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VA’s suicide hotline in disarray, ex-director says

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crisisline

By Debbie Gregory.

A bill to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs suicide hotline sailed unanimously through the House until Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid blocked the legislation and refused to let it come to the floor for a voice vote.

Rep. David Young, R-Iowa, the bill’s sponsor, said a veteran in his district told him he repeatedly received a busy signal when he called the crisis line this spring. The man later got help from a friend, but “this hotline let him down,” Young said. “A veteran in need cannot wait for help, and any incident where a veteran has trouble with the Veterans Crisis Line is simply unacceptable.”

More than one-third of calls to a suicide hotline for troubled veterans are not being answered by front-line staffers because of poor work habits and other problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to Greg Hughes, the VA’s Veterans Crisis Line’s former director.

Some hotline workers handle fewer than five calls per day and leave before their shifts end, even as crisis calls have increased sharply in recent years, Hughes said. Hughes added that some crisis line staffers “spend very little time on the phone or engaged in assigned productive activity.” Coverage at the crisis line suffers “because we have staff who routinely request to leave early,” he said.

According to Hughes, who resigned in June, too many calls have rolled over to back-up centers where workers have less training to deal with veterans’ problems.

The VA has pledged to continue efforts to improve training and ensure that callers receive immediate assistance.

VA Undersecretary for Health David Shulkin said suicide prevention is a top priority at VA.  “We are saving thousands of lives. But we will not rest as long as there are veterans who remain at risk,” he said in a statement.

The bill will now go to the Senate.

The crisis hotline number is 800-273-8255.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Interview Do’s & Don’ts, and the Questions You Should/Should Not Answer

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job

By Debbie Gregory.

If you’re searching for a veteran job after military service, you may be out of practice when it comes to the job interviewing process. Here are some important tips.

Do’s:

Prepare: Research the people interviewing you, the company, and the job itself. Know what does the company does, the requirements for the job, and how your experience matches those requirements.

Engage: Remember that you are, first and foremost, having a conversation. It’s nerve-wracking and highly formalized, but avoid stock responses. Preparation is a foundation, not a set-in-stone strategy.

Ask the right questions: Don’t be afraid to ask questions, but make sure they are the right questions. For example:  Who do you think would be the ideal candidate for this position, and how do I compare? Do you have any hesitations about my qualifications? What are the challenges of this position? What do you like most about working for this company?

Close on a positive: Towards the close of the interview, look the interviewer in the eye and say, “I can do this job, and do it well. I am the type of person who puts 100% effort and energy into my work. What are the next steps?

Do not flinch and wait for an answer. No one likes rejection and they want a candidate who will accept the offer and not reject it.  This might be the most important part of the interview.

Don’ts:

Be late: This rule is ironclad. No excuses, no exceptions. Showing up late shows disregard for your potential employer’s time, and insinuates your inability to plan.

Say negative things about your current or past employers or managers: No matter how grounded your complaints are, negative comments will be viewed as disrespectful. When faced with the challenge of talking about former employers, make sure you are prepared with a positive spin on your experiences.

Be Desperate: Never let on that you’re applying just because you need a job. It’s in the best interests of the employer to hire a passionate employee rather than someone who is simply filling a slot.

Show lapses in your professional veneer: The interview begins as soon as you receive notice that they want to interview you. Party pictures on social media? Not a great idea. As soon as you enter the building, make sure you treat everyone with respect and courtesy. Don’t let your professional veneer slip for a moment.

Talk too much: Don’t take too long to answer direct questions. It gives the impression that you can’t get to the point. An even though you’re nervous, try not to over-talk.

Ask the wrong questions: Examples of this would be: How much does the job pay? What are the benefits? What can you tell me about your company? (You should have already done your homework.) How long will it take to get a promotion? Are you flexible on the schedule? Can I work from home?

Give away too much information: Don’t weaken future earning potential by speaking too freely about current income. No matter the official salary range of the position you are interviewing for, your current earnings have an enormous effect on the size of the offer.

You already know your resume set you apart as a candidate of choice to be invited for an interview. Hone your interviewing skills to actually win job offers. Polishing your interviewing skills can mean the difference between getting the job and being a runner-up.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Guard and Reserves to Test Training Program

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guard and reserve

By Debbie Gregory.

