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OPINION

Skocik and Davis: Meyer urged to back vets affairs secretary

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Dave Skocik is the president of the Delaware Veterans Coalition and the Friends of Delaware Veterans. Paul Davis is the vice president of the coalition and the president of the Delaware council of the Vietnam Veterans of America.

Spotlight Delaware hosted a Jan. 8 public discussion at Delaware State University, allowing organizations and elected officials to provide feedback relating to Gov.-elect Matt Meyer’s top three priorities of education, affordable housing and health care. It also provided an opportunity to hear directly from Mr. Meyer.

A moderator for each of the three hourlong sessions directed submitted questions from the audience.

In the final presentation, Mr. Meyer took the stage and noted that his priorities may include additional focus on other well-intentioned programs. But he also expressed caution about those that continue to grow without consideration of cost or ongoing benefit to taxpayers.

In response to a question about proposed House Bill 1 — requesting the appointment of a secretary of veterans affairs to governors’ cabinets — Mr. Meyer expressed his respect for the few who serve our state and nation in uniform.

He shared about an incident in Iraq during his service as a U.S. State Department senior economic adviser working with military and economic aid leaders. On his way to a conference in a convoy of three armored vehicles, the group stopped to examine a paper bag on the road. He recalled his impatience about the delay, until a 23-year-old U.S. Army bomb expert disarmed a large, buried improvised explosive device, possibly saving Mr. Meyer’s life.

HB 1, a bipartisan bill supported by the Delaware Veterans Coalition and endorsed by the Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs and multiple similar organizations, would allow the governor to appoint a dedicated, experienced former military member to lead the state’s efforts in identifying and addressing the needs of our state’s 70,000 veterans and their families, as opposed to the existing structure that reports to the secretary of state, a nonveteran position that has multiple duties unrelated to those who serve.

The proposed cost of the position will be far outweighed by the millions of federal dollars it will bring to assist honorably discharged military men and women not registered in the Veterans Affairs system to apply for already appropriated, earned federal benefits, including some health care costs currently paid by state taxpayers.

In a discussion about his selection of a secretary of education, Mr. Meyer noted it must be a teacher. The same logic compels the selection of a veteran experienced in state and federal law to address the needs of those who serve. A veteran with proven experience and credentials known for his or her service and dedication to fellow veterans, as well as the status to work directly with state and federal officials, should be considered, as has been done in at least 10 other states. It’s literally a matter of life and death for some waiting for help.

The fewer than one-tenth of a percent of our population who volunteer and qualify to protect us must be acknowledged and valued. Their selfless service guarantees the freedoms we enjoy in this increasingly hostile world.

For those reasons and many more, the Delaware Veterans Coalition urges Mr. Meyer to engage with leaders who have “been there, done that” and understand the needs of those who defend us.

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.

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