By Ben Banchs | Business Manager | LIUNA Local 1776

February 22, 2025

Mandeville, LA - Based on the most current numbers available, Veterans make up a very large portion of the Department of Defense (DoD) workforce. According to the latest data, the Air Force has the most with 57% of its civilian employees claiming Veteran status. The Army comes in second with around 50%. Navy boasts 41%, and other DoD components have around 37%.

The cuts announced this week will result in tens of thousands of Veterans being kicked to the street jobless. This is the opposite of what we, as a society, are supposed to be doing, which is taking care of Veterans. This is also further evidence that the cuts being enacted by Trump and his sidekick Musk are being made without any consideration on the impact it will have on employees and their families or whether they are even needed.

As I wrote in an earlier post, the employees losing their jobs are not faceless assholes. The arbitrary cuts are having real effects on American families, especially Veterans. They are your neighbors, friends, and family members. It also shows a disconnect between what Trump claims to be and what he really is. Does he really care for our men and women in the military? Does he really care for Veterans and their families? What does it say that in the next month or so, nearly 30,000 Veterans will be jobless, just in DoD alone. When you take into account the rest of the federal workforce, the total number of Veterans that will eventually lose their jobs will be closer to 100,000 and possibly more.

For some, it’s been pretty clear how Trump feels about Veterans. He says he’s all about taking care of and honoring Veterans, but he’s also faced criticism for disparaging the service of those that disagreed and challenged him in the past, most famously, John McCain. However, even if you believe Trump does care for Veterans, taking away their paychecks and making them financially unstable as inflation keeps making everything more expensive surely doesn’t feel like the kind of support Veterans and their families need at this moment. There’s an old cliche, don’t piss on my back and tell me it’s raining. To the Veterans that are about to get their walking papers, it’s pretty clear, those aren’t rain drops.

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