Veteran Jim Whaley explained to Newsweek there is why the candidate for vice president of Ohio Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz should pay attention to veterans in the upcoming elections.
For the first time in two decades, Republicans and Democrats have former military personnel on the presidential ticket with Vance, former presidential candidate Donald Trump, and Walz, vice president Kamala Harris.
Whaley, CEO of Mission Roll Call, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for veterans’ issues and relies on its own polls to do so. Newsweek by phone on Friday afternoon that have Vance, 40, and Walz, 60, as candidates for vice president, “send a great message that we value and continue to value the importance of service to the country.”
Vance served in the Marine Corps as a combat correspondent in Iraq between August 2005 and February 2006. Meanwhile, Walz joined the Army National Guard at age 17 and served 24 years before retiring in 2005.
Whaley, who has spent twenty years in the US Army, explained how the vice presidential candidates of both parties can best champion veterans’ issues.
“I think most veterans want to see a robust discussion about the issues that are most important to veterans and we poll veterans across the country and they will tell you that it’s important that we have a discussion about veterans’ benefits, about veterans who don’t have housing, and then access to health care,” Whaley said.
But how different are voters and veteran voters who care about veterans’ issues in the November election?
“Of the veterans we polled, 97 percent were registered to vote,” Whaley said. “When you think about the 18.5 million veterans in our country, that’s not a small number.”
Whaley said that number grows when you consider veterans’ families, caregivers, spouses and dependents.
“It’s a sizable block of voters who feel veterans’ issues are very important,” he said.
When asked how Vance plans to champion veterans’ issues, Luke Schroeder, the senator’s spokesman, said: Newsweek via email Friday afternoon: “The Trump-Vance administration will do more for veterans and our military than any other administration in modern history. They will ensure veterans receive the respect, care, and benefits they deserve, while also achieving peace through strength. on the world stage to prevent unnecessary wars in the future.”
He continued: “In his first term, President Trump’s VA Mission Act passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support. The legislation expanded veterans’ access to quality care and cut unnecessary red tape, but Tim Walz voted against it. Washington.”
Newsweek The Harris campaign was reached by email for comment on Friday afternoon.
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images/Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
What Issues Do Veterans Face?
According to Whaley, food insecurity, unemployment, homelessness, and suicide are some of the problems plaguing the veteran community.
“We have almost 1.4 million veterans struggling with food insecurity in our country and over 60 percent of veterans report that they are underemployed due to systemic mismatching in skills and education,” he said.
Even service members today struggle with food insecurity. Whaley said, “Twenty-four percent of active-duty military have food insecurity problems.”
There are anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 veterans who are homeless every night and 17 to 20 veterans take their own lives every day, Whaley said.
“It’s no surprise that we have a struggle as a nation in our recruitment efforts, it’s all related,” he said, adding that the struggles facing veterans “are a national security issue that needs to be discussed and debated.
“There is no greater advocate for our brave military men and women than President Trump,” said Trump’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Newsweek via email on Friday afternoon. “Kamala Harris was the last person in the room when Joe Biden withdrew from Afghanistan, and she owns all of these failures.
Leavitt added that Trump “rebuilt the military” as president and that “veteran unemployment hit record lows” during his four years in office.
Last fiscal year, the military services collectively missed their recruitment targets by approximately 41,000 recruits, according to US Department of Defense (DOD) official Ashish Vazirani.
“It’s great that both campaigns are offering a plan to help veterans transition to civilian life because it’s not working right now,” Whaley added.
Vance/Walz Military Service Drama
As the race for the White House heats up, Vance has criticized Walz’s recently resurfaced comments about war from political events in 2018, accusing the Minnesota governor of lying about his military service.
“What bothers me about Tim Waltz is the trash they steal. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not,” Vance told reporters in Michigan on Aug. 7.
Speaking about gun control, Walz, who was the US representative at the time, said in a 2018 clip, “We can make sure that the weapons of war that I carry into the war are the only places where those weapons are.”
However, Walz never fought. The Harris-Walz campaign recently said that the Minnesota governor “misspoken” at the time and Walz previously admitted that he had not seen the fight in an NPR News interview, where he said, “I know that someone did more than I did.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a Democrat and a veteran himself, said on CNN last Sunday that veterans disparaging other veterans “goes against everything I learned in my service.”
Meanwhile, at a campaign event in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Walz said, “To anyone who has the courage to wear that uniform for a great country, including my opponent, I have just a few simple words: Thank you for your service and sacrifice.”
When asked how veterans feel about the recent Vance/Walz drama, Whaley said he can only base it on conversations he’s had with veterans because Mission Roll Call hasn’t researched this question.
“From what I’ve said at various events and just normal life and what I’ve served and stuff, we’d like to see the big problem come to an end,” Whaley said. “We want to look at issues that really affect the lives of veterans. If you’re struggling to put food on the table, I don’t think you’re really paying attention to how loud this is.”
Whaley said he thinks Vance and Walz “respected and loved their time and service.”
“They both signed a blank check to serve their country. It would be great if we could, and I know it’s an election year and it could be naive, but it would be great if … both candidacies say what they’re going to do about changing the trajectory that the veteran now,” he said.
Mission Roll Call wants to make veterans’ voices heard at the local, state and federal levels, said Whaley who encourages veterans to visit the Mission Roll Call website to participate in polls, volunteer and/or join other organizations.
Update 8/17/24, 6:25 pm ET: This article has been updated with comments from Leavitt.
