City & State Special Veterans Issue 2015

July 30, 2015

CIT YANDSTATENY.COM

@CIT YANDSTATENY

get ready for College!

John Jay College of Criminal Justice, ranked #3 nationally in the “Best for Vets” 2015 college rankings by Military Times, invites you to explore our distinctive educational offerings and veterans services to help you prepare for your career goals.

n 26 majors and 40 minors, including Computer Science and Forensic Psychology, as well as 11 master’s programs, including CyberSecurity and Public Administration. n Nearly 500 veterans among our diverse, 15,000-strong community of motivated students n Exceptional teachers and scholars who are nationally recognized experts and award-winning faculty n Access to special mentorship programs, select scholarship funds, internships in NYC and a vast network of alumni and military-friendly employer partners

Apply Today! Call Anita DeVarie at 212.237.8870 or email adevarie@jjay.cuny.edu.

Congratulations to our own welby alCantara,

Coordinator of the Office of Military & Veterans Services at John Jay College, on being named a City & State Above & Beyond honoree for New York’s veteran and military community!

Join us on august 11 for a free, day-long Flipping the Switch College-Readiness Program – in partnership with JP Morgan Chase – for veterans planning to attend college.

Network and learn from your battle buddies and others on what it takes to succeed in higher education.

For details and to register: www.jjay.cuny.edu/flippingtheswitch

www.jjay.cuny.edu

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

July 30, 2015

CONTENTS Michael Gareth Johnson Executive Editor

I

FROM WAR TO WORKFORCE What the state and city are doing to help veterans find work

18.......

By Ashley Hupfl and Sarina Trangle

14.......

Treatment courts are key to keeping troubled vets out of prison

By Frank G. Runyeon from New York Nonprofit

FORT DRUM

Federal belt-tightening threatens the base’s relationship with the surrounding community

23.......

ABOVE & BEYOND

We honor 10 veterans who have gone on to public service

By Justin Sondel

4 4.......

PERSPECTIVES

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Agent Orange treatment … State Sen. Brad Hoylman on honoring LGBT vets

July 30, 2015

46.......

CIT YANDSTATENY.COM

VETERANS COURTS

@CIT YANDSTATENY

cit yandstateny.com

Cover: Art Direction Guillaume Federighi Photograph Celeste Sloman

BACK & FORTH

A Q&A with author Brian Castner

3

city & state — July 30, 2015

8.......

remember as a young child my grandfather telling me stories of World War II. His tales never detailed the battles he witnessed. His stories of landing on Utah Beach never included the explosion of a U-boat a few hundred feet away, or his frightful 150foot swim to shore. Instead, he told me about how his friend Gordy Melberg from Milaca, Minnesota (who went on to be mayor of Milaca) found an accordion in the fields of Normandy shortly after D-Day, and carried it with him all the way through the rest of the war, bringing it back to Minnesota where he played it for more than 30 years.

As I got older, I realized that the picture my grandfather painted of war was about as rosy as you can get. He shielded me from the horrors he saw and felt it wasn’t right to burden me with details of the sacrifices he made—and in doing so, he had a profound impact on my life, by teaching me the eternal power of optimism.

In this issue we honor 10 extraordinary people who served our country and, like my grandfather, came home to make an equal if not greater impact on their communities and the people around them. They show us that, while it is important to honor those serving in a theater of war, it is equally important to praise those who continue to serve after they have taken off their uniform. Their stories are rich and enlightening and it is a pleasure to bring them to you.

Also in this issue, our reporter Justin Sondel details the relationship between Fort Drum and the community surrounding the base as the federal government considers cuts to military facilities.

Having spent a few days at the base in upstate New York, and speaking to residents to get a personal feel for their concerns, he highlights the unique ties the military has with the area.

The magazine also highlights some of the efforts underway on the state level and in New York City to help veterans get back to work.

It’s impossible to give readers a complete picture of the bevy of uncommon experiences members of the military face in combat and when they return home, but we feel this special issue helps shine a spotlight on the importance of our armed forces and the complexity of problems many veterans face. If we have enlightened the public even a little about these important issues, then we have completed our mission.

CLIMB TO GLORY 61 Broadway, Suite 2235 New York, NY 10006 Editorial (212) 894-5417 General (646) 517-2740 Advertising (212) 894-5422 info@cityandstateny.com

CITY AND STATE, LLC Chairman Steve Farbman President/CEO Tom Allon tallon@cityandstateny.com

PUBLISHING Publisher Andrew A. Holt aholt@cityandstateny.com Vice President of Advertising Jim Katocin jkatocin@cityandstateny.com Events Director Jasmin Freeman jfreeman@cityandstateny.com Director of Marketing Samantha Diliberti sdiliberti@cityandstateny.com

4

Business Development Scott Augustine saugustine@cityandstateny.com

EDITORIAL Executive Editor Michael Johnson mjohnson@cityandstateny.com Senior Correspondent/Associate Editor Jon Lentz jlentz@cityandstateny.com Web Editor/Reporter Wilder Fleming wfleming@cityandstateny.com Albany Reporter Ashley Hupfl ahupfl@cityandstateny.com Buffalo Reporter Justin Sondel jsondel@cityandstateny.com Staff Reporter Sarina Trangle strangle@cityandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

JUSTIN SORENSEN

Editor-at-Large Gerson Borrero gborrero@cityandstateny.com

In the center of Fort Drum’s Memorial Park, across the street from the 10th Mountain Division’s headquarters, is a statue that has come to be a symbol of the division’s motto. The Military Mountaineers Monument, standing nearly 20 feet tall, depicts a World War II-era soldier atop a cliff using a rope to hoist a soldier in modern military garb up to his level.

The statue, installed in 1991, has taken on a unique nickname: “Climb to Glory,” the first part of a call and response among the soldiers of the division. The response? “To the top!”

Surrounding the statue are monuments, one for each of the units that constitute the 10th Mountain Division, which bear the names of those killed in the line of duty.

Copy Editor Ryan Somers rsomers@cityandstateny.com

PRODUCTION Art Director Guillaume Federighi gfederighi@cityandstateny.com Senior Designer Michelle Yang myang@cityandstateny.com Marketing Graphic Designer Charles Flores cflores@cityandstateny.com Illustrator Danilo Agutoli

Copyright ©2015, City and State NY, LLC

cit yandstateny.com

CELEBRATING THE FOURTH ON STATEN ISLAND There are few places where patriotism is more on display on July Fourth each year than the small hamlet of Travis—nestled along Staten Island’s west shore. It was the site of a battle between George Washington’s army and British loyalists in 1777 and since 1911 it has hosted one of New York City’s most lively and wellattended parades, often by politicians seeking office or trying to get a bump in the polls. Check out our photos from this year’s parade:

city & state — July 28, 2015

ARMAN DZIDZOVIC

6

cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 28, 2015

7

cit yandstateny.com

FROM WAR TO WORKFORCE WHAT THE STATE AND CITY ARE DOING TO HELP RETURNING SERVICE MEMBERS FIND WORK

By ASHLEY HUPFL and SARINA TRANGLE

ED REED/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

8

city & state — July 30, 2015

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio invited military officers to a roundtable in May to discuss veterans issues in honor of Fleet Week.

A

fter more than a decade of foreign wars, the United States has significantly scaled back its military presence overseas. The end of the war in Afghanistan was officially announced in December, and with this move, millions of service members have been transferred back to the mainland and discharged from active duty, allowed to return to their

lives. But that return can be difficult for many, particularly when it comes to finding a job.

Currently, nearly 900,000 veterans live in New York state.

According to a state Department of Labor report published in December, the unemployment rate for veterans was 7.6 percent, versus 6.5 percent for non-veterans.

Government and elected officials in both the state and in New York City are well aware of these statistics, and many have promoted policies or passed legislation to help returning soldiers and sailors find work. We took a look at what New York state and New York City are doing to help troops transition from war to the workforce.

STATE In recent years, New York state lawmakers have started several programs to help veterans with their transition home. “Our goal has been and continues to be to make sure that we reach all these veterans across the state to, again, make sure they know what cit yandstateny.com

they’ve earned as part of having served in the military,” said Eric Hesse, director of the state Division of Veterans’ Affairs and a retired U.S. Army colonel. “In most age groups of the veteran population (the unemployment rate) is less than what the rest of the national or state average is. For a while, that unemployment rate was much higher.”

To help veterans find work, the state Department of Labor runs 96 career centers across New York that offer veterans first access to employment and training services.

In addition, the state Civilian Service Commission designates up to 500 positions normally filled through civil service exams to qualified veterans.

“We’re recognizing the importance of veterans and our desire that they stay in New York,” said Tom Croci, chairman of the state Senate Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs. “(It’s important) that they continue to live here where they left to serve and that we bring them into state government,

because I personally believe that kind of experience is good for our state.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched an initiative in 2011 that works with state and local chambers to help veterans find employment opportunities. In 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law the ServiceDisabled Veteran-Owned Business Act. Similar to the MWBE program, it established a 6 percent goal for participation on state contracts by businesses owned by disabled veterans.

According to a spokesperson for the Division of Service-Disabled Veterans’ Business Development, 129 businesses have been certified as SDVOBs as of July 20. “Certified service-disabled veteran-owned businesses are beginning to be awarded contracts and we expect that to continue to grow,” the spokesperson said. “Businesses have reported 23 contract opportunities with a total value of approximately $645,000 that have either been awarded or are pending award. There are an additional 21 contracts out to bid that contain SDVOB goals.”

Croci is concerned the state is not yet meeting its 6 percent goal.

“I would like to see ways to

Department of Labor website to list job opportunities for veterans. One ongoing problem the state faces is

“New York state is doing a lot of great programs and we just want to continue to work on better ways to get the word out.”

- Eric Hesse, director of the state Division of Veterans’ Affairs streamline the process and ensure that if there are a certain percentage of veteran-owned state contracts, that veterans or service-disabled veterans’ companies that are supposed to receive them, actually receive them,” he said.

“The ability that it exists is not enough.”

Moving forward, Assembly Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Michael DenDekker would like to establish a portal on the

making sure veterans are aware of the services and opportunities available to them once they return.

“New York state is doing a lot of great programs and we just want to continue to work on better ways to get the word out,” Hesse said.

CITY In addition to quarterly job expos,

Veterans ads_City&State 7/22/15 2:13 PM Page 1

9

VETERANS:

YOUR FUTURE IS AN OPEN BOOK AT CUNY TRANSITION FROM MILITARY LIFE TO ACADEMIC LIFE AND ON TO CAREERS

Learn more at cuny.edu/veterans Or call 646 664-8835

cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

• Counseling, benefits, career advice, disability services • Veterans events, peer mentors • Over 1,400 academic programs; 25 colleges, graduate and professional schools; world-renowned faculty • More than 3,000 student veterans

New York City has a handful of initiatives designed to steer those leaving the military toward employment, many of which involve specialists who guide veterans through existing work programs and application processes.

Mayor’s Office of Veterans’ Affairs Commissioner Loree Sutton says the specialists help ensure that former service members and their spouses receive priority at Department of Small Business Services centers and for department-funded training. These specialists assist veterans in describing their military work in colloquial terms, building confidence ahead of interviews and meeting employers interested in hiring former service members.

The specialists’ salaries have been paid in part with three grants totaling $1.6 million from the Robin Hood Foundation, an organization dedicated to fighting poverty in New York.

At a 2014 City Council committee hearing, Jacqueline Mallon, deputy commissioner of the workforce development division at SBS, said the grant was associated with an annual

goal of ushering 1,150 veterans and their spouses into jobs that pay $12.50 an hour. When recently approached by City & State, SBS declined to provide statistics showing how its work stacked up against the grant’s benchmarks, but said this Workforce1 initiative has served about 12,670 veterans and their spouses and connected nearly 3,200 to jobs since 2012.

