Clipmarks | ruralart's 'veterans' clips

Vets trying to navigate colleges after returning home

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:55:47 GMT

clipped by: ruralart

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Returning home after three tours of duty in Afghanistan, Derek Blumke was eager to return to college. But the Air Force veteran felt unwelcome at the University of Michigan as he tried alone to manage the transition from warrior to student.

As veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq return to campus, many are finding that colleges and universities are only beginning to figure out how to help them transition back to civilian, social and academic life.

“Obviously, nobody goes to combat and comes back the same person,” said Bob Wallace, director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a Marine veteran of Vietnam.

With more people returning from conflict than at any time since the Vietnam War — along with a new, more generous GI bill — the number of college-bound vets is expected to swell.

Universities are trying to respond to their needs.

Many veterans have banded together to help each other navigate their schools.

new prosthetic arm for soldiers

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:20:14 GMT

clipped by: ruralart
clipper's remarks: I could not get the very inspiring video to clip, but you can see it at http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/82

Clip Source: www.ted.com

Talks Dean Kamen: New prosthetic arm for veterans

Inventor Dean Kamen previews the extraordinary prosthetic arm he's developing at the request of the Department of Defense, to help the 1,600 "kids" who've come back from Iraq without an arm (and the two dozen who've lost both arms). Kamen's commitment to using technology to solve problems, and his respect for the human spirit, have never been more clear than in this deeply moving clip.

Dean Kamen landed in the limelight with the Segway, but he has been innovating since high school, with... Read full bio »

Tags: medicine, military, wounded, soldier, amputee, engineering

The War Comes Home

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:23:39 GMT

clipped by: ruralart
clipper's remarks: Simultaneously incredibly sad and wonderfully uplifting. The way the community pulled together is wonderful.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Tracking a Marine Lost at Home

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — A week after Eric W. Hall disappeared into the woods of Southwest Florida, his mother stood in a parking lot overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. She had asked for volunteers. Would they come?

Becky Hall’s son had experienced a flashback, fleeing a relative’s home after sensing that Iraqi insurgents had surrounded him. He was 24, a former Marine corporal from Indiana who had been medically discharged after a bomb ripped through his leg. Here, among the retirees and strip malls, he was a stranger.

And yet his absence spurred a community to action. More than 50 people stepped forward that first day in February. Others came later, young and old, contributing four-wheelers, pickup trucks, boats, horses, search-and-rescue dogs, and even a small plane.

“He has these issues as a result of what we asked him to do,”

Tags: military, war, afghanistan, iraq, veterans, vietnam, tampa, florida, jungle, post traumatic stress

Vietnam Memories Preserved by Indian Artist

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:19:05 GMT

clipped by: ruralart
clipper's remarks: Intriguing modernization of a traditional honoring form, used to memorialize American Indian veterans of the Vietnam War. Now in the Smithsonian. Unfortunately, the site does not include a photo of the art work.....a pity. Sounds fascinating.

Clip Source: www.smithsonianmag.com

War and Remembrance

An Indian artist's traditional tribute honors Native American soldiers who served in Vietnam

In 2001, Her Many Horses, an artist trained both in traditional beadwork and in doll-making, began the creation of a commemorative tableau featuring miniature figures of Vietnam-era veterans and the tribal women who welcomed them home with ceremonies. Even today, these rituals are not much changed from the days when warriors returned from the Little Big Horn.

It was around this time, in the mid-1960s, that Indian soldiers began returning from tours of duty in Vietnam to be met by honoring ceremonies.

One man returned repeatedly to look at the dolls. He finally revealed that he was a Korean War veteran, allowing that to stand as sufficient reason for his intense contemplation of the work.

Her Many Horses, a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, began attending tribal powwows as a boy.

Tags: vietnam, american indian, indian, art, artist, smithsonian, war, veterans, korean war

Veteran's Benefits - after WWI

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:04:29 GMT

clipped by: ruralart
clipper's remarks: And we still can't get it right today. Some things never change. How sad that these folks who fight for their country - and other countries - can't get the benefits they deserve and were promised.

Clip Source: www.smithsonianmag.com

Marching on History

When a "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans converged on Washington in 1932 to demand a promised payment, MacArthur, Eisenhower and Patton were there to meet them

The demonstrators were part of a growing delegation of veterans and their families heading to Washington to collect payment of the “bonus,” promised eight years before, in 1924, to soldiers who had served in the Great War.

the Bonus Army would help shape several figures who would soon assume larger roles on the world stage—including Douglas A. MacArthur, George S. Patton, Dwight D. Eisenhower and J. Edgar Hoover.

In 1932, nearly 32,000 businesses failed. Unemployment had soared to almost 25 percent, leaving roughly one family out of every four without a breadwinner.

Clip Source: www.smithsonianmag.com

Six years after the end of World War I, Congress responded to vets’ demands that the nation fulfill promises to compensate them by passing a bill granting “adjusted service compensation” to veterans of that war.

Tags: veterans, wwi, depression, great war, war

Two Simple Words - Thank a Veteran

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:16:07 GMT

clipped by: ruralart
clipper's remarks: The full article is at http://www.familytravelforum.com./articles/article/12140. This is from a teenage girl who works with veterans recording their stories.

Clip Source: www.familytravelforum.com.

Last summer when I was 15 I had the privilege of being invited to a 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division Reunion in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I have been working with 101st veterans for two years.

At some point during the flight, I glanced over at the row across from us on the left. I noticed that there was an older man sitting on the aisle seat. That doesn't sound very notable at first, but he had on a black baseball cap, that said in yellow-gold letters at the top, “U.S. Army,” and in slightly larger letters below it, “Vietnam Veteran.”

I reached across the aisle and tapped the veteran's arm. I introduced myself and told him thank you for everything he had done. The veteran did the last thing I would ever have expected, he started crying because it was the first time anyone had ever thanked him.

So as you travel to distant places, or just walk down the street, take the time to say those two simple words, they may just change your life.

Tags: military, veterans, soldiers, teens