A Different Kind of Service

Members of Congress clash on many things, but legislators of all political stripes usually agree it's important to care for the nation’s military and its veterans. During what was one of the least productive Congresses in recent history – the 113th – lawmakers debated how best to address sexual assault in the military, improving the Veterans Affairs health care system, and how the U.S. should respond to the rise of the Islamic State group in the Middle East.

With fixes to some of these issues still on the congressional to-do list, the members of the legislature who are military veterans may have opportunities to speak to their service experiences and influence debate about how Congress can best meet the needs of the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Four veterans were newly elected to the Senate, while 13 were elected to the House for the first time. Overall, the total number of veterans in Congress has declined sharply since the 1970s, when veterans’ ranks peaked at 72 percent of members in the House and 78 percent in the Senate, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Those numbers now stand at about 19 percent and 21 percent, respectively, according to U.S. News calculations and data from Veterans Campaign, a nonpartisan program of the National Association for Uniformed Services that provides training for former service members interested in getting into politics.

The “selfless” attitude that veterans possess is something that “we just need so much more of right now,” says Seth Lynn, executive director of Veterans Campaign. “I hope and I believe that many of those people will take that same selfless attitude with them to elected office,” he says.

[READ: The Biggest Problem Veterans Still Face]

U.S. News spoke with four Iraq War veterans who are freshman members of the House of Representatives of the 114th Congress.

Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.

Arizona’s Ruben Gallego says part of what drove him to serve in the military was a feeling that he owed something to his country. The congressman's parents immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico and Colombia. He was born in Chicago, where he was raised by his single mother. Despite some hardships, “we were able to really flourish here because this country’s been really good to my family,” Gallego says.

A member of the Marine Corps Reserve from 2000 to 2006, Gallego was activated when he was a still a student at Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard in 2004, and was later deployed to Iraq with Lima 3/25, a reserve unit that suffered heavy casualties.

Gallego says he decided to move into politics because he saw that some of the opportunities that had been available to his family when he was growing up were starting to deteriorate. He cites the high cost of tuition at many public universities as one example that has put these institutions out of reach for many middle-class families. Gallego was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2010 and served there until 2014. He says one of his proudest legislative accomplishments came in 2011, when he sponsored and worked to pass a bill that granted in-state tuition at Arizona public universities and community colleges to honorably discharged veterans, even if they had lived in Arizona for less than a year.

Gallego now represents Arizona’s 7th Congressional District on Capitol Hill. He says a lot of what he learned informally in the Marines has helped him become successful in politics. “It really taught me about how to plan and how to execute, how to organize, and, really, how to be bold,” he says. “Fortune favors the brave, right?”

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As a member of the House, Gallego says he plans to take an active role in focusing on some veterans-related causes, including education programs. He says oversight of career-readiness programs offered to veterans upon their return to civilian life is important because military service should not negatively impact a former service member’s career prospects and marketable skill set. The unemployment rate for veterans of the most recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts is 5.7 percent, higher than the 4.5 percent jobless rate for all veterans, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

When it comes to addressing the threat posed by the Islamic State group, Gallego says the problem it presents in Iraq, in particular, “is not going to be solved with military endeavors.” He argues that the underlying conditions in the country must change, and Iraq’s leaders must successfully form a coalition government if progress is to be made. “We as Congress, I think, have to make sure that we keep the president and the Republicans in check from trying to get us into a war that I think is not going to produce anything that we would consider a victory,” Gallego says.

Ryan Zinke, R-Mont.

A former football player at the University of Oregon, Ryan Zinke says it was an Oregon alumnus named “Admiral Dick,” who used to give pep talks before football games, who inspired him to become a Navy SEAL. Zinke served as a SEAL for 23 years, retiring from active duty in 2008, the same year in which he was elected to the Montana state Senate. The former member of SEAL Team Six is now the Treasure State’s lone representative in the House. The Republican lawmaker says he believes it is time “to take our country back,” noting that some of the major problems facing the country, including the federal budget deficit and the “excessive” government regulation that he says is stifling businesses, can be solved. “Maybe that’s the SEAL in me,” Zinke says. “Never quit and, you know, remain confident that you can complete the mission.”

