tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78734447229891578022024-03-13T08:34:28.254-04:00UNcamouflaged: A veteran back in the "real world"As a recently separated veteran, I find myself in a gray area between the military and civilian worlds. In talking with other veterans, I’ve discovered this is a common concern – one I hope to explore with this blog. This is by no means an official forum. It’s merely a place for me to muse, ponder, vent, and contemplate how my life is shaped by my experiences as a veteran. I’m not sanctioned by the DoD, the VA or, or any other person or entity. All views and commentary are solely my own.Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-16391765459837520582019-09-10T23:37:00.002-04:002019-09-10T23:37:38.776-04:00New Website!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hi all,<br />
<br />
I have a fancy new website! Check it out <a href="https://laurenkayjohnson.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
<br />
This blog will remain available for perusing.<br />
<br />
Thanks for visiting!<br />
<br />
~Lauren</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-6246445697429428872016-12-13T12:29:00.000-05:002016-12-13T19:12:03.604-05:00Three new war writing anthologies!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My mind is a little blown and my heart is a lot grateful to be part of three new anthologies. It's thrilling to be published, and even more so to be part of these important books covering new ground in war literature. Check 'em out!<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://hudsonwhitman.com/retire-the-colors-veterans-civilians-on-iraq-afghanistan/" target="_blank"><i>Retire the Colors: Veterans & Civilians on Iraq & Afghanistan </i></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Hudson Whitman<span style="font-size: 12pt;">/Excelsior
College Press)</span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OFjgCgXUYZ8/WEoQB89JuAI/AAAAAAAADoA/a2X4_Zh1N6ctL66yG0zANyMwIVq9a_o3QCLcB/s1600/Retire%2Bthe%2BColors%2Bcover%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OFjgCgXUYZ8/WEoQB89JuAI/AAAAAAAADoA/a2X4_Zh1N6ctL66yG0zANyMwIVq9a_o3QCLcB/s200/Retire%2Bthe%2BColors%2Bcover%2Bimage.jpg" width="138" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Retire-Colors-Veterans-Civilians-Afghanistan/dp/1944079076/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481645867&sr=8-1&keywords=retire+the+colors+veterans+%26+civilians+on+iraq+%26+afghanistan" target="_blank">Available now!</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Edited by Marine and <span style="font-family: inherit;">Iraq veteran Dario DiBattista, this collection of essays was specifically curated to bridge the military-civilian divide by sharing new, unique<span style="font-family: inherit;">, humanizing perspectives of war and its aftermat</span>h. These are not stories of <span style="font-family: inherit;">Hollywood war <span style="font-family: inherit;">heroes</span>. They're stories of love and loss, p<span style="font-family: inherit;">arenting, going to school, growing up, <span style="font-family: inherit;">meeting new people</span>.</span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">Men and women </span>living</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> their l</span>ives—who <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">also </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">happen to be</span></span> straddling two worlds<span style="font-family: inherit;">, and sometimes those worlds collide.</span></span> My veteran-writer husband and I have a books<span style="font-family: inherit;">helf full of war literature, but we don't have anything else like this<span style="font-family: inherit;"> collection.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Join us for a <a href="http://www.thirdplacebooks.com/event/retire-colors-veterans-civilians-iraq-afghanistan" target="_blank">reading/discussion in Seattle</a>! </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://pegasusbooks.com/books/the-road-ahead-9781681773070-hardcover" target="_blank">The Road Ahead: Fiction from the Forever War</a> </i></i>(Pegasus Books, Jan
17, 2017) </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-19Xkpc02WP4/WEoQB12o6YI/AAAAAAAADn8/hKqCCAIs1nooaN2QGx7ZlOcQrBcNHbPOQCLcB/s1600/the%2Broad%2Bahead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-19Xkpc02WP4/WEoQB12o6YI/AAAAAAAADn8/hKqCCAIs1nooaN2QGx7ZlOcQrBcNHbPOQCLcB/s200/the%2Broad%2Bahead.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Road-Ahead-Stories-Forever-War/dp/1681773074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481646455&sr=8-1&keywords=the+road+ahead" target="_blank">Preorder now!</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A diverse collection of contemporary war fiction put together by veterans<span style="font-family: inherit;">/</span>prolific writers<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;">and</span></span> think<span style="font-family: inherit;">ers </span>Brian Castner and Adrian Bonenberger. These<span style="font-family: inherit;"> 2<span style="font-family: inherit;">4</span> unique voices address war from all angles<span style="font-family: inherit;"> (<span style="font-family: inherit;">a</span>nd when I say <i>all </i>I mean<span style="font-family: inherit;"> surrealism and metaphor and all sorts of other strange and wonderful things). It's a think piece of an anthology, but also <span style="font-family: inherit;">shockingly accessible</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">—and <span style="font-family: inherit;">somet<span style="font-family: inherit;">imes just plain shocking. The kind of intimate, brutal truths best revealed <span style="font-family: inherit;">through</span> fiction.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stay tuned for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/theroadaheadbook/" target="_blank">events across t<span style="font-family: inherit;">he country</span></a>!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></div>
<i> </i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Its-My-Country-Too,677440.aspx" target="_blank"><i>It’s My Country Too: True Stories of Women Under Fire from the American Revolution to Afghanistan </i></a> (University of Nebraska Press/Potomac Books, July 1, 2017)<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2e_j1YNlNLA/WEoQCL09bEI/AAAAAAAADoE/IRd2YTkpI_ApRSwRXsTKL6zBzRu2_mVwACLcB/s1600/IT%2527S%2BMY%2BCOUNTRY%2BTOO.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2e_j1YNlNLA/WEoQCL09bEI/AAAAAAAADoE/IRd2YTkpI_ApRSwRXsTKL6zBzRu2_mVwACLcB/s200/IT%2527S%2BMY%2BCOUNTRY%2BTOO.png" width="131" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Its-Country-Too-Revolution-Afghanistan/dp/1612348319/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481646717&sr=8-1&keywords=it%27s+my+country+too" target="_blank">Preorder now!</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Women have been involved in warfighting since warfighting began. Yet our perspectives are largely absent from historical accounts, and certainly from the war literature canon. Enter editors Jerri Bell and Tracy Crow, who scoured the archives<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">—</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>from published memoirs to personal diaries, letters, and service documents<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">—</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>to compile what I like to call an encyclopedia of women's war stories. But don't let the word "encyclopedia" scare you away. These stories are anything but dry historical accounts; they're riveting first-person narratives, framed by era-specific context that speaks not just to women or the military, but to <i>life</i> and <i>the world.</i> This book is brilliant, necessary, and long-overdue.<br />
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<![endif]--></i><b>HAPPY READING!</b> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-47823389246457456152016-04-01T02:45:00.000-04:002016-04-01T18:55:53.677-04:00Recommended Reading: Nontraditional War Stories<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "inherit" , "serif";">I have the pleasure of participating in a
panel discussion at the 2016 Association of Writers and Writing Programs
Conference on the topic of <a href="https://www.awpwriter.org/awp_conference/event_detail/5188" target="_blank">Nontraditional War Stories</a><span style="font-family: "inherit" , "serif";">. <span style="font-family: "inherit" , "serif";">In the panel Qais Akbar Omar, Olivia Kate Cerrone, Mieke Eerkens<span style="font-family: "inherit" , "serif";">,</span> Mariett<span style="font-family: "inherit" , "serif";">e Katherine Kalinowski<span style="font-family: "inherit" , "serif";"> and I<span style="font-family: "inherit" , "serif";"> will</span></span></span></span></span> explore military
and war narratives that break from what has become the formula for mainstream
war stories: those focused on western male combat soldiers. Our thought is that
offering different perspectives—from men and women living in war zones, female
