'The best thing since iced tea'

It took less than two hours for The American Legion Department of North Carolina’s most recent Veterans Benefits Action Center (VBAC) to make a huge impact on veterans in and around North Carolina.

On April 8, during the center’s opening day at Francy-Burdett Post 70 in Asheville, N.C., more than $268,000 was awarded on the spot in retroactive Department of Veterans Affairs benefits payments – in pension, dependency and other claims-related decisions.

More than 40 veterans showed up at the center on its opening day. One of them was U.S. Air Force veteran Dwight Dunston, who was at Post 70 as soon as its doors opened that morning. Dunston was seeking an increase in his VA disability rating. He got what he wanted – and was awarded a substantial retroactive payment on the spot.

“This was the quickest progress I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Dunston, a patient at the nearby Charles George VA Medical Center. “It was outstanding. It was going so fast. It was just like ‘boom, boom, boom.’ Oh man, I’m glad I came. This was the best thing since iced tea. This should happen everywhere.”

At the center – the third the Department of North Carolina has conducted since last October – American Legion service officers teamed up with service officers from the North Carolina Division of Veterans Affairs, and Veterans Benefits Administration and Veterans Health Administration staff, including a VA patient advocate, a VA Choice Program manager and a non-VA care billing advocate.

Getting to speak with someone in person stood out to Herbert Wells, who retired from the military after more than 25 years serving in the Army, Army Reserve and National Guard. He drove more than 110 miles round trip to check on a claim pending for more than five years. He found out that evidence he’d submitted hadn’t been transferred electronically and was missing from his file.

Getting that information from the person sitting across from him, rather than through the mail or over the phone, made a difference for Wells.

“There’s absolutely no comparison,” he said. “It’s as different as night and day. I do have eBenefits and My HealtheVet. But it’s nothing like sitting face to face (across from) somebody) who listens to you, will specifically investigate your concerns and actively investigate it. It’s wonderful.

“(This has) been going on for five, almost six years, and you get a little discouraged. It’s easy to get depressed … especially when you relive some of the things that got you there. To go and sit down with somebody and state your case and have them actually look you in the eye, take notes, and then investigate it and give you positive response back … it’s uplifting, it’s rewarding and it’s wonderful.”

More than a dozen VA staffers were on hand at the center. One of them was Kristina Hamilton, assistant division manager at VA’s Regional Office in Winston-Salem, N.C.

“I personally, as a veteran, love the fact that I can come and sit down and be able to help a veteran – even if to be able to provide a status,” said Hamilton, who spent seven and a half years in the U.S. Marines. “It’s just key to what we do.”

The idea for the VBACs came out of the Legion’s Veterans Crisis Command Center in Fayetteville, N.C., last summer. Crystal Renee Saunders, assistant department service officer and adjutant of Post 202 in Fayetteville, saw first-hand the effects that center had on area veterans and has been a part of all three of her department’s VBACs – paying her own travel expenses to attend all three.

“If we can assist one veteran, if I can assist one veteran, that makes me so proud,” Saunders said. “You don’t understand what it does to me to help somebody that needs help. That’s why I travel and do this on my accord. I want to assist. I want to help.”

Department of North Carolina Service Officer Cajun Comeau, who has organized all three department VBACs, said it’s important to provide top-notch service at the centers. “First, this is about the veterans,” he said. “Second, it’s about representing our department well and (representing) the national American Legion. Our (emblem) is all over this event, and people all over the state of North Carolina know it.

“I think you can see that not only are we promoting The American Legion, not only are we positively affecting many, many people throughout the state of North Carolina that otherwise would not be touched, but we are also gaining reputation with civic and government organizations that now recognize The American Legion as carrying the torch when it comes to veterans benefits, health care and other issues within this state.”

The center is open until 5 p.m. today and from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday.