Dear Veterans, families, caregivers, survivors and VA teammates:
It’s been an honor to serve you as VA’s Chief Veterans Experience Officer. As a Marine, VA customer and departing public servant, I want to share my experience in the hopes that it can serve as a waypoint for how far VA has come and where we are going in delivering a world-class benefits and health care experience.
I’m a U.S. Marine Corps Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) combat Veteran, serving as a non-commissioned officer. Much of my time was spent in the Reserve in Texas during college. I use VA for all my health care and have used the Montgomery G.I. Bill and Post-9/11 G.I. Bill.
While in Iraq, I was exposed to toxins and am now rated for two presumptive conditions that were made possible by the passage of the PACT Act in 2022. Fifteen years ago, my first claim was denied, and I experienced many roadblocks along the disability compensation journey. I appealed that decision and, after waiting nine years, my appealed claim was finally granted, enabling me to use VA health care for that condition and several others important to my well-being. There’s still plenty of work to do, but I hope you’ve seen the massive VA improvements as I have over the past decade.
Since joining VA’s Veterans Experience Office (VEO) in 2021, I’ve seen firsthand how many of these improvements were possible through VA’s deliberate shift to focusing on direct Veteran feedback. But that’s not John talking, that’s your rating of VA. VA’s Trust Score increased from 55% Trust in 2016 to 80.4% Trust in 2024—the highest it’s been since we started measuring.
Based on direct customer feedback, we have collectively made great strides in improving the military to civilian transition experience, disability compensation experience and education benefits experience, not to mention, increasing VA health care outpatient trust, ease, effectiveness and emotion experience scores to all-time highs.
A great example is the recent uptick of Veteran and family fraud. There are bad actors going after your earned benefits and services. Veterans sounded off about it. So, with the White House and our federal agency partners, we launched the Veteran, Service Member, and Family Fraud Evasion (VSAFE) program, to better inform and assist our customers who may have fallen victim to these scams.
We’ve been fortunate to be guided by transformational leaders like Secretary McDonough, Deputy Secretary Bradsher and a host of dedicated career leaders who come to work every day and actively use the “Voice of the Veteran” to make hard decisions to empower change.
But change is hard, and you should be proud of your more than 400,000 incredible VA public servants. Day in and day out they’ve welcomed the opportunity to immerse themselves in customer experience training and the Veteran-centric mindset. We also now know, based on research, how in order to deliver a world-class Veteran experience we need to also strive to deliver a world-class employee experience.
VA is dedicated to making the changes needed using the feedback we receive from Veterans daily. So, as a PSA from a VA customer and a Chief Veterans Experience Officer, take your surveys. From your VA medical center to VA headquarters in Washington, D.C., we are listening. Intently.
VA has come a long way, and it still has a long way to go. Our aspirational goal is to achieve 90% Trust, because we deserve nothing less than an “A” from our VA.
I am departing my service at VA knowing that the work is never done, but proud of what we’ve accomplished. I am incredibly hopeful that the foundational progress VA has made in the past 10 years will multiply over the next 10.
Thank you for the opportunity for me to serve again on this amazing team in this critical role. As a proud customer and patient, look out for my customer feedback surveys. Semper Fidelis.
John Boerstler was sworn in as VA’s Chief Veterans Experience Officer on Feb. 16, 2021, and departs his role at VA on Sept. 13, 2024. He is a native of Texas who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1999-2007, including deployments to Iraq and the Republic of Kenya. He later served in the U.S. House of Representatives, under two Mayors of Houston, and helped found the Lone Star Veterans Association to serve Texas Post-9/11 Veterans and their families. He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of Veteran-focused nonprofit Combined Arms.
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It’s pretty sad that the Montana VA chief of staff Dr Normandin’s ego is preventing veterans with chronic pain from getting treatment. No one seems to care though that he v
Has violated ICARE, VA policy and directives, as well as the charter and bylaws of the medical staff and executive committee. I’ve been fighting this abusive administration for 19 months now. I have yet to find a patient advocate that is willing to advocate for a veteran. This goes not only for the state of Montana but for VISN 19 as well. When the VISN 19 patient advocate coordinator tells you that they don’t care about the 180 other veterans that lost their appointment because of the ego of the COS, there is a problem. But no one wants to do anything to fix the problem, but rather just sweep it under the rug. While in general my doctors and nurses are good people they are constantly being over ruled by the COS on what kind of care can be provided in Montana. Doesn’t matter that veterans in any other state can get the care, if you live in MT you are denied. I’m getting to be more of the opinion with a VA budget of $408 billion dollars and $365 million of that going to NON meritorious bonuses to administrative staff and doctors for not providing a quality service to vets, the VHA should just be disbanded and that budget could go a long ways to giving veterans bluecross blue shield like all of the staff at the VHA. I have plenty of proof of these accusations through FOIA requests if you should be interested but I know the VA is incapable of investigating itself. 8 OIG complaints filed and they won’t even look at it.
