Spending Time with Other Veterans is Vital to Remain Mentality Healthy.

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Military news...

Marine Corps drops charges against lance corporal who spent 113 days in the brig
Lance Cpl. Catherine Arnett’s legal problems began when she refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

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The Marine Corps is doubling down on loitering munitions ahead of the next big war
Here comes the swarm.

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Fighter Jets Chase Small Plane in Washington Area Before it Crashes in Virginia

The U.S. scrambled F-16 fighter jets in a supersonic chase of a light aircraft with an unresponsive pilot that violated airspace around Washington D.C. and later crashed into the mountains of Virginia, officials said.

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Washington Approves Another $300 Million in Military Aid to Ukraine

The package includes additional ammunition for drones and long-range artillery. It also includes additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems as well as munitions for other air defense systems, including Stingers, Avengers, and Aim-7 systems. 

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It is important to stay connected with fellow veterans. I have been trying to do that for years.

I have a friend that I meet with every Tuesday and Thursday for coffee. We catch up with the world, and our feelings. Always feel refreshed when I leave.

I have a Zoom meeting every Tuesday morning. There is a veteran on there, and we even went to high school together. Fun stories and serious talk.

Seek out other veterans and share your good stories and your hurts.

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Some people think we should be cutting back on funding for the military. Are they deaf and blind? We are near a war with several countries, and the writing on the wall says, stand ready!

Can’t be ready if we are cutting back on equipment and troops.

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I am still waiting to have a couple more interviews of veterans for my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military, in and Out of the Trenches of Life. When I get those done, then it is off to my publisher, Bookbaby.

Keep coming back to see the updates on the book. Better yet…go to the top of this page and click on subscribe. When you do all future posts will go directly to your inbox.

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Is everything going OK, or are you fighting back memories?
FEAR NOT!
There are over 15,219 Veterans on this site who have your back.
If you are battling mentally, but you are losing, GET HELP!!
Here is a toll free number that you can call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK.
1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.
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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up.

+Now there is an easier way to get help. Just dial 988, and you will have help ready for you.

_____________________________________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

There Are many Battles Soldiers Face, but the worst one is Depression

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

________________________________________________________________
Military news….

New legislation opens the door for Marine veterans to file lawsuits over contaminated water at Camp Lejeune
The Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022 allows veterans, families and other individuals who worked or lived on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune to sue for harm and exposure to contaminated water.

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New missiles, drones part of biggest-ever US military aid package to Ukraine
The new $2.98 billion package will allow the U.S. to supply Ukraine with air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems and radars.

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Battle for Kyiv: Ukrainian valor, Russian blunders combined to save the capital

Even as Ukraine’s political leaders downplayed the likelihood of a full invasion, the country’s military took critical steps to withstand Russia’s initial assault.

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US aircraft, artillery pound militants in Syria after rocket attack

U.S. forces struck back with airstrikes and artillery, killing at least four Iranian-backed militants in response to rocket attacks in Syria that injured three Americans.

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Army’s training center in Alaska first in line for new cold-weather vehiclesSoldiers at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, will be the first to receive the Army’s new Arctic-capable vehicle late next year.

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Construction Set to Begin on First US Coast Guard Museum

A special keel-laying ceremony was held on Friday at the museum’s riverfront site in New London, Connecticut, about 40 miles south of Providence, Rhode Island.

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Active Military Member Mows Veterans’ Lawns for Free

Master Sergeant Chad Emrick put a call out on social media offering free lawn care service to veterans so they could take pride in their yard and celebrate the summer holidays. He said sometimes veterans have even reached out to him for help with handyman jobs or to just talk and connect.

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I an sharing another excerpt from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of life. This chapter is about what many of us faced while in the military. It is called depression.

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Move out of Your Home Called Depression

So many people (19 Million in the United States) are silently struggling with depression or related demons. The depression rate in the military is very high as well. People do not do anything about it. It leaves them eventually because the person dies.

