New veterans services officer settles in

By LAUREN L. DILLARD

Of the News-Register

Yamhill County's new veterans services officer, Debbie Gill, has seen the system from both sides of the desk.

Twelve years ago, a disability ended her 15-year career with the Navy, and she went down to sign up for veterans benefits when she got back home.

She ended up sitting across the desk from her predecessor, Diane Cilanti. "I filed the first claim she had go through clean," Gill said.

That experience has proven invaluable to her in her work with other veterans.

"I can relate to them," she said. "I'm a product of the system."

Gill went through the state Department of Veterans Affairs vocational rehabilitation system in 2002.

Along the way, she got a chance to serve as a work study student in the county's veterans services office. She said landing a permanent job there was always her dream.

Cilanti worked hard to line up enough funding to add a staff position. When she finally got the green light to post the job in 2005, Gill set her sights on it and got it.

Just a year later, Cilanti died unexpectedly while on a business trip. Gill, already acting as Cilanti's assistant, was a natural candidate to move up, though she said, "It's not exactly the way I wanted to get the job."

Gill is responsibile for helping veterans develop and package the documentation qualifying them for benefits. She said documents detailing a veteran's experience are then sent on to the "powers that be" with the Veterans Administration in Portland.

"I don't work for the VA," she said. "I work for the veteran."

Gill has earned national accreditation as a county veterans services officer and plans to take the state accreditation exam in October. She attends training sessions every month and networks with other veterans services officers.

"It's something that I know I need," Gill said, gesturing to a three-inch binder of information she picked up during her most recent training session.

A McMinnville native, Gill is a married mother of three adult children, one at home, one in North Carolina and one in Mississippi.

She works with veterans from every era, from World War II to Iraq and Afghanistan. She said it's very daunting sometimes, but she feels a compulsion to "plunge in and do it."