veterans, aid workers, journalists, family members and others—will give voice to minority and disenfranchised (and often stereotyped) populations and expand
public understanding of what it means to be affected by war.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "inherit" , "serif";">Since we cannot hope to capture all
perspectives in our panel of five, we've compiled a list of recommended
reading, below. This list is not all-inclusive, but we hope to update it and
add titles as we learn of them. At this point (with a couple exceptions), the
books included only come from the last 10-15 years and focus on contemporary
conflicts in the greater Middle East. Narratives about military spouses are not
represented—that is an important and thriving sub-genre that would swell this
list far beyond its current size. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "inherit" , "serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "inherit" , "serif";">If you have a recommended read or resource<span style="font-family: "inherit" , "serif";"> on this topic, please share in the comments.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Abulhawa, Susan: The Blue Between Sky and Water; Mornings in
Jenin (fiction, Palestine, local voices)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Addario, Lynsey: It’s What I Do (memoir, war
photographer)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Akbar Omar, Qais: A Fort of Nine Towers (memoir, Afghanistan,
local voices)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alexander, Jessica: Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of
Humanitarian Aid (memoir) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alsanea, Rajaa:
Girls of Riyadh (reportage/biography, Saudi Arabia, local voices) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ansary, Nina:
Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran (reportage, local
voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Antoon, Sinan:
The Corpse Washer (fiction, Iraq, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aslam, Nadeem:
The Wasted Vigil (fiction, Afghanistan, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bahari, Maziar:
Rosewater (memoir, Iran)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Baker, Kim:
The Taliban Shuffle (memoir, Afghanistan/Pakistan, journalist) *Basis
for the movie </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Whiskey Tango Foxtrot</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Barghouti, Mourid: I Saw Ramallah (memoir, Palestine, local voices)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bell, Elana:
Eyes, Stones (poetry, Israel/Palistine)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Benedict, Helen: The Lonely Soldier (reportage, female
veterans)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blair, Jane:
Hesitation Kills (memoir, Iraq, female veteran)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blasim, Hassan:
The Corpse Exhibition and Other Stories of Iraq (fiction, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bowden, Lisa and Shannon Cain (editors): Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks from
Vietnam to Iraq</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chayes, Sarah:
The Punishment of Virtue (reportage/memoir, Afghanistan, aid worker)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Clark, Peter (editor): Emerging Arab Voices (fiction/anthology,
local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Copaken Kogan, Deborah: Shutterbabe (memoir,
Afghanistan/Zimbabwe/Romania/Russia/Haiti, photojournalist)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Crow, Tracey:
Eyes Right (memoir, female veteran)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Darwish, Mahmoud: If I Were Another; Why Did You Leave the
Horse Alone? (poetry, Palistine, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Douaihy, Jabbour: Autumn Equinox; June Rain (fiction, Lebanon,
local voices) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Duy, Nguyen: Distant Road (poetry, Vietnam, local voices) </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ebadi, Shirin:
Iran Awakening; Until We Are Free (memoir, Iran, local voices) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fathi, Nazila:
The Lonely War (memoir/reportage, Iran, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gidali, Orit:
Twenty Girls to Envy Me: (poetry, Israel, local voices) *to be released
July 2016</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gopal, Anand:
No Good Men Among the Living (reportage, Afghanistan, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hamid, Mohsin:
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (fiction, Pakistan, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Halloran, Colin D: Icarian flux (poetry, homefront, PTSD
explored through persona and metaphor)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">*Halloran’s
first collection, Shortly Thereafter, addresses war more explicitly; several
poems feature nontraditional perspectives (Full disclosure: Colin is my husband)</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hoffman, Cara:
Be Safe, I Love You (fiction, Iraq, female veteran)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hosseini, Khaled: The Kite Runner; A Thousand Splendid Suns; And
the Mountains Echoed (fiction, </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Afghanistan, local voices)</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Housden, Roger:
Saved by Beauty (memoir/travel writing, Iran)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Johnson, Shoshanna and ML Doyle: I'm Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier
to Free Citizen (memoir, Iraq, female veteran)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jubber, Nicholas: Drinking Arak Off An Ayatollah’s Beard
(memoir/reportage, Iran/Afghanistan, local voices, travel writing)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kachachi, Inaam: American Granddaughter (fiction, Iraq, local
voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Karimi-Hakkak, Ahmad and Nahid Mozaffari
(editors): Strange Times, My Dear: The PEN </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anthology of Contemporary Iranian </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: 0.5in;">Literature (anthology,
Iran, local voices)</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Khadra, Yasmina: The Swallows of Kabul (fiction, Afghanistan,
local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">King Feuerman, Ruchama: In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist (fiction,
Israel, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">MacFarquhar, Neil: The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah
Wishes You a Happy Birthday (memoir/reportage)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mahony, Phillip (editor): From Both Sides Now: The Poetry of the Vietnam War and its Aftermath (Vietnam, local voices) </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Majd, Hooman:
The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay (memoir/travel writing,
Iran)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mikhail, Dunya:
Fifteen Iraqi Poets (anthology, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Moaveni, Azadeh: Lipstick Jihad (memoir, Iran, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Navai, Ramita:
City of Lies (biography/reportage, Iran, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Papernick, John: The Ascent of Eli Israel and Other Stories
(fiction, Israel, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pari and Ahmad Aria: Washing the Dust From Our
Hearts: Poetry & Prose from Writers of the Afghan Women’s Writing Project</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Percy, Jennifer: Demon Camp (reportage/memoir, Afghanistan/homefront,
PTSD/inherited trauma</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*As
a journalist, Percy has also written extensively about conflict in many
regions, from many nontraditional perspectives</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Radnoti, Miklos: Clouded Sky (poetry, Hungary/WWII concentration camp, local voices) </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richey, Frances: The Warrior: A Mother’s Story of a Son at War
(poetry, homefront)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Roy-Bhattacharya, Joydeep: The Watch (fiction, Afghanistan, local
voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sabar, Ariel:
My Father’s Paradise (memoir, Iraq, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sasson, Jean:
Mayada, Daughter of Iraq (biography, Iraq, local voices); American Chick
in Saudi Arabia (memoir) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Schultz, Katey:
Flashes of War (short fiction)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Seierstad, Asne: The Bookseller of Kabul (reportage/biography,
Afghanistan, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Seraji, Mahbod:
Rooftops of Tehran (fiction, Iran, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Shavit, Ari:
My Promised Land (memoir/reportage, Israel/Palestine, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Shehadeh, Raja:
Strangers in the House: Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine (memoir,
