Welcome to Head Space and Timing
An Online Community for those who want to learn more about Veteran Mental Health, support those who have served, and reduce the barriers to health and wellness that exist for our nation’s service members
Are You A Veteran, Care For One, or Work With One in Any Way?
If you served in the military, regardless of when, where, how long, or how you left, you’re a member of a unique group of individuals who hold a common set of values, like Honor. Integrity. Loyalty. Service. If you’re a family member of a service member…spouse, parent, sibling, significant other…then you served in a different way, but served all the same.
Head Space and Timing is focused on providing veterans, their family members, and interested members of the veteran’s community with the awareness around all aspects of veteran mental health. Our intent is not only to have real and meaningful discussions about mental health and wellness, but to support and inspire veterans to be able to use the strengths they gained while they were in the military to make a positive impact on their community, in whatever way they want.
From Combat Veteran to Mental Health Counselor
My name is Duane France, and I’m a retired United States Army Noncommissioned Officer. After 22 years of service, which include tours of duty with the 82nd Airborne Division, service as an Army Recruiter at Fort Meade, Maryland, and five combat and operational deployments, I became a clinical mental health counselor serving veterans in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
As I started to work with veterans, I realized that there are some common challenges that all veterans face, and many who want to support veterans who do not fully understand what these challenges. I started the Head Space and Timing Blog to help amplify this message and support those who have served.
Why Head Space and Timing?
The Browning M2 Machine Gun, also known as the .50 Cal, is a weapon that has been used in nearly every branch of the military on many different platforms: mounted to vehicles, ships, boats, aircraft, and helicopters. This weapon is durable, dependable, and strong. Many of these weapons were manufactured in the ‘50s and ‘60s. You can drop ‘em, smack ‘em, submerse them in dust and grit, and still they will fire.
Unless you don’t get the headspace and timing set right.
With this weapon, the service member must ensure that the headspace, the distance between the face of the bolt and the chamber, is properly set, and that the timing ensures that the round fires at the appropriate time. The weapon itself is huge…the overall length is over 5 feet. The headspace and timing gauge…about the size of your thumb.
I consider veterans to be resilient, capable, strong. You can drop ‘em, you can smack ‘em, submerse them in dust, grit, fire, water, the sun and the snow, and still they’ll come back at you.
Unless they don’t have their own head space and timing set right.
If one of the greatest weapons in the military’s arsenal needs adjustment every now and then to operate properly, then why would we consider the operator of that weapon to be any different?
So Now What?
You can see all the episodes of the Head Space and Timing Podcast here
You can see a good introduction to a number of our posts here
If you’re looking for something more specific, we have a lot to offer:
Guest Posts: Posts by other veterans or those who support them with unique insight into aspects of veteran mental health
External Podcasts: Podcasts that we have been featured on
Infographics: Visual representations of veteran mental health that can be shared or embedded on your website
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The best way to be notified of new content is to subscribe to our Feedburner RSS feed. Your email is not held in a list, and you’re not going to be sold anything. The only thing we’re trying to sell here is an idea…that veteran mental health is important, must be talked about, and is nothing to be ashamed of.
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