Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back. We last chatted with Colonel Bob Notch, the Massachusetts Office of the Veteran Advocate back in December of last year. So it was high time to have him back. And he's brought a special guest with him as well from the office. So, Bob, great to see you again. Thanks for coming over.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Thank you, Joe. Great to see you as well.
[00:00:16] Speaker A: And Truck to Coast is here as well, the regional liaison for the southeastern part of Massachusetts, including the city of Quincy. We're going to hear your story in just a bit as well. But Bob, I always like to start off with just a little refresher. And what is the Massachusetts Office of the Veteran Advocate is about two years old now. Right.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Year and a half, I think is probably more accurate. And I know the conversations we've had in the past are here's how we've moved forward since the last conversation. We'll do that a little bit today. Sure. But it's. We are an independent state agency. We're the only one in the country that we know of. So Massachusetts is leading the way again.
And our job is to be a partner with all state agencies when it comes to veterans and their families in the programs, benefits and services that they receive from the state. So what I like to tell people is we're collaborative oversight. We have some responsibilities that tie us together as partners with state agencies, also with federal agencies, and even down to the local level with municipal Veterans service agents.
But we also have some responsibilities to conduct investigations and examine the systems that are out there to make sure that we're treating veterans and their families the way we intend to.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Yes. And as you mentioned, the only one in the country.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Was this part of the HERO Act?
[00:01:36] Speaker B: It was. It was part of the HERO act, the result of fatalities during COVID at the veterans homes. And one one element was to elevate the Department of Veterans Services to the executive office and then to create our office as a separate agency.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: Okay. So how's it been going?
[00:01:53] Speaker B: Great. It's busy.
We've taken a breath here and there because we've since we last talked. We have now moved into permanent office space.
We were temporarily here in quincy over in 100 Hancock.
We now are in Braintree. So we just moved a mile or two down the road in the Braintree Hill office park.
And that is our permanent space. We've got enough room for the staff now that we've grown.
And that's probably the second biggest piece of the office is since January. We hired five additional staff members. That gives us a total of 12 full time staff.
And four of those individuals are regional liaisons. And their job is to connect with the Veterans Service agents at the municipal level across the Commonwealth. And so that's why Truck is with us today. Truck handles the southeast region.
And if we have a minute, I'll let her talk about what she does in her role.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: We have more than a minute. We have plenty of time. It's nice to meet you, Troy. Thank you very much for coming over. Yeah. Tell us a bit about your. Well, about your background, first of all, before you talk about your new assignments.
[00:03:03] Speaker C: Thanks, Joe. And I really appreciate being a guest here.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:03:07] Speaker C: So I'm Truck Dakos. I'm an Air Force veteran, so I spent four years active duty as an airborne linguist.
I studied Persian Farsi and Persian Dari at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, which was an administrative experience.
I deployed in 2011, 2012 with Project Liberty, flying ISR missions in southern Afghanistan. ISR Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:03:33] Speaker C: Thank you.
And really, that was a great mission. And I love being with fellow service members and having a common mission, having a common goal. I think a lot of veterans will say the same. So I did my four years, came back, I went to school, went to UMass Boston, got my degree, missed the military so much, missed the camaraderie. So I joined the Air National Guard as an intelligence analyst down Cape Cod, did that for a few years and ended up separating a couple years ago.
The last five years or so, I was working at a non profit, really dealing with veterans and mental health and making sure that they had access to these sort of mental health services that they so needed.
So that really was the linchpin and why I am here today at the Office of the Veteran Advocate. I wanted to continue working with veterans. I really wanted to take a step back and figure out what are some of the other issues that veterans are really facing and how do we fix that? How do we work with the community and to better the lives of the veterans within that community?
And sort of in my role as a regional liaison, I get to work with the municipal veteran agents.
And really that is to be a resource for them to ensure that they feel supported. Because what we find is if the veteran agents are feeling supported, they are better supporting our veterans. Right.
And it's just been so great to be sort of at the floor level, at the ground level, to be able to sort of help build the office and really create what we want to and what we see as the future of veterans and, you know, making sure that they get access to all their benefits and entitlements.
[00:05:19] Speaker A: Yeah. I can hear veteran service agents across the South Shore saying, phew, thank God truck is there, right? No. Because you've got their back, basically.
[00:05:26] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Because if the veteran comes into their office with a specific issue, each individual is going to have different issues. Right. They have a resource now that they can rely on.
[00:05:34] Speaker C: Yes. And it's been really, really wonderful working with the veteran agents. They have such a difficult job, really. They are the first phone call for anything veteran related within the community. So even if it falls sort of outside of their scope or if it falls sort of like just completely out of their lane, a lot of the times they're trying to scramble to figure out how to best care for that veteran and for them. I always tell them, if you have exhausted all other avenues, you are the subject matter expert in what the resources that veterans have access to within your local community. If you've, you know, exhausted all those avenues, like, come to us, like, we want to be able to help. Let's put our heads together and figure out, you know, what we can do to help that veteran in need.
One of the big sort of victories. I want to say, yeah, please.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:31] Speaker C: I had a veteran agent, you know, call me to ask for some assistance. We had a Vietnam veteran who was looking for his high school diploma. Right. And after some digging, I realized that actually he was drafted prior to completing high school. And that was the sort of reality for a lot of our Vietnam War veterans. Right.
So prior to completing high school, he was drafted and never got the opportunity to graduate high school. And he was saying how, you know, it sat with him for the better part of the last five decades or so, that he was never able to do that and never able, you know, his mom was never able to see him graduate and how that would be really meaningful. And we were very lucky that Massachusetts had already passed legislative.
Legislators came together to, you know, honor that and his service by, you know, creating a sort of pathway for him to be able to get a high school diploma. So working with the veteran agents, working with the school board, being able to sort of bring all these pieces together to be able to give him his diploma.
So we actually have a ceremony for him coming up in the next couple weeks that we're really, really excited about.
But it's sort of these small things that we do to honor the service and sacrifice of our veterans.
That's why we're here. We just want to help.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: Yeah. But I can see where the local agent would say, oh, gosh, what do I do about this? I can help you get your health care. You know, I can help you get housing, can help you get a job, high school diploma. Wow, that's a challenge. Yeah. Now, is that the same rule for all Vietnam vets who graduated prior? I mean, who served prior to graduating high school?
[00:08:10] Speaker C: Yeah. So that is a part of Operation Recognition. So that is for World War veterans, Korean veterans, Vietnam veterans. Prior to completing high school, if you were drafted and you served honorably, you get the ability to get your high school diploma. And that's one of the things that we want to do some outreach on.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: That's great.
[00:08:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: Well, I know especially World War II vets, a lot of them lied about their age because they wanted to sign up and join and serve. Right. So they may not have had their diplomas.
[00:08:40] Speaker C: Right. What we're running into, too, is some of these high schools no longer exist.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Well, that too.
[00:08:45] Speaker B: Right.
[00:08:45] Speaker C: So I really commend the records department at this school district that really bent over backwards to be able to find these records.
So, you know, again, it's something that feels really good to do. That's just a very small thing that we could do to help the veterans, and it's meaningful.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: Big thing for that veteran, for sure.
[00:09:07] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. He was so appreciative.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: So.
[00:09:10] Speaker C: So appreciative that he was able to sort of, like, you know, get closure in this chapter of his life.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: What are truck. What are some of the other challenges that you're finding veterans are facing today?
And, you know, you know best because you're both veterans yourselves, particularly for female veterans. I would think you'd have a unique insight into that.
[00:09:28] Speaker C: Right. I do feel like, kind of when you speak about female veterans, you know, the outreach to female veterans is completely different than the male counterpart.
You know, we aren't hanging out at the American Legions as much. Right. We're not hanging out at the VFWs as much. A lot of us are sort of in our, you know, family era. We're building families. We're sort of, like, trying to figure out what our transition looks like and wearing all the hats, as you can.
[00:09:56] Speaker A: Imagine, at the same time. Yeah.
[00:09:57] Speaker C: So I think that, you know, looking at doing outreach to women veterans and what are some of the things that they are struggling with. Right.
And I think that is a big thing that I'd like to sort of take a larger hand in and just help that.
Other things that I've seen is that, you know, housing is a huge, huge issue here in the South Shore.
And I guess veterans really all over. Have this issue, that sort of transition piece too. Right. Like, you go from knowing when your next meal is, when you know, when you're having pt, you have a common mission, you know, where you're laying, you know, your pillow at night. Yeah. That routine is so important. And then you get out and you have all this freedom. But, like, where's your next meal? Right. Like, what is your next plan? Like, do you have a plan for school? Do you have a plan for work?
Do those skills, you know, translate to the civilian world? And how do we better support our veterans sort of going through that transition? Because it's hard regardless of if you did just one enlistment and it's four years and you're done, or if you do 30 plus years. Right.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: World has changed in that sense. Yes.
[00:11:14] Speaker C: So much has changed. So I think there is a lot of sort of issues out there for veterans, and we hope to at least help with some of those.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Yeah. And it must vary through the generations. Also, you know, younger vets are facing different challenges than older vets, right?
[00:11:31] Speaker C: Absolutely. I definitely feel like the challenges that our Vietnam War vets are completely different from those within our post 911 vet.
[00:11:41] Speaker A: I mean, they were 18 years old then. Right. So that was on 50 years ago or more. So. Yeah. So they're in a different point in life than the Gulf War vets, for sure.
[00:11:49] Speaker C: Right. I think what we're thankful for is to have a supportive community. Right. We now know that having a community that really, you know, helps support that veteran, whether that's the, you know, the municipal veterans service agents or an agency like ourselves, or, you know, the myriad of nonprofits out there that are really focused, knowing that, you know, the Vietnam War vets had just a really, really hard time coming back, and now they have that support. So I think it's one of those things where how do we sort of spread the word. Right. How do we.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: And work with those agencies? Right.
[00:12:25] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:26] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: Here in Quincy, we have Father Bills in MainSpring, we have NeighborWorks, Housing Solutions, we have Quincy Community Action Program. So a lot of social service agencies that focus on issues like homelessness to get them to look at what veterans especially need. Right.
