Last year, we told you about Fort Lyon, a supportive residential community specifically for veterans recovering from addiction.
Recently, Richard Johnson, a writer and illustrator of Drawing D.C. Together: A Journal of Urban Sketches, and former USMC Combat Artist Mike Fay were invited to visit Fort Lyon for three nights to speak with and sketch recovering vets. Johnson has written extensively about the lives of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Johnson and Fay spent time with several veterans, including Spc. Joshua Aaron Smart (click here to see his sketch), who at age 32 is recovering from an opiate dependency that stems from his time in Iraq in 2003. Smart was in a car when a mortar round landed just outside, leaving him in recovery that lasted only a week.
“I used to save lives and now I’m a drunk,” explains Smart, who now sleeps on the floor because of night terrors that cause him to believe he is still in Iraq and has to dress in a hurry.
MORE: Boots to Business Gives Entrepreneurial Veterans A Leg Up
Fortunately, Smart is just one of the many veterans who have come face-to-face with the brink of death and are choosing to move on and away from a life filled with drugs and alcohol.
Substance abuse is an escalating problem within the veteran community, but it may not start with alcohol or illegal drugs. According to the National Council on Alcholism and Drug Dependencet, “prescription drug abuse doubled among U.S. military personnel from 2002 to 2005 and almost tripled between 2005 and 2008.” And USA Today reports that, in 2009, “military doctors wrote almost 3.8 million prescriptions for pain relief for servicemembers.”
Although drug abuse is rising, the good news is that veteran homelessness is dropping. According to the U.S. Department of Housing, rates dropped 24 percent from 2010 to 2013.
The sketches that Johnson shares with the world show the men at their very core — including the fears that they have, the stories they can tell and the addictions that define them.
See more of the drawings here and here.
Tag: military
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.”
MORE: This Nonprofit is Making Sure the Kids of Fallen Heroes Can Go To College
NationSwell Asks: What Inspires You To Serve?
National leaders are currently gathering on one of the most sacred pieces of land in the United States in an effort to awaken a new citizenship in the country.
Retired General Stanley McChrystal kicked off The Gettysburg Summit in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by framing his vision for the days ahead. Standing in front of the headquarters of General George Meade, who commanded the Union Army in the Civil War, McChrystal called Gettysburg National Military Park hallowed ground not because a battle was fought there, but “because people came here on both sides committed to something that was not for their personal profit, not for their personal glory, but for something that they felt warranted real sacrifice.”
“Our vision is bold and simple: A nation where a year of full-time national service is a cultural expectation, common opportunity, and a civic rite of passage for every young American,” he said, explaining that the Franklin Project at the Aspen Institute is working to meet our national challenges by harnessing the energy and enthusiasm of the country’s citizens.
“This is the unfinished work of our time,” he continued, referencing the conference theme “our unfinished work” and the commitment of those gathered beneath the tent where he stood to fulfill “the promise of what it means to be an American” by creating one million service year positions annually within the next 10 years.
This “call to service” was a powerful start to a summit focused on what plan of action is needed to bring about this new citizenship — from building infrastructure and supporting new service opportunities, to turning national service into a cultural expectation and maintaining this commitment over the long term.
NationSwell spoke with General McChrystal and others working to make this vision a reality about what inspires them to serve. See what they had to say, then take action by learning how you can help to leave a legacy of active citizenship through national service.
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7 Politicians Who Are Working for Veterans and the Military Today —- and Every Day
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Hero You Need to Know: Kyle Carpenter Receives Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor recipients have a way of winning our hearts with their extraordinary bravery and heroism.
And while Marine Corporal Kyle Carpenter has that in spades (he’s being honored for actions such as throwing himself in front of a grenade to protect a fellow Marine in Afghanistan; both men survived), he’s got other qualities that may make him one of our most memorable heroes yet: Humor. Wit. And a powerful resilience that’s likely to inspire everyone he meets.
