Our invisible veterans

A peculiar thing happened earlier this week on Tuesday. Did you notice? Not only were all the schools closed for a single day in the middle of the week, but so were the banks and post office. Everything else seemed normal. Local businesses were open for regular hours and highway traffic reports included familiar fender benders and rush hour alerts.
Did you remember it was Veterans Day? Did you pause and reflect on the “sacrifices” of our many men and women soldiers? Perhaps, you participated in one of the small graveside or community Veterans Day services. Maybe not.
On Veterans Day, everything that has to do with veterans becomes a little less invisible. But only slightly. Throughout all the other days of the year our “invisible veterans” live quietly, unremarkably and almost hidden among us — and from themselves.
Sonoma County is home to an estimated 32,400 veterans of foreign conflicts, active service and assigned duty in our nation’s military. Very few of these veterans fought in battles or saw “active” duty. Most worked in offices, warehouses and did idle time on military campuses. They all volunteered and they all served our country. They are all Veterans to be honored — and to be repaid.
We know about the uniformed soldiers who march in Veterans Day parades from WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Lately, they have been joined by a few younger men and women who did military service during Desert Storm or the Iraq and Afghanistan era.
But most of our county’s veterans are hard to spot, and that doesn’t mean the many hundred who are among our chronic homeless or the 1,000 more without steady jobs or good shelter.
There is a Sonoma County Veterans Service Office that is almost as invisible as the veterans it serves. The job of the small staff is to connect veterans and their families with a series of benefits and assistance programs. The office is not part of the federal Department of Federal Veteran Affairs (VA). They are not part of the national scandal or long waiting periods, paperwork coverups and cuts to VA services.
Locally, the county Veterans Service Office finds as many invisible veterans as possible and makes sure they get the medical, housing and education benefits they deserve. Their office is open Mondays through Fridays and veterans and their families or survivors can drop in any morning for help with claims assistance and referrals to VA admissions and other help.
There are thousands of men and women in Sonoma County eligible for reduced college tuition, home loans, medical care, counseling, disability payments and survivor benefits that remain invisible —even to themselves.
Veterans Service Director Christopher Bingham, a veteran of the Air Force, reported recently that many benefits go unclaimed because of incomplete documentation and military-style snafus. He said many “eligibles” deny themselves services because they feel unworthy because they were not injured in battle. He urged family relatives and neighbors to bring these veterans out of hiding and win the paybacks they deserve.
Besides drop-ins, appointments can be made by calling (707) 565-5960. The website is at www.scvets.org. The office is located at 3725 Westwind Blvd., near the county airport.
In recent times, our nation has had a poor record of supporting our veterans. The modern wars of the Middle East and Afghanistan has left us with many soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress, amputated limbs and brain injuries.
These injured veterans have been made more invisible because they are part of an all-volunteer force that fight our battles away from daily news cameras or other scrutiny.
If too many of our veterans remain invisible we can not repay them in full for their service and sacrifice. If we don’t do this much, we would be the cheapest of all nations.
— Rollie Atkinson