Several veterans in Columbia were holding a protest Wednesday morning.

Veterans were protesting outside Columbia Vet Center on Broadway Bluffs Drive.

The veterans claimed that the current leadership was creating a hostile work environment.

In a joint statement from the protesters, they stated that multiple staff members have resigned and two counselors were on Family and Medical Leave Act because of the ongoing mistreatment from leadership.

Veterans also mentioned that one of the counselors, a former combat veteran, was retrigged with post-traumatic stress disorder due to hostile leadership.

This has left 150 veterans without access to one-on-one counseling with the people whom they have trust and built strong relationships with.

The veterans were refusing to return to the center due to leadership’s disrespect and lack of concern of their wellbeing.

“We urgently need intervention and leadership that restore trust, respect, and proper care for those who served,” the statement claimed.

Doug Buckman, a retired army veteran, mentioned how leadership has made the Vet Center a hostile work environment.

“Giving people a hard time making them quit vets that we trust,” Buckman said.

“One of the counselors is actually a veteran, and getting harassed, and the person in charge right now is not a veteran, so I don’t think they understand,” Buckman said.

The veterans had filed three grievances against management, but nobody had come to speak to them.

One of the protestors, who wished to remain anonymous, stated they had no negative feelings towards the organization.

“The vet center has been a major part of a lot of our lives in our healing process for a lot of us,” the protester stated.

“It’s given us access to a type of care that most of us had been looking for and hadn’t experienced before, and we’re all here today because it’s such an excellent organization that we want to protect and conserve.”

They claimed the current leadership was making it difficult for counselors to do their jobs and serve the veterans with care.

“We’re just looking to peel back that bureaucratic red tape and make it about veterans, and about veteran care, and not as much about office bureaucracy and control.”

The veterans hoped their protest would create a change at the Vet Center and resolve the leadership issues.

“We’re hoping that things will change, that it’ll become a collegial, welcoming place for veterans like it was before.”