Carpenter, who’ll be given the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obamais only the second living Marine to receive the award for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. Now 24, he’s endured challenges that would make the average person ready for retirement. At 21, his body was destroyed by the grenade attack, which caused doctors to label him a PEA (patient expired on arrival) when he got to Camp Bastion, in Afghanistan. He flatlined at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
But Carpenter endured, recovering to accomplish more remarkable achievements, like finishing a marathon and attending the University of South Carolina on the G.I. Bill. And he’s doing it all with a sense of humor (jokes about helping his Mom with Twitter, where Carpenter’s handle is @chiksdigscars) and optimism that’s led the veteran-focused website Task and Purpose to deem him “an unapologetic badass.”
And as the young hero tells it, “I won’t ever quit. I am just getting started.”
Watch Carpenter tell his full story below:
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MORE: 6 Facts About Medal of Honor Recipient Kyle J. White
When Vets Come Home: 5 Things You Should Say (and 5 Things You Shouldn’t)
If you’ve ever stopped or stuttered midsentence when talking to a vet recently home from war, you wouldn’t be alone. Not knowing what to say to returning soldiers is a common struggle says Mike Liguori, a former Marine who served during the Iraq War and is now director of community at Unite US, an online platform that connects current and former military members and their families.
Well-intentioned friends and family members may say something that actually increases stress or negative emotions: Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, affects up to 20 percent of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. With no official blueprint on how best to help military members ease back into civilian life, we surveyed a range of vets and experts to tell us what’s helpful — or hurtful — for vets to hear from loved ones.
MORE: Bravery After Battle—How This Navy SEAL Uses His War Wounds to Help Fellow Soldiers
What Not to Say
1. Don’t ask if they’ve killed anyone.
“It’s a frighteningly difficult question to answer for a lot of reasons,” says Army veteran Nate Rawlings, 32, who served two tours in Iraq. “It perpetuates a stereotype that all combat is shooting at bad guys and blowing things up. The truth is that combat involves long periods of boredom, anxiety and anticipation, punctuated by bursts of action many people would rather not discuss with family and friends, let alone strangers. Most veterans, at least for me, and most of the ones I know and have talked to, aren’t prepared to answer that question when they come home. Give them a pass — if they want to tell you, they might do so, in their own good time.”
2. Don’t tread too gently around vets because you assume everyone has experienced trauma.
“There’s no need to coddle vets,” says Amber Barno, a former OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter pilot who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. “There’s this stigma that people need to watch what they say, and frankly, veterans get annoyed at over concern. Veterans come out with priceless skill sets, as well as experience — ask about that experience, what it was like to serve their country.”
Daniel Gade, 39, an active lieutenant colonel in the Army and a professor at the United States Military Academy, West Point, says it’s important not to assume that all returning service members have PTSD or emotional problems just because they’ve served, even if they’ve served in direct fire combat. “One of the problems in society is our mentality of extremes — that veterans are maimed and need to be treated with kid gloves or that they’re all heroes,” he says. “Most of them are neither heroes nor victims, so treating them as normal human beings would be very useful.”
3. Don’t ask them to put difficult experiences behind them.
Being impatient is never helpful, warns Edna Foa, a clinical psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “Don’t say things like, ‘Well, you’re back here. Iraq or Afghanistan is behind you — there are no dangers here, so put that all behind you,’” she says. If the returning soldier has PTSD, it’s a disorder. “It’s not up to a patient’s will to get over it.”
4. Don’t snap — even if they snap.
“Don’t take things personally if they don’t want to talk about something,” says William Hansen, 46, who has served as a truck commander and squad leader in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt with the Army. “It’s not about you, or your relationship. It takes five to six months for a person back from combat to get their bearings about them. So act natural toward them, act human. Many vets are struggling with what to say, and a lot of times they’ll say the wrong things at the wrong time. If you snap, they’ll stop talking — and stop reaching out.”
