• Trump’s government cuts are hitting military veterans with job losses and uncertainty.

• Military veterans made up about 30% of the federal workforce in 2021.

• These employees fear further cuts, especially workers with disabilities.

Military veterans say they’re feeling a mix of confusion, desperation, and fear about sweeping cuts to the federal government.

One veteran with disabilities who was laid off this month from the US Department of Agriculture said she’s making ends meet with a disability stipend. She worries the Veterans Affairs benefit could be cut, too. Her husband is unemployed while he’s pursuing a specialized military job.

“It’s just a really hard situation to be in,” she told Business Insider.

Another veteran said that her recent layoff from another section of the USDA crushed her dream of a lifetime in public service. “I was really excited to be a federal employee,” she said. “I wanted to be a civil servant.”

These former service members and three others spoke with BI on the condition of anonymity to protect their current jobs or to avoid career reprisals should they seek government work in the future. BI has verified their identities.

President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, an operation led by Elon Musk, has laid off thousands of government workers in the past several weeks. The cuts may be disproportionately affecting veterans.

According to the US Office of Personnel Management, military veterans made up about 30% of federal employees in 2021, and many of them had service-related disabilities.

It’s a middle finger to our heroes and the law and their lives of service,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth told reporters during a press call Wednesday. The congresswoman is a retired Illinois Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who was left with disabilities after a rocket-propelled grenade hit her helicopter in Iraq.

Veterans have served “honorably, reliably, and with dignity,” the Democratic senator said, adding: “They do not deserve this treatment.”

‘I joined because I wanted to serve’

The veteran with dreams of lifelong public service was fired last week from her role as a soil tester at the USDA.

She’s worried the Natural Resources Conservation Service, her now former employer, could be disbanded. The agency was created after the 1930s Dust Bowl era to halt further soil erosion and prevent another such catastrophe

“Without soil, we don’t have crops; we don’t have stability for buildings,” the woman said.

Roughly 6% of the US population identify as veterans, the US Census Bureau found. The federal government’s hiring process gives veterans who were discharged under honorable conditions priority over other applicants.

Now veteran employees are in the crosshairs as the DOGE commission slashes government roles — including at USAID and the Department of Veterans Affairs — purging operations it considers a waste of government resources. The military is likely to soon also face cuts.