Homeland Veterans Magazine Nov 2017

Vol. 4 Number 11 • November 2017

Homeland Veterans Magazine

Unsung Heroes Veterans Day Facts

Honor Flight

Keeping the wall refreshed and clean

Speaking Honestly is the Best Medicine

The Many Masks of War

Warriors Give Back

Careers In Law Enforcement

Resources Support Inspiration

HOMELAND / November 2017 1

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EDITOR’S

LETTER

Greetings and a warm welcome to HOMELAND Magazine!

Publisher Editor-In-Chief Mike Miller Contributing Writers CJ Machado Vicki Garcia Wounded Warrior Project Vesta Anderson John Roberts R4 Alliance Jenni Riley DAV M. Todd Hunter Steven Wilson Shelter to Soldier Eva M. Stimson Boot Campaign Barry Smith USO Sharon Smith Andrew McClure REBOOT Workshop Sara Wacker USAA Chad Storlie Operation Homefront Stephen Thomas Women Veterans Alliance Melissa Washington Public Relations CJ Machado Thomas McBrien

Please take some time to get to know the layout of our magazine. Homeland Magazine focuses on real stories from real heroes; the service member, the veteran, the wounded and the families that keep it together.

Marketing/Sales Mike Miller Barbara Henderson

Our magazine is driven by passion, vision, reflection and the future. The content is the driving force behind our magazine and the connection it makes with service members, families, veterans and civilians. Homeland is about standing your ground, resilience, adaptation, inspiration and solidarity.

Entertainment Media Bob Dietrich Calvin Goetz

We are honored to share the work of so many committed and thoughtful people.

Homeland Magazine is published monthly.

Submissions of photographs, Illustrations, drawings, and manuscripts are considered unsolicited materials and the publisher assumes no responsibility for the said items.

All rights reserved.

We appreciate your support and are so happy to have you as a reader of HOMELAND Magazine.

Homeland Magazine 9528 Miramar Road, Suite 41 San Diego, CA 92126

With warmest thanks, Mike Miller, Publisher

858.275-4281

HOMELAND is inspirational, “feel good” reading; our focus is on veterans, military and civilians alike. I believe HOMELAND is where the heart is, and our publication covers a wide variety of topics, and issues about real life and real stories.

Contact Homeland Magazine at: info@homelandmagazine.com

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inside this issue

06 Veterans Day Facts 08 Keeping the wall refreshed and clean 10 The Many Masks of War 16 Honor Flight San Diego 22 Unsung Heroes 24 Warriors give back to his fellow servicemen 28 Nominations and Military Child of the Year® 32 Speaking Honestly Is The Best Medicine 36 ENLISTED TO ENTREPRENEUR 38 Veterans Chamber Of Commerce 40 Careers In Law Enforcement

DIGITAL VERSION AVAILABLE WWW.HOMELANDMAGAZINE.COM

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VETERANS DAY FACTS Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and Nov. 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938. Unlike Memorial Day, Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans—living or dead—but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime.

WHEN IS VETERANS DAY? • Veterans Day occurs on November 11 every year in the United States.

• In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower officially changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day. • In 1968, the Uniform Holidays Bill was passed by Congress, which moved the celebration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. The law went into effect in 1971, but in 1975 President Gerald Ford returned Veterans Day to November 11, due to the important historical significance of the date.

• Great Britain, France, Australia and Canada also commemorate the veterans of World War I and World War II on or near November 11th: Canada has Remembrance Day, while Britain has Remembrance Sunday (the second Sunday of November).

• In Europe, Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries it is common to observe two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. every November 11.

VETERANS TODAY The military men and women who serve and protect the U.S. come from all walks of life; they are parents, children, grandparents, friends, neighbors and coworkers, and are an important part of their communities. Here are some facts about the veteran population of the United States: • 16.1 million living veterans served during at least one war.

• 5.2 million veterans served in peacetime.

• 2 million veterans are women.

• 7 million veterans served during the Vietnam War. • 5.5 million veterans served during the Persian Gulf War. • Of the 16 million Americans who served during World War II, about 558,000 are still alive.

• 2 million veterans served during the Korean War. • 6 million veterans served in peacetime.

• As of 2014, 2.9 million veterans received compensation for service-connected disabilities.

• As of 2014, 3 states have more than 1 million veterans among their population: California (1.8 million), Florida (1.6 million) and Texas (1.7 million).

• The VA health care system had 54 hospitals in 1930, since then it has expanded to include 171 medical centers; more than 350 outpatient, community, and outreach clinics; 126 nursing home care units; and 35 live-in care facilities for injured or disabled vets.

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NOV 11

VETERANS DAY HONORING ALL WHO SERVED

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Keeping the wall refreshed and clean

By Linda Kreter

I still remember when I first visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. Clear memory has blurred over the years, but not the first glimpse of that black granite slash of a wall with the carved names of 58,195 fallen in the jungles in Vietnam. My uncle served two tours – and I am forever grateful that his name is absent from this bold and moving memorial to courage and valor.

The Vietnam War was very controversial; the draft, the anti-war protests, the enormous body count, and residual hideous effects of Agent Orange, the defoliating agent used to clear areas to see the guerrilla fighters.

The Memorial Wall itself created controversy when in an anonymous selection process, former Yale student, 21-year old Maya Lin’s design was chosen.

Its cunningly simple wall design with 58,195 names carved into the granite was confusing in a town full of more traditional memorials. Later two statues were added to satisfy that debate; the Three Servicemen Statue and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Stature to offset the feelings of some that the Wall was merely a giant tombstone.

Today, the Wall is one of the most visited sites in Washington, DC. In the beginning when the wall was opened in 1982, many veterans could only bear to visit the Memorial at night; to be unseen and to privately mourn their fallen friends and memories. Some veterans have never visited the wall, and instead close the door on that part of their past. But for those that visit, most feel a fascinating need to locate, then touch or trace the name of their loved one. Over time, those finger and hand smudges and tracings leave marks, and so does nature.

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The National Park Service is formally tasked with keeping the Memorial clean, but later efforts were augmented with the help of volunteers, led by veteran Jan Scruggs of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, who was discouraged that bird droppings had filled in some of the engraved names.

Mr. Scruggs is known to have handed 37 toothbrushes to visiting veterans one day, who then scrubbed the grime away.

Today, veteran’s organizations and the Park Service work more closely together and every spring and summer weekends, volunteer cleanings take place.

Mementoes left at the wall are collected daily, catalogued, and added to the Memorial Collection.

The wall is washed early in the morning, as sunrise is the rare time when the wall is not busy with visitors.

Though this is a solemn task, many speak of the honor and humility they feel in reviving and refreshing the dark granite wall, making it pristine for the coming week’s visitors.

Volunteers are welcomed, as are children (who are often the great-great-grandchildren of those named on the wall) who wash the lower portions of the wall where they can reach. It is not difficult physical work, but it can be intense, and even a time of draining remembrance.

Each year, over 3,000,000 visitors will come to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Powerful, sobering, proud, and very compelling – we honor our Vietnam Veterans and those whose names will be literally touched and renewed every week.

For more information on visiting or volunteering to clean the Wall, contact the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund at www.vvmf.org, or call them at 202-393-0090.

The wall is washed early in the morning, as sunrise is the rare time when the wall is not busy with visitors. Though this is a solemn task, many speak of the honor and humility they feel in reviving and refreshing the dark granite wall, making it pristine for the coming week’s visitors.

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The Many Masks of War

By Michael Richardson,

WWP Independence Services & Mental Health Vice President

Change can take on many faces. Like masks in a theater worn to show a shift in identity, change represents a new player in the script, assuming a new role. Theaters vary in scenery, but post-9/11 veterans’ theaters take on a similar backdrop: sand and dust, heat and sweat, tears and cries, and fear of the unknown – locked tightly in the cuffs of bravery. The warrior’s mask is donned, and the curtain opens.

