National and state leaders of The American Legion gathered at the Trujillo-Sheets Legion Post 28 in downtown Durango on Thursday to talk with local veterans about issues affecting them over doughnuts and strong black coffee.
National Vice Cmdr. Ben Headen, along with Department of Colorado Cmdr. Mike Crowe, Adjutant Jim Taleska and Alternate Executive Committeeman Greg Jackson, came to Durango to visit the local Legion post.
Visits like these, Headen said, allow leaders of the veterans advocacy group to connect one-on-one with veterans from around the country. That, in turn, helps shape the policies the Legion advocates for in Congress.
“We’re ran from the bottom up,” Headen said. “All resolutions, all matters that impact veterans in the communities that they live in start at a local post. That’s the voice we run around and we promote what they want.”
“We have time to go through and talk with those veterans, find out what it is that impacts their lives and what we can do to help them move that forward,” Jackson said.
That grassroots approach has lead to the tailoring of legislation presented to the U.S. House and Senate, such as the Major Richard Star Act.
The bill has yet to pass both houses of Congress, but has bipartisan support and would enable disabled combat veterans forced to retire by injuries before serving 20 years to access their full military retirement pay, according to the Wounded Warrior Project’s website.
“The Richard Star Act is a big push from resolutions that have come up from posts like this to make sure that our veterans aren’t being punished,” Headen said. “As it is, a veteran who’s retired, they get their retirement check. If they have a disability, their retirement check is being offset by their disability. We’re the only federal employees that this happens to.”
Jackson said the post also helps spread awareness of issues like the Richard Star Act through initiatives such as the Lee White Memorial Motorcycle Dice Ride and the veterans’ train ride on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.
Those events also give veterans the opportunity to become members of the Legion, which can connect them with health care, benefits, career and educational resources.
Additionally, Jackson said the Legion provides resources for veterans’ mental health care.
He pulled a poker chip from his pocket with a QR code on one side that directs users to the Legion’s website with veteran suicide prevention resources, as well as 988 then 1 – the phone number for the Veterans Crisis Line.
He gives those chips out to veterans and community members while visiting Legion posts.
“This QR code says, ‘Do you need help?’” Jackson said. “If you scan that, it takes you to the website, and on that website is tools for somebody to help somebody that is having problems. There are also tools on there for the person that is having problems to seek help.”
Crowe said veterans also sometimes face stigma in their communities because of their service. Legion posts host community events, like chili cook-offs, concerts and volunteer opportunities, which serve as ways residents and veterans can come together and see each other as people.
“We are part of the community at the post level,” Crowe said. “We’re part of the community. We’re part of the human race.”
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
