Everyone has a story. You just have to listen to it. As a mental health counselor working exclusively with veterans, it often surprises me how difficult it is…and also how easy…for a veteran to be able to tell their story. The impacts of combat, deployments, or even just military Read more…
In late 1999, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I jumped out of an airplane in the fog. Through the quirks of assignments during a 22 year Army career, I’ve only had the pleasure of two Airborne assignments out of eight or nine different ones. Those two were three years as Read more…
This is the second post in a series of articles describing how a group of veterans in Colorado Springs are attempting to make a difference for other veterans in their community. You can read the FIRST POST HERE. As described in the first post in this series, I am firmly Read more…
This is the fourth post in a series of articles describing how a group of veterans in Colorado Springs are attempting to make a difference for other veterans in their community. You can read the FIRST POST HERE, the SECOND POST HERE, and the THIRD POST HERE. Ma Deuce. Ol’ Read more…
A significant challenge that veterans face during transition is they find that there is a wide open space in front of them. We can either choose how we fill that space, or it will be filled for us. The options are seemingly endless, but there are limits. Limits to our Read more…
During a recent discussion with Dan Savage, LinkedIn’s Veterans Program Manager, he talked about how transition for veterans was a two-way street. Yes, certainly, it would be great if the hiring managers in our industry of choice were able to understand us better, but we also need to do the Read more…
In 1779, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Inspector General of the Continental Army, published a book of drill instructions entitled, “Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States.” This publication served as the Army’s drill manual until the War of 1812, and is considered to Read more…
As a clinical mental health counselor and combat veteran, I often work with my fellow service members around challenges that they experience after leaving the service. They haven’t had a lot of experience with military transition. They’re not immediately skilled at interviewing, resume writing, or selecting professional business attire. For 22 Read more…
Dear America, Just wanted to take a few minutes to say thanks and get a few things off my chest. Life’s been a little challenging for us veterans, maybe more than we expected. When I joined your Armed Forces, I looked around and saw a cross-section of your citizens that Read more…
You might have been in the same unit. You probably were in the same branch of service at the same time as them. In other circumstances, at other times, it could have been you that spent the night in jail alongside them. In El Paso County, Colorado, in 2016, there Read more…