VA: what is it here?

Question

Hello!Help me, please!What does VA stand for in this context (sorry for one unprinted word there but it is a part of the short story I am translating):"Eva was stricken. Lonny didn't blame her. This was it, the future. This was what they were all going to be. Holy F**g Christ. By the time he got it, with his luck, so many people would be sick, there wouldn't be enough people to take care of them. He figured if he got sick he would go to the VA, but really, if he got like this, he was going to OD. Take so much stuff his heart shredded".My variant: it is fighter squadron or something else connected with an armyAm I right?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Veterans' Administration.

JohnParis · Answer

If this paragraph is within a military context, VA refer to the United States Veterans Administration. This department of the federal government is responsible for veteran's affairs and also has a medical service that administers care in hundreds of hospitals and health care centers thorough out the country.

Angelika Vasilyeva · Answer

Thank you!!
It suits this context, thanks once again!

Anonymous · Answer

None of the above answers are complete. in this context, while VA means Veteran's Administration, it does not mean go to the government agency. That would mean a visit to am office of the agency.

But in the context of discussing a health crisis, the sentence - and the one that follows, are idiomatic language for:

"He thought that if he got sick, he would go to the VA Hospital, but really, if he got like this, he was going to overdose. Take so much drugs his heart shredded".

In plain language, he saying that before he became too sick, he would rather die by self-administered poison so strong that it would destroy his heart.

People, if you are going to help understand English, you must understand idioms. You must recognize the difference between an idiomatic expression and its plain language meaning. In my experience, most people not only speak in idioms and cliches most of the time, they do not know they are doing it.

in the above sentence,

"the VA" is an idiom for "a Veterans Administration Hospital" (a hopsital where military veterans can get free or deeply subsidized health care, either as n outpatient or as a patient. There are many such hospitals but in this context, the definite article "the" that normally would indicate singularity or specificity, is also idiomatic because it is saying he would go to any convenient institution of that type. He would not be refering to any specific location.

OD means drug overdose because it is the shorthand characters that a police report or a coroner might put on a written report.

"figured" is a common idiom that means (in dative form) "to think" or "to calculate" or "to decide." It is sometimes used as "figured out" to describe the process of understanding something that was confusing or even deliberately hidden.

Angelika Vasilyeva · Answer

Thank you very much for the detailed answer!
I guessed that it is connected with a hospital, but now I realize that it really is and that the thing I supposed was right. Besides, now I understand and can imagine what exactly the author talks about. It is important for a translation. And thank you for a detailed description of all of the idioms!

VA: what is it here?

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