Most millennials would probably agree that their generation has had a tough break. They are viewed by their elders as lazy, they face a limited workforce and they are on the precipice of adulthood wondering how to make a difference. However, there is one group of millennials often left out of this equation working through the same problems and more: Veterans.
When millennial veterans return home, they are left working through their past while at the same time, preparing for their future with a group of people to whom they can’t relate.
As any twenty-something can testify, stepping onto a college campus for the first time is a nerve-wracking situation. It’s easy to get roped into a stereotype based on a first encounter, and, for veterans, that happens almost automatically. According to their peers, former soldiers are either aimless and hipster or psychologically wounded and suffering from PTSD.
Most often, neither is the case. It’s simply that the two groups are at different stages of life with different experiences.
Professor Joseph Arnett distinguishes millennials from what he dubs emerging adults. While a millennial defines a generation, an emerging adult is someone oscillating on the brink of adulthood. Most millennials are on that line, whereas veterans have usually passed into adulthood already.
“I would expect that when veterans come out of the military, they feel like they’re already there,” Arnett told The Atlantic. “They’re not in this in-between state that most emerging adults find themselves.”
Crossing that line mainly depends on responsibility — something that has been ingrained in millennial veterans.
While veterans have higher sense of responsibility, they also have a different understanding of stress. For them, upcoming finals just aren’t stressful compared to combat.
James Cetto was an infantry sergeant in the Marines Corps who deployed twice, was shot at and killed five men. Now, he studies business at Framingham State College in Massachusetts. For him, stress is something that his peers wouldn’t understand.
“When I talk to college kids about stress, I don’t try to put my service out there,” Cetto told The Atlantic. “But finals come by, and they lose their f*** minds about how stressed out there are, and I’m not saying they shouldn’t be nervous, but their lives won’t end if they get a B.”
Despite the differences, though, these millennials are all united by the same burning question: What is my place in the future? And that’s something that only time can answer.
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Tag: Veterans
When Veterans Need to Let Loose, These Volunteers Help Them Ride the Waves
When you picture a surfer dude, you probably think of Hawaiian shirts, beach bonfires, ukuleles and a carefree attitude toward life. All of which is the opposite of the image that comes to mind when you think of a brave veteran wounded while serving our country. But the recent Waves of Valor Surf Camp proved that both vets and surfers can hang 10 together.
Sponsored by Team Red, White & Blue and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, the event took place at the Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach, California on July 19. In total, four surf camps are scheduled for this summer, and this is the second year that volunteers have offered surfing lessons to veterans.
How do veterans learn how to surf? Each is teamed with four volunteers: a surf captain and three others on duty to fetch boards, help the service members mount the surfboards and assist with swimming when needed.
During the Huntington Beach event, the 17th Street Surf Shop closed for business for the day so its employees could volunteer — helping people such as Navy veteran Goldie Nwachuku catch a wave.
At first, Nwachuku was afraid but managed to stand up on a surf board for the first time. “It’s really good to have a smile on my face. I haven’t smiled in a long time,” Nwachuku told Ethan Hawkes of the Orange County Register.
Ryan Lee, Air Force vet, told Hawkes that surfing, “really helps relieve my stress, and it also helps me connect with the veteran community here and with the other volunteers.”
The program has proved so successful that for next year, organizers are planning a three-day surf event that will bring former soldiers from across the country to participate.
Whether the surfers can get any of the vets to yell “kowabunga,” however, remains to be seen.
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The Camp That Offers Battlefield Warriors a New Way to Heal
As we’ve said before, for most veterans, jumping back into life at home is no easy task. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and distance from their former comrades-in-arms can hinder the transition back to day-to-day life. But Warrior Camp is looking to change that by adding a twist to the typical PTSD treatment.
This one-week program runs a few times throughout the year, providing support and treatment for military members and veterans who are living with PTSD. New York resident Eva J. Usadi founded the camp.
Most PTSD treatment centers focus on talk therapy and medication, sometimes putting a veteran on as many as 18 or 20 different drugs. Despite this, the statistics do not reveal positive results. Every day, one active military member commits suicide, but it is far worse among veterans, which average 22 suicides per day.
That’s why Usadi uses a different approach. Her strategy focuses on three main components: equine assisted psychotherapy, yoga and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy. The results are staggering: 68 percent of those coming to the camp with PTSD no longer meet those requirements at the end of the week.
For Jennifer Pacanowski, Warrior Camp provided her with an alternative way to confront her PTSD: Through writing poetry.
