Bad Paper Discharges

One of the difficulties I face in my work with veterans is that of program eligibility. Veterans receive one of five discharges (Honorable, General, Other than Honorable, Bad Conduct, Dishonorable) when they leave the military. Veterans who receive anything other than an honorable discharge face the potential loss of benefits.

In the last few weeks, I have encountered several homeless veterans with "other than honorable" discharges and this presents a challenge when attempting to find housing resources.  Because of those discharges they are not eligible for veteran housing resources.  I find this particularly troubling because veterans who leave the service with bad paper discharges are the most in need of services often. Some changes have occurred with the HUD-VASH program where they are making a limited amount of vouchers available to veterans with OTH's. I think this is a great start and I hope the VA continues this trend. They will have to if they are truly committed to ending veteran homelessness.

Outreach

 One of the things I really enjoy about my fellowship is that I travel throughout my city and county. I have been able to see areas that I previously had never visited, despite having grown up here. In our efforts to end veteran homelessness in the county, we travel throughout the various service planning areas (spas) to find veterans in need and make connections with community resources.

While I know it is necessary to reach out to service providers and community partners, I really enjoy the street outreach the most. Crawling through brush to reach encampments and being able to get a veteran registered and enrolled with VA medical services is a great feeling. One I hope to repeat many times over.

A.S.I.S.T

As part of my fellowship with B3, I have been great opportunities to attend extremely valuable training seminars. Several weeks ago I was fortunate enough to attend the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills training event at Bob Hope Patriotic Hall in downtown Los Angeles. The building is home to Los Angeles County veteran service organizations and county staff.

The training itself was very emotional but provided the necessary skill set to intervene in crisis moment. I found this training to be especially powerful given that I work with a population that is suffering from an estimated 22 suicides a day. While I hope that I never have to use the skills learned in the training, I feel confident in my ability to help a veteran in crisis.

No typical day

It has been a very busy three weeks at the Battle Buddy Bridge program. No day is like the last. My first week involved attending a housing fair at the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall. The building is the site of Los Angeles County veteran services. Our program set up a booth at the fair and helped guide veterans to various resources available at the fair. I felt proud to be a part of something that will get roofs over veterans’ heads. It was a great first day.

               The rest of my week consisted of meetings with program manager and the other squad leaders of B3. During these meeting we determined a course of action for my squad. We set a timeline for creating a spreadsheet of all area National Guard and Reserve units. The spreadsheet will contain five points of contact with every unit within 30 miles of our Boyle Heights headquarters. The points of contacts are made up of various stakeholders, from Chaplains to Family Readiness Group leaders.  Although I have faced some resistance and doubt from various units, I strongly believe all will get on board once they realize the nature of the services we offer.

               The last two weeks have been spent in training to become a peer-support specialist. I cannot begin to convey the value of this training. It is an amazingly powerful tool in aiding veteran reach the services they need. The training was through a company called Recovery Innovations, based in Phoenix. I highly recommend that anyone in the area check them out and look into the valuable training they offer.

Empowered

It has been several years since I have worked with veterans, and I can’t believe I took so long to return to this field. I had forgotten what is was like to be tasked with an important mission and be supported by like-minded individuals. Everyone at my host site served in the armed forces, and their commitment to serving their brothers and sisters in arms is unparalleled.  It is very motivating to know that your co-workers feel strongly about the work we do.

I am really excited to learn the professional skills needed in this field. The program manager, Jim Zenner, is a social worker and Iraq veteran. I am very fortunate to have a man like Jim guide me into a leadership position. I feel extremely honored that he has given me the responsibilities that he has. I take it as a tremendous source of pride and I will do everything in my power to honor the position that I have been given.

In the upcoming weeks I will be meeting many stakeholders in the Los Angeles area. I will strive to make the connections needed to best serve veterans in the Southern California area.

Orientation in Houston

The weekend of January 23^rd through the 25^th was a milestone in my life. I attended an orientation for the Mission Continues Fellowship program. Veterans from around the country were flown to Houston for the weekend and left with a strong sense of purpose. The Mission Continues vision is that veterans are ready to become citizen leaders, that is, people willing to actively lead others to contribute to a common good.

During the course of the weekend we attended professional development seminars and attended a service project. The service project was the most powerful portion of the weekend in my opinion. Over 200 veterans loaded into buses from the hotel and arrived at an elementary school in a disadvantaged part of Houston. We were greeted by community members and the school Principal. Within several hours our group of veterans and other groups of volunteers had transformed the campus into a much more inviting learning environment. Along with restoring the library, hundreds of books were donated. Upon completion of our work with we took our fellowship oath:

We are Fellows of the Mission Continues.

As Fellows, our personal service did not end with our military service,

But has only just begun.

We are citizen leaders,

committed to making a positive impact in our community,

by upholding values we learned through our military service.

We pledge to work hard,

both selflessly, and joyously.

Trust will always be our foundation.

As we serve, we will learn, grow

and always respect everybody unconditionally.

We will do all of this because we are Fellows

and our mission continues.

What we do

January 27^th I began working with the Battle Buddy Bridge program (B3).  The program exists to guide veterans in need to community resources. Veterans face many barriers to services and B3 works to bridge the gap. The program is staffed by veterans who have been certified as peer-support specialist.  Peer-support specialist help others learn about their strengths and challenges and support the development of personal responsibility and self-advocacy skills.

I am serving as a squad leader in the B3 program. I am tasked with managing a squad of peer-support specialist assist current reservist and guardsmen gain employment and housing. The squad will be primarily responsible for implementing initial research and development of employment task force in the initial phase. After the research and once relationships have been built, we will begin working with our contacts in the units to figure out ways to interact with the troops, educate various leaders on B3, and present at various events.

I am eager to go out and make an impact. The men and women of B3 will help empower veterans to receive the services they need and I feel fortunate to be a part of the team.