Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Part 2
When Veterans Advocacy Results in Retaliation, Intimidation and Harassment
What I witnessed that day was the worst case of abject neglect carried out by a
department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Vocational Rehabilitation (VR&E) employee to date.
Little did I know how bad things were to get over the next year. We had hoped this was just
an isolated case involving one dysfunctional VA employee, then the complaints kept coming
"What happened to me at that office stifled my success and compiled more stress on my life at a
time when I was simply fighting to survive. How many others have to endure the same
treatment before these issues are remedied?”
The pattern of alleged abuses appeared to stem around this particular regional office
and its insistence that the combat veterans attain a dead end, low wage job rather than the
veterans desired intention of attaining the required education to attain gainful employment
in a career of their choice. Worse, it was not just one VR&E employee, but several. One by one
the complaints reiterated the same issues.
"I've had a discouraging experience with this office and had to dis-enroll out of confusion and
frustration"
During our June 28th, 2018 meeting several of our aggrieved veterans, one by one,
articulated their struggles and frustrations with several of the VR&E staff counselors as well
as Dr. Knight. We were able to identify the causes of the errors and issues while also
providing a pathway for solutions.
One proposed solution, was that our agency would voluntarily conduct a satisfaction
survey of that location by providing the following link for distribution to their serviced
veterans at that location (http://www.operationvetfit.org/vasurvey). Ms Weldin was not
agreeable to sending out the link due to "policy and privacy" concerns. However, she did
support our efforts and looked forward to the results.
On July 6th, the survey went live and with the help of a July 9th, 2018 local news story
here: the data began to come in. None of it was good. On July 26th, 2018 the completed
survey was provided to Ms. Weldin, POTUS, our Congressional members, the Secretary of
the VA, and made publicly available here.
The survey details the systemic issues at this location. Veterans reported feeling that
neither their goals nor career objectives were being respected. Additionally that the
counselors were using fear tactics to dissuade veterans from using the benefits towards a
On July 10th, (four days after the survey went live and one day after the news story
broke) a VA employee filed a formal complaint through the Office of Inspector General (OIG)
(pictured below) claiming that I was a fraud. The complaint attempted to shed false light on
my injuries and Operation
Vet Fit, calling it an
unclaimed source of
income and calling into
question how I am able to
exercise and play golf with
my combined injuries. The
complaint quickly resulted
in a full blown
investigation requiring
that I be reevaluated for
my injuries, forcing me to
On October 1st, 2018 the OIG closed the investigation (Pictured below) finding no fraud
while highlighting the contributions of our agency and the medical re-evaluation evidence
supporting both my activities and those of our agency. While this served as vindication and
provided some relief, We're still seeking to learn who was ultimately responsible for the
initiating complaint which now encompassed our allegations of retaliation and intimidation
coupled with gross waste and abuse of VA resources.
Seeking Accountability
"Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When I said, “My
foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your
consolation brought me joy. Can a corrupt throne be allied with you— a throne that brings on misery
by its decrees? The wicked band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But
the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge. He will repay them for
their sins and destroy them for their wickedness" - Psalm 94:16-2
Civil Litigation ?
Why don't you sue them? We have been offered free legal services on an award
contingency basis by several attorneys and legal
firms to sue the VA for damages that have been
suffered as a result of this retaliation campaign.
However, this is not a VA problem, but rather a
regional issue which we believe was carried out by a
select few employees associated with our agency
work here. Since we are unable to sue them
personally due to their capacity as federal
employees, We feel it would be both selfish and
irresponsible to hold the entire VA accountable
through costly litigation and an undoubtedly large award for damages due to the actions of a
few dysfunctional employees.
Therefore, we continue to seek to work through non-litigous avenues of collaboration
with the VA to remedy what we've endured and observed. However, should our best efforts
While I was being retaliated against, the aggrieved combat veterans whom we initiated this
advocacy work for have each been contacted by either Leanne Weldin or the VR&E
Counselors and assured that they would not have the same issues if they chose to again
apply for vocational rehabilitation benefits in the future. But for nearly all of them, the
reaction was "too little, too late" the damage had been done.