Palestine, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Strick van Linschoten, Alex and Felix Kuehn
(editors): Poetry of the Taliban
(Afghanistan, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sultan, Masuda:
My War at Home (memoir, Afghanistan, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tolan, Sandy:
The Lemon Tree (biography/memoir, Israel/Palistine, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Trussoni, Danielle: Falling Through the Earth (memoir, Vietnam,
PTSD/inherited trauma)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tzemach Lemmon, Gayle: Ashley’s War (reportage, Afghanistan, female
veterans); The Dressmaker of Khair Khana (local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Various:
My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes: Uncensored
Iranian Voices</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wahab, Saima:
In My Father’s Country (memoir, Afghanistan, local voices)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Williams, Kayla: Love My Rifle More than You (</span></span>memoir, Iraq, female veteran)<span style="font-family: inherit;">;
Plenty of Time When We Get Home (memoir, Iraq/homefront, PTSD, caretaer)</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wolpe, Sholeh (translator/editor): Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad; The
Forbidden: Poems from Iran and its Exiles </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Other Resources: </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For a comprehensive list of writing by female
veterans throughout history, Navy Veteran/writer/editor Jerri Bell is compiling an extensive <a href="http://presumptionandfolly.wordpress.com/writing-by-women-veterans/" target="_blank">Bibliography on her website</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For links to writing by and about military
spouses (and other military and book-related themes) check out the <a href="http://militaryspousebookreview.com/" target="_blank">Military Spouse Book Review</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 1pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The <a href="http://acolytesofwar.com/" target="_blank">Time Now blog</a>, curated by retired Army colonel and literature professor Peter Molin, offers reviews and commentary on </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars in Art, Film, and Literature" </span></span></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-82838509009459260092015-11-23T22:43:00.000-05:002015-11-25T14:30:40.961-05:00$h!t the military taught me <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I recently took a rite of passage to adulthood: I got a job in retail. Contrary
to the warnings of many of my peers (who completed this rite years ago), I’m
actually really enjoying the experience. Sure, customers can be picky, rude,
and ungrateful. Sometimes it’s hard to keep smiling and stay cordial. But I
appreciate being pulled from my solitary writerly cave and into daily social
interaction. It’s refreshing to focus on something completely different. My
coworkers are awesome, and meetings always involve pizza.<br />
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Not counting internships and work-from-home gigs, this is also my first
job since leaving the service. Working in the “real world” has helped me
realize many of the lessons I took from my time in the military. </div>
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So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’m compiling a list of gratitude. In the spirit of the military, I made it into an acronym: PAEAP, which you can remember with this Thanksgivingy phrase: <b>P</b>eople <b>A</b>lways <b>E</b>at <b>A</b>mazing <b>P</b>oultry.</div>
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<b>PUNCTUALITY</b><br />
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I used to be perpetually late, regardless of what time I was supposed
to arrive (but especially in the morning), where I was going or for what purpose. I
didn’t mean to be late. I’d give myself ample time, I wouldn’t dawdle; I’d just
hit a time warp and suddenly need to leave five minutes ago. In my college
freshman English class, I was downgraded from an A to an A- because I had too
many tardies. (The classroom was in the building next to my dorm, and the class
started at a very reasonable 10am . . .)</div>
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The military beat lateness out of me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mornings were popular. Schedules were tight,
and delaying a meeting or sneaking in late risked earning the commander’s
wrath. Though a tad hyperbolic for my line of work, I took the saying to heart:
“If you’re early you’re on time, if you’re on time you’re late, and if you’re
late you’re dead.” Anyone who knows me knows I’m still not a morning person.
But I can rally if I need to. (Incidentally, I also credit the military for
indoctrinating me to black coffee.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<b>ADAPTABILITY/INITIATIVE</b><br />
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Life in the military is often trial by fire. You’re expected to learn
quickly, frequently with little or no instruction, sometimes in high-stakes
situations. My deployed position was in many ways make-it-up-as-you-go; Information
Operations for use in counterinsurgency/nation-building efforts was a new
application. All doctrine was based on Vietnam-era kinetic warfare (direct enemy engagement).
There were no standard operating procedures. Our guidance was vague—to the
point of, to quote a colleague’s commander, “Sprinkle some IO dust on that.” </div>
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The expectation isn’t to instantaneously know the best way to
accomplish the mission, but to figure out a good way. Initiative can mean
asking for help, using the resources at your disposal to make an informed
decision, making a “command decision” (a judgement call), or all of the above.
It does NOT mean panicking, wallowing in self-doubt, or being paralyzed into
inaction. I use these skills almost every day—particularly these last few weeks
as I learn the ropes of a new service-oriented industry. If all else fails, I
remember one of the unofficial tenants of public affairs: <i>If you don’t have
actual confidence, have pretend confidence.</i></div>
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<b>EFFICIENCY</b><br />
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The military expects its members to operate with what they call “a
sense of urgency.” Everything you do, whether it’s cleaning your weapon or
cleaning your plate, should be done as efficiently as possible. There are a
bajillion checklists, fill-in-the-blank templates and step-by-step guides to make
this easier. In some situations, though, circumstances call for time-saving procedural
deviations (see Adaptability/Initiative). </div>
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Speediness often comes into conflict with my perfectionist inclinations—I’ve
had to learn to balance my high personal standards with what is reasonable to accomplish
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">effectively</i> in a timely manner and with
available resources. Each customer may not have flawlessly gift-wrapped purchases,
but they’ll be satisfied, and I can move onto the next customer rather than
keeping him/her waiting.</div>
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<b>ASSERTIVENESS </b></div>
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I’m a natural pushover and avoider of confrontation. Governed by
emotions and drawn toward peacemaking, I'd prefer to get walked on than make
waves. Public affairs is kind of a wave-making entity. I often found myself a
lowly lieutenant in a meeting with high-ranking leaders who were focused
(understandably) on the immediate tangibles of a situation. PA was an
afterthought, when the shit hit the fan. In order to pre-empt mass confusion
and/or media and community outrage, I had to proactively speak up and assert my
position as the subject matter expert, even when I felt anything but. As a
supervisor and ranking officer, I also needed to stand up for my Airmen. I was
the buffer between their wellbeing and demanding customers. </div>
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Though the stakes are lower in small business retail, my actions still
represent the company. I’m still the (actively learning) subject matter expert. Confrontation
remains mildly nauseating for me, but I’ve learned that the anticipation is
usually worse than the actual event. More often than not, long-term benefits are
worth temporary discomfort. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<b>PERSPECTIVE </b><br />
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<br />
Most situations are preferable to living in a warzone. Being yelled at by a
persnickety customer is a hell of a lot better than being yelled at by generals
and/or Afghan government officials. Interactions carry very little risk of
inciting an international incident. In all likelihood, no one will be injured
or killed. As my husband is fond of saying, “At least they’re not shooting at
you.”
