I'm going to come down on this towards the middle of the road. I believe we need a concept like universality of service. General Vance has said it clearly and I support what he said, but I also believe that universality of service is a stumbling block, especially to anyone who is suffering an OSI. There are going to be people who are not going to come forward.
It's not only the loss of a job and a paycheque; anyone who has served knows this is a career and a lifestyle. You're giving up more than just a job. Universality of service is a stumbling block, but how do we work around it? I think we need to get the right minds in a room to have a conversation. Can universality of service be held in one quarter but not in all quarters? That's just off the top of my head.
There are a lot of different ways to look at this issue. What are our allies doing and how are they moving forward and transitioning with this?
Someone said it's 2016. Well, it is. Maybe it's time to have a fresh look. I'm not saying take universality of service and throw it out the window—I don't think that's the answer for the chain of command—but if we've put barriers in the way, either we find ways to get over the barriers or we find places to put those issues that we are going to run up against. I believe that unless we have that opportunity, we may be causing some of our own grief.