Military – RI Future

November 2, 2015November 2, 2015

Hope in the midst of controversy: A way forward for veterans

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Over the past two weeks, this series has laid out a case for why Rhode Island is in the business of empowering veterans and what the future of state-level veterans affairs can be. But a discussion about veterans can’t occur in a media vacuum and it’s impossible to ignore sizzling headlines about the VA and presidential candidates.

Snapshot: Hillary Clinton was asked about the systemic problems at the VA recently, her response included a comment that the issues weren’t “as widespread as it has been made out to be,” and veterans (as well as congressional leaders) have taken her to task for it.

The upside is renewed media attention to a significant moral issue of our time: setting the standard for providing the highest quality and timely healthcare possible to our veterans. The continued problems with access to care are heart wrenching. Just a few months ago, I was meeting with disabled veterans who were receiving sporadic care at a VA in Texas – it was difficult to hear that they were having such a hard time after being discharged, especially when most of them received consistent and quality treatment while still in uniform.

Part 1: After 125 years, RI veterans will finally get a director
Part 2: Next generation Veterans’ Affairs: Economic engine, not resource hub

The truth is that, even though there are many veterans getting excellent treatment at the VA, things are still a mess. And I hope journalists continue to draw attention to the problems as well as the progress – let’s see a real-time report card of how the VA is shaping up and (finger’s crossed) celebrate the positive changes being implemented.

But the end of this series is about Rhode Island’s Veterans Affairs. The Division needs to go through it’s own metamorphosis and today, we’ll explore two seldom discussed obstacles it will need to tackle to get there.

ONE: Inter-Generational Collaboration

About half of the 72,000+ veterans in the state of Rhode Island are over the age of 65. Who are these vets? Check out the infograph:

As reported by the Providence Journal (May 22, 2015)

While some veterans who served in Vietnam are a bit younger, many are 65 or older. And when talking about veterans, the era you served in matters. The obvious difference is how these veterans were received during their transition home; the starkest contrasts are between WWII, Vietnam, and Post-9/11 Vets. WWII veterans came home to parades while Vietnam veterans were faced with protests. Post-9/11 veterans are received with some fanfare, along with Yellow Ribbon bumper stickers and interesting “thank you” hand gestures. These differences have had a lasting impact on how these veterans see themselves and other-era vets.

Another huge difference is the level of participation in traditional veterans’ organizations. Older veterans comprise the majority of organizations like the VFW and American Legion – important groups that have been struggling to attract younger veterans (there are exceptions). This highlights the evolving way that veterans connect and what they view as useful as they come home.

Bottom Line: The Division will have to invest time and energy into developing not only a robust digital media platform, but strengthening inter-generational relationships with engaging, purpose driven programs.

TWO: Redefining the Veteran Identity

Veterans of The Mission Continues, Photo by Stephen Bevacqua

The first time I came home to Bristol, I wrestled with the title, “veteran.” While doing outreach in Boston, I learned I wasn’t alone. All veterans coming home have to answer the question: Who am I now? There are roughly three answers:

I’m a veteran living amongst civilians.
I’m a veteran and a civilian.
I’m a civilian – forget about the veteran stuff.

Understanding what informs these different ways vets identify is crucially important to not only their successful transition but also creating a strong, vibrant veteran community in our state. The less someone identifies as a veteran, the harder it is to find them. And you have to identify and engage veterans before you can empower them. Ask any Veterans Service Officer or student veteran who’s attempting to organize – they’ll tell you that attracting veterans en masse is difficult. But here’s a shout out to a few organizations I think are getting it right and broadening the veteran identity: Team Rubicon, The Mission Continues, and The 6^th Branch.

Bottom Line: The Division will have to rally around an outreach message that resonates with folks who don’t necessarily think of themselves as veterans first but who would jump at the chance to serve a greater good.

The challenges we see at the federal level are daunting. But in Rhode Island, there are plenty of readily accessible opportunities to improve the lives of veterans and our community. From accelerating the transition process for new veterans to completely reshaping the way we do outreach, the next decade has the potential to be an exciting time to be a veteran in Rhode Island. The biggest risk our state takes is in not seizing this moment. My challenge to our leaders this Fall: shake things up and make some waves.

This is the last of a 3-part series covering veterans affairs in Rhode Island: Part One | Part Two

Want to be the new Director of the Division of Veterans Affairs? Apply by November 6^th!

October 19, 2015October 20, 2015

After 125 years, RI veterans will finally get a director

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It only took about 5-years (or 125 years¹), but Rhode Island veterans are finally getting a director for the Division of Veterans Affairs! Thank you, Governor Raimondo.