As active duty numbers continue to fall, the Army and the Pentagon want the Guard and Reserves combat-ready ASAP.

To that end, the Georgia National Guard’s 48th Infantry Brigade’s 4,200 soldiers are the first of 13 National Guard and Army Reserve units nationwide chosen to test a new role that pairs them with commanders on active-duty who will oversee their training.

The Army is forging similar active-duty partnerships for nine additional National Guard units based in Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Texas, and two Army Reserve units based in North Carolina and Hawaii. The pairings are scheduled to last for at least a three-year test period. The Army says more units may be added after the pilot ends in the fall of 2019.

Every day, thousands of service members devote themselves to protecting freedoms, maintaining peace, providing relief and supporting policy around the globe. The Pentagon hopes this will make the Guard and Reserve troops better prepared to fight overseas at a time when the Army is down by roughly 100,000 full-time soldiers from the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Any National Guard units being paired with active-duty commands will remain available for their states’ governors to mobilize in response to natural disasters and other emergencies.

Meanwhile, leaders of the 48th Brigade have already been sharing training reports and planning meetings with the 3rd Infantry. A few additional days may need to be added to the brigade’s training schedule, Neal said, but otherwise he expects few major changes.

“It solidifies the relationships that we’ve already established,” Neal said. “In other words, we’re getting credit for what we’ve already been doing.”

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

 

Coming Soon: Self-Driving Medical Vehicles For Wounded Warriors

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By Debbie Gregory.

In a move aimed at reducing combat-wounded soldiers missing their doctor’s appointments due to heavy traffic and lack of parking close to on-base hospitals, the Army is venturing into the realm of driverless vehicles.

By 2018, the Army plans to have autonomous vehicles, beginning with a modified version of a Cushman Shuttle golf cart, on the road transporting wounded soldiers to the hospital for rehab.

“Some of these appointments can cost $5,000. So, if the soldier is not showing up, that’s a huge cost,” said Edward Straub, program manager for the Army’s Applied Robotics for Installations and Base operations.

The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center has rolled out a three-phase pilot program at Fort Bragg, South Carolina, and several other locations.

The first of three phases of the pilot program is already underway, with drivers steering the vehicles along their designated routes. The vehicles operate at low speeds in controlled areas.

Phase two, which is tentatively set to begin this fall, should see the vehicle driving itself, but with an operator in the front seat, just in case the vehicle should malfunction in any way.

If all goes according to plan, these vehicles will operate independently by 2018, allowing soldiers to schedule personalized door-to-door transports from their barracks to the hospital.

These advances go hand-in-hand with the Army’s future plans to use driverless combat vehicles to transport supplies and soldiers. This new technology is capable of making almost every military vehicle an optionally-manned vehicle.

While autonomous vehicle convoys made up of troop-carrying vehicles like the Humvee and cargo-carrying vehicles like the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck are a huge leap forward, the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) also has its sights set on vehicles that are weapons platforms, such as the Abrams tank, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the Stryker.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Divorce Rules for Dividing a Military Pension

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mil divorce

By Debbie Gregory.

Without question, divorce is traumatic for any family. The division of assets is handled differently in every divorce case, and also depends on the law of the state where the divorce case is pending. A service member’s military pension/retired pay can be a valuable asset in a divorce, legal separation or dissolution of marriage.

In 1982 Congress passed the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act, which allows state courts to treat disposable retired pay either as property solely of the member, or as property of the member and his spouse in accordance with the laws of the state court. But there is no concrete rule in the act to determine the appropriate division of retired pay.

A state court can divide retired pay in any way it chooses (subject to the laws of that state). All 50 states treat military pension as marital or community property. And the state court can award a share of the military retired pay to a former spouse of military member, regardless of the length of the union.

With that said, the Department of Defense can only make direct payments of a military member’s retired pay to the former spouse if the former spouse was married to the military member for a period of at least 10 years, with at least 10 years of the marriage overlapping a period of military service creditable to retired pay.

Additionally, the DoD cannot make direct payments if the division of retired pay is in excess of 50 percent, or 65 percent if alimony or child support is paid in addition to division of retired pay.

