National Night Out Promotes Community, Safety for Military Families

By Mark O. Piggott, Naval Weapons Station Yorktown Public Affairs

YORKTOWN, Va. (NNS) -- Naval Weapons Station (WPNSTA) Yorktown and Fleet and Family Support Center (FFSC) Yorktown brought together military families for an evening of education and entertainment at the annual National Night Out, Aug. 3, at Lincoln Military Housing aboard the installation.

WPNSTA Yorktown is one of 15,000 communities across the country participating in National Night Out, bringing first-responders together with community partners to help raise awareness of personal and community safety with military families.

"This night has come together to give you the opportunity to meet with the first responders from Newport News and York County," said Capt. Lowell Crow, commanding officer, WPNSTA Yorktown. "These are the people who provide your support so this is a great opportunity for you to get to know them."

This is the 29th year for National Night Out, "America's night out against crime," the chance for service members and dependents to learn more about military and community resources and an opportunity for families to meet emergency services personnel who work hard to protect and serve our community.

"We had well over 600 attendees, counting program representatives, military families and vendors, a 30 percent increase in attendance from last year," said Michele Bondurant, FFSC Yorktown director.

The field was crowded with more than 30 vendors and several military displays from WPNSTA Yorktown and its tenant commands. Families were given a head start in school supplies thanks to major corporations, York County and Newport News schools as well as other local businesses. Everything from traffic and fire safety to home security and family wellness were represented at the National Night Out program.

"National Night Out is conducted as a festival-like experience with food, music, a parade of law enforcement and fire trucks, games for the children, interactive vendor displays, fire and safety demonstrations, raffle drawings, and many vendor give-aways," Bondurant said.

"It is in this family fun environment that Navy families learn and benefit from the many resources available to them both in the Navy and throughout the community. It emphasizes and solidifies the importance of team work, collaboration and community partnerships both on our installation and throughout the surrounding area," she added. "National Night Out provides a forum to celebrate a sense of community within the Naval Weapons Station and provides a venue to showcase the many resources available to Navy families."

With an increase in community participation in just its second year at WPNSTA Yorktown, the future for more events like the National Night Out will continue in years to come.

"It is important to keep WPNSTA Yorktown perpetually engaged with the Navy family population and in working to continually strengthen its community bonds, collaboration vision and strategy," Bondurant said. "Next year we hope to have even more community vendors from James City and York County, along with added representation from Navy resources."

Communities Must Unite Behind Troops, Official Says

By Elaine Sanchez
American Forces Press Service

FORT BELVOIR, Va., Feb. 29, 2012 – While government programs are essential, it will take a concerted community-level effort to ensure troops, veterans and their families realize their independent “capacity for greatness,” a Defense Department official said yesterday.

“Sometimes it takes more than valor. It takes leaders in the community connecting with them in meaningful ways,” said Army Col. David Sutherland, special assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for warrior and family support. “[It’s] recognizing there’s greatness in our formations, and there’s greatness when they come home.”

Sutherland, a 29-year military veteran, urged a group of employers to recognize service members’ potential during the 2012 Wounded Warrior Employment Conference here. The conference, hosted by the services’ wounded warrior programs, is intended to educate and encourage federal and private sector employers to hire wounded warriors.

Meaningful employment, along with education and access to health care, are the foundations to ensuring long-term quality of life for wounded warriors, veterans, their families and families of the fallen as they return to communities across the nation, Sutherland said.

Troops don’t come home to government programs, he noted -- they come home to their families, their neighbors and their communities. The colonel cited a study that indicated the No. 1 remedy for dealing with combat’s effects is a sense of community, a feeling that they fit in.

Communities must step up to embrace these troops and veterans, the colonel said, particularly once their battle buddies are no longer by their side. They need new battle buddies, he added, but this time from their communities -- people who can assist them in translating their skills, knowledge and attributes into civilian life and organizations.

Government programs can’t do it alone; however, “independent organizations working together at a community level can,” he said.

