important meeting in san francisco they give voice to veterans issues and concerns so sit back and enjoy the t v now behrens television veterans swords to plowshares is a community based nonprofit organization that provides counseling and case management employment and training housing and legal assistance to veterans and the san francisco bay area we promote and protect the rights of veterans from advocacy public education and partnerships with local state and national entities thousands are wanted are disabled all serving our country some wounds can be invisible but there are no less painful and make it difficult to transition back to civilian life when i first got back from iraq it was really hard i was depressed and you know kind of lost i'll get you know a little i have a very prominent p t s d p t s d injury from some actions that happened from his active duty i had my face reconstruct twice i stay very isolated i'm hyper vigilant at times i was living with p t s d and traumatic brain injury has made a huge impact in my life i didn't know why my head was hurting why i was remembering flashbacks  secluded i don't want to spend any time with anybody you know you always checking everything and you have to be triple sure that everything is the way you put it else you know  very very difficult twenty percent of operation iraqi freedom and operation enduring freedom soldiers returned home suffering from post traumatic stress disorder in addition there are an alarming statistics of suicide and family abuse veterans returning to civilian life after military duty this can cause a downward spiral of apathy unemployment broken relationships and depression for vets believes that companion animals can be the lifesaving therapy or friend that many returning servicemen and women need over five million dogs and cats are euthanized every year and shelters across america these dogs can make excellent companion animals but never have that chance the pets for vets goal is to give back to those who have given everything for our country and they say thank you pets for vets uses the power of unconditional love and companionship the dogs offer to rebuild the lives of u s servicemen and women shelter dogs that need attention and love and are facing a certain death together the soldier and his or her dog take their first steps on the way to recovery and integration back into society medical studies have shown that companion animals significantly improve mental and physical health including reducing stress depression and  a lot healthier and a lot more emotionally matter even brush my hair or look in braille whatever that little creature will always love the veterans and their dogs become constant companions and now have comfort and security i want you to watch veterans television cable channels twenty eight and thirty  three if you haven't met new v a secretary robert mcdonald then you may not know that he wants new to call him bob that's right the secretary of a cabinet level agency wants to be addressed by not just his first name but by his nickname since birth he continues to correct v a employees veterans and anyone else who calls him anything other than bob as he did re the l and others in the v a news crew that interviewed him in his office in september here's a clip from that interview i joke with folks that i was named bob when i was born and i was secretary and i'll be bob after i'm done being secretary but while that  sounds more of a joke or a little bit trite there's really a serious purpose behind it i think one of the things that we've got to do is nor going to zation is we've got to get better communications from the top to bottom of the organization we've got to engage everyone in the organization whether they're union member employees g s employees s e s employees title thirty eight employees everybody's on the same team everybody's got the same dream and we've got to work together like a family we've got to be able to tell each other when things are going wrong and when things are going right we have to be able to admit ourselves when things are going wrong and i have a fear of reprisal were some other thing i want everybody to be a whistleblower i don't think you need to fit the legal definition of a whistleblower but i want everybody every day to feel responsibility for improving the way we serve veterans we should look at everything we do from the lens of the veteran and if if if if something's not going right we should change it i often told of veterans affairs that my organization model is different than others typically an organization it's it's thought to be a pyramid and typically the the c e o or the secretary in this case would be on top and the lower ranking employees would be the ones that interface with the veteran well in the service organization like ours where we're serving veterans every single day that's our only reason for being we really should invert that pyramid and the pyramid should be inverted where the broad part is at the top and the apex is at the bottom and the person at the bottom is me the secretary trying to help those people who are facing the veteran so it's the people facing the veteran every single day providing services veterans that are the most critically important people in the organization and that's why i think being on a first name basis makes us more like family gives us empathy for that veteran and will allow us to work together with one dream as one team and one family the entire interview is now on v a social media sites the secretary also graces the cover of the next vanguard magazine which includes the print version of the  interview soldiers from wars both old and new marched down city streets flags hanging from homes businesses even color antennas ceremonies remember those who do t war to end all wars world war one also known as the great war shock the global community with its unprecedented toll in human life untold millions were killed germany was running low on men power and supplies ended exactly one year later president woodrow wilson decreed that americans should observe a moment of silence at eleven a m to remember the armistice and to embrace the peace other allie nations commemorated the peaceful anniversary as well in england and canada citizens were paid for poppies poppies had become a symbol of the armistice the poem flanders fee described a one time battlefield in flanders field the popp flow between the process row on row in america the nation's first unknown soldier was laid to rest at arlington national cemetery on armistice day one thousand and twenty one he was a casualty of the great war since that first memorial other unknown soldiers from america's wars have been interred in the tomb and it's become tradition for the president or one of his representatives to lay a wreath on the monument every november eleventh a resolution was passed in one nine hundred twenty six inviting all americans to remember armistice day and the soldiers who fought so hard for peace the idea caught on by nine hundred thirty eight a day was marked with so many ceremonies and parades congress made it a legal holiday giving people the day off work after world war two and the korean war americans wanted to open up the holiday to include not just world war one veterans but all who served in combat in one nine hundred fifty four president dwight eisenhower a world war two  himself legally changed the u s armistice day to veterans day honoring those who served in all american wars for a brief time starting in one thousand nine hundred seventy one congress moved the holiday to the fourth monday in october giving americans a three day weekend but most people rejected the idea the traditional date of november eleventh the anniversary of the great war ceasefire was too historically important to forget president ford reversed the law in  five turning veterans day back to its rightful day over the decades the holiday has changed with the times bridge and only it was a call for world peace then in the u s it became a day to remember war veterans today veterans day is set aside to honor not just those who served in war but also those who have served their nation in p there are currently almost two million veterans in california u s navy united states navy i was in the united states marine corps served in vietnam ramirez founder of one vet one voice is a veteran himself he understands the challenges veterans face when they return home oh as a retired master sergeant that served twenty two years active duty could recall when i got out i had to seek out services i didn't know where to go he tried to find help for himself he had no choice but to visit many different places for his different needs and weren't always convinced that there had to be a better way i was working at the v a medical center and i was appointed as the minority that trained program coordinator that allowed me to do some outreach and in that i founded the san francisco veterans town hall collaborative and what that does it brings federal state local and community partners all together under one roof and in the law allows people to not only talk about what they offer but it allows other organizations to know and to learn what is out there  one voice is a nonprofit organization it is building a network to help veterans access the resources they need all in one location so what the initiative of one that one voice what i'd like to do is try to bring these resources together under a one stop shop that will allow veterans to go to one place and get information and we for almost a health care education housing and employment and  and if we could create some cisco as the model city of services for veterans and military families then we replicate that model county by county and eventually statewide because we have one point eight million veterans in the state of california the largest population of the trends in the united states and we are not at the forefront we should be at the forefront of the services that are provided to our veterans now more and more volunteers and programs are joining to make one vet one voice a reality one vet one voice is an idea that we can combine most of our efforts so that a veteran can look at that and say look i don't have to go to you know sixteen different places in order to gather information that i need the one about one voice project i think is really just a fantastic idea one of the biggest obstacles that friends and service members go through when the transitioning out and finding all the benefits for veterans benefits that are available to them now and finding them but having them on the same location because once you find them you then have to get to them and if there are house in the same location not only can the service providers work together and not duplicate effort and time but they can also reach for the better into a service they need more easily thank you for watching today show join us next time for another edition of the t v now veterans television