Butler County Veterans Services

Today we remember the D-Day landings at Normandy. We honor those WWII Veterans who took part in Operation Overlord by storming beaches and parachuting behind enemy lines 80 years ago. We are grateful for their service and sacrifice.

On this Memorial Day, we pause to honor the sacrifices made by others so we can be free. As we enjoy the life and liberties afforded to us, we remember those who gave their lives, and thank those who risked their lives for our way of life. 🇺🇸

We are pleased to announce our 2024 Memorial Day parade will be held on Monday, May 27th at 10:40 on Main Street in Butler! If your group would like to participate, please call our office at 724-284-5352.
Following the parade, we will be having a ceremony in Diamond Park to honor our veterans who have passed away in the last year. Please plan to attend, rain or shine!

The Penn Township Veterans Association - PTVA is exploring all options when it comes to replacing or repairing the eagle at the Wings of Peace Memorial. If you would like to contribute your time, information or a donation, they'd be happy to accept it! Donations can be mailed to, or dropped off at, our office. Thank you for your continued support of our county's veterans!

Penn Twp. eagle temporarily grounded, veterans look for help When members of the Penn Township Veterans Association proudly placed the mighty eagle atop a new stone veterans monument in August 1986, they thought the majestic sculpture with the 13-foot wingspan ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In one of the largest-ever expansions of Veteran health care, all Veterans exposed to toxins and other hazards during military service – at home or abroad – will be eligible for VA health care beginning March 5

At the direction of President Biden, VA is expanding health care eligibility to millions of Veterans – including all Veterans who served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other combat zone after 9/11 – years earlier than called for by the PACT Act

Today, VA announced that all Veterans who were exposed to toxins and other hazards while serving in the military – at home or abroad – will be eligible to enroll directly in VA health care beginning March 5, 2024. This means that all Veterans who served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Global War on Terror, or any other combat zone after 9/11 will be eligible to enroll directly in VA health care without first applying for VA benefits. Additionally, Veterans who never deployed but were exposed to toxins or hazards while training or on active duty in the United States will also be eligible to enroll.

As directed by President Biden, this expansion of VA health care eliminates the phased-in approach called for by the PACT Act – meaning that millions of Veterans are becoming eligible for VA health care up to eight years earlier than written into law. This is a critical step forward because Veterans who are enrolled in VA health care are proven to have better health outcomes than non-enrolled Veterans, and VA hospitals have dramatically outperformed non-VA hospitals in overall quality ratings and patient satisfaction ratings. Additionally, VA health care is often more affordable than non-VA health care for Veterans.
VA encourages all eligible Veterans to visit //VA.gov/PACT or call 1-800-MYVA411 to learn more and apply for VA health care beginning March 5. Since President Biden signed the PACT Act into law on August 10, 2022, more than 500,000 Veterans have enrolled in VA health care.

“If you’re a Veteran who may have been exposed to toxins or hazards while serving our country, at home or abroad, we want you to come to us for the health care you deserve,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “VA is proven to be the best, most affordable health care in America for Veterans – and once you’re in, you have access for life. So don’t wait, enroll starting March 5th.”

