The job market is active, and veterans are finding traction. But not evenly, and not always in the places the career brochures suggest. Based on employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, hiring data released by Hire Heroes USA covering the first nine months of 2025, and 2026 projections from the Redeployable and MissionWise workforce analyses, here is where veterans are actually landing, and where the strongest momentum is.
1. Defense and Government Contracting
Defense contracting is the leading industry for veteran hires at 13.8 percent, followed by government and public administration at 10.5 percent, according to Hire Heroes USA’s 2025 report. These numbers reflect something that holds across economic cycles: mission-critical environments, security clearances, and hierarchical operational structures translate directly from military to contractor settings. Companies like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Boeing all maintain dedicated veteran hiring pipelines.
Clearance holders are particularly valuable. Veterans with active Top Secret or TS/SCI clearances command salary premiums in defense, intelligence, and federal contractor roles, especially in markets like Washington D.C., Colorado Springs, and Tampa. If you have a clearance, protect it through transition. The backlog for new investigations is long enough that an active clearance is a concrete financial asset.
2. Healthcare and Social Services
Healthcare and social services accounted for 6.6 percent of veteran hires in 2025, a figure that has grown steadily year over year. Bureau of Labor Statistics projections indicate healthcare will drive the largest share of U.S. job gains this decade, propelled by an aging population and ongoing demand for outpatient and home-based care.
For veterans, the appeal often runs deeper than job availability. The work involves direct service to people who need it, which connects to something many veterans carried out of the military and find difficult to replicate elsewhere. The VA’s Intermediate Care Technician program provides a structured entry path for veterans transitioning into clinical roles, and the Post-9/11 GI Bill covers tuition across a wide range of healthcare programs.
3. Information Technology and Cybersecurity
IT accounts for 7.1 percent of veteran hires in the Hire Heroes USA 2025 dataset, making it the third-largest industry for veteran placement. Cybersecurity specifically carries more than 500,000 unfilled positions in the U.S., and the field has moved substantially toward skills-based hiring. In 2026, certifications like CompTIA Security+, AWS Cloud Practitioner, and Google Data Analytics carry weight that many employers now rank above degree requirements.
Veterans with signal, IT, or cyber MOS backgrounds have the most direct transfer. About 12,000 service members participated in the SkillBridge program in the first half of fiscal year 2024, with the program allowing up to 180 days of civilian job training before separation. For veterans without a technical military background, SkillBridge placements and credential programs have both produced real results.
4. Skilled Trades and Infrastructure
Skilled labor and trades entered the top 10 job functions for veterans in 2025 for the first time. A February 2026 report from Hire Heroes USA and Redeployable identified installation, maintenance, and repair roles as among the most stable career paths available, with strong two-year retention data and lower automation exposure than many white-collar fields. Electricians, HVAC technicians, and industrial mechanics stay in demand as energy and infrastructure projects expand, and veterans from aviation maintenance or equipment-heavy MOS backgrounds often arrive with directly applicable skills.
Apprenticeship programs like Helmets to Hardhats provide structured entry points into union trades for veterans with no prior civilian trade experience.
5. Project Management Across Industries
PMI, the organization behind the Project Management Professional certification, counts military experience toward the required hours. If you led teams, managed logistics, or coordinated operations, that time qualifies. This is one of the more portable paths available, because demand for project managers spans construction, IT, healthcare, defense, and manufacturing. Veterans’ experience in planning, delegation, and adaptability aligns well with what project management roles require, and industries like construction, IT, and logistics consistently seek leaders who can bring order to complex operations.
6. Entrepreneurship
Veterans owned 1.6 million U.S. businesses with $1.0 trillion in receipts, according to the most recent Census Bureau data. Veteran-owned businesses are 5 percent less likely to close and carry a 2 percent lower failure risk than non-veteran-owned peers, with 55 to 57 percent surviving at least five years, above the national survival rate. And 98 percent of veteran entrepreneurs reported that military-developed skills helped them overcome business obstacles.
Nearly half of the veterans who started a business said having a positive impact on their communities was a priority, while more than three in five said they started a business because they wanted more flexibility and to be their own boss. The IVMF at Syracuse University’s Boots to Business program provides free entrepreneurship education for transitioning service members and veterans.
Hire Heroes USA clients achieved an average starting salary of $72,172 in 2025, well above the national average. The fields above account for the bulk of where that traction is happening. If you are working through a job search right now, Mission Roll Call’s Resource Directory lists employment and transition-focused organizations you can connect with directly.
The VA announced in early July that more than 200,000 veterans have enrolled in VA healthcare so far in 2026. That enrollment push has already generated more than 500,000 completed or scheduled healthcare encounters, including more than 60,000 mental health appointments. More than 2,100 of those newly enrolled veterans have already received emergency care through the VA.
Those are real people who were eligible before this year and were not connected to care they had already earned.
The number that sits behind that announcement is harder to sit with. As of March, there were 9.2 million veterans enrolled in the VA healthcare system, and approximately 5 million veterans who are eligible but not currently enrolled. Nearly 50 percent of veterans in the U.S. are not enrolled in VA healthcare. That gap does not exist because those veterans did not serve. It exists because enrollment is not automatic, the process is not always intuitive, and a significant portion of eligible veterans either do not know they qualify or believe a misconception that disqualifies them before they ever apply.
What is driving this year’s enrollment push
To mark America’s 250th birthday, VA hospitals, Vet Centers and other facilities this summer are holding more than 140 “Freedom 250” events, which will introduce VA to thousands of additional unenrolled veterans. These are not information fairs. They are enrollment events, staffed with eligibility and enrollment personnel who can help veterans complete applications on the spot. Representatives from VA healthcare systems, the Veterans Benefits Administration, and state departments of veterans affairs are on site to assist veterans with healthcare enrollment, disability claims assistance, and memorial affairs.
