National Commander Wiley addresses Legion’s Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Commission during national convention.
The Take Care of America's Veterans Act (TCAVA) includes priorities like the Major Richard Star Act, the Love Lives On Act, the VITAL Act, the HONOR Act, the SAVES Act, and 57 others delivering benefits, health care, education, and essential services to combat-injured veterans, surviving spouses and families.
And on Aug. 30 during The American Legion Nation Convention in Louisville, Ky., American Legion National Commander Dan K. Wiley used part of his time to share with the Legion’s Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Commission why the legislation needs to be both supported and passed.
“Here’s your choice: there’s a lot of options in Congress,” he said. “There’s the Major Richard Star Act … it’s not going to pass. We want it to pass. But politically, the votes aren’t there to get it through the Senate.
“There are two or three portions (in TCAVA) that are somewhat controversial,” Wiley said. “People forget about over 30 resolutions that support TCAVA. So if we don’t support TCAVA, we’re violating 30 resolutions.”
Learn more about TCAVA here.
Wiley said the Legion’s voice, with regard to veteran issues, “is by far the most respected voice on Capitol Hill, I guarantee that. We are as respected now as we have ever been. When I go up and talk with members of the House of Representatives or senators – and what I really like is talking with their staff – when I talk to them, they come to me and tell me about our staff: No. 1, how professional they are and how informed and how good they are. And it’s clear to me that there is a networking system … with The American Legion, and we have the ear of a lot of those career staff members.”
The American Legion staff Wiley referenced has testified 49 times before Congress this year – the most in the organization’s history. “And we’ve reviewed over 500 bills with our staff that are or have been in Congress,” Wiley said. “They’re very busy, but that goes back to the relationships they’ve built and the trust The American Legion has.”
In December of last year, Wiley made another trip to the nation’s capital, this time among those in the Oval Office to witness President Trump signing an executive order to reclassify cannabis in a way that will allow FDA to legally conduct research into its therapeutic value for veterans.
“Folks, that’s big news,” Wiley said. “It seems like five years ago in some regards. What was historical about it was it was the first time in anyone’s recollection that the national commander had a speaking part from the Oval Office. And again, that goes to the influence of The American Legion.
“Obviously that was important to us for the purposes of studying cannabis and looking at the effectiveness of cannabis in regard to reducing those factors that disproportionally affect veterans,” Wiley said. “We’re looking forward to that being studied, and hopefully that’s another effective treatment that our veterans can utilize, other than just taking pills. Because we all know pills are addictive and destructive when prescribed for too long.”
Medal of Honor recipient Leroy Petry, now a military advisor for TriWest Military Alliance, also addressed the commission, as did TriWest COO Steve Maddox. TriWest manages health benefits under VA.
Petry, who earned the Medal of Honor for his actions on May 26, 2008, in Afghanistan – costing him his right hand – called TriWest “a perfect fit. After I got injured I had the opportunity to get out of the service. And there was somebody at the hospital that inspires me. And that was the liaison assigned by (U.S. Southern Command). His job was to take care of all the wounded, ill and injured that came to San Antonio at that time.
“I watched him from my hospital bed. I watched him as an outpatient. And I learned … about his compassion. His commitment to those soldiers and their families.”
Petry said the liaison provided guidance to both he and his family, as well as others. “I watched him take care of people he wasn’t in charge of,” he said. “That’s what really carried me through.”
The commission also heard from Dr. John Gallagher, vice president of Clinical Operations for Zeel Healthcare, which is a member of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Community Care Network and provides in-network medical massage therapy to veteran through their VA benefits.
“We’re not just looking at pain scores here,” Gallagher said. “We’re looking at improving veterans’ quality of life. Many of our veterans have complex conditions. We need to address all of those. The whole health model works that way.
“We’re not looking just looking at the physical benefits. We’re looking at the whole-health benefits as well.”
Gallagher said Zeel’s massage therapists go to a veteran’s home, “makes access to care so much easier,” he said. “They can travel sometimes up to an hour, two hours.”
The goal, Gallagher said, is to give veterans’ back their functional independence.
The commission closed with remarks from Nate Boyer of Merging Vets & Players (MVP). Boyer and the Fox NFL Sunday’s NFL Insider Jay Glazer – a past recipient of the Legion’s James V. Day Good Guy Award – founded MVP to bring together military veterans with former professional athletes to help each other through the transition into their new lives away from battlefields and playing fields.
Boyer joined the U.S. Army in 2005 and went on to become a Green Beret, serving multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and completing various Joint Command Exchange Training missions in Israel, Bulgaria and Greece.
In 2010, he walked on to the University of Texas and two years later locked down the starting long snapper position for his final three years. He went undrafted but signed with the Seattle Seahawks as a free agent at age 34, playing in the preseason before being cut.
He went out to co-found MVP and also has been busy in the film industry.
Boyer shared details about his upcoming documentary , “D-Day+80”, which is co-directed by Boyer and Laura Kulik and chronicles the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. The film includes interviews with some of the last remaining veterans who took part in the offensive. Those veterans share their memories of the war and their view of America today.
The film will make its premiere with a screening on Sept. 5 at the Miracle Makers International Film Festival at the Regal Edwards Big Newport in Newport Beach, Calif.
Boyer said films like his are important “to find that balance, because without this the younger generation understanding what is potentially needed, as far as young and women willing to step up and do what all of you did, and what so many have done long before it … I think it’s really important. That’s the vision that I’m on right now. My passion.”
To learn more about Boyer’s “D-Day+80, click here.
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