Tag: VA nurse

Posted on

An Incredible Interview With a VA Nurse With Forty Years of Service.

+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…

Legally Blind U.S. Army Veteran Sets Personal Best at Boston Marathon

Rob Sanchas, 54, ran the entire 26.2 miles with the assistance of his guide, Jeremy Howard.

____________________

U.S. Soldiers Took Her Birthday Cake in 1945. They Finally Replaced It.

As Meri Mion prepared to celebrate her 90th birthday, U.S. soldiers based in Italy “returned” the birthday cake that was taken from her windowsill in 1945.

_____________________

Air Force Wants Big Increase for 2023 Budget to Improve On-Base Housing for Military Families

Funds to improve the dwellings provided by privatized housing companies doubled in the budget request, with around $110 million requested in 2022.

____________________

Military Veteran Receives New Rank at 101 Years Old

More than 55 years after he retired, Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Adams Jr. is now Major Adams. 

_____________________

The Navy’s First Medical Ship In 35 Years Will Be Unlike Any Before It

While not a one-to-one replacement for either of the Navy’s huge medical ships, the new vessels will go places they can’t.

_____________________

Ukrainian military confirms ‘The Ghost of Kyiv’ is made up

“The Ghost of Kyiv is alive and embodies a collective image,” a Ukrainian military spokesman said.

____________________

NATO fighter jets scrambled ‘multiple times’ this week in response to Russian aircraft

It’s not the first time pilots had to intercept Russian planes.

________________________________________________________________

Here is another interview for my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life. A VA Nurse.

VA Nurse

Thank you so much for allowing me to interview you. How long were you a nurse?

Nurse: I worked 40 years with the last six as a VA nurse.

Did you like working for the VA?

I loved it much more than the regular nursing. I was able to make my own decisions.

I had to understand that they were not going to get well. I helped a man who was a double amputee. It was very rewarding.

How did you know what to do with each patient?

Had to find out what they needed through texting other nurses, and what their doctor shared as far as their basic needs. In other words; VA was “live.”

You said the work was rewarding. Can you explain that a little more?

My heart grew with each patient.

Tell me about some of the patients?

I had on patient that had wounds all over his body. He was tortured by testing his skin with different bacteria.

Another patient was traumatized. Yet another committed suicide.

That must have been hard. Are there other stories you can share?

There was another tortured veteran. They put rats in his mouth. They did waterboarding on him. They kept him awake with blaring music. They played the same songs over and over again. This made him sleep deprived.

These stories had to affect you. Did some veterans share with you how they felt when coming home from Vietnam?

Taxis wouldn’t even pick them up if they knew they were veterans. There were people waiting at the airport for the veterans to land, and they screamed at them as they came through their lines.

Were most of your veterans Vietnam veterans?

No one veteran was only thirty years old. He had PTSD and TBI (Traumatic brain injury.) His wife now has to take care of him and his mental wounds. He was shot in the head.

I am not sure how you could do this day after day.

I wouldn’t have done nursing for 40years if I didn’t think it was rewarding.

I have heard there are some sexual harassment, and sexual abuse in the military. Have you had to deal with that?

There was a female soldier who was raped and got pregnant. She is now raising the child.

Another woman was raped and got military compensation. She has PTSD and cannot function.

Yet another woman from WWII was raped. She got syphilis and died from it.

(If you or anyone you know have faced sexual harassment, or sexual abuse in the military, there is now a number you can call for help: 1-800-692-966… You can get help and even compensation.)

MST (Military sexual trauma) even has a course that is six weeks long that can help people.

Any other interesting stories you can share?

I took a trip to Normandy Beach, France. I walked the beach to see all the graves around the towns. They showed us where to boats came in. We saw the trenches and the fox holes. I went to a WWII museum. They had bombers.

This is an amazing story of your life as a nurse. Do you have any feel good stories to wrap this up? 