5. Don’t describe their experience for them.
“Avoid judgmental comments, like, ‘What you had to do was awful,’” says Capt. Wanda Finch, a division chief and program manager at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. Finch is also a representative for the Real Warriors Campaign, a multimedia public awareness effort designed to encourage help-seeking behavior among service members, veterans and their families. “You might think it’s sympathetic, but we want to stay away from taglines like, ‘War is hell,’ or other clichés.”
What to Say
1. Ask before throwing a welcome-home party.
“When they’re ready, or even before they return, ask how they would feel about a small, welcome-home gathering of close friends,” says Jamie Lynn De Coster, 31, who deployed to the Arabian Gulf, South China Sea, Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places, with the U.S. Navy. “Family and friends often want to gather around the returning service member, celebrate their return and just want to be near them. But the truth is, we don’t want the Budweiser parade. Look at the soldier’s face in that commercial — my veteran friends and I interpreted that not as happy surprise, but as being totally overwhelmed.”
2. Give updates on fellow troops from a vet’s unit.
“Keep in mind that the majority of a veteran’s unit is still going to be in combat if he gets injured and sent home,” says Michael Schlitz, 37, a Purple Heart recipient who lost both hands and the vision in his left eye when a propane tank exploded during a road-clearing mission in southern Baghdad in 2007. The Army veteran spent six months in the intensive care unit and an additional four months in the burn ward while recovering from his injuries. “Vets are going to want to hear how their guys are doing. They still wish they could be with them. But because they’re not there, they’re going to want to make sure people are watching their backs, that they’re getting what they need.”
3. Dole out the tough love when necessary.
“If you happen to reach a point where a guy is laying in bed, seven days a week, not doing anything, someone’s got to step in, slap him upside the head and say, ‘You’re still alive, you go forward and live for the people who don’t have that opportunity,’” says Tommy Clack, 67, a triple amputee and Vietnam War veteran.
4. Ask detailed questions relating to that individual.
“I don’t like when people ask, ‘What was it like?’ as if there’s a single answer that one individual could give that would cover the experience of everyone,” says David Eisler, 29, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran. “It’s not meant as a stupid question, but it feels like quite the burden to answer for every single vet, especially if you’re being approached by a stranger. Start with more general questions — what did you do? when did you serve? — when talking to veterans you don’t already know.”
5. Go beyond saying, “Thank you for your service.”
“I’ve heard some veterans don’t like when civilians tell them, ‘Thank you for your service,’” says Liguori of Unite US. “It’s not offensive to them, but it creates a barrier, like civilians can just say thank you and it’s enough. Many vets are leaving the service and coming home from overseas struggling with unemployment or just not knowing what they want to do after the uniform. It’s hard for a guy who shot a machine gun for 15 months to come back home and see how shooting a machine gun applies to digital marketing. Veterans are finding it challenging to really transition to civilian life. They would rather hear, ‘Thank you for your service. How can I help you?’ since that second part gives civilians a way to find out how they can help.”
DON’T MISS: What Wounded Soldiers Need Most After Battle
Flying Veterans Wherever They Need to Go
Walt Fricke flew hundreds of combat missions during the Vietnam War before fortune turned against him. A misfire during landing preparations caused one of the rockets on his chopper to explode, riddling the Army pilot’s leg with shrapnel and sending him to a hospital more than 600 miles from his hometown in Michigan. He spent a year recuperating — a process he says would not have been possible without his parents and his fiancée scraping together the resources they needed to stay by his side.
Fricke recovered, and went on to have a successful career in financial services at what was then known as the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (now Ally Financial). But he never lost his love of flying, piloting his own private plane and suiting up aboard vintage T-28 warbirds for the Trojan Horsemen, a flight demonstration team that performs in airshows. Nor did he forget how much the presence of his loved ones had helped heal the wounds of war.
