About Tbird’s Quiet Fight
Tbird’s Quiet Fight is an independent investigative publication covering the Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans’ benefits policy, and the contractors, officials, and institutions that shape veterans’ access to care and compensation.
TQF publishes original reporting, document-driven investigations, and policy analysis for veterans, press, policymakers, and advocates working on veterans’ issues.
Founder and Editor
Theresa “Tbird” Aldrich is a U.S. Navy veteran who served with VAQ-34 from 1983 to 1990. She is the founder of HadIt.com, one of the longest-running veteran-to-veteran VA claims communities on the internet, established in 1997.
She serves on the Advisory Board of the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute (VHPI), a national nonpartisan organization working to protect and improve the VA healthcare system.
What TQF Covers
Recurring beats:
VA privatization and the Community Care Network
The Oracle/Cerner electronic health record rollout and its documented harm to veterans
Congressional oversight failures and the political appointees shaping veterans policy
PACT Act implementation and rollback
Federal court decisions affecting veterans’ claims
VA Office of Inspector General and GAO findings, tracked over time rather than covered once
Ongoing series:
Ballcap Caucus. Profiles of the members of Congress who campaign on veteran identity, measured against their voting records and committee work.
Diary of a Mad Sailor. First-person accounts from a Navy enlistment that ran 1983 to 1990, and from three decades inside the VA claims system as a claimant and as an advocate.
Paid subscribers keep this work alive. No advertising, no sponsors, no institutional funding.
Who I Work With
I report independently, and I disclose the relationships that could bear on that.
I serve on the VHPI Advisory Board. It is an unpaid position. I cover VA healthcare policy that VHPI also works on, including the Oracle EHR program and Community Care, and I report on it without clearing anything through them.
I have collaborated with journalist Suzanne Gordon, who publishes VA Champion and The Team Intelligencer, including co-bylined work published there. She reports on the same VA healthcare territory. Where our work overlaps, I say so in the piece.
I have no financial relationship with any law firm, claims representation company, veterans service organization, or VA contractor. I accept no referral fees. HadIt.com and TQF take no sponsorships or advertising.
Editorial Standards
TQF uses a three-tier evidence framework for every claim: documented facts with primary sources, attributed allegations with identified sources, and analytical questions carrying their supporting evidence trail. FOIA requests, court filings, congressional records, and agency documents back every investigation.
Stonewalling, delays, and overbroad exemptions get documented and reported. When an agency spends real effort keeping a document out of public hands, that effort is part of the story.
Corrections are made openly and noted in the piece.
AI Disclosure
I use AI as a research and editing assistant, the same way I’d use a good reference book or a sharp editor. Every word published here is reviewed, verified, and approved by me. The perspective, accuracy, and editorial decisions are mine.
Contact
Press and advocate inquiries, and confidential tips: ipersist@tbirdsquietfight.com
Theresa “Tbird” Aldrich, Navy veteran (VAQ-34, 1983-1990), Investigative Journalist, TbirdsQuietFight.com, Founder of HadIt.com | Advisory Board Member, Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute (VHPI).
Last verified: July 31, 2026