Applications are due November 6^th. As veterans submit their resumes over the next few weeks, we’ll explore the state of veterans’ affairs, a vision for the future of the agency, and finally how we get there. Let’s start with some back-story.

I’m a fan of putting things into context and the mission (or future mission) of the Veterans Affairs Division ought to be placed in three different contexts: the national defense, the role of veterans in society, and the relationship between veterans and non-veterans.

The Division of Veterans Affairs is our state’s response to the challenges that veterans of any era face after their service. Given that the core purpose of government is the protection of life (e.g. the national defense) and our citizens who serve in the military provide that protection, it’s relatively unquestionable (today) that we offer unique services and benefits to them for their equally unique contribution to our society. The benefits and funding for them come mostly from the Feds. The state, being closer to its people (and hopefully less difficult to navigate), plug veterans into the right Federal resources. The state also provides an assisted living facility in my hometown of Bristol as well as burial in a Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Exeter.

You may be surprised, but providing benefits to veterans wasn’t always a given. Take for example President Coolidge, who in 1924 vetoed a bill granting bonuses² to WWI vets, saying, “Patriotism… bought and paid for is not patriotism.” Or how about the Continental Army which was not paid back and stormed the U.S. Congress in Philadelphia to get it. They were ironically ‘expelled’ from the nation’s capital by the U.S. Army as were WWI veterans in 1932.

Being a post-9/11 veteran, I never experienced such shenanigans after my time in the Marine Corps and Navy. And I attribute my ability to pay for a college education to the Montgomery GI Bill and ability to purchase my first home to the VA Loan Guaranty. I’m obviously biased, but I believe we should make much larger investments in our veterans for a million reasons. Here’s the historical rationale:

A moral obligation to those who voluntarily sacrifice a piece of their liberty and risk their lives for our protection,
An incentive to forego private sector wages and join an all-volunteer force, and lastly,
To ease the impact of reintegration post-service on veterans and consequently, the larger society.

The last rationale leads us to the second context informing the veterans affairs division character: the role of veterans in our society. Exceptional veterans help create vibrant communities. After World War II, the reintegration of American GI’s (12 percent of the U.S. population) was accelerated with the G.I. Bill, leading to a “major contribution to America’s stock of human capital and long-term economic growth.”³ The strength of the middle class was never greater and veterans were a key part of this achievement. Why? It was likely a combination of their tenacity and the educational, housing, and medical benefits that supported their transformation into economic engines and community leaders.

On the character building front, military service provides a foundation for most veterans to become successful entrepreneurs, executives and leaders. The next time you drop off a box at FedEx, thank the attendant by saying, “Semper Fi” (Latin for “Always Faithful”, the Marines motto). Two years after completing his Marine Corps service in Vietnam with a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts, Frederick Smith founded FedEx – the first overnight express delivery company and largest in the world! There are thousands of success stories where veterans leveraged their unique grit, perseverance, and leadership agility to breathe life into local communities and even national economies. The key has been a dynamic transition path, supported by friends, family, community – and strong veterans’ benefits.

The last context for understanding the mission of the veterans affairs division involves the relationship between veterans and the other 93.4% of Rhode Islanders. If you’re a veteran or if your daughter is on active duty, veterans’ issues are dining room table issues. They are issues that you’re passionate about and that influence your vote. The Division of Veterans Affairs is not immune to the presence of political will and budget priorities. Case in point: The director position was originally created in 2011, but not funded until our current governor came into office and made it a priority.

A big piece of the division’s mission will be expanded or constrained by the degree that Rhode Islanders are engaged. This will increasingly become a national challenge. For over 40 years, the draft has been off the table and with it, a broad-based visceral connection to the issues of those who served. The challenge of this disconnect is summed up well by a quote given to Linda Borg of the Providence Journal earlier this year.

Robert Hamel, 90, is a World War II and Korean War veteran from Warwick. He wonders “why more people aren’t interested in hearing his colleagues’ stories. ‘We got fellas here who served with General [George] Patton [in World War II]. We’re going to be gone in a couple of years. We’re going to lose all of that history.’”⁴

I say, let’s not allow those stories to disappear with the tides of time. Let’s be motivated by their heroism and sacrifice to envision real, tangible ways to partner with our veterans and make things happen. There is no greater responsibility of government than to protect its citizens, and there is no greater honor than in empowering those that defend our nation to excel after their service.