Employers who take a chance on wounded warriors won’t regret it, Sutherland said, as they will bring the same valor and devotion they displayed on the battlefield to their communities and employers.

“I’ve seen them do amazing things,” he said, citing their leadership skills, performance under incredible pressure, respect for diversity and their ability to be strong team players.

“Their competencies tied to their values make them unbelievable to your bottom line,” he told the employers.

“They just need a little assistance during transition and reintegration, and they will thrive. They will contribute for years and years to come.”

Many times, however, troops are hindered by an “epidemic of disconnect” between civilians and the military, the colonel said, citing Army Sgt. Jeffrey Wray as an example of the painful effects of this divide. Wray was injured while deployed in Iraq, Sutherland said. The colonel recalled visiting him a few hours later at a combat support hospital.

When he first saw him, Sutherland said, Wray was conscious, but couldn’t speak because he had a tube down his throat. He’d been cut open from neck to groin, he said.

“As we walked up to him, with tears in his eyes, he asked us for a pen and paper,” the colonel recalled. “And he wrote down one thing: ‘Can I stay in the Army?’”

Like so many wounded warriors before him, Wray wanted to get back to his unit and his soldiers, where he’d be able to apply his competencies and values, the colonel said. Instead, he was medically discharged two years later. The sergeant had trouble finding a job, and he struggled in school and in his relationship.

“They don’t understand me,” Sutherland recalled Wray saying to him a few months after his discharge.

The colonel helped Wray get community-based peer support, education for his educators and marriage enrichment through a local nonprofit organization. And he helped Wray find an employer who valued his skills, and provided him with a mentor and a support network to ensure his success.

“Sergeant Wray will thrive,” Sutherland said, thanks to an outpouring of community support he referred to as a “sea of goodwill.”

Still, the nation’s leaders must continue to bridge the civilian-military divide by educating educators and counselors, establishing veterans resource centers for employment and education, and helping to combat the credentialing challenges troops face when they come home.

Sutherland cited the importance of community action teams that bring together all of a community’s resources -- including faith-based organizations, employers, health care providers and educators -- to enable service members’ success. In return, he said, communities will gain determined, competent people who, like all veterans before them, are “wired to serve.”

Sutherland recalled Army Capt. Sam Brown, who was injured when a roadside bomb hit the vehicle he was riding in while in Afghanistan. Brown caught fire and did the “stop, drop and roll,” then tried to douse the flames with his hands, Sutherland said. “The flames wouldn’t go out,” he said. “So he dropped to his knees, threw his hands in the air and he said, ‘I turn it over to you.’ The flames went out.”

Brown survived, but suffered burns on more than 70 percent of his body, including his face. In the midst of a long, painful recovery, Brown went with some friends to an Army-Navy game in Philadelphia. “Someone walking by said, ‘He looks like Freddy Krueger,’” Sutherland said, referring to the horror movie character.

Brown struggled with how he could fit in with a society that didn’t understand him, the colonel said.

But this officer is a “veteran, not a victim,” he said. The soldier decided to dedicate his life to other veterans and went on to establish a nonprofit organization called Allies in Service, which connects veterans to resources and mentors.

Brown later married an Army officer, and they recently had a baby, Sutherland said.

Sutherland said he’s often asked if he’s concerned about the nation’s youth and their future. The answer is a resounding no, he said. He encouraged the employers to recognize troops’ strength, resilience and courage, and the value they can bring to an organization.

“These are your men and women in uniform,” he told the employers. “And they’re phenomenal, and they’re coming home.”

Navy Ships Off Burmese Coast to Resume Operational Schedule

American Forces Press Service

June 4, 2008 - U.S. Navy ships that have been positioned off Burma's coast since May 13 with urgently needed humanitarian assistance for the victims of Cyclone Nargis will resume their previously scheduled operations tomorrow. Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, recommended to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates that the USS Essex group and the Marine Corps' 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit should continue with their previously scheduled operational commitments, and Gates approved his recommendation, U.S. military officials said.