A Vietnam veteran adopted a child from Vietnam, because they came home without their parents.

______________________________________________________________

Incredible interview! I have more to share in future posts so keep coming back. 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? Is everything going OK, or are you struggling?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 14,572 veterans on this site who have your back.

Here is what I am asking you to do…please share this site with as many other veterans as you can. It has helped so many.

______________________________________________________________

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!

________________________________________________________________

+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

Sexual Harassment and Rape Should Not be Allowed in the mIlitary at All

+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.

__________________________________

Current news, and some real heroes…

The Marine Corps’s new battlewagon is a better tank-killer than the service’s tanks, general says.

Special Forces doctor awarded for saving lives despite his own injuries following a motorcycle accident.

Airman awarded for braving rocket fire to treat wounded troops during Camp Taji attack.

‘I don’t think I’m special’ says Marine who rescued a baby from a burning car.

___________________________________

What I am going to share with you now is a true story about sexual harassment and rape. It isn’t pretty, but there are far too many situations like this in the military.

I got very serious about this when I interviewed a Va Nurse who told me some stories of rape, and the aftermath, for my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In an Out of the Trenches of Life.

An airman who said her complaints of sexual harassment were ignored for months by Misawa Air Base command has finally secured a transfer to another duty station, Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs said in a statement.

“In accordance with her request, Airman First Class Sarah Figueroa was transferred to another duty location,” the statement said. PACAF did not disclose the new location to protect Figueroa’s personal information. PACAF wrote that it had also investigated the male airman who was harassing Airman 1st Class Figueroa, and that the commander took “appropriate action” after consulting with the legal office.

“The Air Force takes all allegation of interpersonal violence, to include bullying and sexual harassment, very seriously,” it added.

That did not appear to be the case in October when Airman 1st Class Figueroa took to Instagram to express her frustration with her command for disregarding complaints that a male airman had been stalking and harassing her for months.  

“Last week, I was followed by the airman who sexually harassed and I feared for my life,” she said in her Oct. 13 post. “I thought I was going to die and I prayed over and over again while I was driving.”

Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne Bass commented on the post, asking the airman to send her an email. Figueroa’s mother also spoke about her daughter’s desperate situation in a video interview posted to YouTube on Oct. 21.

Fatima Figueroa said the male airman was issued a no-contact order earlier this year (which is similar to a civilian restraining order), Figueroa said he has ignored the order and continued to follow Figueroa, making her feel scared for her life. 

The chain of command, military police, Equal Opportunity Office, and other authorities had not been helpful in resolving the situation, punishing the male airman, or helping Airman 1st Class Figueroa secure a transfer out of Misawa, Figueroa said at the time.

“This is a nightmare, this is a horror movie,” she said on YouTube in an interview with Kayla Rivera TV. “We shouldn’t be going through this. The only thing we’re asking is to transfer her out. That’s the only thing we want.”

Airman 1st Class Figueroa reported the initial harassment to military police and her chain of command. According to her mother, the Air Force investigated the case, decided it was a case of sexual harassment, and issued a no-contact order to the male airman.

However, since then, the male airman has parked next to Airman 1st Class Figueroa’s car, followed her, made more inappropriate comments towards her, and said hello to her “like nothing has happened,” her mother said.

Airman 1st Class Figueroa and her mother expressed frustration with base leadership. They said the commander claimed it was just a coincidence that the male airmen was following her ‘because it’s such a small base,’ they recalled him saying.

“She needs help. She needs to get out of there,” Fatima Figueroa said about her daughter in the YouTube interview. “Sarah should never have been placed in this predicament. Action should have been taken from the beginning.”

Now their request has finally been granted. On Oct. 29, Airman 1st Class Figueroa wrote on Instagram that she was given emergency orders to be transferred within 24 hours. She said her command expressed remorse for what happened.

“I just can’t believe it took this extreme of a measure for my chain of command to believe me,” she wrote. “On the way to the airport, my leadership shed tears in telling me they couldn’t believe it was true and that everyone felt horrible for thinking I was exaggerating.”

