(Community Matters 180) Vets Affairs Update; 'Wall That Heals' to Return to Battle Creek

We talk with Jack Carlson from the Calhoun County Veterans Affairs Office about what veterans can do when civilian life feels unclear and VA benefits feel buried in paperwork. We break down the real services available locally, from disability claims to emergency help, plus upcoming community resources and major events - including the return of 'The Wall That Heels' to the area.
 

Episode Resources
Calhoun County Veterans Affairs Website

Vet to Vet Veteran Support Group - the last Tuesday of every month at 6:00 PM in Room 2 of the Alano Club in Battle Creek. 

Alano Club of Battle Creek : (269) 660-3288 

1125 W. Territorial Road, Battle Creek 

The Wall That Heals - August 18-23, 2026 at Harper Creek High School

For more information on the event and to volunteer, go to the Wallk That Heals Battle Creek Website .

ABOUT COMMUNITY MATTERS
Former WBCK Morning Show host Richard Piet (2014-2017) returns to host Community Matters, an interview program focused on community leaders and newsmakers in and around Battle Creek. Community Matters is heard Saturdays, 8:00 AM Eastern on WBCK-FM (95.3) and anytime at battlecreekpodcast.com.

Community Matters is sponsored by Lakeview Ford Lincoln and produced by Livemic Communications.

Transcript

Welcome And Where To Listen

Richard Piet 0:02

Thanks for being with us on Community Matters. This is a visit on Saturdays at 95.3 FM. So we're with you hopefully in the eight o'clock hour. Maybe you're uh getting more coffee or tea uh started out and uh taking a breath on a Saturday morning. Glad to be with you during that time. Word Battle Creek Podcast.com anytime you want. And now you can go to your favorite podcast directory and type Calhoun County Community Matters. You'll find us there too. And just click to follow along and then you'll be alerted when these episodes come available. Periodically we check in on matters regarding veterans today. It's Jack Carlson's turn from the Veterans Affairs office in Calhoun County. Hello, Jack. Hello. Great to have you back with us again. This is um an office that I would say, maybe to some extent, sort of operates quietly, and maybe some folks don't necessarily know you're there, or if they do, they might not know some of the more common reasons you're there to help. Give us that overview, Jack.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Yeah, so our office, we are located here in Battle Creek. Uh, we're not over in Marshall with the rest of the uh county government. We're kind of a separate office under community development. We're often confused with the Battle Creek Veteran Medical Center over in Fort Custer. We get a lot of phone calls. We are at the county level. We do kind of fly under the radar a little bit at times, but our office is here for one thing and one thing only, and that is to serve our veterans in the community. We're funded off the uh millage that was voted in a few years back. And yeah, we've got a staff of uh currently three, hopefully to be staffed up to four here soon. Like I said, we are here to to help veterans navigate their way through VA programs that we can help them with directly here in our office.

Richard Piet 1:54

Yeah, so they uh might just be needing some guidance about some aspect of having been a veteran, and uh they're just not sure what to do.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Yeah, often veterans, you know, they separate from service, and there's that time period where you you are confused a little bit. You don't have direction, you don't know who to talk to while in the military. You're either told what to do or you know exactly what to do next. There's an instruction, a policy that tells you right where to go, uh, or you have someone senior to you that you can ask and they can get you right to the people you know. You step out into the uh back into the civilian world, you may or may not have a job, you may be living at home still, you may be getting an apartment trying to get that life going. And then you realize there's things you still need to do with the VA to get certain types of vet benefits that you know you're entitled to as a veteran, or you just have questions. Are you entitled to anything?

Richard Piet 2:47

Sure. And sometimes we just don't know the answer to that. You make a great distinction, too, about what it's like to be in the service and then when you're out. The adjustment is real, isn't it? The idea that you're used to taking orders or uh used to a procedure or a policy, and then life in the uh outside world is uh maybe not so clear.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

No, it's not. It definitely not. And and as a veteran, uh, you know, I was in the Navy for 24 years. Come back home here to Battle Creek, get back into my community, and start my job, the first job I had when I got here at Battle Creek, and all of a sudden, like, where's that clear-cut chain of command? Where's those clear-cut orders? What am I supposed to do? What time do I leave today? Do I have to check in with someone before I leave? I mean, there's all these things that you had. It's it's simple things like that, or stuff like that. We can deal with bigger policies that deal with the VA to help veterans walk through those programs.

