‘Unconscionable’: DeKalb County veterans slam Trump for planned VA staffing cuts

SYCAMORE – When U.S. Army veteran Tom Campbell was drafted into the Air Cavalry Regiment in Fort Hood, Texas, during the Vietnam War, he said he felt a call of duty to his country.

Now, he’s asking for others to join him to return that favor, advocating for veterans' rights as uncertainty surrounding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs grows amid President Donald Trump’s second term in office.

“The VA is so understaffed, even before the cuts, that it was hard to get timely care when it was needed,” said Campbell, who served from 1966 to 1968. “This is going to make it so much worse. There’s lots of veterans that have ailments from when they served, and it’s an ongoing thing, and it only gets worse as you age. And to be put on hold or not get care at all is just unconscionable.”

Campbell, of Sycamore, gathered with fellow veterans Friday as dozens crowded at State and Main streets in front of the DeKalb County Courthouse in downtown Sycamore. Demonstrators said they were rallying against the Trump administration, which is considering plans to cut 80,000 VA jobs.

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Protesters voice their displeasure with President Donald Trump Friday, March 14, 2025, in front of the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore. The group was protesting recent cuts by the Trump administration to the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Mark Busch)

Just months into his term, Trump has laid off tens of thousands of federal workers. Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, has targeted a slew of agencies, including those that provide services to millions of Americans; oversee federal regulations and federal tax collection, education, and veteran health care; track and issue warnings for life-threatening weather patterns; manage the country’s fisheries and marine sanctuaries; and administer civilian foreign aid.

“This is just a small part of the greater injustice being done to America by those that don’t care for the people that are doing the work of keeping America going,” Campbell said.

An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press in early March showed the VA under Trump’s direction is planning an “aggressive” reorganization to the agency that provides health care and other services to about 9 million veterans.

“The VA is so understaffed, even before the cuts, that it was hard to get timely care when it was needed. This is going to make it so much worse.”

—  Tom Campbell, U.S. Army veteran

More than 25% of the VA’s employees are veterans themselves. That includes Sycamore resident Thecla Cooler’s son-in-law.

Cooler joined the dozens of demonstrators Friday and said she wanted to talk about her son-in-law, a veteran who worked for 20 years as a nuclear scientist and, as of 18 months ago, oversees a VA facility as chief scientist in a different state. She didn’t want to identify him or the state but shared deep concerns she has for his ability to provide needed care for the people in his charge.

“He’s responsible for the lives of all of the veterans who are in that facility,” Cooler said. “He is having an extremely difficult time passing all of the things that are supposed to be happening that were promised that would happen. It’s a tragedy, and it’s just about killing him.”

Broken promises were a theme expressed by many outraged veterans Friday.

Lynn Fillmore, an Army sergeant who served at Fort Hood, Texas, and in Italy from 1978 to 1989, stood next to Shawn Rosenbaum, who served in the Marine Corps from 1992 to 1996 at Camp June in North Carolina and also deployed to Bosnia.

Fillmore said over chants of “Support our vets” and “The people united will never be divided” that it meant a lot to her to see community members rally around servicemen and women.

“It was supposed to be a guarantee for our veterans to be taken care of,” Fillmore said.

“It’s one thing to try and cut fat, it’s another thing to just take a sledgehammer to everything and not care at all about people’s lives. And that’s exactly the feeling we have, is that Trump doesn’t really care about you, he doesn’t care about me.”

—  Silvia Dunton of Sycamore

Trump’s VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a video that VA layoffs wouldn’t mean cuts to veterans health care or benefits, declaring that “this administration is finally going to give the veterans what they want.”

But DeKalb County-area veterans said access to needed care already is suffering due to overtaxed VA employees. More staffing cuts likely will mean more problems for those who need help the most.

“A lot of the people in the government consider aid of any kind to be entitlements,” Army veteran Charlie Sharp said. “And we consider aid for the veterans to be something that we earned through risking our lives for our country.”

Sharp, of Sycamore, who deployed as a staff sergeant to Vietnam from 1968 to 1970, said he depends on Social Security and has a military disability.

The plans underway at the VA showed how the Trump administration’s DOGE initiative is not holding back on an all-out effort to slash federal agencies, even for those who have traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support.

Su Willey of Sycamore, organizer with a local primarily women-led group calling themselves the “ReSisters,” said they’ve been rallying against Trump’s policies since 2015. Members of the DeKalb County Democratic Party and a number of local veterans also rallied Friday.

Willey held a sign that said, “They fought for us, we’re fighting for them.” What message did she hope to convey to people?

“They should pay attention to what’s going on in our world right now,” Willey said. “A lot of people are about to be hurt drastically, which includes the veterans, children, the elderly.”

Married couple Bruce and Silvia Dunton of Sycamore met while in the U.S. Air Force in New Mexico. Bruce, a major, served for 11 years. Silvia, a captain, served for seven. They gathered Friday because they said they’re angry that federal cuts will affect the needed services that active and retired military personnel rely on to survive.

Silvia Dunton said she recently saw on television a news story about how cuts would affect support for veterans undergoing experimental cancer treatment. She said she’s also heartbroken about cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which provided needed food to hungry children across the world.

“This is their last chance to stay alive, and Trump cut those programs,” Silvia Dunton said. “It’s one thing to try and cut fat, it’s another thing to just take a sledgehammer to everything and not care at all about people’s lives. And that’s exactly the feeling we have, is that Trump doesn’t really care about you, he doesn’t care about me. He just is going to do what he does.”

The Duntons said they wanted to rally not only for veterans, but for all who will be affected by Trump’s slashing of federal agencies.

“I think from a vet perspective, for me, the worse thing is everyone who served did it primarily because they wanted to serve the country, something beyond themselves,” Bruce Dunton said. “And what we’re seeing now is people doing things that have nothing to do with service and has everything to do with self-service.”

Demonstrators held signs Friday with pro-veteran messages, calling Trump’s actions unconstitutional. Some signs criticized Trump himself, who notably was given a doctor’s deferment from Vietnam War-era service due to a diagnosis of bone spurs in his feet. Messages read “Trump never served. You vets did. Thank you!” and “We support our vets, unlike Private ‘Bone Spurs.’”

Jan Loomer of Sycamore has been a part of the ReSisters for six years and said her father was in the Navy. She voiced strong opposition to intended staffing cuts to VA facilities, saying it shows the Trump administration doesn’t care about veterans once they come home.

“Everything [Trump] does is anti-American,” Loomer said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.