How we handle your information
You shouldn't have to become publicly identifiable for the system failure to become visible.
We can identify a broken pattern without exposing the person who lived through it. That's not a slogan it's how our data system is actually built, in layers, so information is only handled at the level of sensitivity it actually needs.
If you're worried this could get you in trouble that's not what this is.
A lot of people hesitate to share their story because they're afraid it could somehow be used against them - flagged in their file, held against a claim, or turned into a problem for them personally. We hear that fear often, and we take it seriously enough to say plainly: that is not what we're building.
We're not investigating individuals, and we're not building a file on you. We're looking for patterns in how the system operates - where a process breaks down the same way, over and over, for different people in different places. Your experience is one data point in a pattern, not a case opened against anyone, including you.
We don't send your identifying information to VA, DoD, or anyone else. What eventually reaches oversight bodies and lawmakers is aggregated findings - the kind of statement you'll see below - not your name attached to a complaint. Participating in this research is not a claim, and it is not tied to any claim you have or may file.
01
Initial screening
A short, voluntary questionnaire focused on what happened medically not on identifying you. It doesn't ask for your legal name, address, Social Security number, VA claim number, or medical record number.
04
Structured evidence
Case-level findings are organized into structured, auditable records turning individual experiences into evidence that can be examined across many cases at once.
02
De-identified research
Identifying details are removed or separated before anything is used for pattern analysis. A research entry looks like a case description, not a name.
03
Advanced case work
If you choose to go further, a separate, more secure environment handles detailed records and documentation kept apart from the research dataset.
Always optional
Filling out just a screener is real participation not a smaller or incomplete version of it.
You never have to move past step one to matter to this work. A completed screener, on its own, helps us see where the harm signals actually are and what specific fix needs to be applied. Advanced case work exists for people who choose to go further it isn't the "real" version of participating, and a screener isn't a lesser one.
OUR INITIAL SCREENING DOES NOT ASK FOR
Full legal name
Home address
Military unit information
Social Security number
VA claim number
Medical record number
When a pattern points to a group, we coordinate as a group.
Sometimes our research doesn't just find one person's bad experience it finds a real, repeating pattern where a specific policy or workflow failure harmed a whole group of people the same way. When that happens, we don't ask one or two people to carry it forward while everyone else stays silent.
We work directly with oversight agencies and legal support to help coordinate a joint submission the whole affected group submitting together, if they choose to, not just one or two individuals sticking their necks out for everyone else. No one should have to be the only name attached to a complaint that actually describes what happened to dozens of people. There's real safety, and real strength, in not being the only one who spoke up.
What a public finding looks like
"38% of participants meeting documented criteria consistent with more-than-mild TBI were nevertheless recorded as having mild TBI."
That's the kind of statement our research is built to produce one that shows the scale of a problem without requiring any individual veteran to expose themselves publicly.
Evidence should come with solutions, not just a list of problems.
Wherever possible, what we send to oversight bodies and lawmakers doesn't stop at documenting harm. It answers five more questions:
What's failing: The specific breakdown, named precisely.
Why it's failing: The policy, workflow, incentive, or infrastructure gap behind it.
What could change: A specific, actionable fix not a general call for reform.
Who it helps: What actually improves for veterans and service members.
What it saves: Untreated injuries don't disappear they resurface as ER visits, disability, hospitalization, and crisis care. Fixing the root cause is a financial question, not only a human one.
"The veteran should not have to become publicly identifiable for the system failure to become visible."
Ready to share your experience? Every case file has its own screener, matched to what happened.
A mutual-aid and research organization correcting the root cause of institutional harm.
Behind The 22 is a mutual-aid and research organization. Nothing on this site is medical advice, legal advice, or a VA/DoD claim of any kind, and no information here should be used as a substitute for consulting a qualified medical or legal professional about your own situation. Case information we collect is handled under a written consent protocol and is used, in de-identified and aggregated form, to identify recurring patterns never to authorize us to contact any agency, provider, or third party on a person's behalf without separate, explicit permission.
If you're in crisis right now: call or text 988, then press 1, or chat at veteranscrisisline.net
available 24/7, whether or not you're enrolled in VA care.