Sherkenbach named new county VA director

The Montgomery County Veterans Affairs office will soon have a new director after the unexpected passing of previous director Curtis White.
Jerald Palmquist, Chair of the Montgomery County Veterans Affairs Commission, announced that Bret Sherkenbach, who currently resides in Carson, had been selected to take over the executive director position.
Sherkenbach is currently teaching at the Red Oak School District, including business, economics, and accounting, and is retired from the U.S. Army. Sherkenbach said he’s one of several veterans in his family.
“My dad, he was in the Marine Corps for four years. And my grandfather, he was also in the Army,” said Sherkenbach.
Sherkenbach also described what led him to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and pursue a military career.
“I went to college for a couple years and really didn’t know what I wanted to do as far as a career. I always liked military things, and I decided that twas kind of the route for me to go. It was a really good experience. I did six years in the infantry, and then after that I went into recruiting command. The last 18 years or so I spent in recruiting command, and I was a recruiter. Then I went to the schoolhouse and taught recruiting and retention. I was able to travel all over the world,” explained Sherkenbach.
After 25 years in the Army, Sherkenbach retired and moved back in 2015 to the Northwest Iowa area  where he was born and eventually moved back to the Southwest Iowa area two years ago, as his wife is from Oakland. Sherkenbach retired as a Sergeant Major, E9, which is the highest enlisted rank in the military in any branch.
Sherkenbach plans to retire from teaching this year, and said he was drawn to the position of Montgomery County VA executive director for several reasons.
“I was looking for something part-time. I had looked at VA executive director positions before up in Cherokee County and Buena Vista County, and the timing wasn’t right to really apply for those positions. A little while ago, I got pulled over and was told I needed to change the address on my licence. I came to the courthouse to do that and then I saw the sign about the VA office being temporarily closed. I asked them what was happening with the VA director, and unfortunately, I was told  that Curtis had passed away. So then I reached out to Jerald to talk about the position,” Sherkenbach advised.
Sherkenbach said he was pleased with the news that the VA commission had chosen him as the county’s new executive director.
“I was very happy that I was chosen to be able to do it. I was very excited about the news, and I look forward to the opportunity to help veterans. I think it’s going to be a great transition for myself to go from working full-time to moving into this part-time role and being able to continue to help out veterans in the future,” Sherkenbach stated.
Now that he’s been selected for the position, Sherkenbach said there are some things he’ll need to do to prepare.
“I’ve talked to some of the people, not only here, but over at Pottawattamie County that are directors of their own veterans service organizations, and there’s some online training I’ll need to go through to get certified in order to be able to look at veterans’ records. A lot of what a person’s going to be doing in this position is looking at the records and determining eligibility for veterans, whether it’s VA benefits or other benefits they may have coming through their military service. I believe the training is self-paced,” Sherkenbach advised. “I have an appointment this week at the courthouse to kind of go over those things with the auditor and start getting some things rolling before I move into that position. The certification process takes less than a year.”
As he moves into the new position, Sherkenbach said he’ll have some outside support to draw upon.
“I do have a good contact guy up in Storm Lake that I’ve worked with before, and who I know from that area. He’s the VSO executive director up there. I can reach out to him to kind of get some guidance on the training and everything. I know it’s going to be hard without Curtis being here to aid in a hand-off,” said Sherkenbach.
Palmquist said it was expected that they were going to have to move forward with someone that would need a bit of training.
“It’s very hard to find someone who’s already qualified to do the position. When we hired Curtis, he had to go through the qualification process. Unless someone transfers from another county that’s already qualified, you usually aren’t going to find someone that just has those Veterans Affairs qualifications, because they don’t really have to have them due to the training hours involved in that,” explained Palmquist.
Sherkenback stressed the importance of having a VA director available in the county to assist veterans.
“It is 100% important for them to use the advantage of a person like me to help them get some things to benefit themselves in appreciation of their service. I know Curtis did a great job of reaching out to the community, and it’s my hope that veterans will continue to come in and be able to determine what they’re actually eligible for and get those benefits that they’ve earned through their service,” stated Sherkenbach. “Veterans who haven’t been to the VSO office should take the opportunity, especially if they’re down around the courthouse, to come in and see what they’re eligible for.”
Sherkenbach said he will officially take over the position on June 17, and said not much will change.
“The plan is, for now, for the office to continue to be up on the third floor of the courthouse. I will be trying to get out and do some meet and greets to kind of put a face with a name. If they have any questions, you know, even other things than the military, you know, feel free to reach out to the office. I’m pretty sure that the phone numbers are all going to be the same, 623-3180. I’ll be in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, we’re looking at 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. And again, if they have questions or just want to come down and meet me, they are more than welcome to do that. I look forward to meeting everyone in the community here over the next upcoming few months.”
Palmquist said he’s more than pleased to have Sherkenbach in the executive director position.
“Bret has a passion for veterans, he found me, he found us, thank God, and reached out to us and was willing to take on the executive director role,” Palmquist commented.
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors approved the Montgomery County Veteran’s Affairs Commision’s reccomendation to hire Sherkenbach.