As servicemembers prepare for their transition from serving their country to civilian life, financial planning may be on their mind. After all, going from the structure of military life to a routine that is much more casual can be jarring for some individuals and, as a result, slow down their job search.
Fortunately, many employers, such as the American Red Cross, are ready to help servicemembers better transition from the military to the workforce. The Red Cross recently joined forces with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Office of Human Resources and Administration and the Veteran Employment Services Office to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to help more veterans join the humanitarian organization.
Through the VA for Vets initiative, veterans will receive high-tech career readiness services that will connect qualified individuals with employment opportunities within the Red Cross.
"For all the initiatives we have supported in the past five years, we are most passionate about the VA for Vets initiative," said Melissa Hurst, chief human resources officer for the Red Cross. "It gives the Red Cross the opportunity to contribute directly to the mission of veteran employment."
Among the biggest concerns related to cuts from sequestration were fears that veteran benefits could be slashed in the process. These vital services, which include healthcare, are often viewed as some of the most important programs offered by the government. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives took the first step toward preserving these benefits by passing a spending bill for the budget year beginning in October, The Associated Press reports.
Overwhelming support
The measure passed the House with nearly unanimous support, 421-4, but it is not without controversy. The White House has said that President Barack Obama may potentially veto the bill due largely to the fact that Republicans in Congress plan on balancing the spending for veterans by cutting other vital programs used by millions of Americans. Still, that move may be largely unpopular especially given the fact that there will be a growing number of veterans in the coming years as thousands of troops separate from service and the war in Afghanistan winds down.
More than just benefits
Although the main focus of the bill was to maintain benefits for veterans, it also included funding to help reduce the disability claims backlog that is currently plaguing the Department of Veterans Affairs, notes the AP. According to figures from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, more than 865,200 vets still have claims pending with the VA, and well over half of them have been waiting for 125 days. Many advocates have called on Obama to take a more proactive approach at shrinking the backlog.
"The Commander-in-Chief must offer them clarity on how the backlog will end by 2015, what they should do while they wait to hear from the VA, and what concrete steps he will take to end the bureaucratic logjam that has helped cause this problem," IAVA founder Paul Rieckhoff told Yahoo News.
Will it be enough?
Should the bill make it through the Senate and to Obama's desk, it will run counter to what Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has been saying in recent weeks. In May, he hinted that increasing copays or fees to TRICARE – the healthcare plan for veterans – could be one of the best ways to slash the hundreds of billions of dollars necessary under sequestration, notes U.S. News and World Report.
Addressing mental health issues is one of the greatest challenges facing the military community, and President Barack Obama recently announced his latest attempt to meet those concerns. From July through mid-September the Department of Veterans Affairs will host mental health summits in an effort to streamline coordination between the department and local community health providers, reports Marine Corps Times.
The program will bring together experts from several different organizations including mental health specialists and government officials. The plan is to not only develop new methods to treat mental health but also improve veteran outreach. Obama's announcement is just the latest step forward in addressing the issue. The VA recently hired more than 1,600 additional mental health professionals.
"We lose 22 veterans a day to suicide, and we have to do a better job than that of preventing these all-too-often silent tragedies," Obama said during the National Conference on Mental Health at the White House on Monday.
Obama's announcement comes as a greater focus on mental health and conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder has surfaced. A growing amount of research has been centered around potential treatments for PTSD, which range from therapy dogs to meditative breathing, according to Forbes.
Finding affordable housing can sometimes be a struggle for military families. Factors such as unemployment, financial stress and injuries can make it especially difficult, but five families in Georgia recently got the surprise of a lifetime when Operation Homefront and Wells Fargo teamed up to provide them with mortgage free homes as part of an ongoing effort to support the military community, reports The Associated Press.
