Tag: highly trained counselors

Posted on

Military People Sometimes Can Not Find Happiness in Things

+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 a bizarre propaganda video released on Monday, bare-chested North Korean troops destroy bricks and cinder blocks with their bodies; bend a metal rod with their throats and perform other nutso action movie stunts.

____________________________

“The surgeons were worn out. Many died on the operating table.” That’s from Air Force Lt. Col. Brian Desautels, who led a unit of search and rescue airmen who responded to the deadly suicide bombing and gunfight at Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26th.

_____________________________

This photo of 1st Sgt. Kenneth Johnson with the Arkansas National Guard captures just how breathtakingly irritating life in the field can be. In those eyes lives the dull fatigue of putting up with the Army for far too long.

_______________________________

Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was found guilty on Thursday of numerous charges in connection with his very public battle with top military and civilian leaders that began over the Afghanistan withdrawal and then morphed into a grudge match over “the system.”

“I haven’t been able to figure out how to cure suicides.” That’s from Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville, said that senior leaders are still struggling to address the issue as the suicide rate among active-duty soldiers reaches its highest point in years.

Soldiers will have to wait a few more months for IVAS, the Army’s new heads-up display that looks like it came straight out of the future.

_________________________________________________

Here is another excerpt for my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the trenches of Life.

Happiness is a Choice

It is a well known fact that most people are as happy as they choose to be. People go through life allowing depression to overcome them to the point where they are incapacitated. Even presidents have trouble with depression. Can you imagine the daily stress they have? It is non-stop.

Abraham Lincoln once considered suicide, he was so depressed. One of the greatest times he remembered while in office was when a little old lady came to see him at the White House, and gave him some cookies she had made. He thanked her, and it was one of the grestest moments of his tenure. A very little gesture, but it brightened a person’s life that was battling depression in life in general.

Some people accept depression, because they think they deserve it. They they have done something wrong and this is their punishment. I had some of those days myself. I often thought, I must deserve this if it keeps happening to me.

This world is not the Disney channel anymore, it is Law and Order. There are many battles to fight on many fronts.

Many people try to find happiness to overcome depression, and they fail? Why?

Because so many people think a fancy car, a big house on the hill, or own a yacht, will give them happiness, and “things,” do not give us happiness. We also seek happiness through sexual prowess, but end up with fleeting pleasures and bitter disappointments.

We try to seek power in corporations, in government, or in our own families through excessive control, but still many are unfulfilled.

What are they missing? They are missing inner joy and peace.

How do we get that inner peace and joy? It is from the love of God who provides us with all the love and understanding we need.

While we spend time in the military, or many years afterward, we need to know that the path to true happiness isn’t for “things” we own, or people we control, it is found through searching our own souls, and coming up with the ways to reach out to those around us, and when we feel the love, they return it back to us.

_________________________________________

There is more to this chapter, but I suggest you buy the book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life, to be able to read the rest. The book will come out soon.

You could also keep coming back to check the excerpts out, but 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.

___________________________________________

Is your life on tract to happiness? Do you have some down moments?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 13,240 fellow veterans on this site who have your back.

If you can’t find happiness…GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to 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!

_____________________________________

+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.

Posted on

A Veteran Shares His Frustration of What the Leadership of Our Country is Doing

+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…

What follows is not from me. It is an opinion from a veteran. I agree with everything he says:

‘White hot rage’: America’s veterans are ashamed of Biden’s ugly retreat from Afghanistan

Last week was a searing experience for many veterans. We watched a dissembling commander in chief smear Afghans who fought and died for their country (the Afghan National Security Forces suffered more casualties this year alone than the United States did in our 20-year campaign).

We watched him trot out a focus-grouped phrase — “the buck stops here” — while dodging actual responsibility and casting blame everywhere but at his own door. We watched a secretary of Defense mumble about doing our best to rescue Americans and allies caught within the tightening grip of a barbaric enemy.

We watched him trot out a focus-grouped phrase — “the buck stops here” — while dodging actual responsibility and casting blame everywhere but at his own door. We watched a secretary of Defense mumble about doing our best to rescue Americans and allies caught within the tightening grip of a barbaric enemy.

He cautioned the United Kingdom from ever again depending on the decisions of a single ally. Other NATO allies also have questioned the actions of the United States and their ability to rely on us.

