Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
Welcome Home is a Willing Warriors and the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run project. The program highlights activities at the Warrior Retreat and issues impacting all Veterans. For questions or feedback, please email us at podcast@willingwarriors.org.
Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
Protectors of Honor: Insights into the VFW's Veteran Advocacy and the Fight Against Exploitation
Embarking on a mission to unpack the layers of advocacy for veterans' benefits, we've linked up with Ken Wiseman of the VFW. In this stirring session, Ken's insights illuminate the vital role of grassroots movements in crafting policies that resonate with the real challenges veterans face – from the hardships of homelessness to the battles with mental health.
Our conversation turns sharply into the murky waters of claim sharks and the legislative defenses mounted to protect our veterans from predatory practices. Ken educates us on the significance of accredited VA claims assistance and the critical differences between ethical Veteran Service Officers like those with the VFW and those seeking to exploit the system. He applauds the legislative victories while acknowledging the ongoing fight against these deceptive practices, an eye-opening discussion that's both alarming and ultimately hopeful.
As we confront the pressing topic of veteran suicide, the dialogue shifts to the critical strides being made toward accessible mental health care, catalyzed by initiatives like the Compact Act. We recognize the multi-layered factors, including economic pressures, contributing to this crisis and the transformative power of family support in the treatment journey. This episode serves as a tribute and a call to action, championing the VFW's unwavering commitment to supporting our veterans – because when they signed up to serve, it wasn't just for a stint; it was a lifetime pledge.
Good morning. I'm Larry Zilliox, your host Director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run, and this week our guest is Ken Wiseman. He's with the VFW and he's joining me to talk about their 2024 legislative priorities. We've already had the National Commander for the American Legion on. We had a great conversation with him about where they're focused, and so I'm really interested in what the VFW, what their priorities are, because they are really one of the driving forces for veterans on Capitol Hill when it comes to benefits and budgets and everything that has to do with veteran priorities legislatively. So I'm very excited to have him. Ken, welcome to the podcast. I really appreciate you being here.
Ken Wiseman:Well, thank you so much for having us, larry. It's great to be here. I live locally, I live in Manassas, and so when we got the opportunity to come out and speak, it was an easy yes to be able to come out, and I really appreciate you having us.
Larry Zilliox:So tell me about what your duties are with the VFW. What position do you hold?
Ken Wiseman:Yeah. So you know, the nice thing about the Veterans of Foreign Wars is that, obviously, being a multigenerational organization, we tend to bring people in and help them become as involved as they would want to be and as they rise up and take on other titles, it's a great chance to see younger veterans move up and be mentored by veterans of previous generations and then help lead the organization, and I'm one of those. I'm a post 9-11 veteran. I served for 13 years in the United States Navy. I was medically discharged For me.
Ken Wiseman:I started out at the local VFW post, like so many do. I've been a post commander. I've been a state commander for Virginia for the 2018-2019 year. I currently serve as a district commander. I am responsible for 10 VFWs. We have 7,000 members, including the largest VFW, which is in Dale City, virginia. Right, post 10? Post 1503. Oh, 1503. Okay, yeah, yeah.
Ken Wiseman:And at the national level, I represent Virginia as our one member of the National Council of Administration, which sounds fun and fancy. It's like our national board of directors. I'm a pretty snarky guy. I've worked in politics for a long time, so we'll have fun today. But I sit on the National Council of Administration. It's a four-year term and I represent the state of Virginia and it's our governing board of directors and we handle things in between the conventions, the national conventions, which are, as one can imagine, it's the rank-and-file members. You talked about how we do things on Capitol Hill and we're going to have a great discussion today about our priorities, but I want folks to know these are not decided in a vacuum. Average members, rank and file folks from all the VFW posts there's 5,600 of them worldwide they all, per our bylaws, can send delegates if they wanted to come to the convention, and so these are average members in these policies and positions.