Silence fills the room until the final act is completed.

Change takes its bow, and the warrior walks off the stage, but the mask of change remains.

And so marks the first of the many masks of war.

Rosemarie Ader joined the Hawaii Air National Guard in 1993. In 2007, she volunteered for a six-month “inlieu-of-Army” deployment as a logistics officer in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Taliban routinely engaged the NATO military installation where she was stationed with rocketpropelled grenade attacks, leaving Rosemarie with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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According to the 2017 Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) Annual Warrior Survey, more than three-quarters of warriors (77.1 percent) had an experience that was so frightening, horrible, or upsetting that they were constantly on guard, watchful, or easily startled.

“I lost my sense of purpose,” Rosemarie said.

“I lost my identity and cognitive and physical abilities. I thought I wasn’t worthy of receiving care because there were others much worse than me – I still had all my limbs.

I didn’t seek care because of guilt tied to these wounds that no one can see, and so I began to isolate myself from life.”

If history teaches us anything, it is that change is inevitable. The world we live in today is very different than before 9/11, as are the needs of injured veterans.

While support and services have progressed from previous generations, gaps in care still exist between what is currently available to these warriors, their caregivers, and families and how their needs will evolve.

With advancements in battlefield medicine and technology, an unprecedented number of service members survive combat injuries and return home to face their own battles in recovery.

To date, more than 52,000 service members have been physically wounded in the current conflicts, and it is estimated as many as 500,000 service members – like Rosemarie – live with invisible wounds of war, including combat stress, TBI, depression, and PTSD. “My normal functioning started to deteriorate, and it got to a point when everything just stopped,” Rosemarie explained. “I kept losing and forgetting things. Gunshots and explosions from nearby military training were triggering memories of my deployment. I realized something wasn’t right.”

Continued on next page www.homelandmagazine.com

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In July of 2013, Rosemarie admitted herself to a veterans’ emergency hospital in San Diego, California.

To address the growing mental health needs of warriors returning from war, WWP offers wounded veterans a range of specialized mental health programs and services – all tailored to each veteran’s specific needs and free of charge.

Recently, WWP fully launched one of its highly popular pilot programs, WWP Talk, a mental health support line that serves as an invaluable, non-clinical form of emotional support for warriors, family members, and caregivers.

The program has been a lifeline to more than 2,500 participants to date, with 92 percent reporting satisfaction with WWP Talk in 2016 alone.

“I wasn’t ready to talk to anyone face-toface,” Rosemarie said. “I went through a deep depression stage, so a supportive phone conversation that was on my terms was welcomed. If I didn’t feel like talking, it was OK. It became easy to trust and open up more than I could with friends or family. I shared my darkest fears. There were a lot I haven’t even shared with my best friends.”

Each week, WWP Talk participants speak with the same helpline support member, developing an ongoing relationship in a safe, non-judgmental outlet to share thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

WWP’s professionally trained staff help warriors build resilience, develop coping skills, and achieve goals to improve overall quality of health.

This program is crucial for warriors who are returning home from military service with injuries. Warriors need to know they are not alone and not forgotten – that we, as a nation, will continue to be here for their recoveries long after their military service ends.

For many warriors, they just need a safe environment and someone they can trust to listen to their successes and worries, and who can be there for them consistently to provide that first step in connecting to life and regaining a sense of empowerment.

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Through the generous support of donors, the mental health support line is available at no cost to warriors, family members, and caregivers registered with WWP. It serves as a stepping stone in the recovery process for many of them.

“Accepting my invisible wounds has been the most challenging part of my recovery,” Rosemarie said. “To the public and my loved ones, they saw a Rosemarie who was put together and whole. I wore a mask with a smile that was always happy. But beneath the mask, I was angry, sad, lost, confused, and frustrated with myself.”

WWP Talk has helped Rosemarie find her new self.

“Wounded warriors struggle with being judged,” Rosemarie said. “The Talk program teammates are unbiased and breathe positivity and encouragement into your life. Sometimes talking is the first step to getting help.

WWP Talk helped me understand that while I may be a different person, it’s not bad – I am new and improved.

My life can still go on, and I can still do a lot of the same things I used to love and enjoy. I now wear a true mask of joy and laughter – they have become my prescription and medicine of choice. To those I am close to, I share the tears, anger, and truth of my recovery.

WWP salutes the service and sacrifice of those who have dedicated their lives to our great nation.

Veterans comprise a wide range of our nation’s finest, from those who protect and serve on homeland to those who deploy to ensure the realization of freedom across the globe.

Together, these brave men and women fight beside each other, enduring the same battles abroad and at home after deployment.

WWP stands ready to help warriors, their families, and caregivers with comprehensive support for mental and physical health, continuing education and employment assistance, and warrior outreach and reintegration into local communities.

“Everyone needs unconditional support – WWP Talk was that for me.”

About Wounded Warrior Project We Connect, Serve, and Empower The mission of Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP connects wounded warriors and their families to valuable resources and one another, serves them through a variety of free programs and services, and empowers them to live life on their own terms. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. WWP is an accredited charity with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), is top rated by Charity Navigator, and holds a GuideStar Platinum rating.

To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.

(Photos courtesy WWP)

www.homelandmagazine.com

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Research Opportunities

VETERANS: WE NEED YOU VA San Diego Healthcare System and Veterans Medical Research Foundation are looking for participants for human subject research studies on Veterans health issues. Findings will help provide better treatments for Veterans and the general population.

• We are one of the largest VA research programs in the nation • We employ the most advanced research technologies • We employ some of the best, talented and world renowned researchers in the country • We conduct approximately 400 human subject studies annually

Sign up for a research study TODAY!

Some studies provide medical care and/or reimbursement for participation.

Check out our current list of research opportunities.

Visit: www.sandiego.va.gov/studies.asp and www.vmrf.org/studies.html 14

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HOMELAND / November 2017 15

Honor Flight San Diego returns to a hero’s welcome!

By Holly Shaffner

Honor Flight San Diego has been flying veterans since 2010 and after this past trip, they have flown 1,147 veterans. The trip is at no cost to the veteran and is funded through donations. The organization flew to Washington on September 29th and came back to a hero’s welcome on October 1st.

On this last flight, they had 78 WWII veterans, one Korea-era veteran, five female veterans, three veterans over the age of 100, four former Prisoners of War, Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipients and one of the Navy’s first black Chief Petty Officers who recently had a building named for him at Naval Air Station North Island.

The Korea-era veteran on this trip was just eight years old when he and his family were taken as prisoners in WWII and with him on this trip was one of the camp’s liberators who freed him from three years of captivity

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“It was the best weekend of my life,” said a WWII veteran at his recent “Tour of Honor” homecoming at Lindbergh Field.

HOMELAND / November 2017 17 Continued on next page

“It was the best weekend of my life,” said a WWII veteran at his recent “Tour of Honor” homecoming at Lindbergh Field.

His “Tour of Honor” trip was provided by Honor Flight San Diego, a local non-profit organization that takes the most senior veterans and veterans who have terminal illnesses to Washington, DC to visit the memorials dedicated to their service and sacrifice.

The trip is more than just visiting memorials - it is also a time for these veterans to make new friends, share their stories and build that military camaraderie they may have missed for the last 70 years.

For 72 continuous hours, they are thanked and appreciated for their military service.

When the flight lands at BWI, the veterans are greeted by a red, white and blue water salute from the airport’s fire department and as they exit the plane, there is patriotic music playing and approximately 50 local active duty and veterans welcome them to Baltimore. As the veterans get through a gauntlet of well-wishers, they say that they have never felt so special.

Little do they know that is more coming.

n

After getting checked in the hotel and having a dinner with their fellow veterans, they retire for the night after a long day.

