Celebrating Veterans in the Past and Future

Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Rex Temple returns after serving a year in Afghanistan (May 2009 to April 2010) and sharing his experiences in weekly radio interviews with WUSF News, the Tampa NPR affiliate. Also captured in the video, several active duty service members on April 22, 2010 and my husband Earl Quenneville, a US Navy World War II and Korean veteran.

More than a decade later, Rex is retired. Earl rests in a niche at Arlington National Cemetery. Thank you to both for keeping the country safe.

Afghanistan: What Must They Be Thinking?

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My thoughts are with the hundreds of active duty troops, military families and veterans I’ve interviewed over the last two decades.

What are they thinking after learning of President Biden’s plan to withdraw all United States Armed Forces from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021?

We already have service members doing their duty in Afghanistan today whose parents served in the same war. We have service members who were not yet born when our nation was attacked on 9/11. War in Afghanistan was never meant to be a multi-generational undertaking. We were attacked. We went to war with clear goals. We achieved those objectives. Bin Laden is dead, and al Qaeda is degraded in Iraq – in Afghanistan. And it’s time to end the forever war.

Remarks by President Biden on the Way Forward in Afghanistan whitehouse.gov

If I were not retired, I would be reaching out to all those generous military families, soldiers, airmen and sailors who talked with me, shared their stories and opened their lives over two decades.

What I am thinking with this announcement?

I am forever grateful. And I continue to be enlightened with a deeper understanding of the U.S. military culture, the tradition and the pride that military members and their families carry in their hearts.

Remembering Army Ranger and NFL Player Pat Tillman

Pat Tillman, former NFL player.

The VA marked the start of the 2019 National Football League season with a VAntage Blog entry commemorating the service of Pat Tillman. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Tillman finished his 2001 NFL season and then enlisted in the U.S. Army.

He completed Army Ranger School in late 2003 and deployed. Tillman was killed April 22, 2004 in Afghanistan.

In a previous Off the Base blog post, I shared a portion of Tillman’s “Just In Case Letter” he left his wife, Marie Tillman shared in her new book, The Letter: My Journey Through Love, Loss, & Life:

• Just in case I don’t come back I want the money used to put the boys through college.

• Just in case I don’t come back I want you to know that I was fighting for my country: my country is you and our babies and my mom and my sisters.

• Just in case I don’t come back I want you to know that you were everything a wife was supposed to be. That you made my life happy. That even though we didn’t have 50 years together, the five we did have were the fullest, richest years anyone could ever want.

But Tillman’s life did not end there.

Marie Tillman created the Tillman Scholars Foundation “empowering the next generation of leaders.”

I’ve had the privilege to interview several Tillman Scholars over the years. They are remarkable military veterans and spouses with even larger dreams and a passion for service and scholarship, among them:

• Lance Corporal Dave Warden
• Josiah Hill
• Stephen Naylor
• Edward Woodward

So as you cheer on your favorite NFL team this weekend, you might also consider a “shout out” to the memory of Tillman and the team of Tillman Scholars who contribute daily to better our world.

Mission Roll Call Seeks Voices, But Limits Feedback

Field of Stars at the World War II Memorial, Washington D.C., courtesy of the WWII Memorial.com

 

It’s estimated that only about half of all United States military veterans are using the VA benefits they’ve earned, or are connected to a veteran service organization.

So, what’s the response? One, featured in today’s VA email newsletter, is a “movement” named Mission Roll Call

… to reach all Veterans, to learn how to better serve them. Every Voice Matters. Stand and be counted, make your voice heard.

But there’s a problem from my point of view as the spouse to a World War II veteran who is not actively using his VA benefits.

It’s “Every Voice Matters” campaign is pseudo marketing with a pseudo survey.

When you click on the “make your voice heard” link, there’s a survey that only gives you three options for your “most important issue”: veteran suicide, veteran employment and veteran caregiver support.

That’s it.

First let me acknowledge, veteran suicide, employment and caregiver support are all very important concerns.

However, if “Mission Roll Call” really wanted to “REACH ALL VETERANS,” this is not the way to connect with those who are not engaged. In fact, the survey is more like an insult to their intelligence.

There’s no option to write in a specific concern. There’s only the three issues, a space for your name, email and then a “VOTE” button.

That’s how you supposedly make your voice heard, pick only from Mission Roll Call’s three issues?

I understand if the survey is an attempt by the organization to prioritize its predetermined top issue.

I get it. But present it that way.

PLEASE don’t market this as a campaign to give “voice” to individual veterans and their concerns.

It’s not.

It appears only as a way to advance the organization’s concerns and to build a database of emails.

Additionally, this “pseudo survey” will come up with only “pseudo results” – none of them will be accurate or real. Unfortunately, such pseudo polls have become pervasive on the internet while consumers have become less discerning.

As a veteran’s spouse, I thought Mission Roll Call might be a way to encourage my WWII Veteran to use his VA health benefits for his hearing loss.

I’m disappointed. He remains among the estimated 50 percent who have not reached out and probably will not thanks to the level of pseudo marketing to veterans.

Civilians ‘Out Gun’ Military & Law Officers More Than 70 To 1

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Full disclosure: The analysis link below was researched and written by my nephew, Sean Phillippi. I confess being partial to the man, a loving, kind and smart young man. But aunties, like me, are also known for having a more critical eye and being a more skeptical audience because family is expected to meet a higher standard.

That stated, his research includes a little discussed statistic that I wanted to share because it gave me chills when I first read it:

“…there are more than 70 guns in civilian hands for every one gun in the hands of law enforcement and military.”

I can’t help but wonder about the thoughts of law enforcement officers, National Guard, Reservists and active duty military as they’re sent into unpredictable situations with those odds 70 to 1.

Sean’s full article, published at FloridaPolitics.com, includes all his data, how it was resourced and the research methodology. He did the research and wrote the article looking for answers that are grounded in facts and data. He is looking to take the community discussion on gun violence, like many, beyond the “sound bytes” and flashy headlines. A scientific analysis is a good starting point.

Sean Phillippi: Data links gun deaths to gun ownership, not mental health, video games

 

 

 

 

A Thank You To All Who Served Including My Dad

I’m thankful this Memorial Day for many people including my younger sister, Pat O’Brien Turner, who today visited our father’s grave at the U.S. National Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio.

Navy WWII veteran Robert Joseph O’Brien spent D-Day off-loading troops on the shores of France. He was part of a naval landing-craft crew that made numerous trips back and forth to the coastline for the first two days of the invasion.

My father talked to me about his service just once. And that’s only because I was with my husband, also a WWII Navy veteran.

Like many of his generation, he didn’t like to recall the war. I think in part, it’s because he was assigned burial duty after the beach was secured. It was a heart-wrenching assignment that I know he carried out with the same care and dignity he would afford his own loved ones.

Today, I think of my father and all the families of those killed on the beach that day, those who died in WWII and all who have fallen while serving their country.

Memorial Day 2019 at the U.S. National Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio.

 

‘A Little Pink’ Always Colors My Memorial Day

The American Flag flies above the US American Victory Museum & Memorial Ship, Tampa, FL.

Through almost 40 years of reporting – there are stories and people that never leave you.

A Little Pink In A World Of Camo, a military wife’s blog, is where I discovered such a heart-captivating story titled: I Will Always Be A Marine Wife.

I just need to share some sad news with all of my blog friends.

Sad isn’t even the word to describe it, but honestly at this point I can’t find the words to describe it. Angry, empty, crushed, confused, shocked, alone, unglued, hateful, depressed, beaten down… none of these words can do justice to my feelings.

I am being forced to do something that no 23 year old woman should ever have to do. I am being forced to do something that no one should ever have to do, not at this early in life, especially. I am being forced to lay the love of my life, my saving grace, my entire world to rest. …

– Rachel Porto –

And after reporting on their family’s loss, Ariana Porto, her mother Rachel Porto and grandmothers Evelyn Jewell and Rachel Bernaby (Porto’s mother) forever became a part of my Memorial Day remembrances.

I never met him and Corporal Jonathan Porto never held his daughter Ariana.

The closest he got was kneeling down and talking to her through Rachel’s pregnant belly on the day he deployed. An iconic photo of that moment was snapped by another Marine wife. Rachel was unaware at the time, but she ended up featuring the picture at the top of her blog: A Little Pink in a World of Camo.

Porto was one of 10 men killed in his battalion, the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment from Camp Lejeune, while deployed to Afghanistan. He died in March 2010 just shy of his first wedding anniversary.

What will always stay with me is that photo of Jonathan talking to his unborn daughter and the power of Rachel and Jonathan’s relationship. Jonathan made Rachel promise “no moping” while he was gone. And as difficult as the hours, days, months and years may have been since his death, Rachel continues to keep her promise to Jonathan. And she’s continued to write earning a masters’ degree in writing.

Please on this Memorial Day, keep the promise made by President Lincoln, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.” So, take a moment to remember those who have fallen in service to our country.

My eternal appreciation to all who have allowed me to tell their stories.

 

Cigars, Rough Riders And Sandwich Link Tampa To Cuba

Photo by Bobbie O’Brien/WUSF Public Media

Tampa is linked to Cuba by more than early Spanish fishermen, migrating cigar workers and the 1960s missile crisis. Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders used the city to train and then launch their 1898 foray into Cuba during the Spanish American War.

But a sandwich became the most recent Cuban battleground between the communities in Tampa and Miami: The Cuban Sandwich Crisis.

• The Case for Tampa
• The Case for Miami

As a result, Tampa City Council named the traditional Cuban Sandwich of sweet ham, mojo-marinated roast pork, Swiss cheese, dill pickles, mustard and Genoa salami as the city’s “signature sandwich” in April 2012.

Tampa’s Cuban Sandwich Festival on Saturday, March 30, features a taste from a 170 foot-long Cuban sandwich, music and a junior chef’s showdown. Sunday, March 31, is the 8th annual International Cuban Sandwich Festival where teams from South Korea, England and California will compete for the title of Best Cuban Sandwich.