After retiring in 2006, Fricke began thinking about how he might give back — and help the soldiers returning from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. He decided to offer his own aircraft to fly wounded warriors home or to bring family members to them at local Veterans Affairs hospitals. A friend told Fricke this was too good an idea to keep to himself. He listened, and today Fricke is CEO and air boss of Veterans Airlift Command (VAC). Its motto is: “Combat Wounded. They’ve Got Heart. They Need Wings.” Thanks to his group, more than 2,300 aircraft owners and pilots have donated their time and skills to help some 8,500 wounded warriors and family members come together in their time of need.
MORE: This Ex-Marine Started a Winery to Employ Fellow Returning Vets
VAC allows soldiers who were injured in the line of duty to travel across the country without the costs or complications of commercial flight — security lines and long layovers become infinitely more trying when prosthetics and wheelchairs are involved. The group also empowers pilots and private aircraft owners to make a real difference for veterans and their families. After filling out application forms and registering their aircraft, VAC volunteers answer blast emails requesting transportation or select from a long list of available missions on the VAC site, then take to the skies to serve those who serve us.
The program has been invaluable to veterans like Michael Schlitz, an Army Ranger who sustained severe burns and lost both of his lower arms in an explosion in Iraq. In 2007, when he still required around-the-clock medical supervision, a team of VAC volunteers helped lift him into a private plane so he could join his unit for their homecoming. Another VAC flight allowed Michael Blair, a Marine who became scuba-certified even after an explosion blew through his knees, the chance to take his wife on a diving trip, in part because he did not have to navigate an airport with his crutches and braces.
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Fricke says he has no problem recruiting pilots for his program; on the contrary, he sometimes referees a tug-of-war between volunteers eager to offer their help. “This is way bigger than giving people rides,” Fricke says, noting that VAC has helped foster bonds between pilots and passengers that long outlast takeoff and landing.
The organization is formalizing these bonds with a new program called Team-Up, which is designed to encourage mentoring and networking among pilots and aircraft owners, veterans and other community leaders. Retired Air Force pilot Andrew Lourake, who flew Air Force Two even after his leg was amputated above the knee following a motorcycle accident, directs the new initiative.
The secret to Fricke’s success may lie in tapping the very spirit that makes pilots want to climb into cockpits in the first place. “There is something about flying that is the ultimate form of freedom,” says Fricke, who then spoke of what “slipping the surly bonds of earth” does for the soul, a reference to a line from “High Flight,” the aviation poem memorized by United States Air Force Academy cadets and carved into headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. “Because pilots understand freedom in a unique way, they also have a profound appreciation for those who defend that freedom.”
DON’T MISS: Bravery After Battle—How One Navy SEAL Uses His War Wounds to Help Others
How Senator Claire McCaskill Is Using Her Prosecutor Background to Reform Military Rape Policy
As of January 3, 2013, there were 20 women in the United States Senate, more than in any other Congress in American history. Last June, that select group convened in the U.S. Capitol’s Appropriations Committee hearing room to privately discuss a direly pressing issue: Military rape. Of the estimated 26,000 cases of unwanted sexual contact in 2012, only 3,000 were reported and 300 prosecuted. It was time for the female senators to agree on a single bill.
Yet they couldn’t do it. Instead, two bills, one from New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand and one from Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill, moved forward. Gillibrand’s bill, backed by 17 of the female senators, couldn’t overcome a filibuster last week. Only three of the female senators signed onto McCaskill’s bill — yet it’s expected to pass a Monday afternoon Senate vote with flying colors. How did she do it?
For one, McCaskill’s pre-Senate career primed her to address the long-overlooked problem of military rape. McCaskill is one of three former prosecutors now serving as female senators, along with North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp and New Hampshire Republican Kelly Ayotte. TIME notes that McCaskill made her name as an attorney prosecuting rape cases that others wouldn’t touch. “I have more experience prosecuting sexual assault cases than anyone in the Senate. I have spent more time holding the hands of rape victims,” she said when she presented her bill that June day. “This bill does not let anyone off easy.”