While disability pay is not subject to division as property, it is subject to garnishment for alimony or child support.

Before a court can grant a divorce to military members or spouses, it must have “jurisdiction” or the authority to hear the case. For civilians, jurisdiction is generally the place where the person lives. However, for military personnel, jurisdiction may be the place where the person holds legal residence, even if the service member is stationed somewhere else.

If the marriage lasted at least 20 years and the service member had at least 20 years of creditable service, and there was at least a 20-year overlap between the marriage and the military service, the former spouse is allowed to retain all military benefits and privileges, including medical, commissary, military exchanges.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

VFW Partners with Other Non-Profits to Fight Mental Health Stigma

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By Debbie Gregory.

The VFW has recently launched a campaign to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health, raise awareness, foster community engagement, improve research, and provide intervention for veterans, service members, and their loved ones who may be suffering from invisible injuries or emotional stress.

VFW National Commander Brian Duffy kicked off the VFW’s Mental Wellness Campaign with a panel discussion that included  Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, founder/president of Give an Hour, One Mind’s chief strategy officer Joan Demetriades, and Jim Murray, director of strategic partnerships for PatientsLikeMe.

“We are proud to be joined by the nation’s leading mental health organizations to help change the veteran’s narrative — the veteran’s brand — which right now has America regarding us more as individual heroes instead of strategic assets in every community,” said Duffy, who is the first Operation Desert Storm veteran to lead the 117-year-old VFW.

The VFW Mental Wellness Campaign leverages the power, influence and reach of nearly 1.7 million members in more than 6,600 VFW Posts around the world with the nation’s leaders in mental health care, research, and peer-to-peer support. Give an Hour has provided free mental health care to service members and their families for 11 years by “harnessing civilian mental health professionals and asking them to step up and give service, give their time to provide care,” according to Van Dahlen. The nonprofit also launched its Campaign to Change Direction nearly two years ago in an effort to “change the greater culture” surrounding mental health. MilitaryConnection.com is a long-time partner of Give an Hour, and has made the pledge to support Change Direction.

Non-profit One Mind also aims to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. One Mind is building online communities to help those affected by PTS and TBI to connect, learn, share with others, track their progress, become better informed and advocate more effectively for their own health and the health of those they love.

PatientsLikeMe allows users to share symptoms, treatment info, and health outcomes. The website turns information into millions of data points, and then aggregates and organizes the data to reveal new insights. They then share back what they’ve learned with everyone and share the patient experience with the industry so they can develop better products, services, and care.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Pentagon Firmly Against Military Intervention in Syria

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For years, the Pentagon has been against direct U.S. military action in Syria’s civil war.

Early last month, defense officials objected to a deal reached with Moscow by Secretary of State John F. Kerry that would couple a cease-fire and delivery of humanitarian aid with U.S.-Russian counterterrorism cooperation against the Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked forces in Syria.

But the cease-fire did not hold. The U.N. Security Council is deadlocked over how to respond to the Aleppo crisis and the U.S. and Russia have failed to reach an agreement on renewing the short-lived cease-fire.

A statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with Secretary Kerry in Lausanne, Switzerland, to discuss efforts to find a peace deal in Syria. This would be the first face-to-face encounter between the two men since Washington broke off diplomatic contact with Moscow over the violence in Aleppo earlier this month.

Amid increasing internal tension, one senior administration official insisted that both the Syrian opposition and U.S. allies have pressed for a continuation of negotiations and discouraged talk of military intervention. Obama’s position on the subject, this official said, has been “consistent. We do not believe there is a military solution to this conflict. There are any number of challenges that come with applying military force in this context.”

The State Department said Kerry would meet with “key regional partners” in Lausanne to discuss ways to resolve the Syria crisis, without specifying who they were. It said Kerry would discuss a “multilateral approach” to ending the crisis, “including a sustained cessation of violence and the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries.”

In Obama’s recent speech at the United Nations, the official noted, Obama repeated that “there’s no ultimate military victory to be won” in Syria. Instead, Obama said, “we’re going to have to pursue the hard work of diplomacy that aims to stop the violence, and deliver aid to those in need, and support those who pursue a political settlement.”

