Nathan Hooven is a disabled Air Power veteran who voted for Donald Trump in November. Barely three months later, he’s now unemployed and says he feels betrayed by the president’s dramatic downsizing of the federal authorities that value him his job.
“I think a lot of other veterans voted the same way, and we have been betrayed,” mentioned Hooven, who was fired in February from a Virginia medical facility for veterans. “I feel like my life and the lives of so many like me, so many that have sacrificed so much for this country, are being destroyed.”
The mass firing of federal staff since Trump took workplace in January is pushing out veterans who make up 30% of the nation’s federal workforce. The precise variety of veterans who’ve misplaced their job is unknown, though Home Democrats final month estimated that it was probably within the hundreds.
Extra may very well be on the best way. The Division of Veterans Affairs — a serious employer of veterans — is planning a reorganization that features reducing over 80,000 jobs from the sprawling company, in accordance with an inner memo obtained by The Related Press. Veterans symbolize greater than 25% of the VA’s workforce.
James Stancil, a 62-year-old Military veteran who was fired final month from his job as a provide technician at a VA hospital in Milwaukee, mentioned it felt like he’d been shot and dumped out of a helicopter.
“And you just free fall and hit the ground — that’s it,” mentioned Stancil, who supported Democrat Kamala Harris final yr. “I’m not dead weight. You’re tossing off the wrong stuff.”
“I’ve been blindsided,” Hooven mentioned. “My life has been completely upended with zero chance to prepare. I was fired without notice, unjustly, based on a lie that I’m a subpar, poor performer at my job.”
Stancil mentioned he believes Trump owes fired veterans an apology.
Requested this week about fired federal employees who’re veterans, Alina Habba, a former member of Trump’s private authorized crew who now serves as a counselor within the White Home, defended the cuts.
“But at the same time, we have taxpayer dollars, we have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people that actually work,” Habba advised reporters. “That doesn’t mean that we forget our veterans, by any means. We are going to care for them in the right way. But perhaps they’re not fit to have a job at this moment, or not willing to come to work.”
Veterans had been a lot likelier to assist Trump than Harris in November’s presidential election, in accordance with AP VoteCast, a survey of the American citizens carried out in all 50 states. Almost 6 in 10 voters who’re veterans backed Trump, whereas about 4 in 10 voted for Harris.
Cynthia Williams, an Military veteran who misplaced her job as a dispatcher at a VA in Ann Arbor, Michigan, mentioned she didn’t vote for both candidate however suspects fellow veterans who backed Trump may need modified their minds had they recognized this was coming.
“It was blindsiding, because he said he wanted to make the country great again … but this is not making it great again,” Williams mentioned.
Matthew Sims, an Military veteran, misplaced his job final month as a program assist assistant at a psychological well being clinic at a VA in Salem, Virginia, after transferring along with his spouse and three kids from Texas. He voted for Trump and mentioned he helps lowering the dimensions of the federal authorities however not this fashion.
“I support downsizing, but it’s just the way they’re going about doing it. It’s like the chainsaw approach, I guess, versus the surgical approach that they should be doing,” Sims mentioned.
Evans, a 36-year-old Military veteran, was the one one working in his household. He mentioned he feels scared, numb and indignant.
“I cried,” Evans mentioned about studying of his firing. “I haven’t done that in a while, because you’re just kind of free falling now. You’re in an area to where you’re not really familiar with, and you’re just being left out to dry.”
