MINNEAPOLIS -- Too many Iraq War veterans are slipping through the cracks and aren't getting the benefits they've earned, veterans told U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday.
At a panel discussion hosted by U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., Pelosi was told that the Minnesota National Guard has done an excellent job of making sure its troops coming home from Iraq get all the health and education benefits they're entitled to.
But participants said too many veterans from the active duty military services don't get those benefits because they return home alone, and nobody makes sure they check the box on their discharge paperwork saying that they want the information to go to the veterans services offices in their home states.
The Commissioner of Veterans Affairs in Minnesota, Clark Dyrud, estimates that less than half of all veterans eligible for vet benefits apply for them. That means there could be more than 200,000 veterans out there who are not getting the help they deserve. Dyrud says his department has a hard time finding them, because they don't check that box.
"Does anybody tell you about that little box? The veterans office never got my name, never knew I existed," Gerard Marking of Lake City, MN explained. Marking served in 3 branches of the armed forces over the past 30 years, and he says he only heard through the grapevine what's available to him.
The box is on the dd-214 form. It's part of paperwork soldiers fill out after completing service.
Luke Weinandt says he had no idea what to do when he returned from Iraq in 2004. "I remember it perfectly clear, just sign here, sign here. The box they were checking, I never even heard of that box," Weinandt explained.
Dyrud says something needs to be done immediately. "That's what we're trying to see, if it's possible to get that box removed and automatically send a copy of this dd-214 to every state," Dyrud said. That would allow county veteran services workers to find those who deserve benefits...........
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