Veterans of Foreign Wars Advocates for Veteran Affairs IT Funding

Spurred by the events of 9/11, Adam Schwarze joined the Marine Corps at the age of 18 and served for 10 years before his appointment to lieutenant in the US Navy. A veteran of multiple deployments in Iraq, Adam Schwarze belongs to an US war-veteran association known as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) that often engages in public campaigns in support of retired military members.

Last December, the organization urged the 117th Congress and incoming Biden Administration to pass legislation enabling information technology (IT) upgrades at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). With citations to major errors such as the GI Bill housing-payments problems in 2018, the VFW stated that the VA is not adequately equipped to fulfill required tasks with its current IT resources. In addition, it noted that the VA’s various offices and agencies currently compete with one another for critical IT funding, forcing them to depend on legacy systems and extended transition periods that disrupt services and care of veterans.

As a solution, the VFW proposed that Congress pass a “Digital GI Bill” to fund enhancements of essential platforms that the VA has experienced difficulty with maintaining. The initiative is estimated to cost roughly $250 million and have a 12- to 18-month implementation period.

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