Ron Koontz, program coordinator for the state Department of Veterans’ Services, spent 17 months in a military hospital after shrapnel blew off part of his jaw in Vietnam. (Globe Staff Photo / George Rizer)Guiding veterans with experience won the hard way
Boston Globe - United States
By John Laidler
Globe Correspondent / March 9, 2008
When veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan talk to him about their struggles overcoming the physical and emotional effects of war, Ron Koontz understands.
Koontz, who left his job last month as Amesbury's veterans' services officer to become program coordinator for the state Department of Veterans' Services, knows firsthand the challenges that vets, particularly disabled ones, face in trying to resume normal lives.
Forty years ago, Koontz was serving as a combat infantryman in Vietnam when his platoon's base camp, located west of Saigon near the Cambodian border, came under a nighttime mortar and rocket attack. In the ensuing firefight, shrapnel from an exploding rocket blew off the right side of his jaw.
Koontz spent 17 months in a military hospital in San Francisco. For 13 months, his jaw was wired shut.
Recovering from the wound and rebuilding his life are the experiences Koontz draws on to help other veterans.
"The credibility I bring to the table is that I can identify with some of the issues they bring," he said. "My having been wounded kind of opens up that trust door, so when they come in, they know they are talking to another veteran who has experienced the same trauma they have."
After 15 years of working with veterans at the local level - 10 as Amesbury's veterans' officer and five as a post-traumatic stress disorder counselor at the Veterans Northeast Outreach Center in Haverhill - Koontz is bringing his skills to the statewide level.
In his new job, which he began Feb. 19, Koontz, 61, oversees the Veterans Workforce Investment Program. The federally funded program helps veterans obtain services such as education, job training, and mental health counseling.
The program targets veterans who are disabled, recently discharged, or who have significant barriers to employment. The help comes in the form of direct financial aid, information, and referrals.
"My job is to get these veterans jobs," Koontz said.
While the program has existed for a number of years, the agency is hoping to expand its reach at a time when the number of Massachusetts veterans is growing. Koontz, who was hired to lead that effort, estimates that 30,000 veterans have returned to the state since 2001.
Many are suffering the effects of traumatic brain injuries, which Koontz called "the signature injury" of the Iraq war.
The goal is to assess each veteran, and see that they are "mentally and physically put back together," he said. "Then once we work on those issues, we can start to work on the other issues" needed to land jobs.
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