Vet2Work Women's Forum

Mullen: America Must Help Its War Veterans

2011-05-14T06:47:00.000-07:00

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
NEW YORK, May 10, 2011 –
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen spoke about service member and veteran issues to a crowd primed for a Lady Gaga show here last night.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thanks television journalist Tom Brokaw after appearing at the annual Robin Hood Foundation Gala in New York, May 9, 2011. The foundation has targeted poverty in New York by supporting and developing organizations that provide direct services to low-income residents. DOD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff found a nontraditional audience for his message about the military as part of a fundraiser for the Robin Hood Foundation at the Javits Center. The group raised $132 million last year for charities all over the city, and this year announced a special fund to help veterans in Metro New York.
Mullen followed Tony Bennett -- who at 84 can still bring it -- and Seth Meyers of “Saturday Night Live.” The 4,000-member audience listened respectfully to the chairman, who was interviewed on stage by veteran journalist Tom Brokaw. Kid Rock and Lady Gaga followed.
Brokaw told the audience that as they were enjoying the $3,000-a-plate dinner, young Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq were putting on Kevlar and getting ready for another day of war.
“They represent less than 1 percent of the American population,” Brokaw said. “The rest of us -- 99 percent -- nothing is asked of us.”
Brokaw noted that New York has a growing problem with veteran homelessness and asked the chairman what the Defense Department is doing about it. As a Vietnam veteran, Mullen said, he is particularly concerned about the issue because veterans of that war were experiencing the same thing when the current wars started.
“My peers were still sleeping on the street in Washington and cities throughout the country, and I swore I would do whatever I could to address the homelessness challenge,” Mullen told Brokaw. “As we’ve engaged in this, I find we’ve generated homeless veterans at a higher rate than we did in Vietnam.”
The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments are working together on the issue, the chairman said, but it will require the commitment of people in local communities to solve.
“I find local leaders want to structure something to take care of our veterans,” Mullen said. “The focus is on education, employment and health, and the private side has to help.”
Communities will lose a lot if they do not help the veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the chairman told Brokaw and the audience.
“More than 2 million have served in the wars, and they are a generation that is wired to serve,” he said. “They are going to make a difference in the future. What they need is a bridge, and communities like New York need to provide that.”
Post-traumatic stress is another issue that Americans need to know about, Mullen said, because of reluctance in the military culture to seek help means that more than the reported 18 percent of today’s combat veterans are affected.
“We are fighting a stigma of asking for help, which is not strange for our country, and certainly not for the military,” the chairman said, noting that post-traumatic stress penetrates right to the heart of military families.
“It is the most significant invisible wound of these wars,” he said.
The chairman urged the crowd to reach out to the families of those who have lost someone in the wars. Many family members who have lost loved ones tell him their greatest fear is the country will forget the sacrifices service members have made, he said.
“These are extraordinary young men and women who go out every day, and in too many cases, give their lives for this country so we can be the country we are,” he added.
Mullen urged the crowd to connect with these families.
“They are very proud,” he said. “I promise you, they won’t ask for help, so figuring out how to connect with them to support them is really important.”

Congressional Commission Studies Women in Combat

2011-05-14T06:41:00.001-07:00

By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2011 – The Defense Department will review the recommendations of a congressional commission studying the role of women in combat when the group’s report is complete, a DOD official said today.
Congress established the Military Leadership Diversity Commission as part of the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act. The commission’s task is to evaluate and assess policies that provide opportunities for promotion and advancement of minority members of the armed forces.
The commission’s report, expected in March, will include the findings and conclusions of the commission as well as its recommendations for improving diversity within the armed forces.
“DOD will look at the recommendation and go from there,” Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Col. Dave Lapan said. “We’ll see what the nature of the report is when it’s done.”
Congress repealed the combat exclusion laws in the January 1994 National Defense Authorization Act, but requires the services to submit proposed changes to existing assignment policy to Congress for review, Lapan said.
“For example, when the Navy recently changed its policy to enable women to serve on submarines, that would go through that process,” he said. “So the Navy would have to inform Congress it was going to make a change.”
The Marine Corps also triggered congressional review when it opened some intelligence positions to women, Lapan said, but female Marines serving on engagement teams in Afghanistan are in line with department policy on women’s assignments.
Lapan said the U.S. military currently prohibits women from serving in combat units below the brigade level. The Marine women on engagement teams are not assigned to combat units, but are augmenting them for a specific mission, he said.
“Part of the reason to do that was because the infantry battalions that were out there didn’t have any women, because they couldn’t,” he explained.
Women make up 14.6 percent of the active duty military. By service, the percentage ranges from 7.5 percent in the Marine Corps to 19.2 percent in the Air Force, according to statistics compiled by the Women in Military Service for America Foundation.

