With the Democratic National Convention taking place in Chicago this week where Vice President Kamala Harris will accept the party’s nomination, U.S. military veterans are saying they hope for better treatment and more attention to their issues under the next president.
Veterans face significant problems, one of the largest of which is a spike in veteran homelessness. Twenty-one-percent of veterans living in Chicago are homeless, while 34 percent of California veterans have no place to live. Across the country, more than 40,000 veterans are homeless.
A veterans’ campaigning group, Mission Roll Call, based in Georgia, conducted a recent survey of veterans to find out their top concerns that they want the presidential candidates to address. More than a quarter of the respondents, 28 percent, said the issue of veterans benefits should be a top concern for any presidential or vice presidential candidate.
Vet homelessness and health care for veterans were the top issues for 24 percent of respondents, while 16 percent said veteran suicides were their primary concern. In 2021, nearly 18 veterans killed themselves every day in the United States.
Mission Roll Call said veterans “make up the fabric of our country” and are responsible for the freedom and security that all Americans enjoy. There are currently 18.5 million veterans in the country.
The organization’s CEO Jim Whaley said military veterans are going to make their voices heard at the ballot box. He said the homeless rate and the number of suicides is an “embarrassment for our country,” and that though the issues are complicated, they could be addressed if elected officials made veterans affairs a priority.
Whaley added that 61 percent of veterans they’ve polled describe themselves as “underemployed.” Shockingly, a quarter of current, active-duty military service people are dealing with “food insecurity.”
Whaley said it’s just unacceptable. If you have signed up to serve your country and put your life at risk, he said, how is it possible that you’re struggling to “put food on the table?”
Both Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz (Governor of Minnesota) and JD Vance, Republican Senator from Ohio, are military veterans. Whether either or both will have a message that veterans approve of remains to be seen.
