A Caucus Of Military Veterans Seeks To Bridge The Political Divide In A Polarized Congress

The players in this year's Army-Navy football game kept up a long tradition, with each side honoring the other's school song when the contest ended. It was an acknowledgment that the future could bring moments when the opponents that day are teammates on deadlier fields.

That ethos also guides a group in the U.S. House that calls itself the For Country Caucus. Its members are veterans with wide military experience who have banded together across party and ideological lines. At a time when bipartisan working relationships in Congress seem rare, with little hope for change in the coming session, the caucus shows there are still spaces where people with different views come together.

"We're trying to lead by example, both within Congress to show our colleagues that this is possible, but also to America more broadly," said Colorado Democrat Jason Crow , who is one of the outgoing co-chairs of the caucus.

"People only get deluged with the crazy aspects of Congress and the things that don't work and the people yelling and screaming," Crow said. "We just don't get as much attention when we're actually working together."

The caucus began in 2019 to bridge the divides that plague Washington and slow its effectiveness, said Steve Womack , a Republican member of the caucus from Arkansas and a retired colonel in the Army National Guard.