First of all, it’s important for all Americans to know that the Veterans’ Administration is one of the most important federal agencies in the United States, and should never be subject to severe cuts or abolishment. Any criticisms offered in this article are meant as constructive criticisms—offered for the purpose of assisting establishing a framework for improvement and reform—however, this does not include privatization or abolishment. Those who wish to use this information as a basis for privatizing or abolishing the VA, will find a large body of people mobilized against them, and their actions will be considered to be an existential threat to those whose lives depend on the VA.
Part 1, Brief Overview:
While many Americans offer the “Thank you for your service” reflex response to veterans they encounter, it’s unlikely that many fully understand the dire circumstances most veterans face. Thousands are committing suicide each year, while many more are homeless and unable to access VA healthcare services. Further, the VA has been accused of summarily denying thousands upon thousands of legitimate disability claims via requiring additional outsourced examinations, or outright ignoring relevant medical or psychiatric records. The lack of awareness, or anything other than superficial concern, is tantamount to condoning a slow genocide of American veterans. Does the Congress and the VA believe that the best way to deal with the cost of caring for American veterans is to ignore them and let them die? Given the state of affairs, this is a valid question.
The problems with the Veterans’ Administration are numerous and pervasive. Though it is an agency vital to the lives of many veterans, it is failing to serve those most in need, and the suicide rate among veterans is proof of that. Suicides among younger veterans is on the rise, and the VA’s assertions about their “positive outcomes” related to suicides haven’t slowed the rate of veteran suicides. After the seventh veteran suicide on VA facilities this year, officials are quietly calling on the public to help. If the VA considers this a crisis, they are doing little in terms of sounding any public alarms on major media outlet, or via any major public health campaigns.
As well, the VA is not being entirely honest about the nature and scope of the problems the face. While the VA says that the homeless veteran population is roughly 38,000 nationwide, this doesn’t match with their admission that homeless veterans make up about 23-25% of the homeless population. The homeless population nationwide is about about 553,000. If veterans comprise roughly one-quarter of that population, then the VA has under-counted the population of homeless veterans by a striking 100,000 veterans. That is either a tragic mistake, or a deliberate misrepresentation.
In 2014, President Barack Obama introduced the Veterans’ Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act. In short, the act was supposedly meant to cut down on waiting periods for medical services for veterans who used the VA healthcare system as their primary resource for medical care. The VA refers veterans to private healthcare providers based on certain distance and time-related criteria. What it turned out to be was a mass headache, and a de facto push towards the privatization of VA services. Few providers accept the coverage because the payment process is draconian, and designed to discourage vendors from demanding full payment for their services. The act looks great on paper, but in practice turns out to be little more than a public-private alliance that is a windfall for the private companies administering the program—it’s a minor disaster for those who rely on those services.
In February of 2019, The Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act (AMA) was implemented. While is has been touted as a breakthrough in streamlining the VA’s disability application and appeals process, it has accomplished exactly the opposite. It is a complex and deceptive set of rules that governs the process for veterans filing for first-time disability, and those filing appeals after that claim is likely denied. The VA’s figures for denials of initial claims varying depending on where you look in their published literature and online materials. Parsing various sources across the internet gives an estimate of about 60-80% of initial disability claims being denied. Many of those same sources suggest that most of the claims being denied are viable disability claims, and that the reasons that the VA offers for denying them is highly suspect.
The Overview of the VA, and veterans issues is only the first part of a multi-part series I am working on. It is relatively brief, and should offer an indication of the complexity of the situation veterans in the United States face. In spite of the best efforts of many in the VA, veterans’ advocacy and chartered veterans’ service organizations, the situation is slow to improve. The assertion that we are seeing a slow genocide is not an exaggeration. I will elaborate on the nature of this assertion in subsequent installments of this series. Many veterans’ advocacy groups are locked into a type of diplomatic approach that is well-intended, and likely unavoidable, but only marginally effective.
I am a Veterans’ Advocate and aspiring Creative Professional. This series is leading up to a book and documentary that I am currently developing. While it is my intention to involve a broad range of entities in the process, I feel that I am in a unique position to accomplish what many other could not. I am a veteran of the United States Air Force who worked as a Cryptolinguistic Specialist at the National Security Agency under the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. As well, I am engaged in the disability appeal process with the VA related to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that developed as a result of abuses I suffered during my service. I am currently struggling to survive while working on my advocacy, and developing my craft in general.
My situation is desperate. Advocacy and Arts are the only self-sufficiency option open to me because of my service-related PTSD and related disabilities, because I am unable to work in a traditional work environment. My savings are all gone, and I need your assistance. I am a Baby-Boomer era adult, and am looking to obtain a Bachelor of Fine Art degree as soon as possible. While I have art and arts merchandise for sale, I am not in a position to promote it properly. I am confident that my claim will be approved, after multiple years, but I am struggling for money for food and rent in the meantime. I am also court designated caregiver to a spouse who is 100% disabled with Bipolar Disorder.
I have a number of campaigns online by which people who appreciate my advocacy can assist. I am not asking for large contributions. I am working to get a lot of people involved in the process of my advocacy, so I am hopeful that a lot of smaller donations will offer sufficient support until my VA appeal is finally approved. Even amounts equivalent to the price of a Salad and soda would help.
live in a modest home, and have mainly only the modest necessities of life and limb. I have some equipment for the creation of my technical and traditional art, but my wife and I do not live lavishly. We are both Buddhist, and are dedicated to a modest, Zen-like lifestyle. I am not extremely skilled at asking for assistance, so I hope that people reading this piece will take to heart my lack of salesmanship and offer whatever support they can.
The $9,500 I have asked for in my GoFundMe Campaign is enough to allow me to survive for about six months. And yes, we actually do live that modestly. All the appropriate links are on my all below, and all contain detailed additional information on my advocacy and my art. The Patreon support will offer me long-term support for the book and documentary project I am working on. At the Patreon site, patrons will be offered ongoing updates, and patrons-only features that offer additional information and insights related to me and my advocacy and arts. There is also a link to the arts items for sale on my website. Any purchase of JP Colin Design art and art merchandise advances my advocacy as well. More items will be added all the time.
My GoFundMeCampaign
My Patreon Campaign
JP Colin Design
I have made this initial installment brief because I did not want to take much time away from the detailed research that I am doing on this matter. I will be continuing to work on the subsequent parts of this series, which will go into much more detail about how and why we are seeing a Genocide of Veterans, and eventually I will describe my own situation, and how I see my long-term advocacy through the arts. The last installment will discuss the book and documentary projects. If I am able to generate sufficient support to focus solely on my advocacy and art, I will be looking to release an additional installment each week. Though I am looking at a minimum of four installments, all substantially longer than this brief overview, I can’t be certain of how many there will be beyond the four until I have finished collecting all the research materials I need. So far, I am estimating that each piece will be about 7-8 times the length of what I have offered in the overview.
There are no “Tiers” on the Patreon Campaign. ANY donation accesses all the features. I’m not looking to play any promotional games with people who support me. I just want to do my advocacy and make good art. That’s what makes me happy in life.
* Titled changed because of reader feedback. So, let me know what you think and I will respond!