By CHAD SELWESKI
Chad.selweski@macombdaily.com; @cbsnewsman
Tuesday, May 21,2013
Dave Denhardt with his assistance dog Tank. (The Macomb Daily/DAVID DALTON)
Dave Denhardt, a former Marine, made a life-changing decision at age 38 to rejoin the military.
The Army National Guard welcomed him with open arms, made him an infantryman and sent him to one of the combat-plagued forward areas in Afghanistan.
Within a year, in April 2012, Denhardt’s base was hit by a rocket attack and he suffered severe head injuries that led to seizures, headaches and dizziness. Thankful to be alive within the “kill zone” of the explosions, Denhardt didn’t immediately realize how many health problems — and bureaucratic problems — he would soon face.
He had been thrust into another war. This time, he would be battling the military red-tape within the bureaucracy of the Army and the Veteran’s Administration.
That’s a war with more than one million casualties.
Medical personnel determined that Denhardt’s condition was permanent and he would need the assistance of a service dog. But then he was told that acquiring a special-needs dog from a nonprofit group associated with the VA would take four to six years. With the help of the VFW and a Muskegon Key Club, the Shelby Township resident in March was able to purchase a service dog from a for-profit agency in Fenton.
That was only the first hurdle cleared by a man who will likely never walk again without assistance.
Denhardt was not discharged, he was sent by the Army to a special unit for the wounded, the Warrior Transition Battalion at Ft. Knox in Kentucky, where he lives in the barracks.
But dogs are not allowed in the barracks. So Denhardt, who relies upon a wheelchair, travels back to his Macomb County home every weekend to become acclimated to his service dog.
“I’m being trained to work with the dog. It’s a bonding issue,” said Denhardt, a member of the Delta Company 237th Support unit based at the Detroit Light Guard Armory.
But the process of winning approval for the service dog has involved numerous approvals at several levels within the Army and VA.
‘I push and I push’
“They’ve got all kinds of excuses on why they don’t want me to have the dog. They say, ‘If you get one, then everybody will want one,’ ” he explained.
Denhardt, now 40, is understandably frustrated because the reasons he needs a service dog are many: injuries to his head, neck and left arm; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; a
The dog, a golden retriever called Tank — a name chosen by Denhardt’s 5-year-old daughter — is trained in assisting people like Denhardt who suffer from PTSD, seizures and nightmares.
Yet, Denhardt is again improvising, seeking his own solutions due to a lack of VA and
Denhardt’s wife is taking a 6-month leave from her job as a nurse so she can help her husband find off-base housing near Ft. Knox and assist him with the transition to a life dependent on Tank on a 24/7 basis.
“Of course, I felt frustration and anger when things were spinning out of control. But I’m a very positive person and I push and I push and I push, trying to make the system work so I get things done,” he said.
In the meantime, Denhardt is pursuing a full-fledged retirement from the military for medical reasons. The average wait for approval: 405 days.
Waiting has become standard military procedure for our nation’s sick and disabled veterans.
The highly publicized backlog of veterans seeking VA benefits presents an average wait of 410 days in the Detroit area.
Yet, Macomb County veterans are fortunate. Macomb is one of the few counties in Michigan that levy a separate property tax, a millage, to help fund its Department of Veterans Affairs.
In 2012, Macomb became one of the first of Michigan’s 83 counties to create a Veterans Court for those facing non-violent criminal charges.
“Macomb did an excellent job in getting the millage passed. (MCVA Director Kermit Harris) and his department — they’re one of the best. So, you guys in Macomb are lucky,” said retired Brig.
Gen. Carol Ann Fausone, who served 8½ years in the No. 2 military post in the Michigan National Guard, as the assistant adjutant general for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
The county department acts as an advocate and a liaison between the veteran and the VA. The staff also helps vets with obtaining certified copies of military discharge papers, and service medals and ribbons.
The millage allowed the department to whittle down a 5-week waiting list to one or two weeks.
The number of service officers/counselors rose from two to five. In 2012, the department provided service to 7,511 vets, a 7.2 percent increase from 2011.
Voters back vets
Macomb County voters first approved the small property tax for veterans services in 2008, reducing a five-week wait to see a service officer or counselor down to one or two weeks. The tax costs the average homeowner $3 to $5 per year but it generates about $1.3 million annually for the department.
