everybody he could tell individually around the country, people who are generally in charge sit a shame today that general shinseke is taking the fall when hundreds of people who are truly responsible for this are going to show up for work on monday at the va . It is a shame. That was the only way that ever would get any attention on it. If it was not for drew and scott and cnn, no one would know about this. Were grateful for you. Veterans in the end will be grateful for you. Do you wish you would have called drew earlier. I just didnt have the information. When youre trying to put together a puzzle, you have a thousand pieces and it takes a while until you can recognize what the picture is. I wish that had not happened because we could have been quicker. The shut down. Thank you so much and drew, thank you. Shinsekes replacement has been at the va for fewer than four months. His father served while his grandfather was a world war i infantry man. We have been talking for weeks and months about the politics of all of this, right . Can we get to the heart of that story . His pain and how he felt abandoned and his parents are joining me live in their First Television interview. Please stick around. We will be right back. If you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, like me, and youre talking to your rheumatologist about a biologic. This is humira. This is humira helping to relieve my pain. This is humira helping me lay the groundwork. This is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. Doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage in many adults. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. 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Patients died while waiting to be seen by doctors. Daniel wrote as part of his note, too trapped in a war to be at peace, too damaged to be at war. With me now, the parents of daniel, howard and gene. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you, brooke. Gene, lets just begin. Can you take me. He was a pretty determined kid. He initially said he thought he might want to do bomb disposal, which was really frightening. He was anxious to that was like the first mos that was available. We said is there something thats maybe down the line a little bit. He chose that as a mission specialty. Brooke, if i may, daniel joined the California National guard. He did not sign up for the army itself. It was only after war was declared or Police Action or whatever it was that was declared in 2003. Deployed twice, when he finally came home, how did you realize that he wasnt necessarily the same daniel . Well, he had changed significantly. You could just see from the way he was acting. He couldnt function before 12 00 noon. He had a lot of trouble sleeping. We heard that he and his wife and they were married just before daniel turned 19. Couldnt even sleep in the same bed if he touched her. That became a real issue for the two of them. He was just a happy go lucky kid. Gene, where were you in gene of last year when you got the news. We were visiting howards sister in new jersey. We were in new jersey. We were outside. It was a beautiful day. It was about 6 00 east coast time. Were not able to come home a couple days later. You two decided to share this note with the world some time ago. To highlight the troubles if you will, either of you, because it Means Nothing coming from my words reading it, would either of you be willing to read that first quote. My body has become nothing but a cage, a source of pain and constant problems. The illness i have has caused me pain that not even the strongest medicines could dull and there is no cure. All day every day a screaming agony in every nerve ending in my body. It is nothing short of torture. My mind is a wasteland filled with visions of horror, crippling anxiety even with all the medications the doctors dare give. Simple things that everyone else takes for granted are nearly impossible for me. I cannot laugh or cry. I can barely leave the house. I derive no pleasure from any activity. Everything comes down to passing time until i can sleep again. Now to sleep forever seems to be the most merciful thing. Forgive me. This is tough. Daniel, he was ultimately diagnosed with ptsd and brain injury and other issues a year after the end of his second deployment. And i know that he sought help from this phoenix va, the same va that happened to quince dentally be at the center of our investigation here. Could you tell me about the process. Can you tell me about the seemingly archaic method with a postcard . His first problem was that he couldnt get in initially because he was with the National Guard in active Ready Reserve status, which means he wasnt really discharged. The National Guard system hit his unit could have been deployed at any time. When he officially went to the va they told them they could not see them because he was not a veteran and they directed him to go to a dod hospital. He was told he was not active duty. That whole first process took three months for him, for the va to finally agree that they were the appropriate facility to even have access to. The way the postcard system works and we still that its a postcard system. Were not sure. We have had dealings with what is now the former administration. Up until march of this year, if you could get somebody on the phone they would send you a postcard for your appointment but no guarantee, of course, that you received that postcard. This is not only. So he would call. I just it could be months and months. And then there was the issue of he had a top level security clearance. When he sought up psych yat trick help he needed to speak with an individual. So the va said to him when he made that request, correct me if im wrong, its either Group Therapy or nothing. We can check on this. This seems to be fairly true for psych visits in the private sector as well through private insurance. But again, we need to check on that. His provider told him that and this was somebody he had clicked with. It was a psychiatrist that he was going to be leaving and that daniel should go out to the desk. So, he went out and remember this was 2008. 