Report from Santa Fe; John M. Garcia

Music Report from Santa Fe is made possible in part by a grant from New Mexico Tech on the frontier of science and engineering education. For bachelor's, master's and PhD degrees, New Mexico Tech is the college you've been looking for, 1-800-428-T-E-C-H, and by a grant from the Healy Foundation, Tows, New Mexico. Hello, I'm Lorraine Mills and welcome to report from Santa Fe. Our guest today is John M. Garcia, who is the Director of Cabinet Secretary for the Department of Veteran Services. Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much for joining us. Lorraine, it's always a pleasure to be here with you. Now I want to talk a little about your background because you were a Vietnam vet. And then you have had a lot of time in state government. You were a WD Chief of Staff for Governor King. And then you were a Cabinet Secretary for the Department of Economic Development.

Now we have you as a Cabinet Secretary for Veteran Services. When did Veteran Services become a Cabinet-level post, a department, and what's the difference now? What's exciting, Lorraine, is that when Governor Bill Rootson was running for office, the veterans of the state wanted something bigger, better. They wanted a voice with the Governor. And the Governor promised him he would give them a voice in his Cabinet. And so he took what was the Veteran Services Commission, which you're very familiar with. I was on the Commission for about 12 years. Ernie Mills, your husband, was very involved with us on the Commission. Jean Gilbert, myself, and others served on that Commission. And it was exciting time. The Commission was about a 55-year-old organization that needed to be changed. And so what the Governor did to give the veterans that important voice. He elevated the agency to a Cabinet-level. So he created the New Mexico Department of Veteran Services. And it was voted unanimously by the House and the Senate.

And so in 2003, the Veteran Services Commission was dissolved, it no longer existed, and a new agency was formed, and that was the Department of Veteran Services. And I'm happy and proud to be the first Cabinet Secretary for the Veterans of New Mexico. One thing I do want to point out to you is that New Mexico has a very rich military legacy. That is, you know. Absolutely. But tell her. Well, you know, that legacy goes back hundreds of years, 400 years to the early citizen soldiers. And if you want to get more technical, you know, to the our Native Americans that have lived here, we're always warriors and protected the land. So we're descendants of early citizen soldiers, the territorial days, the Buffalo soldiers that were here. The rough riders came out in New Mexico, many of them, during the territorial days. We were in World War I, World War II. Many of our New Mexicans found frozen hills of Korea. We were number one in drafty percentage, third highest in casualty rate during the Vietnam

war. And most recently with the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, we were the first until Iraq with our stealth fighters out of parliament. So we all have this very rich military legacy. There's not a family in New Mexico that doesn't point with pride of four or five pictures of sons on the walls or their grandfathers that served. You know, my father is an officer in World War II. And I think this is this legacy that's been handed down generation to generation. So New Mexico is always in the forefront, always pays the price. And so it's only natural that we have a capital-level agency. And so what the governor did was something very historic, very unique. And so every time we have a cabinet meeting, every month, the veterans have a voice at that cabinet meeting. I have an opportunity to brief the governor as I did this morning regarding veteran issues, veteran concerns. And so it's on the front burner or veteran issues. And being a cabinet agency, I believe, has made a great tremendous difference for our veterans. One of the things that you've been able to do as the first cabinet secretary is to build bridges to the other agencies and get help for the veterans to build a bridge over to the

health department for health care and for jobs and homelessness and for human services. All these things from cabinet secretary to cabinet secretary, you can say, are people need this? Can you help us? Well, that's working really well. You know, by meeting with the cabinet secretaries, when we have our cabinet meetings and the meetings, the governor pulls us all together, you have an opportunity to bond immediately, to form some strong friendships and also to listen to what they're doing. And then you can see where what they're doing, contine to what some of your needs are. Being a small agency as I am, you know, we've got 44 employees that 20 of them are veteran service officers, all trained, all accredited around the state doing outreach. But I'm able to team up, for example, with all these secretaries of health, the ACN on aging or department tourism or office economic development and combine our resources to provide a greater impact of outreach. One of those examples is the health collaborative that was the governor put together led by secretary

Pam Hyde and other secretaries are involved. Our agency got involved and started talking to the secretaries of health about addressing the issues of PTSD, suicide among veterans, post-match dress syndrome and or traumatic brain injury, TBI, which is a signature injury coming out of a rack. As a result of that, we were able to contract out with Presbyterian medical services in San Debal County to provide additional outreach over and above the VA. So this partnership, it's working and a lot of times when you talk to individuals about veteran issues, everyone says, well, that's the VA's problem. I think what's happened now with this particular administration, it's not just the VA's problem, it's everyone's issue. We all have to be aware of providing the service of needs to those that have served this country to give us the freedoms that we all enjoy today. And I find a wealth of cooperation, a just unprecedented saying, what can we do to help our veterans today? And have we done everything?