When the millage came up for renewal in 2012, veterans groups expressed worries due to an anti-tax furor created by a new millage proposed to fund the Detroit Institute of Arts museum.
Doug Mills, senior vice commander of the Macomb County Council of Veterans Organizations, a coalition of about 50 veterans units, helped organize a successful millage renewal campaign.
“It’s like a brick wall between the vets and that (needed) care,” Mills said at the time. “What these (county) service officers do is help vets get over that wall. They know how to fight, how to do the paperwork and file appeals.”
The department also developed an innovative way to alert local veterans about the services offered in Macomb County. They produced a 30-second public service announcement that will be shown repeatedly at local MJR theaters over the next several weeks.
The video, featuring department staff, will be shown several thousand times during the pre-preview portion of movie-going sessions at a cost of $20,000.
At the Macomb County Veterans Treatment Court, about half of those accepted to appear before the court suffer from PTSD, which often triggers substance abuse. Many others say their addiction started when they abused their war-related pain medication.
Participants go through intense probation in which they initially appear in front of a circuit court judge once a week and attend counseling sessions and Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous meetings multiple times per week. Court appearances gradually decrease to once per month as they progress through the program.
The special court represents just one example of the constant struggle by counselors and service officers associated with the county and veterans groups to educate veterans about the many programs available to them, even if they were not wounded on the battlefield or were discharged decades ago.
Benefits go unclaimed
Perhaps the greatest problem facing officials is the under-the-radar approach taken by veterans of the 1991 Gulf War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many younger former soldiers shun veterans groups such as the VFW or American Legion. Others seek to avoid the stigma of PTSD or emotional problems. They return home eager to turn the page, find a job, raise a family.
Many health issues associated with military service do not crop up until many months or years later.
“The first thing they want to do is go home. When you’re 22 years old, you think you’re immortal. You don’t think about things like veterans benefits,” said John Whitworth, a Macomb County Veterans Affairs counselor and a former 24-year Air Force veteran.
While major medical advances on the battlefield have saved countless lives, they have left the nation with a large contingent of military amputees and veterans suffering from brain injuries. In fact, those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan average 8.5 disabilities per veteran, a rate nearly double that of veterans of earlier eras.
Whitworth was among a group of county and state officials who were disappointed when the attendees at a town hall meeting last week in Sterling Heights on veterans benefits were almost entirely senior citizens. Many of the vets were openly frustrated with slow VA services.
For some, anger with the VA dates back for decades. Ron Navicks, an Air Force veteran of the Korean War era, rose to speak.
But as he did, the Shelby Township resident began thinking about friends and acquaintances who he believes received poor medical care when they returned home from Vietnam. He reflected on existing VA backlogs that are so long that some vets die before they receive their benefits. Though he was discharged from the service 55 years ago, the emotions are still raw.
“The young guys (from Iraq and Afghanistan) are fed up and the reason there’s such a disconnect …” he said, then paused for about 30 seconds as he struggled to fight back tears. “… is because there’s people who just don’t give a sh--. It’s so obvious to see — for the veterans — how we are used and then discarded.”
Some complaints center on the medical care and bureaucracy at the John Dingell Center in Detroit, the primary VA hospital for southeastern Michigan. But officials there point out that they recently opened a new wing — an entire floor — dedicated to mental health services. They also have a program focused solely on assisting homeless veterans.
VA solution
On Wednesday, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki announced that personnel at all 56 regional benefits offices will be put on overtime, through the end of September, to help eliminate the claims backlog. Numerous attempts to speed up applications for benefits have been stymied by the VA’s shaky effort to convert tons of Pentagon paper files into electronic records.
“The increased overtime initiative will provide more veterans with decisions on their claims and will help us achieve our goal of eliminating the claims backlog,” said Shinseki, a retired general, former Army chief of staff and a disabled veteran.
Shinseki said the waiting list will be eliminated in 2015, although there are many doubters.
According to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, or IAVA, the VA backlog recently affected more than one million vets and now stands at 878,000. Some have waited up to three years to resolve their case.
VA officials point out that vets also are to blame, because they often supply incomplete information or fail to provide signatures on all documents submitted. In addition, the expansion of presumptive claims for Vietnam vets has led to a large expansion in benefit applicants.