You can find events near you at discover.va.gov/events/freedom-250.
The misconceptions doing the most damage
A common misconception is that only veterans who were injured in service or have service-connected disabilities are eligible for VA healthcare. In reality, most veterans who served in the military and were honorably discharged, even if they were not in combat, qualify for VA care. Another misconception is that already having insurance disqualifies veterans from enrolling. Co-managed care is common, and community and VA providers work together to support veterans’ well-being.
If you were previously turned away from VA healthcare because you did not meet eligibility requirements, apply again. The eligibility criteria have changed significantly under the PACT Act, and many veterans who were previously ineligible now qualify. The PACT Act, signed in 2022, was the largest expansion of VA healthcare in decades. It opened enrollment to millions of veterans exposed to toxic substances during service, including burn pits, Agent Orange, and radiation. Veterans who were denied before 2022 and never reapplied may now qualify.
What enrollment gets you
Once enrolled, you have access to VA healthcare for life. That includes primary care, specialty care, mental health services, prescription medications, preventive screenings, and the VA’s toxic exposure screening, which is now a standard part of primary care under the PACT Act.
The financial difference is real. VA healthcare can save veterans and their families thousands of dollars a year compared to private coverage, particularly for veterans managing ongoing conditions, mental health care, or prescription costs. VA research consistently shows that veterans enrolled in VA healthcare have better health outcomes than non-enrolled veterans, and VA hospitals have outperformed non-VA hospitals in quality ratings and patient satisfaction.
How to enroll
Veterans can find a nearby VA facility, review eligibility information at choose.va.gov, or call the department’s 24-hour information line at 1-800-698-2411. You can also apply online at VA.gov/health-care/apply, in person at any VA medical facility, or by mailing a completed VA Form 10-10EZ. Your DD-214 helps but is not always required. The VA can often verify service without it.
Mission Roll Call’s VA Enrollment Guide walks through eligibility, priority groups, what to expect from the process, and how to get help if you run into barriers.
If you are one of the 5 million eligible veterans who has not enrolled, this summer’s outreach events are the most direct on-ramp available. The care is there. The question is whether you are connected to it.
Nobody briefs you on the silence. You spend years operating inside a structure that tells you where to be, when to be there, and why it matters. Then you separate, and the structure is just gone. No formation, no mission brief, no chain of command. Just you, a stack of out-processing paperwork, and a calendar that no longer has anyone else’s name on it.
That silence is the thing most veterans do not expect, and most transition programs do not address.
More than 200,000 service members leave the military every year. In October 2025, Mission Roll Call surveyed more than 1,500 veterans and family members about what that process actually looked like for them. Half said they felt insufficiently prepared for life after service. Not a little unprepared. Half. And 67 percent said they did not choose their first civilian job based on fit, interest, or long-term career goals. They took what was available and figured it out from there.
That is a system failure. A system that trains people to execute missions hands them a 90-day clock on their housing, a stack of VA forms they have never seen before, and a Transition Assistance Program that many veterans in that same survey described as information rather than preparation.
The skills translation problem is real
Military experience is genuinely valuable in the civilian workforce. The problem is that most employers do not have the vocabulary to recognize it, and most veterans are not taught how to close that gap. One survey of 1,000 veterans found that 20 percent had never created a resume, and that it took an average of four months to find a civilian job. Four months is a long time when your on-base housing ends within 90 days of your discharge date.
The disconnect goes deeper than resume formatting. Veterans who led 30-person teams managing multi-million-dollar equipment under live-fire conditions often apply for mid-level project coordinator roles and get told they lack management experience. The translation failure lives in how the experience gets communicated, and that is something most programs address too late and too briefly.
If you are preparing for transition right now, start the translation work earlier than feels necessary. Study job postings in your target field. Learn to describe your MOS and your responsibilities in the language those postings use. A logistics NCO with 10 years of supply chain experience is fully qualified for senior civilian roles, but a resume that speaks only in military acronyms often gets screened out before a human ever reads it.
Benefits are not automatic
The VA benefits you earned do not simply appear. Enrollment requires deliberate action, and the process is less intuitive than anything you navigated in uniform. Veterans consistently describe it as opaque, paperwork-heavy, and prone to delays that no one seems responsible for tracking.
Common errors on forms get kicked back without clear guidance on how to fix them. Claims processing takes months, sometimes longer. Rent does not pause during that time. Healthcare coverage does not pause. The financial pressure of that gap is one reason housing instability spikes among recently separated veterans, particularly younger ones who separated without savings or a civilian support network already in place.
Start the benefits process while you are still in uniform, before your separation date. Request your military medical records. Document everything, including conditions that feel minor right now, because they may not stay minor. Peer networks, fellow veterans who have already navigated the process, will give you more practical guidance than most official briefings. That is an accurate read of how institutional trust works when the information has been inconsistent enough,often enough, that veterans learn to work around it.
The mission hole is a real thing
Research published in JAMA Network Open in August 2024, led by the National Center for PTSD and Yale School of Medicine, analyzed data from a large population-based sample of veterans and found that purpose in life was among the most significant factors associated with mental, psychosocial, and cognitive functioning. Among veterans with clinical insomnia, those who also reported high levels of purpose showed functioning levels similar to veterans without insomnia. Purpose did not just correlate with better outcomes. It attenuated the damage from one of the most common conditions affecting veterans in transition.
