To go back and have 20/20 hindsight about what I learned is difficult, because I couldn't have done it any other way. The military so deeply indoctrinates us, just like the public service does to a similar degree, to be loyal, to never question authority. To go to the media is absolutely anathema to being in the military, because we're taught in the military that the media wants only to criticize the military.
I had to learn along the way to find myself, to separate myself from these powerful messages of indoctrination, and I beat myself up endlessly, wasting endless resources and my family, trying to convince the people in Veterans Affairs that something was going wrong. That was stupid, in hindsight, but I couldn't have done it any other way.
Perhaps the best thing I can learn to do is to forgive myself, because I didn't have a choice.