Photo By Staff Sgt. Zandra Duran | The Nevada Reserve Component Transition Assistance Advisor Team, including Bob McLeod...... read more read more
By Staff Sgt. Zandra Duran
Nevada Army Guard
CARSON CITY – The Silver State’s revamped – and relocated – Reserve Component Transition Assistance Advisor program team is in place and ready to assist service members, Veterans and their families in every corner of Nevada. The federally-mandated RCTAA program provides advisors who serve as points of contact to assist eligible Reserve Component service members with the acquisition of their earned benefits and health care.
Nevada now has its full complement of Transition Assistance Advisors, including Carmen Rank in central Nevada, Bob McLeod in southern Nevada and Erick Studenicka in northern Nevada. An overarching goal of the program is to make Transition Assistance Advisors readily accessible to service members and Veterans throughout the region – not something easily accomplished in the nation’s seventh-largest state.
The Reserve Component Transition Assistance Advisor Program was established in 2005 when the chief of the National Guard Bureau, Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum signed a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs to start the RCTAA program. The program’s transition assistance advisors provide direction to members of the reserve military components with more than 180 days of continuous active duty – regardless their branch of service – and assist those service members and Veterans with the acquisition of all their due benefits, entitlements and services.
To improve access to TAAs across Nevada, the program recently relocated Rank from Reno to Tonopah/Hawthorne. McLeod is based in Las Vegas and Studenicka, a longtime public affairs sergeant in the Nevada Army Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters, succeeded Rank as the Reno-based TAA.
“The updated positioning of the TAAs across Nevada promises to give even the most remote service member or Veteran access to an advisor,” said Rank, who has 18 years of experience as a TAA. “Our TAA team is very flexible and willing to work with service members and Veterans to hit upon a good meeting place and pursue their due benefits.”
Rank is a retired Active Guard and Reserve sergeant first class who spent more than two decades in the Nevada Army Guard as a motor vehicle operator, recruiter and administrative sergeant before retiring in 2006. She was inducted into the Nevada Army Guard Hall of Fame in 2008 and recognized by then-Gov. Brian Sandoval as the Nevada Veteran of the Month in November 2018. She was among the first TAAs hired when the program kicked off in the state in 2006.
Rank can meet clients at any public or government building in Tonopah or Hawthorne; call her at 775-312-0088 to set up an appointment.
McLeod, an Air Force Veteran, has lived in Las Vegas since 1995. Before joining the TAA team in 2021, he was a professor of Business Management and taught at the College of Southern Nevada. He is set to work 2-4 days per week this autumn at the Las Vegas Readiness Center, 4500 W. Silverado Ranch Blvd. Call him at 202-987-3837 or email him at rmcleod@gapsi.com to set up an appointment.
Studenicka worked in the Nevada Army Guard’s public affairs office for 22 years before transitioning to the Transition Assistance Advisor program this past summer. He continues to drill with the Joint Force Headquarters unit in Carson City. He works at Plumb Lane Armory, 685 E. Plumb Lane in Reno, on Tuesdays and Thursdays and at the Office of the Adjutant General, 2460 Fairview Drive in Carson City, on Wednesdays. He is available for meetings at other sites on Mondays and Fridays; call 775-720-9570 for an appointment.
The list of benefits a TAA usually assists with includes, but is not limited to: effects of a career change; disabled Veteran benefits; education and training; employment assistance; financial assistance; health and life insurance; legal assistance; physical and mental health assistance; relocation assistance; and state and local benefits.
The TAA team works closely with Capt. Art Chianchitlert, the Nevada Army Guard’s Retirement Services Officer. He is the subject matter expert for the fiscal aspects of non-regular (M-Day) retirements and applications for retired pay. “Grey-area” retirees (those with a 20-year letter but not yet age 60) are reminded to request the start of their retirement pay as they approach age 60 through Chianchitlert at office 775-887-7212 or cell 702-924-2824.
Chianchitlert’s counterpart in the Nevada Air Guard is Master Sgt. Melanie Pearmain. For questions concerning the fiscal aspects of an Air Guard retirement, call Pearmain at 775-788-4507 or write to: melanie.pearmain@us.af.mil.
The TAA team has some basic helpful hints for all Reserve Component service members to expedite their receipt of earned compensation and benefits:
Securely retain and store your important documents, including your Notification of Eligibility for Retired Pay letter (20-year letter), DD 214 forms, and Medical Examination and Duty Status forms (DA Forms 2173) ad infinitum (forever).
If you have received your 20-year letter and wish to retire, notify your unit of your intent to retire at least nine months in advance of your desired retirement date.
Aim to file your request for disability compensation at least six months before your separation date. This allows the VA to evaluate your claim before separation and potentially receive benefits promptly.
For assistance in southern Nevada, call McLeod at 202-987-3837; for assistance in central Nevada, call Rank at 775-312-0088; for assistance in northern Nevada, call Studenicka at 775-720-9570.
| Date Taken: | 10.04.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.04.2024 14:55 |
| Story ID: | 482564 |
| Location: | LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, US |
| Hometown: | LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, US |
| Web Views: | 189 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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