Veterans Set To Take On Greater Role In Next Congress

Stephanie Barna's commentary appeared in a Law360 article about the increase in the number of veterans serving in the new Congress.

One potential benefit of electing more veterans to Congress is that they have direct experience with veteran- and military-related issues, said Stephanie. Stephanie, an Army veteran, was recently general counsel for the then-Republican majority on the Senate Armed Services Committee and is also a former senior U.S. Department of Defense official.

"I don't mean in any way to imply that legislators who have not served as veterans cannot understand veterans' issues ... these are very smart, very savvy people," Stephanie said. "But I think much has been made over recent years about the number of senators and congressmen and -women with military experience and how that number has been declining, and whether the decline in that number somehow relates to the gap in civil-military relations."

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