Of the estimated 21 million veterans in the United States, roughly 1.8 of them live here in California.

California Rep. Gil Cisneros, D-Yorba Linda, CA 39^th District, is a Navy veteran himself and serves on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs and House Committee on Armed Services.  He is also a member of the Servicewomen and Women Veterans Congressional Caucus and the Bipartisan Women Veterans Task Force.

The military has played a large role in his life as he spent 10 years in the Navy as a naval officer and his father was a Vietnam veteran. He says his time in the Navy prepared him for his seat in the House of Representatives.

“When you’re serving in the military, you’re part of a team, trying to work together to complete a mission and that’s how I feel Congress is. We’re there to go and complete a mission, to serve in that mission, being to serve our constituents, to serve the country, as best we can,” he said.

Rep. Cisneros said women are the largest growing demographic in the U.S. military today. He is working on a bill that would expand a pilot program between the Air Force and Veterans Affairs that would help women transition out of the military.

“We need to really transform the VA so they can better serve our women veterans,” he said. Based on data they’ve collected, they’ve found out that in the past, women veterans have always felt they didn’t deserve the title of “veteran.”

“We’ve been working with them to let them know – you serve your military, you serve your country, everybody has a mission, and regardless of the mission, you are contributing to the defense of our nation and you deserve that title to be a veteran,” he said. “They would attend a different class geared toward women veterans so they would know what their benefits are, they would know what they’re due, know about education benefits, know about the VA Home Loan, know what they can go to the VA hospitals for and get care for.”

He has also authored a bill that would provide VA informational materials in another language. Many veterans, and their spouses, are from foreign countries and currently the materials are only available in English.

“We need to make sure they have that material in their native language so they know what their benefits are and can really understand what their benefits are,” he said.

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