If the goal of the Biden administration was to prove that “America is back,” we have established exactly the opposite.

I had the privilege last week to engage with an ad hoc network of Americans coordinating to help individual Afghans navigate the gauntlet to safety. One of them, a 28-year-old single woman whose support for America resulted in Taliban visits to her home and threats on her phone, had applied for a special immigrant visa. The State Department lost her application. She traveled with a man who was an SIV visa holder and a family of nine, all with U.S. visas.

Over six interminable hours, we monitored and relayed communications, praying and urging as they reported surging crowds, debilitating heat, Taliban checkpoints and, finally, tear gas and chaos at the airport gate.

The family turned back. A child’s leg was crushed in the crowd. The grandmother fainted from the heat.

Finally, the message from our contact inside, coming after midnight: “We got them!!!” and the note that their voices were “the definition of pure joy.”

This effort ran outside of official channels. Individuals on the ground took personal risk to bend the rules, identifying targets and snatching them into the gates. Other networks of veterans have spun up to assist refugees past Taliban checkpoints using satellite imagery. Dedicated Americans flooded the zone to plug the gaps in a broken government process.

The sacred creed in the combat arms is “no one left behind.” Combat warriors can bear any risk and carry through harrowing odds so long as they know that they will never be abandoned.

Afghan forces fought and died

There were reasonable arguments for leaving Afghanistan. There are valid critiques of the Afghan government and the competence of the National Defense Force. But there can never be an excuse for the casual, wholesale dismissal of people who fought and died alongside us for years. “They didn’t fight for their own country” is a calumny belied by 50,000 ANSDF casualties and by the tens of thousands who served by supporting our operations and working with us to build a civil society.

Anyone who has traveled downrange, relying on that creed, has been horrified by a feckless retreat from a sacred obligation. We withdrew all logistical, technical, operational and intelligence support from the ANSDF, and we messaged relentlessly for months that they were entirely on their own. We stole out of Bagram Airfield in the dark of night. And we pointed at the collapse of morale to say: “See, of course they failed.”

We abandoned a generation of Afghans to the brutality of the Taliban. To their torture, executions, stonings and beheadings. We left them to witness their daughters peeled off as “wives” of mujahedeen.

Veterans are hurting now

I know many veterans who have been shattered and horrified by this past week. My own emotional state has swung from utter despair to white hot rage. I have lashed out at friends. A combat veteran friend spoke of wanting to renounce his citizenship.

Some have compared this to a modern-day Dunkirk. The key difference is that Winston Churchill exhorted a shattered nation to summon the courage and will to persevere through the darkest hour.

Our commander in chief has presented a false choice (our footprint over the past few years has been less than our mission in Djibouti). He has slandered those who risked everything at our side, and he has lied about the presence of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations in country.

We have abandoned our only air base in central Asia, on the doorstep of China, Russia and Iran.

His national security team has ceded initiative to the enemy and stranded our troops and allies in an indefensible position, where a mishap or attack will seal tens of thousands into an Alamo in the Hindu Kush.

If you know a veteran, reach out. Many of us are hurting right now. Many are watching a nation consumed with bread and circuses as they question the costs they paid and wondering whether their fellow citizens were worth it after all.

___________________

Thirteen American military service members were killed and another 18 troops were wounded on Thursday in suicide bombings near Kabul’s international airport in Afghanistan. The two explosions also killed dozens of Afghans and wounded many more. The top American commander in the Middle East believes the Islamic State group is responsible.

____________________

While Biden plans his retaliation, U.S. troops still in Afghanistan are bracing for additional attacks. The attacks may come in the form of rockets, more suicide bombings, or small arms fire, but the U.S. has acquired an unexpected ally in thwarting the attacks. The Taliban.

______________________________

My view…

In my view there are three evil forces now in Kabul. The Taliban. Al Qaida, and ISIS. They are all fighting against one another and our troops are right in the middle

I have this deep feeling that the Taliban does not like this and may become an ally with the U.S.

——————————————

I need to remind you again that I have stopped sharing excerpts with you from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: IN and Out of the Trenches of life.

If you wish to read some of them you will have to check in the archives to find them.

To avoid missing some excerpts in the future you need to subscribe today. Just go up to the top of this page and click on “Subscribe.” When you do all future posts will directly to your inbox.