Burma's ruling military junta refused to let the ships or its helicopters deliver relief supplies.

"Over the past three weeks, we have made at least 15 attempts to convince the Burmese government to allow our ships, helicopters, and landing craft to provide additional disaster relief for the people of Burma, but they have refused us each and every time," Keating said. "It is time for the USS Essex group to move on to its next mission. However, we will leave several heavy-lift aircraft in place in Thailand so as to continue to support international-community efforts to deliver aid."

The Essex ships will now head to the coast of Thailand to backload their remaining helicopters and personnel on June 11. But Keating left the door open for the ships to return to Burma. "Should the Burmese rulers have a change of heart and request our full assistance for their suffering people, we are prepared to help," he said.

The United States government quickly responded after the cyclone hit Burma on May 2. Since then, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Defense Department -- working closely with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the United Nations and other nongovernmental organizations -- have completed 106 airlifts carrying more than 2 million pounds of emergency relief supplies, benefiting at least 417,000 people.

Keating flew to Rangoon, Burma, on the first U.S. military relief flight May 12, along with Henrietta Fore, director of U.S. foreign assistance and USAID administrator. While there, Keating hand-delivered a letter to Burma's leaders offering additional humanitarian assistance with heavy-lift helicopters and landing craft capable of reaching areas inaccessible by road, as well as water-purification capability and medical assistance. He also extended an offer to the military junta to visit U.S. ships in international waters and to fly on U.S. military relief flights in an effort to help ease any concerns they might have regarding U.S. humanitarian assistance and intentions.

But to date, the forces and assets of Joint Task Force Caring Response, including the four-ship Essex group, 22 medium- and heavy-lift helicopters, four landing craft, and more than 5,000 U.S. military personnel remain idle as the military junta in Burma ignores diplomatic offers of expanded humanitarian assistance to its people.

"I am both saddened and frustrated to know that we have been in a position to help ease the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people and help mitigate further loss of life, but have been unable to do so because of the unrelenting position of the Burma military junta," Keating said.

In a statement released this morning, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino lamented the Burmese government's unwillingness to accept the U.S. offer of aid and urged the ruling junta to reconsider.

"The generosity and compassion of the United States and the wider international community are impeded by the unwillingness of the Burmese authorities to provide full access to the cyclone-affected areas, despite their commitments to do so," she said. "Over a month after the cyclone hit the shores of the Burmese delta, tens of thousands have died and over a million victims have yet to receive any assistance. The Burmese regime must permit all international aid workers the access necessary to provide the urgently needed assistance. There is no more time to waste."

(From a Joint Task Force Caring Response news release.)

Gates Calls Families, Community Supporters 'Power Behind the Power'

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

May 2, 2008 - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates paid tribute here last night to what he called "the power behind the power" -- the families and community members who stand behind the troops engaged in the war on terror. Speaking to local and military family group leaders at the Officers Club, Gates praised Fort Bliss soldiers who, along with their comrades throughout the military, have been "giving their all" in the fight against extremism.

That's been possible, he said, because of the support troops receive from their families, as well as the support they and their families get from their community.

Gates pointed to the key role families play in their soldiers' success and the day-to-day challenges they endure during long deployments.

"America owes a great deal to those who are 'the power behind the power' -- the spouses, children, parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters of our men and women in uniform," he told the group. "They, too, make a contribution and pay a price in the cause of protecting our country."

They demonstrate "grace and patience and an amazing ability to organize and rely upon one another" when their loved ones are gone, he said.

"Army families take care of their own, and Fort Bliss families are no exception," he said. "They are strong. They endure. They are bound together by their shared experiences, by sacrifice, and by the pride they rightly feel in the noble work their soldiers do."

Gates thanked to the local community that recognizes that contribution through support to Fort Bliss soldiers and their families.

This support has been particularly evident during the post's expansion, during which the community has welcomed the incoming 1st Armored Division soldiers with open arms, and local businesses and educational groups have rallied to assist, he said.