No, can more be done, of course. And that's what we're trying to do as much as we can to provide the outreach and service to those veterans and give them the benefits that they've earned and that they deserve. What is the mission of the Veteran Services Department? Well, it's very plain and simple. It's to ensure that the mandates set forth by the federal congressional, our delegations in D.C. as well as the state, that those federal mandates and state mandates of benefits and services are being met and given to our veterans. And so my primary mandate is outreach, to ensure that my veteran who comes home for my rack or Vietnam Veteran or Korean Veteran or World War II veterans are getting their benefits to the fullest extent. And I do run into a lot of veterans who just say, I had never filed, I didn't know I had these benefits coming. Or my World War II veterans that always say, you know, I don't need anything to deserve anything, it was just an honor to serve. And I get that a lot from a lot of veterans. But I also think as a Vietnam Veteran, I want to make sure that my veterans coming home

from Iraq, Afghanistan, don't go through what many of my Vietnam Veterans brothers, sisters, went through when the country didn't even want to look at us, didn't want to give us any of the benefits. And we had to fight for that. And also, I think we're in what's important. Many of the men, women serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, today are the sons and daughters and or grand sons or grand daughters of Vietnam Veterans. So I think there's a national mode saying we are going to make sure they get what they deserve and we're not going to forget them. It was so moving to me when the first Iraqi and Afghani veterans came home, that the Vietnam Veterans in particular stepped up, I remember talking with General Ed Buck about this and saying, honor the warrior, even if you don't like the war, the Vietnam War was unpopular and the warriors were just trashed. Well, you know, that was a lesson that came out of Vietnam as a recall, is that to don't punish the warrior, you know, honor the warrior, you know, you don't have to agree with the war, but let's make sure we don't forget those that are serving when they come back and

that we're there for them. And wasn't at the beginning a kind of body system between Vietnam vets and Iraq and Afghanistan vets, to be sure that the family issues were taken care of, that the benefits were available. Absolutely. And it's still that. I just want to point out, in New Mexico, we've got approximately 200,000 veterans since Operation During Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, which started in 2002, 1.4, 1.5 million men and women have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan since that time, over 800,000 have been discharged in military service. In New Mexico, we've got approximately 26,000 Iraqi Afghanistan veterans who are back or some silver. They're discharged, they're back. And what I don't want to happen to them is they fall back in the woodwork, they don't come out until 30 years later. So we have an aggressive outreach program that we're trying to do to identify them, get them to come out, get them to apply for their benefits. And so my service officers that all trained, all the credit are doing outreach. And we started a program partnering with the New Mexico National Guard and the VA and

other entities. Our program is beyond the yellow ribbon. And we're pushing that and we're kicking it off in Farmington and we'll be going down to Las Cruces and Roswell and other communities. It's a welcome home benefit service convention or conference to make sure that our veterans, including those Iraq Afghanistan veterans, step forward and we try to out a system and get their benefits. And so I think what I really want our audience to understand from this is that you have a staff of officers that are trained in matching the soldier to the benefits. No, absolutely. My service officers are all trained and knowledgeable on VA benefits and how to apply for them. But in order to get them, you have to apply for them. They're all entitled to it. And many wait, you know, two years to 30 years before they apply for it. But I just want to also point out is that we've been recognized, our department, my service officers, our staff for being number one in the country and we're followed within the top five also now, by the National Defense Institute Analysis team that comes, they

go around the country looking to see how states are doing in terms of assisting veterans. And they've ranked as among the top five every time because of the team environment we've created working closely with the VA and the VA regional office and all the veteran service organizations. So I think there's a strong cooperative spirit of teamwork of doing everything we can. And if I don't have all the answers, I know the other guy does, the VA, the regional office, even some of my veteran service officer partnerships, the veteran service groups do. And so there's a strong, I think, cooperative spirit that I'm sensing out there, particularly because what's going on with that rack? You will also read the most recent past president of what's the name of the organization. This is called the National Association State Directors of Veteran Affairs. I was passed a president, which represent all 50 states, five territories, which is 26 million veterans, all of them. You know, we're a nonpartisan kind of group, we're all appointed by our governors.

