VA News Podcast

Quick Bonus episode reflecting on the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Landings. Features General Dwight D. Eisenhower's speech to the troops of the eve of the operation. 

David talks about becoming a Green Beret, being attached to a MIKE Force in Vietnam, being a security contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan as a 55-60 year old man, and helping advocate to reform Arizona's university system to work friendlier with the GI Bill and the VA system.

Additional Links:

•  https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/100-years-later-arizona-finally-ready-to-pay-fitting-tribute-to-world-war-i/ar-BBPwJfx
• http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/93671
•  https://nevalleynews.org/9686/news/phoenix-va-commemorates-vietnam-veterans/

#BtB Veteran of the Week:

• Marine Corp Veteran  William Tully Brown.

One couple, Marine Veteran Brett D’Alessandro and his partner, Alexa Modero, have made it their mission to help those Veterans that find themselves with nothing but a backpack. In fact, with the nonprofit, Backpacks for Life the first thing they are doing is literally improving the backpacks that rest on homeless Veterans shoulders.

After deploying to Afghanistan in 2014 and exiting his Marine Reserve contract, Brett started experiencing the same problems many Veterans face after deployment. After serving honorably as a turret gunner in country, he found himself without purpose. He was filling the emptiness with unhealthy habits. However, after randomly providing a homeless Veteran with a backpack that allowed the Veteran’s child to have a pack for school, Brett again found a call to serve those that were in need. Upon learning this, his long-time girlfriend Alexa, began supporting his new purpose. Together they founded the nonprofit Backpacks for Life.

They have since patented their very own pack that is created specifically with the homeless veteran in mind. The Bowery Pack features the old sea-bag opening, a stainless cable closing and an iso mat. Their goal is to go to a one-for-one sale model. For each Bowery Pack sold, they can give one to a homeless Veteran.

However, Brett and Alexa believe that the pack is only the first step to getting off the streets. Their overall mission “is to provide Veterans with resources that they have trouble providing for themselves…at the same time fostering self-reliance while assisting Veterans through their hardships…”

Additionally, we talked about how Brett and Alexa met, Brett’s deployment, and how they can afford to make the Bowery Pack in the United States.

Enjoy.

Additional Links to this Episode:

• www.backpacksforlife.org/veteranbusinessbadge
• https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5219
• https://www.hepatitis.va.gov
• https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5206
• http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/quit-tobacco/
• https://maketheconnection.net/mhm
• https://ovaat.org/

#BtBattle Veteran of the Week

Army Veteran Bill Hayes

Fisher houses are a vital part of helping Veterans heal. If there is an open room in a Fisher House next to a VA or military medical facility, a family can join in their Veteran’s recovery at no lodging cost. Today,  two new Fisher houses opened at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, New York City. These two new homes will join the 70+ Fisher Houses currently in operation around the world. By the end of the year, the Fisher House Network will be able to provide for over 1,000 families at any given time.

To mark today’s event, today’s interview is the current President of the Fisher House Foundation, Army Veteran David Coker.

We talked about:

• His family’s extensive military service
• His personal service as an Army medical officer
• His transition in the 90s how he came to be the very first employee of the Fisher House Foundation.
• The unique way that the foundation got its name.

Enjoy.

FOR INFO ON LOCAL MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONIES CLICK HERE

#BtB Veteran of the Week:

Army Veteran  Todd Cornell

Additional Links for this Episode:

https://maketheconnection.net/mhm

https://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/purchaseco_loan_fee.asp

https://www.cem.va.gov/cem/ceremony/2019_Memorial_Day.asp

www.carrytheload.org

Not only is Army Veteran Jan a wrestler, he’s a producer of the documentary “Valhalla Club.” The feature documents how three wrestlers, including Jan, formed a wrestling stable based on collectively fighting their PTSD through wrestling.

Recently, Jan and his stablemates were featured on the first episode Comedy Central’s new show, “Klepper.” 

Additionally, Jan is a VA employee. We talked about his role in the Office of Business Process Integration.

Additional Links:

https://bit.ly/2DucCtZ

https://bit.ly/2V2gJs3

https://bit.ly/2WchKKw

 https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/59350/march-memorial-day-va-carry-load-honor-fallen/

#BtBattle Veteran of the Week

Marine Veteran Edgar Huff

For Borne the Battle, we have a small team of interns that transcribe previous episodes so those with hearing loss can still read our episodes. It is finals week for many universities around the country and we will be soon losing that important cog of our team. 

So, before our interns left for the year, I wanted to reward them with their own episode. We had our intern, aspiring podcaster Zach Wheeler, go and get another interview.

Back in episode 130, Zach interviewed  Robert Freedman, his professor from Johns Hopkins University. For his “final” we challenged him to go find an interview off his campus. From there, he took the ball, ran with it, and interviewed Joseph Pennington, a former Navy Seabee and the current Director of Military Programs for AllState.

 FUN FACT: ALLSTATE WAS STARTED BY A VETERAN

Joseph talks about how his grandfather, a WWII Veteran, inspired him to raise his right hand. He also talks about his transition, his experience in building military programs for various companies, and how that experience led him to his current role at AllState.

Enjoy.

