Connecting Soldiers to hometown benefits

Photo By Sgt. Benjamin Kibbey | Capt. John Donovan, Red Bull Visitor's Bureau and event coordinator, addresses the Soldiers attending the Soldier assistance video teleconference at Contingency Operating Base Basra, Dec. 17. In conjunction with the community of St. Cloud, Minn., the 34th Inf. Div. hosted the city hall teleconference to showcase the individuals and organizations the Soldiers of central Minnesota will deal with when seeking veteran's benefits.  

BASRA, IRAQ

12.17.2009

Courtesy Story

Multi-National Division-South

By Sgt. Benjamin R. Kibbey

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq — The benefits a grateful nation makes available to its military are numerous, but connecting those service members to the resources in their local areas — especially National Guard and Reserve — can be a challenge.

In conjunction with the community of St. Cloud, Minn., the 34th Infantry Division hosted a city hall teleconference at COB Basra, Dec. 17, showcasing the individuals and organizations the Soldiers of central Minnesota will deal with.

The conference was a proof of concept, said Capt. John Donovan, Red Bull Visitor's Bureau and event coordinator. The hope is that this event will not only help St. Cloud Soldiers, but also open the way for similar coordination between local communities and their deployed service members in the future.

"The purpose of this event it to take macro-information and put it at a micro-level, to take information that would be disseminated state-wide, to all the soldiers in Minnesota, and now provide it to their specific zip codes," Donovan said.

"The hope today is that people could actually take out their Soldier notebook and be writing down telephone numbers that start with their area code," he said, "and walk away with the telephone number, the name and a face of the person that they'll interface with when they get back home."

Sgt. Nicholas Buskey, from the St. Cloud area, 34th Military Police Co., was one of approximately 40 Minnesota Soldiers who attended after hearing about the teleconference through his chain of command.

"I just want to see what resources are out there, kind of open my mind, broaden what I know." he said.

Buskey, who has taken advantage of medical Veterans Administration benefits in the past, said he had been to other briefings during his previous deployment, but never before anything this localized.

"I know there's some stuff out there," he said, "but, like I said, I don't know if there is any more out there."

The teleconference provided a unique opportunity to inform the Soldiers, as well as giving them the chance to ask questions.

Maj. Jeff Howe, 34th Inf. Div. transportation officer, asked local VA representatives about a resource he had used in the past, the Transition Assistance Program.

Not just a tool for those seeking employment, TAP helps Soldiers looking to move up or on with a current employer, putting their military skills into use in a civilian environment, Howe said.

"It was actually open to spouses too," he said. "So, my spouse went through it. It was a great program."

Given his own past experiences, Howe said he felt the teleconference was an excellent concept, and that the execution went well. A program like this helps to cover the areas not fully taken care of by the briefings Soldiers receive 30, 60, and 90 days after deployment, he said.

"You've got the 30-60-90, but there's a gap in there of 30 days," he said, "and now, if somebody needs help, they can put a face on, 'this is where I need to go.'"

"And besides that," he added, "when they go through the 30-60-90, now they know they've got those resources that they're going to have; they can put a face with a name of who is in their town that they need to go to."

Some of the assistance Soldiers need, they need before the deployment is even over, and Donovan is familiar with the help someone local can provide in those circumstances.

With the advent of the new Post-9/11 GI Bill, he had the opportunity to do something he had been looking at for 10 years: transfer his education benefits to his daughter. Yet, when these benefits became available, he was thousands of miles away at COB Basra.

"Because the program is so new, they're building the ship while they're flying it," he said. "So, they were inundated with some 250,000 applications of Soldiers who want to use it for themselves, and for Soldiers, like me, who want to transfer it to their dependents."

Though there are stop-gap measures in place for Soldiers, Donovan's daughter, like many dependents, has nearly completed a semester without receiving any payments.

Though the issue has yet to be fully resolved, Donovan was able to take the problem to his local county Veterans Service officer, and deal directly with someone for an issue that might otherwise be solved in a faceless manner.

Now, Donovan wants to make certain that other soldiers, when faced with questions and issues, know exactly where to find that individual attention the local community is so eager to provide.

The event was coordinated in cooperation with the "Warrior to Citizen Campaign," a local St. Cloud group, and included St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud Technical & Community College, the Minnesota School of Business and Rasmussen College, as well as the St. Cloud Veteran's Administration Medical Center, the Minnesota Workforce Center and the Stearns County Veterans Services.

• Date Taken: 12.17.2009
• Date Posted: 12.21.2009 01:43
• Story ID: 42978
• Location: BASRA, IQ