Bob, you mentioned there are regional liaisons, four of them, throughout Massachusetts.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: Four Southeast, Northeast, Central and Western.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:51] Speaker B: It was great that you were asking those questions because that's the other part. Right?
[00:12:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: One part of the liaison is to be there for the veteran service agent. Right.
Former pilot. What I'm saying is our job is we get to be the co pilot. When things get tough, call us in. We'll sit next to you and help get the veteran where they need to go. But the other piece is, what are you seeing? What are you seeing on the front lines in the communities are the issues of veterans. Your questions were exactly the same questions that I asked the liaisons. But what do you see out there? Where are the challenges? How can we pull that into and make that a broader context and see if that's a local issue or if that's a regional issue or if that's a statewide issue and then take some action on it?
[00:13:32] Speaker A: Yeah, you can't help if you don't know what the problems are. Right, Exactly. Yeah. So you have to identify them first.
To that end, there are multiple contact points for folks to get a hold of your office that we want to let people know about.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Yes. We've expanded. So last time we talked, I think we had an email and that might have been it.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: Yeah. I think there was a cell phone maybe they could reach you on, and that was about it. Yeah.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: So along with having our own office now we have the ability. We have a main office phone line.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:13:58] Speaker B: And I know you're showing these on the screen. We also have a tip line. Yeah.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: I was curious about the tip line because that suggests to me that it's a number that folks can call if they're uncomfortable dealing with the. The organizational structure that they're in.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: What we see that is we don't have enough staff to be everywhere all the time to find out where the issues are to help us determine, well, which system should we examine? Where are they having issues?
Or are there veterans that are in the care of the commonwealth that aren't being treated with dignity and respect or not getting offered the services? Those are the things we're responsible to look at.
So we offer the tip line for folks who are out there living it. You provide us the feedback, we'll take it, we'll collect it, and then we'll take a look at the issue and see if it's a real systemic issue that we can tackle.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: So, yeah, so we're really enlisting the help of the community to help us do it.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: Who knows better, Right. Than people that are living it? So if a veteran is in a housing situation that they don't feel is comfortable or safe, they can use that line. If there's a veteran living at home that's having an issue and can't seem to get resolution through the traditional channels, they can call that line, Right? Yes. Because you're an independent agency, I think that's key.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: And they're allowed to be anonymous. They don't want to leave their information because we work with other state agencies. There may be individuals that see something happening within their agency that they're not quite comfortable with. It allows them to be able to leave us a tip so we can look at something and then they're not worried about any retaliation.
[00:15:32] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, we're not talking about lowering the boom here. It may be just something that needs to be corrected. Right. Yeah.
So there's that tip line. There's the main line, 781-664-9033. There's the website mass.govova and then there's an email address also. And QR.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: QR code? Yeah, it's 2025.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: You are high tech with a QR code. And I tried it myself and folks can just scan it on their electronic device and it'll take you right to your website as well.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: And we do have social media. I'll plug that. We would love people to follow us on social media.
We use that channel as a way to get information out to the community.
It's not necessarily about us and what we're doing, although we'll post when we participate in things like the event trunk mentioned with recognition. We'll post that out there. But we also post, hey, there's an event that veterans. A free event that veterans can go and get resources. Or here is some information about the VA that you might not have seen anywhere else.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: So we try to be a source of usable information for veterans.
[00:16:41] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great. We just had a big veterans Expo in Quincy not too long ago, so I'm sure that was up there as well. And more like that. So the office where you are in Braintree, it's not necessarily. Folks don't necessarily come there, right?
[00:16:54] Speaker B: No, not necessarily. We are not a primary service provider. Those are the other agencies. Our role is to look at behind the scenes and have oversight to make sure it's all working properly.
But if there are critical issues that, you know, if someone wants to stop in rather than call or send us an email or fill out a form online, we'll invite them in and have a conversation and capture what information they have.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: Okay, excellent.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: I will share this.
We are a small agency and we are out and about.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: So there's just a handful of folks that may be in the office. Right?
[00:17:27] Speaker A: Yeah. So as you should be. Right.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: That's our job.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: That's the job.
So, yeah, stop by and leave a message or a note or something.
Anything else we should let folks know about right now?
[00:17:39] Speaker B: I think the big piece we're working on coming up in the future, there's a lot of legislation out there. There's several hundred veteran related bills, and we're looking at all of them. We're focusing on a few.
So one of those would be an expansion of our mission that involves including the military side of service.
We see a gap right now where we serve veterans. A lot of the agencies serve veterans, but who is there to help serve the military members before they transition out to become a veteran?
[00:18:10] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: And so we want to get on the front side of the transition process.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: Very good.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: And that's one avenue we're looking at.
[00:18:16] Speaker A: All right, we'll have to have you back for an update as well. Thanks so much. Great to see you, Bob. Nice to meet you. Truck, please come back.
[00:18:22] Speaker C: Thank you, Joe.
[00:18:22] Speaker A: You're very welcome.
