Herseth for Congress

Vets tell of tough transitions
By Kevin Woster, Journal Staff Writer
June 20, 2006

RAPID CITY -- During her four years in the U.S. Air Force, Capt. Chennel McClung has learned a lot about serving her country.

But she didn't learn much - until lately - about serving herself beyond the military life. And that's a chore that can prove difficult for armed services personnel who have had little, if any, job experience before joining the military, she said.

"The biggest challenge is, a lot of us have never had another job, have never needed to apply for another job," said McClung, who testified Monday to members of a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on veterans' affairs. "Trying to do interviews and resumes and fill out applications for jobs is a new thing for me."

The House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, which includes U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., had a hearing Monday at Ellsworth Air Force Base to take testimony on ways to smooth the transition from military to private life. It also sought advice on how to make educational benefits more equitable to members of the armed services, including the National Guard and reserves.

Herseth, a ranking member on the subcommittee, and Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark., chairman of the subcommittee, listened to testimony Monday from military personnel, representatives of state and federal veterans agencies and others with experience serving military people during and after their service years. The fact-finding process, which included an earlier hearing in Boozman's home state, is aimed at improving programs and services available to active-duty military and veterans, Herseth said.

Key areas are programs assisting with the transition to private life and educational assistance for veterans, she said.

"We need to make the services more accessible," Herseth said. "And we need to modernize the Montgomery G.I bill so it's more equitable to the veterans who need that educational assistance."

Those aren't things that McClung will have to worry about right away. But somewhere in the future, she'll have to adjust to life beyond the regimented and, for many, comfortable world of the military. Members of the subcommittee came to Ellsworth Monday to gather ideas on how to make that transition easier.

Military personnel who testified told stories of not being adequately informed of their benefits packages or receiving faulty advice from military advisers on what benefits they might need later in life. But they also spoke of valuable training programs sponsored by the military and the U.S. Department of Labor as part of the Transitional Assistance Program and the need to attract more military personnel to the training.

McClung, whose only employment before the Air Force was a summer job at a shopping mall, said TAP offered the kind of information that she needed to prepare her for separation from the service sometime in the future. But it should also be available to military spouses, who sometimes are uninformed about services that are unwisely rejected by their spouse in the military, she said.

"I see so many widows coming in to speak to casualty-assistance representatives after a spouse has died - and he had denied full benefits," she said. "If they had known, they wouldn't have let their husbands do that."

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com

Paid for by Herseth for Congress