Latest news with #VeteransAdministration
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Memorial Day serves to highlight the Trump administration's shabby treatment of veterans
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight) Today is Memorial Day – the day on which we honor the memory of the servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. All caring and thinking people should take at least a moment today to lift up these heroes. And today would also be a good one to help assure that the government supports the heroes who are still with us. And sadly, the need here is great. As recent news reports have recounted in painful detail, Trump administration budget cuts are decimating the already understaffed and underfunded Veterans Administration and VA hospitals. More than 80,000 employees are being fired and that's sure to wreak havoc with the services upon which millions of military veterans depend. At a Voices for Veterans event in Fayetteville last week, several vets blasted the cuts as cruel, shortsighted, and sure to cause enormous pain and suffering. The bottom line: Memorial Day is about remembering those we've lost – that's for sure – but we also honor their sacrifice by doing everything in our power to spare living veterans from an early grave. For NC Newsline, I'm Rob Schofield.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
A Memorial Day reminder to look out for the veterans among us
'I got you.' Terry Schow was on the phone with a young woman who had experienced an episode of sexual trauma when she was serving in the armed forces. She had filed a claim with the Veterans Administration, but the counselor she talked to only made her feel worse about her situation. Desperate, at her rope's end, she called Terry, a former Green Beret who served in Vietnam and in the 55-plus years since has made it his life's work to help fellow veterans. 'Mr. Schow,' she said, her voice choked with emotion, 'this is too hard, I just don't know if I can do this. I don't think I can move on.' That's when Terry uttered the three words that started this column. When he hung up, he sprang to life like he was back on the battlefield. He called his contacts at the VA. He gave them his opinion in no uncertain terms: 'This woman needs a sympathetic counselor, preferably a woman this time, she needs to be listened to, she needs to be taken care of.' A few weeks later, his phone rang again. 'Mr. Schow,' the woman said, 'thank you.' There was life back in her voice. She had been heard. She was moving on. She wanted to live instead of wanting to die. Schow is telling this story not to pat himself on the back, but to draw attention to a problem all too prevalent for veterans: suicide. The statistics are alarming. While suicide affects all aspects of the population, those who served in the military are especially hard hit. As a group, veterans make up 6% of the adult U.S. population, yet account for 20% of all adult suicide deaths. The yearly number has hovered above 6,000 for 22 straight years. What that equates to is that every day in America, 18 to 22 veterans, almost one per hour, end their own lives. And the majority aren't the aging and infirm. The highest percentage is among those aged 18 to 45. The reasons, as Terry explains, are many and varied, but a common denominator, he believes, is the sense of isolation when you leave full-time service and are faced with assimilating back into regular civilian life. This is especially true for those who have been in combat. 'In the military you're part of a team,' he says, 'and if you lose any part of your team in battle, it's awfully hard, it takes a heavy toll, because that person was a piece of you. And when you get out and come home, you can just kind of feel like you're wandering around alone.' It doesn't help, he adds, that 'many folks live inside their devices these days,' compounding the isolation. As a counterbalance, Schow is using Memorial Day as a backdrop to tout a suicide prevention program recently set up by the American Legion. It's called Be The One. 'Today, the No. 1 issue facing the veteran community is suicide,' states the American Legion on its website. 'The mission of the Be The One initiative is to reduce the rate of veteran suicide. We're actively working on lessening the stigma associated with mental health treatment and empowering everyone to take appropriate action when a veteran or service member is at risk — one life at a time.' The Legion's goal is to train 100,000 people in suicide prevention by the end of 2025. Anyone and everyone can get involved, says Terry, who is on the American Legion's national board of directors. It can be as simple as putting your arm around a veteran — ones you know and ones you don't know — and thanking them for their service. 'I'll go through an airport and see a guy with a hat on that says World War II or Korea or Vietnam and ask them how they're doing, where did they serve,' says Terry. 'I've never had anybody push me away. In fact, most of them are so willing. It sounds trite, but a simple thank-you can mean so much to these folks, because you don't know what demons they carry.' Terry points out that the VA 'has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on mental health. They've got a suicide team, they've got a PTSD team.' But for a veteran to take advantage of all the help and treatments available, sometimes what it takes is for someone else to step in and say, 'I got you.' 'If I knew the answers to all the questions about why (veterans consider suicide), I would be a wealthy man,' says Terry. 'But I'm just doing the Lord's work looking out for veterans. It is noble work. There's no pay, but you are rewarded manyfold by making a difference. 'Be The One is a great program. With Memorial Day coming up, it's a good reminder to look out for veterans and the sacrifices some of them carry we can't even see.'