“The thing is you can’t talk your nervous system out of being traumatized,” says Pacanowski. “To support your veterans you have to listen to them. You have to listen to their stories. That’s the ritual of coming home.”
Usadi and her veteran alumni, though, credit a fourth component, community, for the camp’s success.
“They train together. They live together and they go to war together in very tightly knit units and some of the people have said we have created that feeling again that nobody has had since they had been discharged,” Usadi told Union Leader.
And it’s that community feeling that continues to drive the camp forward.
On July 19, a gala was held in support of Warrior Camp at Shattuck Golf Club in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. The event was planned and hosted by Thomas C. Harvey, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Army. Retired Sgt. First Class Harvey decided to have the event to raise awareness about PTSD after being asked to volunteer at Warrior Camp last year.
For his efforts, Harvey was named honorary alum of the camp. But he isn’t done yet as he plans to make the gala a yearly occurrence, especially considering that the event raised $10,000.
While PTSD remains a troubling occurrence, Warrior Camp is proving that no problem is too big too tackle if you have the support and help of community and friends.
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How L.A. Plans to End Veteran Homelessness by 2016
It’s virtually unanimous: Most of us believe that all veterans who have served this country deserve to have roofs over their heads. As a result, cities across the country are working toward the goal of housing all the homeless vets in their communities. (Special props to Phoenix for already accomplishing this.) And now, the mayor of the city with the biggest veteran homelessness problem has pledged to join this quest.
In total, Los Angeles County has 6,300 homeless veterans — more than any other county in the United States. So on July 16, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged to end veteran homelessness, at least for the 2,600 living within city limits by 2015.
Garcetti made this vow during the Unite for Veterans Summit, which included First Lady Michelle Obama. “The image of even one of these heroes sleeping out in the cold, huddled up next to an overpass—that should horrify all of us,” Obama said, according to Gale Holland of the Los Angeles Times. “Because that’s not who we are. And the truth is, we know that there are simple steps that we can take — whether that’s in business or government or in our communities — to prevent and solve these kinds of problems,” she said.
Los Angeles has 17 months to fulfill its promise, and it’s already working towards achieving it. The pipe fitters, elevator construction, painters and sheet metal worker unions are lending a hand by giving veterans first priority in their apprenticeship programs. And, earlier this year, construction began on renovating a Los Angeles County VA building into housing and supportive services for homeless veterans.
According to the Los Angeles Times, mayors from 40 states have already committed to the Obama administration’s challenge to end veteran homelessness. So hopefully the country is well on its way to meeting that goal.
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Boots to Business Gives Entrepreneurial Veterans A Leg Up
The unemployment news among veterans isn’t all bad. But while jobless rates are improving, former soldiers still face a bigger struggle landing employment than non-veterans.
Case in point: a recent study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found the unemployment rate to be 6.8 percent among younger veterans, compared to 5.7 percent for the nation as a whole. Fortunately, a lot of people are working to solve this problem.
The 2011 “Hire Our Heroes” act required government agencies to come up with classes to help military veterans transition to civilian careers. One program that grew out of this mandate is Boots to Business, a training program that guides veterans through the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Many are already benefiting from these classes, such as the more than 60 veterans hired by the MGM Grand Detroit (which has a Boots to Business program with the American Red Cross).
Rozell Blanks Sr., vice president of human resources at MGM Grand Detroit told Matthew Gryczan of Crain’s Detroit Business that when a company hires a veteran, “What you get is an individual who has high integrity, a high sense of honor and who wants to do their very best…I can’t think of a more difficult job than one that requires you to put your life on the line, and it’s not for a whole lot of money. So you’re talking about highly skilled, highly technical, well-disciplined individuals who tend to excel quickly in an organization.”
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families want to extend the program’s reach even further by offering Boots to Business: Reboot. Through it, free, two-day seminars will be held at dozens of sites across the country during July and August for veterans interested in starting their own businesses. Recently, a Reboot was held in Washington, D.C. in a very special building: the White House.
If they choose, vets can supplement the two-day Reboot program with eight weeks of online classes. At the end of those lessons, soldiers should know how to come up with a good idea for a small business, write a business plan, identify people and organizations that can help them and be able to launch the business.
Ray Toenniessen, Managing Director of Development and External Relations of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University said in a press release, “We know veterans make the best entrepreneurs and we know veterans hire veterans, that’s why IVMF and the SBA are so committed to training and educating veterans about entrepreneurship and small business ownership.”
