WASHINGTON (AURN News) — Inside a packed room at the 54th Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Washington, D.C., last week, lawmakers and military leaders spoke with urgency about the toll addiction and smoking continue to take on veterans. The gathering, known as the Veterans Braintrust, has been part of the conference for over four decades.
The Veterans Braintrust was chaired by Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., with Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., and Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., serving as co-chairs. The panel featured retired military leaders Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, Maj. Gen. Abraham Turner, Brig. Gen. Arnold Gordon-Bray, and Dr. Mark Brown, a retired Air Force major general who now serves as president of Tuskegee University. Dr. Timothy Vermillion, a veteran and social worker, also participated in the discussions.
Bishop told AURN News after the event that the forum is about making sure African American veterans are not overlooked.
“We have so many veterans, so many African American veterans, who have served our country, and we want to make sure that they have all of the resources that they’re entitled to, that they earned because they paid the price for the freedoms that we enjoy,” he said.
(Photo Credit: Glenn Loveless)
This year’s Braintrust doubled as a tribute to Rep. Charles Rangel, a decorated Korean War veteran who founded the forum and remained its champion until his death in May. Bishop recalled serving alongside him for three decades. “This brain trust has been going on for now over four decades because of Congressman Rangel,” he said. “He passed away in May of 2025 and I had served for over 30 years with him as a co-chair.”
Vermillion described the scale of the health crisis facing veterans. He noted that about 20 veterans die by suicide every day, while opioid deaths have dropped “from like 0.86% down to 0.3%.” Smoking, he warned, has proved even deadlier: “You got like 77 people a day, if you actually did the math right.”
Vermillion also told AURN News that the Department of Veterans Affairs has begun transitioning to safer alternatives, ranging from nicotine replacement therapies and vaping to medication-assisted treatments for alcohol and opioid addiction — it’s about meeting veterans where they are and walking with them toward recovery.
“We’re always looking for ways to get people off of the things that will hurt them over time,” he said.
Click play to listen to the AURN News report from Jamie Jackson:
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