Dear Veteran:

I hope this Veterans Update finds you and your members well and I also hope that everyone had an enjoyable summer. It is hard for me to believe that three months has gone by since I sent you my last update. As always, I have enclosed three information papers...one from each of my Division Directors.

Your Veterans Team at the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs has initiated a number of programs this year as I have noted in prior updates...Veterans entitlement/benefit briefings for our troops returning from Active Duty tours, the DMAVA Veterans Hot Line, the Veterans Mental Health Hotline, and Fundraising for the NJ WWII Memorial just to name a few. Since I last wrote you, we have begun a number of new initiatives and we will begin even more in the coming months.

First, the Governor and the Legislature gave us a significant increase in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) funding. Our PTSD appropriation jumped from $300 thousand annually to $800 thousand annually starting in fiscal year 2006. In order to ensure we are spending this money wisely and ensure that our Veterans are receiving the best care possible, we have put together a PTSD Taskforce. See Bill Devereaux's lead article on the Division of Veterans Programs information paper.

Second, as was reported in the press earlier this year, the average compensation that New Jersey's Veterans recieve is less than the national average. Many of the factors that influence the average are beyond our control. Some of these factors are the number of military retirees that choose New Jersey as their place of retirement and the age of our Veterans. However, there are actions that we can take that can influence the average. Nationally, 10 precent of veterans receive compensation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for service-connected disabilities. Here in New Jersey only 8 percent of our Veterans are receiving similiar compensation. That means that there are 12,000 Veterans in New Jersey who should be receiving compensation from the VA, but whom are not. We need to find these 12,000 New Jersey Veterans.

In that effort, I recently met with the regional director of the Newark office of the VA in hope of addressing this problem. We agreed to work together to ensure that New Jersey Veterans are receiving the VA compensation that they deserve and have earned. One step in this direction is an outreach program. The VA will be targeting veterans across the state through a direct mail campaign and starting in September, DMAVA will be manning a Veterans Team display in malls and similiar venues across the state. I have enclosed a photo of our new display for your review. We hope this is just the first step in a much larger outreach program and we are seeking funds to bring this goal to fruition.

Finally I want to remind everyone that this is an important election year here in New Jersey and I want to strongly urge you to get out and vote! During the last national election, many Veterans did not vote. Your strong turnout this November will show our elected officials that you care and are involved ... and that makes my position all the stronger as I represent you in Trenton and Washington, D.C. So, "BE POWERFUL, BE HEARD, VOTE!"

Again, thank you for your support and hard work on behalf of New Jersey's Veterans!

Attachments:
- Serving Those Who Served flyer (PDF)