- Trump’s government cuts are affecting military veterans, causing losses and uncertainty.
- Military veterans make up 30% of the federal labor force.
- Employees of military veterans are afraid of further cuts, especially those with disabilities.
Military veterans say they are feeling a mixture of confusion, despair and fear of the cuts of the federal government.
A disabled veteran that was fired this month by the US Department of Agriculture said it is making the conclusions meet with a disability stipend. It worries that the benefit of veterans’ affairs can also be shortened. Her husband is unemployed while following a specialized military job.
“Just just a really difficult situation to be,” she told Business Insider.
Another veteran said her last break from another part of USDA suppressed her dream of a public service life. “I was really excited to be a federal employee,” she told her. “I wanted to be a civil servant.”
These former military and three others talked about BI about the condition of anonymity to protect their current jobs or to avoid career revenge if they seek government work in the future. Bi has verified their identity.
President Donald Trump’s government efficiency department, an operation led by Elon Musk, has fired thousands of government workers in the last few weeks. The cuts can be disproportionately influenced veterans.
According to the US Personnel Management Office, military veterans accounted for about 30% of federal employees in 2021, and many had disabilities related to the service.
“It is a middle finger for our heroes and their law and their service life,” Senator Tammy Duckworth reported during a press call on Wednesday. The congressman is a colonel of the Nationwide Retired Illinois Army, who remained disabled after a missile grenade hit its helicopter in Iraq.
Veterans have served “honorable, reliably and dignified”, the Democratic Senator continued. “They don’t deserve this treatment.”
‘I joined because I wanted to serve’
The veteran with the dreams of eternal public service was fired last week from her job as a land tester for USDA.
She is worried now The employer, the natural resource conservation service, can be distributed. The agency was created after the 1930s dust era to stop further soil erosion and prevent another such disaster.
“Without land, we have no ancient; we have no stability for buildings,” the woman said.
Approximately 6% of the US population is identified as veterans, according to the US census. The federal government’s hiring process gives veterans that were dismissed in honorable conditions priority over other labor applicants.
Now those veterans employees are in the chairs while the DOGE Commission reduces agencies – including USAID, the Department of Veterans’ Affraires and the Army soon – clearing operations that considers a loss of government resources.
Musk hopes to trim at least $ 2 trillion in waste.
Elon Musk hopes to cut at least $ 2 trillion dollars waste through Doge. Jim Watson/AFP through Getty Images
“Being in the army has really given me an appreciation for the service,” said the former USDA land employee for BI. “I joined because I wanted to serve. When I went to [Military Entrance Processing Station]I said, ‘I don’t care what work you get in, whatever job you put on is what my country needs. “”
She said her conclusion letter cited poor performance as the cause of the split.
However, the performance review documents of employees shared with Business Insider highlight the veteran’s performance as a reliable beneficiary. Over the past week, employees across the government have quoted the performance -led conclusions they hold have been cut off from their performance reviews.
‘We don’t know who or what to trust’
Other employees of agencies still not affected by cuts are afraid of what may come and uncertain about how to prepare.
A military veteran in the US Trade Department expressed concern for an elderly colleague, an army veteran with 100% disability assessment related to VA.
“We are concerned that people with disabilities and/or reasonable accommodation will be aimed at,” the trade employee told the anonymity from the concern they might be intended to speak publicly, BI said in an email . Reasonable accommodations allow an employee with disabilities to modify their hours, workspace or responsibilities.
The leadership of veterans’ affairs did not say that no decrease in benefits was planned, but some veterans said they are afraid they may change. According to a report of the Labor Bureau statistics in 2023, over 31% of veterans employed with a disability related to the public sector service.
The Department of Agriculture has been affected by the conclusions led by the DOGE. J. David AKE/Getty Images
“A few days we hear that veteran’s preference will protect us, and other days we hear veterans [and veteran health benefits] It can be aimed at a future wave of attacks, “they said, adding,” We don’t know who or what to believe. “
Others are concerned about the fate of veterans with disabilities in government roles. “People need to understand that it is difficult for veterans with disabilities ever to get jobs in the civil sector,” said a third test employee in USDA and disabled veteran that was fired last Thursday.
“They don’t get much respect in the civil sector as they do within the government,” she said.
The White House did not comment on the influence of the continuing cuts of the military veterans community.
‘No one knows what’s going on’
Another veteran who works in support of colleagues in the line of veterans’ crisis told her that she knows about a dozen colleagues about the status status that had been rested.
She said she and her collaborators serve as a kind of bridge between emergency responses and longer -term care, which can sometimes require a long day for a meeting.
“No one knows what’s going on,” she said, calling the uncertainty “nervous”.
The action of probation workers from the crisis line has tounded morality, she said.
“It’s a very difficult job and not many people can do it, or want to do it,” she said, adding that “there is a high burning rate, so when you find people in VCl and stay And love and love to stay, they are people of diamond-in-the-Rough. “
“I think there are debris or places they can shorten,” she told the deduction measures that take place in the federal government. “But in general, it’s the administrative things at the top, not us.”
“Here, we are actually doing the job,” she added. “Some of those jobs we need … Who will get it clumsy?”
Sam Fellman and Alice Tecotzky contributed to this report.