Vermont leads the nation in helping veterans

Vermont Public Radio reports that while "Vermont has suffered the highest proportion of casualties from the Iraq War of any state...it leads the nation in helping service members when they come home." Lieutenant Colonel John Boyd, who leads the veterans' outreach program in Vermont, acknowledged that "state officials faced some special challenges in getting those returning vets the care they needed." That's because "in states such as Vermont, which are rural and do not have any active duty military installations, [National Guard and reserve service members] can experience challenges with awareness of and access to mental health and other benefits when they return from deployment." Today,  "Vermont veterans serve as caseworkers to help other, newly returned vets. They meet face to face in their own homes, where they are more likely to open up than in a military facility."

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