COVID-19 takes enormous toll on veterans
“I loved the Air Force Reserve and all the people I served with. It was 30 fantastic years.” That’s what my father-in-law told my wife and me during a tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after his retirement.
His pride and gratitude toward his fellow service members is something almost universally understood and shared by Americans, except one — the Commander-in-Chief. I was appalled to read the recent allegations that President Trump called our wounded veterans “losers” and our war dead “suckers” for getting killed while defending our country. As a frontline civilian who worked with American troops in Afghanistan, I saw firsthand how these men and women in uniform conducted themselves — putting their lives on the line to protect our nation. They were heroes, not losers.
President Trump has done little to help our veterans — including Florida’s 1.5 million former service members — who are struggling because of the coronavirus. In places like Brevard County, where 65,000 veterans represent 10.7% of the community, veterans are now struggling to put meals on the table after being laid off or furloughed.
Heading into fall, it may get worse: Port
Canaveral is projecting a 79% revenue hit, which could force additional furloughs and more veteran job losses.
The economic strain and psychological stress caused by prolonged social distancing and isolation has resulted in a third of Americans feeling degrees of depression or anxiety.
Unfortunately, the veteran community may be disproportionately impacted. A June study found that the pandemic could result in an astonishing 550 additional veterans lost to suicide in the next year. This is on top of the 20 daily veteran suicides that our country suffers from already.
In addition, the study projected an additional 20,000 American veterans could suffer from substance-use disorders for every 5% increase in unemployment compared to pre-COVID-19 times. This is unacceptable and can be mitigated by smart and thoughtful policies that the current administration has, so far, declined to prioritize.
Finally, imagine you’re a new veteran transitioning from military to civilian life during the pandemic. If you were looking for opportunities to further your education and skills, you might enroll in college courses or take up vocational training with thousands of other Florida veterans.
But universities are struggling to stay open after a rash of coronavirus outbreaks nationwide, including at Florida State and UCF. With higher education moving towards distance learning indefinitely, how do veterans access key services that support their success at Florida’s 28 state and community colleges, such as UCF’s Veterans Academic Resource Center?
And what about vocational training? Veterans join the thousands of future paramedics, welders, and electricians studying at Florida’s technical colleges who are unable to accumulate the necessary realworld practice hours necessary to be certified.
Our veterans are transitioning to civilian life at a time when their job opportunities, access to health care and mental health services, and ability to receive higher education and vocational training have all been dramatically curtailed.
To ensure we take care of those who have sacrificed so much in our defense, we need policies that better protect our veterans from the negative impacts of COVID-19 immediately. To support veterans and their families, contact your Congress member and ask for four policy changes:
Coronavirus benefits: Urge support of the COVID–19 Benefits for Active Duty Servicemembers, the Reserve Components, and their Survivors Act to ensure veterans receive benefits they are entitled to if they have COVID-19 symptoms.
Job training and transition assistance:
Expand training and employment opportunities through the SkillBridge or similar programs, and boost investment in the Transition Assistance Program to help veterans prepare for civilian life during COVID-19.
Co-pays: Back bipartisan legislation to eliminate all co-pays for veteran preventative care.
Telehealth: Increase funding for and expand telehealth access, especially in rural communities.
Despite what President Trump thinks, my father-in-law and his veteran friends weren’t losers. But if we don’t enact meaningful policies to protect veterans and their families in pandemic times when they need us most, we’ll all be suckers.