The past year has been filled with a lot of exciting experiences for me as a military veteran, from being awarded with my first national award from MMAA to being a part of the advocacy and support for the passage of the PACT Act. From traveling to Washington D.C. and being a part of something larger, I have learned so much. While my HillVets & WWP fellowship has ended, I am happy to say that my experiences in the VSO…
“She is my Marine, and I am forever her Corpsman.”
The Honoring Our PACT Act recently was signed into law. It took many advocates and supporters to get the effort across the finish line.
The Elizabeth Dole Foundation announced the 2022 fellows cohort. The cohort included 11 incredible caregivers from around the country who all have incredible stories caring for a military veteran they care about. Being a caregiver, I have learned to advocate for my family. I have also learned to have compassion for people. Being a caregiver, I have learned to fight. So I was built for this. Becoming a fellow In May 2022, I was named as an Elizabeth Dole Foundation…
HillVets and WWP has announced the recipient of their inaugural Capitol Hill Fellowship.
In the early fall, I joined the HillVets LEAD Cohort 6. The goal was to plan a conference for the military and veteran supportive community But what does that exactly mean? “The HillVets LEAD proteges are dedicated individuals that spend 12 weeks improving their skills alongside some of our Nation’s most sought after leaders. Individuals join a lifelong “fireteam” of 6 who will push each other to success. These individuals will stay engaged in the years to come, look for…
Navigating a “New Normal” As the temperatures are peaking across the United States, many individuals are heading back to school in a different environment. For me, my school is currently operating in a hybrid mode. This means most classes are online, and some classes are in person. Also, all social events at our University are on hold. This is also my first semester in the role of a Graduate Teaching Assistant. As I start working on building my teaching portfolio,…
The weather in our world has been changing over the past many years, and now we are seeing record highs in many places. From dust storms to the ongoing hurricane season, the United States is going through wild weather in the midst of civil unrest and a pandemic. As a corpsman, there were many things that we were encouraged to promote, and caution around hot weather was one of the big ones. Here are some tips to stay cool- even…
Military language. Maybe military language should be considered an actual language, as it currently is not. From “Blue Falcon” to “Squid”, many of those terms are now leaking out into the real world. One of my favorites has entered into this realm: “Embrace the Suck”. The term supposedly has ideological roots in Buddhist or Taoist culture. Reminders exist to accept the bad times as well as the good, and accept that there is a path forward. So many veterans have…
My Time in Boot Camp Boot camp at 25- surrounded by individuals of many ages. The majority of those individuals are 18-24, fresh out of school and fresh from their parents’ homes. Not a tough road necessarily, but definitely not an easy one. I made the decision to enter the military at 25. Graduating college with a Bachelor’s Degree, I thought I had things figured out. I entered an industry where the money sits at the top, but little flows…