Meet The Soldiers Turned Roadies Coming to a Stadium Near You

Back in April, we told you about how KISS and Def Leppard planned to offer some veterans the summer job of a lifetime: Working as roadies for the bands’ summer tour. Now meet the winners of the contest, who will play instrumental roles behind the scenes.
Kayla Kelly was a radio operator in the Marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now she’s joined the KISS army as their VIP coordinator, which means that she assists with autograph requests and more. Kelly knew she wanted to join the Marines when she was in seventh grade and her father, a New York City firefighter, was injured during the September 11 attacks. After her service, she struggled to find employment. “It was difficult just getting up and going to find a job let alone the job field not being big enough for everybody,” Kelly told Vanessa Herrera and R. Stickney of NBC San Diego.
Bill Jones will be assisting the Def Leppard stage manager. He’s a former Army helicopter pilot and has suffered from PTSD since his service in Iraq and Afghanistan. He told Angel Canales of ABC News, “The crew works together like a well-oiled machine, and my old unit worked was like a well-oiled machine. There are a lot of similarities in relying on one other to get their job done and being able to rely on that camaraderie. It’s a brotherhood in the military and it’s a brotherhood here.”
Rick Allen, the drummer of Def Leppard, has a personal reason for supporting this cause — he suffered PTSD after losing an arm in a car accident. He told ABC, “I think what we’re doing is setting an example. Just because you’ve been in a situation like Bill’s been in, or anybody that’s been to war, there should be no stigma attached to PTSD.”
This is the second summer the members of KISS have hired a veteran to work on their tour. Frontman Paul Stanley said, “It’s an honor to have anyone who served work with us. I feel like I’m in the presence of a hero. These are the people who make it possible for me to do what I do. They are owed not only a hero’s welcome, but they are owed whatever they need to work their way back into society.”
The bands will donate two dollars from every ticket to organizations that help vets such as the Wounded Warrior Project and Hiring Our Heroes.
Sounds like a great reason to rock out this summer.
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While Many Ignore the Plight of Veterans, This Motley VW Bug Is Calling Attention to It

Disabled veteran Scott Hicks’s 1965 Volkswagen Bug doesn’t conform to standard notions of automotive beauty. After all, it’s painted in a mélange of greens from mint to olive, has a rusty bumper and in the back window, a note is posted that reads: “Back Off It Doesn’t Go Any Faster!!!”
While the car isn’t your typical coveted hot rod, Hicks is using it to convey an important — and beautiful — message.
In response to his disgust over the recent revelations about the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) delays in treatment, which led to the deaths of dozens of veterans, Hicks launched a project — Inspire Veterans.  “I was sick of hearing people talk about helping veterans but not doing anything to fix the problem,” Hicks told Dal Kasi of Fox Carolina.
His plan? The end of June, Hicks set out from Grants Pass, Oregon, in his Bug — named Patina — on a planned 10,000-mile road trip, stopping at veterans’ centers, war memorials, American landmarks, and VW car shows, to talk to anybody who’ll listen about the problems facing veterans today. As he makes his 38 planned stops, he invites local VW Bug owners to rally around Patina.
Hicks wants to call attention to the fact that 22 veterans commit suicide every day, a number he believes is exacerbated by the extensive wait times for appointments with VA doctors. And, as he notes in a video on his Inspire Veterans website, “that is the 2012 number, and the number is probably more like 24 veterans a day that are committing suicide, generally because of depressive disorders related to PTSD. That is a horrible number. I wish it wasn’t even one a day, but it’s a fact, and the government isn’t doing anything to help those soldiers that are coming back.”
Hicks is raising money to fund a documentary of this journey, which he says will capture veterans talking about their experiences and speaking about what kind of assistance they need. “Hopefully that will help the public and the government understand better what’s really going on…Most veterans don’t really like to speak out, but generally they’ll speak to another veteran. That’s why I’m doing this.”
So if you see a man driving a Bug of many colors and wearing a red-white-and-blue bandana while you’re out and about this summer, take a moment to listen and learn what you can do to help veterans.
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Put Your Hands Together for the Heroes Competing in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games

