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# The Veterans Affairs Department Gets Occupied But Still Ignores
- URL: https://ivn.us/the-veterans-affairs-department-gets-occupied-but-still-ignores/
- Published: 2012-11-24T18:00:32.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-22T19:36:29.000Z
- Author: William Boardman
- Tags: News

Photo: U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs

![Veterans, US Veterans](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dc/be/dcbe1ac4-146f-43be-92a6-ea84728d86a6/content/images/2026/02/veterans-affairs-dept-wont-talk-treats-vets-like-the-enemy-64073.jpg "Veterans ")

On [October 4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kikIxib-00U&ref=ivn.us), a small group of American [veterans](http://www.flickr.com/photos/69842239@N02/sets/72157631780411492/?ref=ivn.us) went to the U.S. Department of [Veterans Affairs](http://www.va.gov/?ref=ivn.us) (VA) in Washington, D.C., to [talk](http://occupyphillymedia.org/content/dear-veterans-affairs-we-just-want-talk-signed-vets?ref=ivn.us) to officials there about veteran [suicides](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player%5Fembedded&v=wGS6rMfnI6A&ref=ivn.us#!), veteran homelessness, veteran joblessness, and other veteran struggles. No one from the department would talk to them then.

Even the contingent of Homeland Security [guards](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kikIxib-00U&ref=ivn.us) blocking the door on October 4 wouldn’t explain to the [veterans](http://www.facebook.com/events/420168718050112/?ref=nf) why they couldn’t come in. So, [they](http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151439609747564&set=a.10151439550342564.582038.744057563&type=3&permPage=1) stayed on the sidewalk in front of 810 Vermont Avenue, a few hundred yards from the White House, where they established [Occupy](http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151439550342564.582038.744057563&type=1) Dep’t of Veterans Affairs. [They’ve](http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ca8%5F1350845317&ref=ivn.us) been [there](http://digitaljournal.com/article/336476?ref=ivn.us) ever [since](http://www.collapsenet.com/free-resources/collapsenet-public-access/news-alerts/item/10119-occupy-department-of-veterans-affairs-ignored-but-shows-purpose-special?ref=ivn.us), even through [Hurricane](http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/53612/?ref=ivn.us) [Sandy](http://october2011.org/blogs/kevin-zeese/occupy-va-continues-protest-despite-hurricane-sandy?ref=ivn.us).

After more than a [month](https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/05-5?ref=ivn.us), Veterans Affairs officials still have [not talked](http://coolrevolution.net/2012/10/12/veterans-affairs-officials-to-meet-protesting-veterans/?ref=ivn.us) to any of the [diverse](http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151439550342564.582038.744057563&type=1) group. Instead, the VA has continued low level police [harassment](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0CvN-pOk1g&ref=ivn.us) and frequent power washing of the sidewalk, threatening to arrest anyone who interfered with the activity. Trinity Church in New York City used [similar](http://www.opednews.com/articles/Occupy-the-Department-of-V-by-Cory-Clark-121030-936.html?ref=ivn.us) tactics against Occupy Wall Street in 2011.

Despite the length of this occupation in the nation’s capitol and the importance of the issues it raises, there has been [almost](http://www.streetsense.org/2012/11/occupy-the-va/?ref=ivn.us) no media coverage other than a couple of pieces by [Cory V. Clark](http://occupyphillymedia.org/content/dear-veterans-affairs-we-just-want-talk-signed-vets?ref=ivn.us) on [OpEd News](http://www.opednews.com/articles/Occupying-The-Department-o-by-Cory-Clark-121023-228.html?ref=ivn.us) and [scattered](http://vetlawyers.com/vetblog/index.php/tag/occupy-va/?ref=ivn.us) social media [posts](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J%5FnN5QN8Ftc&ref=ivn.us). Searches of the *Washington Post*, *New York Times*, and *Democracy NOW* all produced the same result – nothing (although *Democracy NOW* had a related veterans [piece](http://www.democracynow.org/2012/11/12/expos%5Fveterans%5Fadministration%5Fbattles%5Fbacklog%5Fof?ref=ivn.us) on November 12).

