Vets need more help

If you’re a veteran (active duty for six months or more and an honorable discharge) who needs assistance in the form of basic services, a Stand Down is scheduled for Wednesday in the President’s Hall at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds. It’s an event that started on an annual basis but has increased to twice a year because of need.

If you’re a veteran (active duty for six months or more and an honorable discharge) who needs assistance in the form of basic services, a Stand Down is scheduled for Wednesday in the President’s Hall at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds. It’s an event that started on an annual basis but has increased to twice a year because of need.

Planned services and assistance include: clothing, meals, personal items, haircuts, medical screening, flu shots, employment referrals, financial and housing assistance, and assistance to enroll in VA health benefits and secure VA claims. And perhaps most important, information about several local veteran support organizations.

One of the most valuable and active organizations for county veterans, whether they live on Bainbridge or Bremerton, is the King County Veterans Advisory Board, a 15-member group that reports directly to the county’s Board of Commissioners. Its current chair, Roth Hafer, is an island resident and a retired federal employee who worked at the Seattle regional office of Veteran Affairs. Hafer, a fast-talking New York transplant, will complete his second – and last – one-year term in December.

The board serves primarily as a clearing house and advocate for veterans who desperately need services, using the state allocated Veterans Relief Fund that dispenses money to those in need. The board now receives about 1 percent of $1,000 of assessed value in the county, and uses most of it each year because of the huge need for such services.

We’re talking about veterans who are indigent, homeless, jobless, plagued with serious mental or health-care issues, have been incarcerated or are self-employed with disabilities. And many more. Before the board was formed in January 2006, veterans were falling through the cracks on a daily basis because of the multiple number of agencies and problems involved.

With Hafer serving as the conductor, the 11-man, 4-woman board has its collective finger on about every social service agency (Helpline House, for one) or group that has contact with veterans, which leads to more problems being solved locally than ever before. The Stand Down is just one of the board’s babies (it provides seed money), but it’s an important one because it serves as another source for making contact with those in need.

And with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan still going strong, there’s no shortage of that. Hafer said that based on what happened in Vietnam, PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) in Iraq is extremely high for veterans, many of whom are not having the disorder identified or treated when they return. The suicide rate is also alarmingly high, he said.

Hafer said there was an attempt this year to have National Guard members and reservists who have served in the wars included as veterans who qualify for Veterans Relief Fund benefits, but the state Senate “sandbagged it.” It wouldn’t have cost the state a cent, he said, and he hopes Rep. Christine Rolfes will continue to fight for the issue if she is re-elected in November.

“They should change the law because it’s going to get worse for the veterans because of the Iraq War,” he said.

No doubt about that.