‘Veterans Know Better Than Anyone Else the Price of Freedom, for They’ve Suffered the Scars of War. We Can Offer Them No Better Tribute Than to Protect What They Have Won for Us.” — President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
Editor-In-Chief, Chester “Trip” Buckenmaier III, MD, COL (ret.), MC, USA
According to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is planning a reorganization that includes cutting more than 80,000 jobs from the sprawling agency that provides healthcare and other services for millions of veterans.1 This represents a 15% reduction in VA staff, many of whom are veterans themselves. U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, appointed by the Trump administration, has confirmed the planned VA staffing reductions. Initial VA personnel cuts of approximately 2,400 and the proposed additional 80 thousand were prompted by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). I will remind readers that DOGE is still not an actual government department.
Secretary Collins has defended the proposed cuts by the administration that hired him as needed to make the VA more streamlined. Collins has stated that increasing spending and personnel at the VA has not solved problems within the institution, and believes the answers lie in efficiency improvements. The ranking House Veterans’ Affairs Committee member Mark Takano, D-CA, said the dismantling of the VA workforce would “eviscerate” operations and that is “an outright betrayal of veterans.”2
Interestingly, the VA expanded its budget and personnel from the first Trump administration (12%) and again under the Biden presidency (14%). These expansions of veterans’ health services have followed every major conflict in America’s history. It seems reasonable that additional VA resources would be required following our nation’s longest wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The VA has seen a steady increase in patient visits following these wars, especially with the passage of the 2022 PACT ACT by Congress. Secretary Collins’ assertion that these investments have not ‘solved’ problems at the VA does not jibe well with recent federal surveys on veterans’ satisfaction with the VA, which suggest an increase from 85% in 2017 to 89% after the first Trump administration and peaking at 92% last year.2
Collins stated that the proposed 80,000 VA employee terminations would be in positions that do not directly support the VA’s primary mission of veteran health care and benefits. The Secretary specifically mentioned “yoga instructors” as an unnecessary addition to the VA workforce from the previous administration.1 I am fascinated regarding what qualifications or work experience in healthcare, Secretary Collins, a former lawyer and reserve Air Force chaplain, is relying on to develop this conclusion.
Admittedly, this assertion that yoga has no value in veteran care would likely be dismissed as inconsequential by many politicians like Collins. I found this tidbit quite irksome since yoga is one of the five integrated health modalities identified by the 2010 Pain Management Task Force to improve veteran care. I have been jealous in previous editorials of the VA’s ability to inculcate integrative medicine into veteran care, which is far outpacing Department of Defense efforts in this area.
Honestly, readers of this column do not need me to tell them that the removal of 80,000 VA employees will seriously degrade veterans’ health services. I am certainly not against the thoughtful application of reason to improve efficiency in any federal organization, including the VA. That said, the ‘loose cannon on a pitching deck’ government firings of the ad hoc DOGE have nothing to do with improving efficiency. Nobody reading this column voted for creating DOGE through their congressional representatives. There are correct ways to downsize government agencies through legislative action as government administration policies and priorities change. DOGE is not one of those processes.
Former President Ronald Reagan, the most consequential Republican of our time, reminded us that we owe a debt to those who defend our Constitution. The thoughtless gutting of the VA by a nongovernment entity as political appointees seem purposely disengaged does not align with servicing the country’s obligation to these extraordinary citizens. The political smoke screen that our veterans will not suffer from these Draconian cuts under the banner of “improving efficiency” just does not pass the “sniff” test for any rational person. I take no pleasure in reminding the present administration that many of its policies “wear no clothes.” Obviously, my career as a politician in Washington died 1,000 editorial deaths long ago, and I have never been a “yes” man to authority. Sometimes, as an American citizen, one must point out “wrong” to leadership to fulfil one’s responsibility to the nation, even when the view is uncomfortable or unpopular. Folks, this is just wrong.
- Groves, S (2025, March 5). Trump administration plans to cut 80,000 employees from Veterans Affairs, according to internal memo. https://apnews.com/article/veterans-affairs-cuts-doge-musk-trump-f587a6bc3db6a460e9c357592e165712
- Shane III, L (2025, March 6). VA secretary insists massive staff cuts needed to refocus department. https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2025/03/06/va-secretary-insists-massive-staff-cuts-needed-to-refocus-department/
