Wyden Firsts: Standing With Our Service Members

Ron was the first to take up the cause of National Guard members when the Army began referring to those serving multiple tours of duty in combat zones as “weekend warriors.” Ron took on the Army leadership to end this unwarranted stigmatizing of our soldiers and discovered that Oregon National Guard soldiers were being sent home without adequate medical care after dangerous deployments. His efforts forced significant reforms in the Army treatment of our Guard soldiers.

Ron was the first to win the creation of a community-based outpatient clinic for veterans in Eastern Oregon. Located in La Grande, the clinic nearly tripled the number of veterans served in the region, and for veterans living in remote Wallowa County, their travel time for in-person primary care at the VA was cut almost in half.

Ron was first to author a federal law guaranteeing that Americans—such as soldiers—who were working and living outside the borders of our country could not be targeted for surveillance without a warrant. Ron’s argument for the bill: If you are an American, your rights do not stop at the border.