Editor, The Smithfield Times:

I recently became aware that the Virginia Veterans of Foreign Wars organization has decided to stop funding the Veteran Service Officers (VSO) Program that has been assisting Virginia’s veteran community with VA benefits for years. 

In my humble opinion, as 19-year resident of Isle of Wight County, retired U.S. Air Force officer and VFW life member, this is a terrible, shortsighted decision.

The Virginia VFW VSOs alone have had a tremendous impact on the economy and quality of life for Virginia’s veterans. So far in 2025, the VSOs have assisted Virginia’s veterans with receiving $2,261,721 worth of benefits. 

2022: 1477 claims totaling $3,373,524

2023: 1506 claims totaling $3,778,636

2024: 1738 claims totaling $4,526,944

Since the VFW VSOs have been assisting veterans, the cases total $357,845,423.

This is just the cases that the VFW service officers in our state have worked.

Shortly after I joined the Smithfield VFW Post 8545, I got into a casual conversation with our VFW VSO, Mrs. Laurie Clay, a U.S. Army veteran and retired VA employee about my 20-year-old, 10% disability rating. She asked my permission to review my case.

She determined that my disability rating in 2003 had “Clear and Unmistakable Errors” (CUE). A CUE claim is used when veterans believe the VA made a mistake in applying the law, misinterpreting facts or making an obvious factual error that would have changed the outcome if corrected. 

My case has been under review for several years now and will hopefully be resolved soon. If it were not for Mrs. Clay’s knowledge, expertise and concern for fellow veterans, cases like mine would go unnoticed.

I sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Jennifer Kiggans to bring this to her attention, and to Mr. Mitch Rubenstein, state commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars for the state of Virginia. Let’s convince him and VFW leadership that the decision to end the VFW VSO program is a terrible and costly mistake.

 

Paul Smith

Retired Air Force lieutenant colonel

Carrollton