Ken Wiseman:They move their way up through the organization, usually starting with just members seeing a need to address a situation Locally Locally, yeah, and they make that connection to the national level. Because I mean, you know, admittedly and I'm going to use this analogy even though it's probably a bit extreme but if you start talking about the extremes in common conversation, you get to address them. You know and I'm going to talk about homeless veterans you can use the same thing for suicide, you can use the same thing for post-traumatic stress disorder. If you bring these major topics out of the shadows and into mainstream conversations, you can start tackling the problems and rank and file VFW, vfw members. When we look at, say, homeless veterans, we have bridges here in Virginia and the veteran living homeless under a bridge in Virginia isn't different than a veteran living homeless under a bridge in another state. It's a national problem. And so we start by finding that, hey, we've got this local issue. But in reality, as you discuss it and you network with others, you find that the problem is a national issue and so that process starts by introducing the resolution and it moves up through our state conventions, our post vote, then our state conventions, then our national conventions. And we do have some policy, as you alluded to in your introduction. We have our team in Washington DC that work at the Washington office. We've got folks who deal specifically with Congress, we've got folks who deal specifically with the Pentagon and the State Department, we've got folks who deal specifically with the VA, so they might find a policy issue to introduce a resolution for two. It's a significant amount of work.
Ken Wiseman:I spent three years working on the VFW staff in DC. I am one of those guys who has testified in front of Congress. I've testified in front of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Four times I've testified in front of the House Blue Dog Caucus once. That was actually a really fun one because it was a hearing of sorts but not of sorts, and so it was much more back and forth, addressing the needs of veterans in rural areas. I was someone who for three and a half years held the accreditation to do a VA claim and I worked for the VFW doing that, and so I've had a number of titles. I jokingly tell people I have more titles than the King of England and, with due respect to King Charles III, I might be able to give him a run for his money. Yeah, it sounds like it.
Larry Zilliox:I recently visited the VFW webpage, which is just loaded with information, and that's vfworg, and front and center are the legislative priorities for 2024. And there's a boatload of them, which just shows our listeners when they go to the webpage, you will see the breadth of the work that's being done. It's just amazing. I've picked out a couple that jumped out at me because they tend to be persistent and they tend to be issues that we see year after year and it just doesn't seem like there's much headway. One that just drives me nuts and I see it all the time because if you're watching TV, these commercials pop up and you see these sharks that are advertising legal services to veterans to make claims under the Marine Corps the Camp Lejeune yeah, the dirty water there, and I guess we're going to see them soon under the Marine Corps. The Camp Lejeune yeah, the dirty water there, and I guess we're going to see him soon around the Air Force's issue in Hawaii with the-.
Ken Wiseman:I'll be totally honest with you I don't think that ends. And I don't think it ends because it has never-. So let's talk a little history here. President Andrew Jackson ordered an audit of all the pensions given to Revolutionary War veterans. Our country was, if you look at a balance sheet, if anybody listening is an accountant you would have loved our balance sheet. During the administration of Andrew Jackson, we had pretty good cash inflow and there were a fair amount of dollars left over and, as even today we would say, you know, a lot of federal money left. Let's push it out back to the people, back to the states. Let's do something positive and of that era. They had started a pension program for Revolutionary War veterans.
Ken Wiseman:Originally, it was lawyers that were the sharks, and they were coming up with all types of documentation to try to say this person's a vet and that person's a vet, and some of these were legitimately veterans who just needed help proving their service, and so they were getting a cut. And then there were the absolute scams, and so I love you for using that term. They are sharks. They're claimed sharks, yeah, just like loan sharks. That's where we get it from. We call them claimed sharks, yeah. And so sadly. The sharks. The history of sharks goes back to Andrew Jackson.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, I hope that at some point there could be some sort of legislation that comes about that puts a limit on what they can do, and the best thing is to get the word out is for you and I to tell our listeners to say, look, you don't need to go through these people to make claims.
Ken Wiseman:No, you don't, and I'm going to be very clear about this. If you are a claim shark, listening, the VFW is your enemy. Yeah, and what you do as a claim shark is already illegal. Yeah, under Title 38 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations is the description for how you become accredited, and there are accredited attorneys who handle typically high-level appeals. Some of them do original claims, so that first bit of paperwork you do, but you don't bill for that. You can't bill for that. You can bill for high-level appeals, just like the legal system in other ways.
