“Does the VA purposefully hire people who hate the military and hate Veterans? “
I’d say the answer to your question is mostly “yes”. When I got out of the Army and got some counseling, it was from a retired lefty college professor that got a job as a shrink.
Now look at the medical staff. Why would a competent doctor, or nurse, want to work for them when they can do quite nice on the outside?
Now look at the federal system in general, they do not hire the best.
Then look at the attitudes that develop, laziness, not caring for anything but that retirement check that’s guaranteed in the future.
Yes, they are called Veterans. With Veterans Preference in hiring, about a third of VA employees are veterans. (30% in 2010, up to 34% by 2012, with an Obama administration goal of 40%).
Interesting statistic from Fiscal Year 2014. While all new hires had an 80.3% retention rate, veteran new hires had only a retention rate of 73.23%. So they are the least likely employees to stick around after training, further contributing to the problems at the VA.
An obvious cure for the VA would be to require hiring on merit, not veterans status.