When asked if the Equal Opportunity Office, chain of command or military police at Misawa were being investigated for allegedly disregarding Airman 1st Class Figueroa’s complaints, PACAF wrote that there were no ongoing investigations on the matter.

“The Air Force’s investigative processes thoroughly address all persons and parties involved in incidents to ensure alleged victims and alleged perpetrators are protected under the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” PACAF said. “In this case, helping agencies and the chain-of-command worked diligently to provide a solution for Airman First Class Figueroa.”

On Instagram on Oct. 29, Airman 1st Class Figueroa wrote that her leadership issued her a no-contact order detailing the places the male airman could not walk by, drive by, or be seen in unless he called leadership. The order also said he would have to call leadership any time he came across her and that he could not park his car next to any v “When I got this Order, I was angry and disappointed … I just kept looking at it in disbelief and wondering why this wasn’t given to me earlier,” Airman 1st Class Figueroa said. “I had just been notified that I was going to be transferred so it felt like too little too late until I was told this could last my entire military career to keep me safe.”

Still, she wrote that she saw the male airman’s car in her dormitory’s parking lot that night. She fled and said her leadership picked her up and drove her to the police station.

In one of her Instagram posts on Oct. 29, Airman First Class Figueroa wrote that she was “somewhere safe now,” but there are plenty of women in the military who are not. In her earlier posts, she compared her situation to that of Spc. Vanessa Guillén, a soldier who was sexually harassed and murdered by a fellow soldier in April.

Sorry for the negative story, but these these things need to be addressed.

__________________________________

So how are you doing? Have you ever been harassed? Did it leave a scar on you?

You are not alone. There are over 11,120 veterans on this site who have your back..

If it is too overwhelming for you still GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up on you until they know you are OK.

Do not take on this not so friendly world alone.

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

__________________________________

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.

Posted on

Sexual Harassment and Rape Are Far Too Common in the Military

+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.

___________________________________

In two days this site will look very different. On February 1st I will be having a different format. It is still all about the military, but I will be inserting some thoughts meant just for you, to help you to have hope.

_________________________________

Here is some Military news:

The Marine Corps is on the hunt for a next-generation fire-resistant combat utility uniform.

The Air Force is developing spray-on tech to make you heal like Wolverine
Though it is still in development, the spray has the potential to reprogram human cells to heal wounds five times faster than usual.
Biden drops Trump-era ban on transgender troops.
The Army is officially buying the sniper rifle the entire US military wants
The Army has announced its intent to buy several thousand of the much-hyped Multi-Role Adaptive Rifle from firearms maker Barrett.
_________________________________________________________

What I am sharing now is an article talking about sexual harassment and rape. I will be sharing these true stories and much more starting on February 1st.

An airman who said her complaints of sexual harassment were ignored for months by Misawa Air Base command has finally secured a transfer to another duty station, Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs said in a statement.

“In accordance with her request, Airman First Class Sarah Figueroa was transferred to another duty location,” the statement said. PACAF did not disclose the new location to protect Figueroa’s personal information. PACAF wrote that it had also investigated the male airman who was harassing Airman 1st Class Figueroa, and that the commander took “appropriate action” after consulting with the legal office.

“The Air Force takes all allegation of interpersonal violence, to include bullying and sexual harassment, very seriously,” it added.

That did not appear to be the case in October when Airman 1st Class Figueroa took to Instagram to express her frustration with her command for disregarding complaints that a male airman had been stalking and harassing her for months.  

“Last week, I was followed by the airman who sexually harassed and I feared for my life,” she said in her Oct. 13 post. “I thought I was going to die and I prayed over and over again while I was driving.”

Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne Bass commented on the post, asking the airman to send her an email. Figueroa’s mother also spoke about her daughter’s desperate situation in a video interview posted to YouTube on Oct. 21.

