The Arizona Department of Veterans' Services is a department of the Arizona government that focuses on veteran's services.

History

Arizona has provided services to veterans from Arizona since 1925, six years after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, when it created the position of a solitary Veterans' Service Officer. In the midst of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

in 1951, the position was abolished and replaced by the Arizona Veterans' Service Commission. Another two decades later, near the ending of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

in 1972, the commission was integrated into the Arizona Department of Economic Security along with several other Arizona state agencies. Primarily at the request of various veterans' organizations, the then

governor of Arizona A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

Bruce Babbitt Bruce Edward Babbitt (born June 27, 1938) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 47th United States secretary of the interior from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as the List of governors of Arizo ...

reestablished the commission as a separate agency in 1982. The commission consisted of five members appointed to three-year terms by the governor, as well as an executive officer appointed by the commission. In 1999, the

Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the ...

separated the commission from the former level of an agency by reorganizing and making the commission as an advisory body and creating a separate state Arizona Department of Veterans' Services. It is a state-funded agency led by a governor-appointed director with a headquarters in the state capital of Phoenix, and is considered a full executive branch department and part of the governor's cabinet.

Department services

The Arizona Department of Veterans' Services provides direct services to veterans through the administration of 19 Veterans Benefits Offices throughout the state to help American military veterans connect with their United States V.A. benefits, two skilled nursing Veteran Home facilities in Phoenix and

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

to provide short and long-term care, one Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Sierra Vista ( Cochise County), with additional cemeteries in

Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Yavapai counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the ...

and Maran. A fiduciary may provide conservator and guardian services for incapacitated veterans. In addition, the A.D.V.S. provides critical, state-wide coordination and technical assistance to services and organizations serving veterans. This includes activities such as coordinating services across private and public sectors in serving targeted populations such as Veterans experiencing homelessness and Women Veterans, as well as building community capacity to address Veteran employment and higher education. Services provided by the state Veterans' Services Department were instrumental in connecting Arizona's nearly 600,000 military veterans with nearly $2,712,810,000 (2.7 million) dollars in further Compensation, Pension, Educational and Medical benefits and grants from the

United States Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

in Washington, D.C. in fiscal year FY 2012.

Leadership

* Patrick Chorpenning, 1st Director of Veterans Services, (1999–2007) * Richard Gregg Maxon, Brigadier General (U.S. Army, ret.), 2nd Director of Veterans' Services, (2007–2008) * Joey Strickland, Colonel (U.S. Army, ret.), 3rd Director of Veterans Services, (2008–2013) * Ted Vogt, 4th Director of Veterans' Services, (2013–2015) * Wanda Wright, Colonel (U.S. Air Force, ret.), 5th Director of Veterans' Services, (2015–2023). * John Scott, Director of Veterans' Services, (2025– ).

References

Veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

1982 establishments in Arizona State departments of veterans affairs in the United States {{authority control