You’ve heard of the Olympic Games. And you’re probably familiar with the Special Olympics and the Paralympics. But have you heard of the National Veterans Wheelchair Games?
The games, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Paralyzed Veterans of America, has grown every year to become the largest annual wheelchair sports competition in the world. This year, a record number of participants — 660 athletes — have registered to compete in 17 different events that will be held from August 12 to 17 in Philadelphia.
One of the athletes is new to his sport: Ellwood “Woody” Allen of Philadelphia. During the Vietnam war, Allen served in Army and was stationed for much of his service at Fort Benning in Georgia, where he was a behavior-science specialist helping veterans returning from the war cope with what they had witnessed, what they had lost and how they would rejoin the civilian world. Two years ago, Allen lost his leg due to an infection.
After his leg was amputated, Allen was the one who needed help. As a means of recovery, he began cycling using a borrowed bike from a veterans group that sponsors adaptive sports.
Meanwhile, a Disabled American Veterans (DAV) chapter in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, was looking to donate an adaptive tricycle to a deserving vet. A member of the DAV, Bill Pinkerton, told Kristin E. Holmes of the Philadelphia Inquirer that they decided to donate a trike because, “it gives you mobility, hand-eye coordination and it gets you outside and meeting people. After trauma, you need to get out.”
A counselor at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center connected the DAV with Allen, who rejoiced over receiving the red adaptive tricycle. “The fact that they were willing to help somebody, I hate to say I feel emotional, because we’re grown men and we’re not supposed to,” Allen told Holmes.
Allen will compete as a member of the Philly Phever team at the National Veterans Wheelchair Games. For him, victory will mean “not finishing last.”
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Two NFL Players Surprise a Veteran Dedicated to Helping Service Members

Erich Orrick grants wishes for a living.
Yes, really. And no, Orrick not a genie.
But the disabled vet and single father of two from Indianapolis who served in the Army for two decades, now works as a volunteer and board member for Wish For Our Heroes.
Wish For Our Heroes is a nonprofit that grants wishes to active-duty military members who badly need a hand. The charity has helped an Army Staff Sergeant who lost everything due to an apartment fire, assisted a Marine with mounting medical and legal bills, covered expensive car repairs, and given gift cards to military kids for Christmas.
On the Wish For Our Heroes’ website, Orrick says his goal is to “champion the needs of the typical ‘Joe’ in the military who gets the least amount of praise, pay and often needs the most to make ends meet.” He has dedicated his life to helping other military members — running the Indiana branch of the charity out of his garage.
The tables turned on Orrick, however, when professional punter Pat McAfee of the Indianapolis Colts decided that Orrick deserved a wish come true himself — despite not even making one. Through the years, McAfee has supported Wish For Our Heroes by donating football tickets, by giving money and by serving as a volunteer himself.
“That guy is an absolute legend. He’s the most selfless person I’ve ever met in my life,” McAfee told Dana Hunsinger Benbow of The Indianapolis Star.
Along with fellow Colt Coby Fleener, McAfee hatched a plan to lure Orrick away from his house for a weekend meeting in Chicago connected to the nonprofit. And while the meeting was fake, what McAfee and Fleener accomplished while Orrick was away was very real.
They redecorated his home with help from HHGregg, an electronics store — outfitting it with new appliances, television and furniture, and providing organization that any parent of two can use. (Orrick is a single parent to two daughters.) They also donated $5,000 to Wish For Our Heroes.
“I hate being in the center of all of this,” Orrick said.  “I feel very guilty to have gotten so much when there are guys that need it more than I do.”
Orrick, selfless to a fault, told ABC News, who also covered the story, “I don’t want you to miss the story here, that there are a lot of soldiers who really need help.”
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Here’s An Idea to Stabilize Neighborhoods and Help Veterans

It’s a simple idea: Why not revitalize blighted communities by housing heroes in vacant homes?
In Pittsburg, California, a Bay Area town that’s come upon some hard times recently, disabled veteran J.R. Wilson is rallying the community by attempting to solve the problems of homelessness among local service members and neighborhoods full of abandoned houses.
Wilson, the executive director of the nonprofit Delta Veterans Group, told Angela Hart of the Contra Costa Times, “We are working with local leaders and the community to bring veterans into our neighborhoods and to fill our vacant houses. This will not only help fight our blight problems, but it’ll help veterans who are transitioning into civilian life and who may be facing homelessness or who could have suicidal thoughts.”
On June 28, the American Legion Post in Antioch, California hosted a “Veterans Home-Buying Triage” event, bringing together local veterans with real estate professionals, mortgage lenders, and city officials. Wilson helped organize a similar event in Pittsburg a few weeks earlier.
Wilson’s goal is to bring the area back to its former glory. “Growing up here, we never used to see this much vacancy or homelessness,” he said. “We really want to get the attention of asset managers and city officials, then work with code enforcement and get those houses on the market.”
The new programs come just in the nick of time for Army veteran Alan Johnson, who told Hart, “We just got married, and we found out we’re expecting.” After meeting with a local mortgage consultant at the Pittsburg event, Johnson is now well on his way to finding an affordable home for his growing family.
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This WWII Soldier’s Letter Home Is Hard to Read (But Definitely Worth It)