Many of these individuals are retired admiral's, metal bonnet recipients and others that have been appointed by their governors to run their department of veteran services. So we testify and I had many opportunities testify before Congress and the House Committee of Veteran Affairs and the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs and bringing them up to speed on what the issues and concerns are of our veterans. So it was a great honor to do that. It was a great learning experience. It brought it my horizon, at least to the needs of the veterans that I feel hopefully made me more aware and a more effective secretary of veterans from my veterans here in the state. And is there a lot of difference in the way veterans are treated in different states? There seems to be a common thread, there seems to be a common theme, everyone is doing the best they can to provide outreach. The most important thing, I think, or it's important is that we have taken the stand us in this state, our governor and others around the country for mandatory funding for the VA.

That's across the board issue. The VA does not have its mandatory funding. It is one of the only federal agencies that does not get mandatory funding, a Department of Commerce, Department of Health, all these other federal agencies get mandatory funding except the VA. So we're willing to spend millions of dollars training or send them off to war, but when we come back we don't put enough funding in it. Though the VA, I must say, has gotten a high increase in budgetary dollars, but yet it still doesn't have the mandatory funding that's needed. We have a high increase of young veterans coming home, we have Vietnam veterans, finally for after 30 years, coming out and going to the VA, finding further disability benefits. We've got a lot of Korean veterans who are older too, they're for the first time say, yeah, I'd like to know what do I have coming to me. So as long as there's wars, there's going to be veterans and we've got to make sure that we take care of them and someone always says, well, John, what is going to cost? My answer is, whatever it takes, whatever it takes, we've got to take care of our veterans, not just the veterans, it's the wives, the widows, the children, it's the family.

They suffer along with that veteran. On the other way I can put it in any kind of context, there was an old adage at Ernie knew, it came out of Vietnam, we talked about it. By the way, I don't know if you know Ernie and I, certain same division, same time in Vietnam. But there was this old adage that said, for those who fight for it, freedom has the flavor that protected, we'll never know. And that's very true. And as long as we have men and women willing to raise their hand to defend the constitution of this country and are willing to serve in the front lines and give their life for that, they should be in the front lines of jobs, healthcare, business opportunities, education opportunities when they come home. And I think that's kind of a mandate across the board with all of my counterparts. I see it even from the congressional delegation, I know my governor firmly believes in that. And so he's always saying, John, I want something new, something different. Let's just keep pushing. That's what we do. Well, we're the first state that did the life insurance. Yeah, it's a matter of $250,000 to $400,000, life insurance, for a national guard.

Sure. We're the first state to do it since then, over 30 states have followed suit. New Mexico, as I said, we're very proud to say that we're a trendsetter. We set the pace, I think. And I think it's because of that rich legacy that we've got. And our agency is growing. Our budget is grown. My staff is truly dedicated to serving our vets. And we're out there in the trenches, seeing what we can do to help them. But, you know, I've got at least 15,000 women veterans in the state. Women have a higher percentage of PTSD that make male counterpart for a lot of obvious reasons. And so we're outreaching for them. We have a woman veterans conference coming up in September in Albuquerque and in Los Cruces. We've created a one-stop shop of veteran business resource office. I've got a veteran business coordinator because I just want to say there's a new public law that says if your service is able veteran and you're interested in going into business,

3% of federal contracts are mandated to go to you. What a business opportunity. What a way to create wealth for a veteran and his family. So I need those veterans to call us to help them file for those benefits. And if I can get them in and get them that disability designation, then they go after that service stable, that biz category. So if anyone's listening and I'm sure many of your people are, our number is 827-6300 or check our website, check online or website. So I would encourage everyone to do that. Well, you were talking about the VA, the federal veterans administration. And they've gotten a lot of criticism first for what happened at Walter Reed. And then the case of the barracks, the father who videotaped his son's barracks. But this recent issue, this actually has come to the head just this month about a memo that went out to discourage the diagnosis of PTSD being given that it should be kind of whitewashed a little and put as re-adjustment disorder.

