Category: Guest authors

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Help is There for Those Who Ask

Thanks to all of you who have been joining us here. The response has been wonderful.  We just past 3,800 new subscribers. That was a huge increase in 2016. We only had 1,000 two years ago. In 2017 help us to make it to 4,000.

We are only 200 away of reaching our goal.  We will be giving a prize to the person who is our 4,000th person to subscribe. 

Help us make it to 4,000 by subscribing today if you haven’t already. This shows you care for veterans. Just click on the icon right after the title of this post to do that, and the posts will come straight to your inbox.                            ____________________________________________________________

Doug Bolton, the founder of the blog, Signs of Hope, which is at www.dailysignsofhope.com, has written a new book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.” It reaches out the many military and veterans who may be battling anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, rejections, and the many other usual suspects. There are 22 military connected suicides every day. That is almost one every hour. Doug wants to help stop those statistics.  

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This is a new social network just for veterans. I joined it and made instant friendships with veterans who want to talk about what I want to talk about. Please check it out. You will be glad you did. 

www.rallypoint.com/join/spc-douglas-bolton

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I have a guest blogger today. His name is Steve Durgin. He is the Founder and CEO of the Victory for Veterans Foundation. I have the honor of being on the board for that organization. What Steve shares here is what VFV is all about. Please join us in making this new nonprofit a huge success. 

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Hi folks,

As I read through Bill and Melinda Gates Annual Newsletter 2017 for their Foundation I came away amazed and optimistic. Optimistic for our global future in eradicating disease, premature deaths, malnutrition, health issues and other major global concerns. My hat is off to all who participate alongside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in this great work! If you haven’t read their newsletter it is an awesome read… Here’s a link to it: https://www.gatesnotes.com/2017-Annual-Letter?WT.mc_id=02_21_2017_08_AL2017_BG-LI_&WT.tsrc=BGLI

I want to share a quote from them that “’All lives have equal value’ is not just a principal; it’s a strategy”. This is the premise that the poorest are equal to the richest. The diseased and infected are valued equally to the most healthy person alive. We believe our Veterans are of equal value to others as well.

Melinda Gates said, “Optimism is a huge asset. We can always use more of it. But optimism isn’t a belief that things will automatically get better; it’s a conviction that we can make things better.”

As we begin building the Victory For Veterans Foundation, I used the word hope in my founder video (coming soon). I think hope and optimism are close sisters! We are optimistic that all of us care enough to help tackle the problems our Veterans face when they are done with their service to our nation; to us for providing the freedom we have come to enjoy and rely on!

Like Bill Gates said, “We want to end our letter with the most magical number we know. It’s zero. … In our case, nothing would make us happier than going out of business because we’ve achieved our goals.”

At Victory For Veterans, we believe our magic number is also Zero. Zero suicides. Zero homeless. Zero untreated for PTSD, TBI, MST and other debilitating challenges. These are hard to accomplish but with optimism and hope – success is around the corner.

Finally I wanted to share how Victory For Veterans Foundation is different than other nonprofit organizations. As Melinda Gates wrote, “That’s why we have not used your money just to send a grant here and a grant there. We’ve been using it to build an ecosystem of partners that shares its genius to improve lives and end disease.”

We believe in building this “ecosystem of partners” that will bring the best of the best; best practices, best people together to meet our goal of zero. It is this development of partners we believe sets us apart from others and will be a formula for success.

We need your help to build this ecosystem of partners who will share their geniuses with others to save and improve the lives of our Veterans.

“They Fought for our Freedom, let’s Fight for Theirs!”

Please join us in this fight.

Steve Durgin, Founder

Victory For Veterans Foundation, Inc.

Steve

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Steve Durgin, Founder

925.464.9107

Web: www.VictoryForVeterans.org

FaceBook: @VFVets (www.FaceBook.com/VFVets)

Twitter: @VictoryVets (www.twitter.com/VictoryVets)

LinkedIn: Victory For Veterans (www.linkedin.com/company/Victory-For-Veterans)

“They Fought for our Freedom, Let’s Fight for Theirs!”

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all….never, ever, give up!

There is always help for veterans at:  24/7 at: 1-800-273-8255

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Being Deployed to the Bay of Pigs

Thanks to all of you who have been joining us here. The response has been wonderful .  We just past 2,870 new subscribers. That is a huge increase in one year. We only had 1,000 a year ago. Our goal for 2015, is to make it to 4,000.

Help us continue to grow by subscribing today if you haven’t already. Just click on the icon right after the title of this post to do that.

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We are listening! I asked you to subscribe if you like having posts about the military, and the response was very clear. The subscription rate doubled this week from the previous week. That is telling us you want more posts about the military, so they will keep coming, plus updates on the book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”

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+ Here is the latest update on the progress of the book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”

July 9, 2015

The main body of the book is about finished. I am now working on the appendix, and putting the Table of Contents in order. This means that it is getting very close to being complete.

Last week, I sent out three mini proposals to two publishers and an agent. The proposals will be read and given back to me on August 11th (My birthday BTW..)at a writer’s conference. They may like what they see and meet with me at that time.

Hopefully this book will reach out to the many military people currently serving their country, and the millions of those who are now veterans.

It really doesn’t matter what country you are from. Much of what is being written pertains to any country.

I have added the following sections to the book to cover most everything that a military person may face:

  • PTSD
  • Deployment
  • Domestic violence
  • The spouses left behind
  • Death in the families
  • Basic training problems
  • Foreign assignment stories
  • Loneliness, fear, anxiety, depression, doubt, and the many other usual suspects
  • Personal thoughts
  • More

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I have a son that is retired from the Army. He was a Colonel. He had two tours in Iraq being commander of a field hospital. (Nothing like MASH!)

He doesn’t like to share too much about his time in the service. Some of it is too painful to share. Do you have experiences to share? Were there times when you faced fear? Did you have moments of depression, or anxiety. I sure did when I was in the military.

My time of fear came when I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. It was the end of my duty time for the military. I only had days left before I was to be discharged.

Just when I thought that all I had to do was put in my time, the intercom came to life saying, “All soldiers report to headquarters immediately. This is not a drill.”

I had heard this before, and they have all been drills, but he said this wasn’t a drill. I ran as fast as I could to headquarters, and got into formation. The commanding officer walked up to the mike and said, “The commanding general of the Army has notified me that we are to get ready to be deployed to the Bay of Pigs. This will put you in harms way. Get your gear fast and report back here.”

What? I only have a few days left and I am being deployed into a war zone? I packed quickly and reported back.

They loaded us into buses and took us to the base airport. They then marched us to several planes and started loading us into them. We were in full combat gear.

I sat on the plane with my M-1 rifle between my legs. Those legs were shacking. I looked at the other men, and they too looked very concerned.

Then the plane engines started to roar. The plane started moving to the take-off area.

I began to think about home, and that I may not make it back home if I am going into combat.

The engines got louder like they were ready to take off. Then the plane turned around and headed back to the departure spot. The pilot came on and said, “The mission has been aborted, we are going back to unload you!”

You could see the relief on the men’s faces, and some even began shouting for joy. We came a breath away to being in a war, and on the front lines.

This really happened and is a chapter in the book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of”Life.”

I will have more stories about the military. So keep coming back to find out what is going on.

To make sure you know when there is a new post about the military, subscribe to this blog by clicking on the icon right after the title. You will then be notified each time there is a new post.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

 

 

Posted on

Never Forget the Sacrifice of Our Military

Thanks to all of you who have been joining us here. The response has been wonderful .  We just past 2,820 new subscribers. That is a huge increase in one year. We only had 1,000 a year ago. Our goal for 2015, is to make it to 4,000.

Help us continue to grow by subscribing today if you haven’t already. Just click on the icon right after the title of this post to do that.

____________________________________________________________

We are listening! I asked you to subscribe if you like having guest bloggers write about the military, and the response was very clear. The subscription rate doubled this week from the previous week. That is telling us you want more posts about the military, so they will keep coming, plus updates on the book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”

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+ Here is the latest update on the progress of the book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”

May 7th, 2015

When I first reported to you there were 22 chapters done for the book. As of this morning there are now 49. I can see that there may be another 10 or so more chapters because I keep getting ideas from people on Facebook, and through emails on what I should cover, and the list keeps coming in.

I just finished a chapter on domestic violence in the military, which is a definite problem that keeps raising its ugly head. This chapter will help in that it has suggestions for help, and defines the problems domestic violence can have on a marriage.

I am working hard on a new chapter discussing PTSD. ( Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) It is an extremely hard chapter to write. I am doing lots of research to put this chapter together. I want it to be as accurate and helpful as possible.

Keep checking in here to see further progress. Better yet, subscribe so that you will get the updates every time I post. Just click on the icon right after the title to do that.

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I have invited back Dennis Booth to talk to us more about the tragedy that happened 100 years ago this month in his country of Australia. His short post is gut wrenching and makes us not forget any past battles or accomplishments that our own military’s have done. Thank you again Dennis.

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Dennis Booth

I think today of the towns, villages and hamlets almost wiped out of young and old men in WW1……Lest We Forget.
I think of the POW’s who passed away in captivity often in horrendous circumstances and those who returned with haunting and often perpetual nightmares….Lest We Forget.


I think of the women, who back home did their own military service in the Land Armies or in munitions factories like my mother did…Lest We Forget.


I think of the widows and mothers who received a telegram saying their husband or son had been killed in action……Lest We Forget.


I apologise on behalf of those who wont, for the way they treated returning troops from Vietnam….Lest We Forget.


I think of those lying in graves throughout the world who are Australian Services personnel…some with names, some unknown….We Will Never Forget.


And I think today that this country more than ever may be in some part of convict stock but it is very definitely of sacrificial stock and biased or not there is no country like ours nor might I say our neighbours New Zealand…….Lest We Forget.

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!