Ken Wiseman:There are these levels of courts you have to go through and eventually you get to what's known as the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, the CAVC. It's in downtown DC, for those curious over by the Navy Memorial. The CAVC is a group of judges. They are what are known as Article I judges. They're created by Congress. They're not Article III judges under the purview of the Chief Justice of the United States. They are created to handle the administrative law element that VA's benefits fall under, and so to go stand in front of these folks, you need an attorney, unless you're going to represent yourself pro se, which is individually. We don't ever recommend it. It's a big mistake. It is a big mistake, and what's really nice is that there's federal money to pay these lawyers to represent the veteran otherwise free and so it's considered. If you're familiar with how an indigent claim works in a normal courtroom, there's this money for that too. And so I know plenty of legitimate attorneys and legitimate law firms that they just use the federal money that too and so I know plenty of legitimate attorneys and legitimate law firms that they just use the federal money that exists. And so you also have what are known as claims agents, and claims agents also can become accredited, and then they can bill. Now, what's fun about all that is, their schedule of fees is also approved by VA. They have to go through training. There's ethics requirements, et cetera, et cetera. They are regulated, they can be prosecuted, have to go through training. There's ethics requirements, et cetera, et cetera. They are regulated, they can be prosecuted.
Ken Wiseman:Claim sharks operate outside the law, so it's already illegal. About 16 years ago, really good lobbyists were able to gut the teeth of that law. They took the punishment out, and so it's like saying speeding is still illegal, but there's no way a cop can write you a ticket, and so what we're trying to do is get the GARD Act passed. The GARD Act is currently in Congress in both chambers, and it would return punishment for violating that section of Title 38. Well, the sharks don't like that, obviously, and so they have their own legislation that they're pushing at the federal level.
Ken Wiseman:And, as you are probably well aware, larry, there's this thing in America, in our version of democracy, called federalism. We don't just pass laws at the federal level In Congress, we pass laws at the state level also, and we've had a number of initiatives 30 states that we've been working. We actively worked here in Virginia as well. We actually got a bill that would have strengthened the Consumer Protection Act to ban claim shark activities. We got that through the House 85 to 13, massive bipartisan vote. And then we had a state senator and I'm just going to name him because it's on public record His name is Bryce Reeves.
Ken Wiseman:He's a state senator, mostly out of Spotsylvania County. He led an effort to oppose this, and there's a significant amount of concern there because Bryce Reeves is a veteran. The majority of claims sharks you run into are also veterans, and it's sad to see veterans ripping off other vets, taking advantage of people. 100% they are, 100% they are, and so Bryce Reeves is the defender of claims sharks. He is someone who supports people that want to rip off veterans, and he killed the bill in the Senate, and so we're back to working in some other ways. Maine recently passed their law. New Jersey passed their law. Claim sharks are being sued in North Carolina. Claim sharks are being sued by the attorney general of Texas. Claim sharks lost a federal lawsuit in New Jersey, which, in turn, upheld the law that New Jersey passed, so the fight is ongoing. We're going to do everything we can to crush these folks.
Larry Zilliox:They need to go and if you have a claim you can reach out to the VFW, to the American Legion, to the DAV. They all have accredited service officers who will assist you at no cost.
Ken Wiseman:That is correct and you know the VFW has been doing VA claims for over 100 years. Last year we helped veterans recover $13 billion in benefits, earned benefits. We feel very strongly. Those benefits are earned through service and you know we also know that there are a number of state partners. I want to recognize the Commonwealth of Virginia's Department of Veteran Services. You can go on the VA's website. The VA does a really good job at showing you who is accredited. There's a nice searchable website that's run by their Office of General Counsel so like, for instance, when I was accredited, you could go find my name, find that it was the VFW that sponsored me. I had an ID number, an OGC ID number. The VFW actually implemented a policy that we require all of our accredited staff to put their ID number, their OGC ID number, into their email signature line. So when you have someone who says that they are accredited by the VFW, you should see their OGC ID number right there in the signature line.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, and actually it is the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Veterans Services who's handling my appeal of my PAC Act claim. Yeah, so not only will they help you with the initial claim, but, in the likely event that you're denied, they'll help you with the appeal.
Ken Wiseman:I would tell you that your likelihood of denial is probably based on from pre-PACT Act. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the VA claims process is not adversarial. You have a diagnosis, you have an event in service that could cause that diagnosis and you have the nexus between the two. It's three simple ingredients. It's simple paperwork. It's more of a yes if than it is a no, because Now I'll tell you, I'm 100% permanent total myself.
