One of the saddest facts about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that so many soldiers leave the battlefield with one question: where do I go for help? Most soldiers do not know who to call. I know this because for the last four years, many have been calling me.
Day and night my cell phone lights up with another unknown number, another soldier in crisis reaching out for help. A soldier with shrapnel embedded in his skin who can't convince the military that he is wounded and in need of medical care. A female soldier about to be discharged for reporting sexual harassment. A young vet growing ill as his case creeps through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The need is enormous. Since 2001, over 530,000 soldiers have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a better world, those vets could turn to the VA to solve their problems. But for so many soldiers, the VA is the problem. Its paperwork is more daunting than the IRS', its first available doctor's appointment is often months away, and to collect disability benefits, the wounded soldier has to prove his wounds came from war.
Anxious and unsure where to turn, hundreds of soldiers have turned to me, a magazine reporter who covers veterans' issues. I tell the soldiers: "I'm a journalist, not an advocate. I tell soldiers' stories; I don't represent them in court." While that is true, it's an awful reply to a soldier in need. And it has always left me feeling hollow.
The obvious solution, I thought, would be directing these soldiers towards the excellent veterans organizations established to assist Iraq and Afghan vets. But as it turns out, it's not so simple. Most of those groups are designed to lobby Congress, not to help individual soldiers. Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America has done extraordinary work on Capitol Hill, successfully pushing Congress to pass a new G.I. Bill, but it doesn't have case workers to assist soldiers with their disability claims. Neither does the Iraq War Veterans Organization. Or Veterans for Common Sense. So where should these soldiers turn?
This month I set out to answer that question. With help from the great Bob Handy, chairman of Veterans United for Truth, I compiled this list of 27 resources for veterans in need, from the Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline to legal resources, like Lawyers Serving Warriors and the Veterans Pro Bono Consortium.
If you're a veteran, click here and download this list of organizations offering you assistance. If you know a military family, forward the list to them. Let's make sure every military family in America has a copy of this list. Together we can make sure that awful question—where do I turn for help?—never plagues another soldier again.
Follow Joshua Kors on Facebook: www.facebook.com/joshua.kors
This story is part of Military Families Week, an effort by HuffPost and AOL to put a spotlight on issues affecting America's families who serve. Find more at jobs.aol.com/militaryfamilies and aol.com.
Follow Joshua Kors on Twitter: www.twitter.com/joshuakors
Leila Levinson: Finally Giving Our Troops the Support They Really Need
Maggie Martin: There's No Quick Fix for Veterans
Rev. Dr. Wollom A. Jensen: Military Family Appreciation Week: Serving Those Who Stand And Wait
Thanks for a great article that highlights the conversation happening across the nation and exposes the tremendous need to support our veterans who are returning home and the challenges of “making sure veterans know what resources exist.”
There are several great initiatives (government and non-profit) designed to simplify access to information and resources for transitioning service men and women, veterans and military families.
Warrior Gateway (www.warriorgateway.org) is one of those non-profit initiatives launched in 2010 to connect the military community (active, guard, reserve, veterans and families) with resources in their local communities although with a different approach.
For each of the 45,000 resources listed, rather than just a link and a description WarriorGateway.org provides a contact email, phone number, address and website URL to make sure you get more than just a link back to another website. You actually get contact information to connect with a live person.
Warrior Gateway (www.warriorgateway.org) also provides registered users with the ability to rate and comment about any of the providers so today’s veterans, their families and caregivers have a public forum to share their experiences about the quality and effectiveness of those services. If the VA hospital isn't cutting it...let them know by rating them. If a group therapy program is working wonders, let your fellow veterans know by leaving a comment.
Let us know what you think and how we can serve you better.
I was in a position of homelessness a few years back. They sought me out, filled out the paperwork, and gave me a V.A.S.H. voucher which allowed me to have my own place again and be able to pay the bills, too. I had no idea I had cancer. A routine examination prompted them to check and sure enough their educated "hunch" was correct. Without timely intervention I would have been dead. These are just two incidents where the Hayden Medical Center has served ME.
