US Veterans

[Gregory Matthews]

The federal government is the single largest employer of veterans in the country, said Randy Erwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a union that represents 110,000 federal employees. 

Nearly 30% of the more than 2.2 million federal employees are veterans, he said. More than half of those veterans are disabled, according to the latest publicly available data by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

 

Erwin fears nearly a half-million veterans could go jobless under Trump’s stated cost-cutting plan to gut the federal workforce and drastically cut federal spending — and he worries their struggles won’t end there.

[phkrause]

Veterans who keep serving

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Veterans volunteer, help neighbors and give to charity more than the average American. Why it matters: For many veterans, service is a way of life — and it continues long after they've hung up their uniforms. 💡 Data du jour: Veterans who volunteer spend an average of 93 hours a year serving, compared with 69 hours for other volunteers, according to the 2025 Veterans Civic Health Index. Americans who've served are also likelier to donate to charity (56% vs. 50% of nonveterans). Veterans are also slightly more likely to talk to their neighbors and help them with transportation, errands or child care. Zoom in: On and around Veterans Day, many veterans turn that spirit of giving back toward their own communities. 🍜 In San Diego, veterans, active-duty service members and other volunteers organized a food drive on Sunday for military families struggling to make ends meet. 🦃 In southeastern Michigan, VETLIFE — a veteran-founded nonprofit — is working with Kroger to provide free Thanksgiving dinners to 400 veteran and active-duty military families. 🔨 In Sacramento, veterans are teaming up tomorrow to repair fellow veterans' homes through Habitat for Humanity's Veterans Service Day. The bottom line: Tomorrow is a chance to honor and say thanks to some of the most generous members of our community.