States Step Up with War Vet Aid

States Step Up with War Vet Aid
Mclatchy -Tribune News Service March 17, 2008
FORT KNOX, Ky. - In the complicated world of military and veterans' benefits, in which returning warriors face a bewildering array of complicated and sometimes conflicting directions, Wally Kotarski is a middleman.

One morning last week, with a fresh coating of snow covering the U.S. Army base in Fort Knox, Kotarski met with a soldier recently back from Iraq. The soldier had such a debilitating case of post-traumatic stress disorder that his squad leader was ushering him around.

Kotarski explained the range of services and benefits that the soldier could - and should - receive once he's discharged from the Army. He tracked down the address of a Vet Center, operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, in the soldier's neighborhood in Brooklyn. When the soldier goes home, one of Kotarski's colleagues will make sure that somebody in New York gets the veteran to the center.

Kotarski, who served in the Army for 20 years, works for the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, participating in a new program that's designed to ensure that soldiers don't fall through the cracks.

As troops stream home from Iraq and Afghanistan, and as the VA and military systems restructure their benefits and services, states increasingly are stepping in to help service members navigate the process and get on with their lives five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Citizen soldiers from various states' National Guard and Army Reserve units make up a substantial portion of Iraq forces, and soldiers are doing repeat deployments. Many come back with deep psychological problems on top of their physical wounds.

States, as well as nonprofit organizations such as the American Legion, have long played a role in helping veterans. Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan started, however, some states have boosted their efforts, worried that the federal government is overwhelmed or otherwise unable to tend to returning soldiers quickly enough.

"We don't think that the VA is going to come through for our veterans in a timely fashion, and these are problems we see now," said Linda Schwartz, who heads the state veterans department in Connecticut. "If the VA catches up with us, good. If not, we have to take care of our people."

Around the country, state veterans departments spend more than $4 billion a year on benefits and services, according to Leslie Beavers, the head of Kentucky's program and a former president of a national association of state VA directors.

Each state has its own programs. Some run nursing homes for older vets and provide cemetery space in case there are no nearby federal VA cemeteries. Many provide assistance to veterans in applying for federal VA disability benefits.

In recent years, state programs have increased those efforts, both in money spent and in hands-on services. In Kentucky, Beavers said his state program had grown to $44 million a year, up from $17 million in 1998.

In Washington state, director John Lee said his two-year budget had jumped to $111 million, from $70 million at the start of the Iraq war. In Massachusetts, the budget has nearly doubled in the past five years, to a proposed $50 million for the next fiscal year.

The combined spending by state programs is dwarfed by the federal VA budget, which also is expanding rapidly and is proposed to top $90 billion next fiscal year for health-care and disability benefits, among other functions.

The state efforts, however, are driven by the belief that some veterans still slip through the cracks, and the fact that navigating the federal VA is daunting for the average person.

"We have a great VA system, but it's also time-consuming and incredibly complicated," Lee said. "We need somebody to be an advocate for the veteran."
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