Most veterans know this intuitively. The shift from a mission-driven environment to a job that pays the bills but asks nothing of your values carries measurable consequences. A Penn State study tracking approximately 3,000 post-9/11 veterans found that underemployment persisted up to four years after separation and was associated with depression, anxiety, anger, and poorer health overall.
Finding work that carries some connection to who you are and what you care about is a health outcome, not a luxury. Your first civilian job does not need to be your calling. The goal is keeping the question of purpose on the table as you navigate the early stages, rather than treating it as something to sort out once things settle. A lot of veterans stabilize financially and then find themselves stuck somewhere they never meant to stay. The financial pressure of early transition pushes toward urgency, and urgency tends to work against fit. Give yourself more runway to make a deliberate choice wherever you can.
What families absorb
Transition affects the whole household. Spouses, parents, and children often carry more of the adjustment than anyone acknowledges. Mission Roll Call’s survey found that families are frequently under-informed and excluded from the transition process, even though they are the primary support system when that process goes sideways.
Bring family members into the planning as early as possible. They are going to be living it too, and the isolation that comes with a difficult transition is harder to sustain when the people around you understand what is happening and why.
You can connect with transition-focused organizations through the Mission Roll Call Resource Directory. Search under “Employment” or “Transition” to find organizations working specifically in this space.
Federal, state and local agencies and nonprofit organizations across the country have long committed to ensuring our nation’s heroes have access to the resources they need to thrive after service. Through an extensive network of benefits – including healthcare, education, employment assistance, disability compensation, housing programs, career development and much more – transitioning service members and veterans have access to programs and services tailored specifically to their needs.
While benefit guidance continues to improve and expand, many service members and veterans are unaware of the full extent of resources available to them today. Thousands of resources exist to support service members throughout their transition to civilian life and provide pathways to long-term success for veterans – months, years and even decades after service.
Expanding awareness of these resources ensures every veteran makes the most of the benefits and support available to them.
A Strong Veteran Support System Already Exists
When service members transition to civilian life, they balance finding a new career, securing housing and building financial security for themselves and their families. Navigating that process can be challenging, but with a broad network of federal and state programs and community partners, no one has to do so alone.
Education & Vocational Training Assistance
One of the most impactful ways that veterans can thrive after service is through education and job training. Through the GI Bill, veterans and active-duty service members can receive up to 100% tuition assistance for college and graduate school. Eligible veterans may also receive a monthly housing allowance and stipend to cover books, supplies and equipment, making it much more attainable to pursue a degree after service. Meanwhile, for veterans who opt for a trade career after service, the GI Bill also funds vocational training, apprenticeship programs or other certification and licensing programs.
The VA’s Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) program provides additional support for veterans and transitioning service members whose service-connected disabilities create barriers to employment. The VR&E offers career counseling, education, resume assistance, job training, coaching and employment accommodations, helping every veteran access employment that best suits their needs and interests.
The Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program provides another opportunity to gain valuable civilian work experience before leaving active duty. During their final months of service, eligible participants can complete internships, apprenticeships, on-the-job training or industry certification programs with approved employers while continuing to receive their military pay and benefits. By helping service members build professional networks, translate military experience into civilian careers and develop in-demand skills, SkillBridge can make the transition from military to civilian employment smoother and more successful.
Housing & Financial Assistance
Veterans looking to purchase a home also have greater access to loans and financing options through the VA Home Loan program. Eligible veterans, service members and surviving spouses qualify for VA-backed home loans with a 0% down payment and lower interest rate through approved lenders, including national and regional banks, credit unions and mortgage companies.
Housing assistance is available through more than VA-backed home loans. Veterans with certain service-connected disabilities may qualify for VA grants, such as the Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grant, which helps eligible veterans build or modify their homes to support greater accessibility and independent living. Nonprofit organizations also help make these functional homes possible. For instance, the Gary Sinise Foundation built a custom home for Taylor Morris, a quadruple amputee injured while serving in Afghanistan.
Explore Your Financing Options Before Purchasing a Home.
VA-backed home loans, mortgage assistance programs and housing grants can help make homeownership more accessible for veterans, service members and surviving spouses.
Before applying for a mortgage, explore your eligibility, participating lenders and available housing programs through the VA to find the benefits that best fit your needs.
Finding affordable housing can be especially challenging when transitioning to civilian life, but these housing and financial assistance programs help remove barriers to homeownership and give veterans and their families the stability they need to lead fulfilling lives after service.
Integrated & Holistic Healthcare
Access to healthcare is another essential component of veteran well-being and recovery, and the VA operates the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system made specifically for veterans.
Veterans who meet service and discharge requirements have access to primary care, specialty care, preventive services, mental health treatment, prescription medications, rehabilitation services and long-term care. Veterans also have access to telehealth services and specialized programs addressing issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), chronic pain and suicide prevention – something especially beneficial for the more than 4 million veterans living in rural areas where access to treatment may require longer travel distances.
Outside of traditional health and wellness benefits, veterans have access to a strong, encouraging community of veterans who understand military life and what it’s like to transition to the civilian world.
Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) like Boots to Health Foundation, Shields & Stripes, All Vets, Arms Services Arts Partnerships, Boulder Crest and so many more organizations allow veterans to stay active and engaged through community fitness training, nutrition and life coaching, creative workshops and holistic wellness programs. Paired with integrated healthcare, these experiences help veterans improve their physical and mental health while building connections within their community and finding renewed purpose after service.
Browse through more than 100 Veteran Service Organizations on the VRD.
Whether you’re looking to build a new career, navigate your earned benefits, access treatment or connect with a supportive veteran community, the VRD makes it easier to find the programs and services that best fit your needs.