Women Learn to Fight Stress from Home Front

2011-05-14T06:39:00.001-07:00

Women Learn to Fight Stress from Home Front
By Terri Moon Cronk
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2011 – During a week in which the White House pledged a vigorous, whole-of-government approach to supporting military families, 11 women worked diligently a few miles away to learn to cope with the stresses of their husbands’ multiple deployments and the post-traumatic stress that affects many of them when they return home.
Ten military wives and a fiancée met in a quiet place the week of Jan. 24 without the distractions from ringing phones, kids' schedules and work projects. They learned coping skills through resilience training. They learned meditation, tried acupuncture, talked, laughed and cried.
The “significant others,” who found out first-hand that post-traumatic stress affects entire families, came to the support group with more questions than answers. But they left armed with a battery of tools to cope with the everyday stresses of military life in a time of war.
The Significant Others Support Group is an offshoot of the Specialized Care Program their husbands completed following a diagnosis of combat stress or post-traumatic stress, or because they had difficulty readjusting to home life after war. Both programs are based on resilience and strength-building education conducted by the Defense Health Clinical Center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has called post-traumatic stress “the military health issue of our era.” He and his wife, Deborah, are well-known advocates of taking care of the military family, taking every opportunity to make it known they want war veterans and their families to get all the help they need to cope with war’s invisible scars.
For five days, the Significant Others Support Group charter class studied family roles and relationships, how combat affects service members, how to raise children during a stressful time in a lengthy war, and how to communicate about and deal with control issues when the deployment is over. They also learned the how to take care of themselves, an often-overlooked need.
“We don’t ‘cure’ people here,” said Dan Bullis, director of administration and operations at the clinical center. “It’s the start of their journey to cope with symptoms.”
Because it affects the entire family, efforts to confront post-traumatic stress must be include a family care plan, he said.
“[It’s] is not a level playing field for them,” Bullis said, adding that he believes the support group will become even more successful as word spreads to new attendees and sponsors.
“In a weeks’ time,” he said, "12 to 14 [significant others] are equipped with tools to cope with life. It’s their lesson plan to take home so they can deal with the chronic symptoms. They’re so overwhelmed.”
The idea, Bullis said, was spawned from the husbands in the Specialized Care Program who began saying, “If only my significant other could get this support.” A pilot program that launched with five or six women progressed to the charter class of 11 last month, he added.
Thanks to a $35,000 donation by the nonprofit Walter Reed Society, the 11 women were brought to Walter Reed on per diem travel, housed in a nearby hotel, and attended the training and education, all expenses paid.
Designing the support group for women came from a tried-and-true approach.
“We had a lot of input through the years from service members to help their families and significant others,” said Victoria Bruner, the center’s director of clinical education and training, who also is a social worker and expert in traumatic stress, with a background as a registered nurse. “Whether it's a mother, brother, sister or adult child, we built the group on the basics of what helps people heal.”
A holistic approach, Bruner said, is important in an environment that promotes comfort, healing and peacefulness.
“The [significant others] need a sense of safety to feel comfortable to tell a story, and to connect to other people so they know they’re not alone,” she said. “It’s important to be in a safe environment, where people are assured their stories are honored and respected, so they can go as far as they want about their situation, or not.”
Late in the morning on their final day together, Bruner conducted a session with the women, seated in a circle in a comfortable room adorned with plants, a wall quilt and subdued lighting.
“What has this week been like for you?” she asked. Answers circulated in a flurry of optimism from the participants, whose identities are not included in this article to protect their privacy.
“I feel less isolated, I made close friends,” one of the women said. “We understand each other.”
“I feel empowered, refreshed -- a partner with my partner,” another said. “I’m inspired to work as a team.”
“It’s refreshing,” said a third. “I learned skills to regain my energy. I feel whole again.”
Bruner said the women in the support group see signs of strength in themselves to keep going -- to bounce back and realize they’re not “crazy.” They learn how to practice patience, be more tolerant and supportive of their military family in a balanced manner, she added.
Bruner, who lost her husband in Vietnam, said it’s critical for the women “to get the support they need, to reduce the cost of war.”
Post-traumatic stress is not new –- it’s just another name for a phenomenon that’s been recognized since the Civil War. “Melancholy,” "shell shock" and "battle fatigue" are among the names it’s had when it’s been observed in service members in past conflicts.
Bullis, a former Army medic who served in Vietnam, said that during and after the Gulf War deployment in 1990 and 1991, 100,000 service members complained of what became known as “Gulf War syndrome.”
“It came from out of nowhere, and they had symptoms similar to chronic fatigue syndrome,” he said. Eventually, with no real medical cause found, it was called “medically unexplained physical symptoms.” And service in the Gulf War, he added, was never linked to it.
Bullis added that 20 percent to 30 percent of those deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan can develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress, but treatment can be successful if it is caught in its early stages. And medical staff members at military clinics worldwide are catching signs of the disorder at a rapid pace through routine screening, he added.
Yet, the average time it takes a service member to seek help after the onset of symptoms is a staggering 12 years, Bullis noted.
“It’s an invisible wound,” he said, “and it’s always a part of war.”
The Significant Others Support Group provides sessions on topics such as “Dealing with Adrenaline Overload,” “Understanding Triggers” and “Dealing with Things You Can’t Control.” It also provides relaxation and focus classes featuring Yoga Nidra, QiGong and acupuncture, as well as a massage donated by a local spa.
Robin Carnes -- a local mind and body skills instructor who teaches relaxation tools to the Significant Others Support Group -- said the techniques can be used at home in five minutes a day. Her methods teach the women to relax and refocus by “putting back life energy and storing it,” she said.
“If you want to change your life,” she added, “change your practice. It's a healthy addiction if done every day.”
The charter class of 11 significant others gathered one last time on the final day in a small ceremony. As they received certificates of completion, some quietly said, “Thank you.” But one Army wife, also a veteran, dropped to her knees, tearfully gesturing to the group, thanking everyone for the support she now has, and for her husband’s success in the Specialized Care Program.
“This program," she said, "gave me my husband back.”

