In a scandal-driven year, none was more appalling than the mistreatment of our veterans after a VA audit showed that nearly two-thirds of VA health facilities surveyed were misrepresenting waiting times for veterans.

Hopefully, the new GOP majority of the U.S. House and the Senate will assure that the misconduct or mismanagement, along with the possible cover-ups of long appointment delays, gets corrected.One of the new guns arriving in Washington on last week's GOP wave in the midterm elections will be Joni Ernst, who became Iowa's first female U.S. senator, and the first female veteran in the history of the U.S. Senate.It was Ernst's victory that gave Republicans the magic number of 51 seats, allowing them control of the upper chamber.During a bitter campaign, Ernst billed herself as a soldier, mother and independent leader who would trim down government spending.While Ernst was a student at Iowa State University, she took part in an agricultural exchange on a family farm in the Soviet Union.She said the experience of seeing a suffering country led her to realize how much she loved America.Ernst spent 21 years in the Army National Reserves and was a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard. She was a commander in Kuwait and Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.In her patriotic TV ads, she said everyone who wears our nation's uniform values the rights and freedoms we have in this country.In one of her campaign spots, Chris Fox, a retired command sergeant major, told of his experiences with Ernst in Iraq.He remembers that when troops were getting ready to deploy to Iraq, Ernst said the most important thing was to bring everybody back alive."That's when I knew Joni was a commander, a real commander, someone who cared about soldiers," Fox said.William Jacoby, another veteran, said Ernst is gifted with leadership skills, and that quality comes natural to her.Ernst also showed a coolness under pressure during her bitter senate campaign.While speaking at a fraternity house at Iowa State University, she was interrupted by protesters organized by the group VOTE Mob Iowa.She responded by reassuring the audience that she had seen worse ... in Iraq.Ernst summed up her feelings in another ad by stating, "I believe in the greatness of America so much, I'm willing to lay down my life to protect it."She said there's something special about being a service member."We've taken that oath to sacrifice everything, with nothing asked in return," Ernst said.Those are the kinds of words that every American needs to hear, and are especially reassuring for our 22 million veterans.By JIM ZBICKeditor@tnonline.com