New director of the Missouri Veterans Commission selected

The Missouri Veterans Commission has unanimously selected Colonel Paul Kirchhoff as its new executive director. Kirchhoff replaces Grace Link, who retired in May and took a position with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Kirchhoff says staff vacancies at its seven veterans homes are lower than what they have been in about two years.

“That has to be analyzed and thought through analytically rather than a ‘We just don’t have enough people,’” says Kirchoff. “I don’t believe that’s the case. I think we just have to make sure that we have them in the right locations and that we continue to recruit quality staff members.”

Director Kirchhoff also says he wants to find new ways to provide further benefits to veterans. Adding the commission lacks veterans service officers who steer veterans toward filing for a variety of VA benefits.  “The cost-to-benefit ratio of what it costs to have a veterans service officer and the amount of money that they bring back into the state from those benefits, that’s definitely something that is an opportunity for us,” he says. “It’s a win win – a win for the state and more importantly it’s a win for those veterans.”

Kirchhoff is the former Missouri Emergency Response Commission director and served 33 years of combined military service with the U.S. Army and the Missouri Army National Guard.

The commission serves close to half a million vets and 1,700 workers in its seven veterans homes, five state veterans cemeteries and veterans service program.