He served in the U.S. military for 20 years and was fired by senior affairs only via email

After 20 years of working in the U.S. military, including travel to Iraq and Afghanistan, Luke Graziani is proud to be able to serve the country again by working in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

But less than a year after he swore a pledge to defend the U.S. Constitution, Graziani received an email on February 14 informing him that his work had been terminated.

“I gave my country 20 years, and at that moment when I terminated this termination from federal work, it felt like I was just a person,” Graziani told him. happen Host nilk ʧksal.

“I don’t think a lot of people understand that being a federal service employee, like me, it’s not a job, it’s a call.”

Graziani is part of the first wave of layoffs in Veterans Affairs (VA), targeting people who have worked there for two years or less. Now, another 82,000 VA workers are expected to lose their jobs amid a new wave of cuts.

The internal memorandum of the division’s chief of staff Christopher Syrek directed VA employees to work with tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut staffing by 15% to 2019 levels to “eliminate waste” and “improve labor efficiency.”

Democrats and veterans advocates condemned the move. But veterans were cut to divisions that have long been plagued by allegations of poor health care and excessive waiting times.

The cuts are part of Doge's clearance of the broader civil service system, which has eliminated about 100,000 federal jobs this year.

Veterans split

More than 9 million U.S. veterans receive physical and mental health from VA, the health care company manages a $350 billion U.S. budget and oversees nearly 200 medical centers and hospitals.

Graziani, a public affairs official at the Virginia Medical Center in New York City, said veterans who rely on these services would be affected if the layoffs continue.

“Patient waiting time can increase. You know, making an appointment, the time it takes to see a doctor for the first time or signing up, all of these things will be affected by the people who are losing the scenes to achieve that,” he said.

Daniel Ragsdale Combs, a 45-year-old Navy veteran in Mesa, Arizona, is worried about the future. He received group therapy through VA to cause mental illness caused by traumatic brain injury caused in his duties.

“I'm very worried because Virginia is just awesome to me,” Combs said. “I'm angry, frustrated and frustrated.”

Gregg Bafundo served in the First Gulf War and his foot nerves were damaged as Marine Mortarman held a lot of weight.

Through layoffs, he lost his job as a wilderness ranger and firefighter in the U.S. Forest Service layoffs, and now he will have to return to health care needs in Virginia.

“They will put people like me and my Marines on the ground,” said Bafundo, 53.

But Stephen Watson of Jesup, Georgia, served in the Marine Corps for 22 years and received brain trauma care through the State of Virginia (VA) to welcome the cuts.

“We're not better because we're veterans,” said Watson, 68. “We all need to take a step back and realize that everyone has to put in a little bit on their chin to control these budget issues.”

Richard Lamb of Waco, Texas, 74, was knocked down twice as an Army helicopter captain in Vietnam – Virginia should “cut into the bones.”

Lamb said that for decades, VA doctors failed to diagnose his vertebrae compression fracture and he did not undergo the surgery he needed until he met a private doctor.

“I'm glad to see VAs, not tear them apart, but clean them up, clean them up and recast them,” said Lamb, who lives in Waco, Texas. “VAs should be a great thing for veterans. It's not. It's awful.”

The Trump administration is relying on this move. White House Deputy Secretary Anna Kelly said the president will retain the benefits of veterans, but will not represent the agency's “bureaucracy and inflation.”

“Absolutely crushed”

Meanwhile, Graziani said he was not against reform, or even against VA. But he said it was done in a careless way, which did not take into account who was doing the critical work or pay tribute to people serving the country.

“There are ways to do something meaningful and have thoughtfulness and caution, and the way I was terminated was not to take anything into consideration,” said the father of four.

“I was absolutely crushed. When I accepted this position at the federal level, I raised my right hand and swore to swore. I thought it would have some sense of stability and permanence. But, it all disappeared in an email.”

with Reuters and AP documents. Interview with Luke Graziani produced by Chris Trowbridge