Vet aid draws on Minnesota model

WASHINGTON - A model Minnesota program that helps combat veterans readjust to civilian life could soon become standard across the nation. Funding to nationalize the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program, pioneered by the Minnesota National Guard, is attached to the annual defense bill the House is expected to be approved today.

Minnesota's program, created by the Guard's Maj. Gen. Larry Shellito in 2005, has been heralded for keeping tabs on at-risk vets in the months after they return from combat zones, when war-related emotional disorders could start to surface. It includes workshops at the 30-, 60- and 90-day marks that focus on marriage and parenting, substance and gambling abuse and anger management.

U.S. Rep. John Kline, a Republican, said the whole country could benefit from such a program. Kline authored the amendment on the House version of the bill, which every Minnesota representative cosponsored. Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, and Norm Coleman, a Republican, cosponsored the Senate version.

Until granted a waiver, the Minnesota National Guard technically violated a Department of Defense rule exempting National Guard troops from mandatory activity within 60 days of returning from combat, which was intended to give them well-deserved time off.

"The problem was that in those months when they came back they started running into problems," Kline said. "Sometimes they didn't have a job waiting for them, sometimes there were marital difficulties. ... We needed a waiver so we can bring these soldiers back every 30, 60 and 90 days, basically just to see how they're doing."

Kline's amendment would repeal the 60-day provision for all state guard organizations and would allocate funds to pay soldiers for the time they spend in the sessions.

It would also provide $23 million to administer the programs, and to analyze effectiveness of programs across the country.

"They're just so happy to see each other," Shellito said. "But once they start talking, they realize some of the things they're feeling, all their buddies are feeling the same thing."

Before Beyond the Yellow Ribbon, Kline said there wasn't much of a program in place. At the end of their deployment, Guards members would fly into Fort McCoy in Wisconsin for a few days' worth of briefing on information such as which veterans benefits they would qualify for.

"Frankly, let's be blunt about this, the soldiers are typically not paying a lot of attention," Kline said. "They've been gone for a long time, they're nodding heads and checking boxes and signing papers and can't wait to get back to their families."

The psychological and emotional problems soldiers often face after returning home often don't surface until weeks or months later.

Initially, there was some grumbling from soldiers who didn't think they should have to go through the training because they didn't think they needed it, Shellito said.

"As a nation, we have an obligation to wrap our arms around those who serve and sacrifice for us," Klobuchar said. "What works in Minnesota can work in other states."

The Senate is expected to vote on the bill later this week.