Veteran Resource Podcast

Jeremy discusses an article out of the Military Times titled "The number of veterans in Congress will likely drop again next year".

In today's Motivational Monday I draw a parallel between dawning a new identity for Halloween and transitioning from the military. I also lift the curtain to reveal a little bit of my childhood.

I have interviewed over 50 veteran organizations since the start of the Veteran Resource Podcast. In this episode I share the top 5 things that I have learned. The full text can be found at veteranresourcepodcast.com/059

Nicholas grew up in Uhrichsville, a small town in Ohio. When he turned 18 years old, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as an infantryman. His first deployment was in 2008 to Ramadi, Iraq where he trained the Iraqi police force and encouraged them to take pride in securing their city's safety. Shortly after he returned home from Iraq, his unit deployed to support the Drug Enforcement Agency on a mission in the seas of South America. He came home just before Christmas in 2009 and immediately started training for his third and final deployment. Six months later he was in Marjah, Afghanistan where his unit was engaged with the Taliban to secure the safety of civilians and the city's farmlands. In August 2011, after five years of service and three deployments, Nicholas was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps and moved to Tampa Florida. Nicholas tried his first yoga class within a few days of being in his new city and was sure that he would never go back again. Shortly after he began to notice some serious physical problems and they started to negatively impact his life. He also was struggling with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries from his time in service. He had become friends with his yoga teacher and she urged him to come back to maybe a less intensive class. After a few classes Nicholas started to feel the physical benefits of yoga and after long talks with his teacher and more yoga Nicholas fell in love with the practice. Still struggling with his physical and mental challenges Nicholas decided to take it further and in 2014 he signed up for a 200 hour RYT teacher training. This particular training was 8 months long and he knew his journey had just began. Today Nicholas teaches yoga with Exalted Warrior Foundation providing adaptive yoga to veterans who are struggling just like he is. Yoga for him isn't just a class in studio, it is a tool for every moment in his life to battle the physical and mental challenges he still faces every day.

Paul Riedner is the Executive Director of a startup non-profit called the Veteran Resilience Project which uses EMDR to address a number of after effects of military service and war. Paul has an Economics degree and an MBA focused on business anthropology and consumer behavior. From 2006 - 2010 he was a Deep Sea Diver in the US Army. Since returning from war and the military, Paul began exploring how to use art to express his changing perspectives and to connect the public with the experiences, triumphs, and struggles of returning veterans. Paul produces a podcast called ResilienceMN that interviews veterans and serves as the community outreach mechanism for VRP.

This article from the Los Angeles Times fired me up a little. Veterans from the California National Guard are being forced to pay back enlistment bonuses from a decade ago. Please listen to this episode and then ACT by signing the two petitions.

Season 3 kicks off with me apologizing for the late start. But I really feel that setting up the structure and processes that will allow me to deliver five episodes per week was a good use of time. I am dedicated to getting the word out to veterans about some of the amazing veteran organizations that we have available to us, so in addition to five episodes per week I will also be working on speaking to groups of veterans around the country, and maybe even through live webinars here and there so that I can get the word out even further. If you haven't yet, please join me in the new facebook group where we can start to grow a community of like-minded individuals that help each other.

Captain Machuga is a 1998 graduate of Purdue University with a degree in Russian linguistics on an ROTC scholarship. He is a former Army Infantry/Military Intelligence officer and Airborne Ranger, having spent the majority of his service at Fort Bragg with the 82nd Airborne Division. In 2003, he deployed to Iraq with 2nd Infantry Division and whittled through the seemingly endless 13-month deployment with the help of video games.