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Voices for Veterans' panel: Nation has a moral obligation to care for those who served
Ann Marie Patterson-Powell (left) and Dr. Kyle Horton (right) discuss the nation's obligation to veterans during a 'Voices for Veterans' event in Fayetteville, N.C. (Screenshot from event video stream) A panel of speakers at a Tuesday 'Voices for Veterans' event recently agreed that America has a moral obligation to care for members of the military after they have completed their service. The panelists' remarks were in response to a question by moderator Michael McElroy, a political correspondent at Cardinal & Pine, the North Carolina online publication that hosted the event for the purpose of 'supporting North Carolina's veterans and military families.' The comments came amid concerns about steep staffing cuts at Veterans Administration hospitals. VA staff and supporters contend proposed cuts will hinder the ability to adequately care for veterans. More than 80,000 positions — just over 17% of the roughly 470,000 people it employs — could be eliminated as part of a major restructuring of the federal government's second largest department. The Trump administration is thinking about numbers and not people when it proposes such deep cuts to the VA, said Ann Marie Patterson-Powell, a VA nurse. 'They're not looking at the human side of it. Patterson-Powell said. 'We promised those who signed up and left their families, their homes — everything behind — to serve the country. We said, 'If you do this for me, we're going to take care of you when you come back.'' The nation must do for veterans what it said it would do with 'no strings attached, with no arguments, with no pushback,' Patterson-Powell said. (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz defended the Trump administration's planned staffing cuts, saying, 'We're going to maintain VA's mission-essential jobs like doctors, nurses and claims processors, while phasing out non-mission essential roles like DEI officers.') Dr. Kyle Horton, founder of On Your Side Health, a nonprofit that addresses health care disparities and works to improve veterans' care, said the nation has a sacred obligation to protect those who serve. 'Those who wrote a blank check in service to this country with their lives do not deserve to be penny-pinched by Washington bureaucrats,' Horton said. Horton added: 'They don't deserve to be penny-pinched by Captain Bone Spurs in the White House [a reference to President Donald Trump, who obtained a medical excuse from serving in the Vietnam War due to bone spurs] right now and they don't deserve to be penny pinched by DOGE [the so-called Department of Government Efficiency] and [Elon] Musk who don't even know what they're doing. Period.' Patterson-Powell said there is a push by the Trump administration to privatize the VA. That could be harmful to veterans who wouldn't receive the specialized care they now get at the VA, she said. Scott Peoples, a retired Army captain, member of Veterans for Responsible Leadership (VFRL) and an advocate for free and fair elections, noted that America fights its wars with volunteers. The proposed budget VA budget cuts could make people think twice about making a commitment to serve, Peoples said. 'How we take care of them after service is kind of our Number One recruiting tool as well for future people who want to join the military,' Peoples said. He said the Trump administration's firing of VA staff members made him angry. 'Every single one of those people got into it for the right reasons; wants to serve their country by taking care of our veterans and the way they have so inhumanely shrugged off cutting people with no transparency, just people receiving emails, people having moved their families across country [to work at the VA], is just despicable,' Peoples said. Grier Martin, Secretary of the NC Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, said the cuts would have a devastating impact on rural communities. 'If these cuts go through, you're going to see the VA's presence in rural areas start to dry out,' Martin said. 'These are areas that are already starting to see their civilian hospitals close also.' The state's decision to expand Medicaid has been helpful in helping some rural hospitals remain open, he said, but veterans will have difficulty finding care near home if the VA's presence is diminished. 'If you live on the coast, you're not going to drive to Durham and you're probably not going to drive to Fayetteville to the VA hospital to get your care,' Grier said. Rep. Eric Ager (D-Buncombe) said the outpouring of concern and support for veterans gives him cause for hope amid threats of major cuts to the VA. 'That is how change happens,' Ager said. 'It may not be immediate. It may not always be completely satisfying. But the fact that veterans are coming together, that the community is coming together to support veterans, I think will eventually lead to change.' A second panel discussion moderated by Cardinal & Pine's managing editor Billy Ball, focused on threats to democracy and the evolving role of veterans as defenders of democracy. Panelist Bobby Jones, president of VFRL and retired Navy commander, said he could see the cost of freedom in the faces of the veterans in the audience. Jones said the services the VA provides are essential to national security. 