Service Connected Compensation Explained

Richard Piet 3:43

And I'm sure you encounter folks who are confused or unsure about something, and it's clear that they're confused and unsure because many of us would be, right? I mean, there's a governmental procedure and maybe some lack of understanding. What is an example of something someone might come to you that they're uncertain about?

SPEAKER_01 4:03

So one of the biggest things we do here is service connected compensation. Somebody who has sustained an injury or some kind of illness through the while they were in service and they they bring it forward with them in their life because it stayed with you, how can they apply for and get that compensation? We hope that normally that starts before they exit service, but sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes things get worse and they need to be increased. So they can come to our office for service connected compensation and questions about that. You get those injuries, they last forever. And as you get older, it doesn't seem to get better, that's for sure. So we're open for that.

Richard Piet 4:40

That makes a lot of sense because uh it may not be clear where to go, what your resources are, and and then what the steps are to avail yourself of that. You already know that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

And it's not a simple form that you fill out and send in and they come back with it. There are forms, there's usually doctors involved, there's usually research involved. We have our our veteran service officers here that can do that research and help put that package together so there's the best chance that it could be approved when it gets set off to the big VA that we can get that result back.

Richard Piet 5:14

And obviously, there's a need for this, or there wouldn't have been a millage and there wouldn't be an office. It's not like you're uh waiting for folks to show up. You have folks coming by, don't you?

Veteran Service Officers And Key Benefits

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Yes, we do. I mean, we've it's been a busy winter all winter long. You know, we should have a revolving door out there instead of a swinging door because it it seems to be pretty steady every day between the phone calls and and and the walk-ins. It's a steady, steady group of people. You know, and here in Battle Creek, we have one of the higher populations in the state of Michigan for veterans. Sure. So it only makes sense that we have this located mostly central to Battle Creek and the Calhoun County in general. It's not just about Battle Creek, but it is the entire county. We want them to know we're here.

Richard Piet 5:55

Yeah, uh, that's a great point. And you mentioned veteran service officers. So when someone comes to the Veterans Affairs office, there are professionals ready to assess the situation that you're asking about, right? You have actually folks ready to help.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yes, we do. So currently we have one very experienced service officer, and then myself, I just got my accreditation this year. It does take a lot of training, uh, but more than anything, it takes time to really understand these programs and go through them repetitively. But our service officers can help you know with the connect service connected compensation, with non-service connected pensions, which are paid to low-income wartime veterans who have certain age and disability criteria. Dependency and indemnity compensation, which is paid to survivors of service members who died on active duty. Again, a lot of red tape, a lot of you know technical things about that you gotta know to get that right. Survivor's pension, which is another thing that we look into, where you pay surviving spouses and their dependence of wartime veterans. Um it's based on financial need, often referred to as aid in attendance, same thing, just a different name that people give it. And then here in Calhoun County, we have uh our own Calhoun County burial benefits. So, you know, when it comes to that time when someone passes away, the county may pay up to$500 for uh burial expenses for veterans and and those who who qualify. We also do veteran grave markers, and we actually did one recently, I think it was down in Pennsylvania for somebody. Oh my god they were Calhoun County resident, but they ended up getting laid to rest out of state. And uh we can do that, we can uh help with home loan certification eligibility. So you hear about the VA home loan, you've got to be certified eligible for it, and we can help get the paperwork together for that, the DD214s and whatever it might take to get people uh set up for that.

