A Veteran's Perspective: What Makes a Hero?

By Chris Marvin
When I was young I read comic books. Superman and the Fantastic Four -- they were my heroes.
In school, I learned about courageous acts performed in the face of injustice by American heroes like Patrick Henry, Susan B. Anthony, and Dr. Martin Luther King. I knew what the word hero meant and how to use it. But recently I have become confused by some common uses of the word "hero".
For many in this country, the term hero is now used to describe any American who has served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Understandably, it's a way to express semantically the feelings of gratitude and admiration  that a large portion of the population holds for the few who have endured 10 years of combat.
No doubt these military men and women are all brave, selfless, and commendable people who are dedicated to service. But, lest they perform some heroic feat, I would argue that they likely fall short of being true heroes.
A hero is determined by individual choices and behavior, not by chance or circumstance alone.
Dakota Meyer is a true American hero. Four consecutive trips into the kill zone of an enemy ambush to save the lives of 36 marines and soldiers made then-Corporal Meyer a hero and earned him a Congressional Medal of Honor.
Another Medal of Honor recipient, Michael Monsoor, is a hero. Petty Officer Monsoor threw himself onto a grenade and gave his life to save the lives of his Navy SEAL teammates.
And a small group of passengers aboard United Flight 93, who downed an airplane under the control of terrorists, are American heroes.
When a sniper's bullet hits one soldier and misses the person next to him, that alone does not make the wounded soldier more heroic. When a vehicle is struck by an IED, it's more likely to find heroic feats amongst those who come to the aid of the wounded than among the wounded themselves.
And in August 2004, when my helicopter crashed in Afghanistan and effectively ended my military career, I behaved no more or less heroically than I had over the past 40 combat missions. After hearing my story, many people have felt compelled to label me as a hero simply because I endured a helicopter crash. I politely disagree.
More importantly, most people that I served with in the military will reserve the term "hero" for a select few. It's held for those who have performed truly amazing acts in the face of grave danger -- many of whom have given their lives in doing so.
As a society, when we call all veterans and military service members heroes, we are calling them exceptional. But by making them exceptional -- by setting them aside -- we are segregating them from the rest of the population. We are placing this sub- population farther away from the norm; we are separating them from the rest of us. And with separation comes misunderstanding.
By creating a divide between the civilian community and the military community, it becomes increasingly difficult for veterans to successfully re-integrate into civilian life.
As our veterans return to our communities, we should welcome them with a hearty thank you and a pat on the back, but it might be best to avoid the term "hero." Instead of elevating our veterans as exceptionally different, let's invite them to reconnect with us here at home.
It is civilians who have the most important role to play in veteran reintegration. Our communities should be open and foster understanding. And, to show appreciation and respect for the military, civilians can find ways share in the service and the sacrifice.
Volunteer at a local nonprofit. Give blood. Mentor youth.
Veterans understand the importance of these types of service, and they appreciate civilians who take opportunity to serve and sacrifice here at home.
By casting off the superlatives and taking action, our country can show our military veterans what we really think of them; while at the same time, we can make a difference in our communities. Let's make it clear that veterans are part of our community here at home. Let's stop inadvertently setting them apart, so that we might get to know them after their uniforms come off.

Veterans battle PTSD stigma -- even if they don't have it

By Stacy Lu

Fresh from a tour of duty in Iraq where he earned a Bronze Star, Ryan Gallucci didn’t expect a simple job interview to be such a memorably unpleasant experience.
“I was interviewing with a P.R. agency when my military service came up. Some of the questions got a little prying. ‘Oh, so what did you do over there? And what was that like?’ ”

Though he was called back for subsequent interviews, Gallucci said the experience left a “sour taste in my mouth.” Now the deputy legislative director for the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization, Gallucci suspects the interviewer for that other job may have been more curious about his mental health than his experiences in Iraq.

Research shows he may be right: Some employers are wary of hiring veterans because of potential mental health issues.

