November 22, 2008

Survivor Corps

I was contacted by a representative from an organization called "Survivor Corps" asking me if I could let me readers know about them. It is my pleasure to do so, especially since many of you are currently in survival mode after experiencing various types of trauma in your life.

Survivor Corps works with military personnel that has returned from combat duty. Here is an excerpt from their website:

Ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are creating a generation of veterans in the United States from all branches of the armed services and all 50 states who are struggling to overcome physical and psychosocial injuries. Most combat veterans convalescing in military hospitals across the country will survive physically, but getting on with their lives after returning home to their families and communities is proving a significant challenge for hundreds of thousands. Among the 1.6 million who have served since 2001, suicide is on the rise, as is unemployment and incidents of substance abuse and domestic violence.

The successful reintegration of returning service members is an issue that will have a long-lasting impact on American society, and may become the single defining struggle facing this new generation of veterans. Survivor Corps and its partners are determined to avoid the mistakes made when veterans returned from Vietnam, which resulted in tens of thousands of post-war suicides and over 200,000 men and women living on the streets.

To head off this tragic outcome, Survivor Corps will build peer support programs at the community level that will bring service members and veterans together for mutual support and encourage both individual responsibility and collective action to help others in need.

Survivor Corps is offering an alternative “treatment” that can be made readily available in all communities, regardless of proximity to traditional military or govern¬ment centers of support. Our approach is nimble enough to address the needs of individual survivors, while still broad enough to build a coalition of survivors and service providers working to effect long-term positive change.This new program will help the recovery and reintegration of hundreds of thousands of returning U.S. service members at a critical time for them and their country.

Regardless of how one feels about American policies regarding the deployment and engagement of our Armed Forces, the courage of those who volunteer to serve in the military deserve the right to return from combat and resume normal lives.

Click here to read more about Survivor Corps.

1 comment:

  1. Jim & Mary,

    Thank you for sharing information about Survivor Corps. I just finished reading a lot of their website and it sounds like a great organization. I'm going to tell a couple of friends who are vets about it as I think they would want to get involved.

    By the way, I had to hunt around a little to find the section of their website that discusses program for servicemen and women and veterans. The direct link is:

    US Program: Operation Survivor

    All the Best,

    Mark Worthen

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