Plymouth Iraq War Veteran Starts Company To Help Other Veterans
Iraq War veteran Jeremy Wolfsteller met President George W. Bush twice. He only remembers the second time.
The first time the president stopped by Wolfsteller’s room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., the Osseo Senior High School graduate and veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq was in a coma. He’d been shot through the right hip, with the bullet shattering his spine and lodging near his left shoulder.
“You know, it’s weird to say it, but, fortunately, I was traumatically injured, because the system of care is a lot easier when you’ve been hurt like I have,” said Wolfsteller, who left the U.S. Army in 2007, and eventually enrolled at Normandale College, where he worked as a veterans service officer for his fellow students while he earned his degree.
“I’ve been through it all. It’s my credibility. I’m speaking from the heart,” he said. “I know it’s hard for us veterans to navigate what we’re supposed to be entitled to.”
President George W. Bush greets Iraq War Veteran and Purple Heart Recipient Jeremy Wolfsteller in his hospital room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
After graduating with his degree, Wolfsteller spent 13 years working for the American Legion, in conjunction with the Veterans Administration in Minneapolis, as a veterans service officer. He made it his mission to help fellow veterans get the care they needed for the often unique issues they faced, both medically and otherwise.
That brought him into contact with retired healthcare executive and Vietnam War veteran Peter Bartling. Bartling was looking to get a COVID vaccine, but was running into all sorts of roadblocks at the time.
He was directed to Wolfsteller, who helped him get what he was looking for.
“I said, ‘If you could help others like you helped me, you’re going to be successful,'” said Bartling.
Bartling pledged to help Wolfsteller when he later created SAVE, a consulting company which stands for Saluting America’s Veterans Enterprise.
Jeremy Wolfsteller, left, and Peter Bartling helped start SAVE to create ways for companies to better serve veterans.
“We’re incorporating veteran benefit advocate services within these companies, so instead of the veteran saying, ‘I need help with my benefits and I don’t know how to navigate them,’ and instead of calling the government and getting them involved on a county level or a state level or trying to get a call back or making an appointment, we’re bringing these services and embedding them into companies,” said Wolfsteller, who has operated his company since November 2022.
Bartling now serves on the company’s board.
“I think all veterans that are in good physical, mental, and emotional condition want to give back,” said Bartling. “This is the way I can do it.”
SAVE aims to find ways companies can cater to the needs of the veterans they’ve already hired.
“Why can’t we add another layer of service and bring it to corporate America and help them, right there?” said Wolfsteller. “It’s great for the community, it’s great for the companies. It’s great for the employers, and obviously great for the veterans.”
