Choctaw Nation gives a helping hand to local veterans

DURANT, Okla. (KXII) -The Choctaw Nation and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs joined forces Wednesday.

“The veterans have a place to come and get all these benefits in the same place,” said Harlan Wright, Choctaw Veterans Advocacy Manager.

They provided a host of services and resources to local veterans, “the veterans upward bound is like an education program, and then we have the legal aid services, we have some of the Choctaw Nation Services, Warrior Wellness is like a suicide prevention,” Wright said.

They also provided toxin screenings for those who may have been exposed to dangerous chemicals in combat.

“During Vietnam, they had like three different types of herbicides that veterans could have been exposed to. During the Iraq, Gulf War, Afghanistan, you know they had all the burn pits,” said Mary Culley, U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Office of Tribal Government.

Army National Guard Veteran, Katrina Yocum was injured by a mortar shell explosion in Iraq, she said it took 20 years to get properly diagnosed, “the assumption is that females don’t serve outside the wire, that we are not in a combat zone.”

She now suffers from brain aneurysms, “so I think it’s really important, not just for female veterans, but for all veterans to come in, whether they’re coming to a PACT Act event like this, or whether they’re going to their VA healthcare to ask for that screening,” Yocum added.

But the VA also invites widows to see if they’re eligible for compensation, “because our widows really don’t know anything about their husband’s service or their spouse’s service,” Culley said.

If you missed Wednesday’s clinic, you can apply for benefits through the Choctaw Veterans Advocacy Program, help for those who came home hurt and for the families of those who never came home.

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