Local opinion: Trump abandons veterans, then marches us toward war

As a combat veteran, I’ve lived through the endless wars this country wages in the name of freedom. I’ve also lived with the aftermath. The war never ends when we come home — it lingers in our minds, our bodies, our families, and our communities.

Now, I watch with horror as Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers posture to drag us into another war — this time with Iran. I say this as a veteran who still suffers from war: we have not figured out how to care for those who’ve already fought, and we have no business sending more of us to die, break, and be forgotten.

The images and videos coming out of Gaza reopened wounds many of us carry. In a previous letter to this paper, I wrote about how the genocide in Gaza isn’t just a foreign policy issue — it’s a moral one. Now we’re watching that same cruelty metastasize into a new conflict. Trump’s reckless push for escalation with Iran will not bring peace, justice, or safety. It will bring more body bags, more trauma, and more broken promises to the people who served this country.

Let me be clear: Trump does not care about veterans. He slashed VA funding, plans to end HUD-VASH housing for veterans, and gutted mental health services that keep us alive. To him, we’re disposable — useful for campaign optics, useless once broken. And now he has the audacity to send us back into war without fixing the damage of the last two decades?

As an anti-war veteran who served during the post-9/11 Global War on Terror, I say this clearly: we will not tolerate another forever war in the Middle East. We saw the lies. We saw the cost. We buried the dead and carried home the invisible wounds. I call on Congress to reassert its constitutional war powers and stop this war with Iran before it starts.

And to the Republicans currently in office — especially those who also served — you cannot stay silent. You cannot “yes man” your way through another term while Trump plays dictator and plays soldier with our lives. What’s the point of your seat if you’re too afraid to use your voice? Guide him. Or separate yourselves from his authoritarianism and warmongering. You may not agree with us on everything, but you can stand against hatred and chaos.

Because we’re watching. And your performance will be remembered.

Veterans are not props for parades or pawns in political theater. We are your neighbors, your family members, your constituents. And many of us are still shattered from the last wars you failed to stop. Another war with Iran will not just break the Middle East. It will break the already broken.

This country needs healing, not more destruction. It needs investment in housing, healthcare, mental health support, and climate resilience — not more defense contractors and war drums. We don’t need flag pins and soundbites. We need leaders with the courage to stop history from repeating itself.

The war at home — for our survival, for our dignity, for our care — has not ended. Until it does, we refuse to be sent to another battlefield to fight for a government that won’t even fight for us.