A 20-year Army veteran from Queens who served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan was recently fired from his communications job at the Bronx Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital under the Trump administration’s drastic cuts to the federal workforce.
Luke Graziani, 45, was at work on Feb. 13 when he received an email informing him that his services were no longer needed. He is among thousands of federal employees nationwide abruptly let go as part of workforce reductions spearheaded by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who frame the cuts as an effort to eliminate wasteful spending.
In a Feb. 21 interview with the Bronx Times, Graziani said he was “just absolutely shocked” to receive the DOGE email, which said that he had “not demonstrated that [his] employment at the Agency would be in the public interest.”
“My first thought was, ‘This can’t be real. This is not happening,’” he said.
He said by noon he was locked out of his e-mail account. By 3 p.m., he was leaving the building with his personal items in a cart in what he called “a walk of shame.” He had been working for the department, located at 130 W Kingsbridge Rd., for less than a year.
Graziani was far from the only one: the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that day that more than 1,000 employees who had served less than two years were dismissed.
The VA said in a press release that the mass firings “will save the department more than $98 million per year, and VA will redirect all of those resources back toward health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries.”
Graziani was five weeks away from completing his probationary year. He said he believes a small number of staffers at the Bronx VA were also terminated but doesn’t know who or how many.
A spokesperson for the Bronx VA could not be reached for comment on three separate dates, which was no surprise to Graziani, who said he was the only employee in that role.
“I’m essential personnel,” Graziani said. “Someone has to be in this seat doing this job.”
While official numbers of total cuts under Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have not been released, the number reportedly totals many thousands and have affected nearly every sector, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, National Park Service, Small Business Administration and more.
Graziani called the cuts “far-reaching” with “likely pretty devastating effects.” He said that while veterans can still expect good care at the Bronx VA, it seems no federal workers are protected from cuts locally and elsewhere.
“Is anybody even really safe from this? I don’t know,” said Graziani. “I have to assume the system, in all its checks and balances, will right itself.”
Called to serve
Graziani, who lives in Woodside, with his wife and four children, served 20 years in the Army as a supply specialist and in public affairs. He was deployed for two tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan and became disabled during his course of service. After retiring from the military in 2023, Graziani started at Pace University, and, after working a public relations stint as a government contractor, applied for the job at the Bronx VA, which involved handling internal and external communications for the Kingsbridge Heights facility.
After his second job interview, Graziani said he was all in, convinced that he was “called to give back to [his] fellow veterans.”
Not only did he view the VA as a stable workplace with good benefits and the opportunity to save towards “a real retirement,” he also felt a greater sense of purpose.
Many are unaware that people who join the federal civilian workforce must raise their right hand and swear an oath to protect the Constitution “just like a soldier would,” he said. “I fully understood what it meant.”
As a one-man department, Graziani wrote all-staff emails, managed social media, responded to press inquiries and helped coordinate public events for the Bronx VA hospital. He fondly recalled the Feb. 10 opening of the Thomas P. Noonan Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Ridgewood, Queens, where he served as master of ceremonies.
He called the DOGE firings “heartless” and “thoughtless” and said he and others seem to have received the “boilerplate [firing] memo” only because of their short employment duration.
Graziani said he had never been disciplined for poor performance and that his interactions with supervisors, including the VA director, garnered only positive feedback.
‘I’m just waiting’
As more cuts loom and the political fallout remains uncertain, Graziani declined to say whether or not he voted for President Trump. But either way, after Trump was declared the winner, Graziani said he had only one thought: “I just want and need him to do a good job for our country.”
At least one lawmaker, a fellow veteran, has publicly supported Graziani and called for Musk to answer to Congress for the firing.
U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan, who served two combat tours in Iraq and represents Orange and Dutchess Counties in the Hudson Valley, called Graziani’s dismissal “outrageous” in a Feb. 19 post on X.
“These are American heroes serving the American people, not political pawns,” Ryan wrote.
As the ongoing mass layoffs have sparked concern about the government’s ability to continue critical services and functions, Graziani has spoken to multiple media outlets, adding his story to the many others.
Graziani and his family remain on edge hoping that his supervisor can help him get his job back. Financially, “We’ll be okay for a little while, but not a long while,” he said.
Although he expressed confidence about his employability, especially since he’s close to finishing an MBA degree, he hopes that he can get his job back, in which case Graziani said he would immediately return to the Bronx VA.
When it comes to the job, he feels he was called to do, “I have not wavered or faltered in that dedication,” he said.
“I’m hopeful,” said Graziani. “I am waiting. Just waiting.”
