By Ken Newton, St. Joseph News-Press

Valeeta Soltys served as an Army Reservist in Operation Desert Storm. She praises the VA health care system to anyone who will listen.

“The VA is as good as any private physician,” the St. Joseph woman said, noting the medical care she gets at the local clinic and in occasional trips to Fort Leavenworth.

But the American Legionnaire, from Post 359, concedes that many female veterans fail to take advantage of their due benefits. According to the Missouri Veterans Commission, the state has nearly 37,000 women veterans and only about 4,000 draw compensation or pension for their service.

Karen S, Etzler, the commission’s women veterans coordinator, staffed a booth at a veterans resource expo in St. Joseph on Tuesday. Female service personnel of recent years tap into the VA entitlements. Those from the Korean War and World War II periods, she said, often don’t look into the possibilities.

“They’re just not aware of their benefits,” she said.

Benefits proved an important component of the afternoon event at the Mayes Memorial Armory. Booths promoting resources lined the walls with representatives from groups such as the VFW, Gold Star Wives and Veterans of Modern Warfare.

About 90 people attended the expo, which was hosted by Northwest Missouri Congressman Sam Graves. The lawmaker updated the veterans on legislation dealing with the military, voicing his pleasure that Congress has denied money for the relocation of terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba to the American mainland.

“These are pretty bad individuals,” he said. “I do not want them here.”

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