Making Resources Easier to Find
Greater awareness of these programs can open career pathways that many veterans may not realize are available. Each year, 200,000 men and women transition out of the military, and while roughly half connect with the resources and benefits available to them, too many leave the military without a clear understanding of what they’ve earned, which programs they qualify for or how to access them.
Benefit information is often spread across multiple agencies, websites and organizations, making the process difficult to navigate, especially during already stressful life transitions. While veterans are learning to navigate civilian employment, secure housing and establish new routines, they may also be managing family responsibilities, service-connected disabilities or mental health challenges.
Accessing support should simplify that transition. That’s why Mission Roll Call created the Veteran Resource Directory (VRD), a database that connects veterans to more than 100 local and national nonprofit and veteran service organizations that equip veterans with networking, career coaching and benefits navigation – often from other veterans who know what it’s like to serve and transition back to civilian life. Programs such as American Corporate Partners help veterans find their next careers after service through one-on-one mentorship, helping veterans build resumes, prepare for interviews, expand professional networks and translate military experience into civilian careers.
Why Closing the Gap Matters
Military experience develops highly valuable leadership, strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, but many veterans struggle to translate those experiences into language that employers immediately recognize. More than half of service members who transition to civilian careers earn less than what they made in their active-duty positions – not because they are unqualified, but because employers and veterans don’t accurately translate military skills to public and private sector careers.
Closing that gap starts with better guidance before service members leave the military. Clearer communication, earlier education and stronger transition support can help veterans understand how to market their skills and take full advantage of the benefits and programs available to them from day one.
Maximizing the Use of Benefits After Service
Finding stability in employment and through support programs can have a positive effect on multiple aspects of a veteran’s life.
When service members can confidently access the federal, state and local resources they earned when transitioning to civilian life, they are better equipped to build meaningful careers, support themselves and their families, achieve financial stability, remain connected to their communities and maintain an overall higher quality of life.
Ensuring those benefits are accessible and easy to navigate is the next step. Continued collaboration among government and state agencies, VSOs, employers and community partners can help close the awareness gap.
Freedom is easy to celebrate. It is harder to build.
July asked Mission Roll Call to sit with that distinction. With Independence Day at the center of the month and Freedom to Live Fully as our theme, we turned our attention to what freedom actually looks like for veterans navigating life with service-connected injuries, and to the people, programs, and innovations making that life more possible.
Depression. Traumatic brain injury. Physical injury. The transition from warrior to civilian. These are not abstract challenges. They are the daily reality for millions of veterans, and this month we covered them honestly, through research, through the organizations doing the work, and through the veterans willing to tell their own story.
Here is what you might have missed.
Articles
July’s articles focused on veteran independence, adaptive recovery, and the innovations and resources supporting veterans with service-connected injuries and conditions.
Stories That Matter
July brought some of the most personal and reported storytelling Mission Roll Call has published. From a Naval Flight Officer who spent 30 years quietly documenting his own depression so others would not have to figure it out alone, to a veteran redefining what a full life looks like after service-connected injury, to the programs turning trauma into purpose and clinical answers, these are the stories that stay with you.
This month we published:
Veteran Town Hall
July’s town hall brought a conversation veterans in rural communities have been asking for.
Mission Roll Call CEO Jim Whaley sat down with Operation Honor Rural Salute for an honest discussion about the barriers rural veterans encounter every day, including access to healthcare, transportation, food security, employment, preventative care, and community support, and explored how nonprofits, local organizations, and veterans themselves can work together to bridge those gaps. Together they examined why rural veterans often struggle to access care, what veteran entrepreneurship and workforce opportunities look like outside of major metro areas, and what it takes to build stronger veteran communities through local partnerships.
Mission Roll Call believes that every veteran deserves to be heard, regardless of where they live. This conversation is a good reminder of why that matters.
Save the Date: Next MRC Town Hall Live Event
August 12th, 2026 – 11 AM Central
MRC in Action
Morning Formation , Second Friday of Every Month
Last month Mission Roll Call hosted its monthly Morning Formation at Uptown Stagecoach, and the room was full. More than just a gathering, Morning Formation creates a space where veterans can come together, share stories, find support, and be reminded that they are never alone. The connections made over coffee may seem simple. They can mean everything.
Building a strong veteran community starts with showing up for one another, and that is exactly what Morning Formation is all about. Mission Roll Call is grateful for the support of sponsor Clark Gas and Oil, whose partnership helps make these events possible.
Morning Formation takes place on the second Friday of every month. Join us on Aug. 14 from 8 to 9 a.m. at Uptown Stagecoach, where familiar faces and first-timers are equally welcome. Whether you are looking for resources, connection, or simply a place to share a cup of coffee with fellow veterans, there is a seat waiting for you.
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
Mission Roll Call is proud to join a coalition of national Veterans Service Organizations supporting continued consideration of the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (H.R. 9237) while encouraging Congress to continue refining it. This legislation could shape the future of healthcare, benefits, caregiver support, survivor benefits, and other priorities affecting veterans and military families.
Mission Roll Call in the Media
Recently, Mission Roll Call CEO Jim Whaley sat down with The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices for a conversation about service, leadership, and what it means to advocate for veterans beyond the uniform.
Research and Reports
What Veterans Are Telling Us About the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (H.R. 9237) is one of the most consequential pieces of veteran legislation currently under consideration. Mission Roll Call surveyed veterans and military families on the legislation and the results were direct: veterans want Congress to get this right, and they are paying attention to whether it does.
Speak Up: Your Voice Matters
The conversation does not end here. Take our latest survey and make sure your voice is part of the data shaping policy decisions for veterans and military families nationwide.
