America should not have to race against time when an aging, seriously ill, or deceased veteran has a credible case for reconsideration of military recognition. The cases of Major James Capers Jr. and Sergeant First Class Jorge Otero-Barreto illuminate a larger challenge: when recognition requires decades of advocacy—or arrives after the warrior is gone—the system has waited too long.

In national security, we routinely talk about modernization, readiness, lethality, efficiency and the warrior ethos. Those principles matter because strong institutions must translate policy into outcomes. That standard should apply not only to how America prepares for its next war, but also to how it fulfills its obligations to those who fought its last ones.

He was a WWII fighter pilot. His ashes rested in a polished wooden urn at the front of the little funeral chapel. His life had been full of years, years of success, of joy, of respect, of love of country. A man who had led a Godly, honest life.

The chapel is spare but tasteful, a few rows of polished wooden pews. Suitable for use by any religion or no religion for the last farewell to one who had served his or her country in uniform.

The Marine Corps can teach an 18-year-old to field-strip a rifle blindfolded. The federal government needs three to six months to send that same Marine's file across town. The White House puts the average transfer time for military personnel and medical records to reach the Department of Veterans Affairs at 90 to 180 days. Domino's would have gone bankrupt. The Pony Express would be embarrassed.

On September 8, President Trump signed Executive Order 14426, directing the Department of War to send every separating service member's personnel file, health records, and service treatment records to VA immediately upon discharge. That requirement takes effect within 30 days. This is the most consequential veterans reform in years precisely because it's the least glamorous. Nobody cuts a ribbon over a data pipe, but the pipe is where veterans have been losing months of their lives.