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Should Separation Policy Address Service-related Trauma?

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By Debbie Gregory.

Last month, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter urging the Department of Defense (DOD) to update the military’s separation policy to address behavior that results from trauma, such as sexual assault or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD.)

“Clear guidance will ensure that all service members who are impacted by combat or military sexual assault-related trauma receive fair consideration of their medical conditions prior to their separation from the military and will ensure that fair, consistent and transparent standards are applied across the services,” the senators wrote.

The Department of the Navy has already updated its administrative separation policy to ensure a diagnosed mental health condition takes precedence over misconduct when a sailor or Marine is being involuntarily separated. But the other branches of the military have not yet made similar changes to their policies.

The senators made reference to a May 2015 inspector general report that found sexual assault survivors who engage in trauma-related misconduct are at an increased risk of being involuntarily discharged under less than honorable conditions than the general military population.

Additionally, combat veterans with PTSD or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) may exhibit irregular behavior, have difficulty performing at work, or battle substance abuse. These disciplinary infractions can often be mischaracterized as misconduct rather than symptoms of a mental health condition.

“Their chain of command may not understand that these disciplinary infractions can be symptoms of mental health conditions,” they wrote.

Involuntary discharges have a number of negative consequences including increased rates of suicide, homelessness, and employment discrimination.

While changes have been made in recent years, they said, more needs to be done.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

The National Guard Is Vital

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By Debbie Gregory.

While most of us are aware of the National Guard’s rapid response to civil unrest, hurricanes, wildfires and floods here at home, perhaps the most significant contribution the National Guard has made in recent years is on the battlefield.

After 9/11 and the start of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Department of Defense began relying on the Guard to supplement operations. By 2005, the Army National Guard made up half of all combat brigades in Iraq.

Made up of two main forces, the Air National Guard and the Army National Guard, the Guard is a unique and essential element of the U.S. military.

Founded in 1636 as a citizen force organized to protect families and towns from hostile attacks, today’s National Guard Soldiers hold civilian jobs or attend college while maintaining their military training part time, always ready to defend the American way of life in the event of an emergency.

The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) is a Department of Defense program established in 1972 to promote cooperation and understanding between Guard and Reserve Component Service members and their civilian employers and to assist in the resolution of conflicts arising from an employee’s military commitment.

I am proud to serve as the Director of Employer Engagement for California’s Employer Support of Guard and Reserve.

Some 2.8 million citizen soldiers have deployed since 9/11. There are over 150 different jobs available in the Guard. Infantry, Air Defense, Medical and Military Police are examples of Guard career fields. Opportunities are also available in intelligence, technology, engineering, aviation, and many other fields.

Being prepared to respond quickly is what the National Guard is all about. The motto “Always Ready, Always There” is more than just a slogan; it’s a call to action for the men and women of the National Guard.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

New Veteran Health Care Plan Emerging

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By Debbie Gregory.

After more than two years of debate, there is finally agreement about how best to provide veteran health care today and over the next 20 years. The solution is the creation of local integrated health care networks that combine the strength of the VA system with community care, whenever and wherever gaps in coverage exist.

The VA-community integrated networks will replace the current Choice Program, which has been plagued by poor coordination, scheduling problems, and payment delays. Community providers will get paid on a timely basis because the networks will be operated by the local VA.

Two years ago Congress created the Veterans Choice Program after scandals revealed that some veterans were waiting months to get essential medical care. The $10 billion program was designed to get veterans care quickly by letting them choose a doctor outside the VA system. Unfortunately, the band-aid fix was itself broken.

The Choice program was supposed to get local, private health care for vets who lived 40 miles away or whom the VA couldn’t see within 30 days, but thousands of veterans got lost in the confusing system, and many wait times increased under the program.

The VA-community networks will be designed on a community-by-community basis, matching each veteran’s needs to local resources. As a result, veterans who need an appointment can get an appointment with a highly-qualified, competent doctor.

With VA health care facilities playing the lead management and clinical role, medical care for ill and injured veterans will be coordinated and veteran-centric. When a veteran sees a doctor in the network, whether at VA or in the community sector, the care will be focused on the health of the “whole veteran,” which will lead to the best health outcomes for the men and women who served.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.


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