Where have you been Brian?

Its been a wild ride since January!!!

In January I was released from my job and had to scrabble to find a new income. Took a month off and really focused on myself and my health as much as I could. In that time I met an amazing girl who since has become my best friend. She has truly shown me that medicine isn’t needed to fight the day to day battles of PTSD, that just having the right people in your life can help. I was able to find a new job and I now work for a nonprofit organization that provides financial and moral aid to Active Duty Military and Reserves. We do more than that, but its what is in our wheel house and its our main focus. It has been amazing to work closely with Veterans, Service Members, and at the end of the day, know that what I’m doing is making a difference, no matter how little the impact.

Health wise, I’m still waiting for the VA to approve or deny my claim for an increase and have been waiting since February 2015. I have been hearing that a lot of people have been receiving increases to hopefully its a good sign. But either way, I will wait patiently and continue fighting the VA for Veterans. Whether they increase or not I’ll keep fighting.

Never give up on what you feel you deserve for serving. Whether you feel like you can deal with your issues, apply, get it on paper because it will benefit you in the future. I have met many Veterans that have minor issues that don’t want to burden the VA with their conditions or Veterans that don’t have any issues. I tell them both, its your duty to apply for VA benefits. One day you may need them and getting them later will take more time. Every Veteran should be applying for Benefits, seeing what Benefits they have and just getting put in the system.

As as also, watch out for your buddies. 22 a day is almost a full platoon of service members. We need to check our buddies daily and stay in their lives so we know whats going on. The only way we can stop the 22 is to be apart of the solution.

And don’t forget today is R.E.D. Friday – Remember Everyone Deployed ~ without them we wouldn’t have our freedoms!!!!!!