'I know this panel is about national security, but my thing is you cannot have one without the other,' Jones said. 'The VA has to be sound in order for us to have a proper national security apparatus.' Jones was critical of Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He said neither man understands the concept of service to country. 'For the first time, I believe in American history, we have leadership that doesn't get it, that thinks the Constitution is nothing more than a suggestion,' Jones said. 'Hell, even the South for the Civil War had the good sense to defect and secede before going against the Constitution.' America is in 'unparalleled, unprecedented times' and veterans must step up to lead the country out the quagmire, Jones said. Ball asked the panel to discuss the much-watched North Carolina Supreme Court race between Republican Jefferson Griffin and Allison Riggs, a Democrat. The outcome of the closely contested race wasn't resolved until this month after nearly six months. Griffin conceded after a federal judge ordered the state to certify Riggs' election victory. Military and overseas votes were at the center of the election dispute. Griffin challenged the validity of some military and overseas absentee ballots in the 2024 contest. 'To protect military and veterans' families' votes, really has to come from the voters, really has to come from political pressure,' said Sean Wright, a former Army medic. 'We have to make it, as voters, unacceptable to take away the right to vote.' Rep. Terry Brown (D-Mecklenburg) said men and women who serve overseas have expectations that they will be treated with a certain amount of respect. 'This election really showed how little the powers that be cared about that,' Brown said. 'I like to think about it in terms of people that talk a good game, but they don't back it up.' Brown said Americans can't afford to take a day off defending democracy. 'We have to make sure that's it's not just doing election season, it's not just when there are votes on the line, it's not just when a bad thing happens,' Brown said. 'It's all the time that we're making sure that y'all are laser-focused on protecting against threats to our democracy.' Jay Carey, leader of Resist & Persist, a nonpartisan veterans advocacy organization, said the challenge to the state Supreme Court election was a test by the GOP to determine how much the judicial system and voters could stomach. Carey, who garnered national attention after he was escorted out of U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards' townhall meeting in Asheville in March, said there will be more challenges to valid election victories. 'They're [the challenges] are going to get more and more ridiculous,' Carey said. 'It's going to tie up time and waste more money. Like I said, it was a test. They just wanted to see what they could do.' The discussion turned to talk of Trump's removing the military's Judge Advocate Generals (JAG) and replacing them with what some panelists said are loyalists to the administration. JAGs advise commanders on legal matters and oversee the military judicial system. Jones said the legal protections provided by JAGs are critical to defending the nation against internal threats he fears are coming from the Trump administration. 'I can't stress the panic level enough on this,' Jones said. 'All of the dominoes are falling. To those of us paying attention, it's blatantly obvious. Any time there's a voice of dissent, they shut it down.' This story first appeared in the NC Newsline, a member with the Phoenix in the nonprofit States Newsroom.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Native veterans living and dead are remembered at Steele Indian School Park for Memorial Day
The Phoenix Indian Center and the Veterans Administration's Phoenix regional office honored Native veterans with a ceremony at Steele Indian School Park May 23. The event was held at the American Indian Veterans Memorial at the park's central flagpole, part of the site of the now-closed Indian boarding school. Among the speakers were descendants of Navajo Code Talkers, the Marines who used their ancestral language to create an unbreakable code during World War II, a Navajo woman veteran and Michael Welsh, deputy director for the Phoenix VA health care system. VA staff were also on hand to provide information and enroll veterans or their families for social service programs. Shine Jozefiak, a Diné U.S. Air Force veteran who now works as a community care specialist at the VA, recounted her time serving in emergency rooms during Operation Enduring Freedom. "I joined the Air Force to make my grandparents proud," said Jozefiak, who grew up on her grandparents' ranch outside Fort Defiance. Her grandfather Herbert Chee was a Korean War veteran. Many Native people came through the emergency room, where Jozefiak and others would treat and prepare them to be transported to Germany for long-term treatment. "We remember hearing taps, and cried when we saw the flag draped over a coffin," she said. "When the doctors declared a soldier had died, everything stopped. You could hear a pin drop because you know what happened." Jozefiak also said that she would speak in Navajo to wounded soldiers when they were