ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- After decades of providing services to military veterans who sought them, the Sioux County Veterans Affairs office has been booming with new applications as a new service officer enthusiastically encourages veterans to claim benefits they have earned.

The majority of applications are not filed by soldiers, airmen or sailors who have served in the most recent wars. These guys (nearly all are men) served in Vietnam, Korea, World War II or during peacetime. They either weren't accutely aware of the local VA office or just never thought to explore what benefits they might qualify for.

Shane Walter, the VA office administrator and service officer only since 2005, said many vets may have developed covered medical conditions but they don't always connect them to their military service.

"I want every veteran in my county to know we're here and have access to benefits that might be coming to them," he said.

The Sioux County VA office wasn't always an easy thing to use, either. It was open only part-time and located in the service officer's home. Now it's open 40 hours a week in the Sioux County Courthouse.

Appointments are made and the telephone is answered every day of the week, said Walter, who is also the county's zoning administrator and community service director, doing all three jobs from the same office.

Although he has not served in the armed forces, Walter has an unabashed enthusiasm for helping veterans learn about and apply for benefits allotted to them.

VA gets high marks

Three veterans who have used the office's services lately, Clarence Postma, Howard Brandes and Denny Wright, met there recently to talk about their different experiences and why they turned to Veterans Affairs.

Postma, 77, never thought of going to the VA office until two years ago.

During the Korean War, he trained on giant, tank-mounted guns with 20-foot barrels and shells that traveled for seven miles; He drove the tank, too. He spent the Korean conflict practicing at a base in Germany and was never sent to the war. He was never given ear protection, either.

He wore hearing aids for years, but when his audiologist told him a few years ago that his left ear was so bad that a hearing aid could longer help, someone suggested he visit the VA. Postma went, and Walter helped him fill out an application. He later went to the VA Hospital in Sioux Falls, where his hearing was evaluated. The exam showed his deafness was attributable to artillery fire. Showing off new digital hearing aids, Postma said his former "bad ear" is now his better one.

Postma concedes it took a long time to get them, about 18 months. He said you fill out papers and nothing happens, so you figure you were tuned down. Then a letter comes in the mail. You have an appointment.

Link to Agent Orange

A Vietnam combat veteran, Brandes, 63, initially resisted asking for any assistance.

In 2002 he was diagnosed with Type II diabetes linked to Agent Orange, a defoliant widely used in Vietnam during the war. "I was kind of ornery. And I had health insurance," he explained. "Then Shane said you've got to do it."

He went to the VA Hospital in Sioux Falls, first for a physical, and then for a full battery of tests. He controls his diabetes with lifestyle changes and one pill a day.

"That's a well-run operation," Brandes said. Each veteran receives a magnetic-stripe swipe card containing all their medical information and benefits.

Denny Wright, 63, a former school teacher and administrator and now a county supervisor, also developed Type II diabetes, four years ago. He worked in an office in Vietnam and admits he doesn't know if he was exposed to Agent Orange or not. But the benefit presumes that anyone who served even a single day in Vietnam, was exposed. So far, he needs no medication, but feels good that the VA has all his records at the ready.

"It will get worse," he said.

The money is there

Many former soldiers may qualify not only for medical treatment, but for disability income or housing. Brandes said he was rated as 40 percent disabled, due to diabetes and numbness in his feet, and will get a $500 monthly disability check. Wright was rated 10 percent disabled and gets a $123 monthly check.

The veterans also site prescription prices. Brandes said he used to pay $175 a month for one medication; with the VA, he pays $8.

Wright sees the VA not only as a veteran, but from an elected official's point of view.

"Somebody's going to get this money," he said."Let's help our veterans in Sioux County."

It's hard to quantify how many more veterans are now using the Sioux County office than did four years ago. Kathi Wetter, administrative assistant to Walter, said she used to try keeping a spreadsheet on the appointments, programs and applications, but it got too complicated to track.

"We know we've had an increase in numbers," she said. "Some days are filled up with veterans' appointments. When we first started, we got one or two a week."