After service, veterans are typically entitled to a number of military benefits through the VA. However, many don't actually end up collecting them for one reason or another, and now a new group in California exists specifically to help them in this regard.
In Napa Valley, California, a group called Vet Connect gets together every month to help educate other former service members about the benefits to which they are entitled, according to a report from the Napa Valley Register. This is important work because, of the 11,000 or so veterans in the county, fewer than 1 in 5 are getting any such benefits at all.
"There are things available, probably things they didn't even realize," Larry Jackson, a Vietnam veteran who volunteers his time every month to help out with the event, told the newspaper. "I didn't know anything was available for 30 or 40 years. I didn't think anybody even cared."
The more veterans can do to understand the benefits they should be receiving, the better off they're going to be in terms of dealing with some of the common problems they and others like them may run into.