SBS also launched a FastTrac Veteran Entrepreneur program, a sixweek intensive course that requires an application.

Participants refine business plans, study business and marketing skills, learn how to leverage financing and gain access to a network of peers and coaches. To date, the program boasts 45 graduates, one of whom has launched an e-commerce business and another of whom plans to open a shop this summer, SBS said.

Beyond SBS’s work, Sutton says her team and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services is working with the NYPD, FDNY and Department of Correction to learn what has made them successful in recruiting veterans and develop a best-practices protocol. MOVA is also collaborating

with the city Department of Youth and Community Development to place veterans in coaching positions in athletic programs. And a partnership is also in the works with JPMorgan Chase, which is interested in helping veterans pursue business and finance careers.

“We’re excited about New York City and its potential for recruiting more veterans and their families to come here, where they can really retool, go to school, imagine whatever they want the next leg of their journey to entail,” Sutton said. “We’ve got a number of collaborative partnerships.”

MOVA also plans to tap into state and federal resources. For instance, Sutton said the city’s campaign to end veteran homelessness involves funneling participants into VA training programs and career services offered by an array of organizations. The VA and state Department of Labor are both stationing a liaison in the city to help spur economic opportunities for former service members. And Sutton said MOVA has a pilot program with Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn that permits city officials to communicate

with service members about their anticipated needs before they leave the base.

Feedback on the city’s work runs the gamut. Some advocates, such as Brett Morash, director of veterans services at the Services for the UnderServed, argue the city’s main responsibility should be guiding federal funding toward the most effective organizations. Others, including Kevin Driscoll, who works with veterans at the Jericho Project, suggest the city set aside a pool of training vouchers exclusively for veterans and subsidize part of their wages when employers first hire them. There was, however, near unanimous agreement that the de Blasio administration should clarify and better communicate its strategy.

“You’re hoping that this is going to be like the commercial where I tell two friends and you tell two friends and so on and so on. ... It doesn’t work that way,” said Joseph Bello, founder of NY MetroVets, a newsletter on veterans issues. “They can correct that if they can put some funding into it. Even if it’s a frickin’ 30-second spot on NYC TV.”

10

Congratulations to our dear friend and esteemed colleague

Tom Gray And all the honorees of City&State’s Above & Beyond city & state — July 30, 2015

Awards for New York’s Veterans and the Military.

The Woolworth Building • 233 Broadway, Suite 710 • New York, NY 10279 www.capalino.com • 212.616.5810 • contact@capalino.com •

@capalino

cit yandstateny.com

LEGISLATIVE SUCCESSES IN THE 2016 BUDGET: • $3.2 million for the Joseph P. Dwyer Veteran Peer-to-Peer Program • $800,000 for post-traumatic stress treatment and support • $500,000 for the New York State Defenders Association Veterans Defense Program • $200,000 for Legal Services of the Hudson Valley’s Veterans and Military Families Advocacy Project • $250,000 additional funding for the Veterans Outreach Center in Monroe County ($500,000 total) • $200,000 for Warrior Salute • $100,000 for the Veterans Justice Project • $100,000 for the SAGE Veterans Project • $250,000 for American Legion Department of New York indigent burial expenses • $75,000 for the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ New York City Field Service Office • $50,000 for the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ Buffalo Field Service Office • $25,000 for the Vietnam Veterans of America’s New York State Council

BILLS PASSED BY BOTH HOUSES: • S.2938A (Croci)/ A.2646 (Bronson): Ensures that veterans already receiving a property tax exemption continue to receive the exemption upon moving to a new home within the same county.

• S.4852 (Croci)/ A.7824 (Abbate): Allows a veteran who missed a civil service exam due to active duty training the opportunity to take a makeup exam.

• S.5752A (Croci)/ A.7867A (DenDekker): Provides state reimbursement to congressionally chartered veterans organizations providing funeral or burial services to an indigent veteran whose death occurred within New York state.

• S.4521A (Croci)/A.8085A (Benedetto): Authorizes the Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner to waive income eligibility requirements for veterans applying for a commercial food fishing license.

• S.5937 (Larkin)/ A.8174 (Paulin): Provides credit to members of the public retirement system for military services rendered. Also known as the Veterans Equality Act. • S.305 (Espaillat)/ A.7229A (DenDekker): Expands admissions eligibility to New York state veterans nursing homes for certain veterans.

• S.656A (Kennedy)/ A.4487A (Ramos): Requires the Division of Veterans Affairs to include an accounting of the number of veteran-owned small businesses in the state in its annual report to the governor and members of the Legislature.

• S.4391 (LaValle)/ A.6223A (Thiele): Establishes an additional local option to increase the maximum exemptions allowed under the alternative veterans exemption and the exemption for Cold War veterans.

Source: State Senate

cit yandstateny.com

Brooklyn-Made Certification Program, Tourism, Innovation Economy in the Borough.

Visiting “The People’s Playground,” “The Hippest Neighborhood on Earth” and the Caribbean in one day doesn’t have to be hard or cost a fortune – just come to Brooklyn.

Whether your holiday lasts a day or a week, there’s no reason to head to downtown Manhattan or Paris when you could stroll through Williamsburg or DUMBO or take a trip to Long Island or California instead of having a blast at Coney Island’s amusement parks, boardwalk and beach.

Want to experience a myriad of cultures without hopping from country to country? Brooklyn is home to the Caribbean Capital of America in Flatbush, Chinatown in Sunset Park, a sizeable Latino population in Bushwick, the traditional Greek and Italian enclaves in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, and a substantial Polish community in Greenpoint.

11

The world is here, and with Explore Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Chamber has put it right in the palm of your hand.

Explore Brooklyn is the borough’s leading tourism website – a complete resource for Brooklyn dining, events, shopping, attractions, and more. The website (Explorebk.com) is designed to help both New Yorkers and visitors of all ages find the very best of Brooklyn, discover its neighborhoods and give local businesses and attractions an easy-to-use tool to promote themselves in a seamless social environment.

Brooklyn is a tourist destination that definitely stands on its own.

Roughly 20 percent of all tourists to New York City already visit Brooklyn, and that number is growing by the minute. With more than 30 hotels and over 3,500 rooms already available in the borough – and another 20 projects in the pipeline – there are more than enough options to satisfy anyone’s preference. Soon, you’ll even be able to book your stay and purchase Brooklyn-themed tours through Explore Brooklyn.

Brooklyn-made products provide shopping options of the highest quality, and are in demand in markets across the planet. Visitors have access to numerous first-class attractions – sporting events and shows at the Barclays Center, the Cyclones at MCU Park, performances at the Kings Theatre and Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Brooklyn Museum, Prospect Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park and the New York Aquarium, to name just a few – and an abundance of premier restaurants specializing in countless international cuisines. With Explore Brooklyn, you can find all the best shops for locally made goods, view lists of restaurants categorized by community and culture, and scroll through all the coolest events happening in the borough during your stay.

So if you need a break and want to travel the world, there’s no need to traverse the globe – the County of Kings already has it all and it’s at your fingertips with Explore Brooklyn.

city & state — July 30, 2015

State Sen. Tom Croci said that this year’s budget includes “the largest amount of money dedicated to veterans’ issues in any state budget in recent history.” Here’s a rundown of what the state Legislature accomplished for vets:

ability to apply for civil service credit for that time. … So we’re recognizing the importance of veterans and our desire that they stay in New York, they continue to live here where they left to serve and that we bring them into state government, because I personally believe that kind of experience is good for our state. It was after World War II and I think it is now.

TOM CROCI Chairman, State Senate Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Committee City & State: What did the state achieve during this year’s legislative session to help veterans?

Tom Croci: I think you have to look overall at the money that went into this year’s budget for veterans issues. It’s the largest amount of money dedicated to veterans issues in any state budget in recent history. In addition, we were able to pass some legislation in the Senate, which gives veterans who served in combat zones—veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan—the

C&S: What is your No. 1 priority for next year’s session in regards to veterans issues?

TC: One of the things I hear from veterans that are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan who have served in the global war of terror since 2001 is they don’t want that service to have been in vain. We can care on them in the ways I’ve mention to you, but we also have to make sure those sacrifices were not in vain and we have to protect ourselves and that as a state we’re doing everything we possibly can to ensure what happened on 9/11 does not happen again. I proposed a piece of legislation that would create a terrorist registry, like a sex offender registry, that if you’d been convicted of a terrorist act, like you’d been convicted of rape or assault

or some sexual offense, if you’d been convicted of a terrorist act you would be listed on the registry. That way law enforcement and your community would know who was living where. So, I see a morale issue for veterans who have served, because they have seen what happened in Iraq and I want to try to address that by doing everything we can in New York as a state Legislature to try to protect New Yorkers.

C&S: Is there difficulty at the state level to combat issues affecting veterans because the state must also work with the federal government?

TC: There’s no one level of government that is going to be able to do that alone.

It’s easy for people to think, you serve in the military, you come home and the federal government takes care of you for the rest of your life. It doesn’t work that way. We go back to our homes, we go back to our states. So many of the programs that we’ve talked about today are administered at grant levels to the counties or other municipalities.

But the state has to be vigilant that the money gets to where it should be and that the programs that we’re using it for are actually helping veterans. It’s

something that requires metrics to track to make sure. Taxpayers want to help and taxpayers certainly want to know that the money they’ve allocated through their representatives are going to the places it should.

C&S: Anything else we can do to help veterans?

TC: We’re in a very dangerous time in the world. We’ve had a lot of veterans return from the last 14 years of fighting.

Some of them will actually probably end up going back to the battlefield in the next five years, given what we see in the world. So it’s important that we recognize the veterans that are coming home and help those who need our help. But also remember that we need to support them as we go forward, because the world is an increasingly dangerous place and the men and women of the United States military and New Yorkers, for sure, will probably be in harm’s way again.

For that reason, and many others, we should be vigilant about their care and their safety, but we also at the state do whatever we can to protect New Yorkers and hopefully prevent some of the catastrophic attacks that we’ve seen.

12

www.CityandState.Careers

EMPLOYERS

JOB SEEKERS

List your job opening for FREE until August 1st

Sign up for the weekly e-newsletter at

Code: LAUNCH

www.CityandState.Careers

Connect with us:

Questions? Contact Samantha at Sdiliberti@cityandstateny.com or 646.442.1617

city & state — July 30, 2015

Find your next stand-out hire!

Find your next career opportunity!

cit yandstateny.com

We’re ranked #1 in a lot of things, and this makes us exceptionally proud.

Verizon is ranked #1 Employer by Military Times Best for Vets 2015.

Verizon is known for being the best network provider and now the Military Times Best for Vets has ranked Verizon #1 for Employers 2015. Thank you to all the military men and women who serve our country, including the 12,000 military veterans currently working at Verizon. We’ll continue to hire veterans because their leadership and skill sets make us a much better company. Š 2015 Verizon.

For more information, visit: verizon.com/laborfacts.

HOME BASE

FEDERAL BELT-TIGHTENING THREATENS FORT DRUM’S UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NEARBY COMMUNITY

By JUSTIN SONDEL

PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SORENSEN

14

Veterans and civilians gather for lunch at Chipotle in Watertown outside Fort Drum. The base is an integral part of the flourishing community.

city & state — July 30, 2015

O

n a warm July evening, patrons sat on unpainted wooden chairs on the back patio of Maggie’s on the River, a twostory stone bar and restaurant on a cozy side road off Watertown’s Arsenal Street, watching the clear water of the Black River as it coursed over the dark rock river bottom.

Inside, city firemen, real estate agents and soldiers sat chatting over their pints and cheeseburgers as the bartender, a nimble woman with black, curly hair, rushed from person to person taking orders and pulling levers on the wall full of

taps behind her.