Meanwhile, individual volunteers have made contributions to the Fort Bliss community that Gates said "don't always get the attention they deserve." They range from helping families prepare their tax forms to decorating barracks doors for single soldiers returning home from Iraq.

"I can tell you that every bit of help matters," Gates told the group. "This is a tough time for our troops and their families. What you do is noticed and deeply appreciated."

Civilian appreciation for the military wasn't always so evident, Gates said. He recalled El Paso Mayor John Cook's description of his own homecoming experience from the Vietnam War, when a protestor threw an egg at his bus.

Determined not to let that happen when the 1st Cavalry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team and 3rd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery, returned to Fort Bliss, Cook hosted a "Welcome Home Heroes Parade" through downtown El Paso in February. Thousands of local residents turned out to cheer on the 4,000 troops and honor the 31 cavalry troops killed during the deployment.

The American people are divided about the war, Gates conceded. "Yet despite this, Americans are united in their admiration of our men and women who have volunteered to serve at such a challenging time," he said.

Gates called it "heartwarming" to see gestures of support and simple thank yous to the troops. "The appreciation is real; it is sincere; and it bridges any political divide," he said.

All Americans look forward to the day when every deployed soldier can return home, Gates said, noting that he expects continued force reductions in Iraq in light of the improved security situation there.

"Until then, Fort Bliss soldiers and families and this generous community will continue to step up and do right by this country and by each other," Gates told the group. "We are, after all, members of the same family -- the American family. You all have my deepest appreciation and gratitude."

Community and family members said they felt honored that Gates came to thank them personally for their support.

"This is the coolest thing. Having him come here is a really big deal for El Paso," gushed Cindy Ramos-Davidson, chief executive officer of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "The military and civilian communities here are intertwined. We all support each other."

Michi Carl, a Fort Bliss school liaison and Army wife, said it felt good to hear Gates pay tribute to military families. The Army has made huge strides in its support for military families, she said, particularly since Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and continues moving in the right direction.

"Now things are phenomenal, and they are getting better all the time," she said. "Spouses and families are listened to."

Just as gratifying, she said, is seeing the secretary recognize the local community for its support for Fort Bliss and its soldiers. "This community is amazing," Carl said. "The community truly cares."

America Supports You: Guard Members Join 'Rebuilding Day' Projects

By Air Force Tech. Sgt. Mike R. Smith
Special to American Forces Press Service

April 29, 2008 - At least 60 airmen, soldiers and civilians with the Air and Army National Guard brought Christmas early to a disabled Maryland resident here April 26 by repairing her home on "National Rebuilding Day." Members of the National Guard Bureau, the Air Guard Readiness Center and the District of Columbia National Guard were among the volunteers who repaired the home of Michelle Samuel for what they called a "Christmas in April" event.

Known nationally as Rebuilding Day, the annual event's community projects are planned and organized for the last Saturday in April. Orchestrated by the nonprofit Rebuilding Together organization, this was the 20th National Rebuilding Day since its inception in 1988.

Across the country, more than 200,000 volunteers planned 10,000 home and community center projects for the day. The volunteers rehabilitated homes for low-income residents at no cost. Many residents were elderly, disabled veterans or needy families.

Samuel, a disabled retired federal worker for the U.S. Army, said her fixed, limited income did not allow her to make needed repairs. She was chosen by the county's chapter after a review of many applicants.

"It needed lots of attention, from top to bottom -- the roof, everything," said Samuel through the noise of pounding hammers and buzzing saws. "It's happening, and I'm so happy."

The Guard volunteers shingled her roof, repainted the interior and exterior, installed a new stove, washer and dryer, repaired the ceilings and bathroom, installed a new storm door and made many other repairs.

"It's a great cause," said Army Sgt. 1st Class Eugene McDonald from the National Guard's inspector general's office in Arlington, Va.

