8/25/2026 Open letter to Senator Moran (R) Kansas
“To whom it may concern (that probably should be everyone),
My name is Dustin Cunningham, I'm a father, a veteran, an artist, an advocate and activist for peace. I am a human being. And I'm writing this letter today, to share a little bit of my story with you.
Thank you for your time listening to us today. We're grateful to have the audience with you and encouraged and motivated to move forward for the betterment of our entire world.
I was asked to speak to you today regarding what motivates me to participate in this advocacy. I would would like to introduce you to my firstborn daughter, her name is Holly Sue Cunningham. She is currently 15 years old, and has been suffering from the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder for at least the last nine years. She has not served in the military, been deployed overseas, she has never seen a combat zone. Yet the scars of war will affect her entire life.
This is but a small part of the cost of war.
I served in the United States Army has a 68 whiskey, healthcare specialist, combat medic. At 24 years old I was deployed to the babble province of Iraq, in support of operation of Iraqi freedom, with the mission of providing, First line life-saving care to the members of my unit the first battalion 67th armor regiment. I do not say this to bolster my own credibility, but simply to convey that my perspective comes from one of an individual who is willing to put himself in eminent danger to ensure the survival and health of his fellow man. This I did. While deployed, I did not take a life, but I certainly helped to save more than one, and lost more than I care to count.
This is but a small part of the cost of war.
When I return to the states, part of me did not come back. Did it stay in Iraq? Did it leave with my fallen brothers? Is it still inside, hiding somewhere traumatized? I was diagnosed with PTSD in 2007, medically retired from the army in 2009, and later received a disability rating of 100% total and permanent from the VA. I need be clear on the distinction that the VA makes with disability ratings. The VA's definition of total and permanent disability. "The rating of permanent and total disability will be assigned when the impairment of mind or body is such as to render it impossible for the average person to follow a substantially gainful occupation and it is reasonably certain that such disability will continue throughout the life of the disabled person." In other words, the VA will assign this disability rating if they believe an individual will no longer be able to function as a productive member of society, for the rest of their life. For individuals who receive this disability rating, the VA offers Survivors Benefits to the family of that individual. Because for all intensive purposes, they consider you to be The Walking Dead.
This is but a small part of the cost of war.
It seems at 24 years old, I may have achieved all that I could have achieved. And that I could expect to remain in this war bound hell for the rest of my existence.
My life continued. Indeed it did seem that I was half alive and half dead. I still needed food and could not go get to the store to get it. I needed companionship, and scared most away. I needed help, and couldn't understand. I needed peace and was full of violence. I needed purpose. I found this again, with the birth of my first daughter in 2011.
Her name is Holly Sue, she and her latter siblings are but a small part of the cost of war.
Holly is a bright creative, loving child. Always happy to help those in need. Right around her entry into kindergarten she started experiencing panic attacks. I, in my ignorance at the time was shocked, surprised, and frightened by this. We began providing her with appropriate mental health treatment has was available, to assist her with the challenges she was facing. Through this work, we discovered that she was exhibiting the same signs of post-traumatic stress that I was. And I learned that her post-traumatic stress was directly related to mine, she had received secondary trauma. Trauma from a war that she did not participate in, did not get a say in, did not consent to. This trauma continues to affect her and the entirety of my family through this day.
This is but a small part of the cost of war.
Why do I keep saying the "cost" of war? It is apparent to the vast majority of the world that profit is what is continuing to drive the military industrial complex, as well as the resulting war, death, and trauma associated with it. I find it telling that Senator Moran is educated as an economist, and is working on the veteran’s committee, the organization responsible for dealing with, and healing the trauma from war. What place would an economist have in this healing arena? Perhaps there has been some missing information that he with his particular expertise has not been privy to that is affecting not just our soldiers, but their entire families. So I continue to share these outcomes that are detrimental to our entire society in good faith that if a freedom loving standup man was aware of these consequences, there would be more of an opportunity to change the future of our world for the better.
It's estimated that disabled veterans will earn 15 to 25% less than comparable peers in their demographic. The primary driving factor of this lower income is reduced ability of veterans to gainfully participate in the labor force, and society has a whole. The unemployment rate for disabled veterans is double that of civilians. It is not simply a matter of these veterans earning less money, it is a matter of them being less productive members of society. And this economically requires a tremendous amount of resources to sustain. These are mild numbers compared to the financial impact if we specifically look at 100% total and permanent disabled vet veterans who are expected to make 70% less than their peers. The purpose of disability payments is to compensate that veteran for the 70% to 80% loss in their earning potential that difference is repaid to them in tax dollars. Across the 6,000,000+ disabled veterans it is estimated that it costs the United States tens of billions of dollars in lost GDP yearly...
