Iraq War veteran Kris Goldsmith tried to end his life with Percocet and vodka after getting an unexpected mandatory extension of his service.

The Army let him go with a general discharge and, for five years he was in crisis, but his doctor at the Department of Veterans Affairs always made time for him, even if that meant skipping lunch.

Goldsmith went on to found a nonprofit that stands up against fascism and was among the many speakers at the Unite for Veterans rally on the National Mall on Friday in Washington.

The rally drew thousands, several media outlets reported, and featured the punk band The Dropkick Murphys, who performed a new song, “Who’ll Stand with Us?”

The rally was planned ahead of massive job cuts across the VA. The agency was expected to release a plan in June to cut more than 80,000 jobs.

Several speakers at the rally touched on the importance of having specialty care through the VA to help ailments more common among veterans, such as traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and other service-related trauma.

Former Army Sgt. Kayla Williams served as director of the VA’s Center for Women Veterans for two years in 2016 and 2017 and hit on how the fear of cuts is already hurting the VA.

Williams said her group therapist for military sexual trauma recently quit ahead of the planned layoffs. She has since sought care outside the VA.

“My new counselor asked me: “What is MST?” she told the crowd. “That would never happen at our VA.”

New VA Secretary Doug Collins has promised the job cuts won’t hurt health care for veterans.

“Our goal is to increase productivity, eliminate waste and bureaucracy, increase efficiency, and improve health care and benefits to veterans. We will accomplish this without making cuts to health care or benefits to veterans or VA beneficiaries,” Peter Kasperowicz, a spokesman for the VA, previously told The Gazette.

However, Tim Hauser, founder of the Veterans Assurance Network, pointed out billions previously set aside to cover benefits mandated in the PACT ACT, or Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins Act, have been cut out of recent legislation.

“I am sick and tired of broken promise after broken promise,” Hauser said.

A former Afghan translator, Nadim Yousify, highlighted another broken promise during the rally: the American commitment to bring Afghan allies to the safety in the U.S.

“Since the U.S. hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2020, thousands of of former interpreters, contractors and local partners have been left behind. They are hiding. They are being hunted every day,” said Yousify, who immigrated to the U.S. and served in the Marines.

Yousify said he knows veterans who are working on their own to get interpreters out by making calls, writing letters, and raising money. But, he said, the government needs to do more to revise the visa process and get people out.

“What does it say about our nation if we leave our allies behind?”

Goldsmith and many other speakers urged those in the crowd to organize, because the fight for the VA will be long. They urged attendees to call their lawmakers and make their voices heard.

“We cannot wait for somebody to save us. Nobody is coming,” Goldsmith said.