Bill Rausch | Values Based Leader

While the nation wraps up Women’s History Month, the veteran empowerment organization Got Your 6 today launched a  new PSA, #ShesBadass, to continue to celebrate the accomplishments and eliminate stereotypes around women veterans. The PSA supported by actress Michelle Monaghan features a former helicopter door gunner, a refugee-turned-soldier-turned dentist, an actress with a heart for activism, and a breast cancer survivor who became a physical fitness coach.

ICYMI: Watch  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs  Secretary Dr. David Shulkin as he takes questions from Veterans during a town hall-style digital event on YouTube Live. Secretary Shulkin and other VA senior leaders join moderator  Bill Rausch , Executive Director of  Got Your 6 , for a 40-minute discussion online via YouTube Live.  # VetInspired   # VetsFirst   # myVA

Check this out. Two groups/generations of vets coming together to serve their community and themselves. This is what collaboration and innovation look like at the local level. I am def #VetInspired. Cal Lutheran students working with Simi Valley veterans to save their VFW : Six MBA students from Cal Lutheran University have come up with a plan to save VFW Post 10049 and its VFW Military Museum in Simi Valley through a new arsenal of financial, marketing and community outreach tools.

The Got Your 6 Storytellers event, hosted by the Television Academy in Los Angeles, showcases the exemplary talents and ideas of some of our country's brightest and most innovative military veterans. Each of their talks will demonstrate that veterans are problem solvers, team builders, and leaders. These men and women are leading a resurgence of community across the country, while representing the very best qualities of our nation's veterans. #VetInspired

ICYMI:  20 veterans groups petition for McDonald to remain VA secretary : Leaders of 20 veterans groups are appealing to President-elect Donald Trump to retain Bob McDonald as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In a letter sent to Trump on Wednesday, the groups said the veterans community “cannot afford to start over” on a transformation of the VA that McDonald has initiated in his two years in the post. They noted McDonald’s “MyVA” reform program, which has been touted as improving veterans’ trust in the agency. “We decided to come together, we decided to lead on this, because we’re committed to helping President-elect Trump succeed,” said Bill Rausch, director of the nonprofit Got Your 6. “We looked at all the candidates and our conclusion was that Bob McDonald was the best to move forward to reform the VA.”

20 vets group urge Trump to keep McDonald at VA : Twenty veterans organizations urged President-elect Trump on Wednesday to keep on Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald in the next administration. The groups sent a letter that voiced support for those who have proven their commitment and qualifications to getting it right and asked that McDonald be able to stay in his role after leading the largest transformation in the department's history. As you make your selection for VA secretary, then, we advocate for an approach that recognizes and builds upon current progress, the letter says. Given the challenges we face, we cannot afford to start over. The letter was organized and led by Got Your 6 executive director Bill Rausch. The groups supporting it include AMVETS, the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, the National Military Family Association, the Service Women's Action Network, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors and Wounded Warrior Project.