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Overview
Those who set aside their comfort and personal safety to serve in the United States Armed Forces
do so to secure and protect the freedoms we all enjoy. In grateful response, the federal government
maintains a wide array of veterans’ benefits for former military service members and their families
including monetary benefits, medical care, and interment in national cemeteries. In addition to the
benefits provided by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA), benefits for
veterans are currently available from more than 1,000 other federal domestic assistance programs
with over 4,000 separate agencies responsible for their administration.
The complicated process of figuring out available benefits, deciphering eligibility requirements,
completing intricate application forms, obtaining various supporting documents and tracking the
status of a submitted claim is truly daunting!
To increase veterans’ ability to obtain their benefits, counties across the U.S. maintain veterans
service offices, like the County of San Bernardino Department of Veterans Affairs (County VA).
County VA staff members are specially trained in veteran law and once trained, they pass a rigorous
USDVA accreditation examination prior to seeing clients. The County VA is often the initial contact
to the USDVA system for veterans in our community. It is estimated that 75-90% of all USDVA
claims filed annually originate from a county veterans services office.
Our staff makes benefits acquisition as simple as possible and their efforts are measured in number
of lives touched, customer satisfaction, and total federal benefit dollars awarded to our veterans and
their families.
DESCRIPTION
Veterans help build “The Incredible Edible Community Garden”
aquaponics greenhouse outside the San Bernardino County Museum