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- [Presenter 2] On this episode of "Defense News Weekly,"
a conversation with the recently appointed CEO
of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
As change sweeps the nation and its armed services,
how are veterans being affected?
Our reporter digs into the details
with Marine Corps veteran Kyleanne Hunter.
Plus, we learn about a new program
aimed at supporting Afghan allies.
Coming to you from Washington, DC,
it's the latest in news and analysis,
from the Pentagon to the platoon,
here on "Defense News Weekly."
(upbeat determined music)
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- Welcome back to "Defense News Weekly."
I'm Leo Shane, Capitol Hill Bureau Chief for Military Times,
coming to you today from our studio in Washington, DC.
Today, we're here to dive into veterans concerns,
specifically as they relate to troops
who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars
and what issues they're facing today.
New administration in the White House
and new administration of VA
have been driving rapid changes in veterans policy
since earlier this year.
And who better to talk to us
than Marine Corps veteran Kyleanne Hunter.
How are you doin' today?
- I'm doing great. How are you doin'?
- I'm doin' all right.
You were recently appointed the new CEO
of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America,
so congratulations on that.
And I'm sorry on that
'cause I know there's a lot of work with that.
You've been in the position for a few months now,
but I know one of the challenges that IAVA has had
is trying to keep the wars, the recent wars, relevant.
I mean, we're moving further and further away
from folks actually on the ground.
You know, the headlines are shifting
towards the potential wars of the future,
towards the changes and things.
What is your biggest challenge
when you're looking at the population
of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans
and keeping the public informed
in just what their issues are and, you know, making sure
that they're being paid attention to?
- Yeah, thank you so much for that.
And, you know, it has been a challenge
to keep these sort of wars
in the forefront of the public mind,
even as they were happening.
You know, it was, I think, right after 9/11,
you know, we saw a big surge
in public support for the troops.
I think even then, again,
you know, after the invasion of Iraq in 2003
we saw again another,
you know, sort of public zeitgeist movement of this.
But, you know, for decades, at this point,
it's been sort of out of the front of mind
of the public, right?
It's been very easy to forget about it.
But what's really important to remember
is that these were the longest wars
that the US has been in.
You know, for nearly two decades
we were involved in sustained combat operations.
And for our generation that served in Iraq and Afghanistan,
most of the people served multiple tours
and deployments that we had there.
Folks served in a variety of different capacities.
You know, given the type of warfare that we're serving,
we had people often serving outside
of their primary military occupational specialty.
So, while advocacy is really our key tenet at IAVA,
education is very important as well.
And education in educating our veterans
as to why this matters, but really the public.
Why should the public care about veterans issues?
You know, the post-9/11 generation of veterans
is the most diverse that we have ever seen
on every single factor of diversity.
I know that sometimes can sound like a bad word,
but it's just the truth that we have right now.
And these are folks who are now in the civilian population
doing every single job under the sun, right?
So why does this matter to the American people,
is that the veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan,
you know, we're not some isolated class anymore
that's doing combat rotation after combat rotation,
after combat rotation.
You know, we're your neighbors, we're teachers,
bankers, firefighters, you know, across the gamut.
And that's why the American people
really need to keep caring.
- I think it's interesting,
and with you bringing up that it's a different war,
it's a different deployment, I think a lot of folks thought,
you know, as we go in, went into these wars,
okay, well, we've got the infrastructure,
you've got the old VA,
you've got the old transition things and everything.
But it is such a different conflict
and a different response back home.
As you said, you know, you've got a,
you know, very diverse population,
you've got them moving into the workforce,
they're bringing skills and experiences that are different.
Those multiple deployments are things.
So, I mean, how much do you get the sense
that the public does appreciate that
and does understand this
now that we are starting to get pretty far in here?
This is more than 20 years,
it's a lesson that we should've picked up.
- We should have.
But I think, unfortunately,
it's still very easy to not think about veterans issues
on a day-to-day basis, right, I think.
