[THEME MUSIC]
HENRY HUNTLEY.: Welcome to The American Veteran, a news magazine produced by the
Department of Veteran Affairs for you, your family, and caregivers.
I'm Henry Huntley, an Army Veteran, and I'm here with Melissa Heintz of the Air National Guard.
MELISSA HEINTZ: Each quarter we'll bring you the latest news from VA as well as inspiring stories
we hope will resonate with you.
We'd like to begin with this Marine Veteran's journey to recovery through the martial arts.
ROBERT CONSULMAGNO.: It's crazy, I do jiu-jitsu, which is a violent sport, to not fight.
It's—i can't explain it, but it's…it helps.
That's all I can say, is it helps.
I mean, I might be a little anxious, but once those two hands bump and you trust a person,
you know, it takes a good minute, two minutes in the roll, but you're still fighting and
you're like, "Man, I have to keep taking these beatings, these beatings, these beatings."
And sometimes with the bipolar, you know, if I'm not training or in general, it's a
beating that you're taking mentally.
It's an emotional roller coaster.
Sometimes I might see it before it happens and stop it in its tracks, sometimes it's
too late.
The counseling sessions help me tremendously.
MAN: Hey, how you doing today?
ROBERT C.: What's up, dude?
MAN: Checking in?
ROBERT C.: Yeah, man.
I have something to look forward to and it's like, you know, I'm being put in—constantly
placed in check.
I keep going off the road, he guides me—whoot, back on, whoot, whoot.
Appreciate it.
I really feel like I'm getting the help that I need.
I believe that you can be rehabilitated or that you can find a way to overcome.
And then this is an additive thing—it's the medication.
It's just a one-two stop and I'm fighting them all.
I can't control that.
I'm not afraid to do anything anymore.
I have a sense of confidence—not arrogance, but confidence like "Wow, I feel good."
MELISSA H.: Robert hopes his story will help others feel more comfortable with their challenges
and we thank Robert for sharing his story.
All of the stories we bring to you today can be found online at VA's blog, VAntage Point.
Visit us at blogs.va.gov.
HENRY H.: In 2006, Marine Gunnery Sergeant John Fry was one week from leaving Iraq to
reunite with his wife and three children.
He never made it home.
Today, Sgt.
Fry's legacy lives on thanks to his wife Malia.
BOY: When I grow up, I want to be a soldier.
GIRL: When I grow up, I'm gonna be a nurse for the soldiers.
GIRL: When I grow up, I'm gonna be a singer.
BOY: I want to be in the Army as a chief fire motorman.
MALIA FRY: The Gunnery Sergeant John D. Fry scholarship is named in honor of my husband.
Every child of every fallen in line of duty receives it.
It's not based on grades, it's not based on any qualifications—you have it, it's yours.
I go to a TAPS event and I go in the kids section and there's a thousand kids at a camp
and I think every one of them gets to go to college.
And that's pretty amazing.
It started out depressingly as a joke.
I was joking with my children, my husband had been gone about eight months, and we were
driving to school.
On one side of the road was the new primary school, on the other side is the post office.
And as we drove by, I said, "Okay, kids, which one are we gonna name for Dad?"
And they giggled and laughed and they said, "The post office."
Well, I let it go and months went by, but it kept nagging at me and I had told his men
that I wanted to do something to make him be remembered.
So I called the local VA office and started finding out what you did to get a post office
named after someone.
Little did I know it takes an act of Congress!
My husband was Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry.
He was killed in action near Habbaniyah, Iraq March 8th, 2006.
He had seven days left, was supposed to come home.
They were clearing a road between TQ Iraq and Habbaniyah.
They had disarmed four IEDs that night.
They were working on the fourth at the time when he brushed his hand and found a remote
IED with an antenna.
He told his guys to "Freeze, remote, remote," and went to disarm it, but they were watching
and remote-detonated it, but before he could disarm the IED, he was killed.
His guys made it home.
The day he arrived in Dover, they arrived home.
So he came home with his guys.
It took two years from start to finish to get the dedication of the post office done.