Ken Wiseman:It took me 11 claims and three appeals to get there. So I fully understand needing to work through the system, having to fight the system, and I've been the guy that does claims. I've had to sit there with a veteran saying you have the right to file, but I'm pretty confident this isn't going to come through, and you know. So I do understand firsthand from people who say you know I'm concerned about this PACT Act and where it goes. You know what the VFW is concerned about it too. That's why we stay on Capitol Hill, that's why we're monitoring this stuff, yeah, and so we feel very strongly about where the PACT Act is going to go. It was a huge step forward for burn pits, for Agent Orange, for radiation mean.
Larry Zilliox:They're overwhelmed for sure, because there were a tremendous amount of claims that just came forward once it passed right away.
Ken Wiseman:It will. You're going to see more initial claims. You'll also see a number of previously denied, because they were denied under the old law, what the law said, and so you'll see the appeals come forward. I think that Now it's a presumptive condition, right, you have the presumptive conditions and I really want to thank the. We talked a little bit about the dirty water at Camp Lejeune, all of those cases.
Ken Wiseman:If you decide to file a VA claim, you go the same route we're all used to. But if you decide to take it to court, all of those lawsuits were remanded to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina and the judges of that federal court have started to crank down on the Navy and the Marine Corps saying you know the law does allow you to make settlements. If the lawsuit comes forward, you can contact the veteran and work out a settlement. You're not. Why aren't you working out settlements? You're not even trying, and so they're really cranking down on just making the Navy and the Marine Corps use all of the options that they have under the PACT Act to try to process this forward.
Ken Wiseman:I think it's you know, typically, I think what you're seeing there is that the court is going to be sympathetic to what they're hearing and seeing, because the law is pretty straightforward. You're supposed to be granting these things, and what's really nice about the I think you'll see in the news here in Virginia. For those of you who live in Virginia, you may not know, but the Eastern District of North Carolina's District Court, the court of appeals that they go under, is out of Richmond, and so you're probably going to hear and see a number of pretty active cases potentially related to the PAC that come through Richmond on their way to the Supreme Court God, I hope that's not necessary, but potentially there too. So if you read the Richmond Times dispatch, like I do, it's going to be busy, you'll see them right.
Larry Zilliox:One of the other things that jumped out at me was and a lot of veterans who aren't retirees don't really understand what the issue is but has to do with the military retirement pay and VA disability claim offset Concurrent receipt, yeah.
Ken Wiseman:Yeah, so concurrent receipt was created by Congress as a money-saving gimmick. Listen, I'll answer any question you got, but the sad truth is that you're not always going to like some of the answers. I mean, the VFW doesn't like that. That's why you see our position wanting a full repeal of concurrent receipt. They are different benefits earned for different reasons. I mean, one of them you do 20 plus years, you retire. The other, you have an illness or injury from service that causes you to be rated by the Department of Veterans Affairs. They're not even from the same federal agency, right? I mean there's a lot to this that just doesn't make sense and it comes from Congress wanting to offset costs, and so the VFW has been long committed to that.
Ken Wiseman:I think that's another reason why we've got to be really careful about claims and appeals being handled, because of the false promises that claim sharks present. It's so crazy to listen to them. They say that they need to be legal because they will help veterans get their claims into a system that's overwhelmed with claims. Now here's a little background for you. Only VA processes claims, so sharks aren't in the room processing your claim. They consult and advise and help you prepare your claim and you turn it in and you pay them, but all they're doing is creating more in the system. And I think when you start talking about a veteran and we'll use a veteran that's say 40% right, they're right there on that cusp, right. And so as much as we want to change the law, I think we also have threats under the current law, because you're going to have those veterans who are right at 40% and then the shark comes along and says hey, why don't we just get you to 50?
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, and a lot of things they promise. They make it seem as though, because they're handling it, you're going to go to the front of the line. Yeah, and it's just not the case. That's crazy. Once they're done with you, your claim is going to be processed like everybody else's, like everyone else, and no one in the VA is going to know that it started as a legal case. Really no, I mean, they're just going to see your claim, your medical records, and it'll be handled internally the same way everybody else.
