Organization prepares veterans to run for office

The two-day conference was the inaugural training session of the Veterans Campaign, a non-partisan organization founded by several Wilson School graduate students aimed at preparing veterans for public office. The organization’s goal is to elect more veterans to public office by training and equipping them with the tools needed to win elections.

“We need more people in Congress who have served [in the military],” Marshall said, adding that military service uniquely qualifies veterans to appreciate complex military situations like those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“[Being a veteran] puts me in a position with my colleagues where I can persuade them. It is very helpful to have service,” Marshall explained.

Currently, however, the number of career politicians with military backgrounds is significantly lower than it has been in previous decades, said Wilson School student and Veterans Campaign executive director Seth Lynn GS, a former Marine Amphibious Assault Vehicle Officer.

Lynn noted, “When I was still in active duty, I heard from the older senior officers that it used to be that a lot more politicians had served in the military.” When he came to Princeton, Lynn’s research revealed that the 22 percent of current elected officials who are veterans is far short of the 75 percent of politicians in 1969 who were former military personnel.

Lynn subsequently joined other Princeton graduate students possessing either military or elections experience and two visiting Wilson School faculty members to found the Veterans Campaign.

“I learned about other organizations that taught women and political groups how to run for office,” Lynn explained. “[The Veterans Campaign] is similar. Let’s train these people so they can run well and have a chance and overcome their disadvantages.”

In addition to Marshall, speakers at last weekend’s events included campaign managers, communications experts and officials from all political levels. These panelists guided participants in laying campaign groundwork, finding funding sources, maximizing presentation and improving public speaking skills.

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To judge from participant response, veterans are trying to take advantage of the opportunity to profit from the speakers’ knowledge. Lynn noted that the 50 veterans who attended the first training session represented far fewer people than had applied.

“The people they brought in were some of the top experts in the nation,” said conference participant Derek Blumke, adding that it was valuable to hear from people who are “responsible for the current political climate of the country.” Blumke is executive director of Student Veterans of America, a national coalition of veterans advocacy groups on college campuses.

The speakers represented a plethora of political ideologies. The sessions were designed as “a forum to bring people from both sides together and find common ground on something, even if they can’t find it on political issues,” Lynn said. He added, “People from different ideologies who couldn’t meet anywhere else have been able to [meet here].”

This non-partisan outlook made the conference especially valuable, participant Nate Rawlings ’04 said. “This [seminar] is about politics as a process. The central issue is how you want to serve your state and country. Many vets don’t want to be pigeon-holed; they don’t want to be affiliated with one party or another.”

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Veterans’ experiences transcend party affiliations, said Pete Hegseth ’03, a conference speaker and executive director of the political action committee known as Vets for Freedom.

“There is value in the way vets look at situations. There’s a can-do attitude, they’re willing to fight through obstacles, and there is an allegiance to a higher authority than their own political career,” Hegseth said.

The next step in the Veterans Campaign, Lynn said, is to elevate the organization to financial independence. Last weekend’s conference, which involved roughly 40 volunteers, was funded by a non-renewable Princeton grant. The organizers will now work to find other sources of funding.

Lynn said that the organization plans to hold another workshop in Washington, D.C., in January 2010, adding that the support he has received thus far has been “unbelievable.”