Whidbey Crosswind, January 25, 2019

Whidbey Crosswind The Puget Sound Veterans’ Monthly | February 2019

Muggs serves

Retired Navy chief runs group to help disabled vets z pg. 3

Whidbey Crosswind is a supplement to the Whidbey News-Times

SERVING WHIDBEY ISLAND’S VETERANS, RETIRED MILITARY PERSONNEL AND FAMILIES

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ervice has opened the door to homeownership vice has Your opened the door homeownership service has Your military service hasopened openedthe thedoor doorto tohomeownership homeownership Your military service has opened the door to homeownership payment loanmilitary options andtoeasier qualifications. payment with loan options and easier qualifications. payment loan withlow lowdown down payment loanoptions optionsand andeasier easierqualifications. qualifications. with low down payment loan options and easier qualifications.

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Navy vet vows to help others until his ‘brain goes out’

By LAURA GUIDO

lguido@whidbeynewsgroup.com

C

harles “Muggs” Monahan was caught off guard when a local sergeant drove him to a recruiter’s office and said that 16-yearold Monahan planned to join the Navy.

“I do?” he thought at the time.

The non-commissioned officer even presented a letter of approval to do so from Monahan’s parents.

“It was all a big collusion,” Monahan said with a laugh.

“But I’m glad I joined.”

It became official in July 1962, one month after his 17th birthday. He served for 23 years and now spends his time running the Oak Harbor Chapter of Disabled American Veterans.

He worked as an aviation structural mechanic, but even though he enjoyed working on the planes, it was the people he liked most. His inclination toward making personal connections is also what drew him to work at

the DAV, which is an organization aimed at helping former service members with disabilities and their families.

Its volunteers drive people to the Veterans Affairs medical center in Seattle and help them with case management to ensure they receive all the benefits they’re entitled to.

Monahan plans to work at the veteran resource center for as long as he can.

“Until the brain goes out or the technology gets so bad I can’t figure it out,” he said.

He was stationed on Whidbey Island in 1976 until his retirement in 1985.

After leaving the Navy, he knew he wanted to help veterans, and he had connections at the local DAV office.

Photo by Laura Guido/ Whidbey News Group

Muggs Monahan stands in front of van the DAV uses to transport disabled vets to the VA in Seattle. Below, Monahan enlisted in 1962 at age 17.

He started volunteering as a driver and continued to work his way up the chain until he became commander of the Oak Harbor operation.

Although fulfilling, the work can be frustrating at times, he said. The vastness and complexity of the VA makes the agency prone to miscommunications, he said, which can cause people to get denied.

He said he’s worked with

some people for two or three years before they finally were approved.

He worked with one man who suffered from dementia. Over the three years Monahan worked on the man’s case, they became close friends.

This made it all the more difficult when the man passed away shortly after being approved.

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MUGGS

CONTINUED FROM page 3 He often becomes close with the people he helps, he said. Many will call the office and ask specifically for Monahan.

However, he holds his whole team of volunteer chapter service officers to high standards. His goal is to have an error rate of 0 percent for claims submitted and to simply be “the best chapter in the state of Washington.”

Monahan is grateful the path his service set him on.

He said at 16, he wasn’t in school because he didn’t

think he needed it. He caused trouble.

“I was going nowhere,” he said.

After joining, he spent more than 20 years getting to troubleshoot and fix problems on planes, until he was a service maintenance chief and got to tell other people to fix the problems, he said laughing.

He served across the country and world, including Spain where he met his wife Ileana. She is Canadian but was hitch-

hiking around Europe while he was stationed in Rota, Spain.

The couple recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Around the age of 40 he decided it was time to move on from the Navy, and he is happy with that decision as well.

But he misses it all the same, he said, “and anybody that says they don’t miss it is full of baloney.”

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VA to modernize appeals process The Federal Register published on Jan. 18 regulations accompanying the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017 (AMA), which will help veterans experience a more transparent claims decision-review process.

