Nevada County Veterans Services Officer David West Elected to Lead Statewide Organization
Nevada City – Nevada County Veterans Services Officer David West II has been elected president of the California Association of County Veterans Services Officers.
The association is an organization of professional veterans’ advocates that help get benefits and services for the state’s 1.3 million veterans. Today, 56 of California’s 58 counties have county veterans services officers who advocate for veterans as well as their survivors and dependents.
West, a former Marine sergeant who was homeless 2003-2004 and slept on friends’ couches or in cars, said one of his top priorities as president is to reduce the number of homeless veterans in the state. One-third of all homeless veterans live in California. “This is personal for me,” he said.
West’s other priorities are to reduce the number of veterans who are committing suicide (22 a day in the U.S.), to increase state funding for county veterans services officers, and to pass legislation protecting veterans from being charged for services that veterans services officers do for free.
West served in the United States Marines from 1996-2001. He was named Marine of the Year for the 3rd Force Service Support Group in 1999. He began advocating for veterans in 2007 while a student at Sierra College and helped develop a Veterans Resource Center at the Rocklin campus that became a model for other college campuses across the nation. He worked at the Oakland regional office of the Veterans Benefits Administration in Sacramento from 2008-2011.
After working for a time in the oil industry, he then became Nevada County’s veterans service officer in 2018.
West has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Services (with honors) and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix. He and his wife Laura West, a family nurse practitioner, are raising two daughters.