Editor’s note: As he prepares to retire, Plumas County Director of Veterans Services Bill Cook looks back on a varied career that includes military service in Vietnam, a family law practice and advocacy for his fellow veterans. He recently sat down with The Plumas Sun to talk about his experience and his concerns for the future of veterans’ services in Plumas County.
The Plumas Sun: When did you first consider joining the military?
Bill Cook: It was early. I was a college student working 40 hours a week, and I wasn’t getting the units that I knew would allow for a continued deferral. This was in 1966 and my draft number came up pretty low. I basically followed my heart because my dad was in the military, and I wanted to show him and the community that I supported the country, so I enlisted in the Army in Hayward. I had the “ego” thing going, and I wanted to jump out of an airplane and carry a rifle, so that was an easy sell to the recruiter.
After enlistment, Cook reported to the Oakland Army Depot. He was sent to Fort Ord, Monterey County, for basic training, and then to Fort Benning, near Columbus, Georgia, for Officer Candidate School. He entered active duty as a second lieutenant and was later promoted to first lieutenant.
The Plumas Sun: Was that unusual at the time — for someone who was not a college graduate to go in as an officer?
Cook: No. I think what was happening is that they were having such a problem with infantry officers. Not many people wanted to do that, so they were picking people out of basic training and advanced infantry training and asking them if they wanted to go to Officer Candidate School. They needed more of them, so they just lowered the standards.
The Plumas Sun: Then you wound up deploying to Vietnam?
Cook: I did. I was commissioned, then I applied for airborne school, and I didn’t get in. Then on a whim I applied to military police, and they put me in and sent me to Fort Bragg as part of a contingent to the Third Special Forces Group. I volunteered to be the assistant adjutant. I made the mistake of going to Washington, DC to talk to a military police colonel, and he ended up assigning me to Vietnam with the First Air Cavalry Division.
Cook spent a year on active duty in Vietnam, then returned to the U.S., where he completed a bachelor’s degree at California State University, Hayward (now known as CSU East Bay). He then earned a law degree at Golden Gate University.
Cook: Three years later I was a licensed California lawyer. I was married by then, my wife had a good job, and we needed to stay connected to the community. So I rode the Greyhound bus from Hayward to San Francisco for a year, then rode on BART for the next two years. I passed the bar in 1975 and started working as a lawyer.
Cook practiced as a California-certified Family Law Specialist for about 37 years. He spent his first 4-5 years with a Chico law firm, then practiced independently for about another 32 years. When he and his wife retired, they lived on a sailboat for about 10 years, after which, Cook joked, he “suffered a mutiny.” His wife wanted to return to life on land to be closer to family, so the couple moved into a home they had bought in Quincy in 2007. His wife was caring for her mother, but Bill described feeling “stuck” – inactive and directionless at the time.
Cook: We were kind of hanging out at the house, and I saw an advertisement for a job in veterans’ services. I thought, “This’ll be great!” I’d never really connected to my veteran experience. Back in the ‘60s, the last thing I wanted to do was advertise it, right? So I got a part-time job here. A year later, it turned into a full-time job, and then I got the veterans services officer position, where I’ve been since the summer of 2020.
The Plumas Sun: As you reflect on your time as the county’s director of veterans services, what do you see as the major challenges presently facing the department?
Cook: Obviously there’s the challenge of getting as many veterans as possible connected to benefits. When I started out in this position, about 25.5% of the county’s veterans were receiving disability or compensation payments, and my goal was to increase that. I wanted to get us up to the state of California’s average of 27%, maybe higher.
I took a class at Feather River College on marketing, and the instructor got me into the science of marketing. That was a new world, and with marketing strategies we got Plumas County up to 30%, which is more than I anticipated, and I’m very happy about it. But 30% seems to be a glass ceiling. We don’t see too many states or California counties getting much above that. So there’s this whole component: 70% of veterans aren’t connected, and the question is, “Why?”
The other challenges come from the changes in the federal government and its approach to the Veterans Administration. No one knows what the end result is going to be. It’s still in play. We can’t really forecast what’s going to happen, but we know a lot of people are going to be miserable for a while until it does happen.
In my mind, there’s a big difference between private enterprise and public service. In private enterprise, if supervisors save money, they get paid more money. In public service, if you save money, it doesn’t result in anything, so there’s a different motivation between the private and public sectors. And there’s no question that, in any organization as large as the VA, there is some excess, and there’s some way to scientifically or managerially try to eliminate that excess. Right now, we don’t see that happening.
The biggest concern that I have for veterans moving forward, with the changes in how VA funds are administered, is in research. They’ve cut the VA’s budget and a lot of that research benefitted Gulf War veterans. We don’t want to wait 50 years like we did for Agent Orange exposure to be deemed a disability.
The toxicity that the American veteran has been exposed to is unfathomable at present. We know that firefighting foam, jet fuel, asbestos, lead-based paints [are toxic] – and there’s no EPA in the military! You’re out there doing your job and doing your duty, and you’re not getting sick from it, so you keep doing it. Well, that sickness comes along later in life. I’m worried that veterans who served in Southwest Asia may not be getting access to the benefit stream they may be entitled to. There’s one big study on Navy pilots and flight deck crews on aircraft carriers and their disproportionately high incidence of cancer, like 45% greater. So there has to be some connection.
The Plumas Sun: So now you’re retiring as of April 1! What are your plans going forward?
Cook: Well, my wife and I still have partial interest in a sailboat down in San Diego, but we’re going to spend time with family, maybe do a little traveling. Pickleball sounds appealing! I’m an avid cyclist and I’m very involved with the local service organizations, the American Legion and the VFW. I just want to keep mentally active and socially active. I found that, when we returned to Quincy, that was a little bit of an issue, because we didn’t know people, but now I know a lot of people, so I want to keep those social connections going.
Upon Cook’s retirement on April 1, Michael Tortora will assume the role of Plumas County Director of Veterans Services.