After publication of the regulations, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie will certify the department’s readiness to implement appeals modernization, which will transform a complex appeals process into one that is simple, timely and provides greater choice to veterans who disagree with a VA decision.

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Implementation will occur 30 days after the secretary certifies, as required by law.

Accordingly, the AMA will become effective Feb 19.

or (3) direct appeals to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.

All decision reviews submitted after February 2019 will fall under the new system.

“VA has been preparing for full implementation of the Appeals Modernization Act over the past 18 months,” Wilkie said. “Our staff has worked diligently, particularly in the last few weeks, to ensure the new, streamlined process is available to Veterans in February.

Once the Appeals Modernization Act is fully implemented, VA’s goal is to complete supplemental claims and higher-level reviews averaging 125 days. Decisions appealed to the board under its direct docket will average 365 days. Under the legacy process, appeal resolutions averaged three to seven years.

For more information about VA appeals modernization, visit https://benefits. va.gov/benefits/appeals.asp and www.bva.va.gov/.

The AMA was signed into law Aug. 23, 2017. Under the act, veterans will now have three options for claims and appeals: (1) supplemental claim; (2) higher-level review;

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VOL. 9, NO. 1 WHIDBEY CROSSWIND STAFF Executive Editor & Publisher...............................KEVEN R. GRAVES Associate Publisher....................................... KIMBERLLY WINJUM Editor................................................................JESSIE STENSLAND Reporters... LAURA GUIDO, PATRICIA GUTHRIE, MARIA MATSON

Admin/Production Manager.............................JENNIFER WILKINS Advertising Sales..................... NORA DURAND, JACY ANDERSON Administration.................................................KAITLYN MARTINEZ Circulation Manager............................................DIANE SMOTHERS

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READER INFORMATION: ADMINISTRATIVE: The Whidbey Crosswind is a monthly publication of Sound Publishing, and is a member of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, the National Newspaper Association and Suburban Newspapers of America. Advertising rates are available at the Crosswind office. While the Crosswind endeavors to accept only reliable advertisements, it shall not be responsible to the public for advertisements nor are the views expressed in those advertisements necessarily those of the Whidbey Crosswind. The right to decline or discontinue any ad without explanation is reserved. DEADLINES: Classifieds and Display Ads – 4 p.m. Monday prior to publication; Community News and Letters to Editor – Noon Monday prior to publication. ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENTS: ARMED FORCES COMMUNITY

Agencies partner to improve outcomes for homeless vets Last year, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), in partnership with its 19 federal member agencies, released Home, Together, the new federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness.

A major focus of the new plan is to increase access to meaningful and sustainable career training and employment pathways for people exiting homelessness.

As part of that effort, VA and the Department of Labor are partnering to strengthen collaboration between their local staff and grantees to improve employment outcomes for veterans exiting homelessness.

There have been numerous

examples of successful interagency collaboration between VA’s Homeless Veteran Community Employment Ser vices (H VCES) Community Employment Coordinators (CECs) and DOL’s Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program (HVRP) serving grantees that deserve to be highlighted.

A recent webinar that featured CECs and HVRP grantees in Boston and Honolulu describes lessons learned and recommendations for establishing strong partnerships.

Through HVCES, 150 vocational development specialists, also known as CECs, work at VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) across the country to boost employ-

ment outcomes for veterans who are homeless or exiting homelessness.

available by federal, state, local and non-governmental partners. One such important partner is the workforce system.

Additionally, HVCES staff serve as a bridge to local resources and employment opportunities made

The American Job Centers have 2,400 sites across the

country that will work with CECs to find training, employment, and other federal and local resources.

To find a local workforce center, visit www.careerone stop.org.

An estimated 37,800 veterans experience homelessness on a given day.

Of those, 23,300 veterans are unsheltered or living on the street.

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NON PROFIT (cont.)

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REAL ESTATE AGENT (cont.)

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