On Saturday they board charter buses and head to Washington, DC. Their first stop is the National WWII Memorial, followed by the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, the U.S. Air Force Memorial and the U.S. Navy Yard Museum.

On the morning the veterans leave for Washington, DC, many are so excited that many can’t sleep the night before and many arrive to the airport well before the scheduled report time. They are flown by charter aircraft to Baltimore, MD and on this leg of the trip they receive a big surprise – Mail Call.

They are given letters, cards and pictures made by local scout troops, elementary schools and organizations. But the ones that are most special are those from their family. Each veteran receives a package of mail and they open every envelope and handle every letter and picture with great care.

On this past trip, one Honor Flight team leader had an extra special picture waiting for her WWII veteran.

His great granddaughter had just been born a few days before and the family didn’t have a way for him to see her via electronic means.

The team leader collected the picture from the family through email, printed it out and had it in his Mail Call letters.

When he opened the letters, he saw the picture and the note from his grandson and his eyes filled with tears of joy.

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One of the most impactful stops is at Arlington National Cemetery where they witness the Changing of the Guard ceremony. The women veterans stop at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial where they are greeted by retired Air Force Brigadier General Wilma L. Vaught and are presented with certificates and entered into the memorial’s database.

When the September trip arrived back in San Diego, a female USMC WWII veteran told a news reporter that she had been “inducted into the Military Women’s Hall of Fame”.

The final surprise of the trip is the San Diego homecoming.

The doors open to the plane and they can already hear the crowd cheering for them – but they don’t know it is for them. They get to the top of the escalator or the elevator and it is a sea of red, white and blue, American flags and 800-1000 people chanting – USA! USA! USA! When they realize this is THEIR homecoming, it is hard to control the emotions, even for the most hardened of the military men and women.

That is the homecoming they deserve, because after all, they are the Greatest Generation!

On this past trip and for the first time, the WWII veterans were treated to a tour of the U.S. Naval Academy and had lunch with the midshipmen. This stop on the trip was especially emotional as the four former Prisoners of War were asked to haul up the American Flag to be flown over the Academy that day and a guardian who had served in several combat tours in Iraq led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.

After lunch, the WWII veterans and midshipmen took pictures together and the tears flowed as these salty Naval and Marine Corps men and women saw themselves in the young, energetic leaders of tomorrow.

www.homelandmagazine.com

Honor Flight San Diego’s next trip will be in May 2018.

If you know a WWII veteran who has not been on Tour of Honor, or if you want to volunteer with the organization, please go to: www.honorflightsandiego. org and complete an application.

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CeCe Mazyck

I AM A VETERAN AND THIS IS MY VICTORY. “My victory was finishing my education.” After 38 jumps, CeCe was injured in a parachute accident. Her veterans benefits allowed her to follow her dream and earn a degree. Every year, DAV helps more than a million veterans of all generations—connecting them to the health, disability, and education benefits they’ve earned. Help support more victories for veterans. Go to DAV.org.

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Tour Of Honor “Now for the attention of all hands...”

Do you know a WWII veteran who has never flown on Honor Flight and would like to go on the next trip?

If so, please complete the veterans application at: www.honorflightsandiego.org

www.honorflightsandiego.org Since 2010, Honor Flight San Diego has flown more than 1,100 veterans on their “Tour of Honor”

Honor Flight San Diego provides, at no-cost to the veteran, an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, DC to visit the memorials built for their service and sacrifice. Priority is given to the most senior veterans, currently WWII-era, and any veterans who have terminal illnesses.

The next trip to Washington, DC is in May 2018.

For more information, go to www.honorflightsandiego.org or email us at: information@honorflightsandiego.org

HOMELAND HOMELAND//November November2017 2017 21 1

“Caregivers are really America’s unsung heroes” “It’s only right we ensure they are honored with the support they deserve.”

Unsung Heroes

Like many husbands, each day for Dave Riley begins and ends with his wife—Yvonne. But for the Army and Coast Guard veteran, it’s only because of his wife that he is able to get out of bed every morning and rest comfortably at night.

“In the morning he needs his shirt put on and his prosthetics put on. I brush his teeth and shave him,” said Yvonne, who serves as her husband’s primary caregiver.

Dave is a quadruple amputee who served as a Coast Guard helicopter rescue swimmer. In 1997, while swimming with his family off the coast of Alabama, he contracted a rare bacterial infection—septic shock pneumococcus sepsis. He rapidly fell ill, and was rushed to the nearby hospital.

“That’s about the last thing I remember before I lapsed into a coma,” said Dave. “When I woke up a month later, I was devastated to find both my arms and legs had been amputated.”

The infection caused disseminated intravascular coagulation, a condition that basically stopped the blood flow inside his body.

As a result, Dave’s wife had to make the difficult decision to have all four of his limbs amputated and several internal organs removed in order to give him a chance at survival.

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“As I laid in the hospital bed recovering, all I could feel was despair,” Dave recalled. “I couldn’t imagine how the rest of my life would have any value or happiness.

But one of the first people to visit my bedside was a DAV (Disabled American Veterans) volunteer, who not only helped me with all the paperwork I needed to fill out, he showed me I could be part of a community of veterans like me.”

In the two decades since his injury, he has learned to ski and golf, competed in cycling races, honed his skills as a woodworker and risen through the ranks to become the National Commander of the 1.3 million member DAV. In February, Dave testified on Capitol Hill on behalf of DAV about the importance of benefits for caregivers like his wife.

Currently, only veterans injured after September 11, 2001 are eligible for comprehensive caregiver benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs—which include education and training, respite care and mental health services, a monthly stipend and health care coverage.

“There is financial pressure,” said Yvonne of her role as a caregiver. “It would be a lot more costly to have a home health nurse come in and take care of him. And I’m on his schedule. He’d have to wait for them even to get out of bed.

In February, Dave testified on Capitol Hill on behalf of DAV about the importance of benefits for caregivers like his wife.

So if the caregiver gets to stay home instead of having to work, that would be the best thing for the veteran.”

“Even though Yvonne has—like so many other caregivers— made a lifetime of personal sacrifices to help manage my care, she’s not eligible for any of these benefits because of an arbitrary date,” said Dave. “That’s something we need to change.”

“Caregivers are really America’s unsung heroes,” said Dave.

“It’s only right we ensure they are honored with the support they deserve.”

It’s been shown that supporting family caregivers is less costly to the federal government than treating veterans through institution-based options.

For example, Dave is eligible for nursing home care which could cost upwards of $400,000 per year, whereas average cost per veteran through VA’s Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers is under $30,000 annually.

And in addition to preventing unwanted and more costly nursing home admissions, caregivers reduce overall health care costs by minimizing medical complications and lowering the number of hospital admissions for veteran patients.

“It is virtually impossible for me to take Yvonne for granted, but I feel like the system does to some degree,” said Dave.

“She has been, for all intents and purposes, my most important prosthetic. My dependence on her has given me the independence I’ve needed to thrive in life.” www.homelandmagazine.com

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Warriors and Quiet Waters inspires one Army veteran to put down roots in Montana and give back to his fellow servicemen By: Mackenzie Reiss

Thick, soggy snowflakes fell upon the three fly-fisherman as they crossed the icy waters of the Boulder River. They moved in unison, arms linked together, slowly but surely until they reached a small island in the center of the waterway. Jey Johnson, a 15-year Army veteran, was flanked by local guide, George Anderson and his companion and fellow Army vet, Rodney Thurman.

Over the past four days, the trio had grown close, as was evident by their easy camaraderie during the river crossing.

Anderson taught Johnson the active meditation known as fly fishing, while Rodney assisted, ever-ready to lend an ear or a helping hand should the need arise.

When it came to fishing, Johnson proved a quick study. He caught 25 in a single day.

little while. At the end of the trip, the warriors leave, not only with a pile of fishing gear, but with the tool of fly fishing. The hope is that when they’re back home and things get rough, they’ll take that tool out and use it.

