Pocono News Section

New Luzerne County Veteran's Affairs Director

New Luzerne County Veteran's Affairs Director - Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 4:36PM EST

Thursday, Oct 22, 2009 @ 04:36pm EDT

The position's been vacant for almost a month now.

But Luzerne County now has a new veteran’s affairs director.

The appointment comes after the former director was fired for mismanaging an event receipt.

James Spagnola is taking the helm of the Luzerne County veteran’s affairs office.

The new director is veteran himself with six years of service.

"It seems like yesterday when guys come in we just had a navy veteran that was just discharged recently did the same job I did in the service and I was like, wow, where did the time go?" said Spagnola.

Spagnola served as an electricians mate on a nuclear submarine.

But now, he's steering the ship for Luzerne County 's veteran population.

With more than 30 thousand veterans in the county, the challenges are there.

"It's an aging population and coupled with the amount of veterans returned from Iraq and Afghanistan , we definitely have our work cut out for us," said Spagnola.

More veterans are filing for compensation than years past here in Luzerne County and across the country.

World War Two veterans need health care more than ever.

Current servicemen are returning from wars with post traumatic stress disorder.

Spagnola wants vets to know help is there through this office.

"There's a lot of older veterans out there and surviving spouses that aren't aware that there are benefits available to them," said Spagnola.

Spagnola says making fellow vets aware of those benefits is rewarding.

"it's definitely a great feeling when you know that somebody has come here and needed help and we're able to do that for them."

For more on what kind of benefits veterans are eligible for, click the forums link on this webpage and then select Veterans’ Voices.