How can we get off this train of despair? Why do we let depression overtake us? Shouldn’t we be happy with our family friends, and love ones around us? Is there a way to climb out of the dreadful trench and have a productive life?

Now that I have made you also feel depressed, let me share some thoughts with you, and see if you can see any light at the end of the tunnel.

1.  People seem to think that they will be embarrassed if they let someone know they are depressed. That couldn’t be further from the truth! Don’t you think your close family and friends would jump in to help you faster than a cat on a hot tin roof if they knew you were hurting? Of course they would! Stop closing the door on others and wallowing in your own pity. Let people, and other soldiers, become your support system to get you out of your despair.

2.   Why do we let depression overtake us? Because we become very vulnerable to the dark side, and loneliness of life when we have something go wrong. We can’t just keep going as if nothing ever happened. We either deal with it, or we crash, like I did.

3.   Depression has many names by the way. It hides under the names of self-doubt, anxiety, fear, hopelessness, and self-pity. They all are different names, but they are all symptoms of the Big Kahuna depression. All of those nasty critters push us into the lake of the muck and mire, and we can’t seem to stay afloat. Don’t let this villain ambush you! Keep your eyes on the bright side of life, and not on the dark side.

4.  With today’s modern technology, you can connect with your family no matter where you are in the world. I have used Skype, Face Time (I-Phones,) and speaker phones to get as many people as I can, talking to each other and feeling accepted.

5.   I just did that recently when we had a birthday party for my granddaughter.  My son, who is the Uncle of my granddaughter, couldn’t make it. We did a video connect through I-Box of all things. My son was able to wish my granddaughter happy birthday, and talk with all of us. This was a new one for me.  (You are never too old to learn new tricks.)

     Unlike the dark ages when we couldn’t connect with technology at all, you can see and talk to anyone you want and get the feeling you are right at home with them.

              The bottom line:

      Tell the bad guys to get out of Dodge. Let the good guys come in and help you ride off into the sunset of peace together.

IWILL

Often depression is caused by people or happenings around us. We need to stand strong through these unexpected walls we face. More often than not each time we are faced with something like this it is because we are already fighting a battle within us. We need to be aware of depression that is coming on, and withstand the feelings through positive thinking.

Think about this

Isn’t it interesting how we feel someone is trying to hurt our feelings when they really aren’t?

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Is everything going OK, or are you fighting back memories?


FEAR NOT!


There are over 15,219 Veterans on this site who have your back.


If you are battling mentally, but you are losing, GET HELP!!


Here is a toll free number that you can call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK.
1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.

________________________________________________________________

Remember:


You are never alone.


You are never forsaken.


You are never unloved.


And above all…never, ever, give up.

+Now there is an easier way to get help. Just dial 988, and you will have help ready for you.

_______________________________________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

In the Military there Are Many Battles We Face, But Loneliness is the Hardest.

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

________________________________________________________________

Military news…

Sailors across Navy say they’re undermanned, overworked and using ‘Band Aids’ to get underway

Crews described “operating in unsafe conditions, with safety measures circumvented or disregarded.”

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Marine accused of selling hundreds of fake vaccine cards

He allegedly helped create and distribute at least 300 fake vaccine records.

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5 sailors accused of leaking video of Navy carrier jet crash

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National Guard deploys for new emergency: Teacher shortages

Team USA bobsled coach, an Army officer, relives Olympic glory through his athletes’ medals.

Army Capt. Michael Kohn, head coach of the U.S. Olympic bobsled team, poses in this undated photo with monobob silver medalist Elana Meyers Taylor in Beijing.

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Here is another excerpt from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.


Loneliness Sucks the Life Out of You

I have written about loneliness already in this book, but I think one of the biggest battles a person in the military may battle is the loneliness that creeps up on them.

Many civilians do not understand how you can be lonely when you have so many other soldiers around you.