A joint effort
The five homes were donated from Wells Fargo, which had foreclosed upon them in recent years. Instead of putting the houses up for auction, which is the usual course of action, the bank decided to put them toward a better cause. So far this year, the organization has provided more than 100 families with donated homes, all of which come without a mortgage. However, the new owners do have to pay property taxes and other common expenses. Most of the homes are given to servicemembers who have had to leave active duty due to injuries, and may have struggled transitioning to civilian life.
"They've got to live on an amount they're not used to living on," Amy Palmer, Operation Homefront's chief development officer, told the AP. "Some are employable and some aren't, so it really is an adjustment. It's harder to buy homes now. Most of these families would never have qualified for a home loan."
Highlights issues surrounding housing
Although more than 100 families have received homes from Operation Homefront this year, there are still many who are not quite as lucky. In fact, homelessness among veterans has been under the microscope recently, as the White House and the Department of Veterans Affairs have both been updating the public on their plans to end homelessness by 2015. Recent estimates place the number of vets on the street at about 60,000, according to Stars and Stripes.
The biggest push to address the issue has come from a recent partnership between the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Specifically, the two departments have pledged approximately $60 million to public housing agencies across the country in an effort to provide support to veterans. Many of these services including housing and rental vouchers that can help government officials reach their ambitious goals.
Assistance with tuition costs is one of the most important benefits afforded to veterans. Aside from helping them transition to civilian life, heading back to school after separating from service can lend a hand in their finding employment. However, there's a time restraint placed on the benefits. Troops have to pay $1,200 before leaving the military, and if they don't use the GI Bill benefits after 10 years, they lose their chance. .Now, one Connecticut Senator is looking to change all that, according to The Associated Press.
Millions could benefit
The driving force behind the legislation, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, says, is that thousands of troops may not have been able to take full advantage of their GI Bill benefits, even if they paid the requisite $1,200 upon separating from service. Specifically, he says that imposing the arbitrary time limit of 10 years is doing troops who have put their lives on the line a disservice. His proposal could restore benefits to everyone from more recent vets to those who served in the Vietnam War.
"I am very hopeful that there will be strong bipartisan support," Blumenthal told WCBS recently. "The financial cost is minimal, the benefits are huge and we owe it to our veterans."
Measuring the benefits
The GI Bill has been a part of veteran life for decades, but the most recent incarnation – the Post-9/11 GI Bill – was one of the most beneficial in recent memory, and now a former servicemember is looking to analyze exactly what impact it has on the lives of troops. The researcher, Frank Bergmeister, used the bill to obtain two master's degrees, and he wants to uncover how the ability to transfer benefits to children and spouses has impacted the military community, according to the Free Lance-Star. Bermeister said he's interested in answering questions few people have asked.
"No one has ever examined what happens," he told the newspaper. "How does it change lives. What does the family think? Does the spouse get involved?"
Tips for veterans
While the benefits offered to veterans are there for the taking, it's important they educate themselves on all information that's available to them. Perhaps most significantly, they should identify the schools that offer the best options. For instance, the post-9/11 Gi Bill covers full tuition and fees to in-state public universities.
Several years ago government officials committed to eliminating veteran homelessness by 2015. Since then, thanks to work by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense and Department of Housing and Urban Development, the rate of homelessness has fallen considerably, but there is still considerable work to be done. An estimated 60,000 veterans are currently homeless and as the deadline draws near, officials are feeling the pressure, reports Stars and Stripes.
Recent progress
In 2008, the White House and VA announced their plans to tackle veteran homelessness, and since then they have been largely successful. In fact, the rate has fallen by about one-fifth since the program was launched. That being said, VA secretary Eric Shinseki still feels like there needs to be more ambitious steps taken. There are plans in the works to provide housing vouchers to thousands more veterans as well as a growing effort to improve health screening and other services to identify vets who may be at risk of losing their homes.
"We have made a difference … we know we can do this," Shinseki told the audience at the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans conference recently, according to the publication. "In a couple of years, we'll be able to look back and say we took every homeless veteran off the street."
