This week on the Eye on Veterans podcast, we catch up with Mario Marquez, the American Legion's Executive Director of Government Affairs and a retired Marine Corps Sgt. Major with a deep background in veterans affairs and national security.
We open with memories from Iraq deployments and an experience with Houthi rebels in Yemen. That led us to our first discussion about the recent Signal message app scandal involving the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA director, and other senior members of the Trump administration. Marquez said that if he had participated in a discussion of pending military strikes, he "would have been court martialed."
Marquez also discusses the impact of thousands of recent layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Legion’s commitment to protecting veteran benefits, and his private conversations with VA Secretary Doug Collins.
We close with a fascinating Op-Ed from Connecting Vets' Jack Murphy, a former Ranger and Special Forces veteran. He calls out veterans like Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and DNI Tulsi Gabbard for downplaying the danger of the messages that were shared on Signal. He also reveals how this is a much bigger problem than the Trump administration wants you to believe.
See why veterans benefit from membership in the American Legion here.
Contact Phil Briggs, the host of CBS Eye on Veterans at phil@connectingvets.com