The Director of the VA Medical Center (VAMC) of Tucson, Arizona has mandated that all conference rooms be reserved by only authorized VA staff members. This policy essentially bans all Non-Christian Veterans from using the "Chapel and Conference Room" since there are only Christian VA chaplains on staff who can reserve this space for worship services. During the rest of the week, the "Chapel and Conference Room" is locked up or is used by other VA staff members for their meetings.



This conference room policy essentially means that only Christian Veterans get to use the chapel and that Non-Christian Veterans do not have access to their VAMC chapel, because they do not have a VA chaplain to reserve this space for them. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution mandates that: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…" The religious needs of Veterans who are enrolled at the VA in Tucson are therefore not being equally accommodated by Congress, which sets the budget for the VA and therefore ostensibly condones this conference room policy. Therefore Tucson's VAMC conference room reservation policy mandates a form of Christian Nationalism since it essentially excludes all Non-Christians from using the "Chapel and Conference Room" by fiat.



Tucson’s VAMC conference room reservation policy also violates VHA Directive 1111 (July 21, 2021), Chapter 9, a. (6), which states that: "Chapels must remain available at all times for use by Veterans and their families." In contrast, the other VAMCs in Arizona, which are Phoenix and Prescott, abide by this VHA Directive.



Making the "Chapel and Conference Room'' a space that can only be reserved by authorized VA staff members and locking that space up when it is not in use meets the needs of Tucson’s VAMC upper management, not the needs of Veterans and their families. Tucson’s VAMC conference room reservation policy also contradicts the purported mission of the VA, which is to be "Veteran-centric."



This conference room policy: 1) violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution; 2) contradicts the VA mission of being Veteran-centric; 3) makes Tucson's VAMC an outlier among all the other Arizona VAMCs in this regard; 4) essentially promotes Christian Nationalism because non-Christian Veterans have no access to their chapel whatsoever; 5) disregards the spiritual needs of Veterans and their families, especially Non-Christians; 6) violates a VHA Directive by restricting and prohibiting Veterans and their families from having access to their chapel; 7) and posits the viability of a “dual purpose” use of the chapel and “meditation rooms” when these options are not covered in any VHA Directive in any way, shape, form or fashion. Why should upper management need other options when there is a viable chapel on campus and they have over sixty other conference roomsuse to choose from?



The Tucson VAMC Director, asserts that the "Chapel and Conference Room" is a "dual usage" room. This room is used for less than four hours as a chapel during the week. Four hours equates to 2.4 % of a week. In the other 97.6 % of the week, this room is either locked up or is used as a conference room by VA staff. Why do Veterans and their families get the extremely short end of the stick in this so-called "dual purpose" deal? Worse still, Non-Christians get absolutely no access to their chapel.



Veterans bled and died so that all Americans could have their religious freedoms protected and preserved, yet, when it comes to Tucson's VAMC conference room reservation policy, Veterans and their families have to make do with meditation rooms, which are, in this case, ineptly repurposed waiting rooms. The "Chapel and Conference Room" at the Tucson VAMC has a vestry, an altar, a massive church organ, and a chancel, which make this room distinctively a chapel, not a conference room.



The Director of Tucson’s VAMC offers meditation rooms as a viable substitute for Veterans and their families not having chapel “access at all times.” Meditation rooms are not covered in VHA Directive 1111 (July 21, 2021), whatsoever. Why provide such a poorly repurposed substitute for a chapel when the genuine article is available and properly furnished at this VAMC campus, especially when there are over sixty plus other conference rooms for upper management to use? From this I deduce that VA management at this federal facility does not have the best interests of their Veterans at heart. Something else besides compassion and appreciation for Veterans drives this VA train, evidently.



Tucson’s VAMC is a top tier VA Medical Center that receives over half a billion dollars of taxpayer money annually in order to provide healthcare for over 170,000 Veterans. The shoddily refurbished meditation rooms at Tucson's VAMC graphically illustrates this director’s callousness towards Veterans and their families.



During my entire military career of twenty plus years, my commanders never let their staff use the chapel as anything but a chapel. The chapel was treated as a sacred space for all faiths. Meeting the spiritual needs of those who “...have borne the battle…” should not be relegated to “meditation rooms” — not when there is a perfectly functional chapel available.



Another issue: There are six inch steps in the chancel and vestry areas of the Tucson VA Medical Center that make it unsafe for those who want to participate in worship who have ambulatory issues. This violation is covered in multiple, federally mandated regulations for VA hospitals. I have complained repeatedly to theCongressional Oversight Committee, the VA OIG and the OSC. Nothing has been done so far to make the chancel and vestry areas safe for those with ambulatory challenges. VHA Directive 1111 (July 21, 2021), Chapter 9, a. (4 ) states that “All spaces to be used for spiritual purposes must be fully accessible to persons with disabilities.” Upper management keeps saying that the audience area of the chapel is level and presents no violation. What upper management, the VA OIG and the Office of Special Counsel doesn’t understand, even though I, a USAF and VA chaplain, have explained it on numerous occasions: Veterans and their families participate in Holy Communion in the chancel area and assist in setting up and neutralizing the worship area in the vestry area.