One issue area about which Zinke has expressed concern is defense policy. He approaches the matter not just as a veteran, but as the father of a former Navy diver and father-in-law of a Navy SEAL. Zinke says he is concerned for the military as a whole and wants to ensure that it maintains its strength and capability. “I just want to make sure that when we do put our troops into harm’s way that they have every advantage on the field of battle to win decisively,” he says.

[MORE: Veterans Respond to The Atlantic's Scathing Military Critique]

Zinke also wants to ensure that the armed forces have not only the material support they need, but also a clear plan for forging ahead in the battle against the Islamic State group. He would like to see Congress “demand” such a plan, with concrete milestones, from the White House.

In September, President Barack Obama said the U.S. effort to combat the radical group would “not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.” Some lawmakers, including Zinke, oppose the president’s strategy, saying such a prohibition could hinder the operation’s effectiveness. “The air operations alone are just a pinprick,” says Zinke, who believes boots on the ground will be necessary.

Zinke was one of six new GOP members recommended by the House Republican Steering Committee for a position on the Armed Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over defense policy. He also will serve on the Committee on Natural Resources, a post he was hoping for since he hails from a state where such resources abound.

Mark Takai, D-Hawaii

Mark Takai may be new to the U.S. House, but he is no stranger to politics. In addition to years of military experience, the Iraq War veteran can count a lengthy tenure in state government. Takai served in the Hawaii state legislature from 1994 to 2014, and he worked to take care of veterans and their families for much of that time. One prominent example is Takai’s introduction of legislation in 2005 to create the Hawaii Medal of Honor, awarded to families of fallen service members. (To date, more than 300 have been honored with the medal.)

Takai joined the Hawaii Army National Guard in 1999, and he will continue to serve as he represents Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District in the House. He says some of the lessons and skills that members of the military learn can become important assets to those who go on to become elected officials. “It’s decision-making. It’s attention to detail. It’s caring for your buddies. Those are traits that I think matter in any level of government,” he says. “We train to be great leaders.”

[READ: 113th Congress Sets Standard for Inertia]

In the House, Takai hopes he will be able to extend his work in some of the same policy areas he was involved in at the state level, such as veterans, education and environmental issues. Takai says he sees opportunities for bipartisan cooperation, particularly when it comes to veterans-related policies: “The challenges that we face in the VA are neither Republican nor Democrat.”

Takai also believes that the president’s move to build an international coalition to combat Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria is a step in the right direction. “We’ve learned over time that fighting wars in distant lands without a coalition is not the way to go,” he says.

Takai already has at least two friends – also fellow veterans – among House Democrats: fellow Aloha State Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Illinois’ Tammy Duckworth, who attended the University of Hawaii–Manoa with Takai.

Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y.

After Lee Zeldin received his commission from the U.S. Army, it was his uncle, a retired Marine Corps master sergeant, who put on his old uniform and gave the new congressman his first salute. It was a special moment for Zeldin, who was inspired by his uncle’s service from an early age. “The first situp that I did was at Camp Pendleton in California when I was 2 years old, and I was wearing short shorts, those tall socks with those colored stripes,” Zeldin recalls. “It was nothing I really should be bragging about, but I had so much respect for [my uncle’s] military service.”

Zeldin went on to complete four years of active-duty service. In 2006, he was deployed to Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. Still a member of the Army Reserve, the Republican was elected to the New York state Senate in 2010, and he now represents the Empire State’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House. Zeldin’s assignments in the new Congress include serving on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Foreign Affairs, and Veterans’ Affairs committees. Before the committee recommendations were announced, Zeldin said he would focus on military and veterans issues regardless of panel placement. “Veterans have a very special place in my heart,” he says. “There are many causes worth fighting for that may not be the sexiest story for the newspaper tomorrow, but [it] can do a lot of good to ensure that we’re saying thank you with more than just a handshake and a hug.” As a member of the New York legislature, Zeldin worked to secure funding for the expansion of a state program that provides peer-to-peer counseling for veterans grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

He says his own military experiences and those of other former service members in Congress give them a unique perspective when discussing military-related issues, such as how best to address the Islamic State group, how to reduce the backlog of veterans' disability claims and how to assist veterans with PTSD. Indeed, Zeldin adds, Congress could use more members with this perspective.

“For any veteran who is considering running in the future,” he says, “our country and our Congress needs them to step up and serve yet again.”