When Andrew Lennox began looking for a civilian job after leaving the Marine Corps in 2023, he initially took an internship with a natural gas distributor in Detroit. But on his first visit to a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, he knew he wanted to work there.
“Some old soldier smacked me on the back, called me a ‘Jarhead,’ Lennox told Task & Purpose on Friday. “I was like, ‘I’m home.’”
But Lennox received a letter Thursday informing him that he had been terminated after two months as an administrative officer at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He had not, the letter said, “demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest.”
Lennox is one of more than 1,000 VA employees who have been dismissed as part of job cuts across the federal workforce. As a recent hire, Lennox was a probationary employee, whose early months on the job fall under a “burden to demonstrate why it is in the public interest for the Government to finalize an appointment to the civil service for this particular individual,’” according to a copy of his termination paperwork, which he provided to Task & Purpose.
“I feel like this is my family, this is my tribe, and I feel like someone from outside of our family is trying to tell us how to run it and telling me I don’t belong, and that’s really angered me,” said Lennox, a former staff sergeant and mortarman, who has deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.
These types of dismissals are happening across the federal workforce as President Donald Trump’s administration moves to dismiss nearly all federal workers who are probationary employees — meaning those who generally have been in their jobs less than a year and do not yet have civil service protection.
Trump ally Elon Musk is spearheading a team called the Department of Government Oversight, or DOGE, which is looking to slash the size of the federal workforce to rein in government spending.
The VA says that the dismissals will save it more than $98 million per year, and it will spend that money on providing healthcare, benefits, and other services for beneficiaries, according to a news release announcing the cuts.
“At VA, we are focused on saving money so it can be better spent on Veteran care. We thank these employees for their service to VA,” recently confirmed VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement. “This was a tough decision, but ultimately it’s the right call to better support the Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors the department exists to serve.”
But Lennox noted, “The irony of saying ‘We’ve saved $98 million to help veterans’ by firing a veteran just kind of blows my mind.”
The VA did not respond to a Task & Purpose question on how many of the laid-off employees are veterans. However, the latest publicly available report by the Office of Personnel Management, which documents fiscal year 2021, showed that the VA employed roughly 122,396 veterans, or about 28.7% of the department’s total employees.
The dismissals are effective immediately, but the VA also has a process in which supervisors can ask that employees be exempted from being removed, a news release from the agency says.
However, Lennox said he doubts he will have any way to appeal his dismissal.
“I’m going to continue to work until my computer access is revoked,” Lennox said. “Then I’m going to volunteer. I’m going to keep working as best I can to support the veterans. That’s what I’m here for.”
The VA described the dismissals as part of the Trump administration’s wider effort “to make agencies more efficient, effective and responsive to the American People,” adding that the VA is now concentrating on providing veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors with the best possible care and benefits, the news release says.
“To be perfectly clear: these moves will not negatively impact VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries,” Collins said. “In the coming weeks and months, VA will be announcing plans to put these resources to work helping Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.”
Most of the VA’s more than 43,000 probationary employees are exempt from the downsizing because they serve in mission-critical jobs, such as supporting benefits and services for VA beneficiaries, or they are covered under a collective bargaining agreement, the news release says.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars has been working with the VA over the past several weeks to make sure that VA employees involved in critical positions that directly affect veterans’ healthcare and benefits are not part of the downsizing, said VFW spokesman Rob Couture.
Couture added that the VFW is committed to working with the VA to make sure that veterans receive “the best and timely healthcare that they can” along with the benefits and other compensation that they have earned.
Randy Reese, the executive director of Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Washington Headquarters, issued a separate statement that raised questions about the VA’s dismissals and how they were carried out.
“The needs facing disabled American veterans are great. And while many positions are exempt from the Administration’s hiring freeze and reduction in force plans, the lack of transparency regarding any consideration to reduce staffing at the VA is extremely disturbing to DAV’s members and those we represent,” Reese said in the statement.
“Decisions like a reduction in force should be well-reasoned and implemented strategically,” Reese continued. “The advocates who represent veterans should be fully engaged in this process. And the staffing levels we have recommended should be considered. Regardless of how people feel about reductions in the federal workforce, outcomes for veterans should be the central focus of these decisions.”
The latest on Task & Purpose
- The ‘gig line’ is back in the Air Force even if you didn’t know it ever left
- This new Army special ops fitness center is decked out like a pro sports gym
- Here’s what the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment looks for in candidates
- The Navy’s Future Sailor Prep Course was aimed at marginal recruits. It’s producing honor grads.
- Fort Bliss gets a glimpse into the future with 3D-printed barracks