And so how can you, as a state agency, combat these people, PTSD is one thing where the earlier you know about it and the earlier the treatment is, the more successful the treatment will be? Absolutely. To change the, you know, right now, when we came home from Vietnam, I got home in 1970. And I'd go to the VA at eight in the morning. They wouldn't see me until four in the afternoon. This went on for weeks. After a while, you could kind of discourage of that. Well, first let me say the VA is not the same VA as it was when my father came home or when I came home. It has improved. There are people in there that are totally dedicated. In fact, they're all Vietnam veterans in there now. So I can't imagine Vietnam veterans saying, I don't want to help another soldier or anything. So they're doing the best they can with the limited resources that they've got also. But say that we're not going to look at PTSD as that. I think the VA, you know, it was called Shell Shock and World War II. They didn't know what to call it after when Vietnam came and finally about 25, 30 years

ago, they said, hey, let's call this post-traumatic stress syndrome. So we've got to be sure we just throw those initials out, but PTSD stands for post-traumatic stress syndrome. Exactly. And that was like the signature injury that was coming out of Vietnam. It's a psychological injury, a traumatic experience. And they've seen a lot of effects, cause and effects of that. We lost over 58,000 men and women in Vietnam, but over 60,000 committed suicide has got to be a reason for that. And it was PTSD. We've got a lot of young men and women coming home from Iraq. There's a spike in suicides and we're seeing other changes that are very similar to Vietnam. It's PTSD. So to change it and all, I don't think you can. And I think once the VA recognized it, maybe they feel, and I'm trying to be respectful to the VA, cause I work closely with them also. But maybe they feel that, hey, this thing is hemorrhaging, you know, there's too much going on out there. Well, I'm sorry. If you don't want PTSD, the stop wars, that's the only way I can say it. But my job is, we will take these issues when they're presented to us. I will take them before the House Committee of Interferers, Senate Committee of Interferers.

And we will champion the cost for my vets. And, you know, I believe my veterans deserve what they should be getting. And, you know, anytime you're asking someone to defend this country, to defend our border lands, we should be ready to defend them and take care of them and not cut benefits. But take care of them. I had a question because the whole thing about being a warrior is a very macho. I can do it. Nothing can stop me. Sort of mindset. And then how do you reach out to someone to might think it's not so macho to say, I need help. I'm going apart. Well, listen. How do you reach out to someone? Yeah. What happens a lot of times in a person like that, there's a lot of guys I run into that are men and women that feel that, no, I don't want to, I don't want to apply for my benefits or anything. But, you know, who's really pushing that better? It's the wife. It's the wife who stays up late at night, at two in the morning chasing his dragons. It's his children that are seen as a dad, you need some help or mom, you need some help. And finally, it clicks and or a fellow vet will say, you know what, you got to apply. You know, I went and they helped me.

Right. Exactly. That's exactly what happened. Personally, it took me 30 years to apply, to go back to the VA, you know, I didn't go back till 2000, but the only reason I went, I had some vet friends, they came to me, said, you got to apply. And finally, my wife said, hey, if not for you, then go for me. And I don't know why that clicked into my mind, if not for me, then for her. And so I think what I'm saying to my veterans, and if you don't want to go, then go for your family. You owe it to them at least. There are benefits available. The Montgomery GI bill, housing programs, educational scholarships, and if not for them, then for their children, it's available. They've earned it. It's in place. Let's get it to them. But not only that, if I've got a veteran who's come back from Iraq or Vietnam who needs some form of therapy, I need to get him some help. We need to get him into the vet centers, which by the way, do a tremendous job. Get him into the VA for counseling. They're only enhanced their life. Or create some other types of opportunities where they can provide for their families.

Well, this business opportunity is one. And what about the new GI bill that Jim Webb has introduced in that? Well, the governor has gone on record supporting that bill. The new GI bill for the 21st century, I support it. There may be a few little elements in there that probably need to be tweaked a little better. But I do think we need to look at the GI bill for the 21st century. You know, we're a high tech society. We have kids coming home from Iraq, Afghanistan, at, you know, taxing and emailing. It's like it's part of their daily life. You know, when we were in Vietnam, I'd write a letter, it took two months or a month to get home if I was lucky. There's no taxing, no nothing. My father's generation took them four months to get to Europe and back. You know, and they all went to, so every generation has been very different. So I think the new GI bill, 21st century, has got elements in there that will address these urgent needs for these young men and women. You know, keep in mind, we're a volunteer force right now, too. So these are people that are volunteered to serve. And so I think their benefits are very different than what they were when there was a draft

of them on. So I support the GI bill to the 21st century. I think it's got some very good points in there. You mentioned that you have 26,000 Iraqi and Afghani soldiers that are back here. But I want to show this poster that you brought. Yeah, you know, I think this brings, this makes it real. This is what it's about. So tell them what this is. Well, you know, our office put together this. This is a poster that we have in our hallway with the American flag, Mexico flag, a calling attention to these young men and women that have died in Iraq, Afghanistan since 2002. It's in a chronological order to the most current one. I'll be attending his funeral this Friday. So how many New Mexico, there's 52 faces right there. New Mexicans that have, and also have ties to New Mexico. Staff Sergeant Roberts is our most recent casualty of Iraq. I just think this brings it to what it's real, you know, we need to see these faces.

