'Haphazard, dangerous': Detroit VA employee and veteran loses job amid hack-and-slash federal cuts

DETROIT (FOX 2) - "My father's a veteran - my grandfather's a veteran - so many of my friends and family are veterans," said Elliott Sprehe.

Sprehe is a veteran - proud of his service - eight years active duty Air Force, Special Forces in Afghanistan, and is married to a fellow Air Force veteran. And until recently, he worked at Detroit's VA Hospital.

"To be treated this way and have certain individuals lie to the American public - it's just unacceptable," he said.

The backstory:

Sprehe is a communications specialist. He was the digital information manager - his performance is rated as outstanding. His probationary period set to expire Tuesday, Feb. 25th.

"I was told that I was fired for poor performance - 12 days before I would have successfully passed that one-year probationary period," he said.

It is all part of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's attempts at government efficiency - firing probationary employees throughout the federal government. And in this case, losing a highly-rated employee - and veteran who served his country.

"I don't like being called a liar - especially when I have my receipts to show that I am not a liar - I am a high performer - and I was dedicated to long-term federal employment," Sprehe said.

Sprehe had even paid hundreds of dollars into the Military Buyback Program - working toward his retirement. It's money he won't get back - but he's speaking out, because he says what's happened to him and to fellow probationary employees - is simply wrong.

"If these individuals took a new position in the past calendar year that places them in probationary status - so even they have 10 or 15 years of outstanding performance - they were indiscriminantly let go using boilerplate language referencing poor performance," he said.

Sprehe knows it's wrong and that he'll find another job. After all, he has two masters' degrees. He's dedicated to the core values of the Air Force - integrity first - service before self - excellence in all we do.  He says it's just unfortunate those qualities aren't being exercised by those in charge.

"Agencies should have the autonomy to do their mission and, at least in the case of Veterans Affairs - it's serving America's veterans - i am America's veteran - where's my service?" he said.

The other side:

A spokesperson with Detroit's VA says services to veterans won't be impacted by the small number of firings- and they can't discuss specific personnel issues.

But Sprehe is sounding the alarm about what's happening and its potential impact.

"It's haphazard - it's short-sighted - and it's potentially dangerous," he said.

Veteran Elliott Sprehe