Maggie’s gets a good crowd most nights. Many of the bar’s customers work at nearby Fort Drum, home of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division.

Soldiers come in to grab dinner, to socialize and to hold going-away parties for soldiers being deployed, reassigned or retiring.

While Fort Drum has been an Army installation since 1908, and the area has been a military stronghold for the United States since the early 19th century, it didn’t begin to grow into the behemoth it is today until 1985, with the arrival of the 10th Mountain

Division. It has since swelled to be the training grounds for almost 20,000 soldiers, peaking in 2011, then ebbing some, with about 17,000 soldiers currently stationed at the storied base.

Jaime Short is the manager at Maggie’s. She says that without the fort, most of the commerce in Watertown—shops and restaurants that have popped up along Arsenal Street and the Salmon Run Mall, a shopping center surrounded by a sea of strip malls—would have never come to be.

“Watertown would not be what it is today without Fort Drum,” Short said.

“I mean if you took Fort Drum away from us we, literally, would be a ghost town.”

HEAVY PRESENCE Perhaps nowhere in town is the relationship between the base and the community more apparent than in those strip malls on a weekday lunch hour. Chipotle, Five Guys and the Tilted Kilt are routinely invaded by hungry soldiers decked out in camo, pumping the money they make on the base back into the local economy.

Politicians whose districts include cit yandstateny.com

the base are hyper-aware of the economic impact Fort Drum has on their constituency and they act accordingly, lending their support to strengthen the position of the installation any way they can, offering funding, coordination of services for military families and good oldfashioned cheerleading at every opportunity.

State Sen. Patricia Ritchie, a Republican whose district starts with the Oswego area to the south and stretches north past Ogdensburg, was instrumental in starting a budget line specifically to support military installations around the state.

Since it was created four years ago, that line has seen more than $12 million dedicated to strengthening the position of places like Fort Drum, the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station and West Point.

At most large bases, hospitals and schools are often on the installation; Fort Drum is unique in that it has neither, so soldiers and their families use the same medical facilities and schools as civilians. Ritchie was able to bring home $650,000 in this year’s

budget, which went to support service and training at nearby Carthage Area Hospital, and River Hospital’s posttraumatic stress disorder treatment program.

Ritchie says the state spending is not much different from other forms of government support to spur or retain economic activity, like Empire State Development grants and loans or an industrial development agency giving a tax break to a private company.

“It is my job to do what I can to make sure that we have resources in place to help protect the post,” Ritchie said.

The fort contributes about $1.5 billion a year to the local economy, according to economic impact studies.

In addition to the 17,000 soldiers, the base also provides jobs for almost 4,000 civilians. And there are only about 120,000 people living in Jefferson County, where the fort is located.

Ritchie says the large number of soldiers in the otherwise rural region makes Fort Drum special.

“They are truly part of our

15

So what’s next?

Make an immediate impact on your life – and the lives of others – with a degree from Metropolitan College of New York. Recognized as one of the top “military-friendly” colleges in the nation five years running, at MCNY we do all we can to make the transition to the college campus seamless and successful for our returning veterans.

Operation Tuition Freedom

MCNY036_VeteransAd_9.75x6_4C_CityandState.indd 1 cit yandstateny.com

 Jump-start your career with our accelerated, accredited

undergrad and grad programs in Business, Education, Financial Services, Emergency Management, Government, Healthcare, Human Services, Media, Public Affairs and Urban Studies.

 Make the most of what you’ve accomplished with transfer credit for military service and previous college experience.

 Get the financial assistance you need with free tuition, housing allowance and supplies stipend for eligible veterans through the Veterans Administration’s Post 9/11 GI Benefit or Yellow Ribbon Program.

You can start this Fall: It’s simple. To schedule an appointment with an MCNY admissions counselor, email admissions@mcny.edu or call 888-414-4794.

7/24/15 10:33 AM

city & state — July 30, 2015

Mission accomplished.

community in every way,” Ritchie said.

LOOMING THREAT

16

Every military installation around the country faces the threat of cuts or closure, and Fort Drum and other New York military installations are not exceptions. The White House empaneled the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, a group of nine commissioners—members of Congress and high-ranking military officials—in 1993 and 2005, and the next round of closures are being discussed for 2017, as the military continues pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

In addition, the federal government has been constantly tightening its belt since the budget sequestration cuts went into effect in 2013.

This past March the people of Watertown made a full-force effort to demonstrate to military officials the importance of the base to the country and the area. Thousands of people jammed into Jefferson Community College buildings for a public hearing attended by Pentagon leaders, including John P. McLaurin III, the Army’s deputy director of force management. Many described their gratitude to the base and relationships with the soldiers, who had become their neighbors and friends over the years.

Meanwhile, electeds like Ritchie, Rep. Elise Stefanik—whose district also includes the fort—and U.S. Sens.

Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles

Schumer worked behind the scenes to convey a similar message, as the Pentagon considered where they would cut about 40,000 active-duty soldiers, all part of sequestration.

Whether it was the intense outpouring or some Pentagon strategy, something worked out for the area.

Earlier this month military officials announced where the cuts would come down, and while some bases saw thousands of soldiers go, Fort Drum was largely spared, with a net loss of just 28 soldiers.

Stefanik, who like Ritchie has lived in the area her entire life and seen the drastic growth the fort has engendered, said it was probably part strategic advantage and part community outreach that spared the base from drastic cuts.

“We were at a risk of losing 16,000 of our active duty,” Stefanik said.

“That would have devastated Fort Drum.”

Still, the threat of downsizing is ever present. While the post was able to avoid big losses this time around, more active-duty military cuts may be coming down the pipeline if Congress does not put an end to sequestration.

An additional 30,000 active-duty troops will be dropped if the federal spending cuts are not ended by the beginning of next year, followed by the possibility of another round of closures in 2017.

Stefanik, who has seen the economic impact a base closure can have on a community after Plattsburgh Airforce Base, also in her district, was shuttered in 1995, said she will not

Sgt. Brian Vidler, from Texas, has come to appreciate living in upstate New York.

support a new round of closures.

The economy in that part of her district is still recovering, she added.

“If we do face a downsizing of the military and active duty and a realignment, I want to be at the leadership table,” she said.

Stefanik said that while the community needs to remain vigilant and actively support the base in the face of looming threats, she believes Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division—one of the most deployed divisions since the 9/11 attacks— remains a tough place to exact cuts.

“I think Fort Drum is wellpositioned, again, because its training capabilities are geared toward the 10th Mountain Division, which is a light, easily deployable unit,” Stefanik said.

city & state — July 30, 2015

HOME SWEET HOME

The Fallen Warrior Monument pays tribute to members of the 10th Mountain Division.

There’s a running joke on Fort Drum that when soldiers find out they’re to be stationed in upstate New York, panic sets in, with images of apocalyptic snowstorms strung together in an endless winter. Then, when the soldiers arrive and realize that the winters are manageable, and they see the beautiful scenery and a solid school system, they end up settling down there for life.

Sgt. Brian Vidler, a 28-year-old from Cleburne, Texas, said he was nervous when he and his young family moved to the base last year, but has come to appreciate living in the area.

While in town, he says he can sense the support from other residents. He

takes his children to taekwondo and the family has been trying to get out more often to try the restaurants in the area.

“When I go out, I’ve been different places and people will stop me to just talk and see how we’re doing and stuff,” Vidler said. “Everyone’s been really supportive.”

Vidler said he’s met retired soldiers who have settled down in the area.

With his own retirement still a long way off, he said he’s not sure whether his family would stay, but he didn’t rule it out.

“It’s one of those places I could see definitely coming back here or possibly settling down here,” he said.

James Corriveau is one of the soldiers who did just that. A Massachusetts native, he came to Fort Drum in 1974 as a second lieutenant and never left. He started work on the base as a civilian employee after leaving active duty in 1978 and now runs the public works department.

Retiring later this year, he plans to live in Watertown for the rest of his life.

“What this area has got going for it is something else,” Corriveau said.

“It’s clean, the environment, it’s a great place to raise kids, the schools are good, there’s no crime and it’s all associated to the Army and soldiering.

It’s a blessing to be here on Fort Drum.”

Corriveau enjoys going kayaking, sailing, sport shooting, cycling and generally spending time outdoors. For him, there aren’t many places that offer as many opportunities to enjoy cit yandstateny.com

those types of activities as the North Country.

“Those are attributes that are hard to come by in larger urban areas,” he said.

And as both a soldier and civilian, Corriveau has seen the way the two communities embrace each other from both sides.

“The Army’s got 10 divisions,” Corriveau said. “What a privilege it is that we’ve got one in our backyard here that we get to wrap our arms around, to shepherd, to take care of their kids and see them off to war, welcome them home, grieve with them and all that stuff. It’s just a real privilege to have soldiers in your life, and that’s kept me here.”

KEEPING THINGS HUMMING

James Corriveau, originally of Massachusetts, decided to retire in Watertown.

Back at Maggie’s on the River, people continued to shuffle in and out as the sun dipped below the treeline: some lifelong residents, some newly arrived soldiers.

A band covering ’90s rock warmed up as Brendan Arthur, a 22-year-old student at Jefferson Community College and beverage delivery man,

sipped his India pale ale.

He said that many people who grow up in Watertown want to stay there for the same reasons so many soldiers choose to stay after they retire. And the base helps them do that.

“Having a constant influx of people like that moving into Fort Drum, moving into the area, it’s obviously great for us as a small community,” Arthur said.

The soldiers keep the economy moving and strengthen the town’s position as an important part of the state. If Arthur has one complaint about the habits of the soldiers, it’s that they spend too much of their money at the big chains up the road, instead of locally owned places like Maggie’s.

Still, whether the military money is flowing to Wal-Mart and Taco Bell or the corner coffee shop, it keeps the area’s food and entertainment industry humming. And if any major cuts or closures come down the road, Arthur said, it would devastate the growth that has happened during his lifetime.

“Arsenal Street, like I said, has been booming for the last seven years,” he said. “They shut down Drum, the whole strip’s going to be a ghost town.”

city & state — July 30, 2015

17

cit yandstateny.com

COURTROOM COMPASSION

TREATMENT COURTS ARE KEY TO KEEPING TROUBLED VETS OUT OF PRISON

A

city & state — July 30, 2015

18

aron Cox is always in battle mode.

The 28-year-old Army veteran returned in 2010 after combat posts in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Now, it’s five years later,” he said. “It’s a bit easier to mimic what’s going on around you. But I know that’s not really me.”

He pauses for several seconds, thinking back on his time at a forward operating base in Afghanistan. He guarded the gate there, always wondering if the next approaching truck would be carrying a bomb.

“You never know if today is your last day,” he said.

Like so many others, the wars still haunt him at home.

Thousands of troops are returning from their posts in combat zones this year, with five battalions returning to the New York City area alone. Many will bring back mental scars that can lead some into conflict with the criminal justice system.

The best-known of these is posttraumatic stress disorder. The condition afflicts 1 in 5 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—or nearly 300,000.

Cox is one of them. Five years after he returned from a war zone, the untreated psychological wounds of his service were catching up with him.

Shortly after New Year’s, Cox was having a drink with some old high school friends at a Brooklyn bar.

When his friends started criticizing him, he suddenly attacked.

“I fought everybody,” Cox said, remembering the fistfight he started in the bar. “No one could control me.”

He said if the men he assaulted weren’t his childhood friends, “I would’ve been in jail by now.”

Many veterans are.

One in 10 prison inmates once served their country in uniform. They are three times more likely to have PTSD if they served in Iraq. Experts

A vet stands before Judge Robert Russell, founder of Buffalo’s Veterans Treatment Court. say that isn’t a coincidence. While those with PTSD are not necessarily dangerous, the diagnosis has been linked with violent and self-destructive behavior, including suicide, in post9/11 veterans.

