Assemblyman Rob Walker (R,C,I,WF- Hicksville) recently voted in favor of legislation that would create more jobs for disabled veterans returning to the workforce. The legislation passed with unanimous bipartisan support.

"As Memorial Day approaches, I think it is very important that we look for ways to help all veterans transition back into civilian life, especially those with special needs," said Assemblyman Walker. "As a member of the Committee on Veterans Affairs, I am proud to see quality legislation such as this get through the Assembly with ease."

The legislation, A10486, permits the state to increase the number of entry level competitive class positions that it can reclassify to non-competitive class positions to facilitate the appointment of veterans with disabilities. When signed into law, there would now be 500 such jobs, an increase of 200 over the current number of positions. The legislation has no fiscal impact and would take effect immediately.

Craig Northacker, executive director of Vets-Help.Org.Inc., co-founder of the group with Ira Epstein, understands the needs of returning veterans, having served in Vietnam himself, said, "I applaud Assemblyman Walker for reaching out to veterans and helping them with their issues."

Vets-Help.Org.Inc., is a group working for the thousands of veterans returning home, and helping them access important services and entitlements, a process that can often prove frustrating, especially when trying to negotiate through a maze of government bureaucracy. Veterans, and in particular those young men and women who are and will be returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, need to know that there are others who understand their needs and can relate to their plight, especially as it pertains to comprehensive health care services, job training, housing and community support services not addressed or available anywhere else.

The new organization, Vets-Help.org, Inc. was founded on Long Island to support and call attention to the needs of heroic men and women who are serving our country across the globe. For Vets-Help co-founder Craig Northacker, with deep family roots in Oyster Bay (he is related to the family of George Washington's spy Culper, Jr. - Robert Townsend - and attends the First Presbyterian Church of Oyster Bay), nothing is as important as ensuring that our veterans and their families receive the comprehensive services and support they deserve, especially from those government and private programs designed for these purposes.

Mr. Northacker served in the U.S. Army during and after Vietnam with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 11th Special Forces Group. "There is a substantial gap between being an active soldier and returning to civilian life as a veteran. The veteran has little support in adjusting - especially if he/she has become disabled. Our mission is to facilitate and help veterans integrate back into the family and business world," explained Mr. Northacker.

The organization recently unveiled their goals at a well-attended kick-off dinner at the Garden City Hotel where they entered into a contract during their official "unveiling reception" to co-develop several acres from Marie Tooker of Abbess Farm in Riverhead to create the first of many veterans' communities. This new community will provide housing and administrative support services for veterans and their families. The contract signing was the first project for Vet-Help.org.

The kickoff featured a presentation by Kristen Holmstedt, author of Band Of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq. Ms. Holmstedt will be partnering with Vets-Help.org to conduct a book tour in upcoming months. Her book, a work of creative non-fiction, tells the story of the women in the military and the missions they undertake, now that women are allowed to serve in combat. She tells the stories of women soldiers as they serve beside men; as targets of the same enemy weapons as all soldiers; who suffer the same kind of disabling injuries, and deaths; suffer the same sense of loneliness away from their families; and yet have chosen a military life as a vocation/avocation.

The project they envision in Riverhead is the first of many veterans' communities which they hope will span the nation. This new community will provide housing and administrative support services for veterans and their families.

The group's special concern is for the disabled veterans. Joe Franklin, Vets-Help.org director of sales and marketing, said there is legislation that has been enacted to assist veterans before, but they have to get the VA to recognize that and take advantage of it. He said no other veteran's organization is focusing on this issue. He said their goal is to train the veterans so they can find jobs and help them help their families.

Mr. Franklin said when they went to realtors for a place to build the veteran community, most told them "Good luck on finding a place here on Long Island, it is too expensive." Fortunately they met Marie Tooker, of Abbess Farms, through a chance encounter and through her, they have found a place to dedicate to veterans, their families and children.

Ms. Tooker hired an architect to do a rendering of three buildings in the shape of the letters USA. She said people leaving and coming to Long Island will be able to see the USA- shaped complex, a symbol of the veterans. The U and S buildings will house veterans and the A building will house veterans' social service organizations. Help-Vets.org plans to try to stimulate business and industry to give them needed grants to create their vision.

