John Plahovinsak
In a 1933 Movie, Singers Joan Blondel and Etta Moten teamed up to sing the haunting song, “Remember My Forgotten Man.” They were referring to World War I unemployed veterans.
One stanza of the song is: “Remember my forgotten Man; You put a rifle in his hand; You sent him far away; You shouted, “Hip, hooray!” But look at him today!”
These singers were pleading for society to not forget the plight of the unemployed veterans, especially during the Great Depression, who were left without jobs and a means to provide for their families.
The song highlighted the pain and hardship faced by these veterans and urged people to remember the struggles and sacrifices they made for our Nation in World War I. They played a vital role when they were called.
In 2025, we seem to have a “Forgotten Man” in our midst. He is former USMC Staff Sergent Andrew Lennox, who was working at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The distinguished Marine served as a mortarman in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria tours.
The words “was working” is used because Sergeant Lennox is one of the 1,000 employees that were terminated by the VA on February 11, 2025.
He had been employed for only two months as an Administrative Officer and was dismissed as part of job cuts across the federal workforce.
Lennox was a “probationary employee.” whose two 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 his “boilerplated” termination letter.
These types of dismissals are happening across the federal workforce as President Trump’s administration moves to dismiss nearly all federal workers who are classified as “probationary employees” — meaning those who generally have been in their jobs less than a year and do not yet have civil service protection.
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 recent VA news release.
“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,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “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 former Staff Sergeant Lennox said, “The irony of saying ‘We’ve saved $98 million to help veterans’ by firing a veteran just kind of blows my mind.”
“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.”
The Executive Director of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Washington Headquarters, Randy Reese, raised serious and significant 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,” Executive Director Reese stated, “the lack of transparency regarding any consideration to reduce staffing at the VA is extremely disturbing to DAV’s members and those we represent.”
“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,” he concluded.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) 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.
VFW Spokesman 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.
My Opinion: In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) indicated that the VA employed 122,396 veterans in its total workforce, or 28.7% of the VA’s total employees. The VA did not indicate how many of the 1,000 employees fired were veterans.
If the FY 2021 statistics are like the FY 2025 statistics, then roughly three hundred (300) veterans were fired on February 11, 2025. Their only fault was that they were still classified as a “probationary employee.”
Now, the VA hired these 300 veterans for a reason, and that was to fulfill a vacant duty position within the VA structure. The VA wanted them to complete a job or a meaningful task, like the Administrative Officer position that Andrew Lennox filled at the Ann Arbor VAMC in Michigan.
Hopefully, Andrew Lennox, and the other 299 fired veterans, will not join the “Forgotten Men” of 2025. Lennox has already stated: “I’m going to volunteer (at the Ann Arbor VAMC.) I’m going to keep working as best I can to support the veterans. That’s what I’m here for.”
We must not forget these “Forgotten Veterans” of 2025.
BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a retired 32-year Army veteran, who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio’s Hospital Chairman and Adjutant of DAV Chapter #63 (Clermont County). He can be reached at: plahovinsak@msn.com.