Honor Flight May 1, 2011

This is a bit late, but with the next Honor Flight Northern Colorado coming up, I thought I should post pics from the last one!

Honor Flight was created to give Veterans a chance to fly out to Washington, DC, to see the World War II Memorial. The May trip included WWII and Korean War Vets. We gathered at a local hotel for the send off:

Colorado Patriot Guard Riders waiting with flags in hand for veterans to arrive.

On hand during breakfast
was a bald eagle.

Bagpiper playing while veterans walk out to buses.

The veterans took four large
commercial buses down to



Denver International Airport, escorted by emergency service



vehicles and personnel, the Colorado Patriot Guard Riders,



a helicopter, and
individuals.

Military vehicles privately owned by a guy with a farm.







This is me in one of them.

I had such a wonderful morning; I was filled with pride and purpose that day. I had decided to volunteer with Honor Flight after meeting a man during my last job, which was for a local hospice. He was a WWII veteran and while I was at his house one day, he was thrilled to tell me about this trip he had taken the year before and showed me his military medals and pictures. He said visiting the memorial in DC changed his life; he died less than a year later. I wanted to be a part of something that showed our veterans our sincerity and thankfulness for what they have done. I am looking forward to the next Honor Flight, which will take place on September 11, 2011. This time, I will have my 12 year old son with me, as I think it is crucial that the gap between generations be bridged and that our veterans know that there are young people out there who do care about them and will honor them with a commitment to see them off on a trip of a lifetime.

For more information about Honor Flight Northern Colorado, please visit their website at http://www.honorflightnortherncolorado.org/

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR MILITARY AND FAMILIES!

Excerpts & commentary on Time's article about the needs of female Veterans

Excerpts from Time Magazine article June 30, 2010. Orange text is my own emphasis; blue comments are my own opinions.

How We're Failing Our Female Veterans

By Laura Fitzpatrick

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2000829-1,00.html

“June Moss, 39, maneuvered a Humvee around charred corpses and still smoking shrapnel in Iraq in 2003…At home, after she was discharged from the military but before she was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the single mother couldn't find a job that paid enough to support her and two children. In 2005 her house went into foreclosure, and the next year she and her kids became homeless — a predicament made more painful by the fact that of the nearly 500 community homeless shelters funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), only seven provide accommodations specifically for families. That year, Moss tried to kill herself.” (Picture: June Moss, 38, an army veteran who served for a decade and half around the world now suffers from PTSD. Photograph by Robyn Twomey for TIME.)

I haven't read the entire 74 page booklet about homeless vets, but I found this website that is addressing the problem of homeless veterans: http://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/docs/OpeningDoors2010FSP.pdf

"[Women] are nine times more likely to suffer from PTSD, which, along with other mental-health issues, afflicts roughly 1 in 10 soldiers returning from Iraq.”

In Search of Privacy

“Women and men don't react the same to certain medications, they develop some diseases at different rates, and they may display varying symptoms. Women may also have a different reaction to dry desert heat: some 34% of female vets evaluated at a VA health care facility from 2002 to 2008 returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with urinary-tract infections, reproductive-system problems, and other genitourinary issues — which may be brought on by dehydration, among other factors — compared with just 8% of male vets.”

"Starting a family or returning home to one presents unique challenges to women. Female soldiers on active duty are nearly three times as likely to get divorced as their male counterparts are. As of March 2009, some 30,000 single mothers had deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Female veterans are also at least twice as likely as civilian women to be homeless. And, says Pete Dougherty, head of the VA's homeless programs, the percentage of homeless female veterans is on the rise even as the overall number of homeless veterans is dropping.”

The Path to Female-Friendly Care

"So what's the solution? Advocates point to some bright spots in the landscape of care for these women. One of them is the Women's Prevention, Outreach and Education Center (WPOEC) in Menlo Park, Calif.”

Here is the website to WPOEC (which is another site I have to take a good look at): http://www.paloalto.va.gov/wpoec.asp

“Still, it's a start, and it's the kind of care veterans may see much more of if some ambitious initiatives take root. The VA is ramping up women-only treatment centers like the one in Menlo Park and adding all-female therapy groups, especially for sexual-assault survivors. Last year the VA finished installing a full-time women's veteran program manager at each of its 144 hospitals. These managers help coordinate care and sometimes direct women to private clinics, which often are geographically more convenient but may cost the government more: a 2008 audit by the VA's Office of Inspector General found that better monitoring of outsourced care could save the VA nearly $50 million over five years.”

"VA has also earmarked nearly $220 million in its 2011 budget for gender-specific care of female veterans, an increase of almost 10% from 2010. Among the initiatives the money will help fund is a 24/7 call center and a social-networking site for female combat veterans."

"For now, too few women have figured out how to navigate the byzantine system. But the lucky ones, like Moss, show what could be possible if bold new plans are backed up by the resources and the political will necessary to make them stick. These days, Moss works in chaplain services at the Palo Alto hospital, a job that's conveniently close to the VA clinic where she sees a therapist once a week. She says she no longer feels, as she did when she first got home from Iraq, "like a shell of a person." She hugs her kids again. She enjoys lunch at Olive Garden and what she calls "me time" at the hairdresser. She's even getting married in August, to a former Marine who, as she puts it, "understands PTSD." "It's not just being brave on the battlefield," she says of being a veteran. "You have to be brave in civilian life too.’”

I am so happy to hear that something is at least getting started in addressing issues that are specific to female veterans. I wish each one the very best. As always, a HUGE THANK YOU to all veterans for the service they provide for our country.

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