"The goals of Vets-Help.org are broad and critical if our veterans are to maintain and improve the quality of their lives when they return from service," explained Ira Epstein, co-founder and managing director of the not-for-profit organization. Mr. Epstein was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, said Mr. Northacker, a fact that doesn't affect their friendship, but strengthens their commitment to veterans, he added.

Mr. Epstein said most families don't know how to deal with their combat veterans, and Major General Anthony R. Kropp, U.S. Army, retired, who attended the Garden City Hotel dinner, had a lot to say on the subject. He said his son returned after a tour in Iraq and was having difficulties. The general said his son, as many men do, had negative feelings about seeking mental health help. General Kroop said when his son got into a group with other soldiers and started talking about the things that happened when they served in the war, he could see an improvement. "It had a positive impact," he said.

The general voiced his opinion on the situation in Iraq saying that "In this war there is no front and rear." He said, "I would never go to see a psychiatrist, it would have hurt my career," but added that this war and these times are different.

General Kroop said he is in favor of affordable homes set up for disabled veterans, adding that there is no support system set up for them. He explained. "When in combat, you are in a close-knit group and will trust each other with your life - in a way that others have no idea of what that is like."

The general said service wives too need support so they know they are not alone. As for the children, he said, "They don't know why their parents come back the way they do. That is why we want to create an environment where they can have support."

Mr. Epstein said there are things available for the veterans but the statistics are staggering, as is the number of people needing help, and publicity is limited about the programs available. He said, "It doesn't sell newspapers!"

That is the reason they want to keep the issue in the public's eye, said Mr. Epstein. He said there is also a need to address the socio-economic issues that are facing soldiers coming home, right now. The returning veterans need places to live and places to work. That is the reason they have created the new non-profit organization so that they can lobby Congress and raise money.

Mr. Franklin is working with SUNY to provide vocational training for the veterans to earn a living. Attending the dinner was Edmond L. Cortez, president and CEO of the National Center for Disability Services (NCDS). He said he has been talking to them about training disabled veterans, using the unique expertise for which the school is known.

Mr. Franklin, who served in Vietnam said, "We must stop the madness. We've already found the solution, so we hope people will embrace it (Vets-Help.org)!"

Another of the speakers was Vets-Help.org's director of medical research: Dr. David O. Carpenter, professor of Environmental Health Science at the University of Albany, who specializes in public health and was concerned with the trauma of being exposed to chemicals in the military. He has been studying how the brain responds to chemicals. He said service people have many traumas to face, "Seeing people killed; their own life threatened; seeing civilians harmed; add to that chemical exposure; vaccines; chemicals as weapons; pesticides and herbicides: and chemicals that affect every organ in the body." He said the service people come back with psychological and biological trauma. He said while the system fixes the physical injuries, the psychological and neurological injuries also need care.

Dr. Carpenter said, "Any way I can work to help pull this all together, I will do so." He said in the Gulf War the toxicological and psychological effects were denied by the VA until the National Academy of Science said there was a Gulf War syndrome. It exists and people are harmed by it. He said, "Our service people defended our freedom and deserve more than they got."

Mr. Northacker said Dr. Carpenter has been recently appointed the co-chair of a task force by the NYS Legislature to do research on Depleted-Uranium and Gulf War Syndrome and their effects on veterans. Mr. Northacker has been named to the committee and is waiting for the Assembly to get it started.

Among the Vets-Help.Org.Inc.'s goals are:

• To fund research into Multiple Chemical Syndrome and Traumatic Brain Injuries;

• Create supportive communities for returning veterans with traumatic injuries;

• Support and develop media events and informational programming to educate the public about the needs of our veterans;

• Work with the veterans and their families both on a national and state level to assist returning traumatically injured veterans and their families adjust to their new civilian life;

• To unify veterans service organizations in order to effectively perform their missions in support of the National Disabled Veterans Business Council.

To learn more about special programs and services, or to support the work of Vets-Help, please log onto www.Vets-Help.org

As the evening ended, Craig Northacker said, "Agnes Funk is our godmother. She got the Garden City Hotel to host this dinner." Three cheers for Agnes Funk.