Tag: Department of Veteran Affairs

Trump Admin Reportedly Cutting 80,000 Jobs from Veterans Affairs

Daily Caller News Foundation
Veteran Affairs

President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly slashing 80,000 jobs from the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) in an “aggressive” reorganization, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press (AP) Wednesday.

Christopher Syrek, the VA Chief of Staff, reportedly told top officials in the department that the move is intended to return the VA to 2019 staffing levels at 400,000 employees, according to the memo. The move comes as the Trump administration looks to cut excess spending and waste from the entire federal bureaucracy, with the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, taking an ax to several federal initiatives and departments.

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Female Veterans Quietly Struggle With Sexual Harassment, Suicide

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by Max Jungreis   Pfc. Nichole Bowen-Crawford said she was walking to lunch on her Army base near Nasiriyah, Iraq, in 2003 when she received her daily proposition from a passing fellow soldier. “Hey, Bowen,” the officer tossed out, “let’s go f— in the bunker.” Bowen-Crawford told VOA that while this was the most shocking example of the day-to-day regimen of verbal sexual harassment she experienced while in the Army between 2001-2004, it was not her worst experience — she had been assaulted by a higher-ranking sergeant earlier that year. When she reported the incident to a male supervisor, she was advised to stay quiet for the sake of her career. Bowen-Crawford’s experience is not universal, but far from rare. Suicide rate A work environment tolerant of sexual assault and harassment is believed to be one of the causes of high suicide rates among female veterans, which soared more than 45 percent between 2001 and 2015, according to data from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). The rate among female veterans is lower than that of male veterans, but not compared to their civilian counterparts. Female veterans are almost twice as likely to kill themselves as civilian women. “Certainly…

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Vietnam Veteran: ‘Marsha’ Has Always Fought For Our Veterans

Jason M. Reynolds
Marsha Blackburn

A Chattanooga veteran of the Vietnam War said, “No one has fought harder for our active duty military and our veterans than Marsha Blackburn. We need to elect her to the Senate because the issues with the VA are far from solved.” Terry Thomas wrote a column for the Times Free Press supporting Republican Marsha Blackburn in her U.S. Senate campaign against Democrat Phil Bredesen. “I served in combat on the rivers in Vietnam with the U.S. Navy, and now I serve my fellow veterans as the quartermaster of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1289 here in Chattanooga. We have about 400 members, all of whom have served our country faithfully over the past several decades. “Too often, our members find themselves unable to receive the care they need — the same care they have earned and were promised. Your heart will break hearing about what our veterans have to go through to get care from a dysfunctional Veterans Administration. President Trump is working to make the necessary changes that the Obama administration put off for too long, but he cannot do it alone. He needs senators and congressmen who are willing to work with him to get the job…

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Commentary: It Is Time to Fire the Swamp!

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The Swamp

By Natalia Castro   Americans were ignited to head to the polls when President Donald Trump traveled the country in 2016 promising to “drain the swamp,” but the only group that can truly do this is the swamp itself in Congress.  Civil service reform rarely gets the media attention that health care, immigration, or other issues receive; Washington D.C. politicians know that and use it to prevent real change from coming. To fix our broken bureaucracy, the American people must demand a more efficient and effective federal workforce. During the Obama administration, news broke of poor performing Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) employees placing veterans on extensive waiting lists, causing hundreds to die without receiving care. The story continued to turn heads when after two years several senior VA officials identified as causing the veteran deaths were still on the job. Americans rallied behind the news in support of our veterans and, as a result, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) led the passage of the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act through Congress to increase management’s ability to remove poor performing employees. According to data retrieved from the Office of Personnel Management’s FedScope, the VA has maintained a firing rate of less than 1 percent…

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