Writing Sample 6: VP Looks Back on Military Experience in Veterans Day Keynote

Written in November 2015

Formerly a two-star general in the Air Force, Kim Siniscalchi is often asked what she misses
most about the military.
“ I usually respond by telling them what I don’t miss, which is wearing combat boots and
carrying a weapon,” said Ms. Siniscalchi, who now serves as a Vice President for Strategic
Initiatives for UT Southwestern. “But what I do miss most is the people. When you've had the
experience of a lifetime — being part of a team, being part of something greater than yourself
and sharing a common brotherhood — you miss that camaraderie.”
But she’s been delighted to find a new band of brothers at UT Southwestern, she told a room
packed with veterans and supporters Nov. 10 at the inaugural “Tribute to Veterans” held in the
Eugene McDermott Lecture Hall. That network includes a host of faculty and staff across
campus, who have become the support team of veterans she needed.
In the program’s opening remarks, UT Southwestern President Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky noted the value veterans bring to the campus community, and that there’s no better representation of that than Ms. Siniscalchi. A recent retiree with 34 years of active duty military service, she served as White House nurse to Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and is known for her work in bringing advanced health care to the Armed Forces. In fact, some of her most challenging, yet rewarding, work was done while, as Ms. Siniscalchi puts it, “leading at the speed of change,” — crafting strategy to deliver better patient outcomes for those injured in combat.
“When I was in D.C., every day I'd drive to work, and I'd drive past the memorials and past Arlington [National] Cemetery, and I was constantly reminded of the young men and women who sacrificed,” Ms. Siniscalchi said. “In every war in U.S. history, there have been medical teams deployed to care for the injured and bring them safely home. Now that I was in
senior leadership, I had a responsibility to these young men and women who were wearing our nation's cloth. We had to do a better job.”
She then detailed exactly how she and her teams improved medical care in battle, despite government shutdowns,shrinking budgets, and lean staffs. She worked closely with three Air Force surgeons general to shift toward evidence-based, patient-centered care, to expedite medical capability in the air, and to transform aeromedical evacuation.
Under their new strategic plan, both medical teams and the environments in which they worked were light, lean and mobile. Medical teams deployed, bringing portable medical care directly to the front lines. Air crews were trained to transform cargo planes carrying beans and bullets into flying intensive care units in a matter of hours, often in a battle zone, sometimes working under night vision. Critical Care Air Transport Teams and Tactical Critical Care Transport Teams, composed of highly-skilled doctors, nurses and technicians, provided lifesaving trauma and critical care in the air to keep the patient moving throughout the continuum of care.
Thanks to these tactics, a wounded soldier could move from the battlefield to combat surgery in 20-75 minutes, could go from the battlefield to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany in 24-48 hours, and from the battlefield to receiving care in back in the United States in two to four days. In the Vietnam War era, it could take up to 45 days for a soldier to
be transported back to the United States after being injured in combat.
While great strides have been made, Ms. Siniscalchi said there’s still work to do, as more and more veterans return from war with significant health issues. Two-and-a-half million soldiers have served deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, she said, and over the next five years, 200,000 of them will come back to enter civilian life.
“These are young and proud men and women. Many of them have lost multiple limbs, they have burns they may never recover from, and many more are struggling with the trauma of war, dealing with PTSD,” Ms. Siniscalchi said. “It's our inherent responsibility to embrace our veterans, and do everything possible to help them reintegrate into their families,
their jobs, and their communities.”
In an effort to offer a support network for veterans on campus, Armed Forces Landing Zone student group chair Brian Hawkins extended an invitation for all staff, faculty and students who are veterans to join them.
“Our vets are our nation's greatest hidden treasures, and it means so much to see you here and see you celebrated,” Mr. Hawkins said. “Our veterans need a place to hang their hat and receive support, and hopefully today is the start of that greater effort.”
To learn more about the Armed Forces Landing Zone, email Brian Hawkins. Visit the Office of Diversity & Inclusion and Equal Opportunity's website to see photos from the event.