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Bill Rieger looks like a soldier. He has a square soldier's face and a soldier's close-cropped haircut. Broad-shouldered, he sits erect in his chair, like he's half at attention, and answers questions in polite, concise sentences.
So when other former military men and women walk into the small conference area inside Rieger's Disabled American Veterans Mobile Service Office van, they know exactly who they're dealing with.
Someone who knows what it's like. Someone who's been there. Someone who understands.
As the DAV service officer for western Missouri — that's everything west of HIghway 65 between Iowa and Arkansas — Rieger spends several weeks on the road every year talking to his fellow veterans about what they've got coming to them and how to go about getting it.
This summer, he's spending three weeks on the road visiting about 15 Missouri towns plus a weekend Harley-Davidson owners rally at the Lake of the Ozarks. The motorcycle maker is a major sponsor of the private, non-profit DAV, which was founded in 1920 to help veterans of World War I readjust to civilian life.
On Friday, Rieger pulled his red, white and blue van into the lot at the Nodaway County Courthouse, which was marked off for veterans parking only. The former Army military policeman — he served in Panama and at Fort Hood Texas in the early 1980s — spoke with a steady stream of vets about everything from disability benefits to the new G.I. Bill, which helps veterans pay for college.
Rieger said the organization's main goal is to help steer veterans through the maze of mostly federal programs and help them qualify for all benefits to which they are entitled. Because eligibility requirements change over time, and because the veterans themselves change in terms of their health and medical needs, many vets miss out on benefits simply because they aren't aware of what's out there.
"The way the government looks at it, it's not what happened to you, it's where you are now," Rieger said
For example, a veteran may have received benefits after being wounded by shrapnel in Vietnam. But now that same former soldier has developed arthritis and range-of-motion loss related to his old wound. Rieger said such vets are often entitled to increased benefits or benefits more suitably tailored to their existing needs but may not know it.
Bill Rieger looks like a soldier. He has a square soldier's face and a soldier's close-cropped haircut. Broad-shouldered, he sits erect in his chair, like he's half at attention, and answers questions in polite, concise sentences.
So when other former military men and women walk into the small conference area inside Rieger's Disabled American Veterans Mobile Service Office van, they know exactly who they're dealing with.
Someone who knows what it's like. Someone who's been there. Someone who understands.
As the DAV service officer for western Missouri — that's everything west of HIghway 65 between Iowa and Arkansas — Rieger spends several weeks on the road every year talking to his fellow veterans about what they've got coming to them and how to go about getting it.
This summer, he's spending three weeks on the road visiting about 15 Missouri towns plus a weekend Harley-Davidson owners rally at the Lake of the Ozarks. The motorcycle maker is a major sponsor of the private, non-profit DAV, which was founded in 1920 to help veterans of World War I readjust to civilian life.
On Friday, Rieger pulled his red, white and blue van into the lot at the Nodaway County Courthouse, which was marked off for veterans parking only. The former Army military policeman — he served in Panama and at Fort Hood Texas in the early 1980s — spoke with a steady stream of vets about everything from disability benefits to the new G.I. Bill, which helps veterans pay for college.
Rieger said the organization's main goal is to help steer veterans through the maze of mostly federal programs and help them qualify for all benefits to which they are entitled. Because eligibility requirements change over time, and because the veterans themselves change in terms of their health and medical needs, many vets miss out on benefits simply because they aren't aware of what's out there.
"The way the government looks at it, it's not what happened to you, it's where you are now," Rieger said
For example, a veteran may have received benefits after being wounded by shrapnel in Vietnam. But now that same former soldier has developed arthritis and range-of-motion loss related to his old wound. Rieger said such vets are often entitled to increased benefits or benefits more suitably tailored to their existing needs but may not know it.
The other side of the coin is new or revised benefits. Just last year the Department of Veterans Affairs added ischemic heart disease, Parkinson's disease and hairy cell leukemia to the list of conditions entitling veterans to benefits who were exposed to Agent Orange, a Vietnam-era defoliant.
"We've had several guys here today that didn't know they were eligible for new benefits," Rieger said. "That's where the DAV can help, and everything we do comes at no charge. No veteran should ever have to pay anybody to get their benefits."
These days, Rieger said, the military is doing a better job educating personnel about to be discharged about the benefits to which they will be entitled. But there are still gaps in the system. Men and women who have served in the National Guard are especially apt to "slip through the cracks" by failing to file with the VA as their service days end.
He emphasized that the DAV provides its services to all veterans and not just those suffering from a service-related injury or disability. Veterans seeking benefits assistance can call the organization's state office at (314) 552-9883 or telephone Rieger at (816) 922-4661.