The Fourth of July has come and gone, but here’s another powerful reminder of why we should always celebrate our country and honor those who fight for it.
A touching handwritten letter from a World War II soldier named Frank Keaton to his mother and father was recently unearthed. The letter was written on February 8, 1944, the day before he and his company, the U.S. Army’s 30th Infantry Division (aka Old Hickory), shipped off for duty.
In the letter, he fully acknowledges that his words may be the last ones he’ll ever write to his family. (Ultimately, he survives the war.) The whole letter is worth the read, but in the excerpt below, he explains why in his mere 31 years on Earth, he has already lived a full life and is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice. Although it was written more than 70 years ago, Keaton’s message still rings true today.
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What better thing can a man ask for than a chance to fight for what he believes in, fight to give the new generation and the generations not yet born a chance to live a life like my own has been, a chance to play, to go to school and learn about the world, not just one race and one creed; a chance to love and be loved, a chance to see the greatness of the world that God has given us, and a chance to add a name to the long line of great men and women who have made names for themselves in every line of endeavor.
When I think of this my heart swells up and chokes me. Here, early in life, I’m given the opportunity to serve, to make the living of my life not in vain. Some men live a full lifetime and do not achieve this one distinction. This world conflict has given me an easy chance and a big opportunity.
According to Commentary Magazine, Keaton and his company helped secure Omaha Beach for medics before the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day. The publication writes that the brave serviceman was shot while crossing the Rhine river but refused to leave the frontlines. For his efforts, he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, Two Oak Leaf Clusters and the Purple Heart.
Keaton reportedly died at the age of 90 at his home in San Rafael, California.
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This Service Dog Has a Mission Beyond Helping Just One Vet

For the past several years, we’ve heard a lot about veterans suffering from PTSD after returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. And we’ve heard the stories about the various (sometimes interesting) methods to help them — from biofeedback to gardening to nudity. But one approach that’s helping thousands of soldiers is a basic one: Pairing them with man’s best friend.
Jake Fish of Port Angeles, Washington, was medically discharged from the Marine Corps in 1997. But in recent years, he continued to struggle with PTSD. Coming to his rescue was the service dog Megan, a two-year-old golden retriever, who was trained by the local nonprofit New Leash on Life.
New Leash on Life trains dogs and puppies left at the Clallam Humane Society to become service animals — ultimately providing them to veterans and people with disabilities.
Fish told the Peninsula Daily News, “The biggest thing about having Megan is that I’m not lonely. She gives me a feeling of companionship. I also know for a fact that she lowers my stress levels. She puts me in a good mood when I don’t want to be in one.”
As soon as Fish was paired with Megan, he began bringing her to the Northwest Veterans Resource Center, where he volunteers to help other vets access their benefits from the VA. Megan decided to volunteer for duty, too.
“Vets will come into the office, and we’ll start going over the paperwork, which means talking about all the vets’ pain and issues they have. It can get kind of tense,” Fish said. “Megan will get up from behind my desk and go to the person, and they just relax. She’s so happy and soft, they forget what they’re talking about that happened to them when they’re petting her. She lessens their anxiety of talking about stuff.”
“I feel like helping others as a service officer is a continuation of my duty,” Fish said. Megan clearly has figured out that helping more than just her veteran owner is a continuation of her duty, too.
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When a Wounded Veteran Needed to Get Back on His Feet, This Toy Helped

Who better to know what a veteran needs to recover after being injured than a fellow wounded soldier?
Back in 2010, while Dave Flowers was recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, following the loss of his leg and several other injuries, he began playing the Nintendo Wii Fit at the suggestion of his physical therapist. “Within about nine days of just playing that thing every single day, not even very long, just a couple hours a day, I was able to start walking with a walker, and then a few days later just two canes,” he told Michelle Basch of WTOP.
Because the game helped him find success, Flowers created the program Wiis for Warriors to provide free Wiis to other vets.
Flowers won a Bronze Star Medal for his valor in Afghanistan. In 2009, when he was a Staff Sergeant with the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing at Bagram Airfield, he was clearing a weapons cache site with his team when he stepped on a mine. His left leg was shattered and he lost his right leg below the knee, but he prevented fellow soldiers from being injured when he fell back into the hole the blast created.
Flowers’s selflessness doesn’t stop with his actions on the battlefield or Wiis for Warriors. Now living in Mississippi, he started the Dave Flowers Foundation as a way to honor and assist wounded veterans of a prior generation who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
“I know for a fact, told to me by my surgeon, if it wasn’t for the field medic tactics generated during Vietnam, I wouldn’t be alive,” Flowers told Patrick Ochs of the Sun Herald. “I kind of feel like I owe those guys a little bit…When you’re told that in Vietnam they would have stepped over you because they couldn’t have saved you — they developed those techniques because of the people in Vietnam.”
Flowers’s goal is to help older veterans in southern Mississippi with any needs they have that aren’t covered by VA benefits. He notes on the foundation’s website that some older veterans are reluctant to ask for help because of pride or past negative experiences when seeking assistance.
“I’m alive because of a different generation,” he told Ochs. “You have to help them.”
We couldn’t agree more.
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A Philadelphia Shop That’s Run By Vets For Vets

Imagine a store that comprehensively helps veterans.
Think it’s good to be true? The Camouflage Rhino Thrift Shop in Philadelphia thinks otherwise, and since it was established, the store has helped veterans in a number of ways, from employing them to supplying them with free furniture, household goods and job interview outfits. Plus, proceeds from sales go directly to running a local nonprofit called the Veterans Multi-Service Center.
Rose Brandau McGee is a remarkable woman behind all these efforts. Her father served in the Korean War, and she’s been working at the Veterans Multi-Service Center (VMC) for years. The nonprofit provides comprehensive help for veterans, including job training, housing assistance, rehabilitation from injuries, computer skills classes and more.
“It’s hard to transition back to civilian life,” McGee told Max Pulcini and G. Sandy Bukowski of the Spirit of the River Wards. “The Army breaks you down and builds you up so that you can be a great solider. But they don’t break you down from being a great soldier to a great civilian. So this is a place where that can be done.”
McGee launched the thrift store when the VMC was becoming overwhelmed with donations. Many veterans needed clothes for job interviews but the donations often weren’t quite the right size. “So we came up with the idea for the thrift store—we get the donations for the veterans, process them, everything gets checked out,” she said. “And one-third of everything that comes in to the store goes out to veterans for free.”
Last year, the store employed 22 veterans, training them in retail and jobs skills, and 11 of them moved on to better or full-time employment elsewhere. Parrin Terry, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, was finally able to transition back to the civilian world with help from the VMC and the Camouflage Rhino, where he works. “Places like this are important because they give us a sense of direction,” he said. “They work with you and they focus on you and your needs. That right there is a big part of what veterans need.”
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Helping Veterans Is As Easy As Drinking This Beer. Seriously.

In the summertime, the most exertion many of us are willing to commit involves turning over some hamburgers on the barbecue. But a new brewery with a special mission is making helping veterans as easy as cracking open a bottle of beer.
Navy veteran Paul Jenkins and Marine Corps veteran Mike Danzer founded the Veteran Beer Company in 2012 with the goal of easing the veteran employment crunch by creating a company that would employ veterans and generate profits that could be donated to charities that help veterans. They began selling their two varieties—Blonde Bomber and The Veteran—on Veteran’s Day in 2013, and the company has been expanding ever since.
“We only anticipated to sell about 2,000 cases our first year,” Josh Ray, regional director of Veteran Brewing Company told Nicole Johnson of Valley News Live. “After four months, we did over 30,000 cases, and we’re pretty close to approaching 60,000 cases right now.”
Beer drinkers can now find Veteran Beer Company’s brews for sale in Indiana, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Ten percent of the profits go to veterans’ charities, and the rest is channeled back into the company. Veteran Beer Company, which brews its beer in Cold Spring, Minnesota, employs only veterans, and plans to hire more vets as it continues to expand.
“Some of the things that veterans are promised aren’t really always followed through on,” Ray said. “With this, it’s really our opportunity to give back.” And anyone planning to buy a six pack to celebrate a lazy summer afternoon can give back too.
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