Paul Pionke, Shawano County’s veterans service officer, announced his retirement effective March 27.
Pionke, a 23-year veteran with the U.S. Air Force, has worked for the county since July 2022.
“Last year was a bad year for me with (my) legs,” he said. “I’m also going to spend more time being a husband, father and grandfather.”
Pionke and his wife have three children and three grandchildren. After his retirement, they plan to move to Ohio to be closer to family.
In the Air Force, Pionke worked in security and administration. After retiring from the service, he performed some government contract work in personnel and administration. He then became involved with the veterans benefits programs in Ohio, transferred to Green Bay and then started as veterans service officer with Shawano County 2½ years ago.
“I had already been involved with processing claims,” he said of his work before arriving in Shawano. “The only difference was supervising others and budgets.”
The veterans service officer provides advocacy, advice and aid to veterans, their families and dependents in securing veteran entitlements and benefits from state and federal sources.
He and his staff were responsible for securing $38 million in benefits for veterans, widows and students in 2024, a jump of $6.4 million from the previous year.
“Processing claims with the VA is not easy to navigate,” he said. “There’s a lot of research to be done, and you have to cross your T’s and dot your I’s.”
Pionke said those seeking benefits often start the process but run into issues along the way. Part of Pionke’s job is to clean up those applications and maneuver them through the VA.
“Paul’s been a really great director,” said Julie Hasser, interim administrative coordinator and human resources director. “Paul has really turned that department around, and I’m sure it will continue on. He’s done a lot of great work in there in servicing the veterans in the county.”
There are more than 3,000 veterans in Shawano County, and Pionke has contact with about a third of them.
“We have some from Korea and Vietnam all the way through the Gulf War and the associated campaigns,” he said.
During his time in Shawano, Pionke made a special outreach effort to veterans through meetings at town halls, libraries and other public sites.
“We do a pretty good job of getting out there,” he said.
County officials have already started the process to find Pionke’s replacement. It’s expected someone will be hired and be able to train with Pionke for a few weeks before his departure.
“We’re going to hire that one a little bit early because of the outreach that he does and the relationships that he has with many, many veterans in the county,” Hasser said. “We really felt that transferring would be really good, so we’re going to have a little bit over overlap in there.”
The proposed salary will be between $74,401.60 and $85,030.40.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