But fishing, soothing as it may be, isn’t an entirely silent sport. In between tying flies and making casts, the men talked.

Sharing came oddly easy with only each other and the river listening in. “I didn’t know Rodney before this — I’d like to think I’ve made a lifelong friend here,” Johnson said of his FX companion. “I probably talked to him more honestly than I’ve talked to anybody in a long time.” It makes sense — both of them being veterans, and of the same branch no less.

But the five-day fishing excursion, or FX, was really about what happened above the river — not below its surface.

Johnson was one of six veterans from all over the country and a variety of branches who participated in the fifth annual Warriors and Quiet Waters FX at Riverstone Ranch — roughly 20 miles south of Big Timber.

But war wasn’t the only common experience Jey and his companion shared. A year earlier, Rodney was in those very same shoes — full of apprehension when he stepped off the plane, uncertain if coming to Montana was the right move.

He too, was a warrior. He too learned to fish on these same riverbanks amongst many of the same people. He too let it heal him.

Each warrior arrived with injuries both visible and invisible to the naked eye. They were selected out of a pool of applicants as the ones whom organizers thought would benefit most from a few days apart from their busy lives, where they could turn all the stressors off, even just for a

This year, Rodney returned to Riverstone to give something back to the organization that helped him so much, and to show other warriors that there can be progress no matter how impossible it seems. Rodney comes from a small town in central North Carolina. He joined the Army at 17

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R4 Alliance Member Highlight

and served as an airborne infantryman in the late 80s and 90s. He was stationed in South American where his duties ranged from guarding the Panama Canal to assisting DEA operatives as they tried to rid the jungle of cocaine in the War on Drugs.

Jumping out of airplanes is what he loved most. Mission after mission, there he’d be, hanging in the open door of the plane, waiting to hear “Go go go!” from the jump master over the churning roar of the engine. And then all of a sudden he’d be falling to the earth, an adrenaline filled descent to the unpredictable jungle below.

But after four years, Rodney decided a change of scenery was in order — and there was the GI bill to take advantage of. He earned a degree in engineering and worked in that field until two passenger planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City. The day after September 11, 2001, Rodney enlisted for a second time.

“After September 11, I couldn’t just sit around and watch it happen on TV and I was still young enough,” he said. His wife Tracy wasn’t exactly in agreement with his decision, but she couldn’t hold him back either. Rodney served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan, operating in the northeast part of the country and along the Pakistani border where he hunted down fighters transporting suicide vests into Afghan territory. www.homelandmagazine.com

Other times, he would track down caches of weapons or gather intelligence by traveling to different villages, hoping the locals could tell him who was Taliban-involved and who wasn’t. “They would treat you face to face like they were your friends and then they may not be your friends later that day,” Rodney said.

His time in country was cut short just a couple of years after he re-enlisted. Rodney and two other soldiers were on their way back to base after conducting a reconnaissance mission. It was nighttime and as they approached the base they saw that it was under attack by Taliban fighters using rockets and heavy machine guns. They weren’t able to radio the base as everyone was busy with the firefight, and a luminary round was fired in their direction. It lit up the sky — and their position. The Taliban then turned their fire on Rodney and his soldiers.

“I was simply just trying to get out of the way of bullets and when I did, I ran over the side of a mountain and I fell off the back side of a cliff,” Rodney said.

“It was probably only 20-25 foot, but when you have a 100 pound rucksack on and you hit head-first into a pile of rocks, it doesn’t matter if you have a Kevlar on or not. You’re going to get hurt.” The next thing he remembered were his buddies rolling him over and gathering his equipment.

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HOMELAND / November 2017 25

On the left is volunteer companion and former program participant Rodney Thurman In the middle is fly fishing guide George Anderson And on the right is warrior and program participant Clark Johnson 26

HOMELAND / November 2017

They were out of the line of fire but the damage was done.

Rodney suffered a traumatic brain injury from the fall and a number of his teeth were forced into his jaw bone. He was transported to Bagram Air Base — a bigger location, but not exactly state of the art either.

A dentist extracted the remnants of his damaged teeth with just novocaine to dull the pain. Meanwhile, Rodney had thrown up multiple times, courtesy of his head injury.

“As soon as I got back, they said that was it,” Rodney said.

The compression from the fall caused some of Rodney’s discs to bulge out against his spinal cord.

His ring and pinky fingers on both hands are paralyzed and he’ll pass out if he looks straight up for too long. Rodney considers himself lucky in some ways— at least the paralysis is confined to his hands — but in other ways, less so. When he fell, he didn’t just lose one career: he lost two.

Because of his TBI, which made reading and math difficult, Rodney’s engineering career also came to a premature end.

He was homebound for a long time after that. Places with crowds and loud noises made him uneasy.

Something as simple as a trip to Wal-Mart was simply out of the question. He spent a decade in relative isolation until his wife Tracy discovered Warriors and Quiet Waters.

Unbeknownst to her husband, Tracy filled out an application on Rodney’s behalf and hoped for the best.

When Rodney found out he’d made the cut, he was initially excited — he loved fishing after all — but at the same time, nervous about the plane ride from his home state to Montana.

“It was just very stressful for me to go to something hustling and bustling like an airport,” he said. But once he arrived in Big Sky country, the staff and volunteers quickly made Rodney feel at home — and he’s been fishing ever since.

“From that day on, I’ve been fly fishing,” Rodney said. “I’ve probably fished 100 days since last September.”

He was so enthralled with the sport of fly fishing and the people and beauty of Montana, that Rodney relocated his family to Florence last year.

“I needed to come back here, not just wanted to, needed to,” he said. Months after his move, Rodney got in touch with WQW volunteer guide, George Anderson, and asked if there was any way he could help the organization that had given him a new lease on life.

He was invited to return to Riverstone Ranch on an FX — this time as a companion. His role would be to accompany his assigned warrior and to help in any way he could — whether that be loading equipment, offering an arm down a rocky bank or simply listening.

www.homelandmagazine.com

“I think that means a lot to the soldiers or Marines coming through, that there is improvement — there can be happiness again,” Rodney said.

“That’s the biggest thing I learned when I came through the FX is it’s OK to be happy again, it’s OK to have a good time, it’s OK to relax — I’d not done that for years.

This has shown my improvement to myself, that I can be useful.” Now, not only is Rodney helping the next generation of warriors, he’s passing his love for fly fishing onto his children.

He teaches his three eldest boys how to cast in a horse pasture near their home. And on some evenings, they can be found holed up in the basement with a fly tying kit.

Rodney has come full circle. In a lot of ways, the student has become the teacher. But in others, he is still learning. And that’s OK too.

“Nothing’s perfect — I still get startled at loud noises and I still don’t like to be around aggression, but the improvements I’ve made is I attempt to do that now.

I attempt to go to Wal-Mart for my wife, I attempt to go to Costco or I’ll plan to go pickup a birthday cake at the grocery store where before I really didn’t want to do that at all,” Rodney said.

“I knew that the only person that could make a change was me. Life’s not going to change you, you gotta change your life.”

This article originally appeared in the May 4th, 2017 edition of the Big Timber Pioneer.

To learn more about Warriors and Quiet Waters, please visit our website at www.warriorsandquietwaters.org.

