We can’t make this stuff up. It’s priceless. Problem? What Problem? Oh, you mean the 37,000 C-files stacked up on the file cabinets? Yeah, Bummer, huh? Relax. They’re in alphabetic order-sort of. Or they were last year. Things are a little hectic around here so the OIG should chill for a while until we get this new system in place in 2015. Rome wasn’t built in a day, you know. Our building has smoke detectors and sprinklers so its not going to be like the NPRC in ’73. As for structural integrity, we’ve had twice this many laying around during the AO thingie. They do get a little mixed up when they fall over, but what the hey? We’re talking Veterans here. Who cares?

Gentle Readers-take your protein pill and put your helmet on. You are going to see and read something phenomenal. We always suspected things were this haywire. Here’s my favorite from the “memorandum”:

We are concerned about the number of claims folders stored at this VARO, located in the Hiram H. Ward Federal Building at 251 North Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC. The volume of folders and inadequate storage seems to indicate the VARO has exceeded the capacity to store files. This over-storage creates an unsafe environment for the employees, overexposes many claims folders to risk of fire/water damage, inadvertent loss and possible misplacement, as well as impedes VARO productivity by reducing access to many folders in a timely manner. We observed files stored approximately two feet high and two rows deep on top of file cabinets. File cabinets were placed so closely together that file drawers could not be opened completely. We estimated that approximately 37,000 claims folders were stored on top of file cabinets. We also observed files stored on the floor and stacked, as space permitted, in boxes along walls. The attached photos provide illustrations of the excessive and unsafe file storage at this VARO.

The pictures at the end of the report are worth their weight in gold. vA has for years said we embellished our stories of finding other Vet’s records mixed up in our files. This puts paid to that fabrication. How many of them accidentally find their way to the shredder  room when they spill out on the floor?

Now for the kicker. How many other VAROs look like this? You think this is unique to one Regional Office alone? Do you know where your C-file is tonight? The cat is getting out of the bag here. Expect more of the same in the future. And thanks for the heads up, Bob.

Email this to your Veteran friends in North Carolina and give them Heartburn. Backlog? Hell, this is light years past backlog. Notice the Veterans Service Center manager’s solution? More file cabinets. What happened to the new paperless file system that is just around the corner? Not.