Members of Chapter 820 and staff from the Bend VA Clinic recently traveled to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Northwest Montana. Some of the Chapter 820 members had met Blackfeet Vietnam vets Tom Connell and Steve Conway while all were attending the PTSD program at the Roseburg, Oregon, VAMC. What the Chapter 820 members learned was that the Blackfeet vets were being regularly denied service-connected disability ratings and adequate compensation for ratings they did get. They also found out that the Blackfeet vets were not knowledgeable about PTSD, in general, or the many types of benefits they were entitled to. Moreover, none of the traditional veterans service organizations were providing adequate claims assistance and none had ever made the trip to the reservation, which is located 176 miles from the VA Regional Office and Medical Center in Ft. Harrison. With the reservation being located on the Canadian border, you can imagine trying to make that drive during the winter.

Jim Gunn, Rick Valenzuela, Dave Loehr, Sam Carter, and Dr. Ron Kokes, a clinical psychologist at the Bend clinic, left Bend on July 27, in Sam's motor home, for Browning, Montana. This is where the Blackfeet tribal headquarters is located. The main purpose of the trip was to assist the Blackfeet vets in learning how the VA system works, how to file the correct forms and the best way to present PTSD claims. Because the group was limited in time, they focused on PTSD claims and left other issues, such as Agent Orange-related illnesses, for another day. During the time together at Roseburg, the Chapter 820 members had learned that the average PTSD claim filed by a Blackfeet Vietnam vet resulted in ratings of 30% and that the average C&P exam lasted no more than thirty minutes.

Chapter 820 Members and Dr. Kokes prepare to leave for the Blackfeet Reservation. During their tour of the reservation, the Blackfeet Vietnam vets took the Bend group to this beautiful waterfall that springs from a solid granite wall.

According to Chapter 820 Vice President Jim Gunn, approximately twenty-five Blackfeet vets showed up for the first meeting, including vets from the Korean and Gulf Wars, with the rest having served in Vietnam. Jim said that, "Naturally, they were a little bit suspicious about why we were there. So we had this big meeting first to explain why we were there and, after that, things went fantastic. Tom Connell and Steve Conway really helped us out with this part." Jim explained that Dr. Kokes met with the wives and girlfriends to try and offer them basic help around the family issues related to PTSD. One of things that Jim said was that, "The Blackfeet vets were mostly in the warrior society and they are not prone to ask for help. Once they realized that we came because we wanted to help, they welcomed us. At the end of the first day we were there, they adopted us into the tribe and made us members of the warrior society. We all got Blackfeet names."

One of the things the Chapter 820 members learned while on the reservation was that the Indian health service system there had very little to offer their vets in terms of PTSD. Jim Gunn stated that one of the health service psychologists attended Dr. Kokes talks, but that it appeared that the health service mental health people really didnt know much about PTSD, or how to treat it. On the third day that the Chapter 820 vets were at the reservation, the Blackfeet vets threw a lunch for them that was also attended by the Blackfeet wives and girlfriends. During the luncheon there was an open discussion about PTSD and relationships. The Chapter 820 members came back to Bend on July 31.