Captain Machuga left the service in 2006, where he moved to Washington DC with his wife Margo to work as a government counterterrorism analyst. Once he started to see success with his charity work, his wife and he moved back home to Pittsburgh to run Stack-Up full time.

veteranpodcast.com/054

Christianna Capra (CC) is co-founder & Director of Equine Services with Spring Reins of Life 501c3 (Horses, Humans & Healing). Started in 2012 Spring Reins of Life, almost right away began working with the Men's PTSD Unit at Lyons VA Hospital. In 2015 that expanded to include the Women's and the Domiciliary PTSD Units. CC and Spring Reins of Life have been in four books and numerous print articles. Also featured in the media such as PIX11 News, Verizon Fios, and more. CC has over 40 years of horse experience handling (exercising) riding and competitive showing. Working with horses at liberty is a very freeing experience. Capra spent 25 years in NYC with a background in publicity, she now resides at the farm/facility where the horses live and the work happens.

Operation Horse, EAP/L for combat veterans suffering with PTSD/TBI. Veteran suicide is an out of control epidemic today. There are over 5,000 recorded deaths in Iraq & Afghanistan, yet over 128,000 suicides on US soil. At Spring Reins of Life in New Jersey we are working to be part of the solution. NJ had a high population of veterans, also has more horses per square mile than most states. PTS is an internal injury and trauma robs you of present moment, peace, trust, resiliency. At Operation Horse we do not ride, nor do we teach horsemanship - both of which have immense qualities. We are more focused on the interaction with horses who are "at liberty" (loose and able to express themselves freely). It is impossible to not become fully present when there are 1000 lb + creatures moving around you. Especially if you do not have experience being around horses. Horses are prey/flight animals and you will not get close to a loose horse unless they trust you. Veterans with moderate/severe PTS have lost all trust (even with themselves), so establishing trust with a horse can become a very large metaphor. Horses read body language and energy with acute precision and once this is understood - veterans are able to begin exploring their own set of coping skills. We do not "talk about it", words are not necessary. At the end of each session we do ask for ONE word to describe that days events. Over 300 times we have heard words like: Peaceful, Calm, Relaxing, Awesome, Laughter, Thank-you, Inspiring, etc.

Spring Reins of Life is an EAGALA Model certified program - EAGALA is the Equine Assisted Growth & Learning Association and is present in all 50 states and over 50 countries worldwide. Spring Reins of Life was founded in 2012, in 2014 we were the first (and currently the only) program in the state of NJ to earn and retain the "Military Services Provider" certificate. Currently we see veterans (OIF, OEF and Vietnam) from Lyons VA Hospital - and we could be doing more. Funding is an issue. With over 23 suicides per day, the VA needs to step up and release some of the millions of dollars set aside for mental health crisis and put it into modalities that are showing results. There is not evidence based research on EAP/L however if the VA put money into it there would be in no time. Because horses heal, and in the case of the veteran population they can and will save lives! Spring Reins of Life also has programming created for veterans families and supports called "Coming HOME", and while we have requests, we have no funding in that area.

Must admit it is rather frustrating to be a volunteer run organization so that we can allocate more than 85% of funding dollar towards services...and then there are places such as Wounded Warriors who Exec Director makes $2M a year and maybe 20% of millions of dollars in funding gets to the veterans themselves. But regardless, we keep pushing and fighting for, the avenues to keep this service going and to ultimately expand it. Really does take a village!

http://veteranpodcast.com/053

Returning Veterans Project is a grassroots, independent non-profit serving Oregon and SW Washington. For the past 11 years, Returning Veterans Project has been a conduit for post 9/11 veterans and their families seeking free and confidential mental health counseling and somatic services. Somatic services include chiropractic, massage, acupuncture and naturopathy. In 2015, the Returning Veterans Project had 180 providers and helped deliver more than 4500 hours of free and confidential services. Additionally, RVP has partnered with the Portland Art Museum in art therapy, sponsored women writing groups for military sexual trauma, and dramatic performances from veteran's own stories. Returning Veterans Project also provides free training for their volunteer providers through out the year on subjects such as PTSD, TBI, MST and orthobionomy. Returning Veterans Projects believes it is our collective responsibility to offer support and healing for both the short and long term repercussions of war zone service on veterans and their families. veteranpodcast.com/052