At the dedication was actually the first time I met a Congressman and he asked me the big
question that he should've never asked me: "What can we do for you?"
And so I told him, I said, "Oh, I want to send my kids to college."
And he said, "Let's see what we can do."
Little did I know, six months later he calls me, I was waiting in Taco Bell drive-thru
to get my kids dinner, and I remember this so vividly, and he says, "I'm going right
now to present the extension of the GI Bill.
I guess I'll call you when I'm done."
So I got dinner and I was driving home and the phone rang—it was him and I pulled over
to the side of the road.
And he said, "It passed.
It passed unanimously."
And he said, "Just so you know, it's not the extension of the GI Bill.
It's the Gunnery Sergeant John D. Fry Scholarship."
And that's the first time I knew it was gonna be named after John.
I have a 17-year-old and she will use the Gunnery Sergeant John D. Fry Scholarship to
go to school.
KATHRYN: I'm very proud of my mother.
You know, it's in honor of my dad but it's really my mom who got it done.
The accomplishments that she's made by herself and that also taking care of a household,
it's amazing and I get teary-eyed thinking about it too, 'cause she's such a strong womanly
figure and I love it.
MALIA F.: And I run into kids all the time and they find out—they're adults now, we've
had our first graduates, and they'll be like, "Are you that Fry?" and I'm like, "Yeah,
I'm that Fry," and they're like, "Thank you, I got to go to college," and that just
blows my mind when that sort of stuff happens.
ERICA: I graduated in 2013 from Texas State University.
I have a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science.
Honestly, if I didn't have the Fry Scholarship, I'm not sure how I would've actually completed
school.
MALIA F.: So not only was it a burden lifted from me but I'm really glad I could help everyone
else, that it went that far, that it was that far-reaching.
HENRY H.: For more on the Fry Scholarship, as well as the many benefits and service VA
offers, visit explore.va.gov..
MELISSA H.: In February 72 years ago, the United States Marine Corps landed on the island
of Iwo Jima.
The five-week battle was one of the fiercest of World War II.
Hershel "Woody" Williams was there.
WOODY WILLIAMS.: Much of that day was just absolutely blank.
Now there are other things that are so vivid, but I've never been able to get 'em out of
there.
When I hit the beach at Iwo, or we hit the beach at Iwo, we had established on Guadalcanal
a special weapons unit, that's what we called it.
And we had trained for flamethrower and demolition.
We'd been attempting to take pillboxes—those were numerous—and my commanding officer
called for a meeting.
He said to me, "Do you think you could do anything with a flamethrower on these pillboxes?"
I've never known what I said.
Some of the fellows after the campaign—we got back to Guam—some of the fellows said
that my response was, "I'll try."
He assigned me four Marines, two automatic riflemen and two regular riflemen, and I separated
them, I put two—spread 'em out so they could have a crossfire.
And got a flamethrower on my back and started work.
I didn't know it because things were chaotic, but two of those Marines gave their life that
day.
They were there protecting me.
There were 13 of us receiving the Medal of Honor the same day, and of course, President
Truman was doing the presentation.
They have to read the citation, then they give the president the medal and he puts it
around your neck.
My body is shaking—that's how scared I was—and he said to me, as he said in many ways, different
ways to different people, that he would rather have this medal than to be president.
The next day, we had to report to the commandant of the Marine Corps.
I've said I don't know where I was more frightened, with the president or with the commandant.
I think with the commandant—he meant more to me in the Marine Corps than the president
did, you know.
But one of the, in his conversation, one of the things that he said that's always been
there, is "That medal"—he didn't make any motions, he's sitting there very sternly—"that
medal does not belong to you.
It belongs to all those Marines who never got to come home."
That I remember.
When I first got home, I got a letter from the VA, from the Veterans Administration,
saying that I could have a job as a contact representative, and 33 years later I retired.
I never dreamed what a great job it really was, because I'm going to be serving not only
my fellow Veterans but I'm going to be serving families and survivors of Veterans.
And it makes you want to do everything you possibly can and even more to service them,
to help them, to give them something that maybe they wouldn't appreciate any other way.
