Summary: Kacie Kelly oversees and manages policy, operational, and programmatic efforts on veteran health and well-being, including the Warrior Wellness Alliance. She manages strategic efforts to promote the partnerships, collaboration, and alignment among organizations that are so crucial to fostering the health and well-being of post-9/11 Veterans. Prior to this Read more…
On mid-tour leave from my first tour in Afghanistan, I was having lunch in an airport with a First Sergeant. I have no clue who he was; one of those connections you make on a military flight from one location to another. We start to shoot the breeze on the Read more…
Summary: Kristina (Kristy) Kaufmann is the CEO and co-founder of Code of Support Foundation. During her 11 years as a wartime Army wife, Kristy recognized that the mental impact on soldiers and families was not being appropriately addressed. Her determination to improve the approach for providing the support needed to endure Read more…
A colleague once told me a story of frustration that I’ve heard from many veterans in therapy. The colleague talked about a veteran he was working with; the veteran said, “People want to go to the movies and see the combat stuff…American Sniper and all that. But if I talk Read more…
Summary: Michael B. Brennan, PsyD., is Associate Clinical Director of the Road Home Program for Veterans and the Families at Rush University Medical Center. He manages operations for an intensive outpatient program serving veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma and/or substance use disorders. He supervises a multi-disciplinary team Read more…
Afghanistan, 2010. Our unit had been in Regional Command East for a year, and were preparing to leave; as a platoon sergeant, my platoon leader and I had the responsibility for making sure the new folks coming in were ready to take over the mission. Known to us as a Read more…
Summary: Emily is an Atlanta native and a 2006 graduate of The University of Tennessee with a BSBA degree in Marketing. Her grandfather was a WWII & Korean War veteran and is featured on the site (Tank Commander Andy Carpenter). Emily originally assisted with interviewing and website content selection prior Read more…
We don’t function well as human beings when we’re in isolation – Robert Zemeckis Humans are social creatures and pack animals. Our basic nature needs interaction with others to satisfy our biological needs, our safety needs, our social needs. We need other people to survive and thrive. One challenge with Read more…
Summary: Adam Schumann, 36, served with 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment in Iraq during 2007-2008. He was one of the soldiers profiled in journalist David Finkel’s 2013 book, Thank You For Your Service. Schumann inspired the main character in Dreamworks’ feature film adaptation of the same name. In this Episode, Read more…
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars – Khalil Gibran I hear it often from the veterans I work with. “I don’t want to deal with it, because if I do, the pain will never stop.” Avoidance…of a topic, of a Read more…