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Help for Our “Troubled” Veterans
This Veteran’s Day may not be so special for a group of veterans – those incarcerated in our federal and state prisons. Do you know a veteran who took a wrong step or maybe the legal system went awry? According to 2007 statistics there were 140,000 veterans in prison (federal and state) and most had honorable discharges from their military service. (National Coalition of Homeless Veterans) Facing similar situations as our homeless veteran population with mental illness, addictions and reintegration issues they are frequently forgotten members of our society. A friend who served time at Ft Leavenworth’ US Disciplinary Barracks is still a strong emotional memory. A subordinate imprisoned there…
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Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration? Where does it stand? (Post Osama Bin Laden) DoD Roundtable
Afghanistan will “bite you in the leg if you make assumptions”! Major General Jones at DoD Bloggers Roundtable The Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration program is an Afghan led process that has seen 500 fighters leave the anti-government forces (mostly Taliban) just in the last 60 days! According to British Major General Phil Jones the “numbers are rocketing up”! General Jones is in his fourth tour in Afghanistan and is the Director of the Force Reintegration Cell for the International Security Assistance Force. He spoke to the DoD Bloggers Roundtable this morning (or evening in Afghanistan). With the Reintegration in place for 10 months following the lead of President Hamid Karzai’s…
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America Does Support Our Troops!
I am a Vietnam era Veteran and an Afghanistan era veteran and everything in between as well! I remember the 60s and 70s and I so appreciate how America is now recognizing and supporting our men and women and their families! We see thousands of small businesses on MilitaryAvenue with a military discount and a sense of pride and patriotism among our citizens when talking about veterans. Access to schools during Veterans Day and other events, neighbors helping military families and appreciation for the sacrifices they and their families are making. A ground swell is growing and we are seeing it amongst corporations as well. Corporate America is participating in…
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Week in Review: Week of April 11 – 17 (Military News)
Here are ten of our most popular military-related articles for the week MilitaryAvenue.com: Faces Behind the Hero: Army Wife, Mom and writer, Jane: Meet our Face Behind the Hero, Jane. I love her thoughts below about a ‘Family Mission Statement’. What keeps your family together? What is the glue that binds? Where do you find the adventure that keeps life “interesting”? Thanks, Jane, for getting us all thinking about these things and not only being Army-Strong, but Family-Strong too!….“A Little Bit of Hope, Help…” “A Little Bit of Hope, Help …” is how US Navy CAPT James Wink, the chief engineer for Joint Task Force-Haiti responded to a question on…
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Detainee Operations in Afghanistan – DoD Roundtable
U.S. Navy Vice. Adm. Robert S. Harward, commander of Joint Task (JTF) Force 435 located in Kabul, Afghanistan spoke to the DoD Bloggers Roundtable and answered questions concerning Detainee Operations in Afghanistan. JTF 435 was established by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on September 18 to assume responsibility for detainee operations in Afghanistan. The admiral arrived in Afghanistan in November and the Joint Task Force stood up on 7 January 2010! The Task Force provides oversight of detainee review processes, programs for the peaceful reintegration of detainees into society, and coordination with other agencies and partners for the promotion of the rule of law in Afghanistan. The TF is leading…
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MY Deployment Story
Forewarning: I know I have some MOPS friends that read the blog. THANK YOU! But if you haven’t been to your MOPS meeting yet I kind of spell out my ‘talk’. You might not want to read this if you don’t want to see it all spelled out before hand 🙂 (Our church is fortunate to have three chapters of MOPS … I spoke for the first chapter and have two more to go.) I DID IT! I was nervous … I worked over the course of the weekend (with some help from my mom, a retired Air Force wife) to get the words right … I got up a…
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The Fears of Reintegration
Thoughts have been welling around in my head for the last two weeks. Thoughts that can take any moment in the day down a windy slippery hill. Thoughts that I’m not sure what to do with. I am quite human you will soon discover. What is this fear lodged deep-down in my chest R&R was a couple months ago and it was better then our honeymoon. We were inseparable. We didn’t even have to be in the same room but I would just smile knowing we were in the same country, same state, same city, same house. I could nuzzle up to him at any point and just soak in…
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Changes
I’m feeling *very* fortunate. I have my boys tucked into bed and my feet are up for the evening. *E*, 6 years old is already snoring softly in dream world. *C*, 3 years old, is turning his little-lamp by his bed on and off, on and off, on and off. He is trying. This is what happens when he takes a nap during the day … bedtime comes and he has no interest in sleep. Who can blame him. But this Mommy craves… desires… NEEDS her “quiet time” as I refer to it after 8:00pm. So in spite of naps he still has to stay in his room till he…
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A Special Sesame Street Presentation
Sesame Street and PBS present “Coming Home” – Military Families Cope with Change on April 1st. The flier says 8:00pm but doesn’t mention a time zone, so be sure to check your local listings for the right time. We had this video series given to us from Military OneSource. My boys enjoyed watching Elmo and friends discuss deployment. I think it helped them knowing there are others out there that are in the same boat! If your spouse is deploying (whether for the 1st time or the 10th time) and you have young preschool age children be sure to order the video series for FREE from Military OneSource. You can…
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He’s Coming Home!
The countdown has begun in my home. Hubby will be for R&R, a two-week vacation with his family home from Iraq. I am excited & growing with anticipation as each day passes and we get that much closer. Yesterday, as I was tearing the dishwasher apart trying to figure out why it sounded like a dyeing cow, I began to think of what has changed since April 2008, when he left. (After all what else am I going to do as pieces and parts of a dishwasher are strewn across the kitchen.) My three-year older is potty trained. That is a pretty significant change. We saw Hubby for a few…
