As the Trump Administration continues to make cuts to several federal agencies, veterans and organizations alike converged at the VA Clinic along Chesnut Road in Ravenna in protest of these moves.

"This is just a rally today to stand up for veterans and their healthcare system." said Michael DeLuke.

A couple thousand VA Jobs have already been slashed, and it's all part of a much larger plan by the unofficial department of Government efficiency to shrink the agency to the tune of more than 80,000 jobs.

"So what are they taking us back to? Long lines on the phones for our veterans, long lines for the services they need. That's wrong." said Frank Hairston, a community navigator.

The projected cuts would bring the VA back to 2019 Staffing levels, which was around 400,000 jobs.

"There is almost a million more veterans enrolled in the VA system than back in 2019, when we had the worse wait times in history at the VA.", Tim Houser, founder of Veterans Assurance Network, said.

Houser says in the last six years the script has flipped.

"Now we've got some of the best, shortest wait times recorded right now and with these cuts it's only going to make things even worse." he explained, adding that many VA workers are veterans themselves.

In the meantime, veterans and organization alike to make sure their voices are heard, and encourage everyone to reach out to the their local legislators. 

On the other side, VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz disputes some of these numbers, adding that cuts in jobs don't equate to a disruption in service.

"VA health care has been on the Government Accountability Office’s high-risk list for more than a decade, and GAO says VA faces “system-wide challenges in overseeing patient safety and access to care, hiring critical staff, and meeting future infrastructure needs.” Under Secretary Collins, VA is working hard to fix these and other issues. Unfortunately, many in the media, government union bosses and some in Congress are fighting to keep in place the broken status quo. Our message to Veterans is simple: Despite major opposition from those who don’t want to change a thing at VA, we will reform the department to make it work better for Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors."