Veterans Affairs commissioner speaks at chamber luncheon
The commissioner of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs was the guest speaker at the Shelby Chamber Luncheon on Sept. 9.
Rear Admiral Kent Davis, U.S. Navy retired, spoke about the ADVA and all the benefits and services they provide to military veterans.
“We are not the federal VA, we pick up where federal VA services stop,” Davis said. “Every state has their own department of Veterans Affairs.”
Their mission is to promote awareness, assist eligible veterans, their families, and survivors to receive from the U. S. and State Governments any and all benefits to which they may be entitled under existing or future laws to be enacted.
The ADVA has three main areas of focus:
Veterans Health Administration
Federal VA hospitals and outpatient clinics. Veteran centers that provide psychological counseling. “There are several around the state providing valuable service for veterans, those coming home from deployment,” Davis said.
Veterans Benefit Administration
Provides direct payments to veterans from the federal government including pension, compensation, education and training, vocational rehabilitation, home loans, insurance and survivor benefits
National Cemetery Administration
Provides a dignified burial and lasting memorials for veterans and their eligible family members. There are three active veteran cemeteries in Alabama that include The National Cemetery (Montevallo), Fort Mitchell National Cemetery and the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Spanish Fort.
“We are responsible for veterans from the time they take off their uniforms into eternity,” Davis said.
Davis said that federal topics of interest for the ADVA include:
Toxic exposures of Iraq-Afghanistan veterans
A Nationwide review of VHA facility infrastructure
The backlog of disability claims
The merger and electronic conversion of DoD-VA medical records
“We are the customer service arm for veterans in the state of Alabama. We are their advocates and our job is to advocate for every single Alabama veteran for any benefit or service that might be available for them,” Davis said.
The ADVA has approximately 1,200 state and contract employees that include 127 state employees and more than 1,000 contractor employees that serve around 400,000 Alabama veterans.
“In Alabama, 1 out of 10 people are a military veteran. It’s one of the biggest states per capita for the veteran population,” Davis said.
There are 70 facilities in the state including four state veterans homes, 61 county-based veterans service offices, three district offices, one state veterans cemetery and an appeals and review division office.
The four state veterans homes are located in Alexander City, Huntsville, Bay Minette and Pell City. A fifth home is currently under construction in Enterprise.
ADVA’s generated federal revenue to Alabama in 2020 included:
$2.6 billion in compensation and pension to Alabama Veterans and their beneficiaries
$1.4 billion in medical care
$213 million in vocational rehabilitation and education
The total federal VA expenditures in Alabama for 2020 was $4.32 billion.
With a budget of approximately $190 million, the ADVA is overseen by a 17 member state board of veterans affairs that includes the governor and 16 other members.
Davis said their newest mission was creating an entire office focused on outreach and engagement. Alabama has one of worst rates of veteran suicide in the country at 18%. The new office, run by the assistant commissioner for outreach and engagement, is focused on partnerships with veterans and to help with issues such as homelessness, PTSD and suicides.
“83% of those die by suicide using a firearm, compared to 51% nationwide,” Davis said.
“Nationally, approximately 17 veterans die by suicide per day and 11 out of those 17 are not enrolled in VA healthcare. To help lower this statistic, ADVA created a campaign called Alabama’s Challenge: Veteran Suicide Prevention.
The ADVA also has a dependent scholarship program for children of veterans. There are currently 16,727 enrolled in the program. It allows them to attend any state sponsored institute of higher education and pays for their tuition and books.
For more information visit va.alabama.gov.