Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependents
Programs for disabled veterans, ex-POWs, incarcerated veterans, and those exposed to chemicals or radiation Health-care benefits, including explanations about copayments, dental care, nursing homes, services for the blind, counseling, and medical care for dependents Federal programs for education, rehabilitation, home loans, pensions, insurance, and burial benefits Special sections on women veterans, overseas benefits, and programs for homeless veterans Where to find information on the Internet What the VeteranOCOs Preference means in seeking a Federal job How to locate VA and other forms online"
Stopping Military Suicides by
Blending illustrative narratives from veterans with cutting-edge research, this book provides a model for a needed shift from treatment post-trauma to psychological training pre-trauma to prevent deep depression and resulting suicides. As suicides among members of the U.S. military and veterans continue at a rate higher than in the general population--nearly 20 each day--and their calls for help become louder, with three veterans waiting for treatment outside Veterans Administration hospitals in 2019 committing suicide, authors and former U.S. Marines Kate Hendricks Thomas and Sarah Plummer Taylor present a call for a new approach to help halt the needless deaths. Thomas, now a researcher and assistant professor of public health, and Plummer Taylor, now a social worker and adjunct professor, detail a plan to establish preventative training for mental fitness that will help psychologically "vaccinate" service members against depression and PTSD, the most common precursors to suicidal thoughts. Thomas and Plummer Taylor detail their mental fitness training program to shift from post-trauma treatment to pre-trauma prevention. Each topic addressed is illustrated with stories from veterans. Part of the solution, Thomas and Plummer Taylor explain, is to present prevention as something for all service members and as a positive, strength-building, challenging activity for champions, as opposed to a post-trauma treatment only for "weak and broken" warriors. Includes a plan for proactive military measures to establish knowledge and habits to help service members, before trauma, become depression- and suicide-resistant Includes vignettes from veterans explaining the "warrior culture" that makes service members and veterans treatment-recalcitrant after trauma Includes vignettes from veterans who suffered sexual assault in the military Describes the alienation felt by veterans and reasons for it Explains the key components of a mental fitness program to rewire the brain for resilience
Steel Will by
On February 19, 2007, SSG Shilo Harris was patrolling an infamous southern Iraqi roadway when his Humvee was struck by an IED. Moments later, three members of his crew were dead and Shilo had sustained severe burns over 35 percent of his body, lost his ears and the skin off his face, and lost much of the use of his badly mangled fingers. This fiery moment was just the beginning of an arduous road laced with pain, emotional anguish, and much soul-searching. For forty-eight days Shilo lay trapped in a medically induced coma as his wife, unable to ease his suffering, had to come to grips with a man utterly changed. This is the story of a young boy raised in a small Texas town under the heavy yoke of a father struggling with the personal aftermath of his service in Vietnam. This is the story of the first human being to participate in extracellular stem cell regeneration to regrow lost body parts. This is the story of the survivor not only of an explosion but of more than sixty surgeries to restore both form and function to his broken body. This is the story of the wife who stood by his side, made hard decisions, and continues to support her husband through his struggles with PTSD. This is the story of a God who reshapes us into the people he wants us to be. And in that way, this is the story of all of us. Anyone whose life has been touched by tragedy and loss, especially military families dealing with PTSD, TBI, amputations, and other realities of wartime service, will find strength, encouragement, and inspiration in this moving memoir.
Balancing Life and Education While Being a Part of a Military Family by
Military spouse education is an often overlooked topic. With the proliferation of service member programs and benefits, and the spotlight on them, it is not uncommon for spouses to neglect looking into their own educational opportunities and benefits. The hectic life of a military family also often complicates the process of attending an institution of higher education, for spouses. There are numerous programs and benefits that a spouse may have access to, but they are difficult to find and navigate properly. Balancing Life and Education While Being a Part of a Military Family: A Guide to Navigating Higher Education for the MilitarySpouse attempts to highlight these possibilities and inform and assure this population that attaining an education is possible regardless of location or current circumstances. Numerous programs and benefits are described, as well as the best way to go about using them. Detailed instructions are illustrated to make the process of obtaining an education easier and to give spouses more confidence in pursing their own education. In addition, the specific considerations of military family life are addressed along with these instructions. Education is really important, and a lot of times military spouses aren't aware of the opportunities and resources available to them to pursue it. The authors of From theNavy to College: Transitioning from the Service to Higher Education and From the Army to College: Transitioning from the Service to Higher Education have put together a clear guidebook will make the process easy, accessible, and understandable. They offer clear advice and information about resources available to spouses of service members, creating a go-to guide for pursuing higher education.