HOMELAND / November 2017 27

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HOMELAND / November 2017

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Visit NissanUSA.com/military *Eligibility requirements apply: Eligible individuals include U.S. Active and Reserve Military, U.S. Military Veterans within 12 months of separation from Active or Reserve duty, U.S. Military Retirees that have completed at least 20 years of Active or Reserve duty required. Military cash certificate available towards the lease or purchase of a qualifying new Nissan vehicle from dealer stock. Excludes Nissan Versa Sedan S Trim, Maxima, Murano, Murano Cross Cabriolet, 370Z, Quest, Pathfinder, Armada, Titan, GT-R and NV. Military cash certificate amount varies by qualifying model. Offer valid from 3/1/16 through 3/1/2017. Limit up to 2 vehicle leases or purchases per calendar year per qualified participant for personal use only. Offer not valid for fleet or business use. Down payment may be required. Available on lease or purchase. Must take delivery from new dealer stock. Subject to residency restrictions. Other restriction s apply. See dealer for details. Offer is subject to change at any time. Always wear your seat belt and please don’t drink and drive. Nissan, the Nissan Brand Symbol, Innovation That Excites, and Nissan model names are Nissan trademarks. ©2016 Nissan North America, Inc. All rights reserved.

Visit www.ChooseNissan.com.

HOMELAND / November 2017 29

Operation Homefront Accepting 2018 Military Child of the Year® Award Nominations and Military Child of the Year® Award for Innovation Applications Through Dec. 4, Operation Homefront, a national nonprofit with the mission of building strong, stable, and secure military families, will accept nominations for the 2018 Military Child of the Year® awards as well as applications for the 2018 Military Child of the Year® Award for Innovation.

All awards will be presented at a recognition gala April 19, 2018, in the nation’s capital. 2018 will be the 10th anniversary of the Military Child of the Year® awards, with 42 military children honored since 2008.

The annual awards will recognize seven outstanding young people ages 13 to 18. Six of them will represent a branch of the armed forces — the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and National Guard — for their scholarship, volunteerism, leadership, extracurricular involvement, and other criteria while facing the challenges of military family life.

The seventh award is the Military Child of the Year® Award for Innovation presented by global technology and consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. This award goes to a military child who has designed a bold and creative solution to address a local, regional or global challenge.

All seven Military Child of the Year® Award recipients will be flown with a parent or guardian to Washington, D.C., to be recognized at the April 2018 gala, during which senior leaders of each branch of service will present the awards.

They also will receive $10,000 each, a laptop computer, and other donated gifts. In addition, the Military Child of the Year® Award for Innovation recipient will work with a Booz Allen Hamilton team to develop a plan to scale the recipient’s project — drawing on technology and strategic thinking as a part of the corporation’s competitive Summer Games.

“Anyone may nominate a favorite military child for a service branch Military Child of the Year® Award. Parents, siblings, teachers, coaches, clergy, neighbors, grandparents and anyone who knows a child’s talents may nominate.

Simply go to www.militarychildoftheyear.org and click the Nominate tab. Children and youth interested in the Innovation Award do not need to be nominated, and may apply directly at www.militarychildoftheyear.org.

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HOMELAND / November 2017

This special award recognizes the amazing contributions military children make to our communities,” said Brig.

Gen. (ret.) John I. Pray Jr., President and CEO of Operation Homefront.

“This exceptionally talented group of our fellow citizens has to cope not only with the standard slate of challenges young people in our society face, but have to deal with the added pressures of parental deployments, relocations, and many other uncertainties as well.

As a result, they develop an inner compass that guides them towards giving back, leading, volunteering, advocating, and serving others.

I encourage all to consider nominating a deserving military child and join Operation Homefront in our annual celebration of resilience, achievement and strength of character.” Previous awardees remember their Military Child of the Year® Award as both an honor and an amazing experience.

On average, previous recipients have had at least one parent deploy for 18 months or longer and have relocated at least five times due to a parent’s military assignments.

For more information about the Military Child of the Year® nomination process, visit www. militarychildoftheyear.org.

Henderson Heussner received the 2017 Army Military Child of the Year® Award as an 18-year-old senior at Estero High School in Estero, Fla. Heussner said that upon learning he had earned the award, “I couldn’t help but feel honored to have been selected, because I know there were so many qualified nominees.”

www.militarychildoftheyear.org

“I was shocked that out of so many amazing military kids, they chose me,” said 2017 Coast Guard Military Child of the Year® Mary Kate Cooper, who received the award when she was a 17-year-old junior at W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, Va. “I think everyone goes through hard times and you could find a reason to give every military child an award. Overall, I am excited and honored to have been chosen to represent the United States Coast Guard.”

www.homelandmagazine.com

HOMELAND / November 2017 31

Shelter to Soldier Monthly Giving Campaign Help us “Save Lives, Two at a Time” by starting your monthly contribution today.

You can give your gift at www.sheltertosoldier.org by clicking on the DONATE NOW link and checking the monthly recurring donation option on your donation form.

Every day, 3200 dogs are euthanized nationwide, and every day 20 veterans and one active duty military personnel lose their lives to suicide – that’s one life lost every 69 minutes.

Donations large and small make a difference by allowing us to adopt, care for, house, train and place these highly trained companions with veterans in need.

Shelter to Soldier adopts dogs from local shelters and rescue organizations and trains them over the course of 12-18 months to become psychiatric service dogs for post-9/11 combat veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress (PTS), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and other injuries associated with traumatic service experiences.

Your contribution will help us provide safe housing, medical care, vaccines, supplements, food, bedding, grooming, and training equipment for the service dogs in training while they reside in our training program as well as service dog and graduation materials to each veteran/service dog team when they graduate as a pair.

For as little as $10 a month, you can make a direct impact on these two populations that need our help.

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HOMELAND / November 2017

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HOMELAND / November 2017 33

Speaking Honestly Is The Best Medicine

By Barry Smith Boot Campaign

“When you stand up there, just rip it apart, lay it out there and be honest with them”

Medically Retired U.S. Marine, Inspired By Chris Kyle Meeting, Believes Speaking Honestly Is The Best Medicine Public speaking obviously is not an easy task and ranks among the world’s most common fears. For those who do speak publicly, many prepare quite extensively by writing note cards or scripts, creating fancy PowerPoint presentations, and even using a teleprompter.

Then there are other speakers who use no notes, props or tools of technology whatsoever, and they do not even know what they will say or how they will say it until the moment comes.

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The latter example fits the speaking style of Odessa, Texas native and 12-and-a-half-year veteran Marcus Burleson, a U.S. Marine staff sergeant and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technician, who spends a significant amount of his retirement sharing the story of his award-winning military career to audiences of all kinds.

“I’ve talked about my story probably 100 times, but I’ve never stopped to write any of it down,” Burleson explains. “Every time is different.

I’ve always tried to kind of judge the room, and then base my approach to how I wanted to tell my story based off what I felt from the room.

I feel like I get a better reaction and connection with the people whenever I do that, as opposed to going out there with some cookie cutter stuff that I’d already written down.”

Even if he is speaking to a gym full of junior high school students about patriotism, he has found brutal honesty to be a winning approach to getting and holding an audience’s attention and to make sure his message is heard.

“When you stand up there, just rip it apart, lay it out there and be honest with them,” recommends the Boot Campaign Veteran Ambassador, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medal and Purple Heart recipient. “If it hurts it hurts, and if it doesn’t it doesn’t, but be honest because they can tell.

You know they can tell because if everyone in the room believes you, you can hear a pin drop. They are listening and focused because they can feel it. What this dude says he means. It’s not just BS. It’s real. That gets people because we don’t often get that honesty anymore.”

Although his grandfather served in World War II and three of his uncles served in Vietnam, all as members of the U.S. Army, Burleson was not planning on a career in the military after graduating from Odessa Permian High School. He enrolled in Odessa College and was pursuing a degree in education before tragic terrorist attacks occurred on American soil on Sept. 11, 2001, giving him the encouragement and sense of duty to forego his studies immediately and enlist in the military like many young patriots of his generation.

Burleson garnered his first duty assignment in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii with the third Marine regiment, where he spent three years before being assigned the next three years to Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Arizona, with Marine Aircraft Group 13.

With six years under his belt working mostly as a supply clerk in property accounting and finance, Burleson felt he was ready for a change after experiencing his first deployment as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. “I was finally able to get myself on a deployment to Iraq, and there I was able to see things a lot more clearly,” says Burleson.