Small Gift, Big Mission
Every dollar funds the surveys, research, and advocacy that bring verified veteran voices directly to the policymakers who control healthcare, benefits, and quality of life. Because when veterans speak, Washington should listen.
Looking Ahead: August and Beyond
August brings a question that does not get asked often enough: what comes next?
Purpose After Service is next month’s theme, and Mission Roll Call is going to lean into it fully. Transition and employment sit at the center of that conversation, because for too many veterans, leaving the service means losing not just a job but a sense of identity, community, and direction. The uniform gave structure. Civilian life does not always offer a replacement.
Next month we are going to explore what meaningful post-service careers look like, where veterans are finding purpose beyond the rank, and what the organizations and systems supporting that transition are actually doing well and where they are falling short. Because the mission does not end when the uniform comes off. It just looks different.
Expect more stories, more honest conversation, and more resources built for real life.
The technology available to veterans with service-connected injuries right now is substantially better than what most of them are being told about. Some of it is decades in the making. Some of it launched in the past year. All of it is accessible through the VA or connected programs, and most of it costs the veteran nothing out of pocket.
1. ReWalk Personal Exoskeleton
The ReWalk is a wearable robotic exoskeleton that provides powered hip and knee motion for veterans with spinal cord injuries, enabling them to stand, walk, turn, and climb stairs. The VA has a national coverage policy that makes qualifying veterans eligible to receive a personal ReWalk system at no cost, regardless of whether the spinal cord injury is service-related.
The process runs through designated VA Training Centers: a veteran is evaluated, completes a training period and, if they meet the physical criteria, the medical center submits a procurement request. The ReWalk 7 launched nationally in the United States in April 2025. Army veteran Gene Laureano, who has been using the device since 2013, described the impact in a Lifeward case profile: “After my injury, my days were boring. Because of ReWalk, my confidence is back. I’m living again.” To find an exoskeleton-certified VA provider, start at golifeward.com/for-veterans.
2. VA Immersive: Virtual Reality for PTSD and Pain
VA Immersive has deployed more than 1,450 VR headsets across 165-plus VA medical centers and outpatient clinics in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa. The program uses immersive virtual reality for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) treatment, pain management and rehabilitation, giving clinicians a tool for prolonged exposure therapy and giving veterans a way to engage with treatment that some find more accessible than traditional in-office sessions.
In April 2026, the VA expanded the program further, deploying more than 700 in-home VR mental wellness kits nationwide through a partnership with Healium and SoldierPoint Digital Health. The platform uses real-time biofeedback to help veterans self-regulate stress and anxiety outside of clinical settings. Research published in peer-reviewed journals found the platform can reduce anxiety in as little as four minutes. Veterans interested in VR-based options should ask their VA care team specifically about VA Immersive and whether their facility has the BraveMind system for PTSD treatment.
3. VA AUTO Act Vehicle Grants
Before 2023, veterans with qualifying service-connected disabilities could receive a VA automobile grant exactly once in their lifetime. The AUTO Act changed that, allowing veterans to apply for a new grant every 10 years. The grant, currently $27,074.99 as of October 2025, can be used toward the purchase of a specially equipped vehicle. Adaptive equipment — hand controls, wheelchair lifts, power steering, modified seating — is funded separately and does not count against the vehicle grant cap.
Modified vehicles typically cost between $20,000 and $80,000 new, and the average lifespan of a modified vehicle runs about 11.5 years. The 10-year renewal cycle aligns with that reality in a way the lifetime cap never did. Veterans who received a one-time grant years ago and have not heard about the AUTO Act change should contact their VA benefits office or a veterans service organization to check eligibility.
4. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy with HBOT4Heroes
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy floods the brain with oxygen in a pressurized environment, stimulating healing at the cellular level. For veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and PTSD, the treatment has shown meaningful results where conventional care has fallen short. The problem has been access: HBOT is not covered by most insurance, and the VA does not broadly fund it, leaving veterans who could benefit without a clear path to treatment.
HBOT4Heroes, a North Carolina-based 501(c)(3), closes that gap by funding 100% of HBOT costs for qualifying veterans. Each treatment series runs approximately $6,500. The organization has reported a 95% efficacy rate among veterans treated, and North Carolina passed legislation in 2019 authorizing HBOT for veterans with TBI and PTSD, with HBOT4Heroes as a central part of that program’s implementation. Veterans outside North Carolina can also apply. Learn more and apply at hbot4heroes.org.
5. VA Office of Advanced Manufacturing
The VA’s Office of Advanced Manufacturing uses 3D printing and advanced fabrication to produce patient-specific assistive devices when standard prosthetics or orthotics do not fit the need. VHA providers can request custom devices directly through the OAM on behalf of their patients.
For veterans whose injuries or anatomy fall outside what commercial manufacturers produce, this is the pathway worth knowing about. It does not require a veteran to seek out a private manufacturer or pay out of pocket. The referral starts with a VA provider at innovation.va.gov/oam.
6. PTSD Coach and VA Mobile Health Tools
PTSD Coach, developed by the VA, remains one of the most practical tools available for veterans managing post-traumatic stress between appointments. The app offers self-assessment, symptom management tools and resources for finding professional help at no cost on iOS and Android.
A 2025 Mission Roll Call poll found that 74% of veterans would use an online healthcare portal if one were available. The VA has responded with an expanding suite of mobile and telehealth options, including Mindfulness Coach and expanded telehealth delivery of cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure therapy through the VA National Telemental Health Center. Both evidence-based treatments are now available remotely, without requiring travel to a facility, which matters particularly for veterans in rural areas or those with mobility limitations.
Veterans in crisis can reach the Veterans Crisis Line by dialing 988 and pressing 1.
