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TROOPS LOOK BEYOND THE YELLOW RIBBONS --
Program
is a comprehensive effort to provide soldiers
with the
tools and resources needed for successful
reintegration into everyday life.
For more on the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon
program, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=beyond+the+
yellow+ribbon&op=ph
Beyond the Yellow Ribbon web site is here...
http://www.minnesotanationalguard.org
/returning_troops/btyr_overview.php
Story here...
http://www.fergusfallsjournal
.com/news/2007/aug/08/troops-look
-beyond-yellow-ribbons/
Story below:
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Troops look beyond the yellow ribbons
By Lauren Radomski | The Daily Journal
For area soldiers recently home from Iraq, returning to Minnesota marked
the start of a new journey: reintegration into home and community life.
In coming months, local troops will participate in a pilot program
through the Minnesota Army National Guard titled “Beyond the Yellow
Ribbon,” a comprehensive effort to provide soldiers with the tools and
resources needed for successful reintegration into everyday life.
“This particular reintegration program is the first of its kind,” said
Cpt. Aaron Krenz, one of the top officers coordinating reintegration
sessions for Minnesota troops. “No other state in the nation is doing
what we’re doing.”
Beyond the Yellow Ribbon differs from other reintegration efforts in
that it follows up with soldiers at 30-day intervals after their return
from service. In other states, Krenz said, contact between National
Guard officials and soldiers may not occur until 90 days have passed.
Troops from the 136th Infantry will meet in Moorhead Sept. 29-30 for
their first follow-up program. The goal of this session is to connect
soldiers and their families with service providers through workshops and
round robin stations.
After 60 days, the National Guard will host another session to address
anger management, substance abuse issues and other negative behaviors
related to combat stress. Members of the State Patrol will update
soldiers on laws that changed while they were away and remind them of
existing laws that guide everyone’s behavior.
“A lot of the soldiers have been the law of the land [in Iraq],” Krenz
said. “We want to ensure that soldiers know that they’re still subject
to the laws.”
At 90 days, soldiers will attend sessions without their families, where
they will complete their Post Deployment Health Re-assessment, meet with
counselors if necessary and turn in any remaining equipment. When
soldiers return to normal weekend drill training shortly thereafter,
they will continue to have access to resources through the Department of
Veterans Affairs, Krenz said.
Meanwhile, the Otter Tail County Veterans Service has already begun
working with returning troops to connect soldiers with veterans
benefits. According to Director Jourdan Sullivan, teams of county
service officers from around the state traveled to Fort McCoy to help
soldiers fill out the paperwork needed to enter the
Veterans Affairs health system. Soldiers must fall under a certain gross
income level — $27,790 for a single veteran, $33,350 for a veteran with
a spouse and progressively higher levels depending on the number of
children — or fall under an asset limit of $80,000 to qualify for system
coverage.
It is important to register soldiers in the system as soon as possible,
Sullivan said, to ensure coverage for the rest of their lives.
“Once we have them in the VA system,” Sullivan said, “they’ll be
grandfathered into the system.”
The Veterans Service also helps soldiers receive compensation for
service-connected disabilities. Sullivan said he expects to see many
cases of bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus — ringing in the ears — due
to the high number of improvised explosive devices soldiers encountered
in Iraq. A potential hearing problem should receive attention early to
ensure attention in the future.
“It may not be very extreme now but in 40 years it will be exacerbated
by age and more noise,” Sullivan said, adding that he also expects to
see back and knee injuries among returning soldiers.
“These guys are bound to have some musco-skeletal problems from the
weight they’ve been humping around out there in the desert,” he said.
Beyond health care, the Veterans Service connects returning soldiers
with pension and educational benefits. Securing these benefits can be a
long, complicated and controversial process, but Otter Tail County staff
are committed to helping veterans as much as they can.
“We feel very strongly that veterans have earned the benefits that the
government has provided for them,” Sullivan said.
With 2,680 veterans, Otter Tail County is the eighth largest county in
the state in terms of the number of veterans, Sullivan said. The
county’s Veterans Service office — in which six people work full-time on
benefits work — has an annual budget of $360,000. It distributed about
$20 million in veterans benefits last year.
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Larry Scott --