Richard Piet 7:51

All right, folks. So if you're a veteran and maybe you've been thinking about some of the aspects of this, and and you're saying to yourself, I don't know if I qualify for this, or I don't know if such and such is available, here's your opportunity to find out. The Veterans Affairs Office at Calhoun County in Battle Creek can help you uh at least answer a question or two, if not help navigate some of this process further. So, as you heard Jack say, this is a resource that you can avail yourself of. And and I know if you're seeing some folks, there's probably more out there who have questions who haven't come forward yet. So don't be shy and do it if uh if you have questions. You probably run into that, Jack Wright, folks who say I don't know, and they are trepidatious about pursuing that. What would you say to them?

SPEAKER_01 8:42

I would say, and that does happen. You hit the nail ahead. We get, you know, I'll run into somebody out in town, I'll have my shirt on, my Calhoun County shirt on, or even if I'm at the American Legion, someone will come. Oh, I don't know if I qualify, I don't know if I should even do this. It should be safe for another veteran. You know, other veterans should should have your time. And I say no, you make the phone call, or you come in down here, you see us, we'll set up an appointment and get you in. I used to say it in the military to the the sailors a word for me. Let's make them say no. You don't know till you ask. If you're not qualified, the simple answer is hey, you're not qualified. But if you are qualified, I'd rather get the process started sooner than later. Yeah, and wait till it's too late or things have gone too far. So, yes. Any veteran with a question where phone call away.

Richard Piet 9:24

I had a boss who used to like to say, ask and you'll get, don't and you won't.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Same thing, right there.

Richard Piet 9:31

Same thing. Yeah, that's right. He'll be glad I'm quoting him still after all these years. You also in the Veterans Affairs office uh sometimes coordinate events or at least are connected somehow to various things in the community that are veterans-centric. Is that right?

Emergency Financial Help For Veterans

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Right. Well, before we go on to that, I do want to touch on uh we do have our emergency financial assistance program here also. We have a limited amount of money for emergent needs for veterans. The big one this winter has been heating costs.

Richard Piet 10:01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Surprise, you know, it's been a cold winter. But if a veteran has an emergent need where they need, you know, a propane fill, they have uh a window get blown out of a house by a tree. Luckily, we haven't had any calls yet from down the Burlington area uh with the tornadoes. Um, but we're here to stand by for that. We have our own fund here in the county, our veteran relief fund. And we also have for wartime veterans, we have the Michigan Veteran Trust Fund that we can apply from here to get monies for emergent needs. If a veteran finds themselves in a situation they can't get out of, we're here to help with that also.

Richard Piet 10:38

Wow, what a tremendous resource. And I would venture to say you may not have had uh some outreach from that particular tornado path because folks just may not know about it. So hopefully this reaches some folks who might need it. Pass the word. This year we've helped about 30 veterans for this work. Okay, of course, home heating situation makes a lot of sense too. It's been cold. All right, now should we talk about the events? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

So first I want to quickly mention, just got this from the Alano Club here in Battle Creek. They are now hosting a vet to vet, a veterans in recovery. It's a support group, of course, no cost. If you're interested in attending, you can contact them at 269-660-3288. It's on the last Tuesday of every month at 6 p.m. in room two, and they are located at 1125 West Territorial Road, right here in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Richard Piet 11:31

Yeah, we'll uh put that info in the show notes too for this episode at Battle Creekpodcast.com if you didn't catch that. We chatted with the Alano Club folks a while back, and uh they were really motivated to try and uh continue, of course, what they're doing, but expand as well. So there's an example. What other things?

The Wall That Heals And Volunteers

SPEAKER_01 11:51

The other big thing this year so far, there's lots of big things, but this is the top of the cake right here. So if you haven't heard, the Red, White, and Blue Foundation of Calhoun County, they are bringing the wall that heals back to Battle Creek, Michigan, back to Calhoun County and the surrounding counties. We want to make sure that everybody knows they're included to come and see this amazing replica of the actual Vietnam Wall in DC. It's a three-quarter replica of the wall. It's huge. It bears all 58,281 men and women that gave the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam. It's going to be here in August, August 18th through the 23rd. It will come from Galesburg. It will be escorted from there, Galesburg Augusta High School, all the way here to Harper Creek High School. The opening ceremony will be on Wednesday after it gets constructed about two o'clock in the afternoon. 1,400 for the military types out there. There'll be a ribbon cutting ceremony about 545. And then uh the big thing, volunteer training. We need volunteers. There are volunteer opportunities left and right for this. We need people to help with registration. We need people to help uh along the wall to help with visitors are coming in. Setup and teardown, those are huge things we need volunteers for. Parking and mobility assistance, greeters and visitors. The information center needs visitors there to help with that. All this can be found. I'm gonna there's a lot of information, more than we could talk about here, I'm sure, but it can be found at the website, which is the wall that heals battlecreek.com.