“Beginning March 5, we’re making millions of Veterans eligible for VA health care years earlier than called for by the PACT Act,” said VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal, M.D. “With this expansion, VA can care for all Veterans who served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Global War on Terror, or any other combat zone after 9/11. We can also care for Veterans who never deployed but were exposed to toxins or hazards while training or on active duty here at home – by working with chemicals, pesticides, lead, asbestos, certain paints, nuclear weapons, x-rays, and more. We want to bring all of these Veterans to VA for the care they’ve earned and deserve.”
In addition to expanding access to VA care, this decision makes it quicker and easier for millions of Veterans to enroll. Many Veterans believe they must apply to receive VA disability compensation benefits to become eligible for VA health care, but this is not correct. With this expansion and other authorities, millions of eligible Veterans can enroll directly in VA care – without any need to first apply for VA benefits.
This expansion of care covers Vietnam Veterans, Gulf War Veterans, Iraq War Veterans, Afghanistan War Veterans, Veterans who deployed in support of contingency operations for the Global War on Terror (Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, Operation Inherent Resolve, and Resolute Support Mission), and more.
This expansion also covers many Veterans who never deployed as a part of a conflict but were exposed to toxins or hazards while serving in the U.S. Specifically, under this expansion of care, any Veteran who participated in a toxic exposure risk activity (TERA) – at home or abroad – is eligible for VA health care. VA has determined that Veterans who were exposed to one or more of the following hazards or conditions during active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training participated in a TERA: air pollutants (burn pits, sand, dust, particulates, oil well fires, sulfur fires); chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, depleted uranium with embedded shrapnel, contaminated water); occupational hazards (asbestos, industrial solvents, lead, paints including chemical agent resistant coating, firefighting foams); radiation (nuclear weapons handling, maintenance and detonation, radioactive material, calibration and measurement sources, X-rays, radiation from military occupational exposure); warfare agents (nerve agents, chemical and biological weapons); and more. VA will use all available information to determine if Veterans participated in a TERA, including military records and service connection.
VA is executing a nationwide campaign to ensure that as many Veterans as possible enroll. To date, VA’s PACT Act outreach campaign has included more than 2,500 events nationwide, $13 million in paid advertising, 88,000 earned media clips, more than 400 million emails and letters to Veterans, VA’s first-ever text messaging campaign, the creation of a one-stop-shop PACT Act website, and more. This is the largest outreach campaign in VA history, which has one goal in mind: ensure that all Veterans – and their survivors – get the health care and benefits they deserve under the PACT Act.
For more information about how the PACT Act is helping Veterans and their survivors, visit VA’s PACT Act Dashboard. To apply for care or benefits today, visit VA.gov/PACT or call 1-800-MYVA411. More information on eligibility can be found at VA.gov/PACT.

The PACT Act And Your VA Benefits | Veterans Affairs The PACT Act is a new law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances.The PACT Act adds to the list of health conditions that we assume (or “presume”) are caused by exposure to these substances. This law helps us provide ge...

How VSO's Help Streamline the Claim Filing Process with Shawnee Young - It's About The Warrior Foundation | iHeart Need to file a claim for veteran's benefits? The best place to start is with a VSO, and it's FREE! Shawnee Young, Director of the Butler County Veterans Services Office, joins us on this episode to talk in depth about the great work they do being advocates for veterans and helping file claims so the...

We are pleased to announce our 2023 Veterans Day parade will be held on Saturday, November 11th at 10:40 on Main Street in Butler! We will pause the parade at 11:00 for a salute to honor the signing of the Armistice ending World War I.

If your group would like to participate, please call our office at 724-284-5352.

A message from the VA about the PACT Act:

Due to extremely high volume of submissions, some Veterans and survivors are receiving error messages when submitting their “intent to file” PACT Act claims. As of 10:30pm ET on August 8, 2023, this impacted about 18% of individuals who submitted their intent to file before the August 9, 2023, benchmark.
First and foremost, no Veteran or survivor will miss out on a single day of benefits due to this issue.
Every Veteran or survivor who received an error message while applying for PACT Act benefits can consider their intent to file complete. VA is actively working to contact these individuals to confirm directly to them that their intent to file will be honored and their effective date protected.

While we take steps to resolve this issue, we are putting an emergency banner on the VA.GOV website to reassure Veterans and survivors that their “intent to file” will be honored. We are also changing the language on the error message when a Veteran or survivor are filing an “intent to file.” The language will confirm that, despite the error message, the intent to file has been saved.

While we work to resolve these technical difficulties, we continue to encourage Veterans and survivors to file their PACT Act claims — or submit their intent to file — now at VA.gov/PACT.

Veterans who do so on or before August 9, 2023, may be eligible to receive benefits backdated to August 10, 2022. Please know that VA.gov/PACT is not down, and we continue to collect intent to file submissions despite the outgoing error messages.

Additionally, we have experienced extremely high call volume on 1-800-MyVA411 and other call centers at the Department. We are taking immediate steps to minimize these wait times for Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors and working to ensure our representatives have up-to-date information on these technical difficulties should a Veteran or survivor reach out.

