In 2010 I was granted an 80% disability rating from the VA, which caused me to retire from flying. In July of this year I traveled to Anchorage to have back surgery related to my disability. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic I chose to drive rather than fly, so the wife and I packed up our travel trailer and took off. After surgery I applied for my travel expenses, which were approved all except my travel through Canada. I was, to say the least, shocked to learn that the VA doesn’t pay for travel through a foreign country. That struck me as very odd, so I contacted Senator Dan Sullivan’s office to find out why. The staffer I worked through was very nice and very helpful, but, yesterday I received a letter from the Senator basically saying there is nothing more he can do and that my “case” has been closed. The amount of money we are talking about isn’t a lot but that’s not the point. The point is that this regulation only affects Southeast Alaska’s disabled veterans traveling through Canada to receive treatment for service related injuries in another part of the state. Senator Sullivan is a veteran and a servant of the people of this state. To say there is nothing more that he can do is just being lazy and is a disservice to veterans everywhere. Remember that in six years and, if I’m still around, I’ll remind you.
Greg Goodman