Veterans’ event hopes to build peer support

GALLUP

Seeing her brother serve with distinction overseas and struggle with life at home, Regina Roanhorse committed herself to reach out to veterans.

“He served his country well,” she said.

Roanhorse spoke about her work and the legacy of her brother during an interview after a May 22 planning meeting for Operation Veterans Wellness in Gallup.

Reginald C. Begay had served in the Army with the 82nd Airborne, reached the rank of staff sergeant, and earned the Bronze Star for heroic service in two tours of Afghanistan.

Back home, alcohol and trauma landed him in legal difficulty with an arrest in 2015.

“He came home with a lot of issues,” Roanhorse said.

Her brother passed away a year after his arrest and Roanhorse said her efforts to understand and reach out to veterans center on one goal.

“I don’t want another veteran to come home and die,” she said.

When not volunteering with the Military Support Group Planning Committee, which is organizing a gathering for veterans and their families scheduled on July 29 at Rio West Mall, she works as a court administrator with the Alamo-To’hajiilee Judicial District.

In that role she wrote a grant for the Veterans Justice Outreach Program, which aims to help veterans navigate legal situations. She also serves on the Veterans Advisory Council for Eastern Agency.

With robust experience doing outreach and service for veterans and as a veteran herself, she has identified a key to what veterans seem to need – each other.

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