Nobody Told Them: Veterans and the Broken Handoff

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Posted on Aug 19, 2026

Veterans leave the military having earned health care, education benefits, and job training. What almost nobody tells them is that none of it is automatic. You have to show up with your DD-214 and enroll yourself, and if you don’t, no one follows up.

On this episode, six veterans across four decades and four branches of service describe the same gap. A Marine who got out in 1989 and didn’t learn what the VA was until 2019. An Army mechanic who called 211 out of desperation and found housing. A combat veteran who lost her home during COVID and was told she earned too much to qualify for help. Recorded at the U.S.VETS facility in Inglewood, California, with interviews from the Center on Conscience and War and 50501 Veterans.

We requested an interview with the Department of Defense and did not receive a response.

This episode includes discussion of suicide, sexual assault, and addiction.

Featuring:

  • Mike Prysner – Executive Director of the Center on Conscience and War. He enlisted in the Army at 17 and participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
  • Zue Jernstedt – U.S. Army combat veteran who served in Afghanistan.
  • Katie Chorbak – President of 50501 Veterans and a veteran advocate of more than a decade.
  • Sam Corbett – U.S. Marines veteran and U.S.VETS client.
  • Shalimar Cabrera – National Director of Executive Leadership at U.S.VETS.
  • Charles Gonzales – U.S. Army veteran, Bradley systems maintainer, and U.S.VETS client.
  • Thomas “Brother” Woods – U.S. Navy veteran and volunteer veteran coordinator at U.S.VETS.
  • Jimmy Perez – U.S. Army veteran who served 12 years and deployed to Iraq.

Archival audio:

  • “Service to Those Who Served” (1945), U.S. Veterans Administration. Public domain.

Music:

  • Pixabay Content License

Credits

Making Contact Team

  • Host: Casey J. Adler
  • Senior Producer: Dan Pavlish
  • Editor: Andrew Stelzer
  • Engineers: Ace Estwick and Mark Maxwell

Resources:

A proposal worth watching:

Military Families Speak Out is drafting a proposal for a mandated decompression program for everyone exiting the military. The following is their outline, provided to Making Contact. It is their draft, not a Making Contact recommendation.

[MFSO_TEXT]

TRANSCRIPT

[TRANSCRIPT]

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Author: Ace Estwick

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