“The painful paradox is that fighting for one’s country can render one unfit to be its citizen,” Dr. Jonathan Shay writes in “The Attorney’s Guide to Defending Veterans in Criminal Court.” “War itself smoothes the way into criminal careers after return to civilian life.”

Shay is a pre-eminent psychiatrist in the field of combat stress injuries.

He treated soldiers for over two

decades in a VA hospital, specializing in PTSD and a broader swath of psychological wounds of war that he calls “moral injury.”

“War is bad for people, in every way you can think of,” Shay said.

Classic PTSD can lead to chronic sleep loss, which can lead to the deterioration of good character. “When you’re out of gas in your frontal lobes you become a moral moron,” Shay said. “And that’s physiology.”

This is “a prolific source of bad behavior that leads to the involvement of the police,” Shay said, whether it’s a car wreck, domestic violence, or even armed robbery.

Moreover, PTSD sufferers who are desperate for sleep may turn to any readily available sedative—most commonly alcohol—to knock themselves out, Shay explains. And this can lead to addiction or other behavioral problems.

New York state has had drug treatment courts for more than two decades designed to rehabilitate instead of incarcerate drug users. But it wasn’t until 2008 that a veterans treatment court was established to cater to the unique needs of New York’s traumatized veterans.

Judge Robert Russell created the country’s first veterans treatment court in Buffalo when he saw the impact that camaraderie between veterans could have in reversing damaging behavior. Other courts that have sprung up around the country have emulated the structure he developed.

There are now 220 veterans treatment courts nationwide, and hundreds more being planned, according to Justice for Vets, a nonprofit group that promotes the courts. In New York state, there are over two dozen veterans courts, with more in the planning stages. New York City has three—in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, with one on the way in Staten Island. If a veteran is arrested and convicted in a jurisdiction without a veterans court, he or she is far more likely to go to jail.

“We modeled our court after Judge Russell’s court,” said Joseph Madonia, director of the Brooklyn Veterans Treatment Court. “When we had the veterans in the regular drug court, there was no mentorship component.

That is really the key to the success of a vets court.”

Judge Jo Ann Ferdinand, who presides over the Brooklyn Veterans Treatment Court, explains that “veterans have a tendency to look at the rest of us and say, ‘You don’t cit yandstateny.com

DON HEUPEL / ASSOCIATED PRESS

By FRANK G. RUNYEON from NEW YORK NONPROFIT

understand what I’ve been through.’

“So if you have all the veterans together in court, they can’t say nobody understands, because everybody in the audience understands and has had their own trauma or combat experience,” she said.

But more important than the veterans who show up for court proceedings are those who stick around afterward.

Veterans Rebuilding Life, a nonprofit run by volunteer veterans, supplies the New York City veterans courts with former service members who personally assist the veterans undergoing the court-mandated treatment over a six-month period.

The group pairs volunteers with veterans facing jail time for crimes that may have been committed as a result of their mental battle wounds. The recovery program includes counseling, drug testing, skills training, job placement and humanitarian and community service.

The nonprofit tackles the persistent paperwork and maddening bureaucracy endemic to the Department of Veterans Affairs, assisting veterans in those

unglamorous and tedious procedures that form the cracks many traumaburdened troops slip through.

“We would say, let’s fill those basic needs,” said Dre Popow, executive director of Veterans Rebuilding Life and a Marine Corps veteran. “Let’s assist them in getting back on their feet. But let’s do it thoroughly, like a full-scope strategy.” If a veteran wants to go back to school, a mentor would help them find the right one, help them apply, get them registered, follow them through graduation and help them find a job. “So, you walk with them every step of the way,” Popow said.

The approach is working.

Veterans Rebuilding Life has only been working with the courts since April 2014, but 212 veterans have graduated the organization’s recovery program with a “100 percent success rate.”

“But the issue that we’re having— and it’s slowing us down now—it’s the support,” Popow said.

No one at Popow’s organization receives a salary. It’s a completely volunteer team, and the volunteers pay

out of pocket for expenses like office supplies. Any donations they receive go directly toward their services.

But the work is worth it, Popow says, to give their fellow veterans a second chance.

“It’s a clean slate,” Popow said of the veterans who go through his program. “If, however, you don’t want to go through the treatment program, you’re going to jail.”

And so are the veterans who fail out of the treatment court program. But those who successfully complete the program will have their record sealed and destroyed.

“This is not, veterans get away with crimes that other people don’t,” Judge Ferdinand explained. “Veterans court is about veterans who wind up in the criminal justice system as the result of an underlying behavioral problem” that is most likely linked to their military service.

And the early statistics appear to show that the approach is making everyone safer. According to the most recent statistics, only 10 percent of the veterans who graduated from the Brooklyn Veterans Treatment Court

programs reoffend.

While the research shows that the linchpin to these courts is veteran mentoring, that’s not where funding is going.

In his experience, Shay says that government authorities, like the VA, tend to overpay doctors with impressive credentials—like himself—while the real work of recovery is done veteran-to-veteran.

“I cannot even remotely do for a veteran what someone who’s been there and done that can do,” Shay said.

“It’s just not possible.”

While medical experts and nonprofits remain unsure whether traumatized soldiers will require these veteran-to-veteran recovery groups for the rest of their lives, Cox says he knows he will.

“Without a shadow of doubt,” he said. “Regardless if it’s today, tomorrow, a year from now, 50 years from now, I will always be dealing with this,” Cox said.

He’s less certain about where he would be if the veterans group hadn’t helped him.

“Down the line, I don’t know,” he said. “I’d probably be in jail or dead.”

19

City & State: Since you sit on both the Foreign Affairs and Veterans Affairs committees, how do you balance handling federal foreign policy issues with local veterans issues affecting your district?

Lee Zeldin: Serving on both committees gives me the jurisdiction necessary to focus on issues of importance to Long Island veterans, while fighting for a stronger, more consistent foreign policy to protect Americans across the country. I have been working tirelessly in Congress since January all day every day on important issues facing my district and our country. cit yandstateny.com

C&S: The first bill you introduced as congressman would eliminate a limit on VA housing loans for veterans. Why was it important for that to be your first piece of legislation?

LZ: This bill is very helpful for veterans

living in areas with a high cost of living, such as Long Island. This is an issue that many veterans have called my office concerned about. I introduced this bill because after serving our country, our veterans have earned this support of a grateful nation. This bipartisan legislation will provide the VA with the flexibility to determine the appropriate limit for all veterans’ loans, which needs to be lifted.

C&S: Veteran homelessness has been a major issue in New York state, especially downstate. What are you doing to help end this crisis?

LZ: It’s important that after laying their lives on the line, our veterans receive access to resources to improve their quality of life following military service, and housing access is vital.

One of the bills I have introduced would help veterans secure VA-backed loans, but we need to ensure our veterans have access to affordable housing on Long Island. This is one of my top priorities in Congress.

C&S: Why did you decide to cosponsor the Hire More Heroes Act, which would allow businesses to hire veterans without having them count as full-time employees

toward the 50-worker limit where a business must provide health insurance under the Affordable Care Act? LZ: I am proud to have supported and sponsored this legislation that protects our veterans and helps them obtain jobs and financial security. I was happy to see it pass the House. This provision would encourage small businesses to hire veterans, while providing employers with relief from burdensome requirements under Obamacare.

C&S: What will be your top goals on veterans issues in the coming year?

LZ: There is so much more we can do to improve life for our veterans and I will continue this important fight in Congress. One of my main priorities is ensuring that our veterans have access to affordable and quality health care, which is why I worked closely with Peconic Bay Medical Center to increase access to care for veterans who live on Long Island’s East End. After so bravely serving our country, this facility will open up an important new option for veterans. I am also working to develop solutions related to mental health care and have introduced a bill to expand veterans’ access to adult day health care.

city & state — July 30, 2015

LEE ZELDIN U.S. Congressman

C&S: Suffolk County has the highest veteran population in New York state and the second-highest in the nation. What are the biggest issues facing vets in Suffolk County and what is the best thing Albany could be doing to help them?

LZ: Fighting for our veterans who fought for us has always been one of my top priorities. While serving in the New York state Senate, I led the effort in Albany to create the PFC Joseph Dwyer Peer Support Program, which helps veterans in New York suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injury. I also wrote the law to protect our military families from protests at military burials. There is so much that can be done to improve the quality of life for our veterans at all levels of government.

Local, state and federal government should work together to help improve veterans care, from disability claims, to memorial services, and from education to health care, and much more.

ERIC ULRICH Chairman, New York City Council Veterans Committee

City & State: What needs to be done to reach the de Blasio administration’s goal of ending veteran homelessness and preventing it in the future?

Eric Ulrich: Among the homeless population in New York City, 17 percent of them identify as veterans while only 8 percent of the population of the city is veterans. Clearly there is a disproportionate amount of veterans that are currently homeless. In fact,

veterans are 50 percent more likely to be homeless than non-veterans. The administration has taken a big step in setting the goal of ending veteran homelessness and has committed the resources to meet this challenge within the Department of Homeless Services.

There also needs to be a massive collective effort by the city through interagency collaboration to identify all those veterans who are in need.

With everyone working together and

pulling the same side of the rope, we can end veterans homelessness.

C&S: You are one of many who have urged the city to create a formal department to handle veterans affairs.

Why are you advocating for this?

EU: Every veteran deserves the esteem of all New Yorkers and the highest-quality service and treatment.

A department of veterans affairs can help to create a more robust operation

to better serve our 200,000-plus veterans in New York City. A city department could serve as a “one-stop shop” for veterans, where they can receive information for legal, mental health and job placement assistance as well as benefits counselors being available to assist with VA claims. In addition, a department would have greater accountability and the council would have oversight to ensure that it is receiving the resources it needs.

20

Baruch College 55 Lexington Ave, 14th Floor • New York, NY 10010 City & State celebrates our fifth annual On Energy event with a broad look at the energy and environment sector in New York and the region. Leaders in government, advocacy and business will weigh in on topics like the future of nuclear, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s regulatory overhaul in New York, and more.

city & state — July 30, 2015

Wednesday, August 26th

For more information on programming and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Jasmin Freeman at jfreeman@cityandstateny.com or call 646-442-1662.

cit yandstateny.com

ERIC HESSE

MICHAEL DENDEKKER

Director, State Division of Veterans’ Affairs

Chairman, Assembly Veterans’ Affairs Committee

C&S: What is the state Division of Veterans’ Affairs doing to help?

EH: We have a lot of programs in place right now that help returning veterans.

We offer the opportunity for service members to sit down with our benefits councilors across all the counties in the state to find out what they are entitled to both at the federal level and the state level. New York was ahead of the federal government on allowing students who want to take advantage of the post-9/11 GI bill to attend SUNY and CUNY schools at the in-state tuition rate. The governor recently announced new veterans service centers opening across the state for veterans that are interested in starting their own business to provide them an opportunity to speak with professional people that have experience and who can help them get started.

And in the population of veterans, we also run into those folks that may have been a resident of another state when they got out of the service and have never talked to a New York state veterans counselor or gotten associated with the New York state programs because their DD Form 214 went back to their home state of Illinois (for example) and it’s important that we reach those folks, as well.

C&S: Is there conflict between the state and federal levels of government when trying to combat issues affecting veterans?

EH: Actually New York state has a great relationship with our federal partners across the VAs—whether it’s the medical centers or with the federal cit yandstateny.com

Department of Veterans Affairs regional offices out in Buffalo and New York City. We have folks from the state that actually work in the offices alongside those folks to make sure we don’t have conflict between the federal and the state levels.

C&S: Many veterans have difficulty finding work when they return from active service. How is the state doing to eliminate this problem?

