![]() ![]() “A VFW VA-accredited service officer should contact these veterans within a week to have a conversation about what each needs to do,” Gallucci said. It is a simple screening that only requires a veteran to state his or her: To make it easy to find help with a military service-related disability claim, VFW has a website, which creates a simple way for veterans to file claims. “The simplest thing these veterans can do is talk to a VA-accredited veterans service officer about the PACT Act.” “One of the challenges VFW is having is making some veterans, especially Post-9/11 veterans, aware that the PACT Act applies to them, too,” Gallucci said. He said most of those claims are being filed for hypertension. VFW National Veterans Service Director Ryan Gallucci said that, overall, Vietnam War veterans have been the most active in filing PACT Act claims with VFW service officers. “This ensures that we help veterans and family members of veterans.” “We’ll guarantee service is done the right way,” Borland said. ![]() VFW Commander-in-Chief Timothy Borland said one of the best services that the VFW offers is helping veterans file disability claims through VFW’s network of accredited service officers. “The VA has not acknowledged sleep apnea as a presumptive condition, even though studies have shown a connection.” “We see a lot of sleep apnea problems,” Deist said. Cristina is a VA service officer as well and is a veteran of both the Marine Corps and Army.ĭeist, who also served in the Afghanistan War, said claims for respiratory issues also are on the rise. The pair met while serving at Guantanamo Bay. “Vietnam War veterans with hypertension have waited a long time for this.”ĭeist’s wife, Cristina, also is a member of Post 7401 in Chandler. “They were calling all day, every day,” said Deist, who served in 2005 with the Air Force’s 586th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron in the Iraq War. VFW National Legislation Service Associate Director Kristina Keenan speaks in support of the Honoring Our PACT Act at a press conference on July 28, 2022, in Washington, D.C.Deist says that as soon as the PACT Act passed, his office was inundated with communication from veterans, particularly Vietnam War veterans. The commander of VFW Post 7401 in Chandler, Arizona, splits his time between his offices at the VA Regional Office in Phoenix and the VFW Department Headquarters in Tempe. As the VFW Department Service Officer for Arizona since 2018, Deist sees between 15 and 20 veterans in person each week. Kenneth Deist, one of VFW’s more than 2,000 VA-accredited service officers, is now actively working PACT Act claims. The legislation, considered by VFW to be the most significant piece of veterans legislation in history, focuses on providing veterans who served in countries such as Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq expanded access to VA health care and earned disability benefits. ![]() With the Honoring Our PACT Act now law, VFW’s VA-accredited veterans service officers around the world are helping veterans harmed by burn pit fumes or other toxins. ![]()
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