Too Many Vets Still Leave Service Unaware of Benefits
Despite billions of additional dollars pumped into veterans' benefits in recent years, many military personnel still leave service unaware of their VA benefits or of programs set up to help them transition to civilian life, a senior Defense official and veteran advocates testified Wednesday.
Noel C. Koch, deputy under secretary of defense for wounded warrior care and transition policy, said he has visited many military hospitals and interviewed “hundreds” of service members, many recovering from wounds.
“It's a constant source of partly amazement and partly disappointment at how little aware they are” of benefits and programs to help them either return to full duty or smooth their path into veteran status
Communication “seems to be the entire issue,” Koch explained. Despite a lot of work being done to address this gap, the government fails to communicate effectively with departing members, particularly younger ones.
“This is partly a generational issue,” Koch told the House veterans affairs subcommittee on disability assistance. Young veterans “don't communicate the way people my age communicate. They don't refer to these thick manuals we put out that are just chock full of information, which nobody reads. Even websites are becoming somewhat antiquated in the eyes of some of our younger service members.”
via Bikers Of America, Know Your Rights!: Too Many Vets Still Leave Service Unaware of Benefits.
Popularity: unranked [?]
