The Onward Ops Foundation supports service members and their families transitioning out of military service and into civilian life by covering the costs of military transition support through charitable giving.
Our mission is to prevent new Veteran suicide by supporting active duty service members in their transition from the military back to civilian life. We do so by supporting Onward Ops, our flagship military transition support program. Foundational to the approach is a ... Czytaj dalej
The Onward Ops Foundation supports service members and their families transitioning out of military service and into civilian life by covering the costs of military transition support through charitable giving.
Our mission is to prevent new Veteran suicide by supporting active duty service members in their transition from the military back to civilian life. We do so by supporting Onward Ops, our flagship military transition support program. Foundational to the approach is a focus on the 12 months between leaving the military and fully reintegrating into a civilian community, a period known in academic literature as the ‘deadly gap,’ when the combined stresses of loss of purpose, geographic relocation, financial uncertainty, and underlying medical and psychological issues lead to new Veterans committing suicide at rates 2-3x higher than civilians in the same age group.
ETS-SP enjoys a non-monetary public-private partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs and has formal agreements in place with the Army Soldier for Life program, the USO Pathfinder Program, and numerous DOD installations, facilitating the enrollment of service members up to a year before they leave the military.
Onward Ops is available at no cost to all departing service members regardless of discharge status. We partner with vetted community affiliates across the country. The program pairs transitioning service members with VA-certified destination community sponsors to assist them in their journey, utilizing a purpose built set of digital tools providing a common view of each individual Veteran’s needs.
All enrollees in the Onward Ops program are screened for risk using the Columbia Suicide Severity Risk Scale and a purpose-built set of criteria designed in partnership with Harvard University and the DOD STARRS program. Enrollees identified as high risk are referred to behavioral health within 24 hours for care. Our primary measure of effectiveness is the reduction of new Veteran suicide. Through our holistic transition approach, supporting objectives include increasing Veteran employment, access to earned medical coverage and educational benefits, reduction in Veteran homelessness, and greater connectivity between the Veteran and the community.
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