On a Mission to Draw In Veterans
Roll Call Staff
The long hours and high stress of working on Capitol Hill tend to create a lot of close-knit staffs. But the bond formed in the office of freshman Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) goes far beyond shared work experiences in Washington.
Webb’s D.C. office includes eight military veterans — “It’s nine if you count the Senator,” staff assistant Greg Willett points out — ranging in responsibility from intern to legislative assistant.
So the relationships in the office stretch not just around Virginia and the country, but around military posts across the world.
Webb sets the tone for the office with his service as a Marine in Vietnam and as assistant secretary of defense and Navy secretary.
“People naturally gravitate toward people with a similar experience, and we share what Sen. Webb went through when he came out of Vietnam,” said Will Wyche, an intern who served five years in the Army, including a year in Iraq. “It’s pretty cool to share that with a Senator.”
Two members of Webb’s staff share connections with the Senator’s son, Jimmy. Intern Ryan Kennedy, 28, served as a Marine alongside Jimmy Webb in Ramadi, Iraq.
And Rafael Anderson, a 23-year-old staff assistant who is in the Army Reserve, had a brother who was a close friend and high school football teammate of the Senator’s son. Anderson’s brother, a combat engineer, was killed by artillery fire in Iraq in 2006.
Anderson said both the Senator and Jimmy Webb attended his brother’s memorial service.
“Sen. Webb understands,” Anderson said. “His son went overseas, and he understands the day-in, day-out worries of, ‘Is my son going to make it through the day?’”
Concerted Effort
It’s no coincidence that the veterans have landed in Webb’s office. Rather, it’s in keeping with the Senator’s overall effort to integrate veterans back into civilian life.
“Veterans have gone through experiences and know how to get things done,” Webb said. “They also deserve the opportunity. ... You’ll see when you talk to them the type of service they’ve given our country.”
Webb was a staffer on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee from 1977 to 1981, and he hopes to form a clearinghouse through which veterans can get jobs on Capitol Hill.
He said he has spoken with other Senators and encouraged them to reach out to veterans to spread the word through the military that veterans can find work in Congress.
“My philosophy when it comes to staff is I wanted to reach out to people who wouldn’t normally be on Capitol Hill,” Webb said. “We’ve got some community college kids working for us. I wanted my staff to reflect the society at-large.”
The veterans appear to relish the chance.
“This was a great opportunity for me to get in the door up here on Capitol Hill,” Willett said. “As a veteran, it’s a real jump-start for me, to be able to work for someone I can really get behind. It’s been great for me.”
Webb is helping them because he understands the difficult transition from soldier to civilian, the veterans said.
“For a lot of people it’s a big decision to figure out what they’re going to do when they get out of combat,” Wyche said. “Sen. Webb’s been a proponent of veterans ever since he got out of Vietnam.”
Shared Mission
Webb’s staff members said they are on board with the legislative agenda their boss is pushing. That includes a new GI Bill — which Webb introduced on his first day in office and refined last week — to increase educational benefits for veterans.
“Sen. Webb was fortunate enough to get his law degree after Vietnam courtesy of the World War II-era GI Bill,” Willett said, noting that fellow Virginia Sen. John Warner (R) got his bachelor’s and law degrees on the bill, too. Webb “wants us to receive the same benefits they received.”
The legislation would provide the equivalent of four years of in-state college tuition for veterans who have served three or more years of active-duty service since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Any veteran with at least three months of active-duty service would qualify for some benefit.
The bill also includes a new program in which the government would match any additional money a private college donated to a veteran’s education.
Veterans today receive only a fraction of the educational benefits they used to — an average of $6,000 per year, Webb said, “which in some cases isn’t enough to cover community college.”
Warner, a former Navy secretary and former chairman of the Armed Services Committee, signed on to the bill just last week.
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