Federal government layoffs send veterans to the unemployment lines, too
Gibson Jones, president of NTEU Chapter 98 and a retired Army sergeant, explains why disrespecting the federal workforce is disrespecting veterans.
Gibson Jones
November 10, 2025 4:01 pm
3 min read
Three times in my career I’ve sworn an oath before I started a new job. Once when I enlisted in the Army; once when I went to work as an IT specialist at the Defense Department; and most recently, in 2007, when I joined the IRS.
The military and civilian oaths are not identical, but they have this phrase in common: “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Anyone who makes that promise is a public servant. Anyone who makes that promise is committed to helping others. It is who I am.
I wore my military uniform for 20 years on active duty in South Korea, Germany and Saudi Arabia. I put my life on the line for my fellow soldiers and for my country. All that time, my service was honored, respected and valued by the people that I helped protect. As it should be.
]]>
Why, then, when that same call to service led me to a cubicle at the IRS, must I endure layoffs, threats to my paycheck, downsizing, attacks on my union rights, and disrespectful comments from the highest levels of our government?
There are about 700,000 military veterans just like me who staff our federal agencies, doing the day-to-day work of making sure the American people get the services they need: helping taxpayers avoid mistakes on their returns, protecting our air and water from pollution, conducting safety inspections at drug manufacturing facilities, safeguarding consumers from fraud, facilitating trade and travel through our ports and caring for our nation’s military veterans, and on and on.
The Pew Research Center estimates that veterans make up nearly a quarter of the federal government’s civilian workforce.
In other words, disrespecting the federal workforce is disrespecting veterans. And it’s been happening a lot lately.
There have been mass firings of employees without cause, ominous messages to quit or face layoffs and a loss of our legally protected collective bargaining rights. The administration has openly pondered ways to fire as many federal employees as possible and even refuse to pay them during a government shutdown. One of them said his plan was to put federal employees “in trauma,” which is especially offensive to those of us with a service-related diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I retired from the Army with solid, marketable skills in information technology and building and maintaining computer networks in any type of environment. After having invested in my training in the Army, the federal government wisely decided to keep me on the payroll in a civilian capacity. It was an easy choice for me, too, because it meant I could continue my career in public service.
Federal employees like me are hired based strictly on merit. We are skilled nonpartisans who carry out our duties no matter which political party is in the White House, yet another thing we have in common with military servicemembers.
]]>
This Veterans Day, let us remember that all federal workers, veteran and non-veteran, are fulfilling a duty to serve their fellow Americans, and that service should be respected.
Gibson Jones is president of National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 98 and is an IT specialist and systems administrator with the IRS in Memphis, Tennessee. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1998.
Copyright
© 2025 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
