Our veterans are not just people who performed military service.
Veterans are the front line of promises that should be kept and what happens when promises are broken.
They are our neighbors and family. They are teachers and police officers, doctors and elected officials. They are the aging, the sick, the homeless, the struggling. They represent all of us.
And that is just part of the reason we need to care about how they are cared for.
The Veterans Administration is the expression of a promise made to our veterans. Take care of us, and we will take care of you.
So how will staffing cuts at the VA affect veterans in Southwestern Pennsylvania?
A memo obtained by TribLive showed that VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System has been allotted 4,551 of the 18,000 in the Veterans Integrated Service Network. VISN is a regional system cutting the country into more manageable areas to provide service to its former military members.
The VA is planning what the Military Times called its largest reorganization in 30 years. The 18 VISNs will be cut down to just five.
There is a discrepancy in both the message and the math. On one hand, the VA insists there will be no reduction in people.
“Not a single person employed at VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System is losing their job,” spokeswoman Shelley Nulph said Thursday.
The memo suggests otherwise, as the system has 4,932 employees. The difference between that number and the allotment is 381. If Nulph is telling the truth, where will those 381 people go?
The VA has said it is planning to eliminate a large number of unfilled positions nationwide that would be zeroed off the books. But the 381-person difference between the current complement at VA Pittsburgh and the number in the memo does not appear to fit that narrative.
“They can talk about and frame it however they want. The reality is they’ve driven vacancies and are now refusing to fill them and are slashing them,” said U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel.
This also is not simply subtracting positions from an equation. Reorganization is a structural change whose effects will compound over time. With just five VISNs, what will the demands on each system become?
How that strain will multiply is not yet known. With capacity already tight, adding load promises problems.
It feels political, as many cuts have this year. It shouldn’t. Everyone should agree that commitment to veterans needs to remain above politics.
The VA is not an entitlement program to haggle over. It isn’t a program to pitch.
It is a bill that needs to be paid.
Veterans signed a bargain. They have already fulfilled their side of the deal.
The nation’s side cannot be met without a sufficient number of people. In the VA Pittsburgh coverage area alone, there are about 93,000 veterans. How much longer will they wait for appointments with 381 fewer people providing service?
The government should remember that the VA is not just about past service. Taking care of our veterans is the best advertisement for new recruits.
If you saw your grandfather struggle to get care, would you sign up to serve?