________________________________

Checking in…

How are you doing? Are the events in Afghanistan overwhelming you?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12.870 fellow veterans here who have your back.

However, if you are having trouble, GETHELP!!

Here is a toll free number for you to call 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. 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!

____________________________________

+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.

Posted on

In the Military There is very Little Racism, They All Have Common Goals

+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 about it.

+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 about it.

___________________________________

Military news…

“The soldiers should not have any upfront cost, but if they do the Army will reimburse them what they are authorized.” That’s what Army Col. Charles Rambo said in this story by Haley Britzky about the service failing to cover college tuition assistance for soldiers. Haley first wrote about the problem on Tuesday, reporting that soldiers were having to pay for courses out of pocket to cover for the Army’s mistakes. Now the Army’s trying to make things right in the uproar that followed.

As an employer, why does hiring Veterans matter to you?

  • “The thing my mind keeps focusing on is the skills we are looking for in a solid new hire. So many of them are most commonly met with a Veteran status. Intangibles like honor and integrity are vital as we are doing work in people’s homes or businesses. Customer service and a willingness to help others are on the top of the list. Compassion and empathy… and I could go on and on.” Chris Kushmaul, disabled Veteran, franchise owner, Restoration 1
  • “Veterans are highly capable of learning and working under pressure, which is all too common during the peak season for our business. Plus, Veterans have worked next to individuals of all races, genders, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and physical capabilities throughout their military careers. They usually bring that same sensitivity to the civilian workplace.” Teresa Fiduccia, manager of Recruitment and Retention at American Residential Services (ARS).
  • “NewDay USA is a leading VA mortgage company. We see the practicality of hiring Veterans. Nobody knows the unique challenges Veterans face to buying a home better than Veterans themselves.” Rear Admiral Tom Lynch, executive chairman, NewDay USA.
  • “Former military leaders bring leadership, focus, loyalty and self-discipline to their practice, and these are the most common characteristics of successful financial representatives. They are passionate about helping people achieve financial security with integrity and character, and that’s at the core of what we do.” Billye Survis, Northwestern Mutual.
  • Similar to Northwestern Mutual Financial, technology start-up Origin8 is building its business with a sturdy Veteran foundation. “Our advocate role requires skills such as social perceptiveness, building rapport, service orientation, discipline, enthusiasm and active learning,” says co-founder Mike Corey, a Vietnam Veteran. “We’re not looking for industry experience; rather, we seek employees who possess these traits and we see them in Veterans. We’re excited to add hundreds of Veterans to our team – working virtually in an environment of community and security.”
  • Blackstone – and the portfolio of 200 companies in which they have invested – take pride in the 90,000+ Veterans, spouses and caregivers they’ve hired to date. “Our ongoing commitment to hiring, developing and retaining these individuals is rooted in our firm’s appreciation of their service to our country and in the adaptability, ingenuity, determination and resilience they demonstrate on a daily basis in the private sector, from front-line operational roles to C-level leadership positions.” Jason Santamaria, managing director Blackstone and Marine Corps Veteran.

___________________________________

One things I remember from the military was that there was very little racism. I looked this up and I was correct. The military has a much better score on racism than the private sector.

Why is this?

  1. We all wear the same uniform.
  2. We all depend on each other.
  3. We have common goals.
  4. We even know all the cadence songs.
  5. There is no color in the military.

I have found that those who were colored in the military, were great guys. I had real close friends that were colored.

I never thought of them as black, brown, yellow, or latino. They were just one of my buddies like anyone else.

___________________________________

I had a special colored friend at Ft Gordon. He was wise and friendly. We sat many times discussing the world. I learned so much from him. He was very sophisticated as well. He smoked his pipe and spent his off time relaxing and reading. No trips to the bars like most the guys would did.

He was a great example to me.

___________________________________

This is a true short story from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of life.

If you want to see more excerpts, or catch up on the progress of the book, come back often.

BETTER YET!

Subscribe to this site and all future posts will come directly to your inbox. You will never have to come back. Just click on the subscribe button at the top of this page.

__________________________________

How are you doing? Did you have close friends in the military? Did you lose some of them?

FEAR NOT!

There are 12,120 fellow veterans on this site who have your back.

However, if you are wallowing in you own self pity, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will no hang up until they know you are Ok.

Give yourself new life!!

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1 For 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 about it.