MilitaryStars Blog

Supporting Troops Overseas and Face-to-Face

Great, heartwarming look here at the military and corporate America teaming up to make a legimate difference in the lives of service members overseas.  With the aid of the non-profit Freedom Calls Foundation, a New Jersey tech company and SPAWAR devised a hi-res satellite link allowing those serving overseas to speak with and see their loved ones via video calls.  Our service members use some of the most cutting-edge technology in the world every day; it's fantastic to see technology working in this way to provide them with face-to-face support!    

Helping Wounded Heroes

I recently received some important, uplifting news from a gentleman with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Paralysis Resource Center.  The Center has launched a Military Outreach Campaign to help veterans and their families answer questions by putting them in one-on-one contact with an expert.  These specialists are trained to work through any confusion resulting from paralysis and can be reached via the PRC site or toll-free at the military hotline in the link.  Since its inception, the Foundation has funded $80 million in research, and we are honored to help them spread the word about this cause.  A link to the site will remain here on this blog on the right sidebar, titled Help Wounded Heroes. 

VA, Nats Thank DC Military

We're coming to Baltimore next week, and right down the road this Friday in DC, the VA has teamed up with the Washington Nationals for a Veterans Appreciation Day.  The link (Forbes) tells you where you can get discounted tickets to the game and special ceremonies; all veterans, VA workers, and their families are invited to attend.  I would add that if you aren't a veteran, this is a great way to show your thanks!  The Yankees and the Royals have both helped us promote our events in the past; MLB certainly seems to me to be the most military-friendly of the major leagues (though others are getting on board). 

Law Students, Servicemembers Help Each Other Succeed

Legal aid for veterans is becoming an ever-hotter topic, and George Mason University has picked up the ball in an innovative way.  The school matches up law students and servicemembers through its Clinic for Legal Assistance to Servicemembers; since the program started, law students have won cases for veterans all the way to the Supreme Court, and over 10% of those same students are now members of a JAG corps.  It's an interesting twist on veteran/civilian careers, and, as the link from Lawjobs.com notes, another excellent way to create understanding between servicemembers and civilians.  For anyone interested in creating or helping with a similar program, the link, written by the veteran founder of the clinic, provides excellent tips.  Check it out and have a great week!

Mortgage Assistance for Mass. Veterans

The State of Massachusetts and Fannie Mae have created the "Home for the Brave" program (great name), providing affordable housing and mortgage assistance to veterans in the state.  We all hear a lot about veterans struggling with housing, and about national mortgage problems, so a state stepping up for its veterans like this is commendable.  The program's mortgage insurance will cover six months of payments should a veteran become unemployed.  In these situations, it's crucial as always to remember that other organizations, from volunteers in their homes on up, can and should play a huge role in helping find new employment as well.  No one organization can do it alone, but the more that emerge, the more we can all accomplish together.      

Free Legal Aid For Veterans

Here's a great idea that could spread anywhere easily - as it is, it's covering a lot of ground in Michigan and elsewhere.  Project Salute provides free legal aid to veterans; created by the University of Detroit Mercy, it is staffed by law students and attorneys.  The organization has put out a nationwide call for volunteers, aka pro bono attorneys, so if you know anyone in a position to help, please spread the word.  Lawyers are the target of enough easy jokes (many deserved), so I'm happy to applaud those using their knowledge of red tape to help veterans in need to slash through it.   

Making Vacations For Military Families

Making the time to take vacation is just as critical a part of civilian work life, and of stress management, as anything else covered here.  I greatly enjoyed this story because the people involved have found a way to give wounded veterans and their families some time to themselves.  Vacations for Veterans, founded by a married veteran couple, offers free vacation home stays and discounted travel, all donated by people who want to support veterans.  A wonderful idea, and one I think could spread as a thank-you to any military family!    

Marine's Record Label Helps Military Families

Whether you have no idea how the terms "grind" and "thrash" relate to music, or you grew up like me blasting Pantera, you'll appreciate this story of a former Marine and his record label.  Hold True Recordings has held benefit concerts in Massachusetts for the Marine Corps Scholarship Fund and Operation: Military Kids, a joint effort of the Army and local communities to support families of deployed soldiers.  The label continues to work with Operation: Military Kids, and the founder, former Marine Ethan Caless, is also a full-time EMT.  If that doesn't open your eyes about the good a metalhead can do, I don't know what to tell you.  Hold True's newest compilation CD will be on sale in Hot Topics throught Northeastern malls, with other releases at holdtrue.com. No matter what you think it sounds like, these guys' hearts are in the right place!    

Golf and Life Skills For Recovering Veterans

Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon received an award yesterday for his work as spokesman for the Wounded Warrior Project, so I think it's a great time to share some info I recently obtained from a friend on an organization that brings sports to wounded veterans.  American Veterans Adaptive Golf (AVAG) has developed a cirriculum for VA hospitals to use as part of the rehabilitation process of servicemembers; their first session took place in September up the road from us at Tampa's James A. Haley Veterans Hospital.  AVAG chapters are already in place across the Southeast and in Kansas, with many more planned - they need help in forming them, so anyone with a little golf know-how, please give them a look!  Thanks and have a great week!

Missouri Governor's Commitment to Military

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt delivered his State of the State Address last night - the full prepared text is here.  If you hit Find "military", you'll see what caught my eye - another state committing to do more to help its veterans and transitioning servicemembers.  The Governor asks to eliminate all state income taxes from military retirement benefits, and for $2.5 million toward funding for veterans' mental health and sheltering services.  Transition is about a whole lot more than finding a career - that's our area of expertise, so my $.02 is that achieving a fulfilling career starts with a positive state of mind.  From all levels of government and business to single volunteers, anyone who helps a veteran transition by bringing them to that state of of mind gets my deepest thanks and respect.