From Afghanistan to Augusta, Jared Golden says desire to serve drives him

LEWISTON — When state Rep. Jared Golden thinks about Maine veterans, he does it from a personal perspective.

Serving his first term in the Maine House, Golden, 32, is a Marine Corps veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It’s why he wanted to be on the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. It’s also one reason he wanted to be a state representative. It allowed him to continue his service to his state and his country in a different role.

Golden, a Lewiston Democrat, said he intends to offer legislation that would create a legislative commission on veterans. The aim would be to take a hard look at the services the state provides for veterans and determine whether those services align with the needs of veterans today.

A meeting Golden recently participated in with a group of about 30 veterans and about 20 or so lawmakers was revealing and prompted him to seek this review, he said.

“It became somewhat evident to me that there were some younger veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who feel like the services that are being done are in some ways lacking or just not up to date with their needs, and their needs are not the same as older generations of veterans,” Golden said. “And they feel like their voices are not being heard.”

Golden said many of the services provided by Maine’s Bureau of Veterans Services are absolutely critical, including Veterans’ Homes and cemeteries. But others, while important, may not be fully addressing the most pressing needs, such as helping young veterans get the education and job retraining they need to find good work.

Golden also said he hopes to help change the way many people view veterans, especially those who are dealing with a return to civilian life or who may be managing war-related injuries.

Golden, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder upon his return from a combat tour in Afghanistan, said he hopes to help remove some of the singular focus that creates a stigma that vets like him face every day.

Many well-meaning people often allow the issues veterans deal with, including war injuries, PTSD or the difficulty veterans face in transitioning to civilian life, to define how they see veterans.

“A lot of veterans feel like, ‘Yes, I have PTSD,’ or, ‘I’m struggling with the transition, but I don’t need you to just focus on these issues,'” Golden said. “I need the counseling to be available and I need those resources to be there, but that doesn’t summarize who I am as a person.”

Golden said vets often feel they are are losing their identities in the process of working on issues, and that becomes disheartening.

“I’m not essentially something who is broken and needs to be fixed,” Golden said. “I’m a person.”

Golden, a graduate of Bates College, said he would like to see state services provide an equal amount of focus on other important things, “like helping them find a good-quality job, helping them identify a pathway to success, including helping them figure out the best use of the educational benefits that are available to them.”

The way the state and federal governments try to transfer information to veterans about the benefits available to them also needs improvement, Golden said.

“There’s a lot of room for improving how we make information about resources available,” he said. “With a 24-year-old, you are not going to have a lot of success handing them a brochure.”

Golden said his vision for a legislative commission on veterans is one that would be a short-term commission meant to quickly evaluate and make recommendations about the changes that must be made to better align services.

Golden also wants to continue his effort to help fund a project called “Cabins in the Woods,” a Volunteers for America project to build 20 cabins for homeless vets on federal land at the VA Hospital in Togus.

Serving you at the State House: This is the first in an occasional series that profiles state lawmakers from Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties.