Our military veterans must receive the necessary care, treatment and job-placement services upon returning home from service at home and abroad. I have a plan for ensuring no member of our Armed Forces falls through the bureaucratic cracks of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The first step is establishing a competitive grant program at the federal level to fund qualified nonprofits that evaluate and provide peer-to-peer counseling services to veterans suffering from PTSD, TBI and other trauma.

The statistics are staggering: According to the National Institutes of Health, as many as two-thirds of veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are not receiving treatment for a variety of reasons. Far too many brave men and women who are returning home from service are not getting the adequate mental health and job-placement services they need and deserve from the VA. That has to change. Members of the Armed Forces deserve better and my plan will ensure that local communities have the resources they need while not adding costs to the taxpayers.

The statistics are indeed alarming:

• 31% percent of Vietnam veterans and 30% of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• More than 20% of veterans with PTSD also have Substance Use Disorder (SUD)
• 31% of women veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who were diagnosed with PTSD reported Military Sexual Trauma (MST)
• 19% of veterans may have Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• As many as two-thirds of veterans suffering from PTSD are not receiving treatment.

The way this plan would work is that county mental health and veterans services offices would provide facilities and services such as group therapy, grief counseling, drug and alcohol counseling and job placement. Working in conjunction with established nonprofits, meetings would be held two to five times per week, and clinical professionals would provide follow-ups and referrals if necessary.

Training would be provided according to best practices established by nonprofits such as Vet2Vet. The measure would also extend hours at VA outpatient pharmacies nationwide to include nights and weekends, comparable with retail pharmacies, and allow veterans to seek immediate behavioral health care outside the VA system for those currently eligible for the Veterans Choice Program.

The program would operate as a competitive grant program for mental health and support services at local level, and would be paid for with an estimated $40 million a year in savings through 2024 by capping bonuses of senior executives at the VA and finding further savings through an audit of federal mental health programs under SAMHSA. There is no matching state or local share.

No veteran should have to fight such a devastating and ongoing battle alone after serving their country. As a nation, we must do better.