It was McDonald's first time volunteering. She and her cleanup team helped plant flowers and picked up shingles and other construction debris from the yard, while other volunteers measured or painted or ran to the hardware store for materials in a rush to finish the home before sunset.

"I was telling everyone, if you want to see what angels look like and a blessing looks like, just drive by and see," Samuel said. "I could kiss and hug everybody all day long, but they have to work, so I have to leave them alone."

"We got started with this 14 years ago through our [Air Guard] civil engineering," said Ray Detig, a retired federal worker now employed as a contractor with the Air National Guard. "It's grown to include [National Guard] joint staff and many other units. When it's done, it is such a good feeling, and it's really good for the community."

He added that Guard members in other states also volunteer in projects.

What some Guard volunteers here may have not known is that their support for National Rebuilding Day here indirectly supports fellow servicemembers.

"It's not just for folks who are over 65 and disabled," Detig said. "The organization helps servicemembers who are overseas, for instance, if some servicemember is deployed and his wife says, 'The roof is leaking. What do I do?'"

Thomas J. Cantwell, the organization's national director for veterans housing, said Rebuilding Together is assisting more than 150 veterans and their families this spring through their "Heroes at Home" program, and they hope to help many more in the years to come. This includes modifying veterans' homes to accommodate disabilities or making home repairs.

In the past, volunteers helped Minnesota Army National Guard Sgt. Jonathan VanderWert. They renovated his family's home while he was deployed to Iraq and unable to make repairs. The organization also modified the home of Florida Army National Guard Staff Sgt. John Quincy Adams, who was severely injured in Iraq when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee.

"Rebuilding Together appreciates the support of the National Guard and all our servicemembers on our home repair and modification projects," Cantwell said. "The National Guard has shown they support our nation and their fellow soldiers, overseas and at home."

(Air Force Tech. Sgt. Mike R. Smith serves with the National Guard Bureau.)

America Supports You: Wounded Vets Connect With Resources

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

Feb. 13, 2008 - Wounded servicemembers have a helping hand available when it comes to transitioning back into their communities. The VetConnect program is designed to "provide wounded warriors with a critical link to resources ... and to engage local community and business leaders in the reorientation of disabled veterans to their communities," Scott Heintz, the program's director, said.

The program is run by "Enable America," a non-profit group dedicated to increasing employment opportunities for Americans with disabilities.

VetConnect also offers early intervention support by matching wounded warriors with casualty mentors and coordinating their participation in wellness activities, he said. This program has been expanded to wounded special operations troops through the Care Coalition Recovery Pilot Program. The program, similar to VetConnect's mentoring program, was developed and implemented with the help of U.S. Special Operations Command.

"The objective of the pilot program is to improve the recovery outcome of special operations forces wounded warriors through the early introduction of casualty mentors and wellness activities designed to boost wounded warriors' confidence and self-esteem," Heintz said.

The mentors, wounded warriors themselves, are matched with a newly wounded warrior and trained to provide support and guidance throughout and beyond the recovery process. The matches are made based on similarity of injures, unit affiliations and family situations.

"Mentors offer valuable insight and counsel from the perspective of someone who has successfully navigated similar physical and emotional challenges," Heintz said. "Spouses and family members of wounded (special operations force members) also serve as mentors and provide guidance to their counterparts."

When servicemembers and their family members are ready to try Enable America's wellness activities, the organization will help them find the right one. All of the activities -- camping, skiing, yoga and photography, to name a few -- are offered through organizations that are able to accommodate the participant's needs.

"As their recovery progresses, Enable America provides wounded warriors and their families with access to a comprehensive network of community and employment resources," Heintz said. "The final component of the program is that of providing the wounded warrior with an employment resource network that will (offer) them meaningful and challenging work that is commensurate with their unique skill sets."

Enable America recently became a supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and companies with servicemembers and their families serving and home and abroad.

"(America Supports You) provides us with the opportunity to network with other supporting organizations as well as to increase our exposure to those who would benefit from our services," Heintz said.