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Hagel Resigns: Nam Vets Lose

By VVAW

We of VVAW are hardly privy to the maneuvering going on in the inner halls of the Veterans Administration—we can hardly get into the outer halls since we are veterans and, worst of all, Vietnam vets. But even without the inside information it seems to us that the resignation of Vietnam veteran Charles Hagel as the number 2 man in the VA is a giant step backward.

In many ways Washington is a long ways away, even for people who live there. Who really cares if congressmen want to bugger their pages or Nancy Reagan wants to buy new dishes? Unfortunately, what happens in the bureaucratic in-fighting in the VA has a direct effect on our lives so, like it or not, we have to pay some attention.

What we do know is that during Dewey Canyon IV haggle did set up a meeting with vets while others were picketing outside. It may have been a purely public relations gimmick—it probably was—but it was a hell of a lot further into the VA than VVAW has ever gotten in the past. And we've gotten the letter, signed by Hagel, sent to those who got the Agent Orange physical at the VA saying "We'd like to stay in touch with you. In the near future the VA will contact you for information to update our Agent Orange registry...." Better than we've seen in the past.

In his public statements concerning his resignation, Hagel talked about his "differences of policy and direction with the VA administrator." We know some of the public positions of the VA administrator, Robert Nimmo—that the VA was "coddling Vietnam vets," that Agent Orange-produced chloracne was the same as "teenage skin blemishes." We also know that, in addition to being an ignorant book, Nimmo is a millionaire buddy of Reagan who will slice the same the VAT budget for vets and, at the same time, spend that money for his own new bathroom in his office. And that all his sins were "forgiven" by the Reagan Administration. To make a choice between Hagel and Nimmo sees to us easy: Hagel wins hand down!

But not according to Reagan and his staff of California simps, of whom Nimmo is one. If they weigh 2.7 million Vietnam vets in a scale with one Reagan campaign contributor, they seem to have no doubts either; so what if he's slightly crooked.

Up to now the VA has been pretty lucky in its choices of Vietnam vets: consistently the VA has found someone they can put forward as a Vietnam vet in a high position but who won't do a damn thing. It looks like they slipped up with Hagel—so he had to go. Once again, the often proclaimed commitment to help Vietnam vets is proved to be only some pretty words, and vets are still left to do what needs to be done on our own!