brought in to the ER. "'It's so good to hear our language so far from home,' they would tell me as I prepped them for transport," she said. The honoring ceremony concluded with laying a hand-crafted wreath of red, white and blue flowers at the foot of one of the four pillars of the memorial. Each pillar commemorates a group of veterans who served and sacrificed for their nation, including Native veterans who paid the ultimate price for freedom. Welsh said the employees made the four-foot-diameter wreath because they couldn't locate one that size. Missing from the conversation was the fate of the tribal flags that had been on display in the lobby of the Phoenix VA Hospital for about 40 years. In March, the flags were unceremoniously removed in compliance with a new VA policy limiting which flags can be displayed on VA grounds. Tribal VA staff, not wishing for the flags to be stuffed into a closet and forgotten, took them to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which accepted them for safekeeping. A week later, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs accepted the flags to be displayed in the Capitol Rotunda, where they now reside. Hobbs invited a group of Native veterans and tribal leaders to see the flags April 8. "Phoenix Indian Center recognizes the importance of the Native community's military veterans over the years," said Warren Kontz, the Indian center's director of programs. "Native people have always protected their own lands." Kontz, who belongs to the Muscogee Creek and Navajo nations, said Memorial Day reflects Indigenous resiliency. "We recognize those who did not return," he said, "and we think of our ancestors who fought for this land." Debra Krol reports on Indigenous communities at the confluence of climate, culture and commerce in Arizona and the Intermountain West. Reach Krol at Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @debkrol and on Bluesky at @ This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Indian Center, VA honor Native veterans for Memorial Day
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Voices for Veterans' panel: Nation has a moral obligation to care for those who served
Ann Marie Patterson-Powell (left) and Dr. Kyle Horton (right) discuss the nation's obligation to veterans during a "Voices for Veterans" event in Fayetteville. (Photo: Screenshot from event video stream) A panel of speakers at a Tuesday 'Voices for Veterans' event in Fayetteville agreed that America has a moral obligation to care for members of the military after they have completed their service. The panelists' remarks were in response to a question by moderator Michael McElroy, a political correspondent at Cardinal & Pine, the online publication that hosted the event for the purpose of 'supporting North Carolina's veterans and military families.' The comments come amid concerns about steep staffing cuts at Veterans Administration hospitals. VA staff and supporters contend proposed cuts will hinder the ability to adequately care for veterans. More than 80,000 positions — just over 17% of the roughly 470,000 people it employs — could be eliminated as part of a major restructuring of the federal government's second largest department. The Trump administration is thinking about numbers and not people when it proposes such deep cuts to the VA, said Ann Marie Patterson-Powell, a VA nurse. 'They're not looking at the human side of it. Patterson-Powell said. 'We promised those who signed up and left their families, their homes — everything behind — to serve the country. We said, 'If you do this for me, we're going to take care of you when you come back.'' The nation must do for veterans what it said it would do with 'no strings attached, with no arguments, with no pushback,' Patterson-Powell said. Dr. Kyle Horton, founder of On Your Side Health, a nonprofit that addresses health care disparities and works to improve veterans' health care, said the nation has a sacred obligation to protect those who serve. 'Those who wrote a blank check in service to this country with their lives do not deserve to be penny-pinched by Washington bureaucrats,' Horton said. Horton added: 'They don't deserve to be penny-pinched by Captain Bone Spurs in the White House [a reference to President Donald Trump, who obtained a medical excuse from serving in the Vietnam War due to bone spurs] right now and they don't deserve to be penny pinched by DOGE [the so-called Department of Government Efficiency] and [Elon] Musk who don't even know what they're doing. Period.' Patterson-Powell said there is a push by the Trump administration to privatize the VA. That could be harmful to veterans who wouldn't receive the specialized care they now get at the VA, she said. Scott Peoples, a retired Army captain, member of Veterans for Responsible Leadership (VFRL) and an advocate for free and fair elections, noted that America fights its wars with volunteers. The proposed budget VA budget cuts could make people think twice about making a commitment to serve, Peoples said. 'How we take care of them after service is kind of our Number One recruiting tool as well for future people who want to join the military,' Peoples said. He said the Trump administration's firing of VA staff members made him angry. 