For a full directory of veteran-focused resources and organizations, visit Mission Roll Call’s Resource Directory.
Most veterans with service-connected disabilities leave significant benefits on the table for years. The gap usually isn’t awareness of the programs so much as the absence of anyone who sat down and walked them through what they qualified for. By the time most figure it out, they’ve already built a life around workarounds that didn’t have to exist.
Independence after a service-connected injury rarely looks the way veterans imagined it would. Sometimes it looks like a modified vehicle with hand controls. Sometimes it’s a home where you can actually move from room to room without help. Sometimes it’s smaller than that: a custom device built by engineering students that solves a single problem no off-the-shelf product ever addressed. All of it counts. And more of it is available than most veterans realize.
Home is Usually the First Obstacle
For veterans with severe permanent service-connected disabilities, the VA’s Specially Adapted Housing grant provides up to $126,526 in fiscal year 2026 to build, buy, or modify a home for accessibility. That figure increased 3.87% from last year, adjusted annually against a construction cost index. It can be used up to six times across a veteran’s lifetime, as long as the total doesn’t exceed the cap.
Veterans who don’t qualify for the SAH grant may qualify for the Special Housing Adaptation grant, which tops out at $25,350 in FY2026 and covers modifications like widened doorways, accessible kitchens, and grab bars. Below that, the Home Improvements and Structural Alterations grant is available to any veteran with a service-connected condition rated 50% or higher, up to $6,800 for roll-in showers, ramp installations, and similar work.
Paralyzed Veterans of America reported providing $32.8 million in home accessibility modifications and $9.6 million in vehicle adaptations to veterans in 2022 alone, and their national service offices can help veterans navigate which VA grants they qualify for. They’re listed in the MRC Resource Directory and at pva.org. The VA entry point is a Specially Adapted Housing Agent. If you haven’t spoken with one, that’s the conversation to have first.
Getting Back Behind the Wheel
The VA’s Driver Rehabilitation Program has been running since 1946 and now operates at 50 sites nationwide. The program covers everything from basic adaptive aid evaluations to high-tech computerized driving systems for veterans with complex needs. When Army veteran Trivero Wilson was paralyzed from the chest down after a 2005 combat injury, he worked with specialists at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa to train on adaptive driving systems and eventually operate a modified truck. “Being able to drive again means everything to me,” Wilson told the VA. “It gives me the freedom to go where I want, when I want, without relying on anyone else.”
Vehicle modifications are also separately fundable through the VA Automobile Adaptive Equipment Benefit, which covers hand controls, power steering, and wheelchair lifts. The two programs aren’t linked, so a veteran can use both.
When the Device Doesn’t Exist Yet
Project S.E.R.V.E., formerly known as QL Plus, is a VA-connected program that has spent more than 15 years partnering with injured veterans to design and build one-of-a-kind adaptive devices at no cost. The premise is straightforward: if a piece of equipment that would improve your mobility or let you return to an activity you care about doesn’t exist, they’ll help engineer it. Every project is custom. A veteran who wants to fish again but can’t manage a standard rod gets a solution built around their specific condition, not a generic approximation of one.
When the Support Needs to Reach Further
Physical access is one layer. The other is having someone who stays in the case long enough to see the full picture: housing, benefits, transportation, and mental health all at once rather than one at a time. That’s what America’s Warrior Partnership does through its network of social workers, which operates a 24/7 support line across all 50 states and has handled more than 160,000 individual veteran cases. Their model is built around trusted relationships that start before a crisis and run through whatever comes after. AWP is listed in the MRC Resource Directory and at americaswarriorpartnership.org, or by phone at 1-866-297-8387.
The Identity Aspect
Physical and psychological independence don’t always recover on the same timeline, and it’s worth mentioning that directly. The VA’s own testimony before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs earlier this year described adaptive sports programs as clinically integrated into rehabilitation plans rather than recreational add-ons, a framing that reflects what veterans living with serious injuries already know: the physical and the mental recovery are the same process, not parallel tracks.
Redefining independence after injury isn’t a reframe veterans have to talk themselves into. It’s something that tends to happen in practice, when the right equipment, the right program, or the right referral finally shows up. The problem is that too often, it shows up late.
For a full directory of veteran-focused resources, visit Mission Roll Call’s Resource Directory.
The first time a lot of veterans hear about adaptive sports is from another veteran, usually in passing. Someone who mentioned a wheelchair rugby camp or a ski clinic like it was obvious information, not a revelation.
That’s a gap worth closing. There are real programs, with real funding and real referral pipelines, that most eligible veterans have never heard of. This piece is an attempt to fix that.
1. The VA’s Adaptive Sports Grant Program
The VA has put more than $119 million into adaptive sports over the past nine years. In 2026, another $16 million in grants went out to national, regional, and community organizations running programs across the country. That money covers archery, cycling, wheelchair softball, hunting, fishing, and about two dozen other activities, depending on the grantee. The full list of current recipients is at va.gov/adaptivesports.
The entry point, if you’re a veteran with a service-connected disability, is your local VA medical center. Many can issue direct referrals into funded programs at no cost to the veteran. If yours hasn’t mentioned it, ask specifically about the Adaptive Sports Grant Program by name.
2. Paralyzed Veterans of America
PVA has been running adaptive sports programs for close to 80 years. Between January and July 2026 alone, the organization hosted 30 events from California to Maine, including a wheelchair rugby invitational, paracycling camps, a bass fishing tournament series, adaptive pickleball, and wheelchair basketball. That’s not an annual calendar. That’s a six-month window.
