Where the Lost Days Go ★ Premium
November 6, 2026 · 28 min read
A Guard sergeant hurt his knee at annual training in July. Over the past year that knee has moved through six stops in the Military Health System: the readiness exam, the duty profile, the appointment line, the surgeon, the record, and, when he separates, VA. An active-duty soldier with the same knee goes through the same six, on a shorter path through the hospital on post. DHA buys or runs each one separately and times it on its own clock. Its FY27 campaign plan now grades the whole trip by one number, lost warrior days. This issue walks both soldiers through all six and finds where the days leak out: at the handoffs, which the government already has the tools to fix.