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As always, I’m thankful to be spending the holidays with loved ones
and grateful for all who have worked and continue to work to make
that possible. </div>
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If you're shopping this weekend, please be kind to your salespeople!<br />
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!</div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-63872155308916613282015-11-09T18:51:00.001-05:002015-11-10T16:09:47.258-05:00A Veterans' Day Challenge<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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</xml><![endif]-->November is always a busy month for my husband <a href="http://www.colindhalloran.com/">Colin</a>. A former Army infantryman and
Afghanistan vet, now a college professor, veteran advocate, and award-winning
poet, he spends the weeks around Veterans’ Day engaging with veteran and
non-veteran audiences to raise awareness, increase understanding, and encourage
support—his efforts, to borrow a popular tagline, to “bridge the gap” between the
communities.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Since I’m</span> not as awesome or poetic as Colin and I’m not
joining in on the whirlwind, I’d like to propose a Veterans’ Day
challenge: </div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-25Dc71TtVH4/VkEpaOYmnxI/AAAAAAAADUA/DYQNz1rO9nI/s1600/IMAG1887.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-25Dc71TtVH4/VkEpaOYmnxI/AAAAAAAADUA/DYQNz1rO9nI/s400/IMAG1887.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Halloran family collection of war literature</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">This week—or this month, or whenever you’re able—engage with three
veterans’ stories. Choose any format: read, watch, listen, interview (some
suggestions included below); with any veteran, of wars past or present.</span></b></span></div>
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Why three? Because no
two veterans are the same; a single narrative can’t possibly capture a
comprehensive portrait of what it’s like to be a veteran. Neither can three,
but my hope is that your perspective will expand ever-so-slightly in different
directions. Hopefully, too, you’ll like what you see/read/hear, and continue to
seek different narratives far beyond Nov. 11.</div>
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In the next few days you’re bound to get word of local
Veterans' Day readings, lectures and discussions; radio and TV features and
interviews; and commentaries online or in your local paper. Take the time to
check out one (or three!)</div>
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Here are a few other suggestions (this is by no means a
comprehensive list—if you have a favorite veteran narrative or know of a good resource, please share in the comments):</div>
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<b>TALK</b></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Do you have a veteran friend or relative? Ask about
his/her experiences. I could sit cross-legged on my grandparents’ floor all day
(or at least until my legs fall asleep) listening to their World War II stories (they were married right before Grandpa shipped off with the Navy; their brothers shared a foxhole in the
Battle of the Bulge!). Keep in mind, though, not everyone is comfortable
sharing. Be respectful. Don’t pry.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>There are nonprofit veteran organizations all
across the country, many which rely on volunteer support. Here in Boston, for example, the <a href="http://nechv.org/volunteer/" target="_blank">New England Center for Homeless Veterans</a> seeks volunteers for serving meals and job
skills advising/mentoring. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Spend a
couple hours providing tangible assistance while also getting to know a local
veteran.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>READ</b><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>As you can tell from the photo, Colin and I have a rather
extensive collection of war literature. Whether your interests are fiction,
biography, memoir or poetry, historical or contemporary, drama or satire, there’s
something (or many somethings) for you. Have you been meaning to read Tim O’Brien’s
classic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Things They Carried</i> or Phil
Klay’s National Book Award-winning short story collection <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Redeployment</i>? What about books-turned-blockbusters like <i>Unbroken</i> or <i>Black Hawk Down</i>? Interested in female veteran stories? Check out memoirs by Kayla Williams, Tracy Crow, or Jane Blair; <i>Ashley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield</i>; or the anth<span style="font-family: inherit;">ology <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Powder: <i>Writing by Women in the
Ranks, from Vietnam to Iraq. </i></i></span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></i></i>Several other military anthologies feature a wide variety of writing by male and female veterans and family members: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fire & Forget: Short Stories from the Long War, Proud to Be:
Writing by American Warriors, <i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></i></i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Red, White & True: Stories from Veterans and Families, World War II
to Present.</i></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Aside from tackling a full book, there is TONS of wonderful
veteran writing available online. Publications specifically for military/veteran
writing include the <a href="http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/?_r=0" target="_blank">New York Times At War blog</a>; <a href="http://o-dark-thirty.org/" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O-Dark-Thirty</i></a> (the literary journal of the Veteran Writing Project); <a href="http://www.wlajournal.com/" target="_blank">War, Literature and the Arts</a>; <a href="http://militaryexperience.org/" target="_blank">Military Experience & the Arts</a>;
<a href="http://www.warriorwriters.org/index.html" target="_blank">Warrior Writers</a> (links to individual artists and their work, as well as for purchasing
anthologies); <a href="http://www.veteransvoices.com/" target="_blank">Veterans Voices</a>; and so many fabulous blogs and individual pieces that I couldn’t possibly list them all. </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT: Sample poems from Colin’s books are available online
<a href="http://mainstreetragbookstore.com/?product=shortly-thereafter">here</a>
and <a href="http://mainstreetragbookstore.com/?product=icarian-flux">here</a>,
and you should read his <a href="http://therumpus.net/2015/08/the-rumpus-interview-with-colin-d-halloran/">awesome
interview in The Rumpus</a> (in which he discusses war lit and veteran/military
writers).</li>
</ul>
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<b>WATCH</b></div>
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Hollywood loves war films—the combination of physical and
emotional drama is ripe for the big screen. Though many obviously have a degree
of Hollywoodization, they still provide a powerful, engrossing window to war. From
classics like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Apocalypse Now</i> to
contemporaries such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Sniper</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fury</i>, there are oodles to choose from.
Colin and I just finished the absolutely stunning mini-series <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Band of Brothers</i>, and I can't recommend it enough. Despite the different jobs, locations and eras, we both found elements we related to—that's the mark of a great war story! </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Check out a documentary like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Restrepo</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Korengal,</i> Sebastian
