[1] Mansfield was nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs by President George W. Bush on November 3, 2003, and confirmed by the United States Senate on January 22, 2004.

He served as Acting Secretary until President Bush's nominee, Retired U.S. Army Surgeon General James Peake was sworn in on December 20, 2007.

While serving as company commander with the 101st Airborne Division during his second tour, he was wounded during the Tet Offensive on February 4, 1968, when an enemy soldier feigning death shot him.

Mansfield sustained a spinal cord injury, but remained with his soldiers and made sure that the wounded were evacuated before he was medevaced to a Navy Hospital, and was later sent to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland to recover.

In attendance were dignitaries such as Massachusetts Congressman John Olver, CEO of Soldier On Jack Downing and Director of Homeless Programs for the Veterans Administration Peter Dougherty, who, with Mansfield's wife Linda, unveiled a large bronze bas relief of Mansfield by sculptor Andrew DeVries that marks the entrance to the community.