This content was published: July 18, 2010. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
New veterans service officer helps PCC vets
Story by Meryl Lipman. Photos by James Hill.
With 3,000 members of the Oregon National Guard’s infantry combat team recently returned from Iraq and eligible for college tuition under the G.I. Bill, there is pressure to provide quality educational and benefits services.
This spring, Portland Community College welcomed Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ Ron Kincaid, who is holding regular office hours at each PCC campus, to do just that.
Ron Kincaid works with the Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs.
Kincaid, a combat vet in the first Gulf War, is spending the first and third Wednesday of every month at the Rock Creek Campus (17705 N.W. Springville Road) from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and at Sylvania Campus (12000 S.W. 49th Ave) from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month.
At the Cascade Campus (705 N. Killingsworth St.), he is available the second Thursday of the month from 8 a.m. to noon and at the Southeast Center (2305 82nd Ave. and Division St.) on the third Thursday, also from 8 a.m. to noon. This is part of Veterans’ Affairs reaching out to local colleges to help guide veterans as they enter college. As part of this outreach, Kincaid holds office hours at Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia Gorge, and Tillamook Bay community college as well as Portland State University and Oregon Health & Science University.
Though he has a home office at PSU, Kincaid carries a mobile office – a laptop with WiFi and a phone – to the 10 campuses. He advises veterans on benefits for education, disability compensation and pensions, health care benefits, home loans and more. He also can assist vets in appealing claims that the VA has denied.
“Vets (in college) are so busy, and many have families, so they put off exploring benefits,” Kincaid said.
He has worked with the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs for 14 years and his current position resulted from a 2009 state initiative to place state veteran services officers on Oregon’s college campuses to assist returning combat veterans and active duty personnel. Kincaid knows what they are going through as he attended PCC in the 1980s and earned an associate’s degree in construction before joining the U.S. Navy.
Kincaid sits in the Sc building hallway at the Cascade Campus - an ideal location to attract the attention of students.
“When I came back (from the Middle East) I didn’t know I had benefits other than education and home loans,” Kincaid said. “Dealing with benefits while trying to succeed in college is one of the biggest challenges facing veterans today. The VA is trying to make it as easy as possible for the veterans – really pulling out all the stops to help them.”
To make an appointment with Ron Kincaid, call (503) 559-3247, or e-mail kincair@odva.state.or.us
Or simply visit the PCC Veterans’ Services Office Web site: www.pcc.edu/vets