Keeping faith with those who kept faith with us

By EDWARD J. TRICE
Guest Columnist

In Indiana, people don’t spend much time talking about duty.

They simply live it.

You see it in factories opening before sunrise, on family farms passed from one generation to the next, with volunteers coaching Little League after a full day’s work, and in neighbors who still believe showing up matters. It’s a quiet kind of responsibility, rarely celebrated but woven into everyday life.

Military service has always fit naturally here.

The men and women who wear the uniform accept responsibilities most Americans never have to consider. They go where they’re sent, do what’s asked of them, and put the mission ahead of themselves. When they come home, those values don’t disappear. They become business owners, teachers, first responders, engineers, nurses, and community leaders. The mission changes, but the sense of responsibility doesn’t.

Neither should ours.

That’s why Congress should pass the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (TCAVA).

For years, Congress has debated bipartisan veterans’ bills that almost everyone agrees should become law. Some improve access to community health care. Others strengthen support for caregivers and surviving spouses. Some modernize education benefits or expand mental health resources. Others correct longstanding injustices for medically retired veterans. Most have broad bipartisan backing. Too many have never reached the finish line.

Veterans don’t experience these issues one at a time.

The veteran recovering from a service-connected injury may also be raising children. A caregiver may also be navigating survivor benefits. Someone beginning a second career may also be managing PTSD or returning to school. Those aren’t separate problems. They’re different parts of the same life.

TCAVA reflects that reality. It strengthens community care, expands mental health resources, supports military families and caregivers, modernizes education and workforce programs, and advances bipartisan reforms that have been waiting years for action.

Representative Victoria Spartz has often spoken about fiscal responsibility and keeping government focused on its core obligations. Few obligations are more fundamental than keeping faith with the people who volunteered to defend the nation. Supporting veterans has long been one of the few issues capable of bringing Republicans and Democrats together. It should stay that way.

Indiana has never expected applause for doing the right thing.

We simply expect people to do it.

Keeping our promises to veterans shouldn’t be controversial.

It should simply be another day’s work.