“There’s a whole host of questions you can’t legally ask, but I must say that somehow in interviews it comes out,” says Jim Pabis, a Colonel in the New York Army National Guard and Iraq combat vet who runs an executive search firm in Saratoga Springs, NY.
Nearly half of employers -- 46 percent -- said PTSD or other mental health issues were challenges in hiring employees with military experience, according to a 2010 Society of Human Resource Management survey. And a 2011 survey of 831 hiring managers by the Apollo Research Institute found that 39 percent were "less favorable" toward hiring military personnel when considering war-related psychological disorders.
About 20 percent of Iraq or Afghanistan veterans will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder brought on by living through extremely stressful or life-threatening events; the more tours of duty, the greater the risk of PTSD. It can be devastating if untreated and lead to depression, panic attacks and drug abuse, and can increase the risk of suicide. Veterans commit one in five of all suicides in the U.S.
Yet recent high-profile news about veteran violence and its possible links to PTSD may speak louder than realities of the illness. It’s treatable, rarely leads to violent acts and is not uncommon -- six to eight percent of Americans will develop PTSD in their lifetime.
“In the first place, most veterans do not develop PTSD. The minority that do have the same kinds of reactions of people exposed to a hurricane or a car accident,” says Josef Ruzek, Ph.D., director of the dissemination and training division at the National Center for PTSD.
The PTSD fear factor isn’t new. “We’ve seen the stigma of the crazy war veteran before. It was especially harsh after Vietnam, when the nation didn't really have the kind of support for men and women who serve in the military that they have today,” says Gallucci.
That support, which includes attempts by the Department of Veterans Affairs to educate the public about PTSD and to encourage affected vets to seek treatment, may have unintended consequences. More civilian employers know that servicemen and women are at greater risk for PTSD.

“There’s been a major cultural shift in how soldiers speak up about the mental toll of war, but also a potential backlash against our attempt to de-stigmatize PTSD,” Gallucci says.

Finding a civilian job can already by a hurdle, particularly for Iraq-war era vets. Unemployment rates have been consistently higher for this group than non-civilians of the same ages. According to a recent report by the Department of Veterans Affairs, male veterans ages 18 to 24 who have served since September of 2001 have an unemployment rate of just over 29 percent, compared 17.6 percent of nonveterans of the same ages.
There’s no evidence that the higher unemployment rate for young vets is due to fears about mental health issues. In fact, research shows there is a positive bias toward hiring a veteran if she or he has a clearly transferable, comparable skill set to a non-veteran, says Meredith Kleykamp, Ph.D, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, who researches consequences of military service and is married to a veteran.
There may also be a discrepancy in how veterans perceive they are being treated, Kleykamp says, versus how they actually are.
“So few people are actually serving in these wars. There may be employer ignorance. And vets may feel there is a lack of understanding from people and employers that they meet,” she says.
Still, while experts welcome greater public awareness of the difficulties veterans may face, that growing understanding might work against them when it comes to presumptions of mental health.
“Civilians may feel like, ‘How could he not be damaged by something like that?” Kleykamp says.

Sad day when our leaders at the VA have no time for its Vets

John Besignano posted this to us a few minutes ago, but we thought others should see it in order to discuss:

"Recently, I received notice from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America’s (IAVA) founder Paul Rieckhoff that the Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary (VA), Eric Shinseki, and his staff have declined to meet with the IAVA during their week-long Storm the Hill campaign. Apparently..., this isn’t abnormal - it’s been over 1,000 days since the Secretary of the VA has met with the IAVA.

We veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom,and Operation New Dawn need to be heard by the people who make decisions affecting our lives. As it stands, it sounds like the VA is not interested in listening to individual veterans or veterans as a collective. This is unfortunate because the IAVA represents all veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, whether they are a member of the organization or not.

Goals of IAVA like improving employment prospects, access to health care, and access to education benefits help all veterans. As a veteran and an IAVA member, I find it both profoundly disappointing and infuriating that senior leadership of the VA does not have time to meet with an organization whose goals align directly with the mission of the VA.

The VA’s refusal to meet with a large and well-organized veterans group begs the question: If Secretary Shinseki and his staff are too busy to meet with the IAVA, who could possibly be worthy of his time?"