Richard Piet 13:31

The wall that heals battlecreek.com, which is the information for this specific visit of the wall that heals. Again, as Jack said, this is August 18th through the 23rd. So this summer, late this summer, you'll get the chance to see this replica of uh the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. You're not kidding about the work involved in this. And as you said, all the names are there, but it's not as large a wall that you would see in Washington, but all the names are there. This is uh so you just can derive from that the amount of work that's involved and in getting it set up and moving it around and getting people through and all of that. So wow, what a uh what an opportunity. And this is, I presume, something that takes coordination to to get on the map, right? And get on the uh the route for it to appear.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

It does. So we are stop number two in the state of Michigan. There are only two stops in Michigan this year. We had it uh here uh in 2022, if I remember right, uh was the last time it was here. You don't normally get it back that quickly. However, due to the response from the community, this great community we have here in Cam County and the surrounding areas, the effort that was put into it, the success of the visit, we were an easy choice to get it back to come back. The Red, White, and Blue Foundation has been training on this since January. I think we started then. Uh, there's a lot of training you sit through on a weekly basis with the Wall That Heals staff. And uh you go through that some kind of late nights doing that. It's all worth it in the end.

Richard Piet 15:09

And this uh stretch of time that'll be here, there'll be plenty of people as if the pass is any indication. There'll be plenty of people who will want to be up close to that. So again, that's uh August 18th through the 23rd, the wall that heals coming back to Calhoun County in Battle Creek.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

On uh Friday, the 21st of August, there'll be a candlelight agent orange ceremony. This is something new they've added. The wall will be lit up with orange lights. There'll be candlelights, the battery operated type that we we will uh people will have. And we'll do that at nine o'clock along with taps that night. So that's something new that if people wanted to take the time and come out and uh respect the the wall that heals that way.

Richard Piet 15:51

All right, we'll link that in the show notes as well. The wall that heals battlecreek.com, so you can get all those details. If you can't write that down right now, just remember battlecreekpodcast.com and then you'll find this episode there and click through for the information in the show notes. Wow, a lot to talk about, Jack. That's uh a lot, and uh obviously more events you'll be talking about soon as well. The uh event season is coming, so I imagine there'll be other things to talk about.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Yes. One thing that while they're here over across the street at the American Legion Post 297, there are going to be at least two right now, hopefully three Vietnam vintage helicopters, Hueys coming in to be on display, and uh there'll be opportunities for people to get up close and see those to help reflect on that time period in our American history. And of course, we're also celebrating the 250th anniversary of this great nation. So uh people should come out there to uh the Legion Post, American Legion Post 257 and check that out.

Richard Piet 16:53

And that will be during the Wall That Heals event, or is this a separate exactly?

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Yes, it'll be here that that whole weekend.

Websites Contact Info And Wrap Up

Richard Piet 16:59

Well, that'll be something to see up close, that's for sure. Okay, and of course, Jack, you have a website as part of the Calhoun County uhmi.gov website. There's veterans' affairs. You can drop down uh from the uh list at the top and click through to Veterans Affairs. There's contact information and more there. And of course, I might sound like a broken record. We'll put that in the show notes for this episode at Battle Creekpodcast.com so you can get that info as well. Okay, Jack, this is great uh info. We'll stay in touch.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

All right, great. I look forward to meeting with you next time.

Richard Piet 17:33

Jack Carlson, Veterans Affairs Office, Calhoun County, here on Community Matters.