On Veterans Day, New Mexico vets share their stories and struggles

As locals lined the sidewalks in Santa Fe for a Veterans Day parade on Wednesday, some vets used the moment to reflect on their service and struggles.

One of the locals taking pictures as the parade passed through was Gilbert Martinez, a native New Mexican who served aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War. Martinez told Source NM he had a “very good experience” and was “grateful” to serve in the Navy. 

One happy moment while serving, Martinez said, was when his commanding officer granted him leave to celebrate his cousin’s birthday, who was also serving in the Navy and was aboard a nearby vessel anchored outside Danang, Vietnam. 

“They got me on a helicopter and flew me over there to celebrate my cousin and flew me back in the evening,” Martinez said. “I was blessed.”

After leaving the Navy, he said he used what he learned as a data processor, operating time card punches and early computer systems, and translated it into his job with the state agency now called the Department of Transportation, programming time punch machines to help his coworkers, a skill they were “shocked” that he knew. 

Martinez emphasized how important the Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system has been for him, noting, for instance, that it provided him with hearing aids.

“They have been so good to me. The service I get from them is great and I’m grateful,” he said.

But for Robert Josephs, an Air Force veteran and member of Veterans for Peace Santa Fe chapter, VA healthcare is “under attack” by the Trump administration. Last year, the VA announced its plan to reduce staff by 30,000 federal workers through hiring freezes, deferred resignations and voluntary early retirement. The action caused “significant strain” on the New Mexico VA Healthcare System, according to an August report from a federal oversight agency.

Josephs worked as a missile operations officer in Turkey during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He added that he wasn’t interested in anti-war activism when he was discharged from service in 1966,  saying he was “too busy trying to make a living and support my family,” but the turning point was the prelude to the Iraq War.

“I saw what was happening and how we were totally destabilizing the Middle East and got involved,” Josephs said. He expressed his opposition to the Iran War, saying the country should stop spending on “unnecessary wars” while people “are struggling. We’re trying to put food on the table in this country.”

Food insecurity among veterans is just one issue Albert Gomez, a 17-year Army and New Mexico National Guard veteran, helps address at the Santa Fe Veteran Center, where he now serves as director. He became a licensed clinical social worker because he “wanted to work with my fellow veterans and give back.”

For three years, Gomez ran the Farmington Vet Center, where he said he saw firsthand the struggle of veterans living in rural New Mexico. “A lot of New Mexico just doesn’t have enough services for veterans,” he said, adding that his father had to move from Farmington to Albuquerque just to be closer to his VA healthcare physicians.

Gomez said he’s seen many veterans struggle with food and housing insecurity. The Santa Fe Vet Center offers 30 housing vouchers for veterans in Santa Fe struggling with housing, he said, and highlighted its partnership with the Veteran Integration Center in Albuquerque, which operates its own housing program and food pantry for veterans and their families. 

Brock Wolff, the CEO of the VIC in Albuquerque, told Source NM he has seen an increase to 300 veterans per month needing help from its food pantry. He added that the pantry has struggled to keep up with demand, but that recent food drives have helped considerably. 

“Because these guys gave everything they got, they deserve to be front of the line when they need help,” Wolff said.