Junger’s accounts of a group of soldiers at a small, remote Afghanistan outpost and their return home;
the HBO production <a href="http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/crisis-hotline-veterans-press-1/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1</i></a>; <a href="http://invisiblewarmovie.com/" target="_blank">The Invisible War</a>, an investigation of the epidemic of rape in the military (no it’s
not pleasant, but it happens and we can’t ignore it);
or the PBS documentary <a href="http://www.pbs.org/veterans/stories-of-service/stream-tv/a-to-z/debt-of-honor/" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Debt of Honor:Disabled Veterans in American History</i></a>, which premiers Tuesday, Nov. 10. <a href="http://documentaries.about.com/od/populardocsubjects/tp/Documentaries-For-Veterans-Day-2011.htm" target="_blank">This list</a> offers other selections as well.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The Telling Project, an organization that brings veterans
together to tell their stories for a live audience, just released a documentary. You can <a href="http://www.wedu.org/thetellingproject/" target="_blank">watch online</a> or <a href="http://thetellingproject.org/schedule/" target="_blank">see a live production</a>.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Carthage University is wrapping up performances of the
Afghanistan/ Wisconsin Verbatim Theatre Project, a theatrical production created
from word-for-word veteran narratives. You can view a recording of the performance <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQK5Twv5_sA&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">here</a>. (Full
disclosure: I was interviewed as part of the production process.)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>LISTEN </b></div>
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Historians, journalists and military families throughout
history have made an effort to preserve veteran narratives through interviews,
and many are publicly available. The Library of Congress Veterans’ History
Project has an<a href="http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/html/search/search.html" target="_blank"> extensive searchable digital archive</a>. Your local archives, libraries and veteran/war museums also likely have oral
history collections available in-person and/or digitally (consult the
<a href="http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/state-archives.html" target="_blank">Archives Library Information Center</a> or use your good friend Mr. Google—there are resources everywhere!).</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>NPR has several great veteran interview broadcasts
available, like <a href="http://www.npr.org/2006/11/10/6468566/recording-the-living-history-of-wwi-veterans" target="_blank">this World War II collection</a>. Be sure to browse through the Related Stories at the bottom of the page.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The Veteran Artist Program recently launched a <a href="http://www.vappodcast.com/" target="_blank">podcast</a> of interviews
with male and female veterans from a variety of services and specialties
working in all sorts of artistic fields. Learn about a Marine comic, an Army
Special Operations musician (who played with Nirvana!), a Cultural Support Team
soldier now working as an art therapist, an Apache pilot/author/singer, and
many more! </li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<b>CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!</b><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-67801987419198841322015-10-03T14:42:00.000-04:002015-10-03T14:42:03.051-04:00A Brief Rant<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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</xml><![endif]-->I was going to post this on Facebook, but figured I owe this
neglected thing some attention. Plus, if someone googles “assholes” or
“douchbaggery” maybe they’ll stumble upon this little blog.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
#BeginRant</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have a veteran friend who’s in grad school. She just
started a new semester with a new crop of students who don’t know about her
veteranness, and, like many vets, she doesn’t necessarily advertise it when
making introductions. So she enters the classroom and kindly expresses her need
to sit on the perimeter of the room—a need driven by deployment-related anxiety—and
another student points to a seat in the middle and rudely suggests, “Why can’t
you just sit in that seat?” My friend says she can’t and moves that desk to the
perimeter. And the other students laugh and make fun of her</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m13y_6MzKNg/VhAggYIP6YI/AAAAAAAADTI/iuDIILKCnUE/s1600/bigbird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m13y_6MzKNg/VhAggYIP6YI/AAAAAAAADTI/iuDIILKCnUE/s1600/bigbird.jpg" /></a>Really, people? In grad school, where everyone is supposedly
at least a somewhat mature, mostly completely brain-developed adult? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lack of veteran context aside, so someone has a quirk—any
quirk—must you be all Douchy McAsshole about it? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was recently a guest in my husband’s college freshman
English classes, talking about narrative distance and empathy in writing
memoir/personal essay. I said something that’s applicable here—a super sophisticated
and eloquent analogy along the lines of: “Everyone has shit. Some people’s
piles are just bigger or more smelly.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
People are different. Sometimes people are weird. Sometimes
people have things bubbling under the surface that you know nothing about. Get
over it. Or at least have the decency to save the laughter and gossip for
behind closed doors</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
#EndRant</div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-19767361978811082902015-03-12T16:21:00.000-04:002015-03-12T17:00:24.795-04:00Response to American Sniper demonstrates vast spectrum of war experience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m
cleaning, like I do when I’m anxious. My husband Colin is thinking about shoes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Women
and children,” he says. “You determine their intent by their shoes.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 16px;">We saw </span><i style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 16px;">American Sniper</i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 16px;"> earlier. All through the movie I fidgeted, like I do when I’m anxious. Colin sat rigid. Now he’s thinking about shoes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2sZEIx58T0I/VQH0mOkpb2I/AAAAAAAADOE/mQVHMOeiyGM/s1600/american%2Bsniper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2sZEIx58T0I/VQH0mOkpb2I/AAAAAAAADOE/mQVHMOeiyGM/s1600/american%2Bsniper.jpg" height="320" width="215" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Women
have no cause to wear shoes with tread,” he says. “So if they are, they are far
more likely to blow you up.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I say
something like, “that makes sense,” because it does, and because I don’t know
how else to respond. I often don’t know how to respond when Colin’s brain is in
Afghanistan. I know his mind needs to dwell there for a while. It bounces
between mountain passes and desert, between quiet conversations and the rumble
of Humvee motors, or gunfire. Often it fixates on the suicide bomber who rammed
his truck into Colin’s convoy. The young Afghan boy caught in the explosion.
