{"id":16869,"date":"2025-08-18T23:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T05:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/2388-veterans-in-montezuma-county-probably-an-undercount-says-officer\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:02:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:02:24","slug":"2388-veterans-in-montezuma-county-probably-an-undercount-says-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/2388-veterans-in-montezuma-county-probably-an-undercount-says-officer\/","title":{"rendered":"2,388 veterans in Montezuma County? Probably an undercount, says officer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Veterans
Veterans from the Cortez American Legion post march during the Veterans Day parade in 2023. (Matthew Tangeman\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

For a small, rural corner of Colorado, Cortez has a reputation as a popular place for veterans.<\/p>\n

To get both a bird\u2019s-eye view and a boots-on-the-ground look at the county\u2019s veteran population, there may be no better person to ask than Travis Parker, County Veteran Service Officer. On Aug. 11, Parker gave a presentation to the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners on local services for veterans.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to remember, however, that the county office is just one resource among many. There\u2019s also the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5231, the American Legion Ute Mountain Post 75 and the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 44, each offering community and a range of support for service members. Along with the Veteran Services office, they form a tight-knit nexus for veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk probably daily,\u201d John Davis, the VFW Post 5231 quartermaster and adjutant, said of Parker. \u201cHe refers veterans to me that need help,\u201d said Davis, who is also an Air Force veteran and former Army Guard service member.<\/p>\n

Davis called Parker a sort of \u201ctip of the spear for us,\u201d mainly because of the essential ties the county officer maintains with the VA and his ability to file claims.<\/p>\n

Claims and more, Parker walked the commissioners through the numbers on Aug. 11.<\/p>\n

Veterans served, by the numbers<\/div>\n

Zooming out statewide, about 7% of Colorado\u2019s residents are veterans<\/a>. By contrast, Montezuma County has a notably higher rate, at a little over 9.4%. That\u2019s about 2,400 veterans out of a county numbering about 26,500 people, based on 2023 U.S. Census data.<\/p>\n

Parker called that number \u201cwoefully low,\u201d estimating that there\u2019s likely closer to 3,000 veterans in the county.<\/p>\n

For those few thousand veterans, the county\u2019s Veteran Services office exists to aid in everything from obtaining a disabled veteran license plate, to tracking down military records and tapping into VA health care.<\/p>\n

As for the county\u2019s cost of servicing those veterans, this year\u2019s budget is $57,230, but only about 36% of that money has been used so far, up to July\u2019s end, Parker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been busy,\u201d said Parker, who has been in the position for eight months. This year already, the office held over 850 appointments by the end of July, with 51 outreach events and 28 home visits.<\/p>\n

\"Graph
Graph presented to the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners Aug. 11 on veterans present in the county by wartime status, derived from 2023 U.S. Census data. Vietnam\/Vietnam-era veterans are the majority. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

So far this year, the office has had 66 new veteran clients and 21 clients experiencing homelessness, Parker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been doing a good job, if we can recognize his services,\u201d said DAV commander and Air Force veteran Ron Terry. \u201cLuckily we\u2019ve had some really good veteran service officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker has also been able to assist 44 veterans with enrolling in VA health care this year, he said.<\/p>\n

Last year, the office filed over 350 claims for veterans, Parker said. Out of those, only six outstanding claims remain, with four being widow pensions, Parker said. Already this year, the office has filed close to 250 claims.<\/p>\n

As of now, that\u2019s brought a total of close to $3.8 million of indirect income into the county, consisting mostly of disability benefits, but also pensions and surviving spouse payments, Parker said.<\/p>\n

Resources for veterans on display mid-September<\/div>\n

Corena Hampton, current president of the American Legion Auxillary to the Ute Mountain Post 75, said that most veterans in the community may not be aware of the resources available for them to access in the area.<\/p>\n

Some may not want a hand out, Hampton said. \u201cThey want to stand on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t stopping the county and its robust veteran community from making veteran services available.<\/p>\n

Veteran resources will be on display Sept. 20 at the Montezuma Stand Down for Veterans event, hosted by the VFW Post 5231 in the County Annex building from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. More information can be found on the event\u2019s Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want to help them,\u201d said Hampton, a co-coordinator of the Stand Down who\u2019s grandfather fought in World War II. \u201cThey served and we want to serve them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veteran Service Officer Travis Parker presented data to county commissioners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16869"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20439,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16869\/revisions\/20439"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16869"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}