Veterans day has come and gone, nevertheless, Veterans who live in Tombstone have access to a center that stands as a daily support foundation.

The Veterans’ Outpost, which opened in Jan. 2009, is a project of the Tombstone American Legion Auxiliary.

Although the legion is the main organization that supports the Outpost, it gets a lot of help from organizations such as the Tombstone American Region Riders and most importantly the Tombstone City Council who agreed to rent out the office to the Outpost for $10 a month.

“The purpose of the Veterans’ Outpost is to meet the needs of Veterans and their families. Simple statement, big mission,” said Susan Schubert the Auxiliary chairman of Veteran Affairs and Rehabilitation.

The process and paperwork that veterans have to fill out is difficult and confusing so the outpost serves as an advocate center to help veterans work through the system to enable them to receive benefits from the government if they served in combat, Schubert said.

Although veterans are not registered everywhere, sources can estimate the number of veterans in a given area. Cochise County contains the highest percentage of registered veterans in Arizona, Schubert said. The 2008 estimate was about 16,770 according to Schubert.

The importance of the Veterans’ Outpost is to provide a central and close location for veterans to begin their process of obtaining government aid. The outpost has also revitalized the Tombstone economy by bringing in $150,000 of benefits, Schubert said.

Although the veteran population is growing because of the return of soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, Vietnam veterans are the generation that has gained the most since the outpost’s opening, said Darla Davies, a member of the Legion Auxiliary and peer support group at the outpost.

“Vietnam vets have trouble gaining access to all of their benefits because they were drafted and did not enlist,” Davies said.

Davies also said the other big program within the outpost is the support group that meets on Monday night for women who are married to men returning from battle. The group, which started meeting back in April, helps women deal with the obstacles of husbands with posttraumatic stress.

Schubert said he believes that the most interesting aspect of the center is the “true American heroes” who can range from the age of 22 to 85. William Pakinkis echoes this thought as he and the Marine Corps League gear up for the first annual Salute to the United Services Organizations.

This event, Dec. 12 and 13, will be a weekend of events and activities that will raise money for the USO.

“Veterans today are military people out of uniform, I will be a marine until the day I die,” said Pakinkis.

Some of the events include shows and a parade down Allen Street. There will also be a raffle for three high stake prizes, which include a presentation k-bar knife and a U.S. Marine Corps N.C.O sword.

The salute will not only thank those who have served this country in the past but the younger generation that are serving it now.

“If a lot more cities in the United States would pay more attention to active duty and veterans than this would be a better place to live,” Pakinkis said.