FIGHTING THE WAR AT HOME

Local Veteran Advocates for Those in Need

“But then something happens and it snaps you back to reality. You want to be on guard because you never know what’s going to happen. I knew firsthand I had PTSD.”

In January 2022, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) listed more than 33,100 veterans experiencing homelessness.

While this was an 11 percent decrease over January 2020, the last year a full Pont-In-Time Count was conducted, the men and women who risked their lives in the name of American security deserve better,

And that’s just what fuels Cass County Veterans Services Director Chris Deery.

“Unfortunately, in Fargo-Moorhead, we do have a lot of homeless veterans,” said Deery.

Over the last three years, Deery and his team at Cass County Veterans Services have worked hard to help local veterans get their benefits.

While people have many reasons to make a difference in the lives of others, for Deery it’s personal.

“I graduated from Fargo South (High School) in ‘99,” Deery said. “I joined (the military) prior to 9/11. Just a couple of days. I was sitting in MEPS, it’s called, or Military Entrance Processing Station. It’s like a processing center where you get a physical and do some battery testing and all that stuff. But while I was there, 9/11 was going on. So all of a sudden you’re just like ‘Oh, now this got real.’”

Deery was sent to Fort Jackson, the U.S. Army’s main production center for basic combat training. Then, in 2003, Deery went to Fort Lee in Virginia and was assigned a job.

“I was a supply specialist,” he said. “Anything anybody needed — from underwear to bullets, or boots to socks, anything like that. My mission was to have everyone prepared for battle. (Fort Lee) is a lot of running meals and learning your job, and it prepares you for war. But you never think you’re going to go.”

While in the Minnesota National Guard, Deery worked at a detox facility in Moorhead, Minn., and soon moved on to a tech role.

“We got the call from the Moorhead National Guard,” Deery said. “And we got a letter in the mail. So then all that training and everything you do, and all the long weekends and two weeks a year, all that came to fruition. Then I was on an airplane going to Camp Shelby, Mississippi. We had to learn real fast.”

Deery and his squad spent roughly six months in Mississippi before heading to Louisiana for a month and ultimately Kuwait.

“It was definitely a ride,” he said. Once in Kuwait, their mission was to support the base they were on and the men and women they were with.

“A lot of it was road clearing IEDs,” Deery said. “I remember we got there in, I think it was, March. The first time we ever got attacked was Easter. We were playing basketball and the siren went off and you’re wondering what’s going on. You hear thuds and kind of feel a heat come over you and you’re like ‘Oh yeah, that’s probably dangerous.’”

Deery spent 16 months overseas, and says by the last month the sirens were just part of everyday life.

“You’re not thinking ‘oh, that’s just the siren, they can’t hurt us,’” he said, “You’re not as jumpy, you kind of just get used to it. That’s your way of life.”

But for every 100 veterans who served in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, between 11 and 20 experienced a whole new battle once their boots hit American soil.

“I wrote in my journal that (life on the base) is so monotonous, every day is the same,” he said. “But then something happens and it snaps you back to reality. You want to be on guard because you never know what’s going to happen. I knew firsthand I had PTSD.”

Deery recalls being in an office in Iraq and feeling like a bomb was coming in as something flew over him. “I hid under my desk,” he said. “(When I got home) I lived by the airport and when I heard a plane fly by I hid. It was just instinct. That’s when I knew something was up.”

Advocating

Deery’s work with helping veterans started before he was even a veteran himself — he worked at the Moorhead detox center before he was deployed.

“I started noticing a lot of veterans were using (the detox) services,” he said. “I just thought I could try to help.”

Not only does he help area veterans with accessing their benefits, he also has a personal connection too.

“When I first got back (from Iraq) I sat in my backyard and drank a lot for like three weeks and I contemplated not going back to school,” he said. “And unfortunately, someone stole my lawn chair. So when I couldn’t sit down and drink anymore, I had to start standing up for myself.”

Deery says he was lucky enough to have colleagues from the VA to help him out, and it set up a whole new future for him.

“That’s how I got into supportive employment,” Deery said. “(My colleagues) said I would be good at it, so I applied and I got the job. And it kind of jump-started everything else.”

One aspect Deery focuses on, both in his professional and his personal life, is mental health.

“I use the VA counseling services once a week,” he said. “I take medications for depression and anxiety, and I try to tell my story and hopefully help somebody else or point them in the right direction. It’s not a stereotype and it’s not a weakness. It’s actually a strength for a 41-year-old guy to ask for help.

If I can show them I’m asking for help, maybe it’ll lighten the load.”

From housing and transportation, to mental and physical health services, and everything in between, the work Deery and his colleagues do has helped dozens of local veterans.

And they’re still not done.

But when it comes to living the good life, Deery has that figured out.

“The Good Life is working my job from eight to five, then going home and being a dad and being a family man and just being a good friend,” he said. “I just like to help people, I was raised right.” •

If you’re a veteran looking for resources, or if you want to get involved with the Veterans Service program in Cass county, visit: casscountynd.gov/our-county/veterans-services

If you’re a veteran or concerned about one, find support anytime, day or night. The Veterans Crisis Line offers free, confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.