The public sort of sees veterans as one of two ways:
either this class that we put on a pedestal
as some like, you know, amazing,
you know, almost superhuman side, right,
that they need to be revered in every single way
and they're flawless;
or we're portrayed as being these broken,
angry PTSD-riddled people.
And neither of which are very necessarily easy
for the public to deal with, right?
You know, it's sort of easier to reduce us to those,
where in reality, you know,
we are people who just want to be,
you know, back in the workforce, back engaging.
But, you know, as you started to allude to,
sort of the old VA infrastructure isn't set up
to really handle either the type of population that we are,
the type of compound and cumulative exposures that we had,
both physically, mentally, and psychologically,
as well as how we really meaningfully leverage
all of the skills that were built
over the course of these conflicts
to improve the workforce, right,
to improve the America as a country.
So there's still a lot of work to be done.
- Yeah, and the veterans are people too thing
is one that I like to pull out in the conversation.
- Yeah, exactly. - They're reminding folks
that this is not some sort of weird other
that we're including.
These are your neighbors, so...
- We live among you. - Exactly, exactly.
So you've been in the advocacy world
for quite some time on a lot of veterans issues
and larger societal issues,
so this is not new to you, but you are new to IAVA.
Is there anything that since you've come in
you've been surprised that has been a focus
or an issue that you're gonna need to tackle
now that you're helming this organization,
which has been a pretty important voice
for the last 20 years on these issues?
- Absolutely.
I think one of the biggest surprises is that,
you know, when we go out and we survey our members,
you know, we talk to the folks who are veterans
and who are part of our advocacy programs,
is that they don't only care about the VA
as an issue, right?
I think it's easy to say,
"Oh, they care about veterans' health care,
they care about veterans' employment,"
they do, but there's so many other issues
that are really top of mind for this population,
whether it is access to public lands,
which has come up quite a bit,
you know, the ability to go out
and really enjoy public lands
is something that we fought for.
You know, as one of our partners once said
that like parks are patriotic, right?
This is part of who we are,
the deep, deep continued commitment to our allies,
and not just our Iraq and Afghanistan allies,
which I know we'll talk about,
but, you know, our NATO allies,
our place in the world, right?
The sense that everything that we did for 20 years
was only done shoulder to shoulder
with our friends and allies.
So that sort of foreign policy piece
that people deeply, deeply care about.
But also broader issues are top of mind,
whether it is access to SNAP benefits,
access to Medicaid benefits,
something which many of our members
have benefited from these programs.
So I think it surprises just how,
like, widespread the issues are
that both our members care about
and they see really directly touching their lives.
And so like the VA isn't the only veterans issue
that's out there.
There's a lot of other sort of public support infrastructure
that is essential for veterans to thrive.
- Okay, you mentioned the Afghan allies issue,
and I know this is one that the organization
has been focused on for quite some time.
You guys recently announced a partnership with AfghanEvac
for the Battle Buddies program.
This actually puts veterans
into courthouses and judicial hearings
with individuals, with Afghan immigrants
who are trying to work through
some of the issues we're seeing now.
So talk to me about the decision to partner on that
and why this is an important program.
- Yeah, so Battle Buddies is something
I'm incredibly excited and proud about.
This came in relation to Sayed,
who worked with the US DOD
as well as a few other US government agencies
in Afghanistan.
He came here legally.
He followed the process
that he was supposed to to follow through here.
He was on parole, awaiting his permanent status hearing.
He went to the courthouse and he was detained at this point.
And that story is really what launched Battle Buddies,
because it resulted in huge outcry from our community.
You know, if we look at,
you know, historically, going back 20 years,
over 75% of our members
thinks that we need to be doing more
to make it easier for our wartime allies to come here.
And so seeing him detained,
we thought, "What is one thing that we can do right away?"
Well, one thing we can do
is stand shoulder to shoulder with these allies
the way that they did with us
when we were in their country, right?
We showed up in their countries,
they stood shoulder to shoulder
because they believe in democracy,
because they believe in the rule of law.