Colin’s gunner, his friend, engulfed in flames. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">My brain
goes to Afghanistan sometimes, as well, but to another time, another location,
another mission. Colin served as an infantryman in 2006. My role in 2009-2010
as part of a nation-building Provincial Reconstruction Team was largely
bureaucratic. However, <a href="http://uncamouflaged.blogspot.com/2012/03/veteran-writers-and-surprising-benefits.html" target="_blank">when we met in 2012, Colin and I connected through our disparate war stories</a>. We talked. He lent me his then-unpublished manuscript of
war poetry. I shared an essay about redeploying. Our writing, our experiences,
were drastically different. But they were also the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I discovered
this connection, too, with my mother, who served as a nurse in Saudi Arabia
during Operation Desert Storm. When I came home from Afghanistan, despite the decades,
borders, and job duties that separated our wars, Mom and I found common elements
weaving through each deployment, and the aftermath. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In the weeks since its release, <i>American Sniper</i></span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> has generated heated discussion
of many colors: respect and admiration for what Chris Kyle and his family
endured, attacks on his character, praise for the film’s raw and intimate
portrayal, admonishment for lack of political context, rebuff for the use of
the mythical/hero formula and appreciation for the same.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Perhaps
the most impassioned debate comes from within the veteran community. I’ve seen numerous
articles and social media posts from veterans proclaiming that the movie did
not accurately represent their time in the military or in Iraq. Many express
the valid concern that this contemporary war film will become <i>the</i> contemporary war film and will shape
(or perpetuate) public opinion. Others rejoice that the movie has spurred
conversation, regardless of the nuances. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
response mirrors war itself. War is a spectrum. Or more accurately, <b>war is a
complicated graph of various separate but related spectrums: of danger and
comfort, of excitement and fear and humor and absurdity and friendship and
guilt and shame and pride. </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Veterans
easily point fingers at those who had it worse, or better, or different. We elevate some to the top of the heroism
hierarchy. The rest are left muddling somewhere in the middle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Kyle’s
war certainly more closely resembles Colin’s war than it does mine. Still,
Colin never engaged in urban combat (“urban” isn’t a term associated with most
of Afghanistan). Colin worked directly with the local population, rather than
viewing them solely through a rifle’s scope. He didn’t deploy multiple times.
He didn’t leave a family at home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But the
movie left him thinking about shoes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I
shouldn’t be sad,” Colin says. “I didn’t even come close to doing what Kyle did.
But I did more than most, so it’s not like I feel insufficient. I don’t feel
depressed. I just feel sad.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I feel
sad, though for different reasons. I’m remembering being on the other side,
when my mom deployed and left me behind. I’m thinking about all the things I
might have done differently in Afghanistan, all the things I might have done
better. I’m trying to figure out what “better” would have been.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m also
worried about Colin, because I’ve seen his sadness spiral deep and dark and
lasting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">No, Kyle’s
war was not Colin’s war. It wasn’t my war, or my mom’s war. It wasn’t anyone’s
war but Kyle’s. Yet his narrative contains threads Colin and I, and many other
veterans, can latch onto. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For the
general public,<i> American Sniper</i>
provides one perspective. One perspective, from one man, in his unique personal
circumstances—and filtered through a Hollywood lens. One perspective cannot
come close to a full representation of war. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But it
helps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>As long
as we have war, we need discussions of war</b>, stimulated by literature, film and
other mediums. The public bears responsibility for consuming and engaging with
this art, in all its forms, from all its sources: veterans, journalists,
civilians, Iraqis, and Afghans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">However, the
onus is on veterans, too: for producing it. In order for the public to listen,
read, view, veterans must speak, write, create. If we hope to achieve an
environment in which veterans can have comfortable dialogue with non-veterans,
where discussions of war are candid, not taboo and not sensationalized; if we
hope to bridge the oft-referenced “civilian-military divide,” we, the veterans,
must lay the groundwork. We must stop the finger-pointing and heroic
hierarchies. We must put aside the pride and stubbornness and self-sustaining
ideas that one type of soldier has more right to tell his or her story than
another. We must welcome all narratives: familiar, traditional, and not. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">More
narratives facilitate both a greater public understanding of war and increased
opportunities for each individual veteran to find a story—or a thread—to which
he or she can relate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I’m sad,”
Colin says again. “I don’t quite know what to do with that.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Eventually,
he settles on sleep. The next morning he decides to join a support group at the
VA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-61130790058127474572014-12-11T22:05:00.003-05:002014-12-11T22:22:12.871-05:00MY MOST IMPORTANT POST EVER: Help pass veteran mental health care act TODAY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Friends, if you read one post here ever, please let it be this: <b>The veteran community needs your help. </b>Today the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for America's Veterans (SAV) Act, which supports much-needed (and much-belated) mental health care access improvements for vets, stymied by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who placed a Parliamentary hold on the act. His rationale? It's too expensive.<br />
<br />
My husband did the math: The $22 million bill breaks down to less than $2,739.79 per vet who commits suicide each year. Not to mention the thousands of others who are suffering for unnecessarily long to unnecessary degrees because they can't get access to the care they need--and the care they EARNED.<br />
<br />
Care for which Senator Coburn allegedly advocates. The following quotes are his:<br />
<br />
"We must recognize our troops have eliminated two evil regimes that threatened international security"<br />
<br />
"We will be doing our troops a great dishonor if our objective is to leave Iraq yet we leave them in harm's way"<br />
<br />
"They & their families deserve our thanks & admiration for all they have sacrificed in service of our country"<br />
<br />
That $2,739.79 per veteran suicide equates to roughly 1.57% of Senator Coburn's annual salary. Must we argue who in that equation has given more to his country?<br />
<br />
Are you outraged by this hypocrisy? Do you support this nation's veterans? Well now you have an opportunity to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CALL SENATOR COBURN'S OFFICE NOW at 202-224-5754.</b> </span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Share this info. Call until we jam the OK phone lines. Call until every angry American voice joins into a chorus on repeat in the senator's head. He's retiring in January, surely to a nice cushy life. Don't let his last act be to stop this critically important piece of legislation. Don't let him go quietly. DON'T LET THIS BILL DIE.</b><br />
<br />
According to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, who championed the bill, "The Senate is expected to end its current legislative session by Friday. If the bill does not receive a vote in the Senate before adjournment, it dies, and vets will be left to begin the entire process again -- if possible -- in the next Congress.<br />
<br />
Also from IAVA: Richard Selke [Clay Hunt's step-father] <a href="http://youtu.be/y42DfV4sJYg" target="_blank">spoke directly to Senator Coburn in a video</a>.<br />
<br />
"The bill we are talking about is projected to cost about $22 million dollars. That's a lot of money to me. It's a lot of money to you. But in the context of the value of a human life, it is insignificant." Selke noted that 22 veterans, on average, die by suicide every day. "There are some things in this bill that might have saved Clay's life, and that might have saved some other veterans' lives" if the resources found in the Clay Hunt SAV Act would have been available.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hPZAQjRQlb4/VIpe4_wlUeI/AAAAAAAADM4/moQJ3A361Yo/s1600/colin%2Bflags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hPZAQjRQlb4/VIpe4_wlUeI/AAAAAAAADM4/moQJ3A361Yo/s1600/colin%2Bflags.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Find more information on the SAV Act <a href="http://iava.org/savact" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
CALL NOW and CALL NOW and CALL NOW. Also, please CALL NOW.<br />
<br />
Thank you for your time, and your voices.<br />
<br />
<i>PHOTO: My husband, Colin Halloran, standing amid a display of flags on the National Mall--one flag for each veteran suicide this year. Far too many.</i></div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-13387094068964254712014-12-02T17:16:00.000-05:002014-12-02T22:49:41.496-05:00#GivingTuesday (yes, it's a thing!)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Happy Giving Tuesday! Apparently that's a thing. (A good thing, obviously,
I just feel very old and uninformed not knowing about it until now.) If you,
like many, plan to supplement your holiday consumerism with some good old
fashioned charitable contributions, let me point out a few
military/veteran-focused nonprofit organizations worthy of your consideration:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://iava.org/" target="_blank">Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The largest organization for Post-9/11 veterans and their supporters,
with membership topping 250,000, IAVA also boasts a stellar <a href="http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12257#.VH4B_jHF9iM">5-star
(93.32/100) rating from Charity Navigator</a>. Unlike many veteran
organizations, IAVA doesn’t charge membership dues; their funding comes through
fundraisers and donors. They’re a community for veterans to connect, hosting “Vet
Togethers,” parades and other events across the country, but much of IAVA’s impact
comes from legislative initiatives. Every year they “storm the hill” to bring
veterans’ concerns straight to congress. They were the driving force behind the
Post-9/11 GI Bill and other game-changing enterprises. Currently, IAVA is
pushing to enhance veteran mental health care and end the suicide epidemic,
lobbying for Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act. **You can
help <i>FOR FREE</i>, by signing the
petition <a href="https://www.causes.com/actions/1772732-sign-the-petition-to-congress">here</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://gotyour6.org/" target="_blank">Got Your 6</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I wrote <a href="http://uncamouflaged.blogspot.com/2012/05/sweet-tom-hanks-has-my-back.html" target="_blank">a post about Got Your 6</a> two years ago when they first got started, and I'm excited to see how they've grown! “Got your six” is a military term meaning “I’ve got your back.” This
organization has our backs with an unlikely ally: Hollywood.
You may have seen their star-studded public service announcements, like this
one:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/0dgmfxTig4Q?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">…or noticed their <a href="http://shop.gotyour6.org/">snazzy “6”
pins</a> on the lapels of your favorite entertainers (which would make great
stocking stuffers...hint, hint!). Got Your 6 is working to bridge the
civilian-military divide by changing the conversation about veterans and shifting
perception from “victims” or “charity” or even “heroes” to empowerment and
potential. Like it or not, the entertainment industry has a lot to do with
that. Portrayal of veteran characters on TV and in movies, in songs and
literature, works into our collective psyches. (Got Your 6 recently published a
fascinating—and disturbing—study on the topic, which you can read <a href="http://www.gotyour6.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/GY6-Survey-Analysis-Report-2014.pdf">here</a>.)
In addition to PSAs and swag, Got Your 6 partners with 30 leading veteran
non-profit orgs supporting their “six key pillars of veteran reintegration”: Jobs,
Education, Health, Housing, Family and Leadership.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.teamrubiconusa.org/" target="_blank">Team Rubicon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Team Rubicon epitomizes the idea of veterans continuing to serve. Trained
and organized with military proficiency, their primary mission is as first
responders following natural disasters, deploying to ground zero to provide
immediate relief before conventional aid arrives. Efforts have ranged from small
community service projects, to clean-up after Midwest tornadoes, to sending
teams on humanitarian missions to Haiti and the Philippines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rKzswS-WaFc/VH43ZsMmlHI/AAAAAAAADMY/084geJDtiUo/s1600/team%2Brubicon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rKzswS-WaFc/VH43ZsMmlHI/AAAAAAAADMY/084geJDtiUo/s1600/team%2Brubicon.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">More than just providing services to others, Team Rubicon also
supports veterans with, from their website: “three things they lose after
leaving the military: a purpose, gained through disaster relief; community,
built by serving with others; and self-worth, from recognizing the impact one
individual can make.” I have several friends (veterans and non-vets) who are
active in Team Rubicon, and I’ve seen how the program has enhanced their lives.