EH: In terms of the unemployment numbers for veterans, the 18-24 (age) group right now is about equal to the rest of the population. In most age groups of the veteran population, (the unemployment rate is) less than what the rest of the national or state average is. For a while, that unemployment rate was much higher. But, now that you start breaking down the different segments of unemployment for veterans, it’s higher in the older age brackets, which would be expected, as is the norm across the national average for all unemployment. And then, like I said, the 18-24 (age group) fluctuates a lot because the numbers are so low in terms of the population. But, generally speaking, veterans in New York are doing well in terms of employment rates.

C&S: What’s coming up next for the division?

EH: New York state with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s guidance and direction is truly working to become the most veteran-friendly state. We have a lot of good programs. We’re pushing for military spouses, for families of military members to come into New York state to serve at places like West Point and Fort Drum. We’ve improved programs for reciprocating licenses for military spouses from other states.

We’re a part of the education compact, which makes sure students that come to New York state that are dependents of military members that may come in their junior or senior year (of high school) aren’t disadvantaged based on where they are coming from into a new school system.

City & State: What was the biggest accomplishment for veterans this legislative session?

Michael DenDekker: One of the big topics that we were working on this year was burial of indigent veterans, obviously, veterans that don’t have any funds or insurance or sometimes any designated next of kin when they pass away. What has been happening is that the amount for those funerals has been set in law and is extremely low and it hasn’t been changed in many years—it’s $900. A lot of veterans organizations, like the American Legion and others like Veterans of Foreign Wars actually supplement the cost of the burials when they’re happening and they use their own funds. I became Assembly chair of veterans’ affairs in March while we were in negotiations for the budget.

So, rather than try to change the law as fast as we would be able to, we included $250,000 in the budget, which was for the American Legion to supplement all those organizations that are currently supplementing all those indigent burials throughout the state so that our veterans that have no money can have a dignified and honorary burial.

And then before the end of session we actually changed the law. We passed the bill to change the amount from $900 to $2,000. We’re hoping that we will at least be able to alleviate some of the pressure on some of those various veterans organizations. Another big accomplishment is that we changed the admissions to the state nursing homes program.

C&S: What are some of the most important issues facing returning soldiers?

MD: There are actually a couple of important issues about returning active military that are now going to become veterans. We are expecting a large influx of that. As you know, all of the veterans benefits come from the federal government, so it’s our job when they return to the state of New York or the city of New York or to our own districts, first of all, to be notified

that they’re coming home so that we’ll be able to tell them about services and benefits that they are entitled to. To me, that is a No. 1 priority—for the active military to notify us, as a state, hey, there’s 14,000 troops returning to New York next year and they live in these counties and areas. So that we can notify not only the local services networks that are there, but also the local elected officials so they know there are veterans coming back into their districts, so they can help them get the benefits they deserve.

C&S: What is the state doing to help returning soldiers find work?

MD: I also have a bill in now to create a portal on the state Department of Labor’s website, as well as the (state Division of) Veterans’ Affairs website that would list all job opportunities that are available on all city and state governments in the state so when a returning vet—or any vet—is looking for work they would be able to go to onto a website and see what jobs are available in municipalities throughout the state. And as you know we have veterans preference on civil servant tests, we have veterans preference on promotion tests, so we’ve made it so that if they apply, they have to take a test, they get a preference on that.

C&S: What’s the best thing about working on veterans issues?

MD: What I can tell you about veterans affairs is that it is a bipartisan effort. There’s not one member on my committee—and my committee is obviously a mixture of Democrats and Republicans and the chair of the veterans in the (state) Senate (Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs) is Tom Croci, who is Republican—and I can tell you it is a bipartisan effort.

Everyone on our committees are really focused on trying to bring more benefits and give services that our veterans deserve. When we have that kind of effort working together we can make a difference like we did this year, so I’d like to see that going forward.

21

city & state — July 30, 2015

City & State: What is the most important issue facing veterans right now?

Eric Hesse: Dealing with the federal VA, ensuring that they get all their health care, take advantage of all the benefits that they are entitled to—what they’ve earned—and just readjusting to civilian life after the military. The transition from a service member to a veteran is a unique one, because you don’t really get taught to become a veteran, you just become one.

Local 46 Salutes All Our Veterans

We Proudly Participate in the Helmets to Hardhats Program

Local 46 Metallic Lathers & Reinforcing Ironworkers Business Manager: Terrence Moore Business Agents: Kevin Kelly, Ronnie Richardson, John Coffey and Michael Anderson President: John Skinner 1322 Third Avenue @ East 76th Street New York, NY 10021 • 212-737-0500 • www.ml46.org

23

cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

C

hoosing to serve your country in the military is a decision of monumental consequence. The choice comes with great challenges—physical and mental—and ultimately it shapes a person’s future in many ways that are obvious, but also in ways that are unseen. Whether a selfless act of devotion or a decision stemming from lack of alternative opportunities, in the end those who choose to join the United States armed forces enter into a unique and diverse group that unifies people from all walks of life.

City & State is proud to honor 10 people who are part of that diverse group of soldiers, sailors and Marines who served our country in the military and then chose to serve the communities they returned to through their work—whether it be at a nonprofit, in business or in government and politics.

Our inaugural class of Above & Beyond: Honoring Those Who Serve includes a Marine helping fellow veterans get college degrees; a senior airman who is helping veterans start and grow small businesses throughout New York City; and a Navy lieutenant who now leads the state’s 12th-largest county.

They are joined by seven other honorees who have equally compelling and distinct stories to tell. We detail their military service and how it impacted their futures and helped them build successful careers.

city & state — July 30, 2015

24

cit yandstateny.com

A ARON LEONARD EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PROJECT REBIRTH Y E A RS SER V ED: 198 7-201 4 BR A NCH: A RM Y HIGHE S T R A NK E A RNED: L IE U T EN A N T C OL ONEL

Aaron Leonard was just out of high school when he decided to join the military.

“I’m one of those kids that walked right into the recruiter station and the first open door was an Army recruiter,” Leonard said.

Leonard didn’t plan on staying in for long, but he ended up spending the next 27 years in the Army, taking a break only for college at Kansas State University. A veteran of both Gulf wars, including three tours in Iraq during the post-2003 invasion, Leonard was also stationed on the Korean Demilitarized Zone and took part in Operation Noble Eagle, the immediate security response to protect the U.S. following 9/11.

Leonard now works as the executive director of Project Rebirth, a nonprofit started by the creators of the award-winning documentary “Rebirth,” which focused on the revival of Lower Manhattan after 9/11 and the return to normal life for the attack’s victims. The organization creates videos and programs to help first responders and veterans heal after their experiences.

Leonard first encountered Project Rebirth when he completed his third and final tour in Iraq at the conclusion of the war in 2011.

“This was the first time I left Iraq and landed in Kuwait and just thought, ‘I don’t have to go back to Iraq.’ It’s such a unique feeling to have after spending so much time in that country,” Leonard said.

Although Leonard wasn’t officially retired from the Army, he finally had the free time to try some simple things he’d never gotten the chance to experience before, like discovering hobbies. He decided to try biking.

That year Leonard rode nearly 300 miles from San Antonio to Fort Worth in Texas in the Ride 2 Recovery, a program that challenges soldiers to

25

raise money and create bonds with their fellow veterans. Also on the ride was Caitlin Olsen, the executive director at the time for Project Rebirth, who was there to screen the documentary that gave the nonprofit its name.

“She befriended me,” Leonard said. “We just talked from time to time during the ride, and then she asked if I would be interested in volunteering with Project Rebirth.”

Leonard volunteered with the organization for three years, helping to launch Project Cohort, the group’s specialized program for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Realizing that many treatment programs fail to deal with the lack of trust many veterans struggle with, Leonard helped devise a program in which small groups of veterans go on wilderness explorations to simulate the bond service members experience in active duty.

“Most vets who need therapy don’t go to treatment, or they go once and never come back,” Leonard said. “Cohort helps to build a veteran group and develop trust and emotional bonds. It was designed so that later the veterans go to therapy together and do it as a group, not as an individual.”

Today, as Project Rebirth’s programs continue to expand with the help of educators and community and government officials, Leonard says he still sees his time in the military as a key to his success.

“My military experience allows me to see people’s different strengths and bring people together in a way that lets them establish goals that they want to achieve that helps them fulfill their sense of purpose,” Leonard said. “It keeps the mission of Project Rebirth in mind and why we do it.”

-Jeremy Unger cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

“My military experience allows me to see people’s different strengths and bring people together.”

city & state — July 30, 2015

26

cit yandstateny.com

REGINA GALLAGHER MARENGO PRESIDENT, ENSIGN ENGINEERING P.C. Y E A RS SER V ED: 1993-PRE SEN T BR A NCH: N AV Y HIGHE S T R A NK E A RNED: C A P TA IN

Regina Gallagher Marengo has been working with the Navy as both a sailor and civilian for more than two decades. A civil engineer, she has operated in that capacity as an active duty officer and reservist for the Navy and as the president of Ensign Engineering P.C., where she often contracts with the Seabees, the Navy’s construction arm.

Switching back and forth between civilian and military work has not been a heavy lift for Marengo, as the work she does in both roles—managing teams of construction workers on large-scale projects—is almost identical, whether she is overseeing the building of a bridge in Kandahar or the construction of a new storage facility for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

“Actually it dovetails perfectly, I think,” Marengo said. “What I do in the military is similar.”

Marengo’s military experience also trained her to navigate the complicated world of government agencies, a skill that is useful in her civilian work, since her company often deals with agencies and municipalities, she said.

“The rationale that you have to use is probably similar in many ways, working the chain of command,” Marengo said.

Being a leader in both the engineering world and the military, Marengo has gone far in positions traditionally occupied by men. She says she never really considers the gender gap and hasn’t found it to be a challenge for her.

“It is true that those two fields I’m in are kind of dominated by men, but I’ve never found it to be an obstacle, not at all,” Marengo said.

27

Marengo said that one of the more rewarding parts of her military service has been seeing what people from all walks of life can accomplish when working together.

“It’s been unbelievable,” she said.

One such project was a water well her unit built in Afghanistan. At 1,500 feet, the well is the deepest in the country and continues to provide about a million gallons of drinking water to Afghans each day.

“That was a lot of effort and the guys stuck with it and pulled it off,” Marengo said. “It was really quite amazing.”

Marengo has been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan and has traveled to South Korea, Germany and around the U.S. in her work for both the military and her company, a part of her service that she enjoys.

“I’ve traveled far and wide with the Navy,” Marengo said. “I’ve had an amazing career, I’ve met wonderful people, diverse people, people from all over the country and learning from them. It’s been marvelous, really.”

But the high point of her career was, as a commander of about 600, returning home from her two deployments without having lost a single sailor or soldier—something that many units were unable to avoid.

“You thank your lucky stars,” she said, “because any day could have been the day.”

-Justin Sondel cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

“I’ve had an amazing career, I’ve met wonderful people, diverse people, people from all over the country and learning from them. It’s been marvelous, really.”

city & state — July 30, 2015

28

cit yandstateny.com

KELLY SAELI

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, NEW YORK CITY HELMETS TO HARDHATS Y E A RS SER V ED: 2003-2006 BR A NCH: A IR F ORCE HIGHE S T R A NK E A RNED: SENIOR A IRM A N

At the age of 21, Kelly Saeli joined the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in Alaska looking for direction and a long-term career opportunity.

“I enjoyed my flight that I worked with and especially the people that I worked with. I made a lot of good friends that are still friends to this day,” Saeli said. “The experience in the military really gave me the direction that I needed in order to make sure I was successful in my life and career endeavors.”

After leaving the Air Force in 2006, Saeli went back to school full time. Five years ago, she began working with other veterans when she moved to New York.

She joined the Small Business Development Center in Brooklyn, hosted by the New York City College of Technology, where she worked as a veteran business adviser, helping veterans and their families throughout the five boroughs start or expand small businesses.

