Robert Wilkie Quotes
-
If we don't get a hold of what we owe Americans who are providing services to our veterans, then the entire system collapses.
-
When our veterans walk into any VA facility, they converse with men and women who speak the unique language of military service.
-
I am humbled by the prospect of serving those who have borne the battle, those American men and women who have sacrificed so much.
-
When an American veteran comes to VA, it is not up to him to employ a team of lawyers to get VA to say yes. It is up to VA to get the veteran to yes, and that is customer service.
-
The Bible that I will take my oath on reminds me of the 100th anniversary of the end of the war to end all wars. It was a Bible taken into battle by my wife's grandfather who had probably never ventured beyond three or four counties in North and South Carolina.
-
Constant rotation, based on a 19th century Army model, prevents spouses from putting down roots and gaining meaningful deployment.
-
While I honor the soldiers in my family, and I am a student of history, the past is the past, and I do not live in the past.
-
For the VA to thrive as an integrated health care network, it must be agile and adaptive.
-
I have been privileged to work for some of the most high-powered people in town. They pay me for my opinions, and I give those to them.
-
I experienced what can never be duplicated in the private sector - the communal aspect of VA.
-
Many of the issues I encountered as acting secretary were not with the quality of medical care but with getting our veterans through the door to reach that care.
-
As part of any new leadership organization, you come in with a team. You come in to assess. You come in to rearrange.
-
I am opposed to the privatization of the Veterans Affairs Department and will continue to make sure the VHA is fully funded.
-
My own life changed when my father returned from his second combat tour in Vietnam. When he came home after almost a year in Army hospitals, he weighed less than half of what he did when he left. I watched the agonizing recovery, and that experience was on my mind when I was asked to come to VA.
-
Norman Hooten's dedication and commitment to serving his fellow veterans is what VA is all about.
-
I welcome a scrutiny of my entire record.
-
I learned at a very early age, listening to those around my family, that in order to be a commander, you had to walk your post.
-
The last thing I will pay attention to is any of the usual Washington back and forth.