MILWAUKEE — It's been a long two weeks for James Stancil. At the end of February, he was fired from Milwaukee's VA amid recent cuts.
The email notifying him of the termination said, in part: "The agency finds that your performance has not met the burden to demonstrate that your further employment at the agency would be in the public interest."
"You keep thinking it's a dream," Stancil said. "You keep thinking it's, you know, this isn't real, you'll get a call today. Ah, come on back. You know, we made a mistake."
That call hasn't come.
And he's not alone. Last week, the VA secretary announced plans to cut 80,000 employees. That announcement spurred protests here in Milwaukee.
Stancil says the recent cuts are frustrating for vets like himself.
"If you want to thank a service member, give them a job, you know? Send them back to work," Stancil said.
Watch: Former VA employee resorting to GoFundMe to pay bills after he was terminated
For now, all Stancil knows is uncertainty. After speaking with TMJ4, he headed to the food pantry. He says he's been looking for work anywhere he can.
It's forced him to make a move he never thought he'd have to make: asking for money through a GoFundMe.
That link can be found here.
"I think I started writing that Sunday morning, and I sat in front of that screen trying to write it, and I couldn't," he said.
Stancil says the fundraiser will be used to help himself and others like him who are now facing financial hardships.
"Bills are going to come due, and I'm not going to have the money to pay them," he said.
For now, Stancil says he feels disrespected and left behind.
"You feel like you're on your own, you know," Stancil said. "You were tossed off the ship, and now you're in the middle of the Pacific, going, 'Wait a minute, come back, what happened?'"
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