According to the United States Census Bureau, veterans owned 2.4 million businesses in the U.S. in 2007 — that’s 9 percent of all the companies in the country. And those vet-owned businesses employed 5.8 million people, generating $1.2 trillion in receipts. With the downsizing of the military, now sounds like a great time to keep the veteran-owned small business trend rolling.
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This Innovative Car Company Makes Employing Veterans Part of Its Mission
Remember how Tesla recently made headlines when its founder Elon Musk announced his plan to share the design for Superchargers, the quick recharging stations for its electric cars, with other auto makers? Well, Tesla is back in the news with another forward-thinking plan: To hire more veterans as they expand their product lines and workforce.
Arnnon Geshuri, Tesla’s vice president of human resources, told Dana Hull of San Jose Mercury News, “We want to be known throughout the veteran community as a great place to work. Veterans are a great source of talent for Tesla, and we’re going after it.”
Tesla already does an exceptional job of hiring vets: Of its 6,000 current employees, 300 are veterans. Ted Daywalt, president and CEO of the job board VetJobs told Hull, “[Tesla has] a good reputation. They hire veterans who can talk to other veterans. There is a language in the military, and having someone who can speak the lingo is important.”
While some employers have difficulty understanding that military skills can translate into a civilian jobs, Tesla seeks veterans for their technical and mechanical expertise and their ability to work as a part of a team. Veterans employed in Tesla’s human resources department know just what jobs soldiers would be a natural fit for.
Monthly, the company hosts meetings for its veteran employees to talk and suggest ways to improve operations, and it’s more than understanding when employees who are on active military duty need to deploy. Jason Deming, a vehicle test technician for Tesla who is also a member of the Air National Guard said, “HR was phenomenal with my deployment. I can serve my country and save lives but also work on the forefront of technology.”
Greg Reichow, Tesla’s vice president of production, told Hull that the vet-friendly approach aligns perfectly with the company’s goals. “At Tesla we’re not just building cars. We’re trying to transform transportation,” he said. “[Veterans] also know how to lead teams, focus teams and function on teams, and they have incredible integrity and discipline.”
If only other companies would follow Tesla’s lead, the jobless rate amongst veterans could certainly reach the same (lower) level as non-veteran unemployment.
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This Veteran is Building Better Futures for Other Service Members
It takes someone special to have not only a vision, but be able to implement it, too. And that’s exactly what Patrick Clark has done.
When Clark retired from the Marines, he struggled for a while to determine what he would do for the rest of his life. He found his calling by starting a home renovation company — REIG Construction — in San Diego. Now that he’s found success in his civilian life, he wants to help other veterans through a program his company is launching called Operation: Renovation.
Clark told Bob Lawrence of ABC 10 that when he left the military in 2005, he wasn’t sure what to do next. “It’s the great unknown, [that question of] what are you going to do out there is looming. There were times when I contemplated going back to where I grew up.” He ended up staying in southern California and co-founding the construction company that buys dilapidated homes and renovates them. REIG Construction now employ 43 workers, including several other veterans. After just three years in business, Clark and the others in REIG are ready to give back.
Ryan Yahner, a Marine sergeant who served three tours of combat duty before receiving a Purple Heart and being medically discharged, volunteers with REIG and is overseeing Operation: Renovation. “It gives me a chance to help another Marine out, like I used to do for so many years. So it kind of gives me that pride back.”
REIG Construction is inviting active duty military and veterans to apply by July 31 for the chance to receive a complimentary home renovation, which will be completed by Veterans Day 2014. According to REIG’s website, “Our goal with Operation: Renovation is to celebrate, honor, and change the life of one local military family in need through a passionate and purposed home renovation.”
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It’s Not Potato Salad, But This Crowdfunding Effort Aims to Keep A Disabled Vet in His Home
Clearly, America is a generous country. Where else would an Ohio man launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund his dream of creating a savory batch of potato salad and find more than 5,000 souls willing to help him with his quest — to the tune of more than $47,000?
If we as a nation can do that, surely we can rally behind a cause that’s even more worthy: Helping a disabled veteran keep a roof over his head.
Ross Dahlberg is an 82-year-old Korean War veteran who lost the home he lived in for 17 years while in the hospital recovering from triple bypass surgery. Dahlberg told Amanda Whitesell of the Livingston Daily that he fell behind on his mortgage payments after a divorce and several surgeries. He applied for financial assistance through the Michigan Homeowner Assistance Nonprofit Housing Corporation’s Step Forward program, but was denied due to a clerical error.
