Tag Archives: veterans

The government shutdown has been dragging on for two weeks. It’s been a dystopian stretch for America’s military and veteran community. The stoppage, led by President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, has frozen military pay, leaving active-duty military families wondering how they will pay their mortgages, feed their kids, …

President Donald Trump’s administration keeps denying that the Department of Veteran Affairs is headed toward privatization — just like it couldn’t stop denying that mass layoffs of 80,000 employees wouldn’t impact veteran care. But facts have a way of catching up. After intense pressure from veterans’ groups and Congress, the …

President Donald Trump’s administration has backed off its plan to fire 83,000 employees at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA will still get rid of about 30,000 employees, a figure that includes the thousands it has already let go. After arguing for months that the proposed cuts …

“Music is sometimes a good way to kick the front door open,” says Ken Casey, the lead singer for the Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys. On Friday, the 81st anniversary of D-Day, Casey and his band took to the stage on the National Mall, the headline act as several politicians …

In 1932, veterans pitched tents along the Anacostia River. In sweltering summer heat, tens of thousands of World War I veterans and their families formed a protest encampment in Washington, D.C. They called themselves the Bonus Army, and they came with one message: America must honor its promises to those …

Lives ruined. G.I. Bill mortgages heading into default, mass firings of veterans across the government, and 80,000 job cuts coming to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, all in the name of supposed cost savings sought by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. But a new U.S. Treasury Department report …

I remember returning from serving in support of the Iraq War, while my ship was undergoing a maintenance period, and seeing news of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal breaking on CNN. The scandal was the worst thing to happen to the U.S. Army since the Vietnam War. Sitting on my …

When veterans came home from war — from Vietnam, from Iraq, from Afghanistan — many of us didn’t stop serving. We traded our uniforms for suits. Veterans joined the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Commerce Department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and every agency flying …

When I left the military, like so many veterans before me, I believed in the promise of America. I had served my country, was deployed in support of two wars, and was ready to build a future — one that included a stable job, a home, and the security that …

The Veterans Administration (VA) is planning for mass layoffs that will start in June, according to Reuters, which reviewed an internal government memo. The March 6 memo instructs the VA’s human resources department to review agency operations by June. Once the review is complete, “VA will initiate Department-wide RIF actions,” …