“I think veterans are still having a hard time transitioning out from being in that type of lifestyle into a career,” she said. “What I love about my job is that I’m placing them into careers that are unionized construction jobs and they’re getting a decent wage rate from the get-go and also health

29

benefits, as well. They’re able to not only take care of themselves, but their families.”

Now Saeli works for Helmets to Hardhats, a national nonprofit that aims to connect transitioning veterans with unionized, skilled training and career opportunities in the construction industry.

The Helmets to Hardhats website says that since 2007, the organization has helped almost 6,000 veterans into quality careers in building and construction trades.

As director of operations in New York City, Saeli said she enjoys mentoring and advising veterans to help them find successful careers. Her responsibilities include legal and financial compliance, grant writing and reporting, training, business development, fundraising, labor relations and recruitment.

“I like working in community service,” she said. “I like working with people. I like to mentor and advise people, especially when it comes to careers, because if I can give them a good solid career, then that is what allows me to be successful at what I’m doing.”

She said New York state has one of the best veteran transition programs in the country.

“If we can implement an easy-to-use platform for all statewide veterans services based on location and need, veterans will yield greater results as soon as possible,” she said.

-Ashley Hupfl cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

“I like working with people. I like to mentor and advise people, especially when it comes to careers, because if I can give them a good solid career, then that is what allows me to be successful at what I’m doing.”

city & state — July 30, 2015

30

cit yandstateny.com

WALTER BRIDGERS TEAM LEADER, HARLEM VET CENTER

Y E A RS SER V ED: 19 75-1986 BR A NCH: A RM Y HIGHE S T R A NK E A RNED: SERGE A N T

For most civilians, life in the Army isn’t fathomable. The highly organized lifestyle and orientation toward a purpose greater than oneself demands a discipline and mindset that doesn’t easily sync with nonmilitary life. And so it stands to reason that exiting the military and re-entering normal society is extremely tough—even for those who never see combat.

“Military people are mission oriented,” said Walter Bridgers. “And you never get rid of a mission, you just find different ways to complete the mission. It is very demanding, and you have to be a real team player.” Bridgers leads the Harlem Vet Center, one of about 300 such community-based centers with ties to the federal government scattered throughout the nation. “Civilians are goal-oriented. And you can change your goal any time you want. Out here you can kind of fake it a little bit.”

For Bridgers, 65, working to assist fellow veterans who are making the adjustment back to civilian life after a career in the armed forces provides just that sense of mission.

“It is a terrible experience to make this transition and I wanted to make it easier for other vets,” Bridgers said. “I wanted to give back—that was the main purpose. To let people know that it could be done and it was not as difficult as you might think.”

The Harlem Vet Center provides veterans and their families with outreach, counseling and referral services, including assistance in finding housing,

31

medical referrals and counseling for issues like marriage conflict and sexual trauma.

Bridgers moved from North Carolina to the South Bronx at age 11. He spent four years in the New Jersey National Guard before entering the Army in 1976.

“At that particular time in New York City jobs were minimal,” Bridgers said. “And I don’t know, I think the little toy soldiers—cowboys and Indian stuff—and I think it got me, I think it got me. Throw in a couple of John Wayne movies, some other stuff, and it got me.”

He spent 11 years on active duty as a supply sergeant in the 1970s and ’80s, until he was forced to retire after breaking his back on the job. From there, he entered York College, part of the City University of New York system, where he majored in psychology. Bridgers went on to acquire his master’s degree in social work, but throughout the entire time he volunteered at the vet center.

Bridgers believes education is the key to allowing veterans to make the successful transition back to civilian life.

“It could be just regular academia. It could be a trade school. But I believe that is the method that most vets should use to return to civilian life,” Bridgers said. “And there are plenty of people around that would like to help you make this transition. You are considered a valuable asset to this country, and the skills that we acquire while we are on active duty, most people will never have the kind of experiences that we have had in reference to working with other people that are different from themselves.”

-Wilder Fleming cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

“Military people are mission oriented. And you never get rid of a mission, you just find different ways to complete the mission.”

city & state — July 30, 2015

32

cit yandstateny.com

TOM GRAY SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CAPALINO + COMPANY Y E A RS SER V ED: 2000-2008 BR A NCH: C OA S T GUA RD HIGHE S T R A NK E A RNED: PE T T Y OF F ICER , T HIRD CL A S S

When Tom Gray applied for an internship with a vocal Park Slope city councilman, he didn’t know that his boss would one day become the mayor of New York City. “The mayor often says to me, ‘You wrote the most convincing cover letter I’ve ever read and I’ve referred to it over the years.’ But it was way too long and way too cheesy, a very young unjaded, bright-eyed type of letter,” Gray said.

Gray’s modesty is matched only by his passion for helping others through service, both in the military and to New York City. A member of the Coast Guard and a veteran of the Iraq War, Gray now works as a senior vice president for Capalino + Company, the top-grossing lobbying firm in New York City. But growing up in the small town of Nagley, Ohio, New York City politics was about as far from his mind as possible.

“My family has a lot of history with military service so it was something I was definitely brought up with,” Gray said. “I really wanted to go into law enforcement, be a police officer, which was why I thought joining the Coast Guard would be a good place to gain experience.”

Gray joined the Coast Guard Reserve while attending Kent State University, and his unit was eventually deployed to active duty in Kuwait as part of the initial 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“We were protecting ports and on ship most of the time, but a lot of my friends experienced much harsher conditions,” Gray said. “The locals have to deal with real problems. We take a lot of things for granted.”

After his tour ended, Gray moved to New York, where he worked for de Blasio for six years, excelling and rising to become his director of land use

33

when the councilman was elected public advocate.

“At that time, Park Slope had a lot of development issues, so it was out of necessity almost that I learned this. But I really enjoyed it because of all the different aspects, from the technical aspect, to the developer’s point of view, to community organizing, and people are very impassioned about it in their neighborhoods,” Gray said.

Gray later served as the executive director of the Greenwich Village Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, but he missed being at City Hall every day and decided to join Capalino, where he returned to working on land-use issues for a number of real estate and business companies.

“I missed government and this type of work,” Gray said. “The first week I came back it really felt like I was coming home.”

Gray’s successes at Capalino range from building out the company’s roster and revamping the website and promotional materials, to securing placement for Alamo Drafthouse, an art house cinema, in Acadia Trust’s City Point development in Downtown Brooklyn.

Gray says that a lot of people are surprised to hear that he served in the military, what with his deep background in progressive politics and connections with officials that normally take decades to develop. But Gray credits a lot of it to the lessons he learned in the military.

“The military really taught me about teamwork, and I tell my clients that I am never on Tom Island, we’re all working together as part of a team,” Gray said. “It’s something I think about every single day.”

-Jeremy Unger cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

“The military really taught me about teamwork, and I tell my clients that I am never on Tom Island, we’re all working together as part of a team.”

city & state — July 30, 2015

34

cit yandstateny.com

DAN MCSWEENEY INCOMING PRESIDENT, UNITED WAR VETERANS COUNCIL Y E A RS SER V ED: 1999-2010 BR A NCH: M A RINE C ORP S HIGHE S T R A NK E A RNED: M A JOR This Veterans Day, Dan McSweeney will march 1.3 miles up Fifth Avenue in the annual America’s Parade—it will be his first parade as president of the United War Veterans Council, the nonprofit group that hosts the parade every year. But that walk will be a piece of cake compared with the miles McSweeney has put in getting to this position.

The 45-year-old McSweeney is, above all else, a traveler. Before joining the Marines, he backpacked around Europe. Alone. For a year. “I’ve always been curious about the world,” he said. “That was a great way to be on my own and experience some things and learn about different cultures and history and about myself.” After leaving active duty for the first time, he hiked the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, averaging 24 miles a day. Earlier this year, he drove across the U.S.―hitting California, Florida and everywhere in between. And that’s not to mention his 11-year career in the Marines, including time in Iraq, Kosovo, Japan and at the Pentagon. “I seem to like these long treks,” he said.

Every traveler has a home base, and for McSweeney, that’s Morningside Heights. He was born in the neighborhood, and calls New York City one of his biggest passions; the heaping tower of books he keeps near his window are all Gotham-themed, from “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” to “The Historical Atlas of New York.”

“New York City is a great place for veterans,” McSweeney said. “Everybody thinks about New York as this cold-hearted, egocentric, businessoriented place … but have we ever seen bigger celebrations of our service than Fleet Week and Veterans Day?” McSweeney is one of many post-9/11 vets who have settled in the five boroughs, and he knows why: “They’re ambitious, they’re entrepreneurial, they’re willing to take risks, and what better place for them to come than New York City? So we’re seeing an influx,” he said. “These are going to be the leaders of government, and especially in business in the next 20 years.”

In some respects, it will be McSweeney’s job to honor these younger vets. His appointment to lead the UWVC marks a generational shift in the

35

nonprofit. McSweeney says he stands on the shoulders of outgoing President Vince McGowan, who helped revive the UWVC in the 1980s to counter the poor treatment Vietnam vets had received upon their return to American soil.

“My generation of vets benefitted from the work that the Vietnam veterans did,” McSweeney said. “I know that because when I came home from Iraq I wasn’t derided, I wasn’t spit on. I was welcomed home.”

That welcoming spirit has always been at the heart of America’s Parade, so it’s been able to avoid the controversy generated by its fellow Fifth Avenue procession, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which for many years did not allow Irish LGBTQ groups to march under their own banner.

“Anybody that served honorably should be honored. It’s as simple as that,” McSweeney said. “It’s not our business to be involved in conversations about what’s right or wrong culturally or otherwise.”

He calls the UWVC a “unifier” that does more than just run a parade. McSweeney and his staff are advocates, working to foster awareness and connections between veterans and the world at large.

Before leading the council, McSweeney worked to foster awareness of another kind, leading the effort to preserve and redevelop the “last American ocean liner,” the S.S. United States. That passion, like his love of travel, is in his blood: McSweeney’s father was a merchant mariner, who worked primarily on the S.S. United States.

-Jeff Coltin cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

“Everybody thinks about New York as this cold-hearted, egocentric, businessoriented place … but have we ever seen bigger celebrations of our service than Fleet Week and Veterans Day?”

city & state — July 30, 2015

36

cit yandstateny.com

STEVEN NEUHAUS ORANGE COUNTY EXECUTIVE Y E A RS SER V ED: 2001-2005, 200 7-PRE SEN T BR A NCH: A RM Y N AT ION A L GUA RD, N AV Y RE SER V E HIGHE S T R A NK E A RNED: L IE U T EN A N T

In the summer of 2001, Steven Neuhaus left his job with a financial firm at the World Trade Center. Just weeks later, terrorists destroyed the two towers in the horrific Sept. 11 attacks, killing thousands of people.

“Just by the grace of God, I got hired by a local municipality in the summer of 2001, and I wasn’t working in the World Trade Center, in Tower 2.

I left there a few months before,” said Neuhaus, the 41-year-old Orange county executive. “So I was inspired after that. I joined the Army Guard in October, and I subsequently went into the Navy after that, all because of that experience.”

Neuhaus said he is continually inspired by those who volunteer, much like he was proud of his father, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. For example, during an exercise last October, one person under Neuhaus’ command was a soldier who had lost his leg in an IED explosion.

“Instead of getting out of the military, he decided to get a prosthetic leg and still serves the military today,” Neuhaus said. “When you see that type of caliber of men and women, it really brings you into perspective. When I go away for an exercise or a mission or even a drill weekend, my staff knows that it’s almost rejuvenating for me. It just strengthens my appreciation for this country, because these men and women are just great.”

Neuhaus, who was elected county executive in 2013, continues to serve. After four years with the Army National Guard, he took a break before joining the Navy Reserves in 2007 as a commissioned officer. He is assigned to the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command.

