Marine veteran and Purple Heart recipient Thomas Brennan has struggled with debilitating headaches since suffering a brain injury in the field, but getting adequate medical care is a struggle of its own.

Navigating the straits of VA medical care is full obstacles, but some VA employees remain aware of the organization’s failings and dedicated to helping veterans get the medicine they need. The following clip is audio footage Brennan recorded while attempting to get medicine for his chronic migraines.

The nurse practitioner on the phone, Lydia Janning, shows that there are still some good guys left in the clinic of hundreds.

Brennan: The veterans don’t care about the wait time, we just want to feel like we fucking matter. And when you’re sitting at home like this, you don’t feel like you matter to the doctors who are supposed to take care of you.

Janning: I know.

Brennan: You don’t know, you’re not sitting here with the headache right now. You’re not. You don’t know.

Janning: You’re right, I don’t. But I do know that there are a hundred veterans here every day saying the same thing … and we do the best we can.