Earlier this year, PVA testified before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs specifically on adaptive sports as a rehabilitation tool, framing these programs as clinical interventions, not recreational add-ons. For veterans with spinal cord injuries or diseases, PVA is also the organization that secured over $1.2 billion in benefits for veterans and their families and provided $32.8 million for home accessibility modifications and vehicle adaptations in 2022 alone. Sports is one part of a much larger support structure. Find them in the MRC Resource Directory or at pva.org.
3. America’s Warrior Partnership
AWP doesn’t run adaptive sports programs directly, but they’re often how veterans get connected to them. David Charbonnet, a former Navy SEAL who was paralyzed from the waist down after a training jump, found paracanoe during his recovery. AWP secured funding for his coaching and he went on to compete in the 2024 ICF Paracanoe World Championships. He’s currently training toward the 2028 Paralympics.
That’s what AWP does: their network of social workers operates a 24/7 support line, covers all 50 states and territories, and has handled more than 160,000 individual cases since the organization’s founding. They don’t just refer veterans to programs. They stay involved throughout the process. Find them in the MRC Resource Directory or at americaswarriorpartnership.org.
4. The Warrior Games and the Invictus Games
Both events get framed as elite competitions, which undersells what they actually are for most participants. The Invictus Games, now in its seventh edition, drew 500-plus competitors from 25 nations across 11 sports. The DoD’s Warrior Games runs parallel to it domestically. Research published in the Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health found that participation in events like these is associated with post-traumatic growth and improved mental and physical health outcomes that extend beyond the duration of the games.
Getting to that stage takes time and a referral pathway, but for veterans who are already engaged in adaptive sports locally, these events are a real destination.
5. PGA HOPE
PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) runs a 6-8 week adaptive golf curriculum through PGA Professionals trained in both adaptive technique and military cultural competency. It’s free to veterans, funded by PGA REACH, and operates under a formal agreement with the VA that enables direct referrals from VA medical centers. Golf is on the VA’s referral list as a form of therapy, which means a VA provider can write the referral the same way they’d refer someone to physical therapy. To find a local clinic, visit pgareach.org/hope.
What changes when veterans compete
The research around adaptive sports tends to focus on mental health outcomes, which is valid, but veterans who’ve gone through these programs usually describe something more specific: they stopped being defined by what they couldn’t do. That shift doesn’t come from a pamphlet or a therapy session. It tends to come from showing up somewhere and finding out you can still compete.
One veteran who competed with Team U.S. at the Invictus Games put it plainly in a Wounded Warrior Project account of the Games: “Adaptive sports is the only area where I don’t feel blind or disabled. We’re all competing, we’re all one huge family.”
If you know a veteran who might benefit from any of these programs and hasn’t heard of them, that’s the referral worth making.
For a full directory of veteran-focused resources and programs, including Paralyzed Veterans of America and America’s Warrior Partnership, visit Mission Roll Call’s Resource Directory.
June asked a question that does not have a comfortable answer: where do veterans go when the system runs out of room for them?
Home Is the First Step was this month’s theme, and Mission Roll Call leaned into it fully. Not the idea of home as a sentimental concept, but home as the concrete, measurable, often inaccessible thing that determines whether everything else in a veteran’s life has a chance to work. Mental health treatment. Employment. Family stability. None of it holds without a foundation, and for too many veterans, that foundation is still missing.
This month we told the truth about that. We published the data, lifted up the people living inside it, and made sure the stories that are easiest to overlook were the ones we worked hardest to tell.
Here is what you might have missed.
Articles
June’s articles examined the crisis of veterans experiencing homelessness from every angle, from the research behind what works to the systemic gaps that keep veterans stuck even when they are doing everything right.
• Why Housing Is the Foundation of Veterans Well-Being
• The Wounded Veteran Tax: Why Thousands of Combat-Injured Veterans Are Still Fighting for Earned Benefits
• 5 Barriers Veteran Face When Traying to Find Stable Housing
• What Most People Get Wrong About Veteran Homelessness
• The Veteran Has Income – So Why Are They Still Homeless?
Stories That Matter
June brought some of the most human storytelling Mission Roll Call has published this year. Behind every statistic about veterans experiencing homelessness is a person, a name, a set of circumstances that the data alone cannot capture. This month we made sure those people had a voice.
This month we shared:
• The Work Is Not Over – Michael Merzke
• She Served. She Qualified. She Has Income-She’s Still Waiting: Amery Veteran Ty’s Story
• Building More Than Homes: The Mission Behind Mighty Hero Homes
• Still Waiting: Hidden Homelessness and the Long-Term Struggles Facing Navy Veteran Kristy Barnes
• The Keys That Changed Everything – America’s Homeless Vets
• The Programs Exist. So Why Is She Still Fighting Alone?
• What Service Taught Me About America
Veteran Town Halls
This month’s town hall brought a conversation that veterans have been asking for, and that the broader medical community is still catching up to.
Mission Roll Call COO Ray Whitaker sat down with veteran advocate and HBOT expert Michael Merzke for an in-depth discussion about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and its growing interest within the veteran community. Together they explored how HBOT works, what happens physiologically when oxygen is delivered under pressure, and the conditions for which HBOT is currently approved. The conversation also examined why so many veterans are seeking information about this therapy, particularly those navigating the long-term effects of military service including traumatic brain injury, blast exposure, PTSD, sleep disturbances and anxiety.
This conversation emphasizes the importance of evidence-based information and encourages veterans to consult with qualified medical professionals when exploring treatment options. If you missed it, it is worth your time.
Save the Date: July Town Hall, July 8, 2026 – 11PM CST — Details coming soon.
Speak Up: Your Voice Matters
The conversation does not end here. Take our latest survey and ake sure your voice is part of the data shaping policy decisions for veterans and military families nationwide.