Our collective responsibility as citizens of Rhode Island is not only to recognize the utility of building a best-in-class transition path for our vets, but to create at least a small space in our hectic lives to connect emotionally and viscerally to the reality of their service. Creating this connection will be a crucially important task of the newly minted director. It will serve as the foundation to tackle some hefty challenges our veterans face, linking veterans with veterans, and a community with itself.

This is part one of a three part series. Next week we will explore the future of veterans affairs in Rhode Island.

_______
¹ The “Rhode Island Soldiers’ Home” was established in 1890 and is technically under the purview of the Division of Veterans Affairs.
² War-time military bonuses began in 1776 and were a payment for the difference between what a solider earned and what they could have had they not enlisted.
³ Suzanne M. (2005). Soldiers to citizens: The GI Bill and the making of the greatest generation.
⁴ Borg, L. (May 22, 2015). Ground broken on new $94-million veterans home in Bristol. RI: Providence Journal.

April 14, 2015

‘Bad Apples’

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“One Bad apple” is what they say
Explaining when cops go astray
But now a better line might be
“Be careful where you plant the tree”

Like many men who join the force
They choose a military course
Of war beneath the desert sun
Before they earn a policeman’s gun

Most cops are filled with civic pride
But some have demons deep inside
Grim flashbacks to hostile faces
Battle scars from foreign places

Soldiers learn how to determine
Sunni’s from Shiites by their skin
But once back home they’re not allowed
To profile faces in a crowd

America, land of the free
Is filled with ambiguity
Let’s make sure racial killing stops
Our veterans should not be cops

c2015pn
Read Peet Nourjian’s previous poems here.

May 28, 2012November 19, 2012

Memorializing My Fallen Comrades, a Reflection

Memorial Day. There must be millions of blogs, newspaper articles, documentaries, and cable specials being produced this weekend to bring attention to some aspect of the military’s dead. I’d say, if one American spends 10 minutes this weekend watching an ABC special on American service members who have died in Afghanistan, that’s a win for consciousness raising. But as John Farmer recently wrote in The Star Ledger, Memorial Day isn’t what it used to be.

Contrary to John, I’m not interested in parades and fan fare celebrating the heroics of our fallen warriors. Nor would I be satisfied with Americans just observing a moment of silence. I think there’s more to Memorial Day than even I have contemplated in the past. So what will I be reflecting on today?

Ronald Reagan once said at the Moscow State University (1988), “Freedom is the right to question and change the established ways of doing things.” President Reagan rightly draws our attention to the theme of freedom. For it is in the name of freedom, we are told, that women and men in uniform die. It is also in the name of freedom, that we are challenged to question this line of thinking.

Oh, how we glamorize violence as patriotic. Ask most who have worn the uniform and they would much rather have their fallen comrades alive than celebrated as patriotic. And yet we all grasp to make meaning of these deaths in some assessable way. We want to attribute it to some higher cause, some transcendent mission that we can point to and say, yes, that is why my son is dead; that is why my niece is buried in Arlington; yes, that’s why my children will never know how much their father loved them. The truth may be that defending our freedom isn’t what folks in Afghanistan or Iraq died for and there may not be a comforting way to make meaning of their death. If that is the case, what do we do with our grief, our confusion?

I say let us celebrate their willingness to sacrifice their life for country. I believe the courage to do that, to put one’s life on the line for a fellow soldier or Marine is honorable. They have earned our praise. Yet, let us also challenge the idea that death, war, and violence are just a part of life. Let us challenge the idea that we will always have to send young fathers and mothers off to die in foreign countries. Let us honor the fallen by being critical citizens. Let us celebrate Memorial Day by questioning the policies that force our fellow Americans into combat. Let us, above all else, reflect on how we are to enhance the life of all people, preserve it, not destroy it. This is what I will be meditating on throughout these hours of memorial.

Today, weep for those we have lost. Today, connect with someone who remembers the precious moments of a fallen Marine’s life before and during their military service. Today, question the meaning of their sacrifice. And please, for the love of all things sacred, don’t just be a mindless consumer and treat this holiday like another weekend for great sales!

Greg Matos is a former Marine Sergeant and author of “Shattered Glass: The Story of a Marine Embassy Guard.” He is the recipient of the Bronze Star with Combat Valor and Department of State’s Award for Heroism. Visit: GregMatos.com.

August 22, 2011January 6, 2012

Miguel Luna – Friend and Ally

I remember when Miguel and Shaun Joseph went to Honduras as part of international solidarity with the resistance to the coup that ousted democratically elected President Zelaya. They brought back dramatic footage and pictures of truly mass mobilizations by the people against the golpistas and in support of democracy – very inspiring. When they returned, we held a public meeting in Rev. Duane Klinker’s church where they reported on their experiences.