The Soldiers Who Live Among Us | Mike Turner | TEDxHieronymusPark
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz60-dWJ6MQ Video ID: Iz60-dWJ6MQ ============================================================ foreign [Music] I'll start with a poem one that hit me pretty hard when I first read it and one that has stuck with me ever since it was written by Rudyard Kipling in the waning days of the 19th century it goes like this in times of war and not before God and the soldier we adore in times of peace all things righted God has forgotten the soldier slighted I believe God can take care of himself I'm here today to talk about the soldiers specifically those soldiers who have done their Duty and have returned home to Hometown USA to live among us Kipling's soldiers are our veterans the reason that poem hit me so hard is because I am a veteran eight months out of 1970 I was part of a Marine Corps Squad that lived in the veils with the people in huduk District South Vietnam there we fought the Viet Cong on his own turf on his own terms in the night and in the mud it all ended 52 years ago tomorrow January 28 1971 I got onto an airplane that we call the freedom bird and with about 300 other Marines I left Vietnam behind me at least that's what I thought I would not be diagnosed for another 15 years but I had PTSD from the day I got on that plane what that resulted in was I had a pretty unusual life so unusual that it was not easy and it wasn't normal and if you don't believe me you can ask any one of my three Ex-Wives or one of my children segue forward to early 2018 I had joined a PTSD Therapy Group for veterans that group in that group was a cross-section of Ages conflicts and branches of the military but the reason I was there was because I'd been having some fairly life-size problems in my life not the least of which was I was recovering from a major medical issue that I'd endured in September of 17. then I had an aneurysm in my thoracic aorta opened up and began to ooze it didn't it did not burst and kill me instantly but I was life-flighted to the University of Washington where a gifted young surgeon by the name of Matthew Sweet saved my life with what he called an endovascular graft I call it a man-made aorta the day that I left that hospital the attending physician said these exact words to me Mike you should be dead go home and live life I was pretty tickled to still be alive but I had no idea really how to live life because my unusual lifestyle had been that when my kids grew old enough I started about a 20-year period of living as a recluse not a Hermit a recluse I had a wife sort of a business and some property the wife lived on the property I lived in my van on the road working in my small service business I had no friends I had no Hobbies when I wasn't working I was reading a book or listening to music or both but that all ended in about December of 2016 when ill health drove me out of the workforce and into retirement I closed my business and my third marriage ended about that time I came back to Montana to do what I thought would be living out my last days with my family then four months later I had the miracle and a Lisa an extra lease on life with the installation of that endovascular graft I stayed in that Therapy Group and through 2019. when and when I listened to the Young Veterans speak they were mostly angry and frustrated when the Boomer veterans were speaking they were muttering and mumbling negativities but the general consensus across the Ages was that the VA was not doing very well and they weren't about to get any better very soon that when the poem came I saw the poem and it hit me I can live life by working on behalf of other veterans especially younger veterans two of which in that group seem to be having a life much like mine had been in my earlier days bottom line is I believe that the veterans in our country are being slighted and the perpetrator of that slight is our own government and the vehicle that they've chosen to dispense and distribute the benefits and services to veterans the VA the VA was established in 1930 and in 1946 they added medical benefits and just in time for the greatest Generation to come home from World War II in 1989 they reorganized the entire operation and elevated it into a cabinet level department of Veterans Affairs the monstrosity we know today has grown to the second largest bureaucracy in our nation and it encompasses three divisions we don't hear much about this National Cemetery Administration but the vast majority of veterans that enrolled in the VA are with the veterans benefits Administration there the veteran can access Home Loans business loans and school money among other benefits if and when you hear complaints about the VA they typically originate in the in the veterans Health Administration that's a part of the VA that has fumbled the ball for Veterans for a very long time by their own reporting of all the servicemen separated from active duty since 2001 only 62 percent are enrolled in the VA of the 38 percent that are not many cite the unpleasant nature of the enrollment process as being part of the reason that they are not enrolled of those enrolled in the last year they suffered 19.7 million appointments canceled rescheduled or in some way delayed three of those were mine then there are the Community Care Program that's where the veteran is supposed to be able to Access Medical Care in his home Community without travel in that same last year the average wait time for a community care appointment was 41.9 days if that's the average then some poor veterans are waiting a heck of a lot longer than that you got to hand it to the VA they are being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people trying to get benefits they have a double whammy actually the senior citizens the Boomers are retiring in record numbers and they're finding many are finding that with the reduced income of retirement they can then qualify for benefits from the ba through a means test the second half of them whammy is that most of the 26 million Soldier Heroes that we sent to the Middle East in the last 20 years are now back in Hometown USA and they need Services as well 20 percent of those 26 million came home was PTSD 37 of us Vietnam veterans have PTSD together they're only a small segment of the veteran Community but they are a segment that is regularly underserved a common occurrence in that realm is for a VA therapist to abruptly leave his employment to seek more money in the private sector that's exactly what happened with the group that I was in it takes weeks and sometimes months or more to find a replacement therapist for a group like that and that group never got back going again BTSD manifests itself in about as many different ways as there are veterans but there are some similarities six and ten Smoked Cigarettes twenty percent are addicted to one or more substances if they were diagnosed with PTSD prior to separation from active duty they're likely on prescribed psychotic drugs the Army reports that of first marriages 40 percent in in divorce at PTSD into that mix and the number of skyrockets to 80 percent there are a variety of non-profits out there who are offering alternative entertainment and even therapy to veterans there's one therapist that I'd heard about that is using cannabis or marijuana for treatment go figure some are even using a mild dose of the Psychedelic drugs psilocybin for treatment I know one veteran who's had a p TBI for 40 years he's been getting mild sensation electric sensation in his injured part and he's saying there's some benefit another young veteran whose wife was able to get into a wives counseling session um they credit that with partially with saving their marriage I personally have found some help with a therapy called somatic experiencing when it boiled right down to it the issues with service in the VA you guessed it comes down to money it's interesting that the same people in our government that handled the money also have oversight and Regulatory power over the VA it would seem that that with that nearly ideal situation it would be easy enough to improve conditions in the VA and improve their performance but that would take an effective Congress and I don't think we have one they haven't even passed a budget in 10 years that being said what do we do as individuals you should I think become an advocate or a champion for a veteran near you many veterans practice avoid avoidance and that they are reluctant to accept or ask for services on their own that's why in the VA although they offer a wide range of benefits and services they will not hunt down the veteran and force those benefits on him that's why some the veteran or some person on his behalf needs to identify what benefits he's eligible for apply for those benefits and then be persistent and tenacious with your quest for those benefits there is something to be said in the Veterans Administration for the old saying the squeaky will gets to Greece when we raise our hand and swore that oath of allegiance to our government we initiated and entered into a contract with our government Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for fulfilling the requirements of those contracts for our veterans our Congress has the power to cause the Veterans Administration to do their Duty I would ask all of you to pressure of the Congress to take that action on behalf of our veterans as an individual I would seek senators and representatives who support our veteran and we should work actively to unseat those who do not because the bottom line is it is we the American people who must Ensure that those soldiers who live among us our veterans are no longer slighted [Applause]