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Campaign Update: Vet Centers

By VVAW

During the month of November, 1982, a survey was conducted among vets' centers across the country by the Director of Readjustment Counseling Service. The survey, which asked some timely and important questions about the inner workings and problems of vet centers and their future could play an important role in deciding the future of Operation Outreach. Unfortunately, the information compiled by the survey may never become part of the public record and Vietnam vets—the national clientele—may be denied the information about "their" projects.

In mid- January VVAW spoke by phone with Dr. Art Lank, Director of the Outreach program. Dr. Blank, generally acknowledged to be "on the side of the Vietnam veteran" and above the political crap that has marked the VA during this and past administration, spoke without the standard VA evasion about the survey. His first point that the survey was a project of his own office to determine what was going on in the centers and was never intended to be "public" nor "official" because of its subjective nature. Dr Blank did allow that "some of the information could possibly be made available to a task force that will be formed in a few weeks to ascertain the future of the Vet Centers." When questioned on his personal opinion on the future of the program Dr Blank stated,, " The future of the Vet Centers are in the hands of congress and top VA administrators."

It's quite clear that his final statement is truce, but there's a little more that isn't mentioned: it is the responsibility of the Vietnam veteran community—individuals who use the centers, members of rap groups, organizations who support Vets Center continuation—all of us to bring the fight to keep the program going to members of Congress.

In the hands of vets' advocates, the results of the survey could be a potentially powerful weapon. The survey, comprised roughly of 15 pages, asks most of the questions you might expect about rumored and, in some cases, substantiated problems within the program. Two major areas addressed in the survey are the future of the program and the relationship with parent facilities.

The survey will undoubtedly substantiate stories of neglect, malice and bureaucratic bumbling by the "parent facilities" (VA hospitals, regional offices and out-patient clinics). Some areas will truthfully report VA wheels who attempt to tailor the program to their personal models and run the regions with iron fists, remaining in the background while their "errand boys" swing the club or hatchet.

The sections of the survey on the future of the vets centers contain the obvious suggestions that the program continue as is, but more frightening are the possibilities that vets centers be moved to VA Hospital grounds with a variety of controls put forth by various VA Medical Centers. All of the various options involve taking from the centers the kind of autonomy which has made them successful. One suggestion would have the whole program put under control of the VA Medical Centers, finally disbanding the centers and scattering the people in them throughout the VA system. This scenario would give some heavy-handed VA administrator the ability to pigeon-hole, hide, stuff down some VA sewer, and outright dismiss a lot of good people presently in the program, and a lot of "Nam vets who seem to be a growing casualty of the Operation Outreach Wars.

While the survey just raises these scenarios as hypothetical cases, we should remember that just two years ago the Reagan Administration tried to bury the Vet Center program. As then, it will now take demonstration and Congressional ass-kicking on the part of vets, to maintain the services.

With the Reagan Administration once again wheeling about to slash " our programs" to keep an obscenely bloated defense budget alive, we must be realistic in assuming the worst from David Stockman and the Office of the Budget. No doubt the World War II VA vet administrators will welcome the prospect of the demise of Operation Outreach.

But we can't allow that to happen. Support your vet center; continue to investigate problems in the local centers, and demand input through your Congressional representatives on the issues that are ours—demand to know what's happening with the centers, and demand input on the "vets task force" when it happens. We can't afford to get trashed again—Save the Vets Centers!