So it was very rewarding—best job in the world.
I don't think it's a fault, but sometimes we do forget things that are very important
to us, not necessarily just to us, but for historical purposes.
We sometimes forget the sacrifices that have been made by families, by loved ones, by veterans,
just so we can wake up free every morning.
And without that, without that commitment, that dedication, and that sacrifice, we wouldn't
be America.
We'd be something else.
MELISSA H.: For more than three decades, Woody continued his service to America by working
with other veterans at VA in West Virginia and New Mexico.
We thank you, Woody, for your dedication and service.
After the break—Dr. Shulkin, why did you take this job?—we sit down for an interview
with the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
SECRETARY SHULKIN.: And to help serve our veterans.
MAN: I didn't want to talk.
She just sat with me.
That was all I really needed.
WOMAN: Cut and mark.
MAN: We got back, and of course went to different cities.
One day he called me out of the blue and it's comforting to know that I always can count
on him to have my back.
WOMAN: Well, he hadn't talked for a while, and then she texted me and we went for a walk.
MAN: She'd call me from time to time.
I really didn't think I needed any help.
MAN: I was away from my family during the holidays and a friend invited me to their
house for dinner.
Really meant a lot.
MAN: He knew I was having a rough week, so he asked me to go fishing with him.
WOMAN: My friend knew that I didn't want to go out, so she brought me dinner instead.
WOMAN: It took me from being really depressed to feeling like somebody cared, it gave me
some hope.
Just that one text.
ANNOUNCER: Be there.
Your call, your presence, your words, your support.
Be there and help save a life.
HENRY H.: Welcome back to The American Veteran.
Last December, VA expanded the Veterans Crisis Line with the addition of a new call center
in Atlanta, doubling VA's ability to help veterans in need.
We visited the new center to explore its resources.
TERIS GOSIER.: Thank you for calling the Veterans Crisis Line, this is Teris speaking, how may
I help you today?
I'm about to save a life today.
Yeah, have you ever spoken with a counselor about the feelings and thoughts that you've
been having?
A lot of times, a lot of crises that a lot of veterans have, they are not aware of the
resources available to them.
As a veteran myself, I figured that it would be better for me to give back to those who
served just like myself.
SUSAN GULLEY: That's what we're here for, Samantha.
I want to help you work through this.
A lot of times they'll talk and you just listen.
They just need somebody to talk to.
Do you have family or friends?
You can't do this type of work if you really don't care, and you know, if you don't care
about Veterans and care about people, you just—you can't do it.
RANDALL JOHNSON: Current research indicates that 20 veterans every day take their own lives
and that's one reason we at the Veterans Crisis Line have really focused on improving access
to the active listening and supportive counseling services that Veterans may need.
RESPONDER: I want you to reach out to those people.
RANDALL J.: We know those needs are there.
RESPONDER: And would you give us a call back?
RANDALL J.: We work very hard at making certain that we have responders available.
RESPONDER: Definitely reach out and, you know, take advantage of other resources that we
have.
TERIS G.: That's no problem, I have a resource here available to you, actually.
JULIANNE MULLANE.: Veterans who are connected with the VA commit suicide less than people who
are not connected.
Whenever we can reach someone or someone reaches out to us to ask for help and we're there
and can get them connected, it's huge.
It's life or death.
Veterans call their families, call their loved ones, and we can get them connected through
the suicide prevention coordinators to mental health services.
TERIS G.: Where Combat Veterans and their families can call.
RANDALL J.: If ever you find yourself in a situation that requires an opportunity to
speak about the crisis that you may be experiencing or if you need someone to have a listening
ear, please don't hesitate to call 1-800-273-8255 and press 1 for an experienced Veterans Crisis
Line responder to help you through that crisis.
SUSAN G.: You really can, but we really want to help you through it, it's so important.
RANDALL J.: The Veterans Crisis Line is here for you whenever you need us.
SUSAN G.: You don't have to worry about that, we're here 24 hours, seven days a week.
You don't need…
HENRY H.: There are several ways in which a Veteran in crisis or their family or friends
can reach the VA: the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 and press 1, chat online
at VeteransCrisisLine.net, or by sending a text to 838255.