Ken Wiseman:Unless they take the time to look at your mailing address, they may not even know what state it's from, because the VA has these regional offices, like Virginia's regional office isn't Roanoke. If the Roanoke regional office gets too busy, they actually will shift some of those claims to a regional office that's got a lower caseload at that time. And that ability to move claims around actually is what's one of the many things that's helped bring down the time it takes to process a claim. And I'll tell you, I've worked inside the system changing laws. I've worked inside the system changing laws. I've worked inside the system implementing laws. I've seen the full circle.
Ken Wiseman:Va wants to be better and I think that in a number of ways they do try. You know, if you look again back to the PACT Act, there were some things that they implemented way ahead of schedule the ability to file for on some of these presumptive conditions, et cetera. And I think that you know, as time moves on, we get better, and so there is no way let me be very clear, there is no way to magically move to the head of the line or to be guaranteed some percentage. It's really not.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, again you don't need to deal with these people.
Ken Wiseman:You don't. And I think that veterans are frustrated sometimes with the with it. I think sometimes they hear these these great speeches. You know, I try to be just direct when I talk to veterans about it. I don't, I don't, I don't know. I can sell water to the ocean. I'm that good of a public speaker to toot my own horn, but I don't believe that you should get up and bamboozle people, and that's what this really is. It's just, mark, I'll tell you what this really is. This is the next iteration of the used car salesman outside the front gate. We have the base who said oh yeah, you know, 2% interest today and 47% interest next month, and that's what it is. And so these, these hooligans, these claim sharks um, they're, we just got to. And it's a game of whack-a-mole Again. They've been around since Andrew Jackson, so we're still whacking the mole.
Larry Zilliox:And I think the formula to deal with this could be very similar to the way states have been dealing with payday loans, as it affects active duty soldiers and these payday loan services that pop up around installations there have been some states that have been very successful.
Ken Wiseman:They have actually. I'll brag about one, and he's a VFW member. He's an Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel. His name is Delegate Dan Helmer. Delegate Helmer represents a portion of Fairfax County. He is the one here in Virginia who capped the fees that these payday lenders and these loan sharks can put out, and, if you notice, we have far less these days than what we used to have. And so, no, I used to be the VFW's lobbyist here in Virginia as well, and I remember when Delegate Helmer did that and it was a great thing it curtailed. Obviously, we just need to put the teeth back into the law that exists. So we need to pass the GUARD Act G-U-A-R-D and we can do that.
Larry Zilliox:So the next thing that I really wanted to talk about, it's a struggle for a lot of veterans and that's veteran suicide. So we're looking at, depending on the numbers and the source, the VA will put it at about 16.8. It'll call it 17 a day. Veterans commit suicide. When you look at the recent study by America's Warrior I think it's a project they put it at 24. And either way it's way too many it is. So I'm glad to see that it's a priority for you all. I think it comes down to money and I think the Compact Act was a really great step in the right direction to say if you're having an emergency, a mental health emergency, you can go anywhere any practitioner, any hospital, any emergency room, any doctor and the VA will pay for it.
Ken Wiseman:Yeah, the VFW definitely supports that access of care. We think that. And what it's funny when you start peeling this issue back. It's easy to get on a microphone and say that one suicide a day is too many and then walk away and people say, oh, that's nice, they oppose veteran suicide, they want to stop it. But what did you do? Because if you go and you peel this thing back like the onion that it is, it's got many layers and it stinks you find out that, okay, va is going to give more mental health care, but you still got to go to your primary care provider to get a referral to go to a specialty care provider that's for mental. No, no, no, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. So now a VA and this is one of the things that the VFW champion was self-scheduling, no referral necessary. You want to go to VA and see a mental health provider. Go to VA and see a mental health provider. And what's nice is you don't even have to go to a full-size clinic or a hospital, excuse me, there's plenty of clinics that have a social worker with mental health training that can provide the assistance. You can go to the emergency room, you can go to the emergency provider. You can go out in town. You can get the mental health care you need, and to all my friends out there, you need to go and do it.
Ken Wiseman:I've used the earliest version of what we now know as the veteran crisis line. There was an early line, early phone number you could use when I was in the Navy I was a young sailor I used it. I called when times get tough, you need someone to talk to, and I'd be the first to tell you go talk to somebody. I deal with my own depression and my own anxiety, and we all need to deal with it. It's just something you'll have to live with your entire life, so use the resources that are there. The VFW kept peeling that back, though, and what we found is that, in a number of the investigations after the suicide happened, we saw a number of economic issues happen, and so we know that if veterans are unemployed, we know that veterans lose their house.
