New US Surgeon General - No Staff To Treat Returning Troops

In management, at least in the UK, one of the most repeated aphorisms is "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail". For all the Bush administration promised to bring corporate management expertise to government, they seem never to have heard that one.

Here's the latest in a long litany of "planning to fail".

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army's new acting surgeon general said Tuesday she is concerned about long-term morale because the military lacks money to hire enough nurses and mental health specialists to treat thousands of troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

``When the original plans were made, we did not take into consideration we could be in a long war,'' said Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock. She became surgeon general earlier this month after Kevin Kiley was forced to resign in a scandal over poor treatment of war-wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

``We have not been able to do the hiring,'' Pollock told a House Armed Services subcommittee.

There's another favorite aphorism of UK managers, I don't know but I'm fairly sure US management must have the same or a nearly identical one: "Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance". Maybe someone could let the White House know.