While many folks spent this warm march Friday at local parks or golf courses, about 30 people - most of them veterans - gathered in downtown Mercer, exercising the right to free speech they fought and served to protect.

"We took an oath to this country, to The Constitution, and it's being blown apart," said veteran Cindy Dikeman.

The group railed against recent cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs by the Office of Personnel Management, President Trump, and billionaire Elon Musk.
A spokesman for the VA said the cuts would not harm veterans' care.
But veterans we talked to say the damage was being done even before the memo came out.

"One of the first things they did was cut a whole bunch of people from the Veterans Crisis Line that they had to then rehire," said veteran and advocate Lindsey Scott. "Those are the first lines of defense for veterans who typically don't have a bunch of care."

The group also told 21 News that the Trump Administration's plans to privatize the VA won't benefit veterans.

"That'll slow down processing of new claims, changing of pay and benefits to people that have issues or changes to their bank accounts," Scott explained.

Dikeman took part in the protest not only as a disabled veteran, but for her whole family who also served.
She said laying off 83,000 VA employees will impact every veteran who uses the department's services.

"The healthcare itself is short staffed already and anybody they take away from it is going to affect care," she said.

Meanwhile, as the mass firings weave their way through the courts, these veterans and their advocates can only wait.