Still Disenfranchised Waechter says the opportunity to talk to someone, anyone, is invaluable. Talking out his Vietnam experiences was something he did often at Park. While working as a Kansas City Vet Center counselor, he decided to earn another graduate degree to transition into management and administration. “I was still a little bit disenfranchised from society but I felt OK at Park. I could always rely on being able to talk about the vet center program and about homeless veterans and PTSD.” He also credits two of his professors in political science and public administration. One was Jerzy Hauptmann, Ph.D., for whom Park’s School of Public Affairs is named. Hauptmann had been a member of the Polish Underground during World War II. “Dr. Hauptmann really had a tender heart for veterans. I will always remember that,” Waechter said. Another was political science Professor Ron Brecke, Ph.D., a Vietnam-era Navy veteran whose son served in the first Gulf War. “He was a strong influence on me at Park.” Waechter said he’s not seeing as many veterans from that war or the current war in Iraq. He estimates that they make up only 3 percent of the homeless veteran population. “Recent veterans have a lot of resources that the Vietnam vet didn’t, but there are different challenges,” he said. “A lot more vets are getting married younger
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and having marital problems. They are coming back to an economy that really is just awful. A lot of them are staying in the military because it’s job security. It could be that staying in is a way to assure their economic stability, and that’s just going to intensify their problems readjusting.” Another kind of problem promises to have enormous consequences — traumatic brain injury. In 2005 the Department of Health and Human Services reported that more than half of wounded veterans returning from Iraq had some kind of brain injury. TBI has been called the “signature injury” of Operation Iraqi Freedom. “In my limited exposure, oftentimes there is not only the presence of PTSD but there’s also TBI, and they co-mingle,” Waechter said. “You’re not really sure what you’re looking at. It’s another tragedy that we have to deal with as a community.” What Can be Done Waechter credits the central role of the vet centers, now numbering 232 across the United States, with making a huge difference in the lives of veterans, keeping many off the streets. “I can go back to Kansas City and I can see Vietnam, Iraq, Gulf War and even World War II vets who have come to some level of peace with themselves and with their families because there was a vet center, a place where they can talk to a counselor and get some support and some insight and some direction. Had the vet
Robert Waechter speaks with a reporter from WDAF-TV Channel 4 in Kansas City.
Waechter, far right, is shown at a Kansas City Stand Down with Art Fillmore, Stand Down cochair, and Lt. Col. Peggy Sullivan with the 325th Medical Group.
Waechter, right, and Fillmore, co-chairs of the Kansas City Stand Downs
Waechter discusses procedures with an attorney providing legal services to homeless veterans at a stand down.
center program not been there, those guys and women wouldn’t be around right now. There’s no doubt in my mind.” The VA is trying harder to assist active members of the military, their families and veterans, Waechter said. “With the global