And as a result of what they did for us,
we promised them a safe and meaningful pathway here, right,
pathway to the US, that we would protect them.
These people are under incredible, incredible distress
in Afghanistan in particular,
but now we're seeing Iraq also
become more and more dangerous.
And they're in danger because they helped us.
And so this program, it's not a protest, it's not political,
it is an opportunity for veterans
to raise their hand and stand up
and accompany our Afghan wartime allies to their hearings,
to bear witness, to witness the rule of law,
and to send a message that we're not going anywhere.
We've had over 500 veteran volunteers
in all 50 states now sign up,
and we're starting to partner and pair those veterans
with our wartime allies who need it.
And as, you know, things like temporary protected status
and special immigrant visas are more and more in flux,
the need's only gonna be greater
for us to continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
- All right, great. Listen, time for a quick break.
When we come back, we'll discuss how VA cuts
have affected younger veterans.
So stay tuned.
(upbeat determined music)
Welcome back to "Defense News Weekly,"
where we're talking with Iraq and Afghanistan
Veterans of America CEO Kyleanne Hunter.
Kyleanne, we've seen a fair amount of upheaval
at the Pentagon and the VA in the last few months,
and I wanted to dive into some of that.
What are you hearing from your members
about the concerns they're seeing
both changes at the Pentagon
and changes at the VA right now?
- So, you know, as you said, we've seen a lot of upheaval.
I'm gonna start with the VA first
and then move to the Pentagon,
because I think they are very, very interrelated.
But I think understanding sort of the feelings about the VA
relate to why there's so many concerns
about what's happening in the Pentagon.
So there's been a lot of opaqueness
around the VA right now.
There was words that there was gonna be a reduction in force
of 83,000 VA employees,
and nobody really knew where they were coming from.
Then it came out that,
no, we're not gonna actually be doing that
through normal attrition.
We're gonna be losing about 30,000 VA employees,
but, still, we don't know
where they're actually coming from.
We're also hearing, if you're looking at the budgets
and some of the lines that are coming out of Congress,
that there's a diversion of billions and billions
from VHA direct care into community care.
And this, well, is leading to concerns
as to what sort of programs.
'Cause the biggest concern
that we're hearing from our members
is what is actually going to be cut?
Because it is opaque.
And what constitutes and who gets to define
what a vital VA program is?
And are they gonna say,
"Oh, if it serves only a small amount of veterans,
it's gonna be cut."
Well, for those veterans that it serves,
it's absolutely essential.
And when we look at things
like women-specific healthcare programs,
you know, women are still a minority of veterans,
but we are the fastest-growing group of veterans.
And within the next 10 to 15 years
of the percentage of women veterans is gonna almost double,
largely based on how many women
really came into Iraq and Afghanistan.
And these are women who want VA care,
and I'll say this like myself as well,
because we've had experiences that are very unique
from the civilian woman population.
And so having culturally competent care
that understands what military service was,
what sorts of environmental exposures we were exposed to,
what sort of psychological
and potential mental health issues we might have,
and really how those all interact together is essential.
So our biggest concern is, you know, what is gonna be cut
and who's deciding where these cuts are coming from?
There's a lot, a lot of concern
that we're hearing about that.
- Let's come back to that cuts in a minute.
But talk to me about that issue
of female veterans getting care in VA and how,
'cause you've used these services for a while,
how have the services improved?
This has been a, I don't wanna say problem,
but an issue, a point of improvement for quite some time.
Prior to this administration, was VA on the right path?
Was it making progress, at least, in getting those services
and, you know, getting some of the improvements
that we've heard or needed over the years?
- Absolutely.
And the VA, and I think part of this
is every single person, you know, of our membership,
and I think, you know, broadly of the listenership
and readership that you have here,
know that the VA can do better
and should continue to do better.
When we're talking about women veterans in particular,
you know, over the past two decades,
but really past decade, there have been market improvements
to care for women veterans.
You know, it started out, I remember when I was,
you know, back in military service
there was sort of this view that like,
"Oh, don't use the VA.
