SPOKANE, Wash. – An audit by the Inspector General’s Office highlighted “severe” staffing challenges within the Veterans Affairs (VA) system, notably in key positions like psychology and psychiatry.
This audit followed a series of deadly tragedies involving veterans facing mental health challenges, and their families’ claims about the VA system’s shortcomings.
Kenneth Bradley Caldero is one of those cases. Caldero was found dead on a porch in Hayden Lake Monday morning. While his cause of death has not been released, the Sheriff’s office says his body had traumatic injuries.
Caldero was a combat veteran. He served in the Army as a sniper, deploying to Afghanistan. Caldero suffered from mental health issues and substance abuse disorder, but his family says he asked the VA for help.
“He’s unfortunately another veteran who’s lost through the system and doesn’t get the full help that he needed to be able to pull out of that,” Caldero’s sister, Maria, said.
Earlier this month, another deadly tragedy unfolded involving a former servicemember in Anaconda, Montana.
There, combat veteran Michael Brown was arrested for a mass shooting that took place at the Owl Bar on August 1, and left four people dead. An Army spokesperson confirmed that Brown deployed as an armor crewman, later enlisting in the Montana National Guard upon his return to the US.
Brown’s niece, Clare Boyle, wrote to NonStop Local saying he suffered from mental health issues following deployment.
“Mike hasn’t been the same since he came back,” Boyle said. “The VA turned us away stating that they weren’t able to help.”
Brown was on the run for seven days before being captured.
In Washington, the search continues for another combat veteran: Travis Decker.
Decker’s three elementary-age daughters were found dead in Wenatchee on June 2. Decker, who deployed as an airborne infantryman, remains the prime suspect.
Arianna Cozart, the Decker family attorney, says Decker also reached out to the VA for help when his mental health began to suffer.
“Travis reached out to the VA. People don’t realize that,” Cozart said. “He reached out to the Veteran’s Crisis Line. He did everything he could.”
The audit by the Office of the Inspector General cites a 50 percent increase in staffing shortages at the VA from 2024 to 2025, with psychology as the most frequent shortage across VA hospitals.
Facilities in Montana, Idaho and three in Washington (Seattle, Spokane and Walla Walla) reported significant concerns. Spokane and Walla Walla, in particular, face larger issues.
Senators Tim Sheehy of Montana and Patty Murray of Washington both serve on the Senate Committee for Veterans Affairs. NonStop Local reached out to both for comment.
“As the administration works to reign in spending, deliver government services more efficiently, and fix the VA, I will work with our federal partners to ensure cuts are targeted and responsibility,” Sheehy, a combat veteran who served as a Navy SEAL, wrote to Nonstop Local.
Murray did not provide a statement, and instead pointed to a recent tweet where she called out the Trump administration.
NonStop Local also reached out to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. In a statement, Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz called the audit “unreliable” and “subjective.”
“VA’s department-wide vacancy rates for doctors and nurses are 14% and 10%, respectively. These are lower than most other health care systems, in line with normal VA historical averages and much lower than the respective 19% and 20% physician and nurse vacancy rates VA saw at times during the Biden Administration,” Kasperowicz wrote. “VA wait times and backlogs got worse under President Biden and are getting better under President Trump.”