'Every single one of those people got into it for the right reasons; wants to serve their country by taking care of our veterans and the way they have so inhumanely shrugged off cutting people with no transparency, just people receiving emails, people having moved their families across country [to work at the VA], is just despicable,' Peoples said. Grier Martin, Secretary of the NC Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, said the cuts would have a devastating impact on rural communities. 'If these cuts go through, you're going to see the VA's presence in rural areas start to dry out,' Martin said. 'These are areas that are already starting to see their civilian hospitals close also.' The state's decision to expand Medicaid has been helpful in helping some rural hospitals remain open, he said, but veterans will have difficulty finding care near home if the VA's presence is diminished. 'If you live on the coast, you're not going to drive to Durham and you're probably not going to drive to Fayetteville to the VA hospital to get your care,' Grier said. Rep. Eric Ager (D-Buncombe) said the outpouring of concern and support for veterans gives him cause for hope amid threats of major cuts to the VA. 'That is how change happens,' Ager said. 'It may not be immediate. It may not always be completely satisfying. But the fact that veterans are coming together, that the community is coming together to support veterans, I think will eventually lead to change.' A second panel discussion moderated by Cardinal & Pine's managing editor Billy Ball, focused on threats to democracy and the evolving role of veterans as defenders of democracy. Panelist Bobby Jones, president of VFRL and retired Navy commander, said he could see the cost of freedom in the faces of the veterans in the audience. Jones said the services the VA provides are essential to national security. 'I know this panel is about national security, but my thing is you cannot have one without the other,' Jones said. 'The VA has to be sound in order for us to have a proper national security apparatus.' Jones was critical of Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He said neither man understands the concept of service to country. 'For the first time, I believe in American history, we have leadership that doesn't get it, that thinks the Constitution is nothing more than a suggestion,' Jones said. 'Hell, even the South for the Civil War had the good sense to defect and secede before going against the Constitution.' America is in 'unparalleled, unprecedented times' and veterans must step up to lead the country out the quagmire, Jones said. Ball asked the panel to discuss the much-watched North Carolina Supreme Court race between Republican Jefferson Griffin and Allison Riggs, a Democrat. The outcome of the closely contested race wasn't resolved until this month after nearly six months. Griffin conceded after a federal judge ordered the state to certify Riggs' election victory. Military and overseas votes were at the center of the election dispute. Griffin challenged the validity of some military and overseas absentee ballots in the 2024 contest. 'To protect military and veterans' families' votes, really has to come from the voters, really has to come from political pressure,' said Sean Wright, a former Army medic. 'We have to make it, as voters, unacceptable to take away the right to vote.' Rep. Terry Brown (D-Mecklenburg) said men and women who serve overseas have expectations that they will be treated with a certain amount of respect. 'This election really showed how little the powers that be cared about that,' Brown said. 'I like to think about it in terms of people that talk a good game, but they don't back it up.' Brown said Americans can't afford to take a day off defending democracy. 'We have to make sure that's it's not just doing election season, it's not just when there are votes on the line, it's not just when a bad thing happens,' Brown said. 'It's all the time that we're making sure that y'all are laser-focused on protecting against threats to our democracy.' Jay Carey, leader of Resist & Persist, a nonpartisan veterans advocacy organization, said the challenge to the state Supreme Court election was a test by the GOP to determine how much the judicial system and voters could stomach. Carey, who garnered national attention after he was escorted out of U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards' townhall meeting in Asheville in March, said there will be more challenges to valid election victories. 'They're [the challenges] are going to get more and more ridiculous,' Carey said. 'It's going to tie up time and waste more money Like I said, it was a test. They just wanted to see what they could do.' The discussion turned to talk of Trump's removing the military's Judge Advocate Generals (JAG) and replacing them with what some panelists said are loyalists to the administration. JAGs advise commanders on legal matters and oversee the military judicial system. Jones said the legal protections provided by JAGs are critical to defending the nation against internal threats he fears are coming from the Trump administration. 'I can't stress the panic level enough on this,' Jones said. 'All of the dominoes are falling. To those of us paying attention, it's blatantly obvious. Any time there's a voice of dissent, they shut it down.'