Ken Wiseman:We know that if veterans don't have steady income, it's going to increase the likelihood of them considering suicide and attempting suicide, and so there are a number of things like, for instance, when you file your VA claim now you can get a partial decision Instead of having to wait for everything to be adjudicated and come back. You can get a partial decision. They give you a percentage, they get you into the system. If that percentage is 10% or more, you start getting your monthly check. That percentage in turn could help you get hiring preference. Here in Virginia we have veterans hiring preference, veterans hiring preference of the federal government as well, and so let's just get them in the system and then you finish adjudicating the claim, you catch up any back pay and the veteran moves on and that carries on as well. So if, like, for instance, you use the VA's home loan program but you have a pending VA claim, there is a processing fee in the VA home loan program. If you are not 10% or more VA rated, let's say, your claim comes back. You get that 10% rating. Va refunds your money, and so all of these economic aspects have to be woven into it too.
Ken Wiseman:The VFW also supports if you want your family involved, you should have your family involved. If you need your spouse, your partner, your caretaker in the room while you're talking to that doctor, they should be in the room too. It's all these barriers and all these borders. You got to peel this whole thing back and you just got to say whatever it is, change it so that we stop these suicides. It's not going to happen overnight.
Ken Wiseman:Sadly, suicide is not new at all. Ptsd is something that we used to call a number of other things Shell shock, shell shock, soldier's grief, and a number of things. I mean we've moved forward where we recognize that it's not just PTSD. There's depression, there's anxiety, there's a number of mental health conditions that you can be rated for at the VA. We've really moved forward to separate better, characterize and categorize things so that better health options are available. It's a continuing thing. I think it's a moving target.
Ken Wiseman:The vfw adopts an all of the above approach and I think that, fundamentally, the only thing that's really gonna stop this is we really have to end the stigma, not just for ourself, but for our buddies. Um, I, I will tell you that I I really do think that the, the buddy and and being there with your buddies, that to me, is going to be a huge game changer. Um, because when you and and again, my depression, my anxiety, when I start getting into that, that darkness, and I just shut myself off and it's my buddies who dragged me out of it, and so I think that we can have all the government programs we have in the world, but you had my back when we were in the military. I need you to have my back now, and that's a profound thing.
Larry Zilliox:So it is a problem in that, like you say, it's an onion, but there's so much more to it.
Larry Zilliox:The suicide is really the solution that a desperate person comes up with and very often it's because they just want the pain to stop, and whether that's because of the anxiety around divorces, but losing your job, with PTS, tbi, all those things that go into that cauldron of darkness that can consume the veteran.
Larry Zilliox:It really is, like you say, up to everybody, every veteran, thinking about their buddies and the people they served with and reaching out to them. We've developed a program here called Operation Save the Number and it's a trifold brochure that's available on our webpage and it talks about the issue of veteran suicide. But it has step-by-step directions on each side of that brochure on how to save the new 988, plus one number in an Android phone, in an iPhone, and it basically says save this number in your buddy's phone and tell them that if they're having a bad day, to call you, but if they can't get hold of you, to dial this number, because I think anytime we can put a pause in that process, that the likelihood of them going through with it is going to pause in that process the likelihood of them going through with it is going to dramatically drop.
Ken Wiseman:Yeah, you know it is. It's that community resource. I love when people tell me that they made it in the world by themselves. You don't make anything in this world. You can't make a ham sandwich by yourself, because some farmer grew the crop that became the bread and some baker made the bread and some butcher made the ham and da da, da, da, da, da, da da, you have a ham sandwich. And so, in that same thread, veterans are not alone. You have the people you served with. Get involved in your local veterans community.
Ken Wiseman:Join the VFW, the American Legion. You know people ask me, you know there's so many. Which one do I belong to? Well, obviously, some of them you may or may not be eligible for I don't have a purple heart, I don't have the medal of honor, so I'm not going to join those associations, obviously. But I think that there are plenty of options and opportunities. I would also encourage veterans to consider the auxiliaries of these associations. The VFW Auxiliary is our family members. They do amazing work, including suicide prevention, and we've got a number of veterans who are not VFW eligible but are joining the auxiliary. In fact. So a few years back, the VFW Auxiliaries became gender neutral, and so instead of having a ladies auxiliary and a men's auxiliary, we have one big auxiliary and they're doing great things, and the very first man to move up and be the state president of the auxiliary was a Navy veteran. And so you know, if you're somewhere and there's a veterans organization or it's auxiliary that you can qualify for, get involved, become part of that tribe.