Keystone View Company. Roosevelt’s “Rough Rider’s”sic arrival at Tampa, Fla., U.S.A. Florida Tampa, ca. 1898. Meadville, Pa.: Keystone View Company manufacturers and publishers.

And if you’d like some additional visuals, while munching on your Cuban sandwich, here’s a short film of Rough Riders at drill in Tampa on the Library of Congress website.

Registration Deadline For Veterans Outreach Court In Tampa

Here’s an opportunity for veterans living in Hillsborough County to resolve outstanding misdemeanor warrants, fines, legal fees and ordinance violations.

This is the second year that the Veterans Outreach Court is offering low income and homeless veterans a chance to clear up their court record.

Close to 100 veterans got help with their minor legal issues during the one-day outreach court last year.

Cases the outreach court will not hear:

• domestic violence
• child support
• active felony warrants
• cases already pending in Veterans Treatment Court

But to take advantage, veterans must act because today, October 26, 2018, the deadline to register.

The 2018 Hillsborough Veterans Outreach Court is free and scheduled in two weeks, Friday, November 9, 2018 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital Primary Care VA Annex, 13515 Lake Terrace Lane, in Tampa.

Online registration is available for veterans at the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court website: www.hillsclerk.com.

All qualified participants will receive a notification by mail.  Veterans can also view their case online at www.hover.hillsclerk.com.

Using A Military Mindset To Create Business Start Ups

Alex Hill, right, and Justin Duhe, left, walk through the coconut groves at Coco Rico, Homestead, FL.
Bobbie O’Brien / WUSF Public Media

As he transitions out of the military this fall, Justin Duhe is going into business for himself. The 28-year-old Army linguist and cyber specialist bought a five acre coconut grove in Homestead, Fla. last year – sight unseen. He knew nothing about coconuts at the time.

“I farmed before in Texas, but it was all vegetable farming, nothing like this,” Duhe said. “But I saw the potential of money, you know, that they were growing fruit and it was an investment.”

Justin Duhe bought his 5 acre coconut farm as an investment as he transitions out of the Army.

But while his new career running Coco Rico Farms will be vastly different from what he did in the Army, Duhe said his military experience will still be an asset.

Noting that he learned Farsi in 47 weeks in the Army, Duhe said he’s not afraid of challenges. And his time in the military has helped him build a business network. He wasn’t in Florida long before crossing paths with a veteran in the food business who was looking for a fresh coconut supplier. The two Army men bonded instantly.

“That’s part of the military mindset,” Duhe said. “You see each other and you pick up your battle buddy and they pick you up and you both have a vision, a goal and you keep on moving forward.”

Duhe and Alex Hill, owner of Florida Coconuts, became “business” battle buddies – not partners, but supplier and vendor.

Alex Hill, Army veteran and owner of Florida Coconuts, met Duhe online while searching for a new supply of fresh Florida coconuts.

Hill, who was in the Army Airborne, sells fresh coconut water to tourists along the beach. He said it’s not the first time he’s done business with other people who’ve been in the military.

“They have a similar work ethic as you and also uphold those similar values that you have. It’s hard to find people that have the same values outside the military,” Hill said.

Green coconuts are the best source for fresh coconut water.

Agencies target “Vetrepreneurs”

About 2.5 million veterans own businesses. According to the Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families, veterans own 13 to 15 percent of small businesses, though they’re only eight percent of the population.

Women veterans are driving the trend, according to Misty Stutsman, the director of entrepreneurship and small business at the institute.

“Women veteran entrepreneurship has grown over 300 percent since 2007, which is insane,” Stutsman said. “If you look at these entrepreneurs, not only is the start-ups great, but they’re out earning their civilian counterparts.”

To offer veterans the option of self-employment, the Institute developed several entrepreneurship programs including some that are specifically for women veterans, active-duty, and military spouses.

“Communities are investing in these programs to make sure that the next generation of entrepreneurs is supported,” Stutsman said.

Alex Hill, second from left, accepts his $7,500 second place winnings at the first Veterans Florida “Batttle of the Pitches.”

Veteran-owned startups have attracted the attention of states, universities, and other agencies.

The success record among veteran-owned startups has attracted the attention of states, universities, and other agencies.

The US Small Business Administration Veteran Business Outreach Centers offer a range of resources and training in conjunction with more than 20 partners. There are non-profit organizations like Bunker Labs, created by military veterans for veterans interested in a start-up.

Veterans Florida – a non-profit corporation created by the state of Florida – offers free classes, mentors, and an annual “Battle of the Pitches” where “vetrepreneurs” compete for cash prizes.

Florida Coconuts, Hill’s company, won second prize – $7500 – at the 2018 competition. The first prize was awarded to Axon Motor Company in Clearwater, Fla.

Hill’s prize came at a good time. A drop in the coconut supply and a seasonal dip in tourism hurt his business, so he’s pursuing a new entrepreneurial idea. He is working to design a better coconut opener.

This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans. Funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.