When Wolfgang Ward returned from Iraq in 2005, he was eager to start collecting his military benefits.

The Pacific Grove veteran soon discovered how difficult that can be.

“It took a year for me to get approved for disability compensation,” Ward said.

Concerned by this, Ward decided to scratch his own itch and created the Benefits Report Corporation, which aims to provide veterans a user-friendly and personalized look at their military benefits.

“All I”m trying to do is create a tool so that you can just reach in your pocket and find these benefits,” Ward said.

Ward”s site, BenefitReports.com, and its companion smartphone app work by having users take a short survey on their military service history. A personalized list of potential benefits and their corresponding links is then generated.

“There”s 40 million-plus people that this website could help, because it”s not only veterans and active duty members,” Ward said. “It”s also their spouses, their children, and even their grandchildren.”

Users will be able to view federal and state programs and benefits, as well as a plethora of other services offered by non-profit organizations and local commercial businesses.

Improving efficiencies

“Any company who offers a military discount can be listed on the service,” Ward said. “When people think of military benefits, they think of the G.I. Bill, home loan guaranty services, disability compensation, retirement pensions. Those only make up a small amount of benefits in my database.”

Ward”s website is a fusion of modern technologies that bring mapping and communication aspects from popular sites like Yelp and Skype into the realm of military benefits. The site is free for users and service providers.

“When you open up our app, you can select a local business and it will show its address and phone number,” Ward explained. “You can call directly from the app or your computer. You don”t have to use your own phone. We pick up the bill.

While serving in the Marine Corps from 2001 to 2005, Ward was deployed twice to Iraq. He served as a squad commander during the invasion of Fallujah in late 2004 where 21 of his men were killed in action and 70 were wounded — including Ward, who was struck by shrapnel.

After returning home the following year, Ward began to apply for his disability benefits at the local Veteran Affairs (VA) office and found the process to be inefficient in both timing and technology.

Wait times for disability compensation have not improved throughout the last eight years, with nearly 539,954 currently disability claims backlogged, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Using available services

Interim director Wes Morrill of the Monterey County Military and Veteran Affairs office believes that technology will help improve the timing, but only to a point.

“I think it”s a work in progress,” Morrill said. “I look at the ten-pound book of regulations that each claim must go through … even if you match it up with the best technology, it won”t improve the timing by much. I think the entire benefits program needs to be rebuilt.”

For Ward, the most important thing for veterans to know is that the benefits are out there, but will not be for long if they go unused.

“There are tons of services out there,” Ward said. “If you don”t utilize these services, they”ll eventually go away because the government will quit funding them. The government is starting to check their pocketbook.”

With a new investor (also a veteran) and the recent launch of the BenefitsReport.com app, the company is beginning to gain momentum, Morrill said.

“Veterans get a huge overload of information concerning their benefits,” Morrill said. “All they”re trying to do is separate and get back into the normal world. Something like this gives them all that information at their fingertips.”

Herald correspondent Will Houston can be reached at whouston33wh@gmail.com