It may be hard to comprehend, but all those other soldiers are from all over the country, and do not relate to your needs of needing to connect with your home. They all have their own worlds of loneliness from not hearing from their own loved ones.

I think the worst time of my own loneliness was while I was stationed in Korea. We were stationed on a small base called Camp Red Cloud. There weren’t a lot of soldiers there. I was with the Army Security Agency, and we were there to help keep the peace plus monitor the radio waves to make sure there were no breaches of security.

Being there made me really feel isolated. I was in a foreign country that didn’t speak my language.

That was only part of it. We realized once we settled in to our duties that the people there didn’t want us to be there. We heard rumors about people throwing rocks at the military trucks as they drove from one place to the next. We were protecting them from North Korea, and they wanted us to leave. Didn’t make sense to me, and I am sure it didn’t make sense to any of you who have gone through the same thing.

My task was to be stationed on top of a high hill-they were all numbered- outside of the camp monitoring the radio waves for breaches of security. My hill was hill 468. Talk about being isolated. It was just one person, alone on top of that hill for twelve hour shifts. I was alone inside a deuce and a half ton truck that was full of radio equipment.

The silence was deafening! Just a slight scratch on the roof of the truck had you grabbing your rifle and aiming it at the door. We had antennas attached to the roof to help us get good reception, and the wind often caused the antennas to rub against the roof of the truck. It sounded like someone was on the roof.

You had to be tough. You couldn’t call down to the camp and ask someone to come up. The rest of them had to go through the same things and they knew exactly why you would be calling. No sissy people allowed!!

During the twelve hours shifts you had free time to think, and I mean deep thinking. It wasn’t good to have such long quite times. You thought about home. You thought about that girlfriend waiting for you. You thought about the fun times you were missing, such as fishing in the lake near the farm where I grew up.

So, I know what loneliness is all about. I know what you each have gone through. I feel your pain.

Loneliness is something we allow to happen. We let it creep into our system like the plague. We don’t fight it enough to make it go away.

After about a month of battling the loneliness in Korea I came up with some ideas to conquer loneliness, and survive. Hopefully it will help you as well, if you are deployed or even a veteran back in civilian life:

  • Write a journal. Don’t worry about what to write, just write. I wrote about some fun times I had in high school. I wrote about the biggest fish I ever caught as a youngster. I even wrote about being bullied in grade school. By putting down the good and the bad, I was able to release my feelings down on paper. It was like I was having a session with a counselor, only on paper.
  • I became an avid reader. Reading takes you into another world. A world you become a part of. You feel the pain; the happiness, and the fear the characters go through. They become family and you are guided through their lives in in a way you can learn about coping in your own life.
  • Send letters home. I know many of you now have SKYP and many other ways to communicate, but the written word seems so much more personal to me. Sending a letter to your family is a direct connection that I can almost guarantee you they will cherish, and keep forever.

Among the books I read was the Bible. I read it every day. I found comfort through many of the passages. I recommend Psalms, Isaiah, Jerimiah, Genesis, and Proverbs from the Old Testament and all of the New Testament.

Don’t let loneliness control your life. Take steps to rid the darkness that it can cause in your life. God is always there for you. He loves you. He even loves me warts and all.

IWILL

Loneliness is a direct cause of depression, and sadness. Try to fill your life with things you enjoy. Don’t sit and think of negative things. Don’t hide from the world where you are stationed overseas. Find things to fill your day that will change your attitude, and give you hope.  

Think about this

Isn’t it great that the more we communicate the happier we are?

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Keep coming back for more true stories like this. Better yet…go to the top of this page and click on “Subscribe. ” When you do all future posts will come directly to your inbox.

________________________________________________________________

Checking in on you…How are you doing? Are you struggling with memories?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 13,900 fellow veterans here who have your back.

If you are battling mentally, because of your love for others, but it isn’t working, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number that you can call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will no hang up until they know you are OK.

1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.

_______________________________________________________________

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

_______________________________________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.