Eriksen, who is also commander of the West Chester VFW post and one of only three vets recommended to fill the seat vacated by former Commissioner Dave Smith, who did not seek reappointment.
“You hear people talk about military teamwork, it’s all about the team, he’s one of those guys he’s a team player and the people that work with him are team players too,” the judge said.
The vet board is charged with serving about 26,000 veterans and is funded by a slice of the county’s general fund. The budget for this year is around $3.1 million.
Often confused with the Veterans Administration, the independent board is charged with helping vets navigate the Veterans Administration system to get medical help and other services, arranging and paying for transportation to medical appointments and finding local services for everything from legal issues to marriage counseling.
Eriksen, who has served for about 38 years and does weekend duty and two weeks in the summer with the Guard, said he “was deployed more in the Guard than I ever was on active duty” doing tours of duty in Kosovo in 2016 and Afghanistan in 2008. His day job is retail solutions senior project manager for NCR Corporation.
“One of the areas I would like to focus on is trying to get some of the younger veterans, veterans from the newer conflicts, the War on Terror and the activities that have gone on in the last 10 or 20 years, that’s the veteran group that it’s really difficult to reach out to,” he said.
Many of the younger veterans don’t think they need help or think it shows weakness to ask, he said.
During the pandemic the service officers who work with veterans have not been able to take in-person appointments. But the number of vets served has remained strong with 5,792 total for last year and 595 in December, which is higher than the last five years for that month.
To help reach the younger vets the board has been advertising on the radio and posting on a variety social media outlets, like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Powers said Eriksen is “a guy who is able to get things done.”
Board President Chuck Weber, who is a member of the West Chester post as well, said he is excited Eriksen has joined the commission.
“I’m delighted and encouraged that he has come aboard,” Weber said. “He has been our post commander for the last couple years and he’s a very competent guy... He’ll do well, he’s got leadership capability, down the road perhaps he could be a president or secretary in our organization.”
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