###### **Medic in Vietnam, Still Trying to Heal People**

In a USTREAM video by Occupy Eye on *Common Dreams* that was primarily about the Tar Sands Blockade in East Texas, the coverage gets to the Veterans Affairs about 40 minutes in. There, a man who calls himself “Frosty,” a Vietnam veteran and former medic, with a bushy white beard, describes what it’s been like spending a month on the sidewalk trying to talk to the administration charged with looking after his welfare and that of his fellow vets from half a dozen American wars.

Articulate and friendly in demeanor, Frosty has intense things to say – for example, that the VA has only 19 suicide hotlines in the whole country, and that a caller reaches only a recording and is promised a callback within 24 hours. “The VA doesn’t care,” he says, noting that the [suicide rate](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/opinion/sunday/kristof-a-veterans-death-the-nations-shame.html?pagewanted=all&ref=ivn.us) among veterans is currently estimated at 18 a day, and likely under-reported. This is demonstrated by an October [report](http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=15688&ref=ivn.us) by the Department of Defense which cites 20 active-duty and 13 non-active-duty suicides in that month.

Like the other [vets](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPh-clI5T74&ref=ivn.us) sharing the sidewalk in front of the VA, the first thing Frosty wants is to establish a veterans’ council that will have direct access to the VA, and to which the VA will have to be responsive. Some of the veterans are trying to work with Congress to make this happen, to improve VA response to all veterans’ issues, but especially suicides, homelessness, and joblessness.

Current estimates cited by vets are that there are more than 750,000 homeless [veterans](http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/veterans.html?ref=ivn.us) in the United States, about a quarter of the total U.S. homeless population of three million. The Department of Veterans Affairs puts the number much [lower](http://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/about%5Fthe%5Finitiative.asp?ref=ivn.us), based on a January 2011 survey. The VA Secretary, retired general Eric Shinseki has, according to the VA website, “[announced](http://www.va.gov/opa/bios/secretary.asp?ref=ivn.us) the federal government’s [goal](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/11/eric-shinseki-veterans-affairs%5Fn%5F2110080.html?ref=ivn.us) to end Veteran homelessness by 2015.” In May 2011, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals [ruled](http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2011/07/12/08-16728.pdf?ref=ivn.us) that the VA’s “unchecked incompetence” was an unconstitutional denial of veterans’ benefits.

The current [jobless](http://channelnomics.com/2012/11/12/firms-show-veteran-support-career-2/?ref=ivn.us) rate for veterans aged 18-24 is 29%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

###### **No One’s Talking About Depleted Uranium Poisoning, Yet**

Not all veterans are supportive of [Occupy](http://www.facebook.com/events/183123265157321/) the VA. The website “[This Ain’t Hell](http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=32283&ref=ivn.us), But you can see it from here” refers to the vets at the VA as “a bunch of scruffy-looking folks claiming to be veterans,” then misrepresents why they’re there. Among the mostly hostile comments is this one from November 6 (which was immediately attacked):

> "I was there just yesterday, and I have to say, those scruffy people are Occupiers, they want a different world, and there is nothing wrong with that. they are supporting those that are standing up for our veterans. To put them down is a symptom of what is wrong with this country. Didn’t we ignore our veterans when they were in Vietnam, and did not learn a lesson. They are not getting their benefits, because of a new computer program, and the vets are 900,000 behind, and are waiting a year or more for those benefits. 18 soldiers commit suicide a day because of no mental health treatment. Wake up, stop criticizing people who are standing up instead of sitting at a computer. By the way my husband died of Agent Orange at age 47, my neighbor 29 Afghan vet shot himself in the head, so don’t put down those standing up. Shame on you."

Veterans Affairs has been a [troubled](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeoEcl4OvdM&ref=ivn.us) agency for decades now, sometimes better, sometimes worse, rarely adequate to meet the need. After Vietnam the agency was in denial about Agent Orange poisoning the troops and Vietnamese alike. Later it took a decade or more for the agency to accept the reality of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Today, only Frosty is talking about depleted uranium poisoning the troops, Iraqis, Afghanis, and people anywhere else the military has used it.