That’s no exaggeration. Her bill expands the rights and options for victims, while holding everyone accountable for their actions. For instance, the “good soldier” defense currently invokes factors such as the service record of the accused. McCaskill’s bill would kill that defense. Under her bill, the victim receives a say in whether the case will be handled in a civilian or military court if the crime occurred off of a military base. Meanwhile, a commander’s record on handling of sexual-assault cases would be taken into account with every promotion. As TIME points out, the measure also extends important protections to students in service academies like the Air Force and Naval Academies, where numbers of rapes are increasing.
Opponents exist both inside and outside politics. Some Senators think that McCaskill’s bill is easy on rapists. “The most frustrating thing about this,’’ she told the Washington Post, “is the narrative that, ‘Whose side are you on, the victim’s or the commander’s?’ That’s offensive.” Victims’ groups fear another round broken promises, as politicians such as California’s Barbara Boxer and Maryland’s Barbara Mikulski, have pushed for reforms for decades with no progress.
In the face of scrutiny and competition, all female senators have taken pains to maintain their supportive sorority. Nearly all of the women are now expected to back McCaskill’s bill. “We’re now 20 women total in the Senate,” Mikulski told TIME. “We disagree on some issues, even the bills before us. But we agree on the goal of providing more prosecutorial tools to punish criminals, ensuring fairness in the process and getting help to victims.”
The Next Military Technology to Boost Our Overseas Troops Is…Pizza
Food Scientists at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center are nearing what they call the holy grail of ready-to-eat meals for soldiers stationed overseas: pizza. It’s one of the most requested items by soldiers when it comes to what they’d like to see in their rations, and David Accetta, a former Army lieutenant colonel and spokesman for the lab, says that having that hot, tasty meal goes a long way toward boosting attitudes oversees.
“In a lot of cases, when you are cold and tired and hungry, having a hot meal that’s something that you like and you would get at home, it increases your morale — and we consider that to be a force multiplier,” Accetta told the AP.
Long-lasting, ready-to-eat pizza is an achievement that has been so illusive because of the way that the moisture in the sauce, cheese, and toppings tended to migrate into the dough over time, making it soggy and more likely to lead to mold and bacteria growth. Advancements have come from using humectants like sugar, salt, and syrup that bind to water and prevent it from migrating. Scientists also manipulated the acidity of the ingredients to stifle bacteria growth and used iron filings to absorb oxygen in the pouch.
After all this research, what does the military hope to get? Pizza that lasts for 3 years in 80 degree temperatures, and some well-fed and happy soldiers.
The Surprising Way the Military Is Saving Tax Dollars
The U.S. military is going green to save some green. According to a report from Pew Charitable Trusts, the Defense Department is looking for ways to save money on its energy bill, which costs taxpayers a hefty $4 billion annually. But our armed forces aren’t just looking to cut costs, they’re looking for greener solutions. As GreenBiz reports, “the agency expects to source at least 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources.”
According to Pew, energy-saving and efficiency projects at the Pentagon more than doubled from 630 to 1,339 between fiscal years 2010 and 2012. Renewable-energy projects at military installations run by the Defense Department also rose from 454 to 700. Not only is going green better for the planet and for the budget, it also means decreased reliance on foreign oil and lower transportation costs.
The military has been using the private sector and third-party financing to help deploy its projects. “These improvements are possible even as the Pentagon’s budget is shrinking because the armed services are harnessing private-sector expertise and resources,” Phyllis Cuttino, who directs Pew’s project on national security, energy and climate, said in a statement. “This is a win-win-win proposition: The military gets better energy infrastructure, taxpayer dollars are saved, and the clean energy industry is finding new market opportunities.”
MORE: The Military Is Devoted to Something That Will Totally Shock You