#BtBattle Veteran of the Week:

Marine Veteran  Megan McClung

Additional Links for this Episode:

• https://vsfs.state.gov/
• https://bit.ly/2DucCtZ
• https://bit.ly/2V2gJs3
• https://bit.ly/2WchKKw
•  https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/59350/march-memorial-day-va-carry-load-honor-fallen/
•  https://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-helping-veterans-rehabilitate-with-xbox-adaptive-controller/

For the next month, the VA’s National Cemetery Administration is partnering with Carry The Load and this week’s guest, Stephen Holley, is the CEO and co-founder of the nonprofit, Carry the Load. In addition, he is a former quarterback at the Naval Academy and a former Navy Seal.

In addition to talking about Carry The Load, we dive into his four deployments in five years, his transition and what Memorial Day means to him. 

Enjoy.

Additional Links to This Episode:

https://www.va.gov/PAINMANAGEMENT/Opioid_Safety/index.asp

https://www.va.gov/HEALTHPARTNERSHIPS/index.asp

http://www.carrytheload.org

https://bit.ly/2VwziUn

https://bit.ly/2DucCtZ

https://bit.ly/2V2gJs3

https://bit.ly/2WchKKw

https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/59350/march-memorial-day-va-carry-load-honor-fallen/

#BtBattle Veteran of the Week:

https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/59517/veteranoftheday-navy-veteran-marc-alan-lee/

FBI, CIA, AFT…USPIS? It’s not an alphabet agency that is often brought up in conversation around DC Beltway. However, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service was founded almost 100 years prior to the FBI and almost 150 years before the CIA. Their mission is to “support and protect the U.S. Postal Service, its employees, infrastructure, and customers by enforcing the laws that defend the nation's mail system from illegal or dangerous use.”

Today’s guest is a current U.S. Postal Inspector and Marine Veteran Carroll Harris. He is the first guest to reach out to ask to be on the show, so he can get information out to Veterans. Operation Protect Veterans is an effort by the Postal Inspection Service to prevent crimes and scams within the mail system that are targeting the Veteran population.

In addition, Carroll is a historian in the Marine Corps Reserve. He is attached to the Marine Corps History Division and is tasked with going on deployments to record Marine Corps history in times of conflict. In the episode, he covers how he was “drafted” into the history division in Kuwait, right before the Marine Corps crossed the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border during 2003’s Operation Enduring Freedom.

Additional Links to This Episode:

https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/

https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/radDocs/OPV.html

https://bit.ly/2DucCtZ

https://bit.ly/2W3Rkum

https://bit.ly/2VlZelB

Mission Act Links:

https://bit.ly/2D8czDE

https://bit.ly/2IDLZXH

https://bit.ly/2Zw2uKw

#BtBattle Veteran of the Week: Army Veteran Ellen Ainsworth

https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/58675/veteranoftheday-ellen-ainsworth/

Bonus episode! This episode is an experiment of a sorts. I attended a Veteran/ military spouse networking event called BourBiz. It was held this last Thursday by The Veteran Success Resource Group at the MGM, National Harbor, Maryland.

I was told about this event by future guests, Brett D’Allesandro and Alexa Modero the founders of the non profit, Backpacks For Life. They were part of a veteran-owned-business pitch competition that was going to be held at the event. Placing 2nd, they were awarded $15,000. 

Again, this was last Thursday and I didn’t know about it until the day prior. Within 24 hours I was hooked up with a booth. So with little time to plan, I brought my gear and figured to catch something. I set up, did two interviews -  and I didn’t think I captured anything. It was loud and they were having a live auction right next to me. So, I shut down my operation and just took the whole thing in. However, when I went home, I learned that the quality wasn’t too bad. So, what you're going to hear is what I was able to capture. If you would like to hear more episodes like this (with more content) please reach out to me at [email protected].

Enjoy.

Additional Links:

bourbiz.com

https://www.roa.org/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/us-army-soldier-for-life/

Danny Chung is an positive example of a Veteran that found a way to give back to the transitioning active-duty community. 

Danny’s team is trying to do is fill a gap in the civilian workforce. At any given time, there are over 500,000 open jobs in the computer industry. The current education system is producing only 49,000 computer science majors a year. Danny’s goal is to fill the gap with a portion of the 250,000 service-members that leave active duty every year.

One solution is the Microsoft Software and Systems Academy (MSSA). It is an 18-week course that active duty can take on base towards the end of their service. They offer training in high demand fields like cloud development, cloud administration, cybersecurity, databases and business intelligence administration. In addition, graduates are guaranteed an interview with Microsoft or an industry partner. There are currently 15 military bases that offer the MSSA.

Currently, Danny’s biggest drive is to help military spouses find gainful employment in the technology industry. The Military Spouse Technology Academy is an effort by Danny’s team to combat the military spouse 18% unemployment and 53% underemployment rates.

In addition, we talk about his service, difficulties transitioning during the Great Recession, and his feelings on artificial intelligence taking over the planet.

Enjoy.

#BTBattle Veteran of the Week:

Army Air Corps Veteran Dick Cole

https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/37196/veteranoftheday-army-air-corps-veteran-richard-dick-cole/

ADDITIONAL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

military.microsoft.com

https://www.hiringourheroes.org/

https://www.troops2transport.com/

https://worldwide.erau.edu/microsoft-software-systems-academy/

https://www.stmartin.edu/academics/programs-schools/hal-and-inge-marcus-school-engineering/areas-of-study/microsoft-software-and-systems-academy