‘You give a piece of your heart to everyone that comes in here’

Hamre working on outreach as Kittson County VSO

JOHN HAMRE, Kittson County VSO, started in the position on Tuesday, Nov. 19. His office is located in the Kittson County Courthouse in Hallock.
(Enterprise photo by Anna Jauhola)

By Anna Jauhola
A former Kittson County Sheriff’s deputy is back in the courthouse to serve a special sector of the public. John Hamre is the new veterans service officer, or VSO.
He was a deputy here for five years in the early 2000s, and recently retired from his position with the Office of Homeland Security.
“I did 20 years and retired in December 2022,” Hamre said. “Then my VSO in Marshall County started hitting me hard with, ‘You need to go over and apply in Pennington County for the VSO because that guy’s retiring.’”
In Minnesota, only veterans can be hired as VSOs. Hamre served in the U.S. Army from 1990 to 1992 during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The Warren, Minn., graduate signed up as a tanker straight out of high school and went off to Fort Knox, Ky., for basic training.
“The day I got to my basic training unit was the day Saddam (Hussein) invaded Kuwait for the first Gulf War,” Hamre said. “So that’s where they were focusing. And for tanks, it was a two-year enlistment, versus a four-year for everything else.”
The first thing his drill sergeant did when he saw the group of new recruits was shout, “You want me to show you the devil?” And he marched the group into the dayroom where he showed Saddam Hussein’s forces invading Kuwait on a big screen TV. So his basic training was focused on fighting a war – the first war the U.S. was involved in since Vietnam.
Hamre was stationed in Germany and when his group arrived, the base had already been deployed to Kuwait. The new basic training graduates were tossed into full lockdown – writing wills, boxing up their things with a home address.
“That kind of messes with your noodle right away,” Hamre said.
Despite his tank training, Hamre never saw the inside of a tank. Instead, he was a part of the refuel and ammunition resupply trucks. During the three campaigns he was in, the tanks were in front in wedge formation. His crew of eight-wheel drive, off-road trucks were behind those tanks carrying fuel and ammunition. They were followed by another wedge of vehicles consisting of the main transportation hub. When the tanks finished a run they’d form a circle, Hamre’s group would resupply and then get back to the main line as fast as they could.
He spent six and half months in Kuwait and because he was in heavy, direct combat, he became a driver for his platoon commander. When it came time to consider re-enlistment, Hamre carefully weighed his options. While the Army “dangled a big number in front of me,” Hamre also saw the toll military life was taking on young men only five and 10 years older than him.
“It’s just a tough life! And I said, ‘Nope, I don’t want to re-enlist, I got other things I wanna do.’ So I got out,” Hamre said.
He pursued a career in law enforcement. He spent five years as a Kittson County deputy, until he became a special agent with Homeland Security, based in Pembina. His wife, Rachel, is originally from Lancaster and his children began school there until Hamre took a position as a plain-clothes federal agent with the Polk County drug task force. This change found the Hamres moving to their permanent home in Stephen, where his children graduated.
While he never envisioned working during his retirement, Hamre has found the shift into serving veterans very rewarding. During his six months at Pennington County, he became attached to the men and women who came to him for help.
“My main mission is to help them navigate the (Veterans Administration) system, and maximize the benefits to the veteran,” Hamre said. “Are there other things that come with that? Oh yeah. You have to be part psychiatrist, part psychologist, part doctor. They come in and ask you all sorts of questions and you have to be the knowledge guy.”
He said, as a veteran, it helps to have already personally navigated the VA system. Not only that, but being a veteran allows Hamre and any VSO to better identify with any veteran who walks through the door. He said there are other states, like neighboring North Dakota, that do not require a VSO to have served, and during his training that difference showed. While some non-veterans passed the required training, many of them in Hamre’s class did not, he said.
“I think it’s just better to have a veteran. I think you get a better quality product,” he said.
He acknowledged there may be exceptions, but for the most part, fellow veterans can better relate to baggage they bring with them when applying for benefits.
Hamre began his position with Kittson County on Tuesday, Nov. 19 upon Wayne Jacobson’s retirement after 10 years. He said it’s a slower pace than Pennington County, which has many more veterans compared to Kittson County’s 250. Despite that, Hamre has goals of doing extended outreach to veterans. He plans to start by visiting with the local American Legions in Lancaster and Karlstad, and the VFW in Kennedy to introduce himself and what he can do as a VSO to help veterans receive benefits. He hopes to reach the younger generation of veterans who maybe haven’t signed up for benefits yet.
“It’s better to get people enrolled early rather than late,” Hamre said.
He said he recently had a veteran call who was already in the nursing home, but wanted to start the process of getting VA benefits to help pay for that care.
“It’s really hard to try and go back that many years ago and build a case for disability when they served,” Hamre said, noting it can be done, but it’s better to start earlier.
VA benefits don’t just cover physical disabilities, but also mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Hamre said the VA has really started paying attention to the increased rate of suicide among veterans of all ages.

As the VSO in Pennington County, Hamre headed up a PTSD support group for Vietnam veterans. He saw how that group made a difference in allowing veterans to open up and share stories. At the request of a group member, Hamre invited that man’s son-in-law, a returning veteran from the 20-year Global War on Terror. The group helped him open up, which led to gaining services he had never accessed before.
“You give a piece of your heart to everyone that comes in here,” Hamre said. “Especially being a guy that’s served and been through stuff, too. When they come in and tell their story, you identify with them immediately. Their ailments become your ailments, and you try to help them out.”
The Kittson County Veterans Service Office in the courthouse in Hallock is open Mondays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 to 11 a.m.; and closed on Fridays and federal holidays.
Hamre can also be reached at 218-843-2198, or by email [email protected].