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Looking Ahead: July and Beyond
July brings Independence Day, and with it a question Mission Roll Call intends to sit with: what does freedom actually look like for veterans living with the lasting effects of their service?
Next month our theme is Freedom to Live Fully. We will be focusing on veteran independence, adaptive recovery, resilience and the innovations helping veterans with service-connected injuries reclaim their quality of life. From adaptive sports to emerging rehabilitation technology, from veterans redefining what recovery looks like to the organizations building the infrastructure to support them, July is going to go deep on what independence means when it has had to be rebuilt from the ground up.
We will also continue to watch and report on the legislative and policy conversations that matter most to this community, because what gets decided in Washington does not stay in Washington.
Expect more stories, more honest conversation and more resources built for real life.
Because the mission does not end when the uniform comes off. It just looks different.
When most people picture a homeless veteran, they often assume the individual has no income, no benefits, and no support system.
But that assumption does not reflect the reality many veterans are living today.
Across this country, there are veterans experiencing homelessness who receive:
Yet despite having income and support systems connected to them, many remain unhoused. Technically, HOMELESS!!
That should force us to ask a difficult question:
If a veteran has income and housing assistance available, why are they still struggling to secure housing?
The answer reveals a much larger issue within the housing system itself.
The Veteran the System Still Could Not House
One story that continues to stay with me is Sgt. Marlene Wolf.
Sgt. Wolf had income.
She had support systems connected to her.
And she HAD a two-bedroom housing voucher.
But despite having what many people assume should guarantee housing stability, she still struggled to secure permanent housing.
Eventually, her voucher was terminated because she could not find a place willing or able to work within the program requirements and housing realities she faced.
Think about that for a moment.
A veteran can qualify for housing assistance, receive approval, hold the voucher in hand — and still lose the opportunity because the housing market itself never aligned around the veteran.
That is not simply a paperwork issue.
That is a systems failure.
The Misconception About Veteran Homelessness
One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding veteran homelessness is the belief that homelessness only happens when someone has no financial resources.
That is not always true.
Many veterans living in vehicles, hotels, shelters, temporary situations, or couch surfing have some form of stable monthly income. Some receive VA disability compensation that is more reliable than traditional employment. Others are retired and receive Social Security or military retirement benefits consistently each month.
Some veterans are actively employed.
Some go to work every day while still struggling to find stable housing.
But income alone does not guarantee access to housing.
And that is the part of the conversation many communities still do not fully understand.
Homeless Does Not Mean Unemployable
Homelessness does not always look the way people expect.
Many veterans experiencing homelessness are:
Yet they are still:
These veterans are often overlooked because they do not fit the public image of homelessness.
But housing instability is still homelessness.
And many of these veterans are already financially housing-ready.
The system simply does not recognize them that way.
The Voucher Is Not the Housing
Programs like HUD-VASH were designed to help veterans transition out of homelessness by combining rental assistance with VA case management and supportive services.
The voucher matters.
But the voucher itself is not the housing.
Veterans still must:
That process can become overwhelming, especially for veterans already navigating disabilities, trauma, aging, or prolonged housing instability.
A veteran may already have the voucher in hand and still have nowhere to go.
Where SSVF and GPD Fit Into the System
Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) was created to prevent homelessness and rapidly rehouse veterans. SSVF can help with:
Grant and Per Diem (GPD) programs provide transitional housing and supportive services while veterans work toward permanent housing placement.
These programs are critical.
But none of them can create housing inventory where none exists.
And none of them work effectively without strong community alignment.
The Real Barrier Is Access
This is where the conversation must shift.
The issue is not always whether the veteran can pay rent.
The issue is whether the veteran can access housing.
Many veterans are overlooked not because they lack income, but because homelessness itself creates barriers.
Veterans may face:
And in many communities, landlords and Realtors still do not fully understand how veteran housing programs work.
As a result, veterans who are financially capable of sustaining housing remain trapped in instability.
Why Community Education Matters
This is why communities must better understand how programs like HUD-VASH, SSVF, and GPD actually function.
Housing stability does not happen through federal policy alone.
It requires:
all working together.
When communities understand the system, veterans move into housing faster.
When communities do not, vouchers go unused, opportunities expire, and veterans continue falling through the cracks.
A Different Way to Look at Veteran Homelessness
We must stop assuming homeless veterans are starting from zero.
Many already have:
What they often do not have is a housing market prepared to receive them.
That is not a veteran failure.
That is a systems alignment issue.
Moving Forward
We cannot continue measuring success simply by approvals and program enrollment while veterans remain unhoused.
A voucher without housing is not stability.
Income without access is not security.
And support systems without community alignment will continue leaving veterans behind.
Many homeless veterans are not without income.
They are without access.
The goal should not only be to connect veterans to programs.
The goal must be to connect veterans to actual housing.
Because veterans like Sgt. Marlene Wolf should never lose housing opportunities simply because the system could not align around them in time.
To learn more about Mission Roll Call’s work uplifting veteran voices and advancing effective housing solutions, visit their homelessness initiative:
Mission Roll Call Housing & Homelessness
Mission Roll Call is committed to listening first. Veterans, families, caregivers, and community partners are encouraged to share their experiences through Mission Roll Call’s national surveys to help shape future advocacy and policy discussions: Mission Roll Call Surveys
Yvette Jones-Swanson, M.A., is a former homeless veteran, U.S. Army veteran, Realtor, and nationally recognized subject-matter expert on veteran homelessness and housing. She has spent more than 22 years helping veterans navigate the path from homelessness to housing stability and homeownership through community-based housing solutions and systems alignment.
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