Battered by Cuts and Firings, VA Employees Describe Serving Veterans Under 'Invisible Cloud of Dread'
VA promises DOGE cuts won’t harm veterans, but employees say it’s already happening
For years, his morning routine was as therapeutic as the job he loved: Wake up at 4:30. Run or lift weights by 5 a.m. Then head to the veterans mental health facility where he works in California to help veterans who are struggling after leaving the military—just as he once had.
But these days, he says he sleeps through his alarm and wakes up already exhausted, with a pulsing dread in his stomach. The first thing he does is check his email: Does his staff still all have jobs? Does he still have a job? Does his team still exist?
This decorated veteran-turned-veterans’ therapist shared his distress when The War Horse reached out to VA workers across the country to get a look at how the frenzy to downsize the federal government is impacting care for the nine million veterans who rely on VA.
At work, it’s hard to concentrate, he said. He tries to hide his anxiety from his employees, who he knows are feeling the same way. He especially tries to hide his worries from the veterans he counsels throughout the day. But he’s finding it harder to stay calm and grounded for his patients, he said, and he keeps second-guessing care decisions he normally wouldn’t have thought twice about—“Is this outside of policy?” “Is this something that could get me fired?”
The drumbeat of news from Washington makes him antsy, he said, and he’s reminded of his deployments to the Middle East, where he earned a Purple Heart. He remembers the dread of waiting before a firefight began.
“Honestly, the last time I felt this level of fear was in combat,” he told The War Horse.
The difference this time, he said, is how alone and unmoored he feels.
“At least in combat, I knew my mission. I was supported in it by my teammates, by my leadership, and I had agency. I had a weapon. I could fight against a tangible enemy,” he said. “Now it’s just an invisible cloud of dread.”
https://thewarhorse.org/va-employees-say-trump-doge-cuts-hurt-veterans/
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