You're gonna get, you know, lost."
But now, if we look at things like the Deborah Sampson Act
that has been passed,
if we look at like the Kate Hendricks Thomas Mammogram Act,
right, there is a recognition that women veterans
have had unique experiences and exposures
and therefore require unique care.
Whether that is getting mammograms earlier on,
whether that is having specially trained
primary care physicians
who understand military sexual trauma
and how it interacts with other potential physical
or mental health issues.
Whether it is very dedicated anti-harassment,
anti-discrimination, and education commands within the VA
to really learn and understand
the experience of women veterans.
You know, the improvements have,
yes, we can always go more,
but they have been leaps and bounds over the past decade.
And this is where one of the biggest concerns are
among our members is because women are still the minority,
are these some of the first programs
to be on the chopping block?
We don't know right now.
- Well, and I guess to your point earlier,
that it seems to be the big concern
among a lot of the veterans groups I talk to
and a lot of the veterans.
Not necessarily that we know cuts are coming,
but that the communication there is limited
and there's just a lot of fear and confusion
about what comes next.
- Correct, and we know that the most vulnerable
are going to be, you know, falling through the cracks,
and that's where our concerns come.
Because it has been a effort
to get women veterans into VA services
for a whole host of reasons there.
But I think this also then relates
to some of our concerns about what we're seeing
happen in the Pentagon right now,
where we've seen the dismissal
of several very high ranking women in the military
without a whole lot of explanation.
And I think if, yes, if we talk about meritocracy,
women and men deserve to get promoted the same,
they deserve to get fired the same, right,
if they're not performing.
But, again, there's been this sort of shroudedness
as to what led to some of these dismissals,
and so we don't have women in these senior ranks right now.
We've also seen a lot of just actually very false rhetoric
around the fact that women are held
to different standards than men,
that they've been held to lower standards.
You know, this, a decade ago,
with the removal of the women in ground combat exclusion,
it was set very, very transparently
that occupational standards were the same for women and men.
They are all very difficult standards to achieve.
But with this narrative and with this rhetoric,
one of our concerns is that it's going to continue
to make it more and more difficult
to get women veterans into the care they need
because there's this sense that we are starting to hear
from our members and from other veterans
that women aren't regarded as equals any longer.
And knowing that there are such different experiences
between women veterans and their civilian counterparts,
we need to be getting them
into the most culturally competent care,
which is lifesaving.
- Listen, time for one more quick break.
When we come back, our financial expert
has tips to protect you from disaster fraud.
Later, we'll have more of my conversation
with IAVA's new CEO, so don't go away.
(upbeat determined music)
- [Presenter 2] Welcome back.
On this edition of Money Minute,
Jeanette Mack from Navy Federal Credit Union
returns to give you tips
on how to protect yourself from disaster fraud.
- When hurricanes, wildfires,
and other emergency strike, tensions run high
and whole communities are in vulnerable situations.
It's unfortunate but true
that scam artists use this opportunity
to prey on victims of crisis moments.
It's something called disaster fraud.
Scammers target both those affected by the disaster
and people trying to lend a helping hand.
The usual tactics are phony disaster relief campaigns,
cleanup assistance, and charitable donations.
Scammers pretend to work
for government organizations like FEMA,
saying you need to pay a fee
to apply for emergency assistance.
And for those trying to repair damage to their homes
or seeking aid, beware of fake contractors
demanding upfront payment,
bogus relief supply sellers
who never deliver on what they promise,
rental scams targeting displaced families,
and charity impersonators stealing donations
from those who wanna help.
To protect yourself, never pay for disaster aid,
verify contractor IDs and contact information,
and research the charities before you donate.
Your awareness and vigilance when disaster strikes
will help you avoid these scams
so you can focus on what's really important, your safety.
- [Presenter 2] To get more coverage
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jump outta that chinook and land on militarytimes.com
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And to be the most news savvy vet at this year's reunion,
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When we come back, the conclusion of our conversation
with IAVA CEO Kyleanne Hunter.
