VETERANS
For Maryland veterans, the Department of Veterans and Military Families provides information and assistance so that veterans receive all the benefits they have earned. While federal benefits include health care, education, home loans, and vocational rehabilitation, Maryland provides additional benefits, such as educational grants and scholarships, reduced fees and tax credits, business loans, veterans homes, and hunting and fishing privileges. Also, through the Maryland Veterans Trust Fund, the Maryland Veterans Trust provides monetary and other assistance to both veterans and their families, and to programs that support them. Moreover, as part of the Office of Academic Affairs within the Maryland Higher Education Commission, the Veterans Affairs unit promotes and safeguards quality education and training programs for all veterans.
Concerns about veterans affairs also are addressed by the General Assembly through the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee, and the Maryland Veterans Caucus.
Carillon, Crownsville State Veterans Cemetery, 1122 Sunrise Beach Road, Crownsville, Maryland, October 2000. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
In 2023, some 348,459 veterans were living in Maryland.
The Service and Benefits Program of the Department of Veterans and Military Families submitted 4,423 disability compensation and pension claims to the federal Department of Veterans Affairs in Fiscal Year 2023 on behalf of Maryland veterans, who received some $37.8 million in monthly cash benefits. In the same period, Maryland's veterans and their dependents received $402,000 from the Maryland Veterans Trust Fund, and the State Cemetery and Memorial Program conducted 3,663 burial services in Maryland's five veterans' cemeteries.
To help veterans, the Maryland Veterans Service Animal Program provides grants to organizations that match qualified veterans with service dogs or equine therapy. In Fiscal Year 2023, $31,000 in grants was split between seven groups: Chesapeake Therapeutic RIding, Inc.; Freedom Hills Therapeutic Riding Program, Inc.; Lifeline Horse Rescue & Rehabilitation, Inc.; Maryland Therapeutic Riding, Inc.; Promise Landing Farm, Inc.; Warrior Canine Connection, Inc.; Wellspring of Life Farm, Inc.
Fred L. Wineland Building*, 16 Francis St., 4th floor, Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 260-3838; 1-866-793-1577 (toll free); fax: (410) 216-7928
e-mail: mdveteransinfo@maryland.gov
web: http://veterans.maryland.gov/
(*note: no veteran benefits specialists at 16 Francis St.; contact service program at 1-800-446-4926, ext. 6450 (toll free), to meet with service officer or for paperwork signed by U.S. Dept .of Veterans Affairs)
Joint Force Headquarters
5th Regiment Armory, 29th Division St., Baltimore, MD 21201
(667) 296-3000
web: http://military.maryland.gov/NG/Pages/default.aspx
MILITARY HEALTH SYSTEM
(within U.S. Department of Defense)
1400 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301 - 1400
web: https://health.mil/
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
810 Vermont Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20420
1-800-827-1000 (benefits)
988 (crisis line)
1-877-222-VETS (8387) (health care)
1-800-488-8244 (inspector general)
web: www.va.gov/
Search the Manual
e-mail: mdmanual@maryland.gov
© Copyright October 23, 2024 Maryland State Archives