During his time as a bus driver in Telluride, Mikael Madsen encountered many of his fellow veterans struggling to survive a Western Slope winter.

At the time, Madsen was what he calls a military ghost. He hadn’t contacted the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for any of the benefits he was entitled to since he was discharged.

It was only when he became friends with an unhoused veteran, living in a shed at the Telluride cemetery for six years, that he began to explore options and support available for veterans. He was able to successfully help his friend claim benefits and get help.

The experience stuck with him, nudging Madsen to claim his own benefits and eventually become San Miguel County’s veterans service officer. The position became available after a state audit revealed many VSOs in Colorado lacked the proper training and certification to help veterans access benefits through the VA.

After hearing about the problem and the open position, Madsen decided to go through the rigorous certification process and improve the odds for San Miguel County veterans to access their benefits. When he stepped into the role, San Miguel County ranked 63rd out of 64 counties for the amount of money it receives for its population of veterans.

Just over a year later, Madsen more than doubled benefits granted to San Miguel County veterans from $68,174 for seven veterans in 2024 to $193,897 for 12 veterans in 2025.

In March, Madsen also took over as Ouray County’s VSO. He’s eager to help nearly 500 veterans here.

The key responsibility of a VSO is to help veterans secure the best loans, insurance and other benefits possible through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which have offices throughout the state. Though the services are free, it’s up to a veteran to establish a claim or set up an appointment.

“Once a service member leaves the military, they’re ghosts. The VA does not track them,” he said.

Though the VSO certification process focuses on understanding the legal and medical standards for claiming benefits, Madsen believes the other half of his job is storytelling. Madsen, who now lives in Ridgway, pursued a mix of non-military careers after being discharged including a master’s degree in creative writing, writing screenplays and illustrating children’s books. He draws from those experiences to help compose compelling claims for veterans to obtain their benefits.

“My job now is to take people’s war stories, make them succinct and emotionally attractive, so a bureaucrat down in Denver will identify with the protagonist,” Madsen said.

But Madsen can only write a story as well as a veteran is willing to share it. A big part of his job is not only connecting with veterans, but also convincing them and their family members to claim the benefits they are entitled to.

“There’s pride, and we are trained not to complain,” Madsen said. “As a military member, grit is in high demand, and is expected of everybody. And grit to the military means you don’t complain, you just carry on with your mission.”

“So it goes counter to everything they’ve been trained to (do), to volunteer and say I need help,” he said.

Madsen understands the feeling. He resisted help or benefits for more than 20 years after being discharged from serving with the Colorado National Guard and the U.S. Army.

“I was forced by my spouse to go see someone, and, guess what? I got rated at 100% (post-traumatic stress disorder) for that 20 years after the fact,” said Madsen, who has a sticker of a pink ghost reading “not all disabilities are visible,” on his laptop.

Madsen said it’s common for veterans to finally seek help because of a spouse.

Since he started work as the VSO in Ouray County in March, Madsen has worked to meet as many veterans and their families as he can in the community.

A significant part of his job is to find veterans first, and then discover how he can help them. Half of the country’s 20 million veterans haven’t applied to or spoken with the VA, according to Madsen, who considers himself a hunter and fisher of veterans.

“So I go hunting for the 50% of veterans that have not received their benefits,” he said.

So far he’s already completed a disability claim for a Ouray resident, former special forces officer Rick Colpitts. He needed better care for knee pain caused by years of training and service.

“It keeps you awake at night sometimes, because it’s like this constant aching feeling, and then the arthritis within the knees and the hips. It varies…. But certain damage has been done,” he said.

Now, instead of pushing off the pain and trying to go through a standard veteran’s insurance plan, Colpitts is rated for disability, meaning he receives more comprehensive care like representatives from the VA reaching out and offering help.

“I don’t have to initiate the call. They just call you, and which I found to be very refreshing,” he said.

Madsen tries to do the same by reaching out to those he meets and passing out his card to anyone he thinks he could help. He meets veterans by appointment and also attends a monthly veteran’s coffee in Ridgway at the Sherbino Theater, hosted by the Montrose- based nonprofit Welcome Home Alliance for Veterans.

Last week, over coffee and donuts from a veteran-owned shop, Madsen connected with two veterans about managing their benefits. One needed better care for skin cancer tied to Agent Orange exposure, and another asked for help getting his spouse’s affairs in order after receiving a terminal diagnosis.

In many cases, Madsen is serving the veteran’s relatives and helping with services they earned, too.

“It’s not only the veteran. I do believe the family, the spouse and the dependent children do serve,” Madsen said.

On top of trying to build his caseload, Madsen is also thinking about how to systemically improve access for veterans in the region.

Madsen said veterans say their No. 1 concern is transportation to and from medical appointments, especially those who travel to Durango, something he hopes to solve by purchasing a van through a grant.

Madsen plans to continue hunting for veterans and serving them, like the first man he helped from the Telluride cemetery — one of the main reasons he became a VSO. Four years later, his friend was able to purchase a van to live in outside of Norwood.

“It’s funny, I think that many times your greatest point of trauma or hurt that’s where your people are, and you are given the tools to go back and help them,” Madsen said.

For more information email mmadsen@ ourayco.gov or call 970-708-8757.

Lia Salvatierra is a journalist with Report for America, a service program that helps boost underserved areas with more reporting resources.