I live overseas and have been looking for a VSO. My current one, is no longer able
To help me and has recommended to look for one closer to me.
I don’t think the international support is limited or only focuses on active duty personnel only.
My current appeal and claim has not even been reviewed and it’s been five months.
apparently my service in Korea (and all the other AF members )will never be completely recognised,since the information inputted is not recognised at all by your website,because my squadron information was not recognised—-totally ignored.— you need a more comprehensive dossier of the Korean conflict units by unit numbers,to be able to accomplish ANYTHING useful here,and I am sure that is not really your issue,the way it is currently operated, because the VA is not very helpful either,most of the time—too much burocracy ,not enough helpful advice
I would like this office to contact me regarding the MT VHA COS DR Normandin violating ICARE regulation, VA policy and directives, the charter and by‐laws of the medical staff and executive committee. I have documentation for all of this I believe. His ego alone is denying over 180 veterans care. He refuses to provide treatment for chronic pain and opioid addiction in IAW the 2016 CARA law. I have filed 3 congressional inquiries, 8 OIG complaints, 8 VA holiness complaints, a discrimination case with the ORMDI, as well as a clinical appeal, which was recently stopped because they gave myself an IFC to get the procedure in Richmond Virginia then deactivated it to effectively shut down my investigation and denying other vets the opportunity to get help. I have yet to find a patient advocate in MT, WY or VISN 19 that will advocate for a veteran, as they only advocate for their employer the VHA. I have been lied to, hung up on and have had failure to respond from the VA. Kris Vlosich even recommended insurance fraud at one point. The COS is now threatening a VA doctor who has had her privileges suspended for over a year, to turn her into the state medical board if she tried to renew her previously authorized privileges in regenerative medicine. The MT VA tried to send me to the Cheyenne VA to get treatment from doctors who were not credentialed or privileged to do the procedure on the spine. With all this said my PACT team is great as are most doctors and nurses wanting to help treat veterans. But the administrators are corrupt and violating regs policy and directives in to feed their egos and to make money!
I signed up for an appointment to speak with this department regarding the VA deleting my appeal and 30k others in 2023 and retroactive payment for death benefits. They were very nice and helpful. They connected me with a VA staff employee who simply referred to himself as “a higher up”, that was my clue things were about to get sour. This Higher-Up stated the VA wasnt going to correct my effective date because they didnt know my late husband was deceased within the year deadline. lol okay first of all, my late husband was buried at FSH, a National VA recognized cemetery, meaning the VA is the only ones who manage all burials at every national VA cemetery so how could the VA not know he passed if they themselves organized the entire burial on their property?! The VA lies so much that they don’t realize how bad their lies are, or maybe they just don’t care.
I never even knew that there was a chief experience officer. Who is the new oncoming, chief experience officer? How do we contact that person or that office?
Thank you for your hard work while you have served in this capacity and I wish you much luck in your ongoing endeavors!
SUNNY
He has no clue of the full real story of facts just how screwed up the VA really is , they never post the real stories of Veterans with problems with the VA!! It is shameful how many of us really wrongly treated by the VA!!!!
I’m a combat Veteran from The Viet-Nam War 1967-68-69 a grunt seen my brothers dying around me in the Battle of Dakto in 1967 we almost got overrun by the Nva I got medivaced out of a hot Lz but so many of my brothers died I was in the hospital as soon as I was mended I went back on the front lines to be with my brothers I’ve been denied agent orange exposure the Va said they lost my records I got a Purple Heart combat infantry Badge bronze and silver clusters on my Viet-Nam service Medals for bravery above and beyond Decades later I still haven’t been compensated I’m sure there are a lot more Combat Veterans like me that are still waiting to be compensated for all our years of suffering from Agent Orange exposure.