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The Game of Life Has a Coach: Sister Elizabeth
Goals and principles, guidelines and pathways; no dice to roll or spinner to click but a level headed approach to an end game. Those who enter the game plan of The Mission Continues come with heart in hand, a desire for direction and a dream to be attained. Recovery from injury is not a cake walk. The time it takes to heal is not laid out in blocks with an easy view to end. But the desire to get in the game is real with each member of the group. And each member has their own story, a true character and a real life. Sister ElizabethLet’s get started! Enter Sister…
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“Ride for Our Heroes” in New England – A Wordless Wednesday Thank You!
Two quotes about Ride for Heroes in New England:“The biker community has a long history of riding to support veterans. We hope the Ride for Our Heroes can become another great tradition to honor those who suffer from the ‘invisible wounds of war’–post traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. We are honored to work with the biker community on this event,” –John Parrish, MD, Director of the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program. “It is rewarding to know that we have a partner in the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital’s Home Base Program assisting us in providing the additional support and services soldiers…
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Motown has a new Veterans Homeless Facility and Park!
A Park for Veterans is being createdMotown has a new Veterans Homeless Facility and Park! It was not exactly the smooth sounds or motions of Motown but a blur of noise, colors (mostly orange), activity, yard equipment movements, cars and trucks being guided by traffic guards, pounding hammers, wheelbarrows rolling, noisy chippers, buckets carried, … It was heartening to see in the “rustic” downtown area of Detroit to see these bright orange clad volunteers turning the sounds of cacophony into a smooth jazz park for our homeless veterans in the area! MilitaryAvenue’s MilAve_Dan and Mil_Col_K had to follow up on this kind offer to see and report on this Volunteers…
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Army Suicide Prevention – One Family’s Struggle – DoD Blogger Roundtable
When you are in a boxing match the blows are tough but are felt less as you fight, it is not till after the match or the next day that you really feel them! What a great example to better understand combat stress! Major Jeff Hall, US Army and his wife Sheri, agreed to meet with the DoD Bloggers Roundtable to discuss their lives with combat stress and his struggles with suicide. Jeff’s comparison of boxing to the effects of combat stress and peace time fit the warrior ethos! We may not feel the pain of combat stress while engaged in combat or even combat support but it can kick…
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Getting Veteran Care in New England through the Home Base program
Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking with Tracy West of the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base program, concerning their veteran support efforts with the “Ride for Our Heroes” in New England on September 24th. If you missed it, please take the time to read about this wonderful opportunity to help with public awareness of veteran issues and their families as well! I promised to continue with an article on the Red Sox and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base program today. For a good reason, the program is a completely free assistance effort according to Tracy. It is open to all veterans in the New…
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Unbroken: a Travelogue That Paralyzes the Mind and Pounds on the Heart
War movies do not intrigue me… I enter into the big screen arena. I am there, almost smelling the dynamite and JP4. I do not like being blown up, punched, starved or mutilated. I enter into the movie, my heart pounds with the characters. Then… I remember, they are only actors. They go out to eat at night and party on the weekend. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand rockets the reader back in time. Allows one to cheer and jeer at the Louie Zamperini, the bad boy in town. Never portraying Louie as a complete scoundrel, but a child/man with a mind in action. A creative, courageous and caring character. Ya…
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A Must Read for a Better Understanding of PTSD “Achilles in Vietnam” by Dr Jonathan Shay
Volunteers of America Michigan Veteran Homeless ShelterDuring a recent visit to a veterans’ homeless shelter in Lansing, MI, Patrick Patterson, the Volunteers of America Michigan Vice President for Operations gave me two books to read. The gift was a great way for me to find meaning as to how our veterans end up on the street. As I read, Jonathan Shay’s “Achilles in Vietnam, Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character” the memories of the Vietnam era came flowing back to me… not as a combat veteran of that era but as an American who could not understand what was happening to my country, its soldiers and my friends. While…
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How Did I Miss this Great Information Resource? The USAA Educational Foundation
What do you know about the USAA Educational Foundation? I have been a USAA member for over 40 years and have to admit that I knew little about this non profit resource provider! They are totally separate from USAA since USAA donated a one time gift to establish the foundation and have completely separate missions, leadership and absolutely no ties for products or services, etc. With an opportunity to talk to Barbara Gentry, the President and Steve Finley, the Director of the USAA Educational Foundation, I thought I could tell others about another resource for your challenging military lifestyle! I spoke briefly to Barbara about the mission of the education…
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“No Shame in Seeking Help” – Real Warriors Campaign DoD Blogger Roundtable
Staff Sgt. Meg KrauseStaff Sgt Meg Krause had her act together! Joining the Army in 2001 she served as a medical technician at Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Germany and then found herself in Iraq. It was according to her a “life changing experience for me”. Something she did not expect! Leaving active duty in 2006 to attend college at Penn State she stayed part of the military with duty in the Army Reserve. Then the problems came: alcohol abuse, tardiness, poor class attendance, attitude changes, bad decisions and more! The unit leadership and peers noticed, family and friends too! But she failed to respond until her First Sergeant sat…
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Week in Review: May 15 – 22, 2011 (Military News) #MilitaryMon
Popular Military Family Articles for the week of May 15th – 22nd on MilitaryAvenue.comThe Vietnam Wall and future generations: Memorial Day is approaching and this year my eight-year old will have a very tangible memory of what the day is about. The Vietnam Wall. *C*, 6 years old, Hubs moving at *C*’s pace, and my dad pushing the stroller with Baby *L* were ahead of us. The area was crowded. It was full of school trips and tourists. But there was a lull from the usual noise of a ‘touristy place’. *E*, 8 years old, picked up on it right away and our pace slowed. This, I think, is the…