37

Although Neuhaus has limited experience overseas, with a single stint in Africa for an exercise during the Libyan uprising, he has found other ways to contribute. He is a board member and former president of the Committee for Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans, a nonprofit dedicated to helping returning veterans, current soldiers and families of those who have been injured or killed in combat.

“They might come home and not be able to make an initial college payment or they will come home and they might not have the money to get set up in a house or an apartment,” Neuhaus said. “That’s the kind of things that this organization fills gaps in on.”

As county executive, Neuhaus says he applies lessons learned during his military service. He runs the county government in some ways like a military operation, with a chain of command that grants department heads the authority to run on their own. But he also recognizes the insights of those further down the ladder, having worked alongside lower-ranking soldiers on the ground.

“I put a lot of faith in the people that are doing the dirty work and I tend to go to them and say, if you were in charge, how would you do things differently?” Neuhaus said. “I believe it’s very outside-the-box way of thinking. Most people just go to their department heads for a problem. I like to ask the guys that are actually being charged with implementing the problem, the deputy sheriffs on the street, the (Department of Public Works) workers that are designing or working with plowing the roads or fixing the bridges, and they quite often will give you a different touch to accomplishing a goal or a challenge or a mission and it’s been very successful for me.”

-Jon Lentz cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

“When I go away for an exercise or a mission or even a drill weekend … it just strengthens my appreciation for this country, because these men and women are just great.”

city & state — July 30, 2015

38

cit yandstateny.com

WELBY ALCANTARA COORDINATOR, OFFICE OF MILITARY AND VETERANS SERVICES, JOHN JAY COLLEGE SCHOOL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE Y E A RS SER V ED: 199 4 -2000 BR A NCH: M A RINE C ORP S HIGHE S T R A NK E A RNED: C ORP OR A L Welby Alcantara knew he wanted to join the military from a young age. The Marine, who left active duty in 2000, first joined through the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps when he was 18, telling his recruiter he wanted to begin his training as soon as possible.

“I guess I watched too many war movies,” Alcantara said.

Alcantara says being a Boy Scout may have been his first step toward a military career, especially for a guy who grew up in Washington Heights.

“I think being in the Boy Scouts and preparing for the woods was a catalyst for me to be in the JROTC,” Alcantara said.

Alcantara, who began his service with the Marines in 1994, now works with soldiers and veterans re-entering civilian life as the coordinator of the Office of Military and Veterans Services at the John Jay College School of Criminal Justice.

Alcantara has seen many of the issues that soldiers carry home with them after war in his role at the school. He has helped students deal with hunger, homelessness, depression and other challenges as they work toward their degrees.

“I also help with external things,” Alcantara said. “I have to make sure the student-veteran stays on mission to graduate.”

And that can be particularly challenging, as many of the students face a rough transition back into normal life. Even tasks like filling out a college application or signing up for benefits can be a big challenge in some instances, he says.

“I am an unlicensed therapist because a lot of the students have a lot of issues,” Alcantara said. “They need somebody to help them and guide them.”

Alcantara almost missed out on the opportunity to work with fellow veterans. With a child on the way, he was prepared to quit grad school just a few credits short of earning his master’s degree when a professor told him to look into the veterans coordinator program, which was just emerging at the time.

39

“I fell into this job,” Alcantara said.

Part-time work turned into a full-time position and he has been at it ever since, growing programs and helping to make John Jay College a top-rated campus for veterans (the third most military-friendly campus in the country, according to Military Times).

Still, the work goes on and Alcantara will continue to use government services to help his student-veterans graduate, while hoping the government will continue to expand programming until issues like veteran suicides and homelessness are a thing of the past.

“They are doing something, but I think they could be doing more,” Alcantara said.

Alcantara says his military experience is invaluable in his current position.

“What makes me successful in this job is that I was in the military, that I have a military ethic of work,” Alcantara said.

He says he feels lucky to be able to work on behalf of his fellow veterans. “When you come out into civilian life you continue advocating for your troops,” he said.

But that doesn’t mean he goes easy on them. He makes his students do a lot of community service, because, in his eyes, service to the country does not end with your departure from the military.

“I’m big on giving back,” Alcantara said. “The mission continues.”

-Justin Sondel cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

“When you come out into civilian life you continue advocating for your troops.”

city & state — July 30, 2015

40

cit yandstateny.com

JOSEPH A. BELLO FOUNDER, NY METROVETS Y E A RS SER V ED: 198 4 -1995 BR A NCH: N AV Y HIGHE S T R A NK E A RNED: PE T T Y OF F ICER , SE C OND CL A S S

cit yandstateny.com

41

city & state — July 30, 2015

One budget season, Joseph Bello, a Navy veteran, called out then-New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for what he viewed as inadequate city funding for former service members. He suggested Quinn’s father, a fellow Navy vet, would not appreciate that the city planned to budget about 50 cents per veteran in funding.

An hour later, Bello said, Quinn’s chief of staff called complaining. But Bello didn’t let that stop him.

Amid this year’s budget negotiations, Bello went on NY1’s “Inside City Hall” and described Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure as one marked by unfulfilled campaign pledges: “He was going to put some money into (the Mayor’s Office of Veterans’ Affairs). He was going to make some serious appointments. He was going to do a number of issues and items that we put forth. And subsequently, that hasn’t happened.”

This time, Bello saw funding for the Mayor’s Office of Veterans’ Affairs double.

From a proposed veterans hospital closure to debates over adding a veteran label to municipal IDs, Bello, 48, watches veterans issues wind their way through City Hall, and has documented their trajectory in his NY MetroVets newsletter and advocated on behalf of fellow service members past and present since the late 1990s. The Yahoo group he uses to send his digital periodical has amassed at least 1,000 subscribers—and that doesn’t include those who follow his work on social media or track his testimony at government meetings.

“The majority of civilians, the public, believe that the (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) will handle us. … That’s not on the local level. This is where the city is supposed to be a partner,” said Bello, who was recently appointed to the administration’s Veteran Advisory Board. “We got some gains this year from City Hall, but I want them to listen more. I want them to do certain things.”

A younger Bello was eager to get away from the city he now works with. As a high schooler in Flushing, Bello said he had his sights set on joining the Army until a Navy recruiter asked him whether he wanted to stay stationed at one base or travel. Bello headed to Navy boot camp in 1984.

He started as a deckhand, but was disappointed with the menial aspects of the job; he describes one particularly dreary New Year’s Day spent circling the ship and painting its waterline near a cold, empty pier. Bello eventually became a yeoman, handling reports and paperwork for officers, and then became a Navy Reserves recruiter at Fort Schuyler in the Bronx.

Shortly after Bello qualified for a promotion to petty officer first class in 1995, he developed asthma and said he was shown the door before getting a chance to attach the third stripe onto his uniform. Bello found himself back in Queens, where he struggled to find a new direction after the 20-year military career he had anticipated was cut short. He went from job interview to job interview without success. Then one employer asked if he had considered attending college, which ultimately inspired him to get degrees from LaGuardia Community College and then New York University.

Around 1996, Bello started organizing and advocating with fellow veterans under the moniker NY MetroVeterans. A few years later, the Mayor’s Office of Veteran’s Affairs stopped publishing its periodic newsletter highlighting happenings and veteran news, so Bello began circulating an e-newsletter of his own to ensure the community remained connected. His political engagement grew, and by 2003, Bello had helped draft his first piece of legislation with then-City Councilman Michael Nelson, which expanded the size of the Veteran Advisory Board.

Bello has spent years calling for reform of the vendor licensing system that vets rely on and urging the city to allocate more money for veterans services. He counts this year’s budget among his victories, along with a 2003 campaign to save the Manhattan VA hospital from closure and his push to have the Mayor’s Office of Veterans’ Affairs’ leader elevated from a director to a commissioner.

“Joe wrote about (the proposed budget),” said Joseph Mondello, chairman of the Bronx Borough President’s Veteran Advisory Council, “and it inspired these other veteran advocates to go to the steps of City Hall and to speak on this matter, and because of that there was a sit-down and discussion, and what comes out of it is more money. He’s vital. … He’s like The Inquirer.”

-Sarina Trangle

city & state — July 30, 2015

42

cit yandstateny.com

KENNETH CURLEY FOUNDER, RAYMOND ASSOCIATES, LLC AND NEW YORK STATE FOR VETERANS Y E A RS SER V ED: 19 78-1998 BR A NCH: A RM Y HIGHE S T R A NK E A RNED: C OL ONEL To talk with Ken Curley is to be almost overwhelmed with praise. He will compliment you, he will compliment the groups he has been a part of, he will compliment his mentors—just about the only thing he won’t speak highly of is himself.

“What do I owe?” Curley asked. “Anything I’ve accomplished, (I owe) my parents, my high school educational opportunity, coaches, the Military Academy and Army lacrosse.”

He credits them all for a heroic, decadeslong career spanning military and civilian life that began at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. But don’t think he could have gotten in today, Curley says.

“The men and women that are there today, and at Annapolis and Air Force, they are far superior to what I was,” he said. “I was a lucky, lucky guy who was a good athlete on a great team.”

That great team was the lacrosse team at West Islip High School on Long Island, a New York powerhouse that is still churning out state championships.

Curley played well enough to be accepted to West Point and play on the team there, which he said set him up for the future.

“Army athletics is a brotherhood, specifically Army lacrosse. I don’t know anybody who’s played that sport at that institution that’s failed. They’ve all been very successful in life,” he said—all because of connections forged on the field. “These (lacrosse) relationships have lasted a lifetime. We were in each other’s weddings, and all our kids grew up together.”

Curley’s first job out of the Army came from a lacrosse teammate, Brendan Quinn, the former state Republican Party executive director. Quinn recommended him to be the state’s director of military support and then chief of staff within the Division of Military and Naval Affairs, where he worked from 1998 to 2000. Curley was supremely qualified for the jobs, having risen to the rank of colonel and having served as an officer in the 75th Ranger Regiment, better known as the Army Rangers.

43

“Being a U.S. Army officer is an honor and a privilege,” he said. “And I say that because of the men you work with. Not because of me, but because of the young Rangers that make us.”

Those years as a Ranger led Curley to start Raymond Associates, a management organization with government contracts in Iraq and around the world.

Despite successes with his company—like being chosen to lead security for Gens. David Petraeus and Martin Dempsey—Curley is most proud of his work founding New York State for Veterans, a nonprofit that helps the state’s vets get work after rejoining civilian life.

“We don’t try and find them jobs, we find them careers,” Curley said. “They contact us. And unlike federal and state programs, we have unlimited time with these guys and gals and their families.”

He runs the organization out of a converted horse barn in Saratoga County, near where Curley and his wife of 30 years raised their four children.

It is Curley’s dream job, so he tries to provide the same for other vets.

“It always starts with asking, what’s your dream? What do you want to do for your family now that you’ve served your country? What do you want to do for your kids, and what do you want to do for yourself?” he said. “A lot of the time we never get asked that question.”

Curley says he’s been lucky enough to have had other people looking out for his dreams.

“There’s no magic wands out there,” he said. “People help you.”

-Jeff Coltin cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

“Anything I’ve accomplished, (I owe) my parents, my high school educational opportunity, coaches, the Military Academy and Army lacrosse.”

PERSPEC TIVES

AGENT ORANGE TREATMENT FOR BLUE WATER VETS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13TH The New School Auditorium: 66 West 12th Street BRIEF: City & State and our partners will gather leaders in education, government, advocacy and business to discuss the implementation of technology in classrooms and STEM curriculum across New York, and the current debate regarding evaluations, testing, school closures and more.

PROGRAM:

44

8:00am: Registration & Breakfast 8:45am: Keynote by NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina 9:00am: Big Ideas in Education City & State moderates a panel of officials, experts and academics on improving tech access in and out of classrooms, STEM learning in NY schools, and how to make NY more competitive across the globe!