Former Stryker brigade commander poised to lead JBLM

Major General Brown was my Brigade commander when I deployed with 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry in 2004-2005. He is an amazing leader and will do great things at Fort Lewis which really needs help right now.

Army Maj. Gen. Robert Brown, who led Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade into combat in Iraq in 2004-05, has been nominated to command Joint Base Lewis-McChord and I Corps, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.
Brown, who is in line to be promoted to lieutenant general, would succeed Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, who took command of the base in October 2010 but then deployed to Afghanistan in July to become the No. 2 commander of that war.
The Army had lined up a new job for Scaparrotti upon his return. He has been nominated as director of the Joint Staff, which would have him have him working for the nation’s top military officer, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey.
Maj. Gen. Lloyd Miles is Lewis-McChord’s acting commander during Scaparrotti’s absence.
Brown is currently commanding the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning in Georgia.
He led the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Brigade based at Fort Lewis as a colonel. The Army renamed and moved the unit to Germany in 2006.
Brown would lead the largest military installation on the West Coast with more than 40,000 soldiers and airmen. The base has made international headlines during the past week as the home station for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the soldier suspected of killing 16 Afghan civilians.
Brown’s new assignment and promotion is subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/street/2012/03/20/former-stryker-brigade-commander-poised-to-lead-jblm/#storylink=cpy

Afghan farmers at war's epicentre play both sides

ARGHANDAB, May 24 (AFP) - Lush pomegranate orchards provide perfect cover for the Taliban, who have turned what should be the fruit basket of Afghanistan into one of the hottest spots of the long insurgency.

In the past year the crude bombs that are the Taliban's battlefield talisman have been responsible for the deaths of all foreign soldiers patrolling this valley from 13 bases on each side of the Arghandab River, the US military said.

Arghandab, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Kandahar city, capital of the eponymous province in southern Afghanistan that the insurgents regard as their fiefdom, is at the epicentre of a war well into its ninth year.

The district produces half the 100,000 tonnes of pomegranates grown in Afghanistan each year, but is better known for the harvest of IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, that seem as thickly seeded as the fruit trees.

American troopers on patrol around the villages near Forward Operating Base (FOB) Arghandab point to culverts along canals irrigating the orchards as favourite corners for Taliban ambushes.

An explosion across the river to the east was "probably an IED," said one.

"Someone might have stepped on it. Or it could have been a controlled detonation," he said. "Either way, we're finding them."

Almost 60 percent of the more than 200 foreign troop deaths in Afghanistan this year were caused by IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, the independent icasualties.org website says.

In Arghandab, a village school has become a proxy battleground between the Taliban and pro-government forces, said US Army Sergeant Stephen Decatur, as he described last month's find of "nine medium-to-small, 20-50 pound jugs of home-made bombs planted around the school yard".


"In January, over the course of 10 days, they found hundreds and hundreds of pounds of explosives and IEDS," he said, adding that some of the bombs contained up to 300 pounds (136 kilogrammes) of explosives.

"There are a lot of advantages to being in Arghandab, mainly because there is so much agriculture -- pomegranate orchards have a lot of cover from observation from the air and close air support."

As US and NATO forces prepare the slow strangulation of the insurgents over the coming summer months, Afghanistan's Western supporters are, finally, trying to address the economic fundamentals fuelling the fight.

Poverty, unemployment at the heart of unrest

More than 70 percent of Afghanistan's population are tied to the land as tenant farmers or share-croppers, experts say. The CIA put unemployment in 2008 at 35 percent and inflation last year at 30.5 percent.

Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium and the 2.8-billion-dollar-a-year illicit industry helps drugs gangs pay the Taliban for armed muscle to protect production and distribution routes.

With the realisation that the insurgency is largely economic rather than ideological -- and that many Taliban foot soldiers are simply unemployed men who need the fighting fee to feed their families -- Western donors have started channelling their efforts to the grass roots of Afghan society.

In Arghandab, Washington's international aid arm USAID believes its programme to teach Afghan farmers modern techniques for boosting quality and yield has the flow-on benefit of improving security.

