When Martin Del Rio returned to the U.S. from his time in Iraq, he didn’t know the 2008 recession had hit. At the time, he didn’t fully understand what it meant.
Del Rio, an East Chicago native and Iraq War veteran, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in the military. He didn’t go to a Veterans Affairs clinic to get diagnosed but later learned he had seven concussions.
“I wasn’t aware of the issues I was struggling with,” he said. “I just knew I was quick to anger and very frustrated.”
Del Rio worked a private security job and as a tattoo artist, but he lost both jobs. His mother died in his arms, and that was the switch that flipped everything.
“Very quickly, you lose everything when you’re not on top of it and paying attention,” Del Rio said. “You kind of just become numb, and it took me a long time to dig out of that scenario.”
Now, as President Donald Trump’s administration plans to cut 80,0000 VA jobs, Del Rio is disheartened and stressed about what the future holds for veterans.
“Under Trump, we’re seeing a lot of these cuts being done more as a blanket scenario,,” said Del Rio, who is also president and CEO of the Armed Forces Services Initiative. “When we talk about the impact of the Trump administration budget cuts on veterans … we’re talking about real consequences. (These are) life and death consequences for a lot of (people) who served. They’re all being grouped into this blanket decision without any regards to what the scenario is.”
Martin Del Rio speaks in a February 5, 2022 file photo. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune)
VA Chief of Staff Christopher Syrek, in an internal memo, told the agency’s top level officials that it plans to cut enough employees to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000, according to the Associated Press. Tens of thousands of VA employees would be terminated with the cuts.
Staff are instructed to prepare for an agency-wide reorganization in August to “resize and tailor the workforce to the mission and revised structure,” according to the Associated Press. The memo also asked officials to work with the Department of Government Efficiency to “move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach” to the administration’s goals.
DOGE — established by Trump in a Jan. 20 executive order — estimates that the U.S. will save $115 billion after various terminations, including contracts, grants and real estate, according to its website. The agency lists the VA as the agency with the 11th highest savings, but a recent Associated Press analysis showed that nearly 40% of contracts canceled by DOGE would not actually save the government any money.
In addition to VA cuts, legislation is moving through U.S. Congress that would reduce health benefits for veterans, Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, said in a Wednesday statement. The 2025 full-year continuing resolution passed the House in a 217-213 vote and moved to the Senate floor. Mrvan voted against the legislation.
The continuing resolution also fails to fund the Toxic Exposure Fund, Mrvan said, which puts health care for veterans — especially those exposed to toxic burn pits, Agent Orange and radiation — at risk.
Don Segvich, a Highland resident and Vietnam War veteran, believes VA cuts are a slap in the face for service members.
“Vietnam-era guys, we were drafted and sent to wherever we went,” Segvich said. “Those people that had Agent Orange should be the number one priority on the VA list of helping them.”
Segvich spent 19 months serving during the Vietnam War era, and since returning, he gets his yearly physical at the VA. His twin brother uses the VA a lot, but Segvich said he’s fortunate enough to not rely on the agency for medical assistance.
Segvich and his brother are both worried about communicating with the agency after staffing cuts.
“The way they were talking about cutting back or laying people off, it’s really going to make it harder for veterans to get in contact with the VA,” he said. “Because, if I’m not mistaken, they’re getting rid of phone lines and closing offices.”
Del Rio believes it’s important for independent agencies to step up and help veterans now more than ever.
His organization, the Armed Forces Services Initiative, works to help bridge the gap between military service and civilian life for military service members, veterans and their families, according to its website.
AFSI utilizes volunteers to help provide services, most of which Del Rio said worked for the VA as suicide prevention counselors. The organization also helps connect veterans to other resources they use after leaving the service, and they help with finding educational and career opportunities.
Some veterans who went into public service have lost jobs since funding cuts, Del Rio said, and agencies have banded together to help find jobs. In one day, Del Rio said he helped connect 23 veterans affected by probationary firings with jobs.
“There’s other organizations that are chipping in as well, and even veterans that aren’t in any organization,” he added. “They’re just helping out because they know someone that might know someone.”
Del Rio said AFSI can help connect veterans to other nonprofit organizations if their avenues through the VA disappear. AFSI doesn’t receive federal funding, so the organization doesn’t have to worry about funding or grants disappearing during the Trump administration.
However, with VA cuts, a lot of resources that AFSI uses might go away, Del Rio said. One organization in Wisconsin that AFSI works with had its VA grant taken away because of administration cuts.
“It’s frustrating when you have a backlog of people you’re trying to help, and then you have to turn them away and say, ‘Sorry, the money that was promised to you dried out for no apparent reason,’” Del Rio said.
When veterans services are underfunded, a ripple effect begins, Del Rio said. He expects to see more go untreated for mental health problems, which he said will lead to more homelessness, unemployment and suicides for veterans nationwide.
“It’s not the cost of doing business,” Del Rio said. “For us, this isn’t just mismanagement. It’s betrayal — it’s a knife in the back.”