reCareered: Top 5 Ways To Get A Job In A New Location

2010-07-25T05:39:00.000-07:00

reCareered: Top 5 Ways To Get A Job In A New Location

US Military Women are Very Much in Combat

2010-07-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

According to a recent article in the Guardian by Ed Pilkington,if you are one of the more than 235,000 women who have been on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade, then the idea that you are being shielded from the brutality of direct warfare may sound to you like a pretty sick joke. As Laura Browder, an academic at the University of Richmond in Virginia, puts it: "When women are serving as handlers of explosive-sniffing dogs, kicking down doors, doing searches, conducting IED sweeps, then yes, they are very much in combat." read the entire article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/23/us-military-women-in-combat

A Salute to Gen. Dunwoody

2010-05-26T04:28:00.000-07:00

General Ann E. Dunwoody, U.S. Army. Her awards and decorations include: the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster; Defense Superior Service Medal; Legion of Merit with two Oak Leaf Clusters; Defense Meritorious Service Medal; Meritorious Service Medal with Silver Oak... Leaf Cluster; Army Commendation Medal; the Army Achievement Medal; the National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Star; SWASM (2 campaign stars); and the Kuwait Liberation Medal. Her badges include the Master Parachutist Badge and the Parachute Rigger Badge.

Veteran Unemployment

2010-05-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

According to Leo Shane, of Stripes Central, the unemployment rate for vets sits at 11.3 percent, which equals about 185,000 current war veterans searching for jobs. That's up nearly 25,000 people from the start of the summer, and is just a few thousand short of the total number of troops currently deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

National Conference on Unemployment Compensation

2010-05-26T03:48:00.000-07:00

Unemployment Compensation for Military Spouses
Last Updated: January 27, 2010

NCSL Staff Contact: Heather Morton, (303) 364-7700, Denver

Military families often face frequent moves and these moves can add unique financial pressures, as spouses may have to leave their employment due to a military transfer and the families may face a reduction in income. Generally speaking, when an individual leaves a job voluntarily, then the person is ineligible for unemployment benefits. Recognizing that spouses of military service personnel who quit their jobs due to a military transfer may not be quitting so “voluntarily,” state legislators have amended unemployment compensation laws to help military families who are relocating between states. In several states, state legislators deem it good cause if military spouses leave their employment to follow their spouses in a military relocation, and thus eligible for unemployment benefits.
More information at http://www.ncsl.org/IssuesResearch/EmploymentWorkingFamilies/UnemploymentInsuranceMilitarySpouses/tabid/13331/Default.aspx

New to Vet2Work

2010-05-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

Vet2Work.com has added a section dedicated to U.S. Military Women. We invite your comments.

Seeking Facilitators and Mentors

2010-05-22T05:07:00.000-07:00

We are looking for facilitators and mentors who would like to help others through the vet2work women's forum and through the vet2work organization.