Music Therapy with Military and Veteran Populations by
Combining essential information, professional insights, and lived experiences, this book offers a unique overview of the use of music therapy with active-duty service members, veterans, and other military-connected populations in the United States. Contributors include music therapists specializing with the military, as well as military personnel, veterans, and their families, providing an in-depth review of the impact that music therapy can have within this community. Detailing the historical evolution of the approach within a military context, the book explores the integration of music therapy into traditional treatment programs for service members and veterans particularly those with TBI and PTSD. Chapters cover the use of music therapy in both individual and group settings, and the opportunities to facilitate therapy via virtual platforms. Throughout, it emphasises the importance of music in military culture, highlighting the benefits of this approach with military communities. Personal accounts from military families are also included, as well as discussion on continued clinical and research innovation within the field. The first book to address this growing practice, it will inspire, inform and empower therapists and professionals working with and supporting military populations.
Once a Warrior by
The powerful story of one Marine who found healing and renewed purpose after returning from combat, for himself and tens of thousands of fellow veterans. Once a Warrior provides a harrowing look at the true cost of military service as the Forever War drags on - and most important, the path to healing.
Poetic Healing by
Poetic Healing is about a Vietnam Veteran's pain and the healing power of words. Basil B. Clark's sense of order was disrupted after an ambush in Vietnam that resulted in the constant ringing in the ears known as tinnitus. Clark had to accept such pain as the norm to help himself recover meaning and regain a sense of order. His plays and poems function as equipment for living and include dynamic conversations among imaginary family members, friends, and divine agents. Clark's plays and poems are supplemented by the critical commentary of Mark E. Huglen, who offers insight into the five phases of poetic healing. He draws upon the teachings of renowned scholar Kenneth Burke, particularly his terms for order, orientation, realms for words, and perspective by incongruity, bringing Burke closer to intrapersonal and interpersonal communication as well as to the study of suicide. Bernard Brock's Afterword describes how Clark manages to heal not just with his words and symbolism, but through them.Poetic Healing tells the story of the word's power to transform pain, loss, and even desperation into their counterparts, a poetic journey that will uplift and inspire.
Rethinking Reintegration and Veteran Identity by
This book analyzes and discusses the U.S. Military Veteran identity. Throughout seven chapters spanning narrative, literature, theory and analysis, the book combines the author's own personal story of joining, serving in, and separating from the U.S. military with corresponding research about military transitions, reintegration, Veteran suicides, and psychosocial adjustment challenges. The purpose of the book is to help readers understand Veteran identity in a way that centers the social implications of belonging to and serving in the military institution. In the final chapters of the book, existing theories and models related to military transitions are dissected before a new Model of Veteran Identity Hierarchy as well as a reconceptualization of Veteran identity are presented.
Sexual Assault in the Military by
Sexual assault prevention and response policies and programs in the Armed Forces are the most comprehensive and the most aggressive in the United States, yet after years of fighting this problem, we are still in the exact same place. Sexual assault in the military is still pervasive. It is still hurting military readiness. It is still causing thousands of service members to suffer. The trends and numbers are going in the wrong direction. This book examines the policies and results of sexual assault in the military.
The Soldier's Two Bodies by
In The Soldier?s Two Bodies, James M. Greene investigates an overlooked genre of early American literature?the Revolutionary War veteran narrative?showing that it by turns both promotes and critiques a notion of military heroism as the source of U.S. sovereignty. Personal narratives by veterans of the American Revolution indicate that soldiers in the United States have been represented in two contrasting ways from the nation?s first days: as heroic symbols of the body politic and as human beings whose sufferings are neglected by their country. Published from 1779 through the late 1850s, narrative accounts of Revolutionary War veterans? past service called for recognition from contemporary audiences, inviting readers to understand the war as a moment of violence central to the founding of the nation. Yet, as Greene reveals, these calls for recognition at the same time underscored how many veterans felt overlooked and excluded from the sovereign power they fought to establish. Although such narratives stem from a discourse that supports centralized, continental nationalism, they disrupt stable notions of a unified American people by highlighting those left behind. Greene discusses several well-known examples of the genre, including narratives from Ethan Allen, Joseph Plumb Martin, and Deborah Sampson, along with Herman Melville's fictional adaptation of the life of Israel Potter. Additional chapters focus on accounts of postwar frontier actions, including narratives collected by Hugh Henry Brackenridge that voice concerns over populist violence, along with stranger narratives like those of Isaac Hubbell and James Roberts, which register as fantastic imitations of the genre commenting on antebellum racial politics. With attention to questions of historical context and political ideology, Greene charts the process by which veteran narratives promote exception, violence, and autonomy, while also encouraging restraint, sacrifice, and collectivity. Revolutionary War veteran narratives offer no easy solutions to the appropriation of veterans? lives within military nationalism and sovereign violence. But by bringing forward the paradox inherent in the figure of the U.S. soldier, the genre invites considerations of how to reimagine those representations. Drawing attention to paradoxes presented by the memory of the American Revolution, The Soldier?s Two Bodies locates the origins of a complicated history surrounding the representation of veterans in U.S. politics and culture.
Transferable Skills in Higher Education by
This text uses a case study approach to show how life-skills can be developed in a range of higher education subject areas. It also looks at the changes which can be made to the curriculum to facilitate this sort of learning. The case studies are set against a more theoretical background.