If my word isn’t enough to convince you, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wrote highlighted
Team Rubicon in his new book: </span><a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/book/246850/for-love-of-country-by-howard-schultz-and-rajiv-chandrasekaran" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For
Love of Country: What Our Veterans Can Teach Us About Citizenship, Heroism, and
Sacrifice</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>PHOTO from teamrubiconusa.org: Team Rubicon members in action in the Philippines in response to Typhoon Haiyan. Focusing on the hard-hit city of Tacloban and the surrounding towns, TR treated over 2,100 patients with immediate medical care.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Writing/Artistic Organizations</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A cause close to my heart is using writing or art to work through trauma and intellectualize military experiences, and to share those experiences with others. What better way to create an engaged, informed and supportive community? Along those lines, I recommend the </span><a href="http://veteranswriting.org/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Veterans Writing Project</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="http://wordsafterwar.org/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Words After War</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="http://www.warriorwriters.org/home.html" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Warrior Writers</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, <a href="http://militaryexperience.org/" target="_blank">Military Experience & the Arts</a>, and the</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://veteranartistprogram.org/" target="_blank">Veteran Artist Program</a>. The missions are similar, but programs, mediums, teaching methods and operating locations vary. Donate and/or check out their artistic projects (more stocking stuffers!).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There are many more worthy military charities, as general or niche </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">as you want, as diverse as veterans themselves. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For other areas, Military.com offers a </span><a href="http://www.military.com/spouse/military-life/military-resources/military-charity-associations.html" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">comprehensive
list</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, as does </span><a href="http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=531#.VH4d9zHF9iM" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Charity
Navigator</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and happy giving!</span></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-58909423184027606222014-09-09T19:37:00.000-04:002014-09-09T19:37:58.760-04:00Truly Uncamouflaged<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Last week, I was officially discharged from the military. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I haven’t served since Dec. 2010, when my active duty commitment
was complete. Since then I’ve been a “civilian,” a fulltime graduate student, a
person relishing my post-military freedom—especially my freedom of speech. But
I’ve also been a name on a list.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sMixOH5ZTOw/VA9OJFlh5iI/AAAAAAAADHk/D5CcP2otR3c/s1600/commissioning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sMixOH5ZTOw/VA9OJFlh5iI/AAAAAAAADHk/D5CcP2otR3c/s1600/commissioning.jpg" height="307" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The beginning:</i><i>June 2002, ROTC</i><i> commissioning <br />ceremony, </i><i>with my mother (USAFR, retired)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">When I signed my military contract and accepted an ROTC
scholarship back in 2002 (side note: I feel old), I committed to eight years of
service: at least four years active duty and the remainder in the Individual Ready Reserves (IRR for the acronym-happy military). I wasn’t required to drill
or work for the Air Force in any capacity. I wasn’t paid or eligible for
benefits. All I had to do was update my contact information annually, just in
case...</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Just in case they needed someone in my position to fill an
assignment. Just in case they needed me to deploy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I was in Afghanistan with several Army soldiers who had been recalled
from IRR. They all performed their duties honorably, but the appointment
obviously weighed heavily on their morale. They had been plucked from their
civilian lives on short notice, thrust into a job at which they were rusty at
best in a place to which they hoped to never return. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Though I’ve been out of the military for almost four years, that
“just in case” has been there in the back of my mind. During the Arab Spring and escalating conflicts in places like Libya and Syria. The Air Force has not
traditionally needed IRR backfills, but the last few years have seen a
shrinking military. When I left active duty, my career field was at critical
manning levels. (I wanted to teach ROTC but couldn’t be released for “special
duty.”) Drilling reservists were being slotted for regular deployments. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So as June 2, 2014 drew closer, the date when my contractual
obligation would be complete, I got anxious. June 2 arrived. My husband opened
a bottle of champagne, and my family and I breathed a collective sigh of
relief. After four years, it seemed anti-climactic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As an officer, in order to completely sever my military ties and
not remain indefinitely subject to recall, I had to take one more step and
resign my commission. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I understand this is a very difficult decision for many people,
and it’s not something I take lightly. But for me it was an easy choice. I’d
done my option-weighing, mentor-advice-seeking and deliberating in 2010. I’ve
had four years to reaffirm that I made the right move in getting out. Four
years when I’ve seen friends deploy for their second, third, eighth tours. When
I’ve seen the military continue their push to “do more with less,”
involuntarily separating “overages” and expecting those who remain to pick up
the slack (the same thing that happened to my career field several years ago,
shortly thereafter forcing us into critical manning and a 1:1 deployment/dwell
time cycle). Four years when the news from Afghanistan and Iraq has left me
questioning the purpose all over again. Meanwhile at home, people don’t realize
we’re still at war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But mostly, in these four years <b>I’ve seen myself find my footing</b>. When I got out in 2010 I had a
vague idea of what I wanted to do and a vague plan to delay really deciding by
going to grad school. I struggled reconciling the veteran part of me with
everything else I felt I was, or wanted to be. Now, as cheesy as it sounds,
I’ve found my place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I have no regrets about my military service. I’m grateful for the
experiences it gave me and the people I met. There are aspects I will always
miss. But I’m done. I’ve moved on. I’m striking my name from the list.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Leaving the military was a leap; resigning my commission was a simple
step forward. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PETiJApkRgs/VA-OQEyfnGI/AAAAAAAADH4/bq1vefbU1v4/s1600/IMG_20140909_161142%2B(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PETiJApkRgs/VA-OQEyfnGI/AAAAAAAADH4/bq1vefbU1v4/s1600/IMG_20140909_161142%2B(1).jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">The end: Sept 2014, honorably discharged</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The decision to resign or stay in is a personal
one, and everyone has different rationale. Have you resigned your commission?
Have you decided to stay on IRR? Are you at that crossroads? I'd love to hear
your thoughts.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>NOTE: As with many government activities, the
process for resigning my commission was a bit convoluted. My understanding is
it differs by component, but if you’re looking for guidance please let me know
and I’d be happy to pass on lessons learned.</i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-57100049690358166252014-08-06T17:01:00.000-04:002014-08-06T17:01:22.851-04:00The Hero Debate<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There’s always been semantic disagreement in the military. Many
are uncomfortable with being thanked for their service or referred to as
heroes. I traditionally haven’t minded—not that I consider myself a hero;
working with special operations at <a href="http://www2.hurlburt.af.mil/">Hurlburt
Field, FL</a>, I encountered many more deserving of that title. But I always appreciated
the acknowledgement, despite its frequent lack of context, that I had
volunteered as a part of something greater than myself. I gave speakers the
benefit of the doubt and assumed their words were coming from a genuine place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Recently, however, I’ve started questioning the terminology. As I
witness the disconnect between those with military connections and those
without. As the media glorifies combat “heroes” and condemns the “monsters”
created by PTSD. As the government oozes pride in its service men and women but
bumbles through attempts to follow praise with adequate support.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_jKiA9PxqV8/U-KWI8ef7NI/AAAAAAAADF4/RNH-m72HTCs/s1600/wpid-img_63477132846102.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_jKiA9PxqV8/U-KWI8ef7NI/AAAAAAAADF4/RNH-m72HTCs/s1600/wpid-img_63477132846102.jpeg" height="232" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I’ve started to wonder, when people say “thank you for your
service,” what do they mean? Do they know what they’re thanking me for? For
accepting an ROTC scholarship (and the ensuing four-year contract) at 18? For
working my butt off while my butt was safely in a desk chair at my FL base? For
deploying? For some small contributions that maybe made a smidgeon of a
positive impact on the war effort, on the lives of the Afghan people, on the
lives of my fellow servicemembers? For following orders, even though I didn’t
always agree? For suffering?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Is there a hierarchy of thankfulness: the KIA and WIA who made
tangible sacrifices at the top, those who didn’t deploy near the bottom, and me
in some murky middle ground? Are most who issue the sentiment even aware of the
myriad experiences to which they’re potentially referring? The complexities of
each individual experience cannot be dismissed with a trite phrase.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(For a much more in depth analysis than I could possibly provide,
read David Finkel’s incredible, heart-wrenching book <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/thankyouforyourservice/davidfinkel">Thank You for
Your Service</a>.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“Hero” is another term that’s thrown around so often it loses
meaning. In summer 2012, I wrote a <a href="http://uncamouflaged.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html">blog post</a>
about what I considered the mislabeling of Olympic athletes as heroes,
comparing them with military members. I didn’t realize at the time, but I was
essentially advocating my own form of heroic hierarchy. While I do agree that “hero”
has a place in discourse, we must be aware of its implications.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A recent <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/07/20/stop_calling_soldiers_heroes_it_stops_us_from_seeing_them_as_human_and_dismisses_their_experience/">Salon.com
op-ed</a> by author and military sister <a href="http://www.carahoffman.com/">Cara
Hoffman</a> presents a unique and compelling argument.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hero, she writes: “sounds like praise, but it can be dangerously
dismissive. The problem is that “hero” refers to a character, a protagonist,
something in fiction, not to a person, and using this word can hurt the very
people it’s meant to laud. While meant to create a sense of honor, it can also
buy silence, prevent discourse and benefit those in power more than those
navigating the new terrain of home after combat. <b>If you are a hero, part of your character is stoic sacrifice, silence.
