Something I Found Digging Through Federal Data That Veterans Need to See

I make it my business to hunt through federal registers and agency data looking for things that affect veterans. Most of it’s dry. And some of it

Between January and December 2025 the VA lost nearly 28,000 employees. Largest single-year staffing decline in the agency’s history. That’s not what got me though. It’s who left.

Over 2,700 nurses. More than 1,000 medical officers. More than 1,000 psychologists and social workers. Over 1,800 people whose job was specifically evaluating veterans’ disability claims.

Meanwhile the OPM retirement backlog is sitting at 65,237. A record high. At the same time they’re cutting the people who process those claims.

The VA says care hasn’t been affected. Veterans on the ground are saying “yeah. Right. “

In the four decades I served I never had to use VA benefits. Yet, my uncles did, my cousins did. We need to be forthright and stop the hemorrhage of good people serving our veterans.

Sources:
https://www.cbpp.org/blog/veterans-have-borne-trump-administrations-deep-cuts-to-federal-personnel

https://www.fedtools.com/blog/state-of-federal-workforce-2026