VETERANS NATIONAL RECOVERY CENTER FOR THE HOMELESS & PTSD DISTRESSED

VNRC WORKS TO BUILD AWARENESS AND WORKS TO BUILD PEOPLE
The VNRC has been in business since 2011, and works to build awareness of veterans’ problems at the big picture level at the state and federal level, as well as at the very personal level where we work with veterans who have been overlooked or disregarded by the system..

PTSD/MST disasters are where you find them. It might be a dad (like mine) who would thrash wildly at night as he re-lived the WWII Battle of Tinian in his sleep. It might be a Vietnam 'Tunnel Rat' like a fellow in my truck company who froze up under a 5 ton truck while changing the oil. He had a flashback going into the tight space under the truck and imagined he was in a showdown with a Viet Cong in a tunnel, and could not move forward or back ward because of the danger. We found him hours later -- still under the truck. Or it might be a young Army captain I worked with who became a severe alcoholic because of what he experienced at the Battle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan. An extremely capable your man, his career, and likely his life, were destroyed by his inability to admit that he had a problem -- because in those days -- if you had PTSD, your were kicked out of the Army. Or, on the female side, a survey revealed that 40% of female veterans of the service have experiences rape, sexual assault, or sexual harrassment. Sadly a goodly number have had their cases illegally shoved under the rug, so that they are victims of BOTH PTSD/MST, AND zero governmental compensation.
At home in the USA, these invisible wounds of war are easily overlooked until the tipping tragedy actually occurs. Law enforcement, families, friends, employers, policy makers and even the medical community just plain miss stuff because they don't know what to look for, or if they do, how to treat it. The invisible wounds come from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, Military Sexual Trauma, Moral Injury, Survivors Guilt, underlying chemicals like Agent Orange or those that come from Burnpit Lung, as well as others. And yet other hazards for the Invisible Wounds Victim are the occasional fraudulent or incompetent treatment of these afflictions , such as in the improper issuance of discharges for personality disorder, bad conduct and the like. These act to wash away what would otherwise be complex problems for the greater organization.

Failure to understand what is happening to these service members and veterans is as easy as falling off a log, simply because the wounds are both invisible and clinical. That this is happening within the impacted veteran can make his or her actions incomprehensible to others. Most people, when they do not understand something or someone, will tend to withdraw. That can leave a veteran in an emotional and physical isolation. That in turn can lead to the harder parts of life: broken marriages and friendships, alienation from children, prison time, firings, medical disasters and yes, even suicides and death rampages!

Awareness building comes from keeping a high profile that allows messages to be heard and digested. We pursue this through our web site and Facebook Page, press releases, speaking engagements, advocacy within the confines of what is allowed by a 501(c)(3) charity, and networking.

We place a high priority on education and outreach (primarily via our website, our videos and press releases) because many Americans do not fully understand the problems of veterans with invisible wounds like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury and Military Sexual Trauma, Moral Injury, Survivors Guilt, as well as improper mixes of psychiatric drugs during treatment.

An example of public education is our efforts to inform the public about the impact of fireworks (especially unexpected explosions) on veterans with PTSD. This was necessitated by a new law in Iowa that deregulated the use of fireworks in the state. The VNRC put out press releases on the topic that were picked up throughout Iowa and will promote knowledge of impact of fireworks on those with PTSD in 2025.

We retain a lobbyist legally within the scope of our 501(c)(3) authority, and participate in other visibility builders, such as Veterans Day on the Hill, where in 2024 we promoted a specialized Veterans Treatment Court that has had astounding results around the nation.

Another example of public education is VNRC’s "Veterans Black Arm Band Day for PTSD." This memorializes Richard Miles, a combat vet with PTSD who froze to death in a Des Moines Park in a unique act of suicide. This year we had a special memorial service for the 75 Iowa veterans estimated to commit suicide every year. The events have been well publicized in the state and allow us an opportunity to spread the word on what to do if there is a suicidal friend or family member. Over the years, we have had activity on both coasts.

Not only do we educate the public, we also educate veterans and their families. We find a surprising number of veterans that are either stymied and do not know where to turn for positive treatment of their afflictions, or have been so stymied within the VA system, that they need a fresh pair of eyes to look at their problem. In examples in Tennessee, Chicago, Iowa and California, the VNRC worked with veterans that had special problems getting the kind of treatment they wanted. We were able to make referrals and give advice that was accepted.

Some of our discoveries in the field do turn into policy. In 2014 we began to run into several military rape and sexual harassment victims. We found that generally it was difficult for these women to get command attention paid to the incident, and, we found that records concerning the rapes and sexual assaults were disappearing. A significant number of these incidents occurred in the National Guard. We reviewed the legal circumstances and created a proposal which was taken to the Iowa legislature by volunteers. This resulted in the nation's first state law relating to military sexual trauma in the National Guard and Reserve during duty not under a federal activation order. This became national policy in both the National Guard and Army Reserve. Now I find that I can go into any barracks or billeting site on Camp Dodge, Iowa and find a poster for not only the State Sexual Harassment & Assault NCO, with her picture, but also pictures and phone number of regional associates. And happily, the same awareness level and organizational outreach is in the Army Reserve.

b. We also have a heart for burn injuries in veterans and build awareness of them because they are the most difficult and painful wounds to deal with. MDwere preaching regenerative medicine for combat burns as early as 2011 when no one but us seemed to know about a Midwestern MD who developed a stem cell line that, pasted on a burn, would re-grow the entire skin without a scar. Now, the rest of the medical community has largely caught up with the innovation. But we remain proud ofthe early publicity that we gave it.
Another program area is work with the community of Hot Springs, South Dakota to repurpose of the Hot Springs VA Hospital for homeless PTSD/MST veterans that was being closed. Ultimately, this did not occur. However, it allowed VNRC to develop a great deal of capacity in medical facility & homeless housing planning. We are interested in this area and have been in contact with mini-house developers to see what can be done when time allows it.

We currently do not have an RSS Feed due to budget constraints. But it is a good Idea, and wel will pursue it in 2026.