Service rendered

Scattered throughout the multiple volumes of Maine statutes are laws pertaining to the benefits the state affords its veterans, from property tax breaks to burial in a veterans’ cemetery.

Scattered throughout Maine are veterans who fall through the loopholes in these laws, confused and sometimes bitter that, while they served their country, they did not serve at the right time.

There are two fundamental issues here. The first is consistency. The benefits include property, estate and excise tax exemptions, fish and game license discounts, access to state-guaranteed business loans, preference for state jobs, credit within the state retirement system, admission to veterans’ homes and, of course, the honor of a military burial. The various benefits are administered by a variety of state agencies, each with their own confusing and often contradictory eligibility rules.

The second issue is one of fairness. Veterans of both world wars, Korea and Vietnam are included in all benefits programs (although Maine’s time frame for Vietnam is considerably shorter than the federal government’s), regardless of whether they served at the front or at the Fort Dix motor pool. Some programs cover veterans of the Gulf War, the expeditions to Panama and Grenada; some don’t. Peacetime veterans — if “peace” can be defined as Somalia, Bosnia, Lebanon and Checkpoint Charlie — are left out.

Rep. Michael McAlevey of Waterboro wants to fix this, or at least find out how badly things are broken. His proposal to create a Commission to Study Standarized Periods of Military Service for Award of Benefits to Maine Veterans isn’t the flashiest piece of legislation lawmakers will deal with this session, but it is one of the most worthwhile. The commission will consist of one senator, one representative, an official from the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, three members of statewide veterans’ organizations and an officer of the Maine National Guard.

Extracting every reference to veterans from the dozens of statute volumes won’t be easy, but McAlevey is right: “It’s the only place to start. The most overwhelming thing about this situation is how confusing it is. There probably isn’t a single legislator who doesn’t have a constituent trying to deal with it and so far we’ve only been able to patch the system up one case at a time.”

Col. Joseph Tinkham, deputy commissioner of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, who has been working with McAlevey on the project, says lawmakers ultimately will have to answer one fundamental question. “What is service? Anyone who serves in the armed forces is ready to do what the country asks, whether they’re in combat or in a support position, whether they serve during time of war or peace. Service is service.”

Sen. Beverly Daggett of Augusta agrees with Col. Tinkham, she supports Rep. McAlevey’s initiative, yet she finds herself submitting legislation on behalf of a veteran who served in West Germany during the most tense days of the Cold War, yet who qualifies for no state benefits or even recognition of service. “I’d rather fix everything at once, but it’s not fair to keep one veteran waiting on the Legislature,” she observes correctly.

Extending veterans’ benefits to those who served during what the state, for its own convenience, defines as peacetime will come with a cost. Considering the service these men and women rendered, the sacrifice they were willing to make, lawmakers should view it as a bargain.