A local approach
The partnership between the VA and HUD has been the centerpiece of the nationwide effort to cut veteran homelessness, but there are also more local, targeted efforts. One such event recently took place in communities across the country. Known as Walk and Roll, the VA-hosted event welcomes thousands of participants across the country to walk in an effort to raise money to eradicate homelessness. Last year's event brought in an estimated $240,000.
More needs to be done
There has undoubtedly been considerable strides made in accomplishing the eventual goal. According to The Washington Post, some cities have been unable to accept the veteran housing voucheres due to financial restraints caused by significant budget cuts. Furthermore, as thousands of troops separate from service as the war in Afghanistan draws down and the Armed Forces reduces its ranks, there may be an increasing number of servicemembers at risk of losing their homes .
Major League Baseball teams across the country paid tribute to fallen soldiers on Memorial Day by wearing military-inspired uniforms, but the Milwaukee Brewers took things one step further. Just before they took on the Minnesota Twins at Miller Park, the Brewers welcomed 40 servicemembers, veterans and military families to the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, and for many of them the act took on added meaning, according to NBC affiliate WTMJ.
Sign of remembrance
Brothers Cole and Carter Naseman were among those who took part in the opening ceremony were brothers. Their father, Sgt. First Class Brian Naseman, was killed in Iraq in 2009, one of the more than 4,800 U.S. and coalition troops who lost their lives there. To them, throwing out the first pitch served as a way to help honor their father's legacy in a unique way. Not only that, but given the timing of the game, it held an especially important meaning.
"It's only a couple days away from when our dad died, so it's special to us," Cole, a 7th grader, told the news channel.
More than Milwaukee
While the Brewers efforts on Memorial Day, which included setting aside thousands of tickets for military families, was impressive, the organization was not the only one getting in on the action. For instance, a number of breweries across the country recently teamed up to create a unique beer, known as the Homefront IPA, which was released on Monday. Aside from being an original tribute to the military, all the proceeds from sales of the beer will go toward Operation Homefront, an organization that lends financial assistance to military families who are most in need, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
"They're putting their lives on the line for us every day," Chris Ray, one of the initiative's founders, told the newspaper. "The least we can do is help them keep their car on the road or help them keep their house."
Support all summer long
Support for the military extends well beyond Memorial Day. From now until after Labor Day around 1,200 museums will waive admittance fees for military families as part of the ever-growing Blue Star Museums Initiative, which was launched in 2010 as a joint venture between the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense.
A wide variety of injuries affect veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Everything from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) to amputations have gained a considerable amount of attention, but experts say that chronic pain caused by musculoskeletal conditions may be one of the most prevalent issues. A recent analysis from Minnesota Public Radio found that the number of doctors seeing troops with joint disorders has steadily increased over the last decade, The Associated Press reports.
Wide variety of causes
The analysis relied on data from VA hospitals in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota and found that doctors saw a 133 percent spike in the number of troops with joint damage between 2003 and 2012. While the statistics were drawn from those three states, experts say it's a nationwide trend, and not all joint issues are caused by wounds suffered during battle. Instead, some of these injuries are caused by heavy gear, body armor and long treks.
"With those big heavy packs on it's hard to even stand," Dr. Paul Huddleston, an orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic and veteran himself, told the AP. "People hurt their knees and backs acutely just from walking around with all that. Shoulder injuries are not uncommon."
Not being ignored
With the growing prevalence of joint injuries, the Department of Defense has recognized that it needs to make an effort to create armor and gear lighter and less burdensome for troops. Most recently, the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act mandated that the DOD conduct studies to find the best methods to reduce the weight of such equipment. Those findings are due to the Congress by June 22 of this year, according to Army Times. However, making armor lighter is often not that easy.
"We've taken your grandmother's china, wrapped it in Kevlar and given you the capability," Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller told Defense News. "You want more protection? More china, more Kevlar, that's weight."
