hello ladies and gentlemen my name is pat lawrence and welcome to my show americans invested in mental health incorporated or if you put it in the short form it's called aim high and this show is strictly for veterans and their families and their friends who want to help and my wonderful guest today is my dear friend lieutenant colonel are a lot of these kids because that's what they are committing suicide and that's something that has to be stopped and we'll tell you where the benefits are so that we can just eliminate that just the blessing to come out of thirty years of service as an army officer enlisted and eventually an officer and just a wonderful experience being part of this great american military system but you know one of the things that makes america great the makes our military strong is the strength of this civilian community behind us and and you were always so wonderful always so dedicated making sure that our troops are taken care of the family's needs are met and you know and it isn't it is an ongoing battle they love it they stay and they do active duty twenty plus years or in the guard reserve system but it really is a lifelong investment and and you said you may be in the community of having to happen on this channel on the show but you say well i'm not a veteran i never spent time in the military and by the way you know we talk about the elite the one percenters in this country you know who the real elite are right that's the arts our guys and gals that are currently serving in uniform less than one percent of our populace wears that uniforms at the sharp end of the spear out there every day taking care of us and and making sure we're secure and the american way of life is protected but there's another elite and in america and that's actually the eight percent or less of americans who have ever worn a uniform and i'm talking about our world war two veterans korea vietnam gulf war all the way up to afghanistan iraq these are the guys and gals that are out there today who who are part of the fabric of this country who form a backbone of the country in a lot of ways that you would never really see and they are an elite group in a sense and america's realized that you know the first the face of america initially was the u s army before there was a full fledged country even we had an army and it became the very first form of formal structure and face of what america was going to be so lot of times we'd like to think that the american military ideally is the best of what america should be in many ways and of all the different structures and strata in american society the american military ideally is something that should be the best of all of  but it is a lifelong investment and that's what we tell young guys and gals that are contemplating military service look at this is for you we want you here we want you to be an american warrior we want you to take part of a centuries old tradition now we're talking about something and going back even to our roots here in colonial massachusetts so but once you invest in something like this it changes you forever so a veteran betterness somebody we say who you know it's like writing that if you hear that saying it's right somebody has taken a check and they've made it out to the united states of america a blank check really and it says up to and including my life if need be and so for somebody who does it takes that of takes that pledge wears a uniform  serve and for the good of the community we as a community are going to take care of you and your family in your state so that's kind of translated to what we call the v a system now nationwide and that's taking care of veterans on a daily basis and  and then working with all our partners here you know we're at the federal level this is the u s department of veteran affairs but we can by no means begin to address all the needs that are there for better and so we have all our great state and commonwealth programs department of veteran services secretary need and all his wonderful staff and then our town veteran service officers and then what rounds us all out are community folks just great americans every day quietly out there doing the good work making sure we're taking care of and they're not part of the state or federal agency but they really make a difference in how we live our quality of our lives to include what you've been doing thank you thank you thank you if we go way back if we go the what they expected to have when they got back to the united states they expected to be heroes you know because they were they were heroes they saw they saw the world war two generation who had been their models and to come back course the diverse community to get it right next time in the make it better to keep keep pushing on to keep pushing the line i do know that he people that came back from war  minus legs minus arms had to have prosthetics and because of the v a these prosthetics were made so that they were really went the rest of the world needed sure sure if it's true you know we've we've had that different things you know in the press lately and like any big government system and the v a is the largest federal agency outside of the department of defense you know in the united states a huge organization and several hundred hospital centers outpatient clinics and across the country but every one of them dedicated though in their own way but they too they do lead the charge or are there on the forefront of a lot of cutting edge technologies etc and unfortunately the because of some of the difficulties here in the last few months it's kind of shrouded the exceptional work that they do on a daily basis and wonderful book out there that's called best care anywhere best care anywhere and it appoints out that tremendous strengths that are in the v a health care system our commercial partners in the in the area that we're work with in some ways  work together on some projects but at the v a care system in itself i unabashedly will state that it is the best program for any veteran there and i think it's a model for the country in general well i've been at the bedford volunteered at night and i found when i was it good food it was like a huge family yes everybody knows everybody else all these guys are so friendly and nice and smiling some things that need to be revised in and the v a had to mary's attention like any big federal agency things that need to be done i was a little disappointed in the media though because as i listen to this and watch this in the news all i heard was well the v a has issues broker this and that but i finally got a copy of that report and i have say i was going to thunderstruck when i opened that report to read in the very first paragraph of the special counsel's reports of the president he says mr president the v a is an exceptional care system it is tremendous care system and he said furthermore the people in the v a are highly dedicated to the extent that many of them will turn down higher paying jobs in the commercial care facilities because they want to be there supporting this community of veterans and i tell you that speaks volumes about about great americans one bit to obsessed about these people that are working there in the v a when you walk in the c and so they're working in both fields but they love working at the v a and being part of that veterans community so we're on the cutting edge of technologies and research and development we're also have some of the most highly qualified medical staff in the in the country so when you walk into if you're a veteran walking in for care the b a you're pretty much guaranteed you're going to get the cream of the crop for support and i understand that once you get the queue once you are doing t when you when you come into the v a system you've just got a full network of support services there and jobs etc i'm sorry you just mentioned here about jobs you think so it's a tremendous career field too for veterans to get into they get it they have veterans preference and all of that is found online our human resources department staffs are positions through usaid jobs and anybody looking for any federal job including all those v a positions all you have to do is go online usa jobs and there they all are they just you know you do it by of zip code search and it tells you within twenty miles twenty miles fifty miles where you can go down just to see what's out there and that's a starting point for anybody looking for a career working there supporting the v a but and as we mentioned jobs and support services so you have a v a health care system these are our hospitals and clinics and that care system and but then you have the veterans benefits administration so the v a is a big organization as a big organization actually is composed of two major parts if you want to get to compensation claim in compensation and pension claims they call disability claim that goes through our sector caretakers and seventy five of the v a and to show them how they could work together and it was neat i mean i really had a good time and you got me a br general to speak and i brought a gentleman and his partner from california who if people go on the internet they can find another kind of valor that  are folks in the v a they work directly with the department of defense and and they do i think everybody wants the best for these veterans but but the v a has no commercial incentive they don't need to do additional procedures  place and so we are the leading cutting edge the leading element on p t s d research etc but speaking about that it really is something that we call the hidden wounds of war and affects all of us in different ways and different individuals a lot of folks come in with you know preexisting condition some of them is kind of surprising you know the suicide rate here in the last year or so we've a lot of the studies surprisingly it kind of pointed out that a number of the folks  t the had suicidal thoughts or tendencies or committed suicide unfortunately a lot of them though didn't deploy actually a large number of them never deployed in other words it wasn't so much deployment related but as i think some of them are you know upset that they didn't go and so i'll say in regards of p t s d i think obvious we've done a wonderful job of breaking those barriers realizing that as human beings it's not just this physical issue or this element here but it's just composite being and department offense in the last ten years particularly made a lot of headway in pushing out to the department the navy the army the air force the marine corps our coast guard friends making it clear that all of our service members are all are not machines are not pieces of equipment but they're complex whole human beings that are made up of all these key elements and just like any complex  recognize that and it's an ongoing effort to make sure that people are a balance in sync and just just the last thing on this the talking about post traumatic stress and it really has been something that's it's great because we've had folks that from  two korea there's been suffering with this and and and needlessly you know it's a shame to see but for many years because it from that generation were never thought to really address these things or even understand what that threat is you know you could identify an enemy in the field you see a silhouette you know that shape of the enemy's helmet or the weapon or their aircraft or you know what everybody is trained in the military to recognize that so what that's a threat you know i need to react to that but for these insidious things depression and doubts and fears don't necessarily see those clearly i'm not trained to see those so i'm not in the past anyway but in recent years a lot of our services have been great about helping current military members now see those threats clearly and how  you should react to them and consequently we have what we call post traumatic growth so post traumatic growth being that as you come out of the service or spent your time in the military i think you know a large majority of people have spent time in uniform or come out saying thank god i did what i did my life is so much better for being with those wonderful people and doing the things i do and serving my country and the vast majority of people step out of the uniform as better as better americans and and physically mentally socially more healthy they experience post traumatic growth out of those experiences and it's a wonderful thing to say now on this show on a high i've had people that with and they have the vets come in and you know push back maybe and one person never really made it out of the corral because he was afraid there was a sniper in the trees sure and but yet the horses were coming in eventually he did and people of bench really hopefully get better and  so we know there's a lot of guys and gals coming over that have this illness but there are a lot of guys and gals that it coming over with t b i and that brain injury and that's totally something different but you know it's like you said even though like the fellow in the crowd concerned about snipers in the tree line or you know a lot of that is something that you know we all deal with on a daily basis and every day every day we get up and get out of bed it's taking on that fight every day you know teddy roosevelt such a great american and i tell you was a combat vet you know also but he talked about getting out in that arena every day and you know a lot of physical and even mental emotional challenges as well but he applauded those who realized that the gift that we have every day we have this life that we've been given and and that we those that are will realize that accept that and then actually act on it by each day getting out of bed stepping out and doing something getting out into that arena and because we do shut ourselves off for those that are are having to fight demons of depression and doubt and  or just loneliness and to realize that you've got a network out there that there are people who care about you and what that kind of brings you back into reality because reality is is that you're not alone that there is a team there and i think i mean particularly for the veterans community and i have to say i'm just so grateful for my brothers and sisters in uniform because they do have make life worthwhile and then those dedicated people who never wore the uniform and there's a lot of those at the v a and about forty percent or more of our workforce were veterans spent time in uniform but a good part of the other group although they never wore the uniform they really are veterans in some ways because they believe in heart and soul and so being in touch with the at reality means good even getting to that v a care system a lot of folks say well you know what i am veterans by and large are great people not everybody is a hero that's a fact and you know everybody comes out as the greatest model of an american because come from all different backgrounds and challenges and some of us fall down and cetera but but the point is for somebody to spend time in uniform they are a veteran they do deserve that extra special treatment because they are unique in that sense but but it it's a matter of taking action or helping those people take action and a lot of vets as great people they are they don't want to take benefits or they fear that i don't want to take that from somebody who really needs it all the story is the truth is that we don't th actually untrue that we need veterans to be using things like to be a care system the more of us that use it the stronger it is so that the struggle right now or the f one of the efforts right now is to make sure every veteran in new england has at least made an attempt to get in some vets are not going to be qualified they might be over income there's about a third of us that because of our income may not initially be eligible for really don't care but through maybe the disability process to the folks at the j f k building the veterans benefit to ministration can got the rest of your life to pull that reserve you know so he's like yeah i get it you know i better i got to take action that means it's up to me and you can't freeze you can't chose you've got to take action and so for a lot of us that's out there don't to boston dog just go to look it up on v a if you have your computer connection otherwise or your internet connection otherwise you can coordinate with us i think you're going to post my my name and phone number and email just drop me a line i'll get you the information or your town veteran service officer these are these great folks around here belmont arlington cambridge each of us is has each town has a veteran search for vs a veteran service officer will help get you link if you don't get that application me will put it in the system and usually within a couple of weeks or so you get a phone call ribbon quicker get a phone call and a letter get you rolling in the v a health care tune for your first appointment get you checked out and taken care of and i'll contact you too so that so we don't lose it doesn't go into the big