States and cities nationwide have already succeeded in putting a functional end to chronic veteran homelessness. Boston is on course to join cities like New Orleans and Houston by the end of 2015. According to the Huffington Post, in July 2014, when Boston pledged to participate in the Mayor's Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness, an initiative sponsored by First Lady Michelle Obama and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, there were 414 homeless veterans living on the city's streets. Since then, 484 homeless veterans have received housing.
A Veterans Day press release issued by Mayor Martin Walsh's office announced that a $200,000 endowment from the Brighton Marine Health Center would greatly assist with the mayor's goal of securing each man and woman struggling in their life after service a stable residence. The money will go toward the Homeless Veterans Housing Fund, which subsidizes the one-time fees that can hold up the housing process, such as security deposits, outstanding utility debt and rental application fees. Veterans with be funded up to $2,000 to meet those costs.
"No one who has served our country should be homeless – and in Boston, we're committed to giving our veterans the resources they need to succeed," said Mayor Walsh. "The Homeless Veterans Housing Fund is an integral tool to support our fight to end homelessness among our veterans."
Boston looks to be on track to meet its goal. When the initiative began last year, 50 percent of homeless veterans left shelter in under six months. Now that number stands at 70 percent. Additional veterans have begun to use the city's system, but hundreds of volunteers going door-to-door all over Boston are dedicated to ensuring that veterans have not only our appreciation, but the health and financial resources they are due.
It's that time of year. Everyone has packed away their Halloween costumes and candy in favor of autumn wreaths and various Winter Solstice decorations. Television networks have begun to air advertisements for Christmas sales, festive music fills the shopping malls and people seem to be in an overall merrier mood. The holiday season is a time of joy for most people as families come together to celebrate. Yet, for military families, the holidays can be a challenging time. Deployments can keep even the closest of families apart when they really want to be together. Take a look at a few ways to make the holidays a little brighter when your loved one is away at service.
Invite other military families to celebrate with you
Yours is not the only family missing someone. Try to contact other military families in your area with a loved one deployed. You can invite them to your home for a large holiday celebration. This can help prevent loneliness and make the holiday extra special for everyone involved. If you are feeling really ambitious, you could arrange a group celebration on the nearest military base, where many families could spend the holidays together.
Try to schedule a video chat session near major holidays
If possible, arrange a time to video chat with your deployed loved one on or near the holiday. Not only will this brighten up your servicemember's day, it will bring a little more joy into your own celebration. Remember that your servicemember may not be able to talk on the exact date of the holiday, so try to plan ahead as much as possible.
Send your servicemember a piece of the celebration
While it is not possible to send your loved one a whole turkey or a Christmas tree, you can still send him or her a small part of the celebration. In your holiday care package, you could include the servicemember's favorite ornament or a picture of the family taken during the Thanksgiving meal. Your loved one will feel like he or she was a part of the gathering, even if there is a large distance separating them from you.
Invite other servicemembers to share in the celebration
Your deployed servicemember would be proud if you opened your home to other local servicemembers who may not have a family to celebrate the holidays with. Contact your local VA or VFW post to inquire about Adopt-a-Vet programs. They can tell you how to arrange for a veteran to celebrate the holidays with you and your family. There are also many Adopt-a-Soldier programs that will put you in contact with a local servicemember looking for a place to spend the holidays. Click here for more information on these programs.
The holidays should be a source of happiness for everyone. Deployment does not have to put a damper on things. By following the above suggestions, you can help make the season just as merry as if your loved one were still here.
Timothy Marsh, a veteran of the first Gulf War, still wasn't totally at ease with his recent relocation to Oregon when he got lost and ran out of gas while driving through the state's heavily forested coast on Saturday, Nov. 7. Marsh had been on his way to a family member's home, his 12-year-old golden retriever Rusty tagging along in the passenger seat, when he began to feel disoriented. Within moments he had blacked out.
"I had some sort of medical issue. I didn't take my medicine," Marsh told Katu.com, a local news site. When Marsh woke up, his truck's fuel gauge read empty and he found himself stranded on a hillside somewhere in a forest he knew little about. There was nothing to drink, and nothing to eat besides a can of Rusty's dog food.