The need is increasingly great
Whether it's TBI, post-traumatic stress disorder or joint damage, addressing the medical needs of veterans will become particularly important over the coming months and years as thousands of servicemembers head home from Afghanistan and separate from service alone. In the Army alone, officials are looking to cut the size of forces by about 70,000, meaning more troops will be looking for work in the civilian world and if they're hampered by lingering joint damage that could be a serious issue.
Even if they are not diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), servicemembers and first responders undoubtedly face a great deal of mental strain on a day-to-day basis. People in such high-stress jobs have turned to a wide variety of methods to cope with the effects of this mental condition, and one woman who has seen the impact war can have up close is reaching out to many of them with a new technique – yoga, according to Military Times.
Accessible to everyone
The program, known as YogaFit for Warriors, was started by Lt. Col. Shaye Molendyke, who has seen the effects of war up close during her time in the military working in the psychiatric ward at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. She has been regularly practicing yoga since a serious injury left her unable to run 15 years ago, and her new program focuses less on acrobatic poses and esoteric language and more on accessing the mental health benefits of the exercise. Molendyke hopes this unconventional approach to PTSD will help ensure anybody with the condition – whether it be a firefighter or soldier – is not afraid to seek help.
"The stigma attached to being seen for PTSD in the military – you're certainly not going to say, 'I'm having trouble managing my emotions,' " she told the news source. "What I hope happens is that people hear how yoga can help, then they go to a yoga class in their military community where someone has been trained and teaches a trauma-sensitive class"
Greater understanding
YogaFit for Warriors comes at a time when the way the medical community understands PTSD is rapidly changing. Earlier this year, researchers from New York University's School of Medicine pinpointed the specific area of the brain that is affected by the condition. Specifically, they found that servicemembers with PTSD had much higher activity in the amygdala, which is the part of the brain that's responsible for managing fear and other anxious feelings.
As the evolution of of PTSD treatment continues, it could come at precisely the right time. Thousands of troops are slated to separate from service in the coming years as the U.S. winds down operation in Afghanistan, and an estimated 20 percent of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan experience symptoms of PTSD.
Transitioning to a life away from the military is often challenging for servicemembers. Making the jump from the structured life of the Armed Forces to a new environment can certainly be difficult, but one of the biggest obstacles troops encounter is what's known as the civilian-military gap. With less than 1 percent of the American population in the military, it's easy to see why there might be a disconnect between servicemembers and ordinary citizens, but advocates are coming forward to help bridge the distance between the two groups.
Talking it out
One of the latest efforts to foster good relationships between soldiers and civilians comes out of New York City, where a program known as Veteran Civilian Dialogues has been operating for three years, according to Star and Stripes. The regularly scheduled dialogues bring an estimated 50 people whenever they're held, and the participants often run the gamut from veterans in their 20s to senior citizens. The conversations can cover any topics, from PTSD to school, and often include discussing how subjects unrelated to the military have helped improve relationships. This was the case for Spc. Patrick Murphy, who talked about his desire to transition to a new career.
"It was great to get that kind of feedback, not just because [of] the encouragement," he told the publication. "I wasn't just a veteran to them. I could be something else, like a photojournalist."
Lack of familiarity
There could be a reason for this civilian-military gap, but experts say it's largely due to the fact that knowing someone who serves in the Armed Forces is not as common as it once was, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. Approximately 20 percent of members of Congress have spent time in the military. In 1969, that figure was at around 60 percent. Additionally, in 2010 about 18 percent of people had parents who had served in the military, but just 22 years earlier an estimated 40 percent of people said the same. Even top officials have noticed this shift.
"I fear they do not comprehend the full weight of the burden we carry or the price we pay when we return from battle," Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, told West Point graduates in 2011.
A growing need
Bridging the gap will be increasingly important in the coming years and months. Thousands of troops are slated to separate from service and the remaining servicemembers in Afghanistan are expected to be home by the end of 2014.