Military and Veterans Affairs Office Executive Officer Ruth A. Coleman, in an interview yesterday, said over 1,200 CNMI veterans have already registered with her office.
A local veteran has to wait from six months to two years before he can get his or her claims, he said.
But if there is a U.S. veterans office on island, Coleman believes that the CNMI veterans will get the assistance they need quickly.
A draft resolution she wrote states that, “In the history of military campaign of over two centuries, the people of the U.S. have engaged in military and diplomatic initiatives to gain and preserve the freedom of all people, and the citizens of CNMI strongly support the men and women serving the U.S. armed forces in the past and present conflicts in other areas known and not yet known.”
The resolution added that “3,000 American military personnel, including 10 from CNMI, have died since 2003 in the [war on terror] and hundreds have returned home with no veterans affairs benefits, physical and other health care needs. Our veterans deserve nothing less, as other veterans in the continental U.S.”
Coleman’s office, with the help of CNMI veterans, are already preparing for the Veterans Day ceremony on Nov. 11.