The head of the local council of elders, Haji Mohammad agreed, telling AFP the project is creating jobs that give the fighting-age men of the area an alternative to picking up a gun for 20 dollars a day.

Since the introduction of USAID's AVIPA (Afghanistan Vouchers for Increased Production in Agriculture) project, Arghandab's pomegranate yield has leapt by 75 percent, to 15-20 kilogrammes of fruit per tree, he said.


"It has also provided jobs, people are now earning money, so in the many villages where we have projects there is no problem with security," Mohammad said.

"People here are poor and so they were used by other people with bad intentions. But if they can have jobs that earn them money from honest work, they can become independent, so in the coming years they won't need to go fighting."


The four-month cash-for-work project was pouring 400,000 afghanis (8,800 dollars) every month into each of Arghandab's 72 villages, paying farm workers 300 afghanis daily, said local AVIPA supervisor, Obeidullah, who uses one name.

The cost of building roads and reservoirs, as well as tractors, chemicals and other equipment was extra, he said.

The AVIPA programme is worth a total of almost 400 million dollars.

That money is welcomed in most farming communities of Afghanistan -- among the poorest countries in the world -- and Arghandab is no exception.

As Obeidullah and Mohammad extolled its benefits, local elders relaxed on carpets nearby, drinking tea and eating apricots, nodding their agreement but reluctant to talk or have their photographs taken for fear of reprisals, one said, from the Taliban.

'Taliban know how to make their point'


Scepticism about the longevity of the international presence that is keeping the Taliban at bay is widespread in Afghanistan.

Many fear that once international troops, currently numbering 130,000, withdraw, which they regard as inevitable, the insurgents will reassert control and take revenge on anyone who cooperated with the other side.

US officials and soldiers said the Taliban maintain influence in Arghandab, using what one American, speaking anonymously, described as "ruthless" intimidation techniques.


Taliban had cut off arms and hanged people suspected of working with the coalition, and kidnapped children for ransom, he said.

"They know how to make their point, they're ruthless. The farmers have a hard time, going into the fields where the Taliban put IEDs if they think they are on patrol routes for the US, the Canadians or the Afghan army," he said.

"Innocent civilians are hit pretty hard. The Taliban are still a very real threat."

Unless the AVIPA scheme and others like it -- such as the British attempt in neighbouring Helmand province to encourage poppy growers to switch to food crops -- are quickly followed up with marketing and storage programmes, experts and officials said, any gains are unsustainable.

"There needs to be a transition from providing labouring jobs to value-added," said Jim Green, a US agriculture department advisor in Arghandab.


"The improvement in crops needs to have back-up. When people go from pruning and spraying to packing the fruit, then it becomes sustainable on a yearly basis.

"When there's demand for a product, then it becomes sustainable," he said, noting the popularity of pomegranates as a super-fruit in the West.


For Haji Mohammad, sustainability depends on security.

"As long as coalition forces are here we will be OK," he said.


"When the Afghan government and the Taliban sit down and talk there will be no fighting. For 30 years we have had fighting. We don't want any more fighting. We want to feed ourselves and get on with our lives.

"We just want peace," he said. (By Lynne O'Donnell/ AFP)

Military Suicide: Fight The War At Home

Some scars are not seen and your help may save a life....

In the United States, a veteran dies by suicide every 80 minutes. It's clear that America's veterans aren't getting the psychological help they need in order to cope with the stresses of being a part of the military.

Alarmingly, under the guise of the 2nd Amendment, the National Defense Authorization Act bars any military leader from broaching the subject of privately-owned weapons with another service member to gauge his safety level — even if that member seems to be depressed.

Veterans need to be given resources and support so they can resume their lives after service with little burden. Discussing suicide and psychological safety should be mandatory — not prohibited by law.