We need to, these people are fighting for the freedoms that we enjoy. And so if you have men and women willing to do that, we must make sure they're taking care of when they come home then, too. Well, some would say that they weren't taking care of very well. Some would say they're sure. And they went with the vehicles and the body armor and not enough boots on the ground. And so do you think the military can be fixed? Well, you know, my job, Secretary of Veteran Affairs, take care of my veterans. That question I would leave it to the politicians and the military. I just think, though, if we're going to send someone off in arms way, we must make sure they are protected and that we do everything we can to protect them and bring them home safely. But once they come home, I think we must also ensure that their families, their injuries, whatever they may be, physically or mentally, that they're addressed and they're taking care of and they become, again, productive citizens. And they should not fall through the cracks and end up homeless. We have over 200,000 homeless vets.

I got 7,000 homeless vets in the state. You know, we must do everything to make sure they don't fall through the cracks. How do you reach out to them? Well, we just keep, that's why we have an Department of Veteran Services and I've got trained service officers and I work closely with our veteran service groups and we try to make people like your listeners aware. And if they have a neighbor down the streets of Vat, ask them. But first of all, I would say before you ask them, thank them for their service. That's the first thing. I think any veteran wants to hear just thank you for your service. Then ask them, have you replied for your benefits? And a lot of them, I've had many say, no, I just didn't think I deserved anything or I didn't think I had anything coming to me. But when you talk to that widower, that child, he says, I wish my dad had filed. And so there's a lot of pride in service to country. There's a camaraderie. There's a brotherhood, sisterhood that's formed and you know, our office, the governor elevating it, I think gives us the tools to do that outreach that's needed. So just, we're almost out of time, but I'd like you to kind of outline the kind of benefits

that are available in case someone listening can kind of think, oh, I can't do that. Well, there's so many to go down, but I just think what I would, first of all, say if you're a veteran out there and you're watching this program, and or if you're not a veteran, you know, a veteran, your brother, your uncle, or your neighbor, I would ask them to please contact the Department of Veteran Services, 827-6300, or check our website. There's a listing of all the benefits that we have available, but there's property tax exemption, $4,000 property tax exemption. Here's the Vietnam Vet Scholarship Fund. We assist them working and get them back into school at the universities once they get discharged. There's a free license plate for the veterans. There's a free hunting and a license plate or fishing, hunting license if they're 100% services disabled, if you're and you've got free park pass, if you're 50% and or above, you have those benefits too. There's a whole gamut of benefits and if there's someone out there, I would say contact our agency, we'll talk about it, and then there may be people out there that have ideas

with thoughts of other benefits that we can introduce as legislation. We've got a very strong cooperative legislative body, the House and Senate, that want to do everything they can for my vets, and we've sensitized them to it. We've made them aware of it. We've got a governor to support that. So I think we're doing everything we can, and as I said earlier, more can be done. There's no doubt. But we're certainly, I think, moving in the right direction, and so it's just an honor being here with you, as you know, Ernie served with me in Vietnam same time for the Infantry Division, and he, you know, he kidded ourselves about that all the time, so I just thank you for your support, which you've done for us and our veterans here in the state of New Mexico. Well, I'm one of those who is honored to do it, and so thank you. Well, thank you, man. Thank you for taking the time for being with us today. Our guest today is John M. Garcia, who is the Cabinet Secretary for the Department of Veterans Services. Thank you for all you did. That's an honor. Thank you, man. Appreciate it. And I'm Lorraine Mills.

I'd like to thank you our audience for being with us today on report from Santa Fe. We'll see you next week. Report from Santa Fe is made possible in part by a grant from New Mexico Tech on the frontier of science and engineering education for bachelor's, master's, and PhD degrees. New Mexico Tech is the college you've been looking for, 1-800-428-T-E-C-H. And by a grant from the Healey Foundation, Tau's New Mexico.