Fatima Figueroa said the male airman was issued a no-contact order earlier this year (which is similar to a civilian restraining order), Figueroa said he has ignored the order and continued to follow Figueroa, making her feel scared for her life. 

The chain of command, military police, Equal Opportunity Office, and other authorities had not been helpful in resolving the situation, punishing the male airman, or helping Airman 1st Class Figueroa secure a transfer out of Misawa, Figueroa said at the time.

“This is a nightmare, this is a horror movie,” she said on YouTube in an interview with Kayla Rivera TV. “We shouldn’t be going through this. The only thing we’re asking is to transfer her out. That’s the only thing we want.”

Airman 1st Class Figueroa reported the initial harassment to military police and her chain of command. According to her mother, the Air Force investigated the case, decided it was a case of sexual harassment, and issued a no-contact order to the male airman.

However, since then, the male airman has parked next to Airman 1st Class Figueroa’s car, followed her, made more inappropriate comments towards her, and said hello to her “like nothing has happened,” her mother said.

Airman 1st Class Figueroa and her mother expressed frustration with base leadership. They said the commander claimed it was just a coincidence that the male airmen was following her ‘because it’s such a small base,’ they recalled him saying.

“She needs help. She needs to get out of there,” Fatima Figueroa said about her daughter in the YouTube interview. “Sarah should never have been placed in this predicament. Action should have been taken from the beginning.”

Now their request has finally been granted. On Oct. 29, Airman 1st Class Figueroa wrote on Instagram that she was given emergency orders to be transferred within 24 hours. She said her command expressed remorse for what happened.

“I just can’t believe it took this extreme of a measure for my chain of command to believe me,” she wrote. “On the way to the airport, my leadership shed tears in telling me they couldn’t believe it was true and that everyone felt horrible for thinking I was exaggerating.”

When asked if the Equal Opportunity Office, chain of command or military police at Misawa were being investigated for allegedly disregarding Airman 1st Class Figueroa’s complaints, PACAF wrote that there were no ongoing investigations on the matter.

“The Air Force’s investigative processes thoroughly address all persons and parties involved in incidents to ensure alleged victims and alleged perpetrators are protected under the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” PACAF said. “In this case, helping agencies and the chain-of-command worked diligently to provide a solution for Airman First Class Figueroa.”

On Instagram on Oct. 29, Airman 1st Class Figueroa wrote that her leadership issued her a no-contact order detailing the places the male airman could not walk by, drive by, or be seen in unless he called leadership. The order also said he would have to call leadership any time he came across her and that he could not park his car next to any v “When I got this Order, I was angry and disappointed … I just kept looking at it in disbelief and wondering why this wasn’t given to me earlier,” Airman 1st Class Figueroa said. “I had just been notified that I was going to be transferred so it felt like too little too late until I was told this could last my entire military career to keep me safe.”

Still, she wrote that she saw the male airman’s car in her dormitory’s parking lot that night. She fled and said her leadership picked her up and drove her to the police station.

In one of her Instagram posts on Oct. 29, Airman First Class Figueroa wrote that she was “somewhere safe now,” but there are plenty of women in the military who are not. In her earlier posts, she compared her situation to that of Spc. Vanessa Guillén, a soldier who was sexually harassed and murdered by a fellow soldier in April.

__________________________________

I think we can all agree that this is very wrong, and yet it is still happening. In my next post on February 1st. I will share an interview from my upcoming book. Signs of hope for the military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life, I had with a VA nurse. It is very graphic about two women who were rapped, and how it destroyed their lives.

__________________________________

Where is your thoughts going these days? Do you have good thoughts, or your still haunted by the past. Do not worry my friend there are over 11, 153 fellow veterans who follow this site, and they all have your back.

However, if it is just getting too overwhelming for you, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number you can call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK. All of this is free.

Do not take on the not so friendly world alone!!

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

__________________________________

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.