Marsh's family soon reported him missing, according to Reuters, and the local search and rescue teams set out looking for him. Meanwhile, Marsh was trying desperately to attract attention. He used sticks to create help signs and left notes where he could. As the days went by, he survived by drinking puddles of rain water and splitting dog food between Rusty and himself. But the situation was getting desperate. Marsh told Katu.com that he didn't expect to live through another night among the wet, frigid trees.
On the fourth day though, a man out hunting nearby heard Marsh's shouts for help. The man, also a veteran, contacted the county sheriff as quickly as he could. Within two hours, the search and rescue team had found Marsh and Rusty. They were cold and disoriented, but they were alive.
Marsh was released from the hospital on Veterans Day.
Data released by the National Health Interview Survey on Veterans Day had good news for everyone who has served in uniform: the number of veterans without health insurance declined rapidly in the last few years. The survey, conducted by the Urban Institute, found that uninsured status among non-elderly veterans dropped from 12 percent in 2013 to 8.6 percent in 2014. This is the first published research on how the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has affected veterans.
The institute's prior research discovered in 2010, before the ACA's coverage provisions were implemented, that more than 1 million non-elderly veterans lacked health insurance. When compared to former military members with veterans insurance, uninsured veterans reported that they had much less access to the kinds of health care required to treat a variety of mental and physical ailments.
This month marks the start of the third ACA open enrollment period, and it appears veterans are taking advantage of the new ACA and Medicaid coverage options open to them, as well as the choice of additional enrollment in military insurance plans available from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Since the ACA went into effect, more than 16 million previously uninsured Americans have received coverage, according to the Washington Post, while costing $142 billion less than the Congressional Budget Office expected.
Until the Urban Institute released their survey, it wasn't yet known if the number of uninsured veterans would follow the same pattern as that of the general population. Now it's obvious that improvements have been made. But there is still more to do. In 2014, 1 in 11 veterans still reported they were uninsured. The institute noted that if more states expand their Medicaid programs the number will continue to decline significantly, but in the meantime, insurance for veterans continues to be a work in progress.
At a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Thursday, President Obama awarded Capt. Florent A. Groberg the Congressional Medal of Honor. In Afghanistan in Aug. 2012, Capt. Groberg was serving as the head of a personal security detachment in the Fourth Infantry Division when the group of senior commanders he was escorting on foot through Kunar Province was approached by an individual with his back turned to the group.
Capt. Groberg's Medal of Honor citation states that the man made a sudden turn towards their formation, a suspicious bulge visible beneath his dark clothes. Rushing the man without any regard for his own safety, the captain confirmed that the bulge was a suicide vest. He selflessly tackled the bomber down and away from the security detail. Upon hitting the ground, the bomber's dead man switch detonated the vest, killing four of Capt. Groberg's fellow soldiers and wounding him desperately. The explosion triggered a second bomber's vest nearby, but it did little damage.
The citation credits Capt. Groberg's heroism with minimizing the severity of the coordinated suicide attack. He saved the lives of many of his comrades and senior leaders. The New York Times reported that the extent of the injuries to his legs, which required 33 surgeries over three years, did not keep the captain from standing at attention while his president awarded him our country's greatest commendation.
"A day after Veterans Day, we honor this American veteran whose story – like so many of our vets and wounded warriors – speaks not only of gallantry on the battlefield, but resilience here at home," said Obama. Capt. Groberg retired from the Army earlier this year. Even in his life after military service, he has chosen to continue to serve, now as a civilian in the Department of Defense.
On Nov. 12, Marine Corps veteran Guy Valentino broke the Guinness World Record for most pull-ups in 24-hours. According to ABC 7 News, Valentino decided to attempt the feat to draw attention to Veterans Operation Wellness, an organization that encourages veterans to use fitness as a method of healing from mental and physical combat-related injuries.
"Each pull-up is for that one Marine, that one sailor, that one solider that feels like they don't have a voice or that is suffering from PTSD or suicidal thoughts," Valentino told People Magazine.
People Magazine wrote that Valentino began his pull-ups at 9 a.m. on Nov. 11 and was cut off by Guinness World Record officials at 9 am. on Nov. 12.
In 24 hours, Valentino finished 5,862 pull-ups, which beat the previous record by 61 pull-ups. Hundreds of veterans gathered in Times Square in New York City as part of America's Parade celebration and many of them cheered the 37-year-old Valentino on as he worked to beat the record, reported ABC News 7.
Valentino told the news source that he was going to celebrate his victory by getting acupuncture and a massage for his sore muscles.
