Navajo veterans face systemic gaps despite progress in housing, policy reforms
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
A flag adorns the burial site of an “Unknown” Diné warrior on Memorial Day at the Fort Defiance Veterans Cemetery in Fort Defiance.
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
Family members of fallen Diné warriors spend Memorial Day replacing worn flags and tidying burial sites at the Fort Defiance Veterans Cemetery in Fort Defiance.
WINDOW ROCK
On the Navajo Nation, where more than 30,000 military veterans are estimated to live, progress is underway to address long-standing inequities in housing, services, and benefits access.
Yet even as new homes are built and policy structures modernized, the system responsible for caring for Navajo veterans remains under-resourced, overburdened, and in need of deeper structural reform.
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
Flags in various stages of wear ripple in the wind on Memorial Day at the Fort Defiance Veterans Cemetery in Fort Defiance.
Executive Director Bobbi Baldwin of the Navajo Nation Veterans Administration, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said her team is committed to improving veteran support across the Nation’s vast and often rural landscape.
“There are over 30,000 Navajo veterans, and nearly 2,800 of them are women,” Baldwin said. “Many are still living without basic necessities like running water or secure shelter.”
To read the full article, please see the May 29, 2025, edition of the Navajo Times.
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