News about the veteran community, for the veteran community.
“Veteran stories are crucial part of our nation’s history” – Veterans Day Message from ODVA Director Kelly Fitzpatrick
I love to study our nation’s history through the lens of our military veterans. Who could fail to be inspired by the brash courage of the United States Marines during the Battle of Belleau Wood in World War I? Or by the words of Marine Captain Lloyd W. Williams, who, after being repeatedly urged to turn back by retreating French forces, famously said, “Retreat? Hell, we just got here.” Legend has it that it was at this battle that Marines earned the German nickname “Teufelshunde”: “Devil Dogs.” What about the story of Pfc. Dirk J. Vlug, serving in the Philippines during World War II, who refused to back down despite being outnumbered 5-to-1. No, it wasn’t one against five enemy soldiers. It was one soldier against five, heavily armed Japanese tanks.
Secretary Wilkie thanks women Veterans and VA’s women employees
Hello, I’m Robert Wilkie, Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. I’m honored to help celebrate Women’s History Month, pay tribute to women Veterans, and thank our VA women Veteran employees. Women’s history and VA history are inextricably linked. In 1867, Emma Miller was appointed as the first woman employee of what would become VHA, when she was appointed as matron of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Dayton,
Suicide Prevention Month: “You are not alone, and you never were.”
The following is a guest post from a Military Services Crisis Intervention Specialist at Lines for Life. It seems many veterans exist at the crossroads of “suck it up” and “I need help.” In the military, “suck it up” serves a purpose. It influences the mental toughness required to complete the task or mission. It’s an ethos that allows service members to work as a unit and perform heroic, impossible, and even history-defining acts. As a veteran, however, this attitude can also be potentially problematic. It seems many veterans exist at the crossroads of “suck it up” and “I need