Veteran and government affairs. Not a love story.

As many of us know, the Department of Veterans Affairs has been around for plenty of decades with nice intentions of providing veterans with various benefits. Yet the operation of the VA does the exact opposite for thousands of retirees per year. A great deal of patients suffer from drawbacks within the VA system including conflicts such as: extremely long wait lists, understaffed VA hospitals, cancelled appointments with no reschedule,  and lost follow-ups. These men and women who once put their life on the line for our country should not have to feel like their making that same choice when visiting a VA hospital. 

Throughout their years of experience one might believe that the department would learn from their mistakes, but unfortunately they have not. For this reason, I wonder why the government doesn't put forth more effort and funds to take care of our veterans.

As thought by some veterans, misappropriated funds are a large cause of the issues within the VA. Many veterans believe that funding spent on individuals and families who abuse government assistance take away from those in the VA who are in dire need of assistance. Although a separate department of the government handles civilian assistance, it becomes enraging for veterans to see these other individuals being taken care of with government money when they can't even get an appointment with a decent physician at a VA hospital. With that in mind, it is not uncommon for veterans to succumb to extreme lengths to receive attention from the VA that they are needed. For example, a veteran who got the run around with the VA for two months finally had enough and felt compelled to make a scene by essentially throwing a tantrum to be heard. The disruption in the clinic was severe enough that security and officers had to surround the veteran for him to settle down. Nonetheless, the extreme outcry was acknowledged and the veteran was made an appointment right away. Most of these patients now know that when it comes to the VA and their postponements, the longer the wait without action could possibly mean waiting forever.

Lastly, what should be understood about the government's importance in funding for these men and women is the casualties. Casualties within these wait lists, understaffed VA hospitals and clinics, cancelled appointments that won't be rescheduled, and lost follow-ups. Because of all these factors, thousands of deaths and suicides that could have very well been prevented happened because these veterans relied on their government to help them, and were essentially given the short end of the stick.