Larry Zilliox:You know, our longtime listeners have heard me say this a hundred times and I'm going to say it again for those new listeners Look, if you're a veteran, you need to join a veteran service organization the VFW, the American Legion, the DAV. I know you may not want to go down to the local post and listen to some old veterans who are deaf scream stories at each other. You don't have to do that. You don't ever have to set foot in the post. What you are paying your dues for is what we've been talking about all along. It's because every time you turn on the TV and you see something on the news about a veteran issue before Congress, it's the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Iraqi, afghanistan veterans. They're there testifying. Those are the people that are getting you your benefits. They are the ones that got the Compact Act and the Pact Act and hopefully, the Guard Act soon. That's what you pay your dues for.
Larry Zilliox:So if you're not a member of one of these organizations, join, pay your dues, help support the work that they do, because they're working on your behalf and I just really think all veterans should be part of it. Plus, there's plenty for you to do as a veteran. When you're a member of that organization, you can volunteer. They're doing blood drives. They're doing a food insecurity we are gathering food. They're doing projects which you can be part of, because the more isolated that veteran is, the higher the chances that they're going to have the kind of issues that are going to lead them to a dark place where they're someday going to think of making a permanent solution to a temporary problem, and we just don't want that. So, if you're listening to me, go to the webpage vfworg and find a local post and think about joining.
Ken Wiseman:And I'll tell you, larry, I put a post out on LinkedIn. I'm on LinkedIn. You can find me on LinkedIn encouraging people to join and I've had people reaching out. How do I join? So I'm helping people find local VFW posts. Over 50,000 people now this morning over 50,000 have seen it.
Ken Wiseman:You don't actually have to have a VFW post near you. We have what's called at-large membership. You can go be a member of the organization, get your magazine, get your weekly legislative update, all that fun stuff. Come join us, be at large. If you want to start a post near you, we can do that. It takes 25 veterans. It's going to take 25 veterans who are eligible to be members, and you know. If you're not eligible I want to be clear about this too If you're not eligible, but you need help with your VA claim, we still do VA claims for anybody member or not eligible or not Cassius will do your claim. But yes, absolutely Join whatever veterans organization you can and if one is not near you, go start another chapter.
Ken Wiseman:That's another thing that gets me about our community is that for all of the and I'm going to talk about my own generation here we have all these organizations that are doing good work and they fill a niche here and they fill a niche there. But then I hear these veterans tell me well, there's nothing in my area. Well, brother, sister, you need to flip over a few other rocks because they're probably there. And if they're not, if they're truly not there, then go look in the mirror, show a little initiative. Reach out to your local VFW state headquarters, american Legion state headquarters, whichever group we're talking about here, and talk about forming a new VFW post. I mean, we've got one just down the street from us here in Haymarket, virginia, and it was.
Ken Wiseman:We did a little bit of data analysis. I found there were 300 unpaid members. They had let their dues lapse in the area 300. And it was a donut hole. We got Leesburg North, manassas East, you got Warrington West, you got some stuff South, but here's this massive growth rate in generic population. Western Prince William County is exploding and then you've got no VFW post, just still donut.
Ken Wiseman:Typically it takes about six, eight, maybe 10 months to start a VFW post. We were starting to finish swearing them in at five months. Wow yeah, we mailed in 45 applications to get the charter and national headquarters told me, Ken, that's huge. And for those wondering no, veterans groups are not dying. They're not dying. We are seeing a shift, because we're seeing a shift in population, yeah, so like we're opening more in Hampton Roads, in the Richmond area, in Northern Virginia and, yes, some in Southwest Virginia are consolidating because people are moving, yeah, but writ large. We're growing. We are on path to have another growth year this year. The VFW grew last year. So this theory that oh, there's none here, I don't know how to get one, they're dying, that's all false.
Larry Zilliox:Well, Prince William County alone has over 55,000 veterans.
