#Middlebury #2025BenefitsGuide #Veterans
VETERANS POST
By Freddy Groves
The Department of Veterans Affairs has released a new publication that you’ll want to see. The “2025 VA Federal Benefits Guide for Veterans, Dependents, Survivors, and Caregivers” is now available. Go online to va.gov and search for “pamphlet 80-25-1” for a link to the handbook.
This 120-page handbook is full of info you may need, if not now then later. Whether it’s education benefits, life insurance, home loans or mental health resources and more, it’s there.
Just seeing it all in one publication is an eye-opener. We really do have a lot of benefits. The guide is well done; somebody was thinking about it when they included all the eligibility requirements for each benefit, including the periods of service.
Right in the front is a list of help phone numbers, ranging from Camp Lejeune Family Member Program, to National Cemetery Scheduling Office, to 72-Hour Emergency Care Notification Line and many more. This is followed by pages of department websites, complete with click links right in the online document. Save the link as a bookmark on your computer so you can find it again.
Getting a printed copy, however, might be a bit difficult. A recent VA news release says that “a limited number” of copies might be available at your closest VA facility. (See www.va.gov/find-locations for the ones near you.) Which means that by the time you read this, they’ll be gone. I would hope that veteran service organizations will print out a few copies of the handbook to have for members to use.
If you don’t have a computer to access the handbook and your local VA facility doesn’t have copies, you can call the VA with your questions at 800-827-1000 from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday. They’ll get you to the right department.
For another collection of resources, see www.va.gov/welcome-kit for a Welcome Kit, even if you’re not new to the VA. It’s 53 pages and includes a mobile app for download.
© 2025 King Features Synd., Inc.
