Watertown veterans came together Monday at the Marine Corps League Shutt Detachment to enjoy some breakfast, socialize, and celebrate Veterans Day. Watertown Veterans Services Officer Patrick George hopes to have more such events in town, and spread information about programs and benefits which are available to vets.
Massachusetts recently added to the programs for veterans, George mentioned during his Veterans Day address.
“As the Governor’s (Veterans Day) proclamation mentioned, The HERO Act is a new veterans bill passed by the state recently, and it expands veterans benefits,” George said. “If you are a veteran from Watertown please speak to me, stop by, and ask about any of the updates. If you are from another town, every community has a VSO.”
One addition through the HERO Act is for veterans who work for municipal governments. They have longer to decide whether to participate in a retirement buy back program. They can buy back up to four years, George said.
New employees now have up to 10 years to decide whether to participate, instead of the old system where they had to decide a few months after being hired. Also, all veterans have a year to decide to participate, regardless of when they were hired.
While George is the primary contact for veterans in Watertown, he is trying to expand the network of people knowledgeable about benefits for vets.
“We reached out to some of the other providers in the area: the Council on Aging, the Housing Authority, Springwell, Wayside, a lot of the case management companies and organizations in the area, and we just did a quick training on veterans benefits that exist, and how to get it started,” George said.
One area where the service providers can help is what are known as Presumptive Conditions.
“An example I always use is the Vietnam veteran who has Type 2 Diabetes is eligible for benefits because the VA concluded that anyone who has Type 2 Diabetes and served in Vietnam — because of Agent Orange exposure — they just can’t go through everyone of those cases and argue it. So many veterans have come back with that condition that they acknowledge it. It is called a Presumptive Condition,” George said.
Other groups that qualify for the Presumptive Conditions are exposure to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, and people stationed at the Marine Corps Camp Lejeune because of water contamination there from the 1950s to the 1980s.
George added that veterans may be more comfortable speaking with someone they have worked with before, rather than coming to him if they have never met.
Another effort is to provide more opportunities for veterans to socialize. Watertown will be participating in the Veterans Socials program along with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the VA.
“The VA is trying to do more studies on social isolation and getting people out and combating loneliness. They are tailoring it to the older population, 65 and over,” George said. “So, we are going to host that at the Housing Authority. We know a lot of veterans are living at the Housing Authority, and we are trying to make that as easy as we can for them to show up at those programs.”
Veterans who participate in the VA study will be paid for their time. More information about the study is available by calling Madeleine Kaubrys at 781-879-6587.
Watertown has 1,200 veterans, according to the most recent Census. George said he hopes to reach as many of them as possible.
“It’s not really so much finding the veterans. It is finding the people that know a veteran and ask them to share the information and make sure they know about it,” George said.