This is but a small part of the cost of war.
This trauma ripples across our entire community. The spouses of veterans are also had a diminished earning capability estimated upwards of 25% less than their comparable peers. The spouses spend much of their time helping to manage the wounds that their former soldiers brought home from the war zone. Their ability to old jobs and progress in a career is as limited as the veterans they are supporting. And this is the best case scenario, hoping that they themselves do not receive secondary trauma from being in close proximity to the veteran, the vast majority of spouses will develop secondary trauma and be diminished from productively engaging in society even more.
This is but a small part of the cost of war.
And our children. Her name is Holly Sue Cunningham, she and her siblings Kellie, Allison Gent, Delia Catherine Gent, Ellora Marley Cunningham, Leona May Cunningham, and Brandon Skye Cunningham, have all been affected by this war.
This is but a small part of the cost of war.
Intergenerational economic research predicts that has a result of decreased, parental earning potential, and chronic household stress directly relates to a lowered college completion rate and a lower overall lifetime earning potential. Children of veterans experience, a disproportionately large amount of adverse childhood experiences, a metric that is used to quantify the stress they have received, and these higher markers, directly correlate to more lifelong difficulties, including ability to effectively engage in gainful, employment, higher rates of mental illness, suicide, higher rates of crime, incarceration, addiction and more. The list really does just keep going.
This is but a small part of the cost of war.
Economically this is referred to as "total household, labor deficit" and while VA disability is designed to compensate the individual veteran for his loss of earning potential, it does not take into consideration the compounding affects that these disabilities have on an individuals family, and then these deficits continue to spread into our communities. And even with the veteran being compensated for their loss, they are being compensated from the work and labor of their other fellow Americans.
This is but a small part of the cost of war.
While the disability model, we are currently under fails to wholly compensate the veteran and his immediate family from the detrimental effects of their disability, it does absolutely nothing to address the losses that this causes to our broader communities. Call it a loss in human capital, that the department of defense has spent billions of dollars on training these individuals with high level skills, when disability removes them from the workforce. These department of defense investments are completely lost. Veterans who are able to remain in the workforce, often do so at a diminished capacity, unable to perform the same functions that they were prior to service. They become a burden on their actual employers. Veterans absorb a disproportionate amount of healthcare resources from their community, straining systems wherever they accumulate in large numbers, making it difficult for veterans themselves, as well as civilians to access adequate medical care. Their spouses, often serving in the role of caregiver for a disabled veteran, are unable to provide the same positive input into our economic system as their comparable peers. All of these deficits continue to ripple outward negatively affecting multiple systems, federal income taxes, state income taxes, pension plans, Social Security, state healthcare, as well as federal healthcare plans are all diminished by the effects of these disabilities.
This is but a small part of the cost of war.
The DOD budget is currently sitting close to $1 trillion. Department of Veteran’s Affairs is $440 billion. Federal healthcare expenditures around $1.8 trillion. And now I am just a veteran, a father, an artist, and an activist, I am not an economist. But I'm also not an idiot. This money being spent is a poor investment, because the product we are receiving as a result of these investments, equate to a world that despises our government, the degradation of our individual soldiers capacity to live a meaningful life, generational burdens handed down to our families that will continue to cost this nation for decades, if not centuries. We have not received the security promised from these investments.
This is but a small part of the cost of war.
The federal government budget for peace building and foreign assistance equals $50 billion... less than one percent of the federal budget. And out of this budget, it is estimated that only $2 billion - $5 billion... .1% Literally, what the fuck.
My friends, the cost of war is a simple equation. War cost us our lives, our health, our families. War costs us our future. But as I said, I am not an economist. Senator Moran, you are an economist. Is there something I'm missing in the equation? Some metric that I am missing? Money I have not accounted for? Some reason that our government officials continue to invest in war, instead of peace? Are you ready to invest in peace? Are you ready to invest in our future?
In peace and love,
Dustin Cunningham
This essay is licensed under creative commons 4.0 BY– SA
Please feel free to disseminate wherever you see fit. If you are reading this, you are the resistance, let our peaceful voice be our weapon of choice.”
Here you will find a downloadable version of this letter for easy sharing, please share any where you see fit. “silence is violence, when it is rooted in compliance” Rising Appalachia.
Peace and love my friends,
Dustin Cunningham
©Dustin Makes LLC 2026 CC BY SA 4.0