This makes it difficult for others to see you as flawed, human, vulnerable or
exploited. And it makes it even more difficult for you to reach out when you
need help.</b>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The military is a machismo suck-it-up-and-deal-with-it
culture—I’ve written about my guilt in seeking mental health care because I
didn’t feel I’d earned it, merely coming from that murky middle f the
thankfulness pyramid. The possibility that the hero label perpetuates those
ideas within the military culture makes sense. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hoffman discusses the effects on the general public, too:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> “Whole communities deal
with the complicated effects of homecoming. With the end of military
operations, we’re all feeling the weight of return, and that weight will not be
lightened by “using words like “hero” as a consolation prize to gloss over the
very human cost of war.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">High-five, bro! I now declare you
at hero status! Good luck with VA healthcare... </span></i></blockquote>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“‘Heroes’ protect us from the knowledge they gained down-range,”
Hoffman continues. “And the expectation is they will continue to sacrifice
their humanity, even when they return home,<b>
so we don’t have to learn about their experiences.” <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I thanked that soldier and called
him a hero. My duty as an informed, engaged member of the public is complete.
Self high-five!</span></i></blockquote>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I’m being snarky and simplistic, but the point is, it’s easy to
issue thanks or label someone a hero. Easy, but not meaningful like we
sometimes trick ourselves into believing and certainly not a replacement for
inquiry and genuine engagement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">More from Hoffman: “We like to think we can have no idea ‘what
goes on over there’ or ‘what kinds of risks people are taking.’ That we can’t
imagine ‘the horrors they’ve seen.’ This is part of elevating soldiers to
mythic status — seeing their experiences as outside of human existence, as
things we can’t consider. <b>But we
actually can know, we can imagine their lives — very easily — by listening and
by opening our eyes. By letting people who are returning take off the masks
society insists they wear. By being a strong enough, rational enough nation to
stop slapping heroic cowboy-and-Indian narratives over the sad and extremely
common reality of violent conflict.”</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Anyone who’s read my writing knows I’m in agreement. I stress the
importance of listening to veterans, reading military writing, and viewing
other forms of military art (watch Sebastian Junger’s documentaries Restrepo
and Korengal). But I also believe it’s a two-way street. In order for the
public to listen, read, view, veterans must speak, write, create. It’s just as easy
for a veteran to think, “you don’t know what it’s like,” or “you can’t possibly
understand how I feel.” It’s just as easy for a veteran to—intentionally or not—build
him or herself up to that mythic status and shut others out to the possibility
to learning. Yes, we bear some of the responsibility, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So where does that leave us, semantically? You see someone in a
military uniform walking through the airport, what do you say? I personally
would appreciate an attempt at (a non-political) conversation: <i>What is/was your military job? Oh, public
affairs, what does that entail? Where have you served?</i> Ask questions that
show interest and give the servicemember a chance to respond to the degree to
which he or she is comfortable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But that’s just me…I’m curious to hear your thoughts. Veterans,
how, if at all, would you like to be approached? Has anyone had a particularly
engaging encounter?<span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-55275686765411663102014-05-08T17:14:00.000-04:002014-05-08T17:19:33.489-04:00An attempt at Throwback Thursday<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I don’t normally participate in the Throwback Thursday trend, you
know posting old photos where I look all young and cute (maybe because my old
photos usually trend toward young and dorky?), but today I’m feeling nostalgic.
And it’s Thursday. So here goes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">#tbt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Here’s me approximately two years
and eight months ago</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">, sneaking in late to the Emerson College New Graduate Student
Orientation (I hadn’t learned that the MBTA requires buffer time built into
your schedule), and sitting stiffly through a day of death-by-powerpoint
presentations reminiscent of military briefings, except instead of camo the
audience was in plaid. We were herded to our department meetings, where the
Writing, Literature and Publishing program (predictably, in hindsight)
miscounted and didn’t have enough chairs. <i>Look!
There’s Jen and Shannon sitting on the floor! </i>The department head gave a speech
that equally excited and freaked me out. Something along the lines of: everything
up until this point doesn’t matter; you need to prove you belong in this
program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Here’s me a week later</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">, in my
first ever graduate nonfiction writing workshop, passing out copies of a
bare-all-my-baggage essay about my post-deployment mental health struggles to a
group of people I’d known for approximately two hours. I knew them enough to
know most had little experience with the military. This was New England. This
was academia. <i>Here’s me wondering if I’m
a masochist. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The feedback those strangers gave me the following week propelled
me to a year later. <i>Here’s me submitting
that same essay</i> to a contest with Glamour magazine. <i>Here’s me dancing around the living room</i> on the phone with an editor after she informs me that I won. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.glamour.com/inspired/2013/10/home-from-war-but-not-at-peace" target="_blank">Here’s that essay last October in the magazine</a>. Here’s that essay
last month in my graduate thesis. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There’s my cap and gown, ready for Sunday’s commencement ceremony.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">When I left the military in Dec 2010, I applied to graduate school
in part because I didn’t know what else to do. I was giving up financial
stability for (at least temporary) geographic stability. The economy sucked. I
had no expectations of a creative arts degree setting me up on a financially viable
career path, but I was ready to take a risk to try my hand at something I
loved. I hoped Emerson would help me become a better writer and find my footing
in the publishing world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_v_-CRovty4/U2vx_-QGDWI/AAAAAAAADEI/iHA3m410G6I/s1600/10346635_10202982484296926_7336831405074013745_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_v_-CRovty4/U2vx_-QGDWI/AAAAAAAADEI/iHA3m410G6I/s1600/10346635_10202982484296926_7336831405074013745_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>My amazing, talented, and super serious Emerson gang</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;">I never expected my classmates to become my best friends. As it
turns out, swapping baggage facilitates bonding. We read the most intimate
details of each other’s’ lives, and we weren’t strangers anymore. We were
supporters, cheerleaders, commiserators, grammar Nazis, drinking buddies, and
so much more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I didn’t expect to not only find my footing in the publishing
world—I’m graduating with a decent publication record, a year of editorial experience, and even a couple
paychecks—but also to be welcomed into a talented, vibrant community of
veteran-writers. (I definitely didn’t expect to be engaged to one of them!) </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Here’s us sitting around a restaurant table</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
at an annual writing conference in March. I look around at the array of
funky-to-nerd-chic hairstyles and listen in to a conversation analyzing </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Ulysses</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> as a post-war model for the “new
man,” and remark: “Looking at us, you’d have no idea we’re all veterans.” Across
the table someone observes: “I think we’re all that one person who didn’t quite
fit in in our units.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Here’s me finding my niche. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Happy graduation, and thanks beyond words to everyone who helped
me get here. </span></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-85832657266909997302014-01-23T21:31:00.000-05:002014-01-23T21:35:15.662-05:00On the next decade<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well hello, Blogosphere. It’s been a while. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HPFsCfYAUfU/UuHMCbASwoI/AAAAAAAADBI/1VXns2pWzXM/s1600/grumpy+cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HPFsCfYAUfU/UuHMCbASwoI/AAAAAAAADBI/1VXns2pWzXM/s1600/grumpy+cat.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s been so long that
it’s now 2014…how did that happen? It’s been so long that I’m now 30. Eeek…how
did </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> happen? But, perhaps
contrary to the opinions of popular culture, I’m actually excited to be moving
into this new decade.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My 20s were fine, but they were messy. There were the typical
growing up things: going to college, getting my first full-time job (for which
I felt sorely unprepared), living on my own, suffering through more than one broken
heart. There were things that on the eve of my 20s I couldn’t anticipate: moving
across the country not once but thre</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">e times, running a marathon, buying a condo,
going to war, needing therapy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There were things that made me feel powerful. Things that made me
feel mature. Things that made me feel hopeless and helpless and weak. Mostly, I
fumbled. What I lacked in job experience I made up for in time and energy. I
threw myself into work and “love” and play with the fