🪖 Why Veterans Must Lead the Fight for Reform

We swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. That oath didn’t expire when our contract did. And while we may have left the battlefield, another fight has followed us home — the fight to fix the very system that failed us and so many others.

Veterans have always been a force for change. From the Bonus Army of the 1930s to the GI Bill revolution, and from the civil rights movement to the modern VA overhaul — it was veterans who showed up, spoke out, and stood their ground. Not just for themselves, but for the next generation.

Now it’s our turn.

We know how to follow orders — but more importantly, we know when to question them. We understand sacrifice. We understand bureaucracy. And most of all, we understand what it means to be left behind.

That’s why this movement can’t just be led by politicians or lobbyists. It has to be led by those of us who lived it. We’ve seen friends discharged without due process. We’ve watched wounded warriors get labeled as “non-deployable” and tossed aside. And we’ve felt the shame, confusion, and silence that follows.

But silence isn’t service.

Reform is.

When veterans speak up, people listen. We carry credibility. We carry lived experience. And when we organize together — across branches, backgrounds, and beliefs — we are a force no bureaucracy can ignore.

You don’t need a title to lead.

You need a reason.

And we have one.