Following Veterans Day, one veteran services organization is urging the public to continue its support of the military community year-round.
“DAV [Disabled American Veterans] is working to ensure all veterans get the benefits they need and earned,” said combat-disabled U.S. Air Force veteran Naomi Mathis, who now serves as the DAV’s associate national legislative director.
With nearly 1,300 chapters and 1 million members across the country, the nonprofit provides a national support network for veterans and their families. Mathis said DAV also supports America’s disabled veterans in positive, life-changing ways by helping them access Department of Veterans Affairs benefits they earned, like health care, education, and disability.
“You might even have a surviving family member who might not know what benefits they are entitled to,” she said.
With a strong presence on Capitol Hill, she added that DAV was instrumental in getting the PACT ACT, which expanded VA health care and benefits to all veterans exposed to toxins while serving in the military, which was signed into law in August.
Mathis served in the Air Force from 2000 to 2007 as a battle management operations specialist. She deployed in 2003 with the 728th Air Combat Squadron to Baghdad, Iraq, and attained the rank of staff sergeant before being medically retired. Mathis began her DAV career in 2007.
Related
Mathis noted that women are the fastest-growing population within the veteran community but are often not seen as having served.
“That is doing a disservice to someone that has raised their right hand and sacrificed for the country,” she said.
Related
Mathis shined a spotlight on military caregivers, who often put their lives on hold to care for an injured or ill service member. She also urged the public – those who have served in the nation’s armed services and those who have not served – to keep veterans at the forefront of their minds.
More on DAV can be found on their website here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.