Leaving active duty and returning to civilian life presents military members with a checklist of things to do, and prominent among these is the need to find good and rewarding career opportunities. Education, whether through full degree programs, skills training or anything in between, can help make the connection between military life and a great civilian job.

Fortunately for veterans today, government agencies, nonprofits and private sector organizations alike are starting to catch on to how vital education can be and offer programs that are not just specifically tailored to vets but highly relevant to the types of skills and fields that are popular and in demand right now.

Learning about 3D printing
When futuristic technologies come up in conversation, 3D printing is a hot go-to topic. Turning 3D models into finished products is a truly modern production method, one that has evolved rapidly in recent years. According to CNN, St. Philip's College recently served as the location for a pilot program called 3D Veterans.

Over the course of six weeks, veterans picked up valuable knowledge about up-to-date 3D printing methods, the news source stated. The class's aim is to help its students secure roles in a tech sector that is increasingly turning to 3D printing as a method of producing innovative, finished objects rather than just prototypes.

The single program is a good place to start, and it appears the government is pleased with its progress. According to CNN, there will soon be 3D Veterans camps in Los Angeles, San Francisco, El Paso, Philadelphia and Carson, California.

Some of the jobs veterans find with their newfound tech skills may herald a return to the public sector – as the source noted, 17-year Army Veteran Joshua Munch found work with the Department of Defense after taking the class. In his time in 3D Veterans, he worked on devices to help disabled veterans perform simple actions that may become difficult following the loss of a limb.

Entrepreneurship in focus
Some vets are likely eager to start their own companies rather than seeking out work for others. There are courses to help these individuals as well. Penn State's campus news outlet The Daily Collegian recently highlighted one such program, in which the Penn State Small Business Development Center offers entrepreneurial seminars for veterans. The SBDC's Michael Ryan stated that he hopes the program can become annual.

When service members return to civilian life, they may be uniquely well-equipped to lead their own companies, according to Ryan. He told the source that the skills gained in the military tend to translate well to business management. Problem-solving abilities and the ability to change plans on the fly are helpful in the entrepreneurial world.

The abilities that attendees get at the class are more focused on financial planning and business strategy, concepts that will be essential in helping them turn their skills to new projects. If these individuals can achieve success in their entrepreneurial efforts, it will be beneficial to their own prospects post-service and their communities, which will thrive with an influx of new businesses. The potential advantages of preparation and training are great.

The saga of California National Guard veterans' signing bonuses has unfolded quickly and now, mere days after the story broke, the government will stop seeking repayment from veterans. The New York Times explained the change in policy from the Pentagon which, after a serious outcry from many corners, has declared that it won't pursue incentives handed out due to errors.

Tracking the story
For those unfamiliar with the tale, the news source explained that the criticism began following a Los Angeles Times expose, revealing that some California National Guard members were being pursued and asked to repay signing bonuses. The problem began a decade ago. The Department of Defense handed out bonuses with insufficient oversight during the 2000s and, while a few claims were made improperly, the vast majority of the mistaken pay-outs were simply the results of internal error, with no wrongdoing by the recipients. The question became whether the DOD should try and make guard members repay those bonuses.

As The New York Times noted, the collection program caused significant problems for many of the people targeted, with some suffering serious financial repercussions. When asked to forgive some of this debt in 2014, Congress failed to act, citing the high cost of taking the collection off the books. Following the public outcry, however, the situation has changed.

As of Wednesday, the Department of Defense has given in and called on its collectors to stop going after veterans. The DOD statement makes clear that the agency is interested in remaining on good terms with service members, and in this case, that means not pursuing the debts.

"There is no more important responsibility for the Department of Defense than keeping faith with our people," said Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, according to the Times. "That means treating them fairly and equitably, honoring their service and sacrifice, and keeping our word."

Lawmakers claim lack of knowledge
The Los Angeles Times reported that in the wake of the DOD announcement, California members of Congress have come forward to explain that they were unaware of the extent of the repayment program. Multiple lawmakers stated that it was the recent investigation that opened their eyes to how many National Guard members were being affected by the collection program.

Representatives who pushed then abandoned debt waiver legislation in 2015 explained that they gave up that effort after assurances that the Pentagon could cancel the debts without their intervention. The National Guard maintains that the 2015 attempt was abandoned due to the fact that money would have to come out of elsewhere in the budget, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The outcome of the debt collection case will no doubt come as a relief to many Guard members who served in the 2000s. The Los Angeles Times added that the California congressional delegation is now going further and hoping the Department of Defense will repay veterans who have already given back signing bonuses that they accepted in good faith. Whatever happens next, it's clear that public opinion will not tolerate vets being financially harmed when they have not willingly made errors.

There's no denying that veteran homelessness must be eliminated – the thought of people who have served their country honorably being unable to find a place to live is difficult to bear. Government agencies and nonprofits alike have taken to this task using a variety of methods. Organizing successful transitions from homelessness to settled life for veterans is a multi-step process, and it's important to find new and better ways to get people off the streets. Some charities have combined this need with a current housing trend – small, simple dwellings – to create a path to permanent housing for vets.

In Kansas City program, veterans help their fellows
A pattern tends to emerge in charities to help veterans in need: Other service members are often among the most eager to do something productive. As CNN recently reported, the Veterans Community Project was founded by vets with the goal of reintegrating homeless ex-military members into everyday life. This involves a whole village of small but comfortable housing units, each combining a kitchen, bathroom and sleeping space into a tidy 240 square feet.

By going small, the Veterans Community Project is able to assemble a lot of the homes. If the program hits its goal, it will end up with 52 small houses near Kansas City. The plan doesn't end with giving vets four walls, either. Meetings with mentors will ensure the residents have contact that will encourage them in efforts to reintegrate with the community instead of giving in to isolation. Each veteran has unique needs and will take to the program at an individual pace, and the process has been designed to reflect these differences.

The founders of the Veterans Community Project cast a wide net when considering who is eligible for assistance. CNN reported that the founders want to help "anyone who has ever taken an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America." When other programs don't reach individuals, this one aims to pick up the slack. In the future, the organization hopes to construct a community building to act as a hub for the small homes. Such a center would be a place to receive job training and counseling.

Unique fundraising in Georgia
Several cities and towns around the nation have their own small-house operations, and each will need to find a way to fund itself. According to Savannah Now, the program in Georgia has a unique source of funds: A local sauce company plans to raise money by selling a cookbook. The business's founders asked local chefs to create dishes using the brand's sauces, and sales from the resulting book will go to the Chatham-Savannah Authority's tiny-home village.

In the Savannah example, not every small house in the development will be for veterans. However, a number of the dwellings will be held aside for former military members. Whether as a small-but-functional permanent dwelling or a stepping stone to a larger home, a tiny house can be of great assistance to a vet struggling to get back to normalcy after a period of homelessness. Organizations creating these little domiciles are therefore performing an important and innovative service.

 

On Oct. 21, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, distributed commemorative lapel pins to more than 100 Vietnam War veterans at the the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command headquarters in Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reported. The ceremony was the result of a national campaign to honor those who served in the conflict, which began in 1955 and lasted until April 30, 1975 when Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam, fell to North Vietnamese forces.

“You have all made great sacrifices on behalf of your country,” Peters told attendees during the ceremony. “Your country is sincerely grateful for all you did.”

Over 58,000 American service members died in the war, according to data from the National Archives. The millions of survivors who poured back into the U.S. as the conflict came to close – many suffering from serious physical and psychological wounds – were not welcomed with open arms. By 1969, only 39 percent of Americans supported the country’s involvement in Vietnam, The New York Times reported. This meant many returning veterans faced outright hostility from war-weary civilians.

“The Vietnam veterans were really not welcomed home. They were spat upon, called baby-killers,” Bruce Campbell, a Navy veteran who served during the Vietnam War and received a pin at the Oct. 21 ceremony, told the Detroit Free Press. “Many Vietnam veterans just clammed up. For 20-30 years, Vietnam veterans simply kept to themselves, kept the hurt.”

However, in recent years, government agencies and nonprofit groups have worked to bring these service members out of the shadows and thank them for their sacrifice. On May 25, 2012, President Obama issued a presidential proclamation that established a long-term national campaign to honor veterans of the Vietnam War. The Department of Veterans Affairs kicked off the initiative on Memorial Day that year, over 50 years after the last U.S. military personnel departed from Saigon. It is scheduled to continue through Nov. 11, 2025.

The campaign has inspired thousands of events across the country, including Peters’ Oct. 21 ceremony. As he passed out pins, the senator took time to meet with the attendees, praising them for their service and highlighting the many things Vietnam veterans have done to help their fellow service members. Peters specifically discussed how many had gone on to start key veteran advocacy organizations and bring to light essential issues such as the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among those who have experience combat.

Earlier this month, the Michigan lawmaker tackled this very issue, co-sponsoring the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act, which would earmark federal funds for improving the VA’s troubled Veterans Crisis Line.

Today, there are more than 6.2 million Vietnam veterans in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau. Michigan is home to just over 242,000, the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics found.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that four cities in Western New York have managed to reduce local veteran homelessness rates to zero, the Buffalo News reported. The agency added Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Lockport and Tonawanda to an expanding list of American municipalities with no homeless former service members.

"This designation confirms the hard work our local partners have been doing to assist our most vulnerable veterans," Dale Zuchlewski, executive director for the Homeless Alliance of Western New York, said in a news release. "Though our close community partnerships, we have now become a national best-practice model for service to homeless veterans."

These cities joined the fight to end veteran homelessness in June 2014, when first lady Michelle Obama called on local and state officials to address the problem, The New York Times reported. Additionally, Obama partnered with HUD to develop a program called the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness which established benchmarks and criteria for local leaders looking to find homes for all their struggling former service members. With this initiative and others the Obama administration pledged to end veteran homelessness by 2015.

"But even one homeless veteran is a shame, and the fact that we have 58,000 is a moral outrage," Michelle Obama said during an event announcing the new program. "Now we have to finish the job once and for all, because when a veteran comes home kissing the ground, it is unacceptable that he should ever have to sleep on it."

Though many veterans in the U.S. are still without homes, the number has dropped significantly. Now, there are fewer than 40,000, according to recent data from the Department of Veterans Affairs. This represents a 50 percent drop in the number of homeless veterans over the past six years.

Two states – Connecticut and Virginia – have reduced veteran homelessness rates to zero, along with more than 33 municipalities.

While there is still more work to do, cities such as Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Lockport and Tonawanda represent that hard work that is taking place in communities across the country.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, the Category 5 storm that last month wrought havoc across the Western Atlantic, a number of disaster relief organizations mobilized to assist those affected. Along with the American Red Cross and others, one battle-tested veterans group has also entered the fray, CNBC reported. 

Last week, members of Team Rubicon, an international nonprofit dedicated to helping in times of crisis, deployed rapid response personnel to Haiti to assist with on-the-ground rebuilding efforts. Those familiar with the growing organization know this isn't its first encounter with disaster or the impoverished nation of Haiti. In fact, the country was the impetus for the establishment of Team Rubicon.

In January 2010, Marine veteran and Team Rubicon CEO Jake Woods watched as a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti. Woods sprung into action almost immediately, penning a Facebook post expressing his intention to travel to the island to help, CNN reported. He bookended his message with challenge to fellow service members: "Who's in?"

His friend William McNulty, also a Marine veteran, answered the call, along with more than 60 other volunteers. Within weeks of the disaster, Wood, McNulty and a team of discharged military personnel were in Haiti constructing hospital tents and transporting injured residents to nearby hospitals.

"We realized we were more effective than many organizations that were down there with us," Wood told the news organization. "We also realized that most organizations weren't engaging vets on their own. So we said, 'Let's try to improve this.'"

After returning from Haiti, Wood, an aspiring business student, went to work legitimizing the organization, sourcing more volunteers and looking for new missions. Team Rubicon personnel soon found work in Burma, Chile, Pakistan and South Sudan, The New York Times reported. The nonprofit also lent a hand after tornadoes devastated Joplin, Missouri in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy invaded New Jersey and New York a year later.

Now, Team Rubicon boasts over 40,000 volunteers and operates an international division based in the U.K. Approximately 80 percent of its members are veterans, most of whom benefit personally from the work. The organization has proved vital for former military personnel searching for a renewed sense of purpose in life after service.

"We're giving them a reason to come together … and that community lasts long after the mission," Wood explained in an interview with CNN. "Right now, Team Rubicon is focused on how we can … get them involved in as many ways as possible."

In the coming years, Team Rubicon will work to add new members to its ranks and offer more domestic disaster relief services. The organization is looking to raise $10 million by the end of 2016, most of which will go toward meeting these goals.

Wood expects Team Rubicon volunteers to pour into Haiti over the next week and assist anywhere they are needed.

The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs has introduced a new program to address rising suicide rates among former military personnel, the Associated Press reported. With the measure – called the Zero Veteran Suicide Initiative – state officials hope to equip the families and friends of discharged service members with the education and resources they need to help loved ones deal with combat-related psychological problems.

WDVA Secretary John Scocos announced the program October 14 at the WDVA Mental Health Summit and Veterans Stakeholders Symposium in Milwaukee, according to a news release.

"Experts in the field believe suicide is a disease that is preventable," Scocos explained. "It makes sense to step up suicide prevention efforts for veterans, in particular. This includes training non-medical people to recognize signs of suicide, how to persuade veterans to seek help and then where to refer a veteran for assistance."

Veteran suicide rates have risen drastically over the past 15 years, The New York Times reported. Since 2001, the suicide rate for former service members with access to VA resources has risen by 8.8 percent, according to recent research from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Over the same span, the suicide rate for those without access to the VA has increased by more than 32 percent. In total, veterans account for roughly 18 percent of all reported suicides in the U.S.

The VA compiled this data, released in July, using records for over 55 million veterans.

The agency and affiliated state organizations have attempted to address the issue by introducing new treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and the other psychological disorders that often lead former service members to take their own lives. While some of these new techniques are effective, many veterans – especially those who served in particularly intense combat zones – have turned to family, friends and fellow military personnel for support.

The Zero Veteran Suicide Initiative builds off this strategy, offering participants the opportunity to learn therapeutic skills that are useful in moments in crisis. The WDVA provides this training through the QPR Institute, an independent training organization that promotes a suicide prevention technique called Question, Persuade and Refer. With this approach, an individual party to a veteran in crisis can offer immediate, impactful assistance.

However, QPR is not a counseling or long-term treatment technique. The institute advises those administering QPR to contact medical professionals soon after offering help.

Currently, about 413,000 veterans live in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, this group accounts for 17 percent of all suicides in the state. Scocos and his colleagues at the WDVA believe the Zero Veteran Suicide Initiative will help reduce this number.

"Veterans who have served our country deserve the best of care, including counseling or treatment for those who are considering ending their own lives," He concluded at the event in Milwaukee. "This initiative will help us to train individuals to identify veterans who may be contemplating suicide. Our goal is to completely prevent the terrible tragedy that is suicide."

Sens. Gary Peters, D-M.I., and John Thune, R-S.C., have introduced new legislation meant to improve the Veterans Crisis Hotline, according to a news release. The bill – officially called the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act – would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop a strategy to improve its 24-hour hotline and staff enough personnel to ensure that every veteran who uses the service can speak with a trained human operator.

"Our veterans put their lives on the line in service to our country, and they should never have a call for help go unanswered," Peters said in the release. "When an estimated 22 veterans commit suicide every day, the Veterans Crisis Line can be a critical, lifesaving tool for veterans in crisis. I'm proud to cosponsor this bipartisan legislation that will help ensure the Veterans Crisis Line has the staff and resources to assist every veteran who reaches out for support."

The VA launched the Veterans Crisis Hotline in 2007. In the years since, more than 2.5 million former service members have called, instant messaged or texted the staffers who work the line. However, the service has recently come under fire from watchdog and veterans groups.

Last year, investigators from the VA Office of Inspector General Office of Healthcare Inspections discovered that calls made to the hotline went to voicemail, Military Times reported. Further inquiries revealed that officials managing the hotline were outsourcing its activities to untrained contractors during peak times, resulting in inadequate service. At least 24 veterans were directly impacted.

In February, the OIG offered a number of recommendations for improving the hotline, including:

• Hiring more staff to handle higher call volumes.
• Instituting more effective call-tracking processes.
• Establishing quality assurance programs for contractors.

Officials agreed to implement these changes by September 30. The VA also rearranged its organizational hierarchy to fit the hotline under its Member Services division, which manages interactions between veterans and agency programs, and named Gregory Hughes director. 

Ultimately, these changes achieved little. By May, contractors were still handling more than 35 percent of calls. And major internal issues had boiled over, with some staff simply neglecting their posts.

"We have some truly outstanding staff here who are very committed to their positions. These staff are routinely handling 15 to 20 calls daily and the quality of their calls [is] excellent," Hughes wrote in an email. "We have other staff that are taking 1-5 calls a day and this cannot continue … what we have seen is that there are staff who spend very little time on the phone or engaged in assigned productive activity."

Hughes resigned his post in June.

With this latest legislation, Peters and Thune hope to tackle the problems plaguing the Veterans Crisis Hotline in a meaningful way. However, even if the bill ultimately passes, an uphill battle lies ahead. Call volumes continue to increase every year, requiring more financial resources and staff. Today, the hotline receives 50 times the number of calls it did in 2007, the Associated Press reported.  

Last month, President Obama signed into law legislation giving the Department of Veterans Affairs permission to cover in vitro fertilization treatments and the cost of adoption for former service​ members with combat-related fertility issues, The Washington Post reported.

"Our goal is to restore, to the greatest extent possible, the physical and mental capabilities of veterans with service-connected injuries. The provision of assisted reproductive technologies would do that," Walinda West, spokesperson for the VA, said in a statement to the newspaper. "It is important that we fully understand the needs of our veteran population, and fully incorporate the major scientific advances available today that can allow them to live a full life."

The Veterans Health Care Act, passed in 1992, prohibited the agency from covering IVF treatments, according to NPR. Proponents of the ban argued these procedures often involved the destruction of viable human embryos and therefore should not be paid for with federal funds.

In the years since, veterans with fertility issues have been forced to foot the bill for their own IVF procedures, which cost as much as $12,000 per cycle. Additionally, military families usually pay for multiple cycles, as most women must undergo several treatments before fertilization takes place, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Clinics offer discounts but, for most former service​ members, this simply isn't enough, leading many to give up on dreams of having children.

Army veteran Matt Keil and his wife Tracy nearly joined this group. In 2007, Keil was wounded in Iraq. A round from a sniper traveled through the his right shoulder and nicked his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. One year later, the couple decided they wanted to have children and needed IVF treatments to make it happen. They soon discovered that the VA could not cover the procedure.

"This is a direct result of a combat injury," Tracy Keil explained in an interview with NPR. "Don't tell me that his service wasn't good enough for us to have a chance at a family. Because we've already lost so much. I just want to have a family with the man that I love and please don't make this any worse than it already has to be."

Eventually, a local VFW branch located near their home in Parker, Colorado stepped in and helped raise money needed to cover the procedure. In November 2010, the couple welcomed twins.

Unfortunately, many veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq aren't so lucky. As of February 2016, an estimated 1,400 service​ members have returned home with injuries to their reproductive organs. An even larger number have come home with severe spinal injuries like Keil's. The Veterans Health Care Act essentially prevents many of these veterans from starting families.

The new law will  hopefully give service​ members suffering from fertility issues the opportunity to have children. However, there are still roadblocks ahead. Though both houses of Congress passed the bill, it did not receive permanent funding. Additionally, the legislation does not actually repeal the Veterans Health Care Act. It only provides the VA with a workaround that allows it to earmark existing funds for IVF treatments and adoption services.

Proponents must still find long-term funding and ultimately remove the ban. 

Getting outdoors and becoming active is a great way to seek out health and happiness. In a world that has become fast-paced and highly connected, the calm of the woods can feel almost surreal. This disconnect between average life and the serenity of nature may explain why outdoors activities have the potential to have a deep and lasting positive impact on veterans.

Vets coming home from active duty have to be aware of their health and wellness. The unique stresses of military service can create a dangerous environment, and there is a potential risk of becoming too isolated from everyday civilian life. The great outdoors can be a balancing influence in some cases.

Bonding on the Appalachian Trail
A recent NPR feature followed Sean Gobin, a veteran of the Marine Corps who organizes veterans' trips into the wilderness.  His nonprofit group is called Warrior Expeditions. Gobin knows the positive effects of fresh air and hard travel well, as he walked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail when he returned from combat duty. The hike stretched over 2,100 miles and helped Gobin reconnect with his civilian mindset after three deployments.

To get a sampling of the emotional impact a good hike can have on a veteran re-engaging with everyday life, NPR spoke with several members of a trip up Maine's Mount Katahdin. Cody Yates, who spent 20 years serving in both the Army and the Marine Corps, explained that there is a need to ease the transition back into the civilian world, as experiences from time in the military – including losing friends in the line of duty – tend to linger in the mind long after they've occurred.

It's possible to lose some of the heaviness associated with such bad memories, according to another of the hikers, former Air National Guard member Diana Brown. She told NPR that though it's impossible to fix things that happened in the past, it is necessary to set them down and leave them behind. Outdoor exertion is one of the types of activity that can have such an effect. A long walk on the Appalachian Trail can make an encouraging contribution to the process.

Groups around the nation
There is an impressive group of veterans organizations promoting the healing power of nature around the country. The Standard Examiner focused on another. In Woods Cross, Utah, Iraq veteran Josh Hansen created Continue Mission after a medical retirement from the Army brought on by brain injuries. After feeling the healing power of nature, he began the organization, which now serves nearly 150 other veterans. In total, 1,500 have worked with the group since its founding.

Hansen stated that the name of the group is inspired by seeing civilian life as the next stage of the mission for the members of the program. By getting active in nature, they are taking the next steps in their respective lives. According to the Standard Examiner, Continue Mission offers all sorts of activities outdoors, from hikes to canoe journeys to skiing. In all cases, wellness is the long-term goal.