Joshua Parish, a veterans’ benefits counselor at the Livingston County Veteran Affairs office in Michigan, thought that what happened to Dahlberg wasn’t right. “It’s not just this veteran in this county that it’s happening to, it’s everywhere,” Parish said.
Parish began to fight for Dahlberg to keep his home, submitting a motion to prevent the house from auctioned off at the sheriff’s sale, while at the same time working to raise the $4,000 Dahlberg owed in back mortgage payments. The judge denied the motion, however, and the house sold to Day Glo LLC for $132,000 in March. Dahlberg has until September 26 to match that amount, or he’ll lose his home for good.
Parish has not given up, researching all the sources for veterans’ assistance he can find and setting up a GoFundMe account in June that so far has raised more than $8,000 — but remains well short of the funds needed. “It’s an incredible amount of money,” Dahlberg, who is wheelchair bound and suffers from diabetes, told Whitesell. “I would be astounded if we raised that much.”
It sounds like the time for Americans to unite behind this veteran. If we can put a man on the moon and finance an epic batch of potato salad, what’s to stop us from keeping this veteran in his home?
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When America’s Heroes Can’t Find Employment, This Program Trains Them to be Wilderness Firefighters
After serving in the military, many veterans can use three things: a job, fellow service members to talk to about their experiences, and some time spent in nature to decompress. The Veterans Fire Corps (VFC) provides all this and more.
Stephen Cooper, an Air Force veteran now doing logging work with the Fire Corps in the San Juan National Forest of western Colorado, told Jim Mimiaga of the Cortez Journal, “I was slipping, not doing well in school, abusing alcohol, basically not adjusting.” Then he joined VFC. “It changed my life and helped me get back on track. Now I’m a supervisor for other veterans that had the same issues I had, and I’m in my final semester at Fort Lewis College.”
The veterans train in all aspects of forestry and engage in fire mitigation, thinning trees to prevent forest fires. They also train as wilderness firefighters, a career that many of them pursue after their stints in the corps.
Cooper said the structure of the program and the physical outdoor work helps former soldiers find their way after serving in war. “It is therapeutic for veterans, many who are disabled and have witnessed horrific things in war,” Cooper said. “When we get out of the military, what’s missing is other vets to talk to. Civilians don’t understand what we’ve been through, and it can lead to more suffering in the form of isolation, depression and alcohol abuse.”
Veteran Ross Schumaker writes on the VFC website, “With the combination of all the classes, contacts, and me being a badass, I have landed a job on a fire engine for the upcoming season and plan on making wildland firefighting my career.”
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For Military Families Having Money Troubles, These Organizations Offer a Helping Hand
While military members are busy serving their country, their financial situation can spin out of control. Frequent deployments and moves often wreak havoc on the finances of military families — driving them deep in debt. In fact, according to a 2012 Department of Defense study, 27 percent of military families have more than $10,000 in credit card debt, compared to 16 percent of all Americans.
Besides debt, military families are prone to fall victim to scams. Case in point: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) received more than 14,000 complaints from military members about fraud related to credit cards, mortgages and loans between 2011 and 2014. And sadly, the number of such complaints increased an astonishing 148 percent between 2012 and 2013.
So it’s no real surprise that the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) found that 55 percent of the military families it surveyed feel unprepared to deal with a financial emergency. Additionally, they learned that 60 percent have turned to non-traditional lenders — such as payday loans — for temporary help, making them particularly vulnerable to abuse.
Holly Petraeus, assistant director of service-member affairs at CFPB, visited Indianapolis this month to talk about the financial problems military families face, including illegal foreclosures while soldiers are serving overseas and aggressive collection tactics. “You think you have to be strong, so you don’t want to ask for help,” she said.
The NFCC is eager to assist military families struggling with finances too, which is why they’re offering the Sharpen Your Financial Focus program to coincide with Military Consumer Protection Day on July 16.
The program includes a personal financial review for military members, a group workshop on topics such as building wealth, smart spending and buying a home, plus access to an online personal finance tool, MyMoneyCheckUp.
NFCC spokesperson Gail Cunningham said in a press release, “Stressful situations can result in poor choices, with decisions often made out of desperation. To avoid this, servicemembers should take advantage of the opportunity to improve their financial skills, thus putting themselves in a better position to face any unplanned financial circumstance that comes their way.”
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