That’s kind of when I decided I needed to be a bigger piece of the puzzle than I was.” Almost immediately upon his return to the States in 2007, Burleson began training for one of the most dangerous roles in the military by enrolling in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) school.

“I got to see how things really operated outside of the training environment, and I felt more attached to the military then than I ever did before.

“I got a chance to interact with the EODs on my deployment to Iraq,” he recalls, “and absolutely fell in love with the camaraderie that they had.”

www.homelandmagazine.com

HOMELAND / November 2017 35

The change was just what he was looking for, and after two years of training and a few minor assignments he was deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in October 2011.

What he was not prepared for was what happened just two months into this deployment.

On Dec. 9, 2011, while working as a team leader for an EOD squad attached to the 31st Georgian Battalion, he was part of a group conducting dismounted operations just outside of Sangin, Afghanistan when their patrols encountered a pair of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

“As a team leader, we take what is known as the long lonely walk,” confides Burleson. “Everybody else bunkers down and takes cover, and you expose yourself, as the senior leader of the team, to the danger. It was my job to clear the path. I had already taken care of the first device, and while attempting rendered safe procedures on the second device, it detonated with me over the top of it and resulted in catastrophic injuries.”

Suffered life-threatening wounds to multiple organs and losing both arms, Burleson was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where he spent the next 27 months as the start of his lengthy, ongoing recovery. He medically retired three months later in June 2014.

While spending more than two years in the hospital, he was visited by many individuals representing groups and organizations, but it was one visit in particular that stood out among the others.

He was visited by fellow Odessa, Texas native and retired U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the author of the New York Times Best Selling book “American Sniper,” on behalf of Texas-based Boot Campaign.

Burleson says his meeting with Kyle happened very early on in his recovery efforts and it did not have the impact right away that it ended up having in the long run.

“Chris did something very different, very unique, and it stayed with me for a long time,” remembers Burleson. “It started becoming more evident the more time I spent in the hospital and the more visitors I had. Most of these people would show up at the hospital and they always had an agenda. It was a recurring theme. They were never just there to say, ‘Hey!’

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Photo By Erik Gloege

“Chris didn’t do that,” he continued. “Chris wasn’t there just because Boot Campaign asked him to be there, but Chris just did it because he thought it was the right thing to do.

He didn’t walk in there and boast about Boot Campaign or his book or anything else. He just came in, pulled up a chair and was like: ‘What’s up Dude?’

“The guy spent a couple of hours with me and it was the first normal conversation I’d had in months, and pretty much the only one I was going to have for the next year,” he adds. “ The more time went by, the more people came in, the more that conversation stood out for me. And it really made me willing to give Boot Campaign a shot as an organization I could work with.”

We get to shut everything down for a few moments and share something special, tear open those wounds, emotions and physical scars, and just live it out on stage right in front of these people. We get a chance make a difference in these people’s lives.”

With Veterans Day coming up in November, Burleson is well aware that most civilian Americans do not understand the true meaning of the holiday or the sacrifices the men and women in uniform are making every single day on their behalf. However, he says he is okay with that.

With Veterans Day coming up in November, Burleson is well aware that most civilian Americans do not understand the true meaning of the holiday or the sacrifices the men and women in uniform are making every single day on their behalf. However, he says he is okay with that.

Photo By Erik Gloege

Following his exit from the Marine Corps, Burleson was instrumental in retooling Boot Campaign’s first internally administered assistance program, the Military Recovery Fund (MRF), as its program coordinator. Burleson just recently went through Boot Campaign’s new ReBOOT pipeline.

He continues to serve his country post-military service as an advocate for service members and veterans, speaking at numerous local and national events, giving live media interviews, and lending his support to a variety of military-focused nonprofit organizations like Boot Campaign, as well as the Yellow Ribbon Fund, Veterans United, and the Wounded EOD Warrior Foundation, among others.

“Speaking is something I absolutely want to continue to do, and it does mean a lot to me,” admits the father of three and current resident of Dublin, Texas, who also enjoys off-roading and hunting wildlife for his dinner during retirement. “It’s one of the few times I truly feel like we are able to communicate our message in an honest manner and in a manner that people can actually connect with and understand. www.homelandmagazine.com

“It’s kind of a double edge sword,” interprets Burleson. “As veterans these holidays mean something very different to us than they do to everybody else. The fact that 99 percent of 300 million people in the United States of America don’t know what we know and don’t feel what we feel is not a bad thing. That’s an absolute luxury.

“That one percent is willing to stand up and take on that fight for them, so they never have to know those sacrifices or spend those sleepless nights remembering the people that were left behind, that’s okay,” he clarifies. “Actually, I kind of like the fact that they don’t have the same understanding we do. It makes me proud to have served, and to have stood that line to protect them from that because it sucks.

Nobody wants to feel what we feel. These are not happy days for us.

“This year on Veterans Day I will get together with my family,” Burleson reports. “We take our time, make up some good food, and just try and celebrate the day.

That’s what life’s about, celebrating tomorrow.

We can’t get hung up on what happened yesterday.

Tomorrow is going to come whether we like it or not, and we better be ready for it.”

Learn more about Boot Campaign at www.BootCampaign.org

HOMELAND / November 2017 37

ENLISTED TO ENTREPRENEUR

By Vicki Garcia

The Truth About Partnerships

So, you and your really good friend have a great idea for a business. You look at each other and say, “let’s do it together!” And, off you go...blissfully unaware that up to 70% of all business partnerships fail.

It makes perfect sense to want to be in partnership with someone else. Starting up a business on your own can be lonely and intimidating. Having a partner can seem like you’re part of a team with synergy to work together. Plus, it would be great if your partner has funds to invest in the business.

And, that’s how you can run straight into the mistakes that will send you down the white rabbit hole called how-didthis-go-wrong.

I can tell you, from first-hand experience, that a partnership breakup is brutal. It’s nearly as bad, and in some cases worse, than a divorce. All your dreams and hard work go up in smoke, and that may not be the worst of it. It’s not unusual for a former partner goes on the warpath deploying nuclear, radioactive options. Ask around in any business networking group and you will hear scores of partner breakup horror stories.

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A Business Partnership Is Like a Marriage Without the Good Stuff A business partnership is like a marriage, without the good parts that keep you married, like kids and sex. Think about it...50% of marriages break up, and those people love each other.

Entrepreneurs get into partnerships for a variety of reasons – • Labor –If you have a business partner you can get a lot more work done without worrying about paying a highpriced employee.

• Splitting Up Tasks – One of the best things about having a business partner is that you can divide tasks and not worry about other aspects of your business. And, each partner will be able to specialize on certain tasks, which will make each more efficient.

• Money – One partner can fund the startup and keep it going. The other partner typically has no money but has expertise.

Partnerships Fail for a Lot of Reasons Considering that partnerships are usually launched with such great optimism, what could go wrong?

• Sharing the Ups & Downs – Sometimes things will be going great and other times they won’t. By having a partner, you can motivate each other to stay on top of things.

• Brainstorming – when you think of something cool and want to bounce it off someone, what better person to do so with then your business partner?

• Networking – you can never have a big enough network.

With a business partner you can double your network

• The partners didn’t adequately define their vision and reason for existence beyond simply being a vehicle to make money. People often join partnerships for financial reasons but leave because of values, career or life goal misalignment.

• Expectations weren’t clearly set from the get-go. Who does what and when are they supposed to do it. What you don’t want is one partner working their butt off, while the other is kicking back, enjoying the fruits of the other’s labor.

Exciting, huh? We’re going to work together in common cause and make lots of money. Yea!! STOP!!!

• You don’t share common values and ethics. This is a subtle and yet extremely important element for a successful partnership. Egos can be easily bruised. Animosity builds up. Honesty and integrity may be more important to one partner than the other.

