Manns Medium

I attended a VA workshop yesterday, Saturday, April 16, 2016 at the regional VA Office in Chicago to help with a pilot program that is designed to help ease and lower the high number of appeals for disability and discovered that the number one reason that these agencies appear not to be working is not just the policies and procedures but mostly importantly the personnel. The policies and procedures are normally handed down by those in charge but these policies and procedures are composed by the input of those in the position to help shape them.  If the opinions and experience of those who served are not voiced as passionately as they should and those expounding those views are not willing or able to demand better treatment of veterans, then the voices with no experience except what they were told or paid to say wins out.  This is the gist of what is happening right now.  That Veteran Service Officers (VSO) who are supposed to be the veteran’s representative does litt...

As a retired U.S. Marine, there are few things that truly makes me wish to grab certain people and shake them until an apple falls out except when I read that I have lost another brother simply because some loud-mouth politician decided to start a war that they did not have to fight in.  It makes things even more frustrating when those who saber-rattle are also those who can make the changes to correct these suicides but refuse.  I assume that they believe having “yes men and women” on their payroll allows them the conscientious to sleep at night because those yes men and women are former military and tells them exactly what they wish to hear.  I guess my frustration is even more aimed at myself because even after writing a book on how to handle this, it still appears not enough and the more that I attempt to do the less it seems to matter.  That was before I read this article titled “ Suicide Claims 14th Marine From a Unit Battered by Loss ” written by Dave Philipp...

You read that title right America, my school will reduce veteran suicides because the numbers do not lie and it is clear that what has been attempted in the past is not working.  We have assumed that throwing money at veterans would be the answer.  We have assumed that holding job fairs and offering businesses tax credits for hiring a veteran would do it.  We have assumed that placing them on disability and welfare would do it.  We have been convinced that donation and charity would answer the screams of veterans all over this nation demanding help and getting none.  We have assumed that saying “thank you” would quiet the voices within the heads of these veterans and within our own very souls.  We were and still are so very wrong.  We are wrong because we lack the understanding that the main underlying issue faced by veterans who contemplate suicide has nothing to really do about money.  It simply has something to do about dignity and respect. ...

If we honestly take a few minutes to truly think about wars, conflicts, battles and skirmishes, these things often originates between two people who cannot seem to agree simply to disagree.  Each find another, just as passionate, defensive and often times arrogant about his/her position and when they fail to sway the other over to their side of the argument, immediately seek others who agree with them and then take open aim at those who don’t.   People can be funny that way because what may have started out as just a difference of opinions has now morphed into a full-fledged war over an idea that neither is willing to compromise on.  We claim that it is a matter of principle and to compromise would mean that we must compromise our principle and nothing defines a human being more than principle.  If the end result of this style of thinking didn’t result in such serious consequences, we could all laugh about it and move on. History is then repeated and lesson...

For quite some time you have heard me scream my head off about veteran unemployment, homelessness and suicides.  You have heard me say that there is more we, as a nation, needed to do and more that we, as individuals, could do.  You have also heard me advise any who would listen, that instead of just accenting the problems, if we intend to be passionate and truly care about a particular subject, we also need to provide solutions.  Well, I have taken my own advice and I believe I have discovered the perfect way to address, greatly reduce and/or completely eliminate these same issues.  It’s human nature to believe that money is and always will be the answer to any problem and while we all soon come to learn money is but a part of the over-all grand need but never will it be the total answer to anything, we must also admit that money is required to help with these problems.  But let’s not get it twisted and think that our current status of throwing money at th...

As defined by Stop Bulling dot Gov, bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.  Wikipedia says it is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominate others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception, by the bully or by others, of an imbalance of social or physical power. Behaviors used to assert such domination can include verbal harassment or threat, physical assault or coercion, and such acts may be directed repeatedly towards particular targets. Rationalizations for such behavior sometimes include differences of social class, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, appearance, behavior, b...

Yesterday, VA Secretary of State Shinseki offered President Obama his resignation and the president accepted it.  He gave an elegant speech about how disloyal, distrusting and irresponsible the treatment of veterans were.  He apologized to veterans, their families and all of America.  So now I assume, those who screamed for his head can now relax and began looking for something else to scream about because none of those screaming ever made any attempt to help fix the problem. Will the problem ever get fixed?  It will if the firings of those in charge take root and those coming after them know now that the mistreatment of veterans will never be tolerated.  It wills if those further down the line continue to stand up and step up to make known any questionable actions or policies that they believe will lead to the mistreatment of veterans.  It wills if congress stops looking at the letter before the name and start looking at the people behind the name. ...

As a former U.S. Marine, I quite often find myself attempting to meet the standards set up by those in power and seldom do I ever match any of them.   I am held responsible for keeping your freedoms free and accomplishing the mission that allows those in power to obtain that power but even that is not good enough collateral to secure a loan or run your business. In the military, you are mostly graded on your ability to follow orders, accomplish the mission and the time you have spent dedicated to your particular job.   When that life is over and you are integrated into the civilian world, it’s a rude awakening to learn that the promises made are not the promises kept.   When you wore the uniform of the U. S. Armed Forces, people come up to you all the time to express their gratitude for your willingness to lay down your life to keep the joy in theirs but as soon as you disrobe from that obligation, so goes all that goodwill. You are charged with keeping America s...

As both a former U.S. Marine and a Military Policeman this article written by Sue Epstein  and  Tom Haydon for the New Jersey Star-Ledger titled In rising numbers across N.J., troubled cops are killing themselves in which they reported “t he March 27 death of Sgt. David Powell, 46, marked at least the fifth time this year an active or retired officer had taken his life in New Jersey, putting the state on pace to eclipse last year’s grim tally of 13 suicides, according to records kept by Cherie Castellano, the founder and director of a state-sponsored counseling service known as Cop2Cop.   Nationally, more than 400 active and retired officers commit suicide each year, said Robert Douglas, executive director of the National Police Suicide Foundation.   No single force can be linked to the increase, according to those who study the issue.   Rather, it’s a combination of factors that includes the ready availability of firearms, the stresses inherent in police work...