Options for Vets When Bases Close

The impending closure of the Marine Corps bases at El Toro and Tustin will leave a void for the more than 200,000 military veterans who live in Orange County.

Some do their shopping at El Toro’s exchange store, where they pay no state sales taxes on retail goods such as clothing and appliances. The base is also a popular meeting place where veterans socialize, get medical exams and seek information about veterans’ programs and benefits.

Because these services will disappear when the bases close, two members of the Board of Supervisors are proposing that the county expand its own veterans’ services center in Santa Ana to help retired military personnel and their dependents cope with the loss.

Supervisors Charles V. Smith and Jim Silva will ask their colleagues Tuesday to hire two new workers for the office, which saw its staffing slashed from 15 people to seven during the bankruptcy.

County officials said military base closures, both in Orange County and elsewhere, are prompting more veterans to visit the office for help filing out medical forms, seeking home-loan applications and other benefits.

Ron Melendez, who runs the office on Grand Avenue, said he and his staff handle 20,000 phone calls and 4,000 client visits per year. The office helped Orange County veterans obtain $4 million in aid last year, he said.

Smith and Silva said the additional staffing is needed to reduce a backlog in claims processing and to improve service to veterans who visit the public counter and telephone. The office also has fallen behind in its financial reporting to the state.

“I believe we have a responsibility to ensure that veterans receive the services they have earned,” Silva said.

Even though the office doesn’t have the post exchange or the club facilities they found at El Toro, local veterans said the county office will become a more important resource to them after El Toro closes.

Vanda Bresnan, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and longtime advocate for veterans benefits, said she hoped that the extra funding would allow office staff to resume claims and benefits seminars at community centers across the county.

“They had to cut that out with the bankruptcy, but it was very helpful for people who didn’t want to drive to Santa Ana,” Bresnan said.

Capt. Matt Morgan, spokesman for El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, said the base is now home to about 6,500 Marines and that it remains unclear exactly how many would retire when the facility closed and units based there are transferred elsewhere.