'We need to get to them now'

For the servicemembers stationed at Joint Task Force Guantanamo in Cuba, the opportunity to get a jump start on filing Department of Veterans Affairs claims isn’t always available. But thanks to another visit to the base by The American Legion Department of Kentucky’s Legion Overseas Deployment (LOD) team, the opportunity presented itself again in September.

A handful of department and post service officers were part of the LOD’s visit to Cuba in mid-September Approximately 40 claims were started for servicemembers getting ready to transition off the base and out of the military – including some when the service officers were delayed for two days on the airport side of the base and decided to offer their claims expertise to the servicemembers stationed in that area.

“The more isolated (a base) is, they’re not going to have the resources and can only do so much,” said Dr. Peter Trzop, the LOD’s team leader. “That’s why The American Legion, through our LOD, can help supplement those efforts.”

After the LOD’s initial visit to Guantanamo in 2015, Tom Justus – the service officer for Post 42 in Bardstown, Ky. – was told many of the servicemembers getting ready to leave the military knew little about potential benefits they may entitled to. So he took part in last April’s return trip, where he said he “helped a lot of people and answered a lot of question. I filed a lot of claims. They invited us back because more people heard about it and want help.”

Justus said he helped file 50 claims during the four-day April visit, leading him to want to return during the LOD’s visit to Guantanamo earlier this month. As important as filing claims, Justus said, is to prepare servicemembers for the transition process.

“You’ve got to tell them to keep their medical records,” he said. “And there’s job placement they can get help from. There’s education benefits, home loans, business loans. They didn’t know about business loans. That shocked a lot of them.”

Department of Kentucky Service Officer Randall Fisher also was a part of the most recent LOD trip. “The VA is really hard to navigate, and that’s the big problem,” said Fisher, who spent 30 years working for VA before retiring as a nurse manager. “You can file on the computer … but they don’t know the things you need to say and then things you need to bring up when they go in for their initial exam.”

Fisher said the more disabilities a veteran claims, the longer the approval process will take. “If you can get to the veteran first, and explain the ins and outs – what he or she needs to do, the medical evidence needed – that's a big help," he said. "If they don’t do that, then it goes into appeals status, and then you’ve got another couple of years. They really get discouraged and frustrated. That’s why we need to get them now.”

Capt. David Culpepper, commander of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, appreciates the Legion’s efforts. “The benefit directly to the military is pretty obvious: coming down here and help folks around base – especially those getting ready to retire – navigate the difficulties of dealing with the VA system,” he said. “’Difficulties’ is a subtle way of putting it.”