The Problem
Veterans are experiencing a lack of information on benefits and entitlements. Connecting Veterans with information about the benefits they are entitled to has been a continuous struggle for years. Information is key in any situation; it is specifically crucial to Veterans because they may not know who or where to turn to.
GI Bill educational benefits are still a mystery to a lot of Veterans. Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment services are an even a greater mystery. Veterans deal with reintegration, employment, and social differences once they are back in the civilian world – this is all highly stressful. Veterans’ lack of knowledge about the educational benefits they have earned can have an adverse impact on their employability. Young veterans have an really especially time finding a job and staying employed.
Obtaining information about Medical services is another battle Veterans face daily. At least since 2002, the VA has increased outpatients and inpatients in large numbers. It is obvious the increase would be primarily from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Veterans returning home. Although the medical staff is available, the information to connect Veterans to the medical services and staff is cumbersome. The result from this inability to connect Veterans with information on the VA Medical services is alcohol abuse, unemployable, and worst of all is suicide. Suicide rates have significantly increased since 2003. USA Today reported on a study by the Department of Veterans Affairs where “Veterans ages 18-24 enrolled in the VA’s health program killed themselves at a rate of 46 per 100,000 in 2009 and nearly 80 per 100,000 in 2011, the latest year of data available…” (Zoroya, USA Today, 2014). I hope these suicide statistics can help move toward a favorable method to allow Veterans access information much sooner than we are currently experiencing.
Finally, besides informing Veterans about their educational and medical benefits, we need to fix the information gap between Veterans and their financial options. Closing this gap will allow more Veterans to learn of better banking options. Without information of better banking options, they would be less likely to know about military friendly banks. If Veterans are not informed about military friendly banks they would not be aware of one time VA Home loan available to them. There is information about economic relief specific to Veterans but we simply are not made aware of it; there is a vast amount of information and we simply need to be informed.
Although these problems may seem easily remediable, they have continued to be a persistence issue among the Veterans community. It is 2014 and it is time we sped up the delivery of information to Veterans and made it possible for them to enjoy the entitlements and benefits they have so bravely earned. This is why I have proposed several solutions emphasizing one in particular because it may have a larger impact in the Veteran community.
Policy Options
One option to properly deliver educational benefits information to Veterans would be introducing it during their service and at discharge via a seminar or workshop and establishing a follow-up system. At these workshops Veterans will be educated about their benefits by the VA or non-profit organizations such as the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Purple Heart, American Legion are present and will take key information from service members such as emails and phone numbers. These organizations will begin follow-ups with educational information and provide detailed information on the GI Bill and Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment. They will also inquire on any specific need the Veteran may have with pursuing a degree or training program. An educational follow-up system will be important because it will allow the VA or these organizations to respond rather than react; it will allow reinforcing educational benefit information to Veterans via email and phone calls. Successful delivery of educational information will provide Veterans with an educational background, which will help Veterans with employment and other career opportunities. Because these organizations are already major advocates to all Veterans from all branches of services, I believe they would greatly raise awareness of the educational benefits service members and Veterans are entitled to. This approach is cost efficient and reliable as more veterans seek organizations whom will advocate and represent them for free; if we can get DAV, Purple Heart, American Legion Services officers to engage and follow-up with Veterans they have already met in person, I believe will help improve awareness for educational opportunities.
An option to successfully deliver information of the medical services available to Veterans and information on enrolling into the VA system would be after deployments and at discharge. Often times it can be intimidating for Veterans to seek information on medical services but it can actually be rather simple. During and after serving it should be mandatory for service members and Veterans to attend a yearly physical check up with the VA medical staff. Upon the end of their deployments or at discharge VA staff would have access to enroll every service member into the VA system and inform them the reasons and benefits of enrolling with the VA. Once an introduction takes place between the Veteran and the VA staff, they may provide Veterans steps to help guide them to get medical assistance with the VA; service members will know services at the VA are free and have all necessary services from psychologists, social workers and surgeons at their disposal. These advances may ultimately make a big difference and help lower homelessness and suicides in the Veteran community.
A final option would be to inform Veterans about their financial choices and advantages during their service and at discharge. Finances are not the first thing in mind while or after serving in the Armed Forces. This is why we need to raise awareness about United Services Automobile Association (USAA) during their first year of service, instead of with the current Fort Still National Bank (FSNB). One way Veterans can learn of USAA and VA loans is through exposure via non-profit organizations such as DAV, American Legion or Purple Heart during their first year of service. Also, we can assign social workers at the VA as an access point for financial information at discharge, or we could incentivize non-profit organizations such as Disabled American Veterans (DAV), American Legion, Purple Heart to completely take the lead by connecting directly with USAA and coordinate information sessions at recruit training, duty stations and at the VA medical centers. Moreover, Veterans would become aware USAA supplement VA loans for home and business with very low interest rates. USAA or other pro-military financial institutions need to make their presence upon graduation of recruit training, upon arriving to their duty station, local offices or campuses. This certainly would open a wide door for USAA’s and other pro-military banks information to be shared, via non-profit organizations, or via the VA early service members careers. Service members and Veterans will benefit from a healthier financial future if they are informed of the best financial options early in their military careers.
A option that I would strongly advocate for would be a tri-fold brochure that clearly summarized all available benefits. It would be a cost efficient and practical tool. I can see the brochures being distributed at the beginning of military careers and at discharge. These brochures can be distributed on Veterans Day to reinforce the delivery of information. I can also see how these brochures can help in conjunction with my options. This brochure can have key information such as educational, medical and financial benefits all in one place. Similar to the Discover CUNY tri-fold, we can have a VA Benefits and Entitlements tri-fold. The VA Benefits and Entitlements tri-fold can actually play a major roll together with my proposals. For example, delivering educational benefits during service members’ first year tri-folds can be distributed, introduced and explained. Upon discharge VA enrollment sessions will take place and during these sessions VA medical staff will be accompanied with VA Benefits and Entitlement officers and Disabled American Veterans representatives and will be able to help service members and Veterans understand their earned benefits and how to utilize the brochure. Using the follow-up system, VA and other organizations will be able to have better accountability on delivering information to Veterans and if they are successfully becoming aware of their earned benefits. The final portion of the tri-fold will contain financial institutions information and the VA or non-profit organizations will explain this information to service members as first order of business upon arrival at their first duty station. All these steps, including the VA Benefits and Entitlements tri-fold brochure, will ensure service members and Veterans are informed of the information, able to understand the information, and be able to independently refer back to the information, which will eventually allow more Veterans to effectively use their benefits and entitlements. The tri-fold will certainly will be a powerful tool to refer back to. It will certainly be a powerful tool if it can be downloaded as a PDF brochure in case the tri-fold is misplaced.
Simply by informing service members and Veterans about thier educational, medical and financial options during their first year and at discharge Veterans careers as well as their lives would improve. Lastly, a tri-fold with general information at the beginning of military careers would be a great tool to provide Veterans for long term guidance and reference, but this will only work if we distribute them strategically early on their careers and on Veterans Day. Most importantly, these solutions are realistic and cost efficient and must be implemented to diminish the information gap between Veterans and benefits and entitlements they have earned. This will allow higher retention for Veterans going to school, experience stable employment, remain healthy, and financially stable. Thank you for reading my story. Please advise me what actions you plan to take to improve the delivery of information to service members and Veterans of benefits and entitlements.
Work Cited
Zoroya, Gregg. “Suicides of Young Vets Top Those of Active-Duty Troops.” USA Today. 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 April, 2014. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/10/suicide-veterans-rates-high-prevention/4393547/>