Don't go away.
(upbeat rhythmic music)
- Welcome back to "Defense News Weekly."
I'm here with Kyleanne Hunter, CEO of IAVA,
talking about veterans policies
and the community challenges.
So, wanted to talk to you a little bit about the PACT Act,
which has been instrumental for younger veterans
for the IAVA group and I know, this one,
that the organization has been really focused on.
What is the next step in that process?
I know there's been,
you know, we've seen the improvements
in how disability claims are handled,
we've seen more folks brought into the medical process,
but I still feel like there's a lot more
when we're talking about burn pits
and the aftereffects of the recent wars
that we still need to get into
and maybe a lot of the public thinks
was kind of already taken care of and were passed.
- Yeah, so if we think about the PACT Act,
we think about sort of the next phase, right?
What PACT Act 2.0, everything,
implementation of the PACT Act needs to be.
I think there's three big areas we need to look at.
One is, you're remembering that this is a generation,
the post-9/11 generation of veteran is aging.
You know, we are, if you think about
especially folks who are in those initial pushes
in Iraq and Afghanistan, you're in 50s,
60s, some even up to 70s.
So really looking at how do these exposures
and how do the impact of these exposures change
and how they may manifest as people age?
And whether that is, you know, we've been very active
in pushing for more research
around menopause and perimenopause
as it relates to toxic exposure,
'cause that research just doesn't exist,
how exposures may interact
with other sort of "normal," quote, unquote,
age-related issues that bubble up,
whether it is changes in eyesight,
whether it is, you know, your need for colonoscopies,
things in that regard, right?
Like, are there issues related to exposure
that change as we age?
So that's one area where there's a lot of more research
that needs to be done so we ensure that care continues
to be culturally competent and relevant.
The next area is, when we think about the PACT Act,
we talked a lot about burn pits
and the exposures to sort of the environmental toxins
from the burn pits perspective.
There's been a real push within the community
to look at technological exposures that have happened.
You know, if we think about the 20 years
of Iraq and Afghanistan,
there were huge technological advancements,
whether it was with aircraft, with our vehicles,
with our communication equipment that was there,
but we still don't know fully
what impact those pieces of technology have
on the human body, right?
Whether they're things like aircraft survivability equipment
that send out, you know, radar signals
to block incoming potential ordinance, yep.
- I know there's been a handful of research
on the blast pressure waves
from some of these heavy ordinances.
- Yep, exactly.
And then that's the next,
you know, these new heavy ordinances that we have,
what it means for these subconcussive blast pressures
that are there, right?
So looking at exposures beyond
just the environmental impact of exposures
is another piece of the PACT Act
that we really need to focus on to get the research
so that we know, you know, what the impacts might be
so we can proactively treat people, right?
Preventative care is always better
than, you know, needing to do interventions
when something has happened.
And then finally is looking domestically at exposures
that have occurred and happened as part of the PACT Act.
Whether it is water and water contaminants,
you know, we know that a huge majority
of our military bases don't have adequate water testing.
You know, Camp Lejeune is sort of in the news all the time,
but there's a whole lot more where this is an issue,
as well as we have several Superfund sites
that are on or very close to military bases.
So really doing more work there.
And then I know we said three,
but I'm gonna add four as a final one on here too,
which is really the impact of toxic exposures
on reproductive health and the ability for family formation.
You know, anecdotally we are starting to hear
that there have been issues and concerns with fertility
or the ability to successfully carry pregnancies to terms
or even the development of tumors
and cancers in children of veterans who are exposed.
And so there does need to be more work done to look at,
you know, what is the long term impact again
so that we can ensure the right sort of care
gets to those who are exposed.
- I appreciate you spending some time
educating all of us on this today.
- Absolutely, thank you so much for having me today.
- For more coverage on all these topics,
visit us on militarytimes.com and defensenews.com.
You can also follow all of our headlines
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Thank you for joining us and we'll see you next week.
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