Navy veteran Faron Smith Jr. reacts as he receives a COVID-19 vaccination at a Veterans Administration pop-up vaccination site on April 17, 2021, in Gardena, Calif. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
As the nation takes a day to memorialize its military dead, living military veterans are facing a deadly risk that has nothing to do with war or conflict: the coronavirus.
Different groups and communities have faced different degrees of danger from the pandemic, exemplified by the humanitarian disaster in India and the inequalities in U.S. health outcomes, vaccine distribution problems and outright rejection of vaccines. Veterans have been among the most hard-hit, with heightened health and economic threats from the pandemic. These veterans face homelessness, lack of health care, delays in receiving financial support and even death.
Here are eight ways the pandemic continues to threaten veterans.
1. Age and other vulnerabilities
The largest group served in the Gulf era, were exposed to dust storms, oil fires and burn pits with numerous toxins, and perhaps as a consequence have high rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
Age and respiratory illnesses are both risk factors for COVID-19 mortality. As of May 13, 2021, 258,078 people under Veterans Administration care have been diagnosed with COVID-19, of whom 11,941 have died.
VA Hospital employee Wayne Malone joins staff outside the Brooklyn Veterans Administration Medical Center, Monday, April 6, 2020, in New York, where they called for more personal protective equipment and staffing assistance to care for COVID-19 patients. AP Photo/Kathy Willens
2. Benefits unfairly denied or delayed
Research shows that some veterans with discharges that limit their benefits have PTSD symptoms, military sexual trauma or other behaviors related to military stress. Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have disproportionately more of these negative discharges than veterans from other eras.
The Veterans Administration frequently and perhaps unlawfully denies benefits to veterans with “other than honorable” discharges.
3. Diminished access to health care
Dental surgery, routine visits and elective surgeries at Veterans Administration medical centers have been postponed as individuals await the full reopening of offices. Veterans Administration hospitals are notoriously understaffed – just before the pandemic, the agency reported 43,000 vacancies out of more than 400,000 health care staff positions.
The pandemic added to these problems. An Inspector General report from fall 2020 found that 95% of Veterans Administration health centers are missing a key staff member, most commonly medical providers such as psychiatrists, primary care physicians and nurses, but also custodial staff necessary to keep facilities clean and sanitary.
4. Mental health may get worse
An average of 20 veterans die by suicide every day. A national task force is currently addressing this scourge.
5. Complications for homeless veterans and those in the justice system
The latest available data, from prior to the pandemic, documented 107,400 veterans in state or federal prisons, and 181,500 were incarcerated if we also include jails. While many facilities responded to the pandemic by releasing eligible veterans, there is a revolving door between time served and homelessness.
After years of declining rates of homelessness, there was a 0.5% rise in homelessness from 2019 to 2020. Before the pandemic, in January 2020, an estimated 37,252 veterans were homeless on any given night.
Thousands more veterans are under court-supervised substance use and mental health treatment in veterans treatment courts. More than half of veterans involved with the justice system have either mental health problems or substance use disorders.
Courts quickly moved online after state shutdowns, and many continue in this new mode. While often useful to meet treatment court obligations, online justice administration can be an obstacle for individuals looking for the camaraderie that came with meeting in person. Other challenges relate to access to technology and due process.
As veterans’ facilities close to new participants, many veterans eligible to leave prison or jail have nowhere to go and may become homeless, like this Navy veteran in Los Angeles. Mario Tama/Getty Images
6. Disability benefits delayed
Veterans Administration office closures have exacerbated the longstanding backlog of disability claims, which more than doubled over the course of the pandemic. Approximately 200,000 veterans wait more than 125 days for a decision. Anything less than 125 days is not considered a delay in benefit claims.
There is a long delay for medical exams to determine disability benefits. As of March 2021, there was a backlog of 357,000 medical exams, nearly three times the backlog from February 2020.
The closure of the National Personnel Records Center, which houses the physical records frequently required to obtain benefits, led to an estimated 18- to 24-month backlog of 499,000 document requests. These documents are often necessary to receive medical benefits as well as military honors upon death.
7. Dangerous residential facilities
Veterans needing end-of-life care, those with cognitive disabilities or those needing substance use treatment often live in crowded Veterans Administration or state-funded residential facilities.
8. Economic catastrophe
A disproportionately high number of post-9/11 veterans live in some of the hardest-hit communities that depend on these industries and had even higher rates of unemployment than their nonveteran peers as well as other veteran cohorts. Many veterans may face evictions when the national moratorium on evictions lifts on June 30, 2021.
