'If we don't fight, nobody else will': Vets, advocates rally at Northport VA facility to protest any cuts

Two-time Purple Heart recipient Anthony Cotroneo slipped off his cap Friday to reveal a large indent on his head — an injury he suffered during an explosion that rocked a tanker he was in while serving in the Vietnam War.

Now 76, Cotroneo, of Holbrook, was among dozens of people who rallied at the Northport VA Medical Center — where he gets care weekly — to protest nationwide 15% workforce reductions in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs planned by President Donald Trump's administration.

Protesters said Friday they fear the cuts could drive down the quality of patient care and overburden staffers at the Long Island facility, which they are concerned could be severely impacted by the proposed restructuring of the federal agency.

Cotroneo, who takes seizure medications, held a sign up that read "Stop the War on America’s Workforce." 

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins recently said the agency's goal is to reduce the federal department's current 470,000 workforce by 15% to 2019 levels, or to 398,000 employees. He promised earlier this month that the changes wouldn't impact health care or benefits for veterans.

The department's new objectives are part of Trump's plans to shrink the federal government, an initiative being carried out by White House adviser Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.

While it’s still unclear how any planned cuts will impact the Northport VA center, some locals said Friday they were preparing for the worst.

For Peter Bono, 76, an U.S. Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, it was his first rally ever. Bono, of Northport, said he showed up Friday because he’s already noticed staffing issues at the Northport facility, where he is a patient.

During the last year, Bono said that instead of seeing his usual physician, he’s met with another medical professional. He said he believes any reductions at the facility will be a "nightmare."

“People are nervous,” said Lloyd Butler, 54, a computer specialist who has been working at Northport VA for 36 years. He described a bleaker mood at the workplace. “Seniority used to mean something, but now you don't know what's going to happen — if you're going to have a job or not,” said Butler, of Wyandanch.

There already have been more than 2,400 job cuts to the department nationwide, according to statements the federal agency released last month. In addition, Collins has said nearly 600 "non-mission-critical or duplicative" agreements worth about $900 million were canceled as part of an ongoing comprehensive review of the department's 90,000 contracts.

Veterans Affairs department spokesman Pete Kasperowicz said in a statement Friday the agency has long been on the Government Accountability Office’s high-risk list. The list, according to the GAO, a congressional watchdog group, is intended to point out programs and operations dealing with  "waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement, or in need of transformation."

"America’s Veterans deserve better than a health care system that has been at high-risk for ten years running," Kasperowicz's statement said. "We have an obligation to make VA work better for the Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors we are charged with serving, and that is exactly what we will do."

Kasperowicz said the VA has opened multiple brand-new clinics across the nation for veterans. None of the clinics he listed are in New York.

At the Northport facility, some medical providers worry cost-cutting efforts will not benefit anyone. 

"The way that policies are being written, implemented and enforced, is limiting, not only to staff, but also to veteran care," said Crista Maracic, 33, a psychologist who works at the Northport facility. "We've always had to fight for veterans who have fought for us, and if we don't fight, nobody else will."