I cannot thank the staff enough for helping me. So complain away -- every bad event you can recite I can tell you a good incident. Thank you for funding them, and don't ever stop.
http://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/links
Click on the "Find a DSO" link on the left of the page. DSO stands for Department Service Officer. They are specially trained individuals that are highly experience to navigating the byzantine labryth that is the VA. As noted, this service is for ALL US veterans.
"I shall not fail those with whom I have served."
http://youtu.be/Jlk7Tv05ucE Carol Fox
(An appeal from Edward J. Baker, Veteran, retired Navy Lt. Commander )
I am a United States Citizen that has served my country with honor (5 medals and many more citations). I have lost everything (my family, my retirement, my freedom... etc) because a judge in the state of Colorado and Adult protective services intervened and saw a way to prosper off my misfortune. They were never given the documents from the VA that clearly stated I was competent.
I have resigned my self that I will not see my children for the holidays due to the restrictions placed on me by the court, my conservator and guardian appointed by Judge Fasing in Arapahoe county. I have not committed any crimes. I don't drink or do drugs. I am educated with a Bachelor of Science in Project management from the University of Maryland and a Masters Degree in Systems Engineering from George Washington University. I owe no one money.
I am retired military Lt. Commander from the Navy (22 years of service and retired DUE TO A DISABILITY from the United states government as a (G-S15). We need some serious intervention or publicity to fix this.
Please help us if you can
Very respectfully,
Edward J. Baker
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERY ONE/ANYONE YOU KNOW THAT MAY BE WILLING OR ABLE TO HELP (GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, SENATORS/CONGRESSMEN
The patriotic war protestors stopped this ridiculous war in the early 70 after 7 years. That’s not happening now.
All the lessons have been again been lost. I am the real patriot…not the war mongers.
I so endorse group therapy and blogging can work that way. To be able to describe your situation to others who've shared that experience and can relate to your story is valuable not only in talking clearly about it but also finding a bunch of others who may have ideas that can help you.
The best outcome would be that you'd hookup with people nearby from the blogging that can organize live meets with socializing and who knows, maybe the kind of personal one-on-one solutions to healing.
It should be clear that reaching out is not weakness but strength to help yourself!
This is supposedly done to protect veterans from unscrupulous attorneys. You can see by how short this list is that instead of helping veterans, it's kept attorneys from handling cases against the VA. Since the VA hires its own lawyers at government rates, the playing field is tipped against the vet. Veterans can hire any licensed attorney to represent them before the Social Security Administration, in federal court, and before any state court. These men and women have a lot at stake: veterans' benefits can make the difference between abject poverty and having a home, having health care, and having three square meals a day.
If the legal services programs for veterans had enough funding to take on all the cases, this wouldn't matter, but they don't. We should pick one: Fund legal services programs for veterans so that every veteran who needs legal help can get it, or respect veterans' ability to make good choices on hiring a lawyer.
Also: according to the VFW these two wars are going to cost America 6 Trillion dollars over the next 40 years. Don't hear the Republicans mention this debt being passed onto their children and grand children now do you!
We need to STOP ALL THE WARS.
BRING THE TROOPS HOME.
RELEASE PRIVATE BRADLEY MANNING.
I have had the VA send me to an outside Ophthalmologist for vision assessment, where I got an excellent prescription for glasses but first pair that came from the VA outsourced contract glasses maker had my eyes focusing on the center of the top rim of the eye pieces. After two months of trying to figure out how to get them to work, I took them to the VA eye clinic's technicians who in turn got their doc to order another pair. The second pair came back with my focus through the bottom rim of the eyepieces. Why waste all the time and energy trying to get help where the claim is to put veterans first, but that too often means right after everything else is dealt with.
They do this, supposedly, to protect veterans from predatory attorneys, but the result is the very short list you've offered of lawyers available to take veterans' claims forward before the VA. Somehow, veterans who pursue Social Security claims, federal employment discrimination claims, or state court claims don't need that kind of 'protection.'
The VA should get busy with its real work, and let veterans and their families choose their own attorneys.