Q&A: Vietnam vet clears red tape for local veterans

Richard Hall is the service officer for the Maricopa post of Veterans of Foreign Wars.

In that capacity, he helps veterans submit the right paperwork in the right order to receive all the benefits they are due. He serves about 30 veterans a month.

“When you find a good one, you keep him, and he’s a keeper,” VFW Commander Mike Kemery says.

Issues with Vietnam vets like Hall are usually health-related. “A lot of Vietnam vets are frustrated by the paperwork,” Hall says. “I can calm them down and give them straight answers.”

For younger vets, it’s red tape.

“There was one younger vet who was able to get four years’ back-pay, and I’m proud of the fact I helped put that together,” Hall says.

He often has to sit down with vets more than once to get all the facts of a case and all the correct forms. Sometimes that means correcting “help” from previous self-styled veteran advocates.

Hall is a de facto liaison between local veterans and the office of Veterans Affairs. He also serves as a Victim Advocate with the Maricopa Police Department.

Why did you join the military? To find a job and in response to radicals in college.

Where did you serve? Vietnam

What brought you to Maricopa? The solitude and the opportunity to own a nice property.

What incident in your military experience has had the biggest impact on your life? After a helicopter crash and the trek back to base, I appreciated the training and thoroughness of the abilities of those around me. I wasn’t infantry, but suddenly I had to be infantry.

What was the most notable act of heroism you witnessed? The ability of our airmen in helicopters to go in and pick up soldiers on a hot LZ (landing zone).

What were some challenges you faced entering civilian life? Adjusting from a war environment to family and school. People didn’t even acknowledge I had been in Vietnam. And college had gotten so radical, even in the way they talked to the teachers.

What was the best advice you received during your time in the military? Do the job to the best of your ability because you’ve got to learn the job so you can react without thinking.

What is your proudest moment? Helping veterans at the Service Office.

What is the one thing you would like civilians to know about the U.S. military? It’s your family, your sons and daughters, your aunts and uncles, and they’re there to serve and protect.

Richard Hall
Age: 69
Hometown: Phoenix
Residence: Antelope Valley (south of Thunderbird Farms)
Family: Son, daughter and three grandchildren
Pets: Sara the puppy
Hobbies: Golf and fly fishing
Greatest talent: Service to veterans
Age of enlistment: 19
Years in military: Four years active, 19 total
Branch of service: U.S. Army
Highest rank: Staff sergeant

This appeared in the Winter Edition of InMaricopa the Magazine.