2013 he had never received a postcard or any indication that he was going to be set up with another provider. Were going to take a break and get to the solutions because thats what i want to talk about. You know this so well. But before we take a break, again, to either of you you have agreed to read one more section of daniels note. Is it any wonder then that the latest figures show 2 v2 killing themselves each day . That is more veterans than children killed at sandy hook every single day. Where are the huge policy initiatives. Why isnt the president standing with those families at the state of the union . Perhaps because we were not killed by a single lunatic but rather by our system of dehumanization, neglect and indifference. We will be right back. Its the Little Things in life that make me smile. Spending the day with my niece. I dont use super poligrip for hold because my dentures fit well. Before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. Even wellfitting dentures let in food particles. Super poligrip is zinc free. With just a few dabs, its clinically proven to seal out more food particles so youre more comfortable and confident while you eat. So its not about keeping my dentures in, its about keeping the food particles out. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. Whon a certified preownedan unlimitedmercedesbenz . Nty what does it mean to drive as far as you want. For up to three years and be covered . It means your odometer. Is there to record the memories. During the mercedesbenz certified preowned sales event now through june 2nd, youll get complimentary prepaid maintenance and may qualify for a twomonth payment credit. Only at your authorized mercedesbenz dealer. Hey, buddy . Oh, hey, flo. You want to see something cool . Snapshot, from progressive. My Insurance Company told me not to talk to people like you. You always do what they tell you . No. Try it, and see what your good driving can save you. You dont even have to switch. Unless youre scared. Im not scared, its. You know we can still see you. No, you cant. Pretty sure we can. Try snapshot today no pressure. We are back with the parents of daniel somers. We are about to tackle the one thing that Everyone Wants from this va scandal. Solutions to help our military veterans. You two through your loss you have come up with answers and you have created this whole presentation to give, as you advocate for change, and we will get to these solutions in gist a smint. Now with this story that has burst wide open, hearing the news today, eric shinseke is stepping down, whats your response to that . I have concerns. President obama himself when he announced it indicated there was going to be a learning curve for the new person. When i hear learning curve i hear time wasted. I would have preferred that shinseke stay and maybe have a white house person alongside him to continue working on the problems since he we look at it from a veterans standpoint. And aware of what limitations there were and have maybe seen the bulb go on that people were not being honest with him, i think it would have been better. Howard may disagree. Do you disagree . I certainly do. But the major issue is from each branch of service to the chief operating officer of each hospital, of each medical center. I cant you cant even count the number of levels there are. And not only that, then you get to the hospital itself and then you have all the other level zps i dont want to open up pandoras box but you have the unions. We are pro union. I want to get that out. In this case it has become a big part of the problem. You legislate it and you get democrats and republicans in the same room and you get them to think about whats good for the country, not think about whats good for their election. Beyond hopefully both sides getting together and working this out, what are specific solutions you all have. One of the biggest that we have is the va is two things. It has a medical side and a business side. The business side is what is really really broken. The bureaucracy is broken. Thats what we need to restructure. Its just an idea. Lets throw stuff out here and Start Talking about it. What about if we made the Veterans Administration facilities centers of excellence. If you have a broken arm, why cant you just go out into the community and have somebody fix your broken arm. Traumatic brain injury. Gulf war syndrome. Maybe these things are what we should concentrate on at that level. We know that a lot of veterans. We have found out of course over this last almost 12 months that there is a voucher system in place. They do have the ability to send patients out into the community. You can go into the private sector. You have to find your own provider and a provider that will accept the reemburresment that is being authorized by the va but you can if youre authorized. There is also a vision system that nobody is aware of. This is another level that is so you have 22, which are responsible for the different geographically located medical centers. So you do and they are actually authorized to send patients to other medical centers within their vision. So it might be, you know, 500 miles. But at least you have the opportunity if you needed to have something done on a more expedient method. Where it should be within your, you know, seen when you should be seen. This is the beginning of a much bigger conversation. If i mae end where we began with daniel. And so just before we go to break, can you just tell me a little more about him and what you miss the most . Are you kidding . He was a nonstop talker if you speak to anybody who knew daniel, he had a friend who had a cell phone that he paid by the minute. And as much as he l