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SALT LAKE CITY -- A Utah veteran can finally cash his tuition checks after a four-year battle to get the benefits he earned.
Sam Gilligan was ready to give up on his war of red tape with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, when he got a phone call with surprising news.
Gilligan joined the Marines right after he graduated from Highland High School and says he loved his service. He fought in Iraq, served eight years and received an honorable discharge.
Two years ago, Gilligan filed all the right papers with all the right offices to get his education benefits, but he was repeatedly denied for no apparent reason.
"They concluded that they had found that there had been a mistake in my record, yet they are denying the claims anyway," Gilligan said.
Last spring, after hours on the phone and reams of paperwork, the VA concluded it made a mistake; but the agency still denied Gilligan the college tuition benefits.
In late May, KSL News followed up with Gilligan. He was ready to call it quits on his fruitless efforts, but one day after that story aired he got a his first hopeful call from Washington, D.C.
"It's been four years since I applied for the benefits first," Gilligan said, hardly believing there would be a turn of fate.
Candace Allred and other workers at the Veterans Center at Salt Lake Community College saw our story and called Gilligan.
"She said, 'I saw your story on the news. Come down, let's see what we can do,'" Gilligan recalled.
Before that could even happen, the VA called the Veterans Center and said Gilligan's benefits were on the way.
"They called me and said, 'Did you hear the news?' I said, 'What news?'" Gilligan told KSL. "[They said,]'They're going to give you benefits. They're turning them on now. We just got a call from Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs.'"
Gilligan said he soon received the same call.
"Low and behold, it just turned on," he said.
Neither Gilligan nor the Veterans Center knows exactly what happened to turn the benefits on, but they have some ideas.
"My assumptions lead me to believe that someone saw the story, called someone that they knew -- or someone within the system saw the story and said, 'We need to get this figured out,'" Gilligan said.
"I'm sure a lot of it had to do with Sam's hard work," Allred said. "It was probably a combination of both, but most of it, I think, was Sam's hard work."
With tuition checks in hand, the veteran continues work on a social work degree, and his frustration over the bureaucratic blockade fades.
"They said 'we'll give you the benefits,' so I'm happy about it," Gilligan said.
At Salt Lake Community College, more Utah veterans are using their educational benefits, and the Veterans Center is bustling with activity. Last spring, the center served around 450 students on campus. This spring, there were nearly twice that many.
For the staff there, helping Gilligan was especially rewarding.
"We were glad we could get him his benefits," Allred said. "We really like to see our veterans use their educational benefits."
E-mail: jboal@ksl.com
