Clarksville veterans say care, not cuts to the Veterans Administration, are needed

Tennessee veterans, many of whom have been stationed at Ft. Campbell. often face long waits for care and denial of claims when seeking health care through the Veterans Administration.(Win McNamee/Getty Images)(Photo by Luke Sharrett/Getty Images)

In March 2024, I had an altercation with people who had broken into my late father’s home. Afterwards, I spent long hours cleaning the property, and when I returned home and went to the ER on post, I learned I had torn several tendons in my right arm as a result of the incident.

Despite months of therapy, my recovery stalled, and it took more than 14 months for the Veterans Administration (VA) to schedule a needed EMG test, which I had to drive to Franklin to receive — an hour away from my home in Clarksville. That was September 2024, and I am still not healed.

When we enlisted in the military, we were proud to serve our country. We never imagined that, after our service, we would have to fight for our own healthcare. We never imagined that we would have to fight to save the lives of my fellow veterans because the system meant to protect us is failing. 

Every day, we find ourselves on the phone preventing veterans from taking their own lives because they cannot access the care they desperately need. Every day, we watch more of our brothers and sisters slip into homelessness because the promises made to them went unfulfilled. This is not how service should be repaid.

Clarksville veterans, like many across the country, are facing a growing crisis in our healthcare and services. Under Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, in partnership with billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the VA targeted 30,000 federal jobs, many held by veterans. Since January 2025, thousands of critical staff, including doctors and nurses, have left the VA, worsening long-standing problems of staffing shortages, wait times and denied claims.

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Collins has also attempted to invalidate collective bargaining agreements that protect federal workers in the workplace and impact the quality of our care. Before taking the job, Collins was a major ally of a billionaire-funded effort to further increase reliance of the VA on private healthcare, benefiting corporations instead of investing in our public healthcare system. 

When veterans try to file a claim or even seek a diagnosis at the VA, every step matters. You might have a recurring condition, but after months of waiting, your appointment finally arrives on a day when you happen to feel slightly “okay” or are not showing symptoms due to months of waiting for an appointment. That single “okay” or good day can set you back, forcing you to start the process over again just to get the needed care or continue with the same treatment or medical practice. The VA delivers medical care through a step-by-step escalation process, but these steps are slippery and dimly lit, leading to delayed care for our veterans. 

Now imagine all of this compounded by VA staffing cuts, which cause longer wait times, hours on hold, the loss of key personnel who help veterans access care, and long trips to Nashville to see a specialist, only to have your travel pay denied.

This is the care we subject our veterans to. This is what their service and sacrifices have earned them. Broken promises and broken systems. Elected officials with short-term memory seem to remember veterans only at election time or on Veterans Day. Veterans are left asking: what happened to ‘never forget’?

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Millions of veterans were exposed to burn pits. The VA created the Burn Pit Registry to track and compile data on troops affected by these toxic exposures because, frankly, no one yet knows the long-term impact or the care they will need. A stripped-down VA in the future could be held accountable for failing to provide that care and protect our veterans.

Yet five Tennessee members of Congress, U.S. Reps. Chuck Fleischmann, Mark Green — a graduate of West Point and a veteran —  Diana Harshbarger, David Kustoff and John Rose, voted against the PACT Act, a law designed to provide health care and benefits to veterans exposed to toxic substances. The expansion of our VA clinic in Clarksville is a result of PACT Act funding. 

Veterans are dying every day, be it from illnesses exasperated by long wait times or suicide. Now, on top of that, millions of Americans, including veterans, have also lost their SNAP food benefits. While working people face cuts, the wealthy and corporations won nearly $1 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade. 

Clarksville has always been a proud military town. With Fort Campbell in our backyard, Montgomery County has the highest veteran density in the state. Twenty percent of our residents have served in the military. We are more than veterans. We are your teachers, your pastors, your factory workers and your friends. We raise families, coach Little League, volunteer in our churches, and contribute every day to the life of our community.

When we cannot get an appointment for months or can’t afford our groceries, our health worsens. When our travel pay is denied, we often skip care altogether. When forced into private networks, many of us give up in frustration. The result is not efficiency, it is neglect.

We have sacrificed enough. And our message is clear. Invest in our care, not cuts. 

We have come together to form Veterans For All, organizing in Clarksville to protect our care and reject cuts to vital services. Our platform calls on major Clarksville corporations that receive millions in public subsidies and tax breaks to invest in veteran care, make binding commitments to hire veterans, and treat workers with dignity. It also urges our elected officials to oppose VA cuts and resist a shift toward privatized healthcare.

The veterans we have met in the waiting room at the VA  told us they were not going to stop fighting for their benefits. Neither will we. 

Clarksville’s veterans have never walked away from a fight. Now we are asking you and our leaders not to walk away from us. 

It is time to make a choice. We can continue to reward corporations with massive tax breaks while cutting services for veterans and working families, or we can invest in the people who have already given so much for all of us.