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Mobile service office to help vets

A group of professional problem solvers for veterans is coming to Marietta near the end of the month.

The Disabled American Veterans Mobile Service Office will spend the entire day at the local DAV post on June 26.

“It’s literally an office on wheels, a big truck that contains everything from internet hookup, fax and phones, a place where veterans can meet in private with highly trained national service officers,” state veterans service officer Bruce Haas said.

Filing for benefits can be a complex and frustrating process for veterans, and it often requires professional help and advice, Haas said.

He knows first hand, having gone through the system to seek medical benefits after leaving the Air Force.

“There’s a series of things I’ve dealt with since I was in the Air Force in the early 1980s,” he said. “The latest was kidney failure. I was on dialysis for nine months while trying get through to the VA to get a 100-percent disability rating.

“It turned out, I wasn’t requesting it on proper form. Once I requested help from DAV advocate, they had to request forms from a couple of different offices, and within three months it was all solved.”

He ended up with a kidney transplant, he said.

“They are experts, they know the regulations very, very well,” he said. “They have access to VA records and are very adept at finding documents vets may have lost track of, medical records, service records, they can request private documents and records to start the process of putting together a claim.”

The people who process VA claims are form-focused, he said, following regulations known as the Standard Forms Act. The VA website shows more than 500 forms, ranging from applications for nursing home care to one called “information for pre-complaint processing.”

“You just literally need to know which i to dot and which t to cross,” Haas said.

The DAV Mobile Service Office will be at DAV Post 52, just outside Marietta toward Whipple, for the entire day, from 9 a.m. to 5 p..m., on June 26. Haas said no appointment is necessary, and at 5 p.m. if there are veterans remaining, they all will be seen by the mobile service officers.

All veterans are welcome, and it is not necessary to be a DAV member, he said.

Craig Hendrickson is commander of DAV Post 52. He said the mobile service office helped him get benefits he didn’t know existed.

“I got my veterans pension, which is different than the military pension,” he said. “It’s something the VA offers that I wasn’t aware of.”

Hendrickson, who left the service in 1984 after 10 years in the Army, said he’ll be there during the Mobile Service Office visit.

“I’ll be out there, starting at 8 a.m.,” he said.

By the numbers

¯Washington County population: 60,418.

¯Estimated number of veterans: 5,168.

Disabled Veterans of America Mobile Service office

¯What: Services for veterans with questions about their benefits.

¯When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 26.

¯Where: DAV Post 52, 835 DAV Road, off State Route 821 east of I-77 Exit 6.

¯Appointments: Walk-in, none necessary.

¯Who: All veterans

¯For information: Bruce Haas, 740-629-1277.

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