Tester, Walsh visit Rocky Boy Veterans Center

Montana Sens. Jon Tester and John Walsh met with people at the Rocky Boy Veterans Center Friday to talk about the future of the veterans program at the reservation.

Rocky Boy has 153 veterans, and the center is seeing more business than the team working it can handle, said Jon Monteaux, who heads the center. The center has four staff members and 10 volunteers. In addition to the 153 tribal-enrolled veterans, the center also assists 121 more Native American veterans throughout Montana.

One of the bigger issues is the medical clinic, which is not able to provide everything veterans need, Monteaux said.

Tester told the center staff that they need to make a large effort to recruit people from outside the reservation, such as doctors to work a clinic for veterans. He added that bringing in doctors and turning them loose will not work. The people they bring in should be given a tour of the area, to show them what a good communities Rocky Boy, Havre and nearby areas have and all there is to do in order to not scare off the possible employees.

"If you want to sell a community to the outside, you have to do it from the inside," Tester said.

Walsh's advice is that the center reach out to other organizations to create partnerships to get some of the things the center is looking at doing.

"We have to realize one organization or group can't do it alone," Walsh said. He added that there has to be cooperation between groups with the community.

One of the issues the center faces in getting anything done for the center or the clinic is the tribal leadership problems Rocky Boy has been going through for almost a year.

The center is aiming to hire someone as an "outreach person" to keep in touch with veterans and work with those who have post-traumatic stress disorder.

"If you're applying for a grant, let us know and we'll write a letter to go with it," Tester said.

Tester and Walsh thanked the center for the work they do for veterans in Montana.

"Reach out to other reservations," Tester said. "Working together, we can make these programs better."

Monteaux said the center has many projects going. The center just purchased full military uniforms for veterans to be buried in. The center also has its own cemetery plot for veterans now, said Monteaux.

The veterans center is involved in many powwows and various events and ceremonies at other Montana reservations, Monteaux said. The money it gains from fundraising goes to veterans who need help and making the center more capable and efficient.

"In a perfect world, we'd like to have our own building," Monteaux said. The center is housed in a building owned by the Rocky Boy Agency.

The veterans center helps veterans with many things, including signing up for programs, making welfare checks on them, and anything else they can do to help out, Monteaux said.

"We make sure their needs are taken care of," Monteaux said.

The center was established in 2010 through a grant from the Small Business Administration through the American Legion Post 67.