Military spouses are suffering from the economic fallout, as are children affected by school closures.
With veterans, many of the problems they face now existed long before the coronavirus arrived on U.S. shores.
But with the problems posed by the situation today, veterans who were already lacking adequate benefits and resources are now in deeper trouble, and it will be harder to answer their needs.
Trace 100 years of military history
100 years of military history
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1918: Meuse-Argonne Offensive
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1919: Treaty of Versailles
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1920: National Defense Act amended
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1921: The Unknown Soldier
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1922: Washington Naval Treaty
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1923: Warlordism
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1924: First U.S. occupation of Dominican Republic ends
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1925: Riots in Shanghai
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1926: U.S. squashes Nicaraguan coup d’état
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1927: ‘China Marines’ in Shanghai
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1928: Lt. Schilt receives Medal of Honor
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1929: Cayes Massacre
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1930: London Naval Treaty
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1931: Japan violates League of Nations
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1932: Military collides with Bonus Marchers
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1933: Civilian Conservation Corps
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1934: U.S. occupation ends in Haiti
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1935: GHQ Air Force and B-17
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1936: Abraham Lincoln Brigade
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1937: Protective Mobilization Plan
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1938: Munich Agreement inspires U.S. hemisphere defense strategy
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1939: World War II officially begins
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1940: U.S. prepares for war
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1941: U.S. enters WWII
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1942: War with Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania
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1943: Eisenhower chosen to lead Allies
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1944: D-Day
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1945: Battle of Iwo Jima
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1946: First session of the United Nations
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1947: Air Force, National Security Council founded, Cold War erupts
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1948: Marshall Plan signed to rebuild Europe
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1949: North Atlantic Treaty
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1950: Korean War begins
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1951: Second capture of Seoul, Treaty of San Francisco
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1952: First hydrogen bomb detonated
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1953: Korean Armistice Agreement
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1954: U.S. Air Force Academy established
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1955: Navy helps evacuate Chinese Nationalist soldiers
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1956: Hungarian Revolution
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1957: Distant Early Warning Sign
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1958: Lebanon crisis
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1959: U.S. Special Forces train soldiers in Laos
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1960: U.S.-Cuba standoff
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1961: Bay of Pigs
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1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
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1963: Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
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1964: Gulf of Tonkin
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1965: U.S. officially enters Vietnam War
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1966: House Un-American Activities Committee
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1967: Operation Swift
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1968: Tet Offensive
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1969: Nixon Doctrine
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1970: U.S. troops invade Cambodia
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1971: Conviction in My Lai Massacre
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1972: Nguyen Hue Offensive
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1973: Ceasefire signed
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1974: U.S. evacuation of Cyprus
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1975: End of Vietnam War
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1976: Women admitted to service academies
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1977: President Carter’s new foreign policy for Latin America
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1978: Women’s Army Corps dissolved
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1979: Iranian Hostage Crisis
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1980: Failed attempt to end hostage crisis
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1981: Gulf of Sidra Incident
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1982: Lebanese Civil War
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1983: Peace agreement with Lebanon
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1984: Marines leave Beirut
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1985: Achille Lauro hijacked
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1986: West Berlin discotheque bombing
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1987: Iran-Iraq ceasefire
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1988: USS Samuel B. Roberts hits naval mine
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1989: Bush-Gorbachev meeting
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1990: Chemical Weapons Accord
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1991: Kuwait liberated
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1992: Unified Task Force
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1993: Battle of Mogadishu
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1994: Iraq Disarmament Crisis
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1995: Capt. O’Grady shot down behind enemy lines
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1996: Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty
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1997: Sexual assault scandals plage military
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1998: U.S. embassies bombed
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1999: Kosovo Force
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2000: USS Cole bombing
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2001: September 11 attacks
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2002: Operation Anaconda
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2003: Shock and awe
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2004: No weapons of mass destruction
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2005: Rumsfeld announces troop reduction
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2006: Saddam hanged
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2007: 21,500 more soldiers to Iraq
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2008: U.S. Navy takes out U.S. spy satellite
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2009: Orders to close Guantanamo Bay
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2010: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Repeal Act
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2011: Osama bin Laden killed
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2012: Benghazi attack
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2013: Women can serve in combat
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2014: Slashes to military budget
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2015: Iran sanctions lifted
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2016: Nuclear Security Summit
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2017: Transgender ban in the military
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2018: Space Force
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2019: Iran reveals new missile defense system
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2020: Trump deploys military against protestors
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Editor’s note: This is an updated version of a story that originally ran on April 16, 2020.
Jamie Rowen receives funding from the National Science Foundation.
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