Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 21, 1993 TAG: 9307210306
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
After a year of breathing the desert air, heavy with the smell of burning oil, Lindell developed asthma. He lost 40 percent of his lung capacity.
A National Guardsman, Lindell made his living as an emergency medical services helicopter pilot. He was grounded upon return after failing a flight physical.
"I couldn't fly because I was on all these medications," Lindell said. "You can't be on any type of medication and fly. It's a standard thing with the FAA and the military."
Lindell, of Roanoke, stumbled around for six months. He sent out "hundreds" of resumes. He visited every headhunter's office in the Roanoke Valley, only to be told that at 53, he was overqualified, he said.
Responding to a blind classified ad, Lindell found a job selling insurance. It lasted seven months.
With a two-decade-old bachelor's degree in business administration and a useless pilot's license, Lindell was out of work.
He turned to the Department of Veterans Affairs and a vocational rehabilitation program that has helped disabled veterans since before World War II.
Lindell went back to school. After completing prerequisite courses at Virginia Western Community College this spring, he will enter Radford University's nursing program this fall.
"They gave me a life again; an opportunity to get a new career at 53," Lindell said. "They literally saved my life."
The VA's vocational rehabilitation program assists veterans injured during military service by providing the resources necessary to obtain and maintain employment - from law-cost school tuition to locksmith's tools.
The program differs from educational and training services offered under the better-known G.I. Bill. While the G.I. Bill is open to any veteran, eligibility for the vocational rehabilitation program is more restrictive.
The primary qualification is that the veteran have a service-connected disability which entitles him or her to at least 20 percent compensation. Veterans also must have received an honorable discharge and must need rehabilitative services because of a handicap that prevents them from working.
The VA poured $209 million into the program for fiscal year 1993, footing the bills that will help return an estimated 41,000 veterans to employment.
Nearly 3,000 Virginia veterans are working with the vocational rehabilitation program at the VA regional office in Roanoke, which serves veterans in all but three state localities. The office is reviewing another 1,000 applicants for eligibility.
The program's demand has become greater with the downsizing of the military and closing of military bases, said Vince Monteforte, vocational rehabilitation and counseling officer at the VA regional office in Roanoke. In Virginia alone, six of 29 military installations are proposed for closing.
The more who are affected, the greater the number who seek vocational rehabilitation, Monteforte said.
Screening applicants for eligibility has taken longer than usual, he said. But for those who get into the program, good opportunity exists. The VA pays for tuition, books, fees, tools - anything needed to put the veteran back to work.
Gary Hoback, a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the VA, helped a reclusive Vietnam veteran who lives just over the Virginia/West Virginia border find training as a luthier - a maker of stringed instruments. He helped one veteran - a double amputee - set up a computer drafting business in his home. Another was given training and equipment to become a bonded locksmith.
Mitch Robertson was badly burned over 60 percent of his body in a helicopter crash in the Vietnam War. He lost his left arm.
Robertson returned home to Staunton, spending about five years in and out of the hospital. Finding work was difficult. Having been drafted into the service right out of high school, he had no work experience.
Robertson entered the VA's vocational rehabilitation program. In 1982, Robertson enrolled at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave. He graduated two years later with an associate's degree in business management.
In 1987, he entered Mary Baldwin College's adult degree program. He received a bachelor's degree in business management in 1989.
Robertson, 43, now works as a veterans benefit counselor at the VA's Roanoke regional office. He estimates his college costs were $40,000, all paid by the VA.
"I try to sell the program," Robertson said. "It's very good at getting veterans to successfully overcome their disabilities. It gives you another opportunity to really do something.
"If not for this program, I probably never would have."
\ VET JOB HELP\ WHAT THEY CAN GET\ \ Education or training to qualify for employment.\ \ Educational, vocational and personal counseling.\ \ Tutorial assistance.\ \ Reader or sign-language interpreter service.\ \ Medical and dental treatment.\ \ Prosethetic aids.\ \ Special restorative services necessary to enter and stay in training.\ \ Job counseling, planning, placement and adjustment.\ \ Assistance necessary to achieve independence in daily living.\ \ For more information, call (800)-827-1000.
by CNB