Military Veterans of the War on Terror A New Generation of Congressional Foreign-Policy Advocacy

Abstract

The number of US military veterans of the War on Terror (WoT) who were elected to Congress increased to its highest level ever in 2021. This trend reflects broader changes in the makeup of Congress, which now includes more gender, racial, ethnic, and religious diversity than ever before. This article bridges the literatures on socialization and civil-military relations with foreign-policy analyses of advocacy and entrepreneurship to study WoT veterans in Congress. This cohort of veterans represents a new generation with distinctive experiences that generally include more exposure to combat, more redeployments, and more post-traumatic stress diagnoses than previous generations of soldiers. Specifically, this study examines links between WoT veterans’ experiences and their adoption of creative strategies to achieve defense and foreign-policy objectives such as maintaining US commitments to operations in Syria and Afghanistan. Looking beyond roll-call voting with a multidimensional and diversified model of veteran legislative advocacy can enrich our understanding of today’s complex foreign-policy decision-making processes.