Clara Hemphill, Editor, Inside Schools (Moderator) Josh Wallack, Deputy Chancellor, NYC Department of Education Rashid Davis, Founding Principal, P-TECH More speakers TBA 10:00am: Government and Labor Working Together City & State moderates a panel of top level education officials and labor leaders on issues like testing, evaluations, schools closures, charters and more.

Merryl Tisch, Regents Chancellor MaryEllen Elia, Commissioner, NYS Education Department Evan Stone, Founder, Educators 4 Excellence More speakers TBA

city & state — July 30, 2015

Sponsored by:

To RSVP, please visit events.cityandstateny.com For more information on programming and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Jasmin Freeman at jfreeman@cityandstateny.com or call 646-442-1662.

KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND

In the Vietnam War, thousands of men and women were exposed to a horrific chemical known as Agent Orange.

Agent Orange was dangerous. It was toxic. It filled the air, poisoned the water, and severely damaged the health of the people who were exposed to it—and in the late 1960s, the United States government recognized its harmful effects.

Agent Orange is a weapon that we never should have used, and the Department of Veterans Affairs now actively provides care and coverage to many soldiers who were exposed to it during the Vietnam War. The problem we face today is that under current VA rules, when the VA treats cases related to Agent Orange exposure, the only U.S. veterans they will see are the men and women who actually walked on Vietnamese soil, or served on boats on Vietnam’s rivers.

This means that thousands of U.S. Navy veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange while stationed on ships just off the Vietnamese coast are not being treated by the VA. Agent Orange did not discriminate between those who stood on boats on rivers, and those who stood on boats offshore. So why should the VA discriminate between the two?

This arbitrary and bureaucratic rule is causing thousands of our Navy veterans to suffer.

I’ve introduced a bipartisan bill to the U.S. Senate that would finally solve this problem. The bill is called the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2015, and it would change the VA’s rules so that our blue water veterans get the care they need and deserve.

Bobby Condon is one of these veterans. He’s from Brooklyn, he joined the Navy when he was a teenager, and he went to Vietnam at age 18 because he wanted to serve

his country.

Like countless others, Bobby was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam.

He served on the USS Intrepid, which is now a world-class museum right here in New York. Bobby moved propeller planes and bomber jets on the Intrepid’s flight deck—planes that had dropped Agent Orange, and still contained its residue after their missions were finished.

It was Bobby’s job to handle these planes. Bobby was a serial nail-biter, and he believes Agent Orange toxins seeped into his body when he bit his nails. And now, in his late 60s, he suffers from leukemia—a disease linked to Agent Orange exposure.

He’s been dealing with it for almost 20 years.

So what do you think the Department of Veteran Affairs did when Bobby first went to them for coverage? They said, “Sorry, your boat was here, not here, so we can’t help you. Sorry, you didn’t have boots on the ground.” All those blue water Navy veterans like Bobby—we’re letting them down.

Bobby said it best: “All I wanted is what I deserve.”

We have an obligation to give back to the brave men and women who risked their lives for us. Because each day that we delay passage of this bill— each day that our Vietnam veterans are refused service from the VA—these Americans continue to become ill and go into bankruptcy from trying to pay their medical bills.

Let’s fight to pass this bill, and give our heroes the medical coverage they need and deserve.

Kirsten Gillibrand is a U.S. senator for New York.

cit yandstateny.com

BRAD HOYLMAN Discrimination against openly gay people in the U.S. military has a long and ignominious history dating back to Colonial days. According to the historian Randy Shilts, the first known soldier dismissed for homosexuality, Lt. Gotthold Frederick Enslin, was subject to a court martial on March 11, 1778, approved by Gen.

George Washington himself.

Over 114,000 LGBT service members have been dishonorably discharged since World War II. In 2011, the Department of Defense ended its discriminatory policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” allowing gay and lesbian members of our armed forces to serve openly for the first time. But widespread injustice in our military remains.

Openly transgender service members continue to be prohibited to serve and LGBT service members who were discharged prior to the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” just because of their sexual orientation are now ineligible for a host of state and federal programs that are intended to support veterans.

New York can help remove this stain on our country’s history by ensuring all gay, lesbian and transgender service members— regardless of when they served—have access to the same benefits as their straight counterparts.

This past Memorial Day, I released a report identifying over 53 state programs that LGBT veterans may fail to qualify for because of their discharge status. These programs,

designed to provide support for veterans who often face a difficult transition to civilian life, include scholarships, job opportunities, health screenings and reimbursement for burial costs.

New York should lead the way to put an end to our government’s shameful treatment of LGBT veterans. To this end, I introduced the New York Restoration of Honor Act, which would make veterans discharged just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity eligible for these programs, services and benefits at the state level.

My legislation would establish a simple, streamlined certification process within the state Division of Veterans’ Affairs for LGBT veterans to clarify their discharge status and place the burden on the state to prove why a veteran discharged for sexual orientation or gender identity isn’t otherwise eligible for state assistance.

There is similar legislation at the federal level. New York’s own U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand introduced a bill that would correct the military records of veterans discharged because of their sexual orientation to reflect their honorable service and,

as a result, make them eligible for all the federal programs to which other veterans have access.

But with the gridlock that has seized Congress, New York shouldn’t wait for Washington to act.

While New York state doesn’t have the power to correct the military records of discharged LGBT service members, it can ensure these men and women are treated with the respect and honor deserved by anyone who defends our country.

Thankfully, “don’t ask, don’t tell” is now considered to be as archaic as prohibiting women from serving in the armed forces. But it’s important that New York end the lingering effects of over two centuries of discrimination toward LGBT service members and rectify the disparity of benefits for LGBT vets.

Republicans and Democrats alike can surely agree that restoring honor to those who’ve sacrificed for their country is a battle worth fighting.

PERSPEC TIVES

RESTORING HONOR FOR LGBT VETS

Brad Hoylman is a state senator for New York’s 27th District.

45 CITY & STATE PRINT ISSUE SPOTLIGHT:

Get your organization or message in front of NY government in this targeted issue spotlight. Ad deadline for this issue is August 6th! Contact Andrew Holt at aholt@cityandstateny.com or 212-894-5422 to reserve space today!

FEATURED TECH AND TELECOM EDITORIAL: • Uber Across New York – What is holding up the company’s expansion to the taxi desert that is the Capital Region, and are other upstate cities experiencing the same issue?

• NYC Data Dumps – City & State takes a look at the the actual amount of usable data that is accessible to the public. How might Mayor Bill de Blasio’s new One New York initiative improve on the decades long efforts?

• Universal Broadband – Recently Mayor Bill de Blasio and President Obama have made universal broadband a priority. City & State analyzes how feasible this is to complete, and how targeted efforts in NYCHA and other facilities might be more realistic in the immediate future.

TECH AND TELECOM OP-EDS AND PERSPECTIVES: • Reshma Saujani, Columnist and Founder of Girls Who Code • Minerva Tantoco, Chief Technology Officer, New York City BACK & FORTH: • Tim Armstrong, CEO, AOL

cit yandstateny.com

city & state — July 30, 2015

GOVERNMENT Q&A’S ON TECH AND TELECOM ISSUES IN NY: • Rachel Haot, Chief Digital Officer, New York State • Maya Wiley, Counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio • Councilmember Jimmy Vacca, Chair, Committee on Technology • Senator Joe Griffo, Chair, Committee on Energy and Telecom

STILL WALKING B

rian Castner’s award-

C&S: You’re from the Buffalo area and have a lot of experience with veterans in the state. What are some of the biggest issues that Albany needs to tackle to help improve veterans’ lives in New York?

BC: I think New York is doing well.

What I would point to specifically is the veterans courts which started in Buffalo and have spread across the state and the country. They’re a model for how to treat veterans, to take into account a criminal’s background when deciding if they need treatment or punishment, and I think they are really important.

winning memoir “The Long Walk,” about his experience as an explosive ordnance disposal officer in Iraq, was recently adapted into one of the most unexpected mediums imaginable—an opera. The show ran for the month of July in Saratoga Springs to positive reviews from outlets including The New York Times.

Castner spoke with City & State’s Jeremy Unger about adapting the memoir for the opera, the challenges veterans face in New York state and his next book, which investigates the death of one of his best friends in Afghanistan.

The following is an edited transcript.

city & state — July 30, 2015

46

City & State: The opera version of your memoir “The Long Walk” debuted this month in Saratoga Springs. What was it like watching this difficult part of your life unfold on stage with strangers sitting all around you?

Brian Castner: Oh, very weird. But fortunately I’ve been desensitized—it wasn’t my first exposure. I’ve been fortunate that Jeremy Howard Beck and Stephanie Fleischmann, who are the composer and the librettist, have involved me in the process.

They also had me in a week early to see rehearsals and to act as a little bit of a technical advisor so I could help some of the singers hold their rifles correctly and teach them cheek welds and muzzle awareness and that kind of thing. I didn’t know a lot about opera before this got started but I’ve really learned what opera does well and what opera does better than other art forms, and that’s through the music and the singing and just the time and having the thing physically performed in front of you. You’re really able to dwell on these emotional performances and transcend narrative. I think the emotional gut punch is even more effective in the opera.

C&S: You described in your memoir the “long walk” soldiers take when they get home and have to adjust

A Q&A WITH

BRIAN CASTNER to normal life again. Do you think three years later that you are still on that “long walk” yourself?

BC: You never unlearn the things you learn in a war. But that’s not all bad. You learn all these things about yourself, about violence, grief, cause and effect, how much luck has to do with life and your own mortality. I’m not sure I want to unlearn all those things because you really do that whole carpe diem thing from then on.

But the book is a time capsule in some way. It describes the most intense part of me trying to figure this out, and fortunately I don’t have the intensity of anxiety, grief, panic, post-traumatic stress, etc., like I did then. There was no break and I was imagining I was going to live the rest of my life like that.

Well obviously that didn’t happen and so now I can see how lucky I am that I’ve overcome the lion’s share of it. So it’s about keeping the good things you learned and jettisoning some of the really awful, anxious parts of it.

C&S: With the drawdown of American military presence in the Middle East over the past few years and more veterans coming home, what do you think is the biggest misconception that people have about veterans who have come home?

BC: I think there’s been this oversimplification: Veterans get lumped into two groups, heroes and victims. Either we’re all American heroes that volunteered and fought for our country and did great things and defended our freedom or veterans are victims who signed up for the education benefits or didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. Of course the truth is far more complicated. We do have an all-volunteer military and we all signed up for this and we knew what we were signing up for. Plenty of men and women are not heroes or victims, they did their job and then they came home and they went back to school and now they are going to live normal lives.

C&S: You have a new book, “All The Ways We Kill and Die,” coming out in March. What can you tell us about that?

BC: I describe it as a eulogy and a manhunt. I have a good friend who died in January of 2012 in Afghanistan.

His armored truck got blown up and I asked kind of a different question than we normally do during a war. I asked who killed him. Not just what killed him, but who? So that led me to interview lots of people who are involved with how we hunt down all these bomb makers. I talk to people who collect evidence, interrogators, biometrics people, predator pilots, the contractor who pulls the trigger at the end. I kind of walk people through that.

C&S: So what’s next for the opera?

BC: Well it’s only running for the month of July in Saratoga. It will be at the Utah Opera in Salt Lake City in 2017. There were a number of other opera companies from around the country who have attended performances and the hope is that it moves from place to place and takes on a life.

For the full interview with Brian Castner, including details on how the opera differs from his book, visit www.cityandstateny.com.

cit yandstateny.com

Aaron Leonard

Dan McSweeney

Joseph A. Bello

Kenneth Curley

Kelly Saeli

Steve Neuhaus

Tom Gray

Walter Bridgers

Welby Alcantara

www.salusscientific.com