For starters, a partnership is a legal entity. According to Free Advice: Legal “Partnership liability can depend on the type of partnership, as well as your position in the partnership.

• Communication wasn’t clear and honest. Just like in a marriage, it is important to work things out and talk frankly frequently. Trust is critical to a successful partnership.

It can also depend on the laws of the state in which you do business. In a general partnership, each partner has unlimited personal liability. This means you are financially responsible for whatever your partner does.

If you enter into a partnership, you must make a commitment to the other partner, much like a marriage.

Not only must that person and their interests coincide with yours, but you must always give them the loyalty and concern that is due to a partner. You form a unit, and protecting that unit is paramount.

Partnership rules usually dictate that whatever debts are incurred by the business, it is the legal responsibility of all partners to pay them off. This is true even if one partner enters into a bad contract, or rear-ends another car while working.

All partners are responsible for paying the debts.” (at this point, I’m going to state, unequivocally, that this is not legal advice.

Seek the advice of an attorney, and do your homework.

Start with the following: https://business-law.freeadvice.com/business-law/ partnerships/partnership-personal-liability.htm)

Unraveling a partnership can be a daunting, miserable experience. If the partnership has been in existence for a period of time, there may be complex financial issues.

Each partner may have assets and intellectual or material interests at stake. From my experience, there are almost always thorny emotional disputes behind a partnership dissolution.

Happily, there are other options. One is to start your business as a sole proprietor and enter into joint ventures with other sole proprietorships.

Each joint venture is a separate agreement. You get all the benefits, without the liabilities, while preserving your independence.

If it doesn’t work out, go your separate ways.

Doesn’t that sound like a better alternative?

Vicki Garcia is the Co-Founder of Veteran Entrepreneurs Today (V.E.T.) & President of Marketing Impressions.

Email her at vicki@veteranentrepreneurstoday.org and register for free coaching at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/veteransinbiz

www.homelandmagazine.com

HOMELAND / November 2017 39

JOIN US

Veterans Chamber of Commerce www.vccsd.org

We are the Voice and Action of our Veteran Community.

Access a Network of Veterans, Service Providers and Resources to Help your business Grow!

We support programs that Improve the quality of life of our Families and our Communities.

For more information please visit our website www.vccsd.org or send us an email veteransccsd@gmail.com

We encourage and Support New and Existing Entrepreneurs 40

HOMELAND / November 2017

How to get a bank to say

By Joseph Molina

Financing is not just dollars and cents, it is also a mindset that works as a guide. Financing a venture can take several forms from loans to lines of credit and non-traditional lending options. Financing is crucial for starting companies and it is even more critical for growing companies as they plan for expansion and growth.

So where can a new start-up company go to secure its initial funding? Banks, other lenders, investors? Some people use personal money to start their business, others use family and friends, but what is the best approach in securing initial funding?

“YES”

I would strongly advice that you present your business idea to a business coach/advisor who can be honest with you and help you make your “pitch” clear and easy to understand.

Veterans have a huge advantage when applying for government contracts 1. Financing Options 2. Legal and HR Support 3. Exporting Opportunities through Trade Delegations 4. Entrepreneurship for Youth and Military Spouses

YES

If we were to advice a new company on which strategy to use, we must first understand the lender mindset and what they’re looking for. First, you need to understand that bankers see business ventures differently than investors.

The lender’s primary concern is repayment, while investor’s primary concern is the potential and the possible economic and/or social impact. Knowing this from lenders, borrowers should focus their language within their business plan to reflect repayment (how the business plans to make the loan payments). Basically, you’re showing the lenders that there is money available to make on time payments,

whether these funds are from the business sales or personal. This will help strengthen the loan request. The loan application and the business plan should be the platform where we could convince lenders that we are a low risk. Lenders are not open to high risks (for the most part) therefore, stating how the loan is going to be easily repaid will put the lender’s mind at ease and most likely on your side. Keep in mind that the business loan officer is your “champion” with the bank, borrowers do not really get to present their loan to the underwriters who make the final decisions. Therefore, it is key that you have someone who can “sell” your loan for you.

Make sure your loan officer really understands your idea, your approach and how you plan on making money with your business. I have found that many business owners have difficulty presenting their ideas in a clear and concise way. I would strongly advice that you present your business idea to a business coach/advisor who can be honest with you and help you make your “pitch” clear and easy to understand.

Make sure your loan officer really understands your idea, your approach and how you plan on making money with your business.

I have found that many business owners have difficulty presenting their ideas in a clear and concise way. www.homelandmagazine.com

Entrepreneurship is exciting for many veterans, bringing with it the freedom to create new paths and the reward of discovering new ways to overcome challenges. For veteran business owners to truly succeed, it is important to understand the three (3) types or “Mindsets” of entrepreneurs.

One: Entrepreneurs - These are people who enjoy creating and they welcome new challenges. Their main drive is innovation. These people see opportunities where others do not.

Two: The Shop Owner - These entrepreneurs are people who enjoy running and managing the day to day operations of a business. Their main drive is consistency. These owners see the business as a long-term investment.

Three: The Executive - These entrepreneurs enjoy the “speculative and potential” side of the business. Their main drive is growth. These people understand the potential of a business and how to multiply it in the marketplace.

According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans more than 40,000 homeless vets receive compensation each month, but that’s not enough to find affordable housing “Many vets have skills learned through the military that are not applicable for occupations in civilian life”. The Veterans Chamber of Commerce (VCC) is in an ideal position to help our fellow veterans through self-employment, to discover new ways of supplementing their income.

San Diego Veterans Chamber of Commerce provides a platform where entrepreneurialminded veterans can access resources, network with peers and receive mentorship from fellow veterans.

The Veterans Chamber of Commerce (VCC) was born out of the desire to provide a platform for entrepreneurial like-minded Veterans to collaborate and share dreams and business goals in a welcoming environment surrounded by fellow Veterans. www.vccsd.org

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Military, Firefighters, Teachers, Medical Field, Law Enforcment, Veterans

The Thank Heroes Home Rebate Program!

We are Honored to Serve Those Who Serve

Get 100% of your closing costs covered and up to a 20% return on commissions... cash!

Contact us today at 619-937-3659 or visit us at SDThankYouHeroes.com to find out how our program can help you!

CalBRE#01990368

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Military service can be a perfect entrance into a law enforcement career.

Military and law enforcement personnel have had a long-standing relationship with overlaps in training exercises, equipment, and, most important, personnel.

It is not uncommon for a service member to make the jump from the military to law enforcement, as both professions look for the same characteristics; leadership, fidelity, chain of command, and teamwork are all common themes in both professions.

Quite understandably, many American military veterans often gravitate to a career in law enforcement when the time comes to rejoin the civilian workforce.

The two professions have many fundamental similarities; from the uniforms they wear with pride, to the firm command structure they serve under, to great personal risk they endure while protecting those who cannot protect themselves.

Opportunities in Law Enforcement

You’ve served your country, now serve your community!

The following agencies are actively hiring & proudly support our veterans, active military and the families that keep together.

We thank you for your service, to all the men and women in law enforcement around the world for your courage, your commitment & your sacrifice.

- Homeland Magazine -

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Become A Part of Our Story!

Learn more at TrooperStories.com

There’s a story behind every badge, and a person behind every story. There are For upcoming test dates as many reasons and motivations for and locations visit joining the Washington State Patrol as PublicSafetyTesting.com there are troopers themselves.

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Honesty - Professionalism - Commitment to Community The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office

Become a part of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the most rewarding job you will ever have.

We are accepting Preliminary Applications for a Detention Deputy Trainee Academy starting 2017/2018.

