Problems at the V.A. are Systemic | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: In light of Veteran's Affairs Interim Commissioner Sloan's revelation that he is running into roadblocks firing people, this post, originally posted at the height of this scandal, is just a bit more relevant today.

    Irrespective of Mr. Obama's circling of the wagons under his latest crisis of leadership - the atrocious mismanagement of the V.A. - claiming that there must be an exhaustive investigation, there is a systemic problem. Nearly everyone that is a veteran, knows a veteran, or is a relation to a veteran already knows the truth of this matter that has now been brought to light by the latest Veterans' Affairs scandal - the delay of treatment to sick veterans causing them further needless injury, and, in some cases, death. That truth is that the V.A. is an unmitigated mess of mismanagement, and that the problem is irrevocable until the VA is overhauled, and, most definitely, similarly, the way the Federal government accounts for all its employees is overhauled as well. There is no other solution.

    There are current laws on the books that over-protect Federal employees; therefore, an immediate need exists to rewrite these laws, then summarily passed, or there will never be proper management, on any level, of our Federal government, and most definitely not the V.A. Currently, there is hastened legislation in congress to deal with this issue, for this Veterans' Affairs debacle, but often this selective response to a systemic Federal government failure is never rectified piecemeal. This problem is too widespread and too systemic.

    I once heard it said: It takes a day to hire a Federal worker and a lifetime to fire one. That's the problem ... plainly put and perfectly pared.

    In our Federal government, there are far too many employees, and an even a greater propensity of job security. Giving justification to this gross incompetence is management within the Federal government, which, for the most part, is abysmal - from the top down, except for one department - the military.

    Our soldiers are far too few, have the weakest job security - especially of recent in Iraq or Afghanistan - and are the poorest remunerated. And while the 'Brass' sometimes suffers from their own strange peccadilloes, they are the strongest managers by far, General Shinseki of the V.A. notwithstanding, with the greatest ledger of success of all American government endeavors.

    Still, the problem at the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs is systemic, as there are other United States Departments that are equally pathetic, with problems equally systemic: the State Department, the Justice Department, Department of Education, the Department of Agriculture, and who could forget the EPA, but who's counting.

    Regardless of the immutable fact that we have a president? that promises way too much and knows far too little, with a massive supporting cast that are equally as incompetent, we will not solve the problems at the V.A., and within the Federal government, until our government rediscovers the path to manage by the tool of restricting job security. That is the only way it will work. This is what makes a natural public sector job market.

    Also, regardless of the indisputable fact that Barack Obama is the most incompetent president in modern times, with: the worst foreign policy, the poorest ability to plan for success, the poorest understanding of basic economics, the greatest numbers of serious scandals /cover-ups since way before Richard Milhouse Nixon, a litany of lies stretching on and on, etcetera, etcetera ... Still, this president? is not fully to blame for this growing V.A. scandal. While there was a crisis of inefficiency incubating in the occupy the White House now, but, moreover, Mr. Obama carries the heavy mantle of Hypocrite-in-Chief since he made the reform of Veterans' Affairs a top priority when he first ran for the office over 7 years ago. He knew then there was a terrible problem, George W. Bush so perfectly to blame notwithstanding. In his 5 1/2 years of president, Barry has done nothing substantial.

    Regardless, this problem existed before Mr. Obama, and if we cannot properly, efficiently and economically find a way to dispense of dishonest and, or incompetent Federal workers, we will never settle this problem, and this would create a gross travesty of impeccable dishonesty to those Federal employees, who are our military veterans - the bravest and the best of our sons and daughters.

    Many of us have Veteran's Affair's tales, mine just happens to have occurred during the Obama Administration.

    My son, Stanhope, is a Coast Guard veteran, who, sadly, suffered significant hearing loss while stationed at Tybee Island. To partially correct his disability, he will need hearing aids for life - hearing aides that are properly calibrated and that properly work to the best of their technological limitations. Once Stanhope mustered out of the United States Coast Guard, he still needed his ability to hear to function, to acquire his education, to live his life with some semblance of normality. When it came to the Veterans' Affairs doing their respective jobs for this damaged veteran, as was promised, they were more adept at putting up barriers with various arbitrary illogical conditions.

    Simply put, there was no real interest to provide what was promised, with no V.A. employee willing to help this young man, not one. Not one until Stanhope spoke with the local Beaufort County representative, karen Melton, who made some calls and better pointed my son in the right direction - Arlington, Virginia.

    When Stanhope, and his bright, stoic, and now partner-in-life, Katherine - a competent registered nurse - helped my son like a 'bulldog after a bone', to seek remedy, they finally found a V.A. officer that offered a small ray of hope, but also offered that it would take an additional three months to finally transition the paperwork to the right case worker. At this point, after nearly two years of hopeless ambivalence by the Veterans' Administration, Stanhope was running out of time and patience in his position as a severely hearing-impaired student, human being and loving husband. Three additional months would be untenable.

    At that point, Stanhope and Katherine begged this one relatively decent representative to let them come and pick up the paperwork, and then hand deliver it to that representative to expedite the overwrought situation. When they found out that the specialist case-worker was located somewhere in northern Arlington, they felt like this could be a fruitful day trip to remedy their reasonless position, so they pressed for this invaluable case-worker's address.
Stanhope Deatherage at Fort Pulaski, adjoining Tybee Station, while serving in our United States Coast Guard: Above.     photo by Stan Deatherage
    It was at this point that their current contact wavered a bit, but when pressed hard by our Katherine, the case-worker admitted, "Well, there is no reason for you to come up here, I can just take the paperwork to her. She's a friend of mine just across the hall here (in Arlington)."

    At this point, I am thankful that my son's life was not on the line - like at the Phoenix Veterans' Affairs Hospital - only his ability to hear.

    If you have your own V.A. story, please send it to us and we will publish it. To do so, just register, or login, or send it here.