NE Wisconsin vets react to cuts at Dept. of Veterans Affairs
FOX VALLEY, Wis. (WFRV) – Local veterans tell Local 5 News they have major concerns about recently announced personnel cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In a video posted on the department's Facebook page, secretary Doug Collins laid out the plan to eliminate about 15 percent of their current workforce (over 70,000 people). He said this could be done without cutting healthcare or benefits for veterans.
Vietnam veteran John Koehler knows a thing or two about VA clinics. He's not only a veteran himself, but he also volunteers his time to drive other veterans to their appointments at VA clinics in other parts of the state. He's been doing this since 2010.
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'You felt like you really did something worthwhile because those guys wouldn't have gotten to their appointments without the service that we provide,' said Koehler.
He told Local 5 News that VA services have improved tremendously since he got out of the military after the Vietnam War. He said most employees at the VA work extremely hard to help out veterans and the services these clinics provide are a lifeline for many veterans.
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He also knows what can happen when care falls short. He said his brother Kent, who was also a veteran of the Vietnam War, died by suicide in 2005. Koehler said his brother struggled with his mental health after his service.
'At the time he couldn't get the help he needed, he couldn't get through the VA system,' Koehler said about his brother. 'Veterans struggle getting through the telephone system and scheduling, going through six or seven different prompts and then the phone dies.'
Koehler said he worries that cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs will only exacerbate these issues. He said he's not buying the department's claims that workforce cuts won't also mean cuts to the healthcare and benefits they can provide their clients.
''I think it's absolutely shameful,' Koehler said. 'I don't think that people at the top, especially those who are non-vets really understand what is happening especially at the lower levels where it meets the road.'
Department of Veterans Affairs secretary Doug Collins sees the cuts very differently.
'For many years, veterans have been asking for a more efficient, accountable, and transparent VA,' he said in the video message posted to Facebook. 'This administration is finally going to give the veterans what they want.'
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Collins said they're also looking to unload many of the VA's contracts which he said will save them millions of dollars. He said they'll redirect that money to programs that can directly benefit veterans.
'VA will always fulfill its duty to provide veterans, families, caregivers and survivors the healthcare and benefits they have earned,' he said. 'That's a promise.'
Koehler said he isn't buying it and says the vast majority of veterans he's talked to also said they don't like what the Department of Veterans Affairs is doing right now in regards to the personnel cuts.
'Veterans are livid, I think you're going to see demonstrations, a lot of letters to Congress,' he said. 'Then they'll (the federal government) tout all the savings that they had, meanwhile veterans aren't going to get the type of services they need.'
Local 5 News reached out to the Department of Veterans Affairs and asked how the changes will impact VA clinics in Wisconsin. We did get a return email, but a spokeswoman said that she couldn't answer that question at this time.
Local 5 News also called the VA clinics in Appleton and Green Bay. They deferred our questions to the Milwaukee facility, but spokespeople there never returned our phone call.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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