MELISSA H.: Just days after he was sworn in as the ninth Secretary of the Department of
Veterans Affairs, I had the chance to sit down and speak with Dr. David Shulkin.
We talked about his vision for the agency and how he plans to continue serving Veterans.
MELISSA H.: Dr. Shulkin, why did you take this job?
SECRETARY SHULKIN.: Well, I'd like to think I'm not different than any other American.
When somebody's asked to be able to step up and help serve our Veterans, how could you
say no?
And I'm not different than that.
Everyone that I know feels strongly about making sure that our Veterans get the very
best services that they deserve and when I was asked by the president whether I'd be
willing to step up in the help, I didn't hesitate.
Absolutely anything that I could do to be part of helping making sure that our Veterans
get these services, I wanted to be part of.
MELISSA H.: How do you empathize with Veterans to best understand their needs as a healthcare
provider but now also as the head of VA?
SECRETARY SHULKIN: Now that I'm Secretary—I had been Under Secretary for the past 18 months, so
that was really a great opportunity for me to get to know the Veteran community, and
I'm so grateful that so many members of the Veteran community reached out to me and really
allowed me to understand what their needs were and what was important to them.
So I feel like I got the best training by really listening and being part of that community.
And so now, moving forward I'm going to rely on those same people and groups that have
counseled me to actually step up and make sure that I am being responsive to the community
and that we're designing a system that truly is Veteran-centric.
MELISSA H.: What are some of the biggest challenges that face VA as you take on this position,
and how do you plan to address them?
SECRETARY SHULKIN: Well, I think some of our challenges result directly from our crisis that happened
in April 2014, which was really a crisis along many fronts.
But the end result was, was that we lost the trust of the people that we serve, and that
truly is a crisis.
Any company, any organization, government, that loses the trust of those that they're
serving really has to fundamentally rebuild itself, and I think that's where we are.
It's much easier to lose trust than to build trust, and so it's taking us a while, although
I believe that we are making important progress in regaining that trust of the Veteran community.
In part, when you overlie that issue of our crisis with the great demand on VA services,
these are really our challenges.
Many, many people, many Veterans want to use the VA, and we've been challenged from both
the benefits side and the healthcare side to be able to accommodate the number of people
who want to use us and to give them the type of experience and quality of service that
they deserve.
So it's really along a dual front, it's making sure that we have the capacity to be able
to do the job that we know that we need to do, and secondly, to continue to build upon
that confidence that they have that we're really here for them and that we have their
backs.
MELISSA H.: Your time as Under Secretary for health and your time as a health care provider
will clearly help in your transformation of the VA, but what do you anticipate will be
your initial focus as it relates to benefits, compensation, services to Veterans, their
families, and their caregivers?
SECRETARY SHULKIN: Overall, we want Veterans to see us as a single VA and not as separate administrations
in cemeteries, benefits, and health, so I think we're trying to create a singular experience
for Veterans where they feel like we understand them, we're here for them, and we're responsive
to their needs.
When it comes to benefits in particular, I think that we have to make the process easier.
It still is too burdensome, too complex, and people feel like it's a system that they're
fighting rather than a system that's supporting them, and we need to make the decisions quicker.
Part of that is that we need to have some legislative relief and we're hoping to soon
be able to pass an appeals legislation that would modernize the process.
But part of it is we need to continue to look internally to find ways that we can do this
better.
I think our cemeteries actually show us a way forward.
This is a part of the organization that most people don't recognize rates Number One in
satisfaction, and that really means satisfaction to the families in terms of giving their loved
ones the respect and the service that they know that they deserve, and I think they are
leading the way in showing us that this can be done within VA.
And of course health, which is so important, has the same challenges, but I know that we
can meet the needs and that we can do better and we will continue to do better because
this is so important for us and for the country.
MELISSA H.: As Under Secretary for Health, you continued to see patients within the VA
health care system.
Is this something that you plan to do as Secretary of VA?
SECRETARY SHULKIN: I do.
