5 things to know in veterans news: Lost wooden cane, lost VA phone calls, promoting jobs for Hire a Veteran Day 

WASHINGTON — National Hire a Veteran Day is Saturday.

The recognition day — held every July 25 — is a way to promote the skills of veterans and encourage employers to hire former service members, according to supporters.

“Military experience doesn’t always translate neatly into traditional hiring systems. As a result, exceptional candidates are sometimes overlooked — not because they lack capability, but because their experience isn’t immediately recognized,” said Tim Best, an Army veteran and chief executive officer at RecruitMilitary.

Several companies announced hiring events and employment opportunities in honor of National Hire a Veteran Day:

Trump administration drives hiring campaign for truckers

Dubbed “Freedom Haulers,” a multimedia campaign to recruit veterans for careers as commercial truckers was launched Friday by the Trump administration, ahead of National Hire a Veteran Day.

Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy detailed plans for the “patriotic hiring campaign,” which includes a lively YouTube video to help drive interest and recruit former service members to drive the big rigs for major companies.

“Keeping our farmers in business, our store shelves stocked, our gas stations full, and our supply chains secure is an essential mission,” according to the campaign.

A special website with the slogan, “New Mission, Same Dedication,” has been set up for veterans to easily access information. Earnings for truckers average $70,000 per year, according to the website.

The Freedom Haulers campaign includes information on the national demand for truckers and resources for connecting veterans with VA-funded training and employment assistance.

“Led by the Department of Transportation, the Freedom Haulers campaign includes contributions from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of War and the Department of Labor,” according to a news release.

Watchdog identifies wrong phone numbers, misrouted calls at VA clinics

A new federal watchdog report found that veterans frequently encountered inaccurate phone numbers, misrouted calls and voicemail problems when contacting the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The VA Office of Inspector General specifically looked at calls to VA specialty care clinics.

More than one-third of 219 phone numbers that the OIG tested were incorrect, according to the OIG, which looked at phone listings and calls made to specialty care clinics from August 2024 through July 2025.

The audit found that about 20% of 2.9 million calls were routed to wrong or nonfunctional lines.

Eleven of 15 facilities lacked “interactive routing options” for callers to reach specialty clinics directly, which contributed to about 18 percent of calls going to voicemail, according to the findings.

The VA has taken steps to address the problems, according to the report.

The VA this year updated incorrect phone numbers, revised automated prompts and launched a national voicemail dashboard.

A hand-carved cane belonging to a 90-year-old Air Force veteran in California was recovered after his daughter made a special plea on Facebook. (Facebook)

Daughter raises Cain over veteran’s lost walking stick

A daughter’s plea on social media to locate the hand-carved cane of a 90-year-old Air Force veteran led to its recovery and return.

Kim Manriquez, of Fresno, Calif., made an impassioned request for help in locating the walnut cane, which her father, Jim Pryce, a retired police officer, said he left behind in a shopping cart at a local Costco store.

“My Dad ... served the community and this beautiful cane was made by another fellow retired officer. If anyone has seen this, please let me know. It is not valuable, it is sentimental,” Manriquez posted to Facebook, after the two made several trips back to the store but could not find the cane.

Affixed to the cane were mementos important to Pryce, including a Fresno police badge, an Air Force emblem and an honor flight pin, according to his daughter.

The cane was carved and gifted to Pryce by a fellow retired police officer.

After local TV stations picked up the story, an employee at a nearby farmer’s market found the cane next to a corn bin, realized it belonged to Pryce and contacted local police, who returned it to the veteran.

A pathology lab operated at the Togus VA Medical Center, in Maine, will be renovated as part of a major investment in maintenance and improvements at VA medical facilities nationwide. (Togus VA Medical Center)

VA targets repairs, upgrades to medical facilities

The VA has approved $1.2 billion to fund hundreds of needed renovations, updates and improvements to medical facilities for the third quarter of 2026, the agency announced.

The infrastructure projects are part of $4.8 billion in investments this year by the VA to repair and upgrade medical facilities. The funding is the largest in VA history, the agency said.

The VA published an 11-page list of the projects, which will take place at VA hospitals and clinics across the nation.

Projects range from the renovation of a pathology lab in Togus, Maine, to the relocation of an infusion clinic in Cincinnati, to an upgrade to a boiler plant in Los Angeles.