At Arlington National Cemetery on Nov. 11, President Obama laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. During this Veterans Day ceremony, he also spoke on veterans issues. The president talked about the "new generation of veterans," the former servicemembers coming out of America's longest period of active combat. Though he made sure to outline the positive progress made for veterans, he made it clear he was still unsatisfied.
"We have made historic investments to boost the VA budget, expand benefits, offer more mental health care and improved care for our wounded warriors, especially those with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury," Obama said in his speech.
Obama said there was much work to be done in the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the New York Post. The president noted that moving forward, the administration would focus on veteran employment and homelessness. He also voiced a plan to focus on lowering the veterans suicide rate. Stars and Stripes also reported that Obama made a comment about bringing more troops home in the coming months.
The overall tone of the address was positive, but the president made it clear that there was much room for improvement.
Seth Jordan is no ordinary brewer. A veteran of multiple combat tours with the U.S. Marine Corps, Jordan is the founder of Dog Tag Brewing Co., a non-profit run by veterans that, in a drive to expand awareness of those who lost their lives defending this country, displays the story of a fallen warrior on every beer can. All the proceeds are donated to remembrance organizations chosen by the families of the servicemen and women featured on the cans.
"It's to make sure that the folks we lost are never forgotten," Jordan told USA Today. "And it's about celebrating their lives rather than focusing on their death."
Since it first launched, Dog Tag has expanded from featuring only a few families on its cans to more than 600. Jordan insists on speaking with every family that requests their loved one's story be told so as to truly understand what they were like not only as warriors, but as people.
So far the brewing company has proved a major success. Dog Tag's first runs of its India pale ale and pilsner are already depleted. Jordan said that he is in the process of talking with a major distributor to extend Dog Tag's reach nationwide. "Random Americans will be in a position to learn about people's loved ones," he told the paper. "And the families enjoy that."
Dog Tag isn't the only veteran-run brewery achieving success. Veteran Beer Co., which started up in Cold Spring, Minnesota two years ago, is a brewery run by Paul Jenkins, a disabled Navy veteran. Jenkins doesn't drink, he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, but he wanted to create jobs for veterans and thought crafting beer was an excellent way to do it.
Jenkins hopes to employ 3,500 veterans in regional breweries by 2017. For men and women who love beer and are looking for unique work in their life after service, veteran breweries are worth a toast or two.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia chose Veterans Day as the right time to announce that his state was the first in the country to fully end homelessness among military veterans, as defined by the federal government. The Washington Post reported that the homelessness designation signifies that there are no homeless veterans in Virginia who haven't turned down offers for state-sponsored housing. Those veterans who rejected the offers are not included in the calculation.
As part of meeting the federal government's designation, a state is required to find a residence for a veteran within 90 days of their homeless status, in addition to having more homes available than there are identified homeless veterans, in case new men or women should need shelter in their life after service. Virginia is the first state to fully meet these requirements. Syracuse and Schenectady in New York, as well as Las Vegas, have also met the criteria.
The Post stated that Virginia's House of Delegates has invested almost $2 million to fight veteran homelessness and improve educational benefits and employment programs since last year. In 2014, several cities in the state participated in a 100 day federal challenge to improve the homeless situation. By the end of the 100 days, 462 veterans had homes or were in the process of getting one.
On Nov. 11, a large group of veterans protested in Washington, D.C. to advocate the usage of medical marijuana in treating the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Currently, the Veterans Administration does not allow former servicemembers the option of medical marijuana to its patients. However, the veterans that marched on Veterans Day 2015 told Fox 5 News that they felt it was unjust to limit treatment options when an average of 22 veterans a day commit suicide.
"A patient should have the right to choose the best health care to save his life," Brandon Wyatt, an Army veteran, told The Huffington Post. "Because we hate cannabis so much, we're willing to let 22 veterans die per day? How can you ignore that?"
Wyatt and the other protestors advocate for the use of medical marijuana because of studies that have shown its effectiveness in reducing the severity of PTSD symptoms. Many of the former servicemembers also stated that they preferred the organic treatment to the heavy doses of pharmaceuticals.
After marching as a group down Pennsylvania Avenue, they stopped at the Veterans Affairs Headquarters and tossed thousands of empty pill bottles onto the ground to signify their displeasure with prescription drugs, according to The Huffington Post.