After reading the story in Thursday’s Herald (“Military service claim by man in standoff still unproven”) about the difficulty the prosecution is having in confirming Tyler Gaffney’s claims that he was some sort of super secret soldier, I found myself more exasperated by the comments of the attorneys than I was by the questionable claims of the defendant.
Here’s a little civics lesson for the attorneys, the judge and your reporter: The VA is not part of the Department of Defense. There is a Secretary of Defense and there is a Secretary of Veterans Affairs. They both report to the president, not to each other. And they have completely different missions. For a non-governmental equivalent, think of the VA as a private company that administers pension benefits and health insurance for an employer. When Gaffney was in the service, he worked for the Department of Defense and they are the ones who have detailed records of his duties and assignments. The VA probably doesn’t have the records because they don’t need them.
When a vet goes to the VA for medical treatment or other benefits, all the VA does is confirm his or her eligibility. That takes two things. For educational benefits and home loan benefits, all the VA needs to do is establish that the vet had service that meets the requirements of law. Unless things have changed dramatically since I worked for the VA, all that takes is a one-page form from the military that shows the veteran has an honorable discharge and his term of service. If the vet files a claim for medical benefits, the VA needs to see the medical records. That’s it. The VA doesn’t get and usually doesn’t need any personnel or financial records. There could easily be some incidental information in the medical records about the vet’s duties, but it wouldn’t be “official.”
As for the therapist’s response and the VA’s refusal to respond to the subpoena: Have the attorneys ever heard of the Federal Privacy Act, or, for that matter, the recent restrictions placed on disclosure of patient records at all medical establishments? It’s no wonder that the VA refused the subpoena. There is unlikely to be any substantial record of the vet’s service in the possession of the therapist other than anecdotal information provided by the vet himself. Privacy restrictions would prevent the therapist from providing any answers that go beyond the information he has already provided. I do not believe that a subpoena can compel someone to break the law, and I suspect that that was the basis of the VA’s refusal.
I worked for the VA for about 25 years. I retired quite awhile ago, but I am confident that VA employees still care quite a bit about “stolen valor,” but you need to understand that the characteristics of a person’s service don’t have anything to do with their eligibility. It doesn’t matter if they are a supply clerk or a special forces sniper, the benefits are the same. Once eligibility is established, there is no need for detailed information about the veteran’s duties. The VA just provides benefits based on the needs of the veteran as prescribed by law. I doubt that the therapist has any way of knowing if the stories are true. He is just treating the guy who is sitting in front of him, and even if he is certain that Gaffney is a liar, Gaffney still needs treatment and the therapist still has to treat him because he is eligible for treatment. And “outing” Gaffney because of false claims about the character of his service would be a very clear violation of the law. I think the response of the therapist and the VA was entirely reasonable. Stern’s snarky comment that they don’t care about “stolen valor” is just the kind of thing you hear from someone who needs to cover the fact that he isn’t doing his job very well.
I am amazed that none of the attorneys or the judge have enough knowledge of their own government to know where to go to ask their questions. Judge Downes’ comment that perhaps they should talk to the Secretary of Defense is a really good idea. After all, if you want to know the duties of someone who worked at Boeing, who would you ask? The employee’s insurance company or his doctor?
Howard Lucas is a resident of Arlington.
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