Honoring Our Veterans Today and Every Day

Including those pushed out by Pete Hegseth.

On the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month in 1918, an armistice was signed ending hostilities in WWI. After WWII, “Armistice Day” was officially changed to Veterans Day to honor all living and deceased U.S. service members.

This Veterans Day, we honor all members of the military who have served and are incredibly grateful for their commitment and service.

For many of us, including myself, our grandparents or parents served in the military, but no one in our family has served in at least a generation. We have an additional obligation to understand the enormous sacrifices of military families, and to appreciate their service.

This year, there are additional considerations when it comes to these families and service members. I’m thinking about the 5,000 service members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose 321-day deployment surrounding the Iran War not only set Navy records for the longest consecutive days at sea, but did so with grueling conditions that stretched their mental and physical health, contending with food shortages, broken plumbing, and exhaustion.

Our service members deserve better than poorly planned military deployments, fighting wars with no clear strategy or objectives, which is one of many reasons self-proclaimed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth must go. Hegseth is not deserving of the honor of leading the brave men and women of the U.S. military, who give so much to defend our nation.

Today, I’m also thinking of the approximately 80 senior generals and admirals fired, forced out, or whose promotions were blocked by Hegseth. This includes at least 20 to 25 firings and departures of military commanders and civilian leaders, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and top uniformed leaders of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. It’s Hegseth’s stated intention to fire at least one in five generals or admirals to reshape Pentagon leadership.

Additionally, at least 45 officers selected for promotions – over half of whom are women and/or Black – had their promotions thwarted by Hegseth. This week, amid deliberation of his impeachment, it was revealed that Hegseth overruled the merit-based process for military promotions, relying instead on criteria that disproportionately impacted and punished women and people of color.

Our service members, including those pushed out over the past two years, deserve better than Hegseth. Despite House Republicans’ ongoing acquiescence to Donald Trump, effectively delaying his impeachment yesterday by a few months, Hegseth will likely be impeached in the 120th Congress.

Last week’s elections have ushered in a new generation of leaders, including at least 13 new veterans and a record-breaking ten women veterans in the House. These women veterans will join Senator Tammy Duckworth, bringing the total number of women veterans in the 120th Congress to eleven, nine Democrats and two Republicans.

These veterans include Rep-elect Nancy Lacore, a former three-star Navy admiral who served for 35 years and oversaw the 60,000 sailors of the Navy Reserve. Rep-elect Lacore, who was fired by Sec. Hegseth last year – for reasons that are still unknown to her – won her election last week to serve the people of South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. She ran largely on a platform of continuing her service, which was wrongfully cut short by Sec. Hegseth, and defeated a Republican in a seat that was held by Rep. Nancy Mace for three terms.

This Veteran’s Day, I’m honoring and celebrating Rep-elect Lacore, and grateful she’s found a way to continue to serve our great country.

We are a stronger nation due to the service and commitment of our brave men and women in uniform, and we’re grateful for their sacrifice and service. We’re also grateful to all of you who helped to make the wins of those who share our values possible, and look forward to their service in Congress.

Warmly,

Halie Soifer
CEO, Jewish Democratic Council of America