This week Eye on Veterans and Connecting Vets, Reporter Julia LeDoux had an informative conversation with VA Secretary Doug Collins. We asked many of the questions veterans have today. Collins shared his goals of lowering benefit claims processing times, simplifying the system and a revealed plans to overhaul the application. We also got a rare look at his military background as an Air Force Reserve Colonel, Chaplain and deployment to Iraq. He shared memories of a Thanksgiving, while stationed at Balad Air Base, and how his experience and faith guide his work today. We dove into topics like; veteran mental health, what's being done to lower veteran suicides and the connection between mental health and the medications so many veterans are prescribed. We asked his position on alternative treatments like psychedelics and cannabis. We also sought an explanation for why Congress recently blocked passage of The Maj. Richard Star Act. which defends veterans ability to receive both retirement and disability benefits. And we learned who he's (always) rooting for in college football! Find your VA benefits, and resources for all veterans here: https://www.va.gov/ Connect: CBS Eye on Veterans, Host, Phil Briggs [email protected] Connecting Vets.com, Senior Veteran Affairs Reporter, Julia LeDoux [email protected] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices