Construction continues on a new veterans museum in Columbus, Ohio, Stars and Stripes reported. When completed, the $75 million facility – called the National Veterans Memorial and Museum – will measure 50,000 square feet. The site sits on a seven-acre parcel located on the banks of the Scioto River.

Work crews kicked off the project in December 2015. The grand opening is scheduled to take place in the spring or summer of 2018, according to the website for the museum.

Unlike many spaces dedicated to past and present service members, the National Veterans Memorial and Museum will include few combat-related artifacts. Instead, curators at the facility will focus on acquiring personal items belonging to on-the-ground military personnel in an effort to humanize armed conflict and its aftermath.

"This is all about people," Amy Taylor, chief operating officer for the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation (CDDC), the organization tasked with developing the museum, told Stars and Stripes. "There are no big tanks or fighter planes. This is a story of people and experiences through service and after service."

So far, the museum has collected small trinkets, such a playing card one Army veteran carried during Operation Desert Storm. Its administrators hope objects like this will give attendees inside access to the lives of the men and women who serve here and overseas.

In addition to exhibition areas, the structure will include classrooms and event spaces. A memorial grove lined with trees will encircle the building.

Originally, the project was more modest. Former Ohio Sen. John Glenn proposed the idea of honoring the 900,000 veterans living in the state with a riverside memorial back in 2013. Soon after the project received the green light, plans changed. CDDC signed on and assembled a 16-person veteran advisory committee, whose members realized that something more substantial was required.

"Many people were telling us they weren't really from Ohio, and we realized there was a much bigger story to tell," Army Maj. Gen. Dennis Laich, chair of the committee, told Stars and Stripes. "We realized we could have a much richer fabric if we broaden the scope of the stories."

CDDC revised the project plans, adding a museum. In September, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, collaborated with his Democratic colleague Sen. Sherrod Brown to draft legislation that would designate the facility a national monument, Columbus Business First reported. Ultimately, the bill passed, making the museum one of only three national monuments located outside of Washington, D.C.

Veterans in the area are pleased with the progress of the project and say CDDC has done an excellent job involving local service members. The developer specifically reached out to the American Legion for help planning exhibitions.

"Nothing like this has been done. Everyone is saying, 'Wow, it's about time,'" retired Air Force Col. Tom Moe said. "We want to focus the story here about the service of veterans, whether they be from Tallahassee to Anchorage, and also be a place where vets can call a home."

So far, private donors and the state of Ohio have sourced $60 million for the museum. CDDC hopes to acquire the remaining $15 million soon. 

Ivy League colleges are notoriously selective. The institutions in this illustrious group maintained a collective acceptance rate of just over 8 percent for the class of 2020, according to Business Insider. In four years, an estimated 23,129 Americans will depart elite Ivies with undergraduate degrees. Unfortunately, very few will of these graduates will be veterans, The Associated Press reported.

Currently, 117 former service members are enrolled in undergraduate courses at Brown University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University. Columbia University in New York is the outlier among its fellow Ivies, hosting hundreds of veterans in its School of General Studies, which was established in 1947 for the expressed purpose of educating the millions of service members who returned home after the conclusion of World War II.

Still, veterans are not well represented in these top-tier institutions, a fact that troubles many inside and outside the military community.

"If we deny veterans the opportunity to go to these schools, not only do we deny them the same opportunity that others have, but we don't give our future leaders a chance to meet them," Peter Kiernan, a Marine veteran studying at Columbia, told The AP. "They don't get a chance to learn what it was like on the ground in Afghanistan or what combat is really like. These are important lessons that make them better leaders."

This is an especially serious concern considering historical declines in enlistment, which have left American legislative bodies nearly devoid of veteran voices. Only 102 former service members fill the 535 seats in Congress, according to the Congressional Research Center. Next year, this number is expected to fall, matching a decades-long trend.

This not only leaves the millions of veterans in U.S. without representation in the halls of power but also threatens national security, as legislators with no military experience attempt to craft legislation that dictates use of force, here and abroad.

