Navigating Regional Offices

[Eric_M]

I ddin't see the guard at the Hillsboro, Oregon clinic?

But I just asked my wife, she said he was there. Oh well, I'm blind, so I guess I failed the observation test.

I'm just surprised there's not more security at the medical centers......Eric

[Maurice]

Baltimore VARO SO are open. VA Rep area is open. Rest of VARO is lock areas.

[Commander Bob]

I don't know about you, but I sure was taken back by the fact that the Regional Office Chicago is like a locked down fort with the veteran having access to VA employees, one at a time. You enter and must be screened for weapons. Past screenining is a foyer with washrooms and a large waiting room with a window at one end of the waiting room. There is a long hallway off to the side of the waiting room that has the offices of the service organizations. That is as far as you are allowed to go. The claims are handled on the upper floors somewhere. The only contact with a VA employee is at the window in that waitng room. They take turns at the window, must be some sort of division of labor or self-preservation. That's Chicago...What about your Regional Office? What is it like? Are they the same...locked down forts?

It's everywhere... I remember back in the old days, when the VA security guards only carried walkie talkies, and were called security guards. Now they are all para-military Fed. Police types, with guns and high speed cruisers to chase down parkers in the parking lot. Soon, I'm sure they will be carrying fully automatic AK 47s. LOL... Doesn't anyone else see the subtle changes in our country? An Orwellian society is creeping in on us and no one seems to see it.

Edited August 2, 2009 by Commander Bob 92-93

[purple]

Nope.

[Pete53]

The VARO's are afraid of Veterans. Always been that way

[john999]

Hey, some crazy vet is going to drive a suicide truck right in the front door of one of these VARO's. I don't advocate it, and know nothing about it, but it is probably going to happen one day. There are plenty of vets who know how to handle explosives. If Taliban can do it then some vet who thinks he is getting messages from God can do it. Tim McVeigh did something like that to a federal building. If you have ever watched the Hollywood Shootout on one of those police shows you know what a few guys with machine guns can do. What if it were ten guys attacking a federal building? We are talking about many people being killed. We live in a false sense of security.