Retirement does not end the fire to continue to help Soldiers

I am often asked two questions the first being do I miss the Army. Do I miss the Army? The answer is “Yes” every day. It is not the institutional or organizational part of the Army that I miss what I miss is the Soldiers. I miss helping Soldiers resolve everyday problems, develop and grow personally and professionally, make a better life for themselves and their families. What many people don’t know about me is that I grew up in a single family home my mother would often work a day job and a night job, so our family time together was limited. We wore clothes from thrift stores and when school would start we would often see many kids getting new shoes and new clothes unfortunately we did not have many of these privileges. I saw the military as a way out of this life and as a way to better myself and learn those trades that would someday make me successful. I knew that in the military the only way to go was up and my potential was only limited to what I could and couldn’t do. So in 1989 I joined the Marine Corps and on June 5, 1989 I arrived at Marine Recruit Depot San Diego. For the next 13 weeks I learned teamwork, responsibility and how hard work would help me graduate and earn the honor to be called a Marine. I graduated and left to go to the School of Infantry where I was awarded the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 0311 Infantryman. My eight year career in the Marine Corps would take from serving in A Company 3^rd Reconnaissance Battalion in Hawaii to Sea Duty aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65).

PVT Eugene Hicks MCRD, San Diego Sept 1989

In 1997 I joined the Army after a one hour break in service (long enough for me to drive from Camp Pendleton to the Army Recruiting office in Oceanside, Ca) and enlisted in the Army as an 11B. I would lose a rank going from a Sergeant (E-5) to Specialist (E-4). My first duty station Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. I had a great time and quickly went from Specialist to Staff Sergeant and served as a light infantry squad leader spending entirely too much time on the big island wearing out more boots than I care to remember. Over the years my service would take from Korea to Fort Lewis, WA serving with 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry "Deuce Four" as a Platoon Sergeant and ending my caeer as an Infantry First Sergeant (E-8) on March 31, 2011 with 1st Battlion, 17th Infantry Regiment.

Platoon Sergeant A Company 1st Battalion, 24th infantry Regiment Mosul, Iraq 2004-2005
The Soldier to my left Sgt. Robert T. Ayres III, 23, of Los Angeles, died Sept. 29 2007 in Baghdad, Iraq

A Company 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, FOB Frontenac, Afghanistan 2009 - 2010

So the second question I had told you about, how do you go from being an Infantry First Sergeant to being a social worker? This is a little easier to answer if you can believe that. I have begun to understand that there are many Veteran’s, Soldiers and family members that do not know how to ask for help. The stigma that is involved with seeking help because one does not want to appear weak is powerful still in today Army and as hard as the Army tries to change the perception the underlying current in the river is still prevalent with service members past and present. This has to be changed but how? It is Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors getting out there and when they see a member in crisis stepping and helping them find the help they need. It is directing them to people like me who can understand the things they saw in combat and how those feelings can be talked about in a manner that is therapeutic and helps in the recovery process.

I did one thing that I can only stress and did stress to all the Soldiers I came into contact with “GO TO SCHOOL”. No matter what you are doing make the time to attend a class here and there even if it is just one class twice a week make the time to attended. When I retired I had obtained my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology Degree from Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, WA and I was named a joint recipient of the Linda Fletcher Memorial Scholarship, a scholarship that is awarded to acknowledge and reward students who exhibit the special characteristics that are a part of the Saint Martin’s mission as well as help cultivate a strong community of learners among the University’s extension program students. I am now going through the admissions process at the University of Southern California for my Masters in Social Work where I will concentrate on learning how to deliver services such as mental health counseling, family therapy, crisis intervention, program development, and organizational consulting. My sub- concentration will be Military Social Work and Veteran Services which will prepare me to provide a full range of human services to the nation’s armed forces personnel, military veterans and their families. Had I not started and continued my education I can guarantee that my situation would be entirely different, especially in today’s economy. My success started when I went to the education office on post and asked for advice.

Saint Martin's University BA in Psychology

This is not why I write this post or do this blog to brag about what I have done but instead I write my story so that you know I am a true advocate for our warriors and my life was like many of yours but we have the power to shape our destiny and we have the power to help our fellow veterans. Thank you all for your dedication and care for our Soldiers. Remember the first step is yours!!!!