Willing and Able: Celebrating Our Oregon Veterans

Willing and Able: Celebrating Our Oregon Veterans

Director Kelly Fitzpatrick

It is an exciting time for veteran services in Oregon.

As the new director of the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs, I am fortunate to have joined a community whose members are as committed as I am to obtaining the very best outcomes for our veterans.

Part of this work is telling the amazing stories of our Oregon veterans. Through stories we share our life lessons and perspective. They give context for where we’ve been and how we live today.

Though I am new to ODVA, I am a “soldier for life.” I often say that the military is in my DNA. I’m retired Army and was raised in a military family. My father earned a Purple Heart as a Marine during the Korean War; he later enlisted in the Air Force and spent much ofhis career on the security team for Air Force One under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon.

My mother was a “Wonder Woman” military spouse who frequently functioned as a sole parent to three young kids when my father was on military travel.

It was during my years at the Pentagon that I was first introduced to the impact of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on military service members and their family members. Each month a number of disabled veterans and their family members were invited to the Pentagon to be honored.

I also saw military personnel who were willing and able to remain on active duty despite having been severely injured by IEDs and other impacts of war.

That education continued during my most recent position, as the veterans and military caseworker for Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office. My two and a half years there opened a window to me on the world of veterans’ issues here in Oregon.

As veterans, we all have a story.

It gave me perspectives I would not have had otherwise and a deep respect for the entire community of veterans who are tasked with navigating the complicated, often challenging and ever-changing waters of veteran services.

It also taught me the importance of partnership. No one agency, not the VA or ODVA, or anyone else, is able to fully meet the many, varied needs that exist in our veteran population — not on our own. It takes the many, working together as one, to improve outcomes for our veterans.

In this issue of Oregon Veterans News Magazine, you will hear the story of Robin Barrett, a WWII veteran who spent his 20th birthday storming the black sands of Iwo Jima and whose life reads like a scene straight out of the movie Forrest Gump, whose character was involved in some of our country’s most notable events.

As veterans, we all have a story. My hope is you will read this issue and recognize you are part of the world’s most elite cohort — a proud United States veteran — whose experiences and life are to be honored and celebrated.

And if ever a veteran is in need, ODVA and the amazing statewide community partners are here to assist.

They have demonstrated, time and time again, their willingness to sacrifice whatever it takes to ensure every single veteran receives the very best in care, benefits and opportunity our state can provide. It is my privilege and honor to work with them every day.