When I took the oath as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army on July 26, 1996, I never could’ve guessed that decades later, I’d be asking why aren’t more of us who wore the uniform representing the American people in Congress?

Stories like mine are becoming rare. And that’s just plain wrong.

Fifty years ago, four out of every five members of Congress were veterans. Today, it’s less than one in five. Just 78 veterans in the House. Just 18 in the Senate. That’s 18 percent.

At a time when the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs are two of the largest and most expensive agencies in government, the people who understand those systems best are increasingly missing from the rooms where decisions are made.

One of the most underreported crises in American politics is the di

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