Ken Wiseman:Loudoun County has one of the highest population growth rates in the country, according to the 2020 census.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, I mean this area is just booming. Yeah, I mean this area is just booming, it really is. Which is another sticking point for me is that it's a desert out here when it comes to VA facilities. Actually, let me tell you about that?
Ken Wiseman:Let me tell you about that. We wanted to realign. We wanted to. The VA proposed a realignment of assets and was going to put facilities to better mirror where the population is, and Congress killed it because of lobbyists. Yeah, and it wasn't just about the building, it was also about the services. So some towns were going to keep their building but get more services under the roof. Yeah, not care in the community, which we support. If you're short services under the roof of the VA, find a doctor in the local community, which, by the way, we're short doctors in this whole country and so it's hard. So whatever tool you can bring together. So some communities were just going to get more services under the roof and lobbyists killed it.
Larry Zilliox:Well, for us here, it's about time and travel. Sure, you know, I go to the VA hospital in Martinsburg, which is three times farther than me going to DC, but it takes the same amount of time because of traffic, and it's a prettier drive.
Ken Wiseman:I go to Roanoke, virginia. I travel three and a half hours to the hospital. I travel two hours to the clinic and I want to be very clear, if Secretary McDonough is listening. I go because I love my doctors. I have a nurse and a phlebotomist who are veterans. I have amazing healthcare with Dr Vasadeva, who is my specialist that I see in Roanoke. So I travel by choice and that's the nice thing with VA. If you find that hospital you want to go to, you can go, you can get your services Absolutely.
Ken Wiseman:Yeah, which that I really do hope Secretary McDonough's listening.
Larry Zilliox:Well, I've started to hear rumors that they are looking at putting up a box here in Manassas and Fredericksburg as well.
Ken Wiseman:So Fredericksburg is getting a second. Yeah, and Fredericksburg as well. So Fredericksburg is getting a second yeah. The CLOC it's just insane down there how many veterans that they treat and they're going to get one of those that's again going to have more robust inpatient or, excuse me, outpatient care opportunities. And so if you're in Northern Virginia also, if you're in Hampton Roads, there's one, the same model that they just put down in Hampton Roads in Chesapeake. And it was crazy because when they came out, va was like, listen, we want to do that, we want to put one in.
Ken Wiseman:And at the time it was Virginia was getting Fredericksburg and Chesapeake. They said but we need help changing the law because currently Congress mandates all the money of a lease has to be in hand on day one. And Congressman or, excuse me, senator Warner and Senator Kaine were like wait a minute, we don't pay for any other contract like that. Va was forced to have this rule you sign a 40-year lease, you got 40 years of money up front. That's insane. No one pays their mortgage that way. If I showed up with all $350,000, actually, let me use a real number in Western Prince William County If I showed up with $1 million for a $1 million house, I wouldn't even get a mortgage. I'd just pay you the cash. Yeah right, I'd give you this duffel bag and we'd move on. It makes no sense, no sense. And so we got that changed to where VA doesn't have to have all the money up front. Yeah, that's good.
Larry Zilliox:VA doesn't have to have all the money up front. Yeah, that's good. Well, listen, Ken, I really appreciate you taking the time to come out and join us here at the Warrior Retreat and it's just been so interesting and I know our listeners really appreciate it. It's great to hear what the organizations that we see when we see their representative before Congress, what they're really focusing on and what's the background and how the policy is developed and to give us that kind of behind the scenes look. So I really appreciate you coming out and joining us.
Ken Wiseman:Well, thank you so much. Yeah, and again, anybody that wants to talk to me, just find me on LinkedIn Ken Wiseman, w-i-s-e-m-a-n. If you want to go learn about the VFW, it's VFWorg. We'll be happy to talk to you. If you need help with a VA claim, you can go under the assistance tab. All of our service officers are there. Again, the accredited ones are there. And for those who need mental health, please get the help you need. And, larry, thank you so much for having us today. Hey, I really appreciate it.
Larry Zilliox:And, by the way, when you're on that webpage, hit that donate button. Hey, tell me about it. Hit that donate button, give them some money. I know you got that money sitting around you could donate. Whatever it is, don't leave that webpage without hitting that donate button. I would totally agree with that. All right, Thanks so much for our listeners. We'll have another episode next Monday morning at 5 am. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can reach us at podcast at willingwarriorsorg. Until then, thanks for listening.