I think it's important for me to make sure that I stay connected with the type of services
that we deliver, and I get tremendous value from being able to actually take care of Veterans
and hear from them and work with staff and see the basic environment that we're all trying
to build and to improve and also to see when there are deficiencies.
I'll be heading up later today, actually, to spend time on Presidents Day when I round
with our doctors and nurses taking care of patients in our hospital—I think that's
an important part for me of making sure that I'm contributing back and for me to make sure
that I'm grounded in what's important to do for us to provide the very best care to our
Veterans.
MELISSA H.: What are some of the sentiments that Veterans feel when they see you treating
them?
Do they have any idea of who you are? SECRETARY SHULKIN: Well, no.
They don't know who I am—I'm just a doctor, I'm there to help Veterans and I don't want
anybody to view me any differently than one more person who's there to serve them.
MELISSA H.: Check out the full interview with Secretary Shulkin on the VAntage Point blog.
Visit blogs.va.gov
HENRY H.: Coming up next, we roll with champions.
Announcer: It's time we all thought differently about homeless Veterans.
Man: I never thought of myself as a Veteran, even though I served in the military.
Announcer: Because when we know who our Veterans are…
Man: I never thought of myself as being at risk for homelessness.
Even though I lost my job and couldn't pay my mortgage anymore.
Announcer: When we understand how easily anyone can become homeless…
Woman: I never thought of hiring a Veteran, even though I was looking for someone with
leadership skills and training.
Announcer: When we realize how valuable our Veterans are and how we can each make a difference
in their lives…
Woman: I never thought the VA benefits I'd earned included services for homeless Veterans.
Announcer: And when we understand that VA is here to help, we can end VA homelessness.
Man: I never thought my life could turn around from being homeless to having safe housing
and a job until I turned to the VA.
Announcer: If you know of or are a Veteran who is homeless or at risk for becoming homeless,
contact the nearest VA Medical Center for support at VA.gov/homeless.
Henry H.: Welcome back to The American Veteran.
Every summer, nearly 600 veterans from across the country gather to compete in the National
Veterans Wheelchair Games.
Co-presented by Veteran Affairs and the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Games uses the power
of sports to engage those with severe injuries, proving what some see as a limitation as only
a state of mind.
ANNOUNCER: Having a disability need not be an obstacle to an active, rewarding life.
With the partnership of VA and PVA, this event has evolved to become the crown jewel of adaptive
sports.
Now is your time to reclaim life.
Now is your time to lead once again by example.
And now is the time to carry these miracles back into everyday life and inspire others
to follow.
You are here because you want to better yourselves physically and you've all worked very hard
to attain that goal.
You have strength of mind and body.
You have endurance and determination of will.
That same courage and determination that brings you here brought you to the streets of Fallujah
and to the mountains of Kandahar, to Da Nang and to Hue.
You've been to Iwo Jima, Omaha Beach, Nasiriyah, and Ramadi.
You put your life on the line in service to our country in the face of seemingly insurmountable
odds and you have continued those efforts here this week.
You are a Veteran.
WOMAN: I'm a Veteran.
MAN: I'm a Veteran.
MEN/WOMAN: We are Veterans.
MAN: I am a Veteran.
MAN: I'm a Veteran.
MAN: I'm a Veteran.
MAN: I'm a Veteran.
MAN: I'm a Veteran.
WOMAN: I'm a Veteran.
MAN: I am a Veteran.
MAN: I am a proud Veteran.
MAN: I'm a Veteran.
ANNOUNCER: You are a Veteran.
And by your example, you will touch the lives of many people whom you will never even meet.
HENRY H.: The 37th Annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games will take place in Cincinnati
this summer.
Registration is now open at wheelchairgames.org.
MELISSA H.: That's it for this edition of The American Veteran.
We are honored to bring these stories to you.
HENRY H.: You can see everything we've shared with you today as well as detailed information
about Veterans' resources online.
Please follow our social media channels and subscribe to our podcast, This Week at VA,
available in your app store.
MELISSA H.: Thank you again for joining us today and we look forward to seeing you soon.
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