Vets are helping vets in Carson City

Thomas Kraft considers his civilian life a work in progress. But to the case managers of the Northern Nevada Veterans Resource Center of America, he's been building a success story for himself since arriving in Carson City.

The 58 year-old United States Navy veteran and former submariner had been homeless for about 13 years when he arrived in Carson City last fall from Southern California, where he had lived for much of his civilian life.

Upon his first contact with representatives from the Veterans Resource Center (VRC) in Carson City, Kraft said he was literally sleeping in bushes.

"I came up here with nothing more than a backpack and a sleeping bag," he said.

But Kraft was motivated to start a new life, and he met the case managers at the VRC half way.

VRC Program Specialist Kati Shafer processed Kraft's paperwork quickly, and he was able to obtain his DD-214 Form in a matter of days.

That would not have happened in Southern California, Kraft said, where veterans are often told they must wait 9-18 months to receive their certificate of discharge; otherwise known as the DD-214 Form from the United States Department of Defense.

The discharge certificate is a veteran's ticket to receive veteran-related services.

"Getting that opened up the door to getting an apartment," Kraft said, and the first new bed he'd ever had in his life.

The turn-around time between sleeping on the street and in his own bed was also a matter of only a few days because of the efforts of the VRC, located at 305 N. Carson Street, Suite 201.

"We try to get homeless veterans off the streets as soon as possible," said VRC Site Director Ryan Rogers. "We try to be as observant as possible of a veteran's needs to help him or her be successful."

Rogers said the VRC's focus is securing housing and employment for veterans, and thanks to a supportive network of community partners, they are able to meet a veteran's needs much more quickly than perhaps elsewhere.

"We have an amazing relationship with community partners who have a heart for veterans," Rogers said. "When we find community partners, we want those who have the same heart to serve the veterans that we do."

Rogers said the most notable community partners the VRC works with include Friends In Service Helping (FISH), the Nevada Job Connect office in Carson City, and Carson City Health and Human Services.

Rogers describes the Northern Nevada VRC as a "resource hub" for veterans that relies on the services of other stakeholders in the community to meet the immediate needs of local veterans.

"We're really looking for sustainability," he said about the partnerships forged within the community. "We want the veterans to succeed in life."

Kraft counts "four really good reasons" to succeed in his civilian life: His daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren, all of whom live just a couple short hours away in Sacramento.

For Kraft, being close to his family has meant the world to him.

"It gave me something to live for," he said.

Last fall, Kraft spent the holidays with his family for the first time in 19 years. It had been that long since he'd seen his daughter, and the first time he had ever met his grandchildren, ages 3 and 5.

The VRC helped arrange transportation for Kraft to travel over the hill and visit his family.

Kraft was not only able to secure transportation, housing and employment through the connections of the VRC, but he was also able to obtain his Veterans Administration (VA) services card, establish a bank account, and he received a bank card for the first time in his life, too.

Although the VRC has been there every step of the way with Kraft, Case Manager Frank Zuniga said Kraft still had to be self-motivated to succeed.

"He did a lot of the hard work himself," Zuniga stressed.

Both Rogers and Zuniga agreed that the VRC is more of a tool for veterans who want to help themselves. It's designed for those who need a hand up, and not a hand out.

"They give a lot of moral support, too," Kraft said of the VRC. "They don't have to, but they do."

Rogers described the way in which the VRC reaches veterans is through a bond that those in military service share, regardless of the branch of service.

"There's a level of empathy between veterans that can't be reproduced," he said. "I view the military as a family."

For many veterans, Rogers said, the military may have been the only -- or the most intact -- family unit a service member has ever known. Making the adjustment from military to civilian culture is a challenge for a lot of veterans, he said.

"It's extremely structured in the military," Roger said. "Many of our service members are ill-equipped to re-enter civilian life."

It's all of the little things -- like a bank card and a comfortable bed -- that civilians take for granted, Kraft said, which make the biggest difference for a veteran trying to fit back into his or her community again.

Little by litte, Kraft said he is getting closer to a sense of normalcy, which he defines as having a home, a car, insurance, and a nice new bed to sleep in.

"It's pretty cool to walk down the street and hold my head up," he said. "It helps me find a sense of honor."

Kraft still has to travel either to Reno or Gardnerville for health care services through the VA, a presence that is lacking here in Carson City.

But the Veterans Resource Center at Western Nevada College (WNC) has been working closely with the Sierra Nevada VA Healthcare System in Reno to ensure the program is communicating with local veterans and keeping them plugged into needed services, said WNC Veterans Resource Coordinator and Faculty Advisor Kevin Burns.

"Usually most of the issues (with the VA) are communication based," he said. "We take a very hollistic approach to veterans services up here, and the fact that there isn't a VA presence here (in Carson City) is because of that."

WNC uses a computer inventory program to profile each veteran applicant, Burns said, taking into account their military experience, work experience, education, and vocational interests, to help them become successfully employed in the community and with the appropriate training.

But a veteran doesn't have to be a student at WNC to utilize the services of the campus VRC, Burns said.

"One thing this place was designed to be was a safe place, a safe haven for veterans on campus," he said. "Our motto up here is 'vets helping vets,' and keeping that esprit de corps, the idea of looking out for each other and not leaving anybody behind."

Much like the VRC of America office downtown, the WNC campus VRC is a resource hub that connects veterans with services and service providers in the community. This is also accomplished through successful community partnerships with stakeholders, Burns said.

However, a key focus of the WNC campus VRC is ensuring appropriate connectiveness to the regional VA system and services obtained through that source, Burns said.

"Where we have been most active has been getting veterans hooked up with the VA system in Reno," he said. "We can facilitate talking to the VA."

The VA has a mobile command center that visits Carson City every Wednesday, Burns said, bringing with it services and service providers that veterans would otherwise have to travel to Reno or Gardnerville to see. This includes mental health services facilitated by a counselor specializing in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Burns said, a condition that affects a lot of military veterans.

Burns explained that many of the veterans served through the WNC campus VRC are facing the reality of making decisions on their own for the first time. Student veterans have an even more compounded transition to make from the military world to the civilian world, and then to the academic world, he said.

"For many of these guys and gals, they are having to make many decisions in life for the first time," he said, noting that a lot of veteran service members go right from high school, where they had school and parental structure to make life decisions for them, into the military, a whole other kind of structure where they are told what to do and when to do it by a sergeant or other immediate commander.

"Most veterans don't want a hand-out," Burns said. "But we need to make sure they have skill-sets to succeed. We're just trying to give them a fighting chance."

Burns stressed again that his center accepts veterans regardless of whether they are a WNC student or not, and that the services his office provides are for any veteran.

"Any vet, any time," Burns said. "Just send them our way."