Why Is the VA Turning Its Back on Those Who Served?

By Dean Forest. Read it in RealClearDefense.

I’m a disabled combat veteran and widower who left a high-paying job in D.C. to drive a delivery truck. I used to spend my days supporting humanitarian missions overseas with my brothers-in-arms; now, I returned to my hometown so my family could help me raise my daughter as we grieve her mother’s death.

I’m fighting to best take care of my family. And while I’m grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for supporting me, there are hundreds of thousands of veterans on a waitlist who deserve that same help. 

Nearly one in four veterans enrolled in the VA health care system lives in a rural community like mine, where getting care often means driving hours to the nearest VA medical center. Those veterans also tend to be older and sicker, yet the VA continues to struggle with giving veterans timely access to the care that they need and deserve. 

Like other veterans, I took an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution. I served my country with dignity, got married, and had a beautiful daughter. And after a deployment and being honorably and medically discharged, I embarked on a lucrative career in government contracting.

Then, in 2022, my wife died. I left D.C. to return to my hometown so my daughter and I could be around family for support. And we have needed that support, because a rocket attack I suffered in Iraq caused a traumatic brain injury, seizures, migraines, and PTSD. Thankfully, VA disability means that my daughter and I can live near our families, and TRICARE for Life gives us a health care safety net. 

It’s been an exhausting few years. But I did what veterans are trained to do: adapt, because like hundreds of thousands of veterans who served during the War on Terror, we’re all in greater need than we ever expected. 

There’s nothing more demoralizing than serving your country only for the promise of care to be later broken. Strong men and women like me are deployed once, twice, even five times, making sacrifices for our families back home and losing brothers and sisters on the battlefield. We return prepared to transition to the next stage in life … but often find ourselves lingering over the friends we lost overseas.

And instead of taking care of us, the VA says to get in line. They’ll get to us, they say — eventually. 

It’s no wonder so many veterans who sacrifice the best years of their lives overseas commit suicide. We gave our all for our country and got shafted in return.

Some will say the current VA leadership isn’t to blame, because Secretary Doug Collins and his team took over only 15 months ago, and the VA has been a chaotic mess for more than 10 years. Bureaucratic change certainly moves slowly, but there’s a lot Congress could do to help veterans, like pass the CHOICE Act so that we can use qualified fee-based providers to access benefits. 

At the same time, no military leader would be able to blame past failures for current problems. You don’t deploy to Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan and ask the enemy to wait a few months to get your feet wet. 

Collins has said many times that he is implementing AI systems to increase the speed at which veteran claims are processed and that wait times have shrunk. I hope that’s because veterans are being better cared for, not just rejected more quickly, and that the egregious errors plaguing veterans that were reported last year have been solved.

Veterans need help, as much as it often pains us to admit it. We used to fight with tanks and guns, defending those who couldn’t defend themselves. Now, we are practically begging the VA to own up to America’s promise to us.

I lost any shame a long time ago about doing what I need to do so that I can show up for my daughter, parents, and others who rely on me. I don’t care who sees me weep on my wife’s birthday or our anniversary. I give my daughter the biggest hugs that I can on her birthday, on Christmas and on any other day ending in “Y.” 

But it would help if Secretary Collins could make sure that there aren’t so many veterans stuck on the waitlist. We’ve all waited too long — to our devastation and to the VA’s shame.

Dean Forest is an Army combat veteran, widower, father to a middle-school daughter, and advocate for veterans and military families.