{"id":23131,"date":"2025-03-14T18:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T00:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-veterans-join-nationwide-protests-against-va-job-cuts-and-health-care-reductions\/"},"modified":"2025-03-15T00:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T00:33:08","slug":"colorado-veterans-join-nationwide-protests-against-va-job-cuts-and-health-care-reductions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-veterans-join-nationwide-protests-against-va-job-cuts-and-health-care-reductions\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado veterans join nationwide protests against VA job cuts and health care reductions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Navy
Navy veterans April Sutton, in blue uniform, and Keegan Baker, in fatigues, hold a banner together as they were among veterans and their supporters at the Capitol in Denver on Friday to protest President Donald Trump\u2019s and Elon Musk\u2019s cuts to veterans\u2019 services and to voice anger over Trump\u2019s past comments about veterans. (Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Hundreds of veterans and their supporters gathered on the steps of the state Capitol on Friday afternoon, joining thousands across the country in a nationwide march against the Trump administration\u2019s proposed cuts to Social Security, reductions in veterans\u2019 health care and federal job losses, among other concerns.<\/p>\n

Protesters showed up from Lakewood to Crestone to Cheyenne Wells \u2013 carrying flags and homemade cardboard signs reading \u201crespect and support our veterans,\u201d \u201cTrump and Musk are traitors,\u201d \u201cWe served, save the VA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The protests come in the wake of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump largely focused on immigration, trade, and health care. Some of the policies have led to mass firings and significant downsizing of the federal government, with the Department of Veterans Affairs now among the latest agencies, which provides health care and other services to veterans \u2013 on the chopping block.<\/p>\n

The administration has proposed cutting more than 80,000 jobs from the VA, which is one of the largest providers of mental health care in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it hasn\u2019t happened yet, but I\u2019m out here to support the veterans and to try to stop that from happening,\u201d Margot Wilson, a family member of multiple veterans, said. \u201cThis is not political, in my opinion; this is not Republican or Democrat. This is about people and integrity and respecting what they\u2019ve done to help and serve and protect us and the world. We need to stop the madness here. That\u2019s why I am here, a small voice, but I think it can make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson said she showed up on the steps of the Capitol for her nephew and her friend \u2013 both Army veterans. As she was holding up a cardboard sign with white painted letters, her nephew was just a few miles away at a VA facility in Severance Colorado receiving treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was in Afghanistan, and he\u2019s got PTSD,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s got a number of disabilities now as a result of serving in the war. He needs the VA; he needs the help.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says she worries what her nephew and her friend \u2013 who was a few hundred miles away at a similar protest in Boston \u2013 would do without the VA\u2019s support and health care.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Respect and support those who served\u2019 one sign reads<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,184],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-veterans-affairs"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23131"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}