Veterans seek higher profile in Washington.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Defense Watch

Even a hopelessly deadlocked and unproductive Congress last year managed to move legislation in support of military veterans. A bill passed late in the session was an attempt to hold Veterans Affairs officials accountable for bad performance.

Under new Republican leadership, Congress kicked off a new legislative session also with veterans in mind, with new bills aimed at preventing suicides and creating employment opportunities for vets and reservists.

But as a deeply divided Congress goes to extraordinary lengths to show love for those who serve and their families, many veterans believe their voices have yet to be heard in Washington on a number of broader issues they care about that go beyond medical benefits and jobs.

Many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, especially, are now becoming more involved in policy advocacy in areas ranging from national security to environmental stewardship.

"There is a restive element out there looking to get back in the game," says retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton, a longtime critic of U.S. defense policy and now an executive at Vet Voice Foundation, a progressive group that promotes environmental conservation and a non-military approach to foreign policy.

Returning vets tend to be pigeonholed, perhaps unfairly, as victims of post-combat stress who have difficulty reintegrating into civilian life. Eaton says those problems are real, although far from the only causes veterans champion. Most vets affiliated with his group, Eaton says, bring an untapped source of political energy that, if unleashed, could influence policies of concern to the nation at large. "There is an opportunity to harness these men and women and bring their voices to bear on problems that need to be solved in the United States."

Eaton has been an adviser to VoteVets.org, a group that has helped elect progressive veterans to Congress. Having vets in elected office is helpful, he says, but not essential because Congress generally feels a moral obligation toward those who served.

Veterans would like to see more action taken on major national security challenges, says Eaton. Those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have been particularly emphatic about the need to demilitarize U.S. foreign policy and shift resources to other tools of national power such as diplomacy and economic engagement. "The Defense Department has 535 advocates on Capitol Hill. But the State Department is an orphan," Eaton says. Vets would be thrilled to see economic or...