Nathan Barrera-Bunch took a job as a management analyst at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) after watching his grandfather, a Vietnam War veteran, struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

His boyfriend, also a government worker, encouraged the move, telling Barerra-Bunch that public service would offer greater stability than the private sector.

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But just under three months into the job, Barrera-Bunch was fired without a performance review or even a warning by Elon Musk’s cronies at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

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“I was hired into an office specifically tasked with improving coordination within the VA, increasing efficiency, and, in many ways, working toward the very goals that President Trump and Elon Musk have publicly advocated for,” Barrera-Bunch told Advocate.

The termination came via email on the evening of February 13. It had no formal documentation beyond saying that Barrera-Bunch had been dismissed for performance reasons. To this day, he has not received a single formal review.

Barrera-Bunch is one of thousands of federal workers who were fired during a “probationary period.” While he was worried, his firing still came as a shock because he had received assurance from leadership at the VA that DOGE wouldn’t dare touch an association for veterans.

“We were repeatedly asking if layoffs were coming because we were afraid. But nearly everyone assured us, ‘Veterans are a bipartisan priority, so cuts here are unlikely.’ They promised it wouldn’t happen. Then it did.”

Barrera-Bunch is stuck splitting $2,000 in monthly rent for a basement apartment in D.C., which he shares with his partner. He thinks his partner’s job is safe, but the couple still fears for their overall financial security.

Barrera-Bunch also lost access to critical medication when he lost the health insurance that came with his job.

After Barrera-Bunch found out he was fired, he said he was “rushing between my doctor and the pharmacist to see if I could get them to refill a prescription for my HIV prevention medication or my anti-anxiety medication. ‘It’s too early before your next refill,’ the insurance said… even though they knew I was losing health insurance only three days before I’d be eligible for a refill.”

To make matters even worse, Barrera-Bunch’s firing is listed as performance-based, meaning it is much harder to qualify for unemployment. This, Barrera-Bunch says, is a deliberate attempt to leave terminated employees with no financial support.

 “They fired thousands of probationary employees so they couldn’t get unemployment. Just say it outright: They are intentionally gutting the middle class of D.C.”

Still, he doesn’t blame all Trump supporters. “I don’t feel bad for people who knew exactly who Trump was and still voted for him.”

“Some people are only going to learn through suffering; unfortunately, we’re all suffering because of them. If you didn’t want to pay attention to what he did before, well, now you get to experience it firsthand,” he added.

Director of Employment Services Unique Morris-Hughes told Advocate that “there is language in some of these letters that cites performance as a reason for termination. I have not received any additional guidance from the Department of Labor on whether we should be treating these claims differently than how we normally treat claims.”

Even though Barrera-Bunch is daunted by the future, he is defiant in the face of DOGE and Trump.

“This isn’t just about me,” he said. “If they can do this to federal employees, they can do it to anyone. And people need to wake up before it happens to them.”

Barrera-Bunch knows that the DOGE terminations will have concrete effects on the work of the VA.

“This isn’t just some abstract political decision. These are real jobs, real people. This is happening to your neighbors, your friends, and your family members.”

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