Sycamore resident and U.S. Army veteran Nate Johnson is the assistant superintendent of the Kane County Veterans Assistance Commission, where he finds peace in helping his fellow veterans.

In his role, Johnson often meets veterans who are at some of the lowest points in their lives. The goal of the commission is to provide any assistance possible. Johnson said that can involve assisting with filing benefits claims, getting treatment, navigating the court systems or just listening to the veterans’ stories.

“Our goal is to eliminate red tape and break down barriers to make it as seamless as possible,” he said. “We are the middleman. We’re the person that is the advocate for the veteran in a tough situation.”

Kane County VAC Superintendent Jake Zimmerman described Johnson as “a veteran’s veteran,” adding that everything Johnson does is about helping others.

“Nate is a great guy who is very passionate for helping veterans,” Zimmerman said. “He’s just all-around somebody who cares about people. Once we understood that about him, it was a natural fit for him to come work with us.”

Originally from Milwaukee, Johnson joined the Army on Sept. 18, 2008.

By January 2009, Johnson was in basic training, and within four months, he was deployed on his first tour in Iraq. He said his first two years of service seemed to fly by.

“It was just kind of a calling,” Johnson said. “Everything happened in the blink of an eye. …The first two years were a blur.”

He served five years on active duty and three more in the Reserves.

Looking back, Johnson said his rapid deployment was a blessing.

“It was just thrown at us, and I think that was actually a great benefit because it made you grow up in the military really, really quick,” he said. “Going to Iraq made you really learn to be accountable for everything around you. I was taught a lot of different leadership skills that I may not have been able to get in college.”

Johnson said the hardest part of being deployed overseas was the distance from home.

“There were many times in the Army that were very difficult,” Johnson said. “The hardest part is when you realize you’re away from everything you’ve ever known, and your support network is nowhere around.”

Johnson said that isolation, however, led to his platoon becoming his second family, many of whom he is still in touch with.

“The people you are around every day turn into your support network, and those people’s families intrinsically become your family as well,” he said. “You become a very tight-knit group. To this day, 17 years later, I still have pretty good communication with a lot of those people from my unit.”

After his tour in Iraq, Johnson transitioned into a role as a military police officer and was stationed at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, working in a maximum-security prison for his remaining two years of active duty.

After his discharge from active duty, Johnson was stationed as a Reserve officer with the 822nd Military Police Company in Arlington Heights for three years.

Johnson said the main thing the Army taught him was how to hold himself accountable to many different standards. He said being thrust into leadership roles early in his military career taught him time management, commitment to tasks and to do things the right way, which became invaluable skills when he returned to civilian life.

“When I got out and was going back to school again, college was a breeze,” Johnson said. “Going to NIU was relatively easy because I had a lot of that discipline instilled in me.”

While on reserve, Johnson attended Northern Illinois University, where he studied public relations and journalism.

Johnson said he knew he wanted to help people. He found the opportunity with the VAC by chance at an internship fair, joining as an intern in 2015 to do community outreach.

The main function of the Kane County VAC is to help local veterans file disability and pension claims, including any research and writing that may be needed, to ensure they receive what is owed to them.

“We are a one-stop shop for any kind of veteran issues,” Johnson said. “What we like to take pride in is that when a veteran comes in, any veteran issues they have, we take care of. We don’t just give paperwork out; we walk step for step with the veteran throughout the entire claim process, all the way up to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.”

Johnson said the VAC has helped Kane County veterans secure more and more funding every year since he started. The office secured $9.5 million in new benefits last year and is on pace to set another record this year.

In 2018, Johnson was promoted to assistant superintendent and helped create the first veterans treatment court in Kane County, of which he is the longest-serving member. He considers his work on the court one of the greatest achievements of his career.

The Veterans Treatment Court is a comprehensive program that allows veterans in the criminal justice system to undergo a two-year probation program to reduce recidivism.

Zimmerman said Johnson’s work on the Veterans Treatment Court, which is far more extensive and time-intensive than the typical assistance his office provides, is exemplary.

The veterans Johnson works with through the court often have issues with housing, transportation, health care, substance abuse, benefits and more, Zimmerman said.

“The casework that it takes to help the veterans in the treatment court is significant,” he said. “Nate has taken that, embraced it and really excelled at it. ... That’s just the type of person Nate is. He’ll go above and beyond, and doesn’t seek recognition for it.”

Johnson said it’s hard work.

“It is not easy. They have to go through many different treatments, commit to sobriety, pay all of their fines and be employed,” Johnson said.

Graduates of the program often get their charges dropped upon completion, and Johnson said the graduation ceremony is one of his favorite parts of the job.

“These graduation events are really cool to see,” Johnson said. “When we get people to come in, generally speaking, they’re in a very bad place with their mental health and with their substance use. Through this two-year program, we help them with every single aspect of their life.

“We’re taking them from sometimes a very low place, and we’re helping them build up, over those two years, to not only get their charges dropped, but once they finish that program, we have a very good understanding that they are going to be successful and their risk of offending again is very low.”

The program held a graduation ceremony Sept. 22 at the Kane County Judicial Center, when two veterans were honored for completing the program.

In addition to his work with the Veterans Treatment Court, Johnson is active in several task forces, including those that work to reduce homelessness and suicide among Kane County veterans. He said the toughest part of the job is meeting veterans who need help but aren’t ready to accept it.

“You really want to help every single person that comes through, and sometimes you’ll get people that are just not ready to accept it,” Johnson said. “It’s very tough to see that situation because you really want to make sure everyone is taken care of. … But we accept anyone in our office, and we will give them every opportunity to be successful.”

Johnson said anyone who works with veterans needs to have compassion and be understanding. He described himself as outgoing and passionate about his work. Although the job can be taxing at times, he said helping fellow veterans get through tough times can be a healing process for both parties.

“If this weren’t a job, I would do this for free, because in a sense it’s almost therapeutic for me to be able to help people that have dealt with some similar situations,” Johnson said.

While working in Kane County, Johnson also advocated for veterans on a national level. He served on the board of the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers, and did advocacy work with Department of Veterans Affairs leaders and lawmakers in Washington, D.C., for several years.

Johnson recently received national recognition with the Christopher Hinton President’s Award from NACVSO. The award recognizes those who go above and beyond to help veterans, inspire their colleagues and leave a lasting positive impact.

He also has been honored with state recognition, taught courses on veterans treatment to other service officers and is considered a subject matter expert in the field of veterans services.

After a decade of serving Kane County veterans, Johnson accepted a position with the McHenry County Veterans Assistance Commission this year, where he will begin serving as superintendent in January.

Zimmerman said that although he is sad to see Johnson leave Kane County, he looks forward to watching him help McHenry County veterans in the new position.

“We would like to keep him and his accolades forever, but obviously, you want the best for your people, so we fully support him, and the veterans of McHenry County will be better off for it,” Zimmerman said. “Their gain is truly our loss.”

Johnson said the decision to leave Kane County wasn’t an easy one. He said McHenry already has a great commission that he aims to build up to the level of Kane County’s, which staff refer to as a “destination VAC.”

“The decision wasn’t made lightly,” Johnson said. “It’s time for me to continue to move up and mold my own office into what we built here. ... I would put us up against any [VAC] in the country for the work we do.”

He added: “You can expect, as a veteran, that when you walk into our office, you’re going to get taken care of, and you’re not going to have to go elsewhere. … You walk in our doors, you’re going to leave with the answer you’re looking for.”