Internal organizations at Ivies across the country are attempting to address the issue of veteran enrollment. For instance, Undergraduate Veterans Association of Cornell University is working to change how school administrators, instructors and students see veterans.

"We're not a bunch of knuckle draggers, so to speak," said Seamus Murphy, founding president of the organization, told The AP. "We're very well-rounded adult learners, with a different experience than the average student. We can bring a lot to the classroom and we can bring a lot to the university."

Some elite institutions have recognized the problem and are working to develop solutions. In 2014, Dartmouth collaborated with the Posse Organization, a nonprofit that helps identify qualified yet unique students in need of support, to recruit gifted veterans with their sights set on Ivy League institutions.

Veterans already enrolled at such schools are offering assistance as well. Michael Zaskey, a former soldier and neuroscience major at Brown University, works with his admissions office to reach out to fellow service members in search of high-level educational opportunities.

"We're trying to get vets to think more about the Ivies and we're trying to get the Ivies to think more about vets," he told The AP.

The federal government has also aided in this effort. The Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, passed in 2007, initiated the Yellow Ribbon Program, which allows expensive private colleges such as Columbia to partner with the Department of Defense to fund classes for veterans, The New York Times reported. This has made Ivies more accessible for former service members in search of elite educations.

Still, top-tier colleges must work harder to connect with veterans so they can share their experiences with others and enrich the institutions they attend. 

The total number of military veterans in Congress is expected to fall next year, according to the Military Times. Currently, 102 former service members serve in the House of Representatives and Senate, representing a mere 18 percent of the legislature, the Congressional Research Service Found. Experts say this number will decrease over the course of 2017 as older veterans who served in the conflicts Korea and Vietnam retire from their posts.

"So it's natural to see the numbers drop," Seth Lynn, executive director of Veterans Campaign, a nonprofit organization that tracks former service members who are elected to public office, told the publication. "I feel like this is getting to the lower level we're going to see for quite a while."

Number of veterans declines
This is, of course, the product of a larger national trend. Fewer Americans join in the armed services every year, The Atlantic reported. Approximately 2.5 million citizens served in Afghanistan and Iraq, accounting for less than 1 percent of the total population. In fact, last year, more young people studied abroad than visited their local recruitment office. This has whittled down the size of the American fighting force to the smallest it has been in over 75 years. Although sophisticated combat technologies and changes in warfare have made large standing armies a thing of the past, people are still essential.

Legislative bodies have experienced something similar. Between 1965 and 1990, former service members filled more than 50 percent of the 535 seats in Congress, PBS News Hour reported. That number has declined significantly and now threatens to fall to an all-time low next year. This is an issue of great concern for the 21 million military veterans living in the U.S.

New faces enter the fray
Still, there is hope for American veterans in risk of losing representation in the halls of power. In recent years, a number new legislators – some with military service under their belts and some without it – have risen to the fore to champion key issues affecting American veterans. In recent years, the number of female military veterans in Congress has grown, The Washington Post reported. Currently, four women with military experience – Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill; Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, and Rep. Martha McSally, R- Arizona – hold seats and use their training to develop legislation, advocate for fellow service members and break boundaries.

In August, the four legislators worked to convince their male colleagues that women belonged in frontline positions and should be subject to the draft. Duckworth was especially passionate about the issue. After becoming a commissioned officer in the Illinois Army National Guard in 1992, a superior advised her to opt for a non-combat role. Duckworth declined and went on to pilot Blackhawk helicopters for the Army. She was shot down in Iraq in 2004 and lost both her legs in the crash. She retired in 2014.

"It's why I became a helicopter pilot," she told The Post. "And what I love about the military is if you can do the job, then you're part of that group – at the end of the day, it's the ultimate meritocracy."

Other veterans may soon join Duckworth and her colleagues in Congress. In September, Jason Kander, an Army National Guard veteran and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Missouri, made news when he released a campaign ad in which he assembles a service rifle blindfolded, The New York Times reported. With some luck, Kander may refill one of the seats vacated by retiring former service members in Congress. 

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.

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.