About

The Political Veteran is the newest rebrand of Veteran Legislative Voice (VLV), a one-stop shop to help people understand military and veteran issues in legislation. The VLV was created in response to the social media storm that started with the hashtag #IamVanessaGuillen. The happened after Vanessa Guillen’s family protested the Army’s reaction to her disappearance outside Fort Cavazos (then called Fort Hood). Men and women in the military/veteran communities clamored to make a difference in improving the military justice system. But many didn’t know how and where to start, and that’s where VLV started.

Since then, the VLV was relaunched as a blog called The Political Veteran to cover military and veterans’ issues in all government policy.

Steph Kalota, a retired Army Reserve veteran, created the Political Veteran. Steph’s passion for politics started when she first watched West Wing. It was then revamped during the 2013 Congressional hearings on military sexual violence. Since then, she has advocated for multiple issues in Congress, written for the Chicago Crusaders and America’s Heroes Group.