VA is working to resolve this problem immediately, and we will make sure that no Veteran or survivor misses out on their earned benefits because of these technical difficulties.

The PACT Act And Your VA Benefits | Veterans Affairs The PACT Act is a new law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. The PACT Act adds to the list of health conditions that we assume (or “presume”) are caused by exposure to these substances. This law helps us provide g...

Thank you to everyone who came out to support and honor our county’s veterans at the parade and ceremony today. Special thank you to the Butler City Police and CB Rangers for traffic control, Thompson-Miller Funeral Home for providing the casket for the caisson, the Butler County Commissioners for opening up Diamond Park to us and Mr. Dave Haunty for his displays throughout the park. Most importantly, thank you to the veterans who laid down their lives for our country. We honor and salute you.

We are pleased to announce our 2023 Memorial Day parade will be held on Monday, May 29th at 10:40 on Main Street in Butler! If your group would like to participate, please call our office at 724-284-5352.
Following the parade, we will be having a ceremony in Diamond Park to honor our veterans who have passed away in the last year. Please plan to attend, rain or shine!

The 2024 Can-Am Police-Fire Games presented by Heroes First Home Loans, which will be held in Butler County, Pennsylvania July 15-21, 2024 is a multi-sport, Olympic-style event that features traditional sports and competitions that include skills used in first responders’ day-to-day work. Competitors are from Fire and Rescue, Law Enforcement, Emergency Medical Services, Homeland Security, Border Patrol, Corrections and other first responder professions along with their spouses and children over 18. Thousands of participants from the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Canada are expected. Sign up for more information and plan to compete! https://www.butlercanam2024.com/

We're hiring!

Experience with veterans benefits is not necessary! We are looking for someone who is eager to assist our county's veterans and who is willing to learn (and keep learning because VA law is constantly changing). Please spread the word!

Veteran Affairs - Administrative Assistant II This position provides confidential administrative and clerical support for the Veterans Affairs Department for all Butler County US Veterans, Armed Force members, their...

Congratulations to our Veteran of the Year Dave Smith! We salute you!

From all of us at Butler County to our veterans home and away, we Thank You for your service!

As you all know the weather for November 11th has the potential to be severe.
To ensure everyone’s safety we unfortunately had to make the judgement call to cancel our Veterans Day parade. We did not make this decision lightly, but had to take all factors into consideration.
We encourage everyone to thank a veteran in different ways tomorrow and every day!

Good morning! We are closely monitoring the weather for our Veterans Day parade on Friday. We're going to give the forecast a chance to iron out and we'll make a decision to cancel or not no later than Thursday afternoon. Thank you!

Friday is the big Veteran's Day parade downtown, and we're excited to do our part to thank our local heroes 🇺🇸

Get to Main Street for the start of the parade at 10:40 and stay for lunch with us! All veterans will get a FREE draft beer on Friday, plus our 10% Veteran's discount on food offered every day! There's nothing like seeing all those uniforms lining the streets of Butler on Veteran's Day, so join us in giving each and every one of them the "thank you" they deserve! 🍻

Today! We will have a table set up so stop and see us! Let us help you with your VA benefits!

The Butler JROTC would like to honor our county's veterans this Veterans Day! Please see the invitation below for a free breakfast before the parade at The Brick House in Butler. If you would like attend, please RSVP by this Friday, October 28th. YOU MUST RSVP!!!

Important info for our Persian Gulf veterans!

The 1-year open enrollment window may apply to you if:

· You served on active duty during a period of war after the Persian Gulf War, or

· You were in combat against a hostile force after November 11, 1998, and

· You were discharged between September 11, 2001, and October 1, 2013.

Learn more at VA.gov/PACT.

To all of our veterans in the Karns City area and beyond, the high school students would like to salute you!

As always, we are here to answer any questions or file claims for the PACT Act. However, this is a great resource for some general info.

Please be advised that our office will be closed Tuesday, September 13th through Friday, September 16th as we attend training to better serve our veterans. We will reopen at 8:30 a.m. Monday, September 19th. We apologize for any inconvenience!