Daniel Gade: He Doesn’t Identify as a Veteran.

Well, Only When It’s for Power or Profit.

When Daniel Gade ran for U.S. Senate in 2020, “COMBAT VETERAN” was the first thing Virginia voters saw. Not his doctorate. Not his policy positions. Not even his name. The door hangers that went into homes across the Commonwealth led with COMBAT VETERAN in bold red letters, followed by “SAME OATH. NEW MISSION!” - explicitly framing his Senate run as a continuation of military service.

Four years later, Dr. Daniel Gade sat down for an interview with @TheCivDiv and @VeteransInfoTap on Veterans Day 2024, following his October 29, 2024 Senate hearing testimony on veteran disability compensation. In that wide-ranging conversation about veteran policy, Gade explained his view that veteran identity is “negative” and “backward-looking” - like wearing a high school letter jacket at 50. The system, he argued, makes veterans “embrace their sickest selves” and get “stuck in amber.” He dismissed veteran service organizations as the “funny hat brigade” - people in garrison caps that members of Congr…