Noteboom The Law Firm

Disabled American Veterans Continues Mission of Helping Transitioning Soldiers

The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization has grown from a pilot program working alongside the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) at Fort Bragg, NC to employing 40 transition officers covering 144 military posts.

The transition officers work with separating disabled service members and educate them about help available to them post-service. For many veterans, the DAV is irreplaceable.

Getting involved with disabled veterans before they separate can make all the difference in the world to someone attempting to adjust to civilian living with a disability. The transition is difficult enough for veterans and their families, and knowing what help is available to them relieves at least part of that difficulty.

DAV transition officers serve many unique functions, such as:

• being involved with pre-discharge briefings;
• reviewing disabled veterans' medical treatment records on request; and
• working with DoD and Department of Labor (DoL) officials throughout the discharge procedure.

One of the DAV's most important functions is to make the veterans' transition as seamless as possible. The DAV does offer some support for disabled veterans with service-related disabilities, but contact should be established before the soldier processes out of the military.

Like the VA, the DAV is beginning to reach out to more rural veterans and offering support. In Its 91 years of existence, the DAV is just as pertinent and applicable today as it is was the day it was founded.