Ceremony opens St. Cloud Vet Center

by Dennis Dalman

A long-deferred dream came true on a sunny morning when a dedication ceremony June 13 officially opened the new Veteran Center Outstation in southeast St. Cloud.

The center will serve veterans and families throughout central Minnesota.

About 125 people attended the outdoor event in front of the Vet Center at 330 South Hwy. 10. where a ribbon-cutting took place after speeches given by veterans. In the audience, under a large tent awning, were many veterans and their family members who sat and listened intently to sometimes heart-rending memories, redeemed by the speakers’ upbeat optimism and inspiration. St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis was a member of the audience, as were area State Reps. Aric Putnam and Jeff Howe.

The program was emceed by Craig Towle, director of the Anoka Vet Center. The keynote speaker was Michelle Fisher, chief officer of the Readjustment Counseling Service. An aide to Sen. Amy Klobuchar read a statement from the senator congratulating St. Cloud for its new Vet Center.

The event began with a Color Guard posting flags near the speakers’ lectern, then an invocation followed by the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” After the hour-long ceremony, the center was opened for guided tours.

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Sartell resident Phil Ringstrom, a veteran who worked for 15 years to get a vet center in St. Cloud. (For more about Ringstrom, see related story in this Newsleader.)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who is a National Guard veteran, spoke at the ceremony. He thanked and praised St. Cloud and its veterans for working to get a Vet Center.

Walz said he has talked through the years to many veterans who told him this: “I would be dead today if not for Vet Centers.”

The new Vet Center is one of more than 300 such centers in the United States and its territories. They are not managed by VA hospitals but do make referrals quite often for veteran clients. The St. Cloud Vet Center is called an outstation because it is a “satellite” clinic managed by the Anoka Vet Center. Other Minnesota vet centers are located in Duluth and in Richfield (that one is called the St. Paul Vet Center).

The St. Cloud area has the highest veterans’ suicide rate in Minnesota.

Vet centers began in 1979 in response to the many Vietnam veterans in need of help. Each vet center is a non-medical counseling facility that offers a variety of social and psychological services provided free of charge to veterans, current service members and their families. The Vet Center, many of whose staff members are veterans, provide completely confidential counseling for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and the psychological after-effects of military sexual trauma. The centers also make referrals for clients to Veterans Administration health-care services and benefits.

Close to 350,000 military veterans live in Minnesota.

The following are some of the comments made by three of the ceremony’s veteran speakers:

McCulloch

Casey McCulloch, who had been in the Florida National Guard, did a tour of duty in Iraq where she witnessed many traumatizing events. Though she was not wounded physically, she developed PTSD and suffered anxiety and panic attacks for 13 years. Her life, she said, had become an empty shell, and she had thoughts of wanting to die.

Then one day, one year ago, she summoned up the courage to go to a vet center where she blurted out the words “I need help.” Saying those three empowering words were the beginning of a new, happy, productive life for McCulloch.

Evangilist

A former U.S. Marine and Vietnam veteran, Paul Evangilist vividly remembers coming home to America and getting in a taxi to go to the airport.

When he told the cab driver he was just back from Vietnam, the driver said this to him: “Aren’t you Marines the ones who kill babies and women over there?”

It was an awful moment because Evangilist knew right there and then that he had left one war to have to confront another “war” at home – a “war” of hostility and dislike from so many people he would meet in his life.

It wasn’t until years later, when he was 69, that Evangilist sought treatment for PTSD and began to “rebuild” his life.

He predicted the new St. Cloud Vet Center will be a “safe harbor” for so many veterans and their families.

Smith

Vincent Smith, too, is a Vietnam veteran who was a military policeman and dog-handler. He later became a biology teacher.

He talked of the tight and loving bond he developed with his dog named Tap, who was adept at sniffing out heroin. Tap’s cruel death (he’d been killed and then eaten) devastated Smith and took him years and years to get over.

Smith’s talk at times had the audience rollicking with laughter when he recalled with witty, wild remarks his adventures and misadventures as a boy, as a soldier and as a teacher.

He talked of the time the school superintendent visited his biology classroom and a cockatiel made a mid-air fluttering dash toward the man’s head, causing him to fall to the floor.

“What was that?!” the startled man asked.

“A cockatiel,” Smith said. “He’s one of the animals I use in my teaching.”

“Well, I’m sure glad you don’t teach about elephants!” said the exasperated superintendent.

The audience roared with laughter.

Contact

Any veteran or veteran’s family members who would like to make an appointment at the St. Cloud Vet Center Outstation should call 763-503-2220. That number is the same one for the Anoka Vet Center.