Nearly four in 10 of those on the backlog list now consist of those who served in Southeast Asia.
At the same time, Michigan lawmakers have been busy pursuing new services or amenities for the state’s veterans.
A bill making its way through the state Senate would allow communities to exempt from property taxes all veterans in their locality who are 100 percent disabled.
Gov. Rick Snyder recently signed a bill that will provide a special designation on veterans’ driver licenses indicating their prior military service. With the special license, veterans can prove their military service without carrying documents, which allows them to easily obtain discounts and offers from retailers, restaurants and hotels.
A bill pending in the House, sponsored by a former Marine, Democratic Rep. David Knezek of Dearborn Heights, would restore tax cuts lost by veterans and others in 2011. Knezek, who said his pay while serving as a lance corporal in Iraq was about $20,000, wants to boost the Earned Income Tax Credit back to its pre-2011 levels. The EITC, which benefits an estimated 12 percent of Michigan military families, provides income tax refunds to the “working poor.”
Michigan has 680,000 veterans, down sharply from one million just 10 years ago due to former soldiers dying or moving out of state because of the lagging state economy. The state has five federal VA hospitals and two state nursing homes for vets.
Figures show that Michigan ranks near the bottom of the 50 states, on a proportional basis, in receipt of the $44.4 billion in VA benefits annually paid directly to vets.
What’s more, state services for veterans face criticism.
A state-run nursing home for veterans in west Michigan was criticized in an internal audit last week for providing substandard care. The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs was cited for failing to supply an on-site psychiatrist since August 2011 at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans. The state auditor general also found that the 430-bed facility lacked proper controls to safeguard food and medical supplies, including pharmaceuticals.
The biggest uphill battle, however, is simply alerting veterans to the compensation to which they are entitled.
Array of assistance
Pension benefits for disabled veterans and vets age 65 or older can be substantial, depending on household income. The Aid and Attendance pension provides up to $1,632 per month, or a maximum of $1,949 for a married couple. A surviving spouse of a deceased veteran can receive a so-called “Widow’s Pension” of up to $1,055 monthly.
Other federal benefits offer health care, education and job training, scholarships, apprenticeships, home loans and tax credits, emergency financial assistance, counseling, home caregivers, mental health treatment, and payment of burial costs. The Michigan Veterans Trust Fund also provides assistance.
Fausone, the retired brigadier general who now runs a company based in Northville, Legal Help For Veterans, said that changes in VA policy mean that anyone who served on the ground in Vietnam is now assumed to have been exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange. In turn, the VA now offers benefits to Vietnam veterans on a “presumptive” basis for maladies such as diabetes, small-sickle cell anemia, heart disease and certain types of lymphoma and leukemia.
“A lot of our veterans don’t even know this is out there for them. Even a 30 percent disability can mean you will get benefits,” said Fausone, who served 34 years in the Air Force and the Air National Guard. Her advice to those who believe they may be eligible for some federal assistance: “Don’t go out there and think you can do this by yourself. It … is not easy navigating the VA.”
Still, some young veterans who distrust the government and have established no connections to local veterans groups rely upon a grassroots network of brothers in arms to provide solace when their ability to function in the homeland society falters.
At the town hall meeting, a co-sponsor of the forum, state Rep. Henry Yanez of Sterling Heights, brought the room to a hush when he explained why one of the presenters scheduled to appear was a no-show.
Eric Cross, a veteran from Armada, had sent out a text that said a colleague and friend, Sgt. Ben Lewis, took his life on May 7.
Cross had served in Kosovo in the late 1990s and came back with cancer and PTSD, Yanez told the crowd. He was dispatched to Afghanistan recently and came back with leukemia and much worse PTSD.
In a post on Facebook, Cross admitted that his past bouts with depression, anger and sadness re-emerged in the wake of Lewis’ suicide. He said he used a sledge hammer to smash to pieces the cement walkway leading to his front door.
But then he offered this advice: “It takes a real man to ask for help.”
The additional online message from Cross that Yanez read to the stunned crowd was this: “To all the veterans that see this, there is hope. We will never be the same as we were before we left, but we need to lean on each other. There is a network of us who will not judge you, who will not turn a blind eye to you -— with open ears and a sympathetic heart.”
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