Applicants may apply online at www.keysso.net or contact Charles Slebodnick at cslebodnick@keysso.net or 305-292-7044. EEO/AAP

Colorado Springs Police Department Safeguarding Our Community As Our Family (719) 444-7437 cspd.coloradosprings.gov Recruiting@ci.colospgs.co.us Facebook: Colorado Springs Police twitter@cspd.pio

Visit our website for further information and fill out a job interest card today! cspd.coloradosprings.gov

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We strive to maintain the trust and confidence of our citizens while working to improve your quality of life.

Answer The Call!

Accepting Applications November 13th through December 28th, 2017

Seeking qualified Men and Women with:

If serving and protecting the community is your passion, Answer the Call.

• A Strong Moral Compass • A Desire to Serve the Community • Dedication to Upholding the Law 46

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www.JoinOPD.com • Phone: 402-444-3507 Facebook: JoinOPD • Twitter: JoinOPD

JOIN

PGH POLICE

LEAD. SERVE. PROTECT. The City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police is looking for individuals to lead, serve, and protect. We value our service members and offer the following benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance Tuition Reimbursement Veterans Preference Points Career advancement through our specialized units Join us in one of America's most livable cities

Visit joinpghpolice.com for more information

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Join A Great Team!

We find that our Veterans are the Very Best!

• Exciting Career opportunities in the cool pines of Northern Arizona.

• We are currently hiring for Detention Officers, and Nurses.

• Military preference given.

For employment questions call Sheriff’s Office Human Resources

(928) 226-5069 or (800) 338-7888 www.coconino.az.gov/sheriff.aspx

• At Coconino County Sheriff’s Office our Service to the Community is accomplished by hiring the Best!

• [Check out our agency and find a home where you can apply the skills you’ve learned in the military.]

• Coconino County Sheriff’s Office is committed to providing responsive and effective Service to Community.

JOBS FOR VETS

Careers In Law Enforcement Visit Today For Law Enforcement Profiles & Job Openings

HomelandMagazine.com JOBS FOR VETS LAW ENFORCEMENT 48

HOMELAND / November 2017

(719) 444-7437 cspd.coloradosprings.gov Recruiting@ci.colospgs.co.us Facebook: Colorado Springs Police twitter@cspd.pio

Visit our website for further information and fill out a job interest card today! cspd.coloradosprings.gov

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Santa Monica Police Department THE BENCHMARK OF EXCELLENCE.

Benefits:

Join Us.

• • • • • •

Annual Salary Ranges of $80,988 - $99,984 Compressed work schedules Paid vacation, sick, and personal leave City paid medical, dental, and vision insurance 2.7% at 57 Public Employee Retirement Plan Educational incentives- 6% for Intermediate POST Certificates, 12% for Advanced POST Certificates • Uniform allowance • Additional bilingual pay • Court standby pay • Longevity pay • Sick leave buy back incentive

TAKE YOUR NEXT STEP TOWARD A REWARDING CAREER In addition to Patrol, our core service, the Department offers a wide range of special assignments: • Crime Impact Team • Criminal Investigations Section • Crisis Negotiations Team • Downtown Bicycle Unit • Field Training Officer Unit • Gang Unit • Homeless Liaison Unit • K-9 Unit • Mounted Patrol Unit • Neighborhood Resource Officer Unit • Personnel and Training Unit • School Resource Officer Unit • Special Weapons and Tactics Team • Traffic/Motor Unit • Vice/Narcotics Unit

santamonicapd.org/join

HOMELAND / November 2017 51

Sport Clips is Proud to Support Our Veterans The annual Sport Clips Help A Hero promotion runs this year from October 16 through Veterans Day, November 11. Participating stores around the country will be accepting donations to support the VFW “Sport Clips Help A Hero Scholarship” program.

Since 2013, Sport Clips has supported the program, which provides scholarships for service members and veterans for use a post-secondary schools and trade schools. To date, we awarded more than 800 scholarships and awarded more than $3 million in scholarships.

In 2016, through the generous donations of our Clients and partners, we collected $1 million for the program.

We are again collecting donations in-store from October 16 through November 11.

And on Veterans Day, $1 from every haircut service provided at our stores around the country will be donated to the campaign.

In addition, select stores will be offering free haircuts on Veterans Day for active duty military and veterans.

To find stores offering free haircuts on Veterans Day, visit - https://sportclips.com/ promotions-partnerships/help-a-hero/help-a-hero-2017 To learn more about the VFW’s “Sport Clips Help A Hero Scholarship” program, including details on eligibility, please visit www.vfw.org/scholarship/

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The Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program is Here for You and Your Family You can participate in WIC if you:

WIC offers families:

• Are pregnant • Are breastfeeding a baby under 1 year of age • Just had a baby in the past 6 months • Have children under 5 years of age including those cared for by a single father, grandparent, foster parent, step-parent or guardian

• Checks to purchase foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, cereal, baby food, milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, peanut butter, and beans. (Checks are worth between $50-$113 a month per participating family member.)

• Breastfeeding Support and breast pumps • Nutrition Information and Online Classes

Many Locations Off Base in San Diego to Serve You

Chula Vista WIC

North Park WIC

Clairemont WIC

Escondido WIC

542 Broadway, #Q Chula Vista, CA 91910

3078 El Cajon Blvd. #100 San Diego, CA 92104

5222 Balboa Ave. #22 San Diego, CA 92117

1131 East Washington Ave. Ste. K Escondido, CA 92025

Southeast WIC

Logan Heights

Vista WIC

Mira Mesa WIC

3177 Oceanview Blvd San Diego, CA 92113

1809 National Avenue San Diego, CA 92113

1000 Vale Terrace Vista, CA 92084

10737 Camino Ruiz #135 San Diego, CA 92126

NEW LOCATIO

El Cajon WIC

N

3301 North Magnolia Ave Ste. 101 El Cajon, CA 92020

Spring Valley WIC

Fallbrook WIC

9621 Campo Road #G Spring Valley, CA 91977

1328 South Mission Rd. Fallbrook, CA 92028

Financial Eligibility is Based on Family Size and Income: # of people in family*

Gross Monthly Income

2

$2,504

3

$3,149

4

$3,793

5

$4,437

6

$5,082

Call us Toll-Free at

1-888-999-6897 www.sdsuwic.com

*Pregnant Woman = 2 People Not all pay is included i.e., BAH or OCONUS COLA Income guidelines are subject to change This institution is an equal opportunity provider

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Scan from Smart Phone for more info on WIC

SeaWorldÂŽ San Diego salutes the men, women and families of our Armed Forces.

Visit your local military ticket office for specially priced tickets and visit WavesOfHonor.com for your exclusive offer.

Š 2017 SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

HOMELAND / November 2017 55

Our Affordable Units Fit All Budgets San Diego’s Total Self Storage Solution 3 Months 1/2 OFF on a 6 month lease.

10% Discount for Military, Senior, and Students.

Associated Storage Miramar 858-693-1717 Associated Storage Kearny 858-495-1717

* New customers only

HOMELANDMAGAZINE.COM “As Good As It Gets”

VisitSupport today atInspiration Resources

www.HomelandMagazine.com 56

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www.homelandmagazine.com

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PTSD TREATMENT DECISION AID: THE CHOICE IS YOURS

Wondering which PTSD treatment is right for you?

Use the PTSD Treatment Decision Aid to learn about and compare treatments.

HOW DOES IT WORK? Watch Video Interviews with Providers Compare the Treatments You Like Best Find Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Get a Personalized Summary

WHO IS IT FOR? PATIENTS: The Decision Aid teaches you about your options and gets you ready to work with your provider to choose the best treatment for you.

PROVIDERS: The Decision Aid educates your patients about evidence-based PTSD treatments.

Review it together in session, or have your patients work through it at home.

There are effective treatments for PTSD. You have options. The choice is yours.

The PTSD Treatment Decision Aid is an online tool to help you learn about effective treatments and think about which one might be best for you.

www.ptsd.va.gov/decisionaid 60

HOMELAND / November 2017