Taking Care of Our Veterans
I come from a long line of veterans who have served our country and believe that we need to treat those soldiers with respect, love and the care they deserve. From the care they receive through the VA to helping them re-enter civilian life successfully, we, as American citizens, have not done our level best for those who have defended our freedoms.
To better serve our veterans, we need to expand transition employment programs, improve mental health services, increase entrepreneurial training programs, and expand the ability for veterans to receive quality health care from traditional sources outside of the VA.
Transition from military life to civilian life is not easy. Expanding employment programs across the services will help veterans have a better chance to succeed after completing their service.
I will work with accrediting and licensing organizations to allow transferable skills from the military to be licensed in the professional world – For example, a medic in the military is not automatically licensed as an EMT upon leaving the service. There are so many similar examples that we need to reduce red tape and grant military veterans or spouses portability with their current licenses and/or certifications across the states.
Suicide rates for veterans is far too high. No veteran should ever feel alone or without a lifeline. I will work to reducing the stigma of seeking mental health services across the military. We must normalize this so that veterans can talk freely amongst themselves and not feel like they will be punished for talking through their thoughts and feelings. There are many people and organizations throughout North Texas are here to help these veterans in need. I also support providing grants to faith and community-based organizations to help veterans heal within their homes and community.
Veterans through their service experience often come home with new, entrepreneurial ideas that can make peoples lives easier and better. I will work to grow existing programs that train service members on business fundamentals and how to create a thriving entrepreneurial business. With that, for any veteran that chooses not to go to college, I will fight to allow veterans to use their GI Bill to start a small business.
Many veterans don’t know about existing services for them and I will work with the VA, DoD and the numerous non-profits to create an audit and menu of resources for veterans to access within their communities. There are so many of us willing to help but oftentimes it can be overwhelming to know where to go.
Lastly, I will work to expand the MISSION Act for veterans to take any of their medical benefits to any hospital or doctor, giving them choice of the best access to health, including the VA.