Bronx Army Vet gives cheer for VA change

Soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan wars reflect on coming home to NYC and transition to civilian life
Bronx Army vet says more aid available now from Veterans Administration

BY CORINNE LESTCH
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, January 10 2012

COUTTESY OF SANDRA ROLON
U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Sandra Rolon flies to Qatar in April 2009, during her second Iraq deployment, for some R and R

When Sandra Rolon came home to the Bronx from her first U.S. Army deployment in Iraq in 2005, she was desolate and despondent.

The Mott Haven native was left homeless with two daughters to raise, and there were few services.

“I went to one or two meetings for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” she said. “There wasn’t anything at all.”

When she returned after her second round of duty--during which she helped close down the Camp Bucca detention facility in 2009--everything had changed.

“I got a call from the (James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the Bronx) the same day my orders ended,” said Rolon, 53. “They were directly calling all these soldiers, letting them know, ‘you have five years of medical coverage if you want to exercise that benefit.’”

Now, Rolon helps lead Military Women in Power, which operates out of the Bronx VA hsopital, and she said there has been a surge of interest in the group since the last troops returned to American soil in December.

“Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island are taking care of their people, but in the Bronx, I don’t see it,” she said. “I’ve had to go outside of the Bronx to seek assistance.”

That’s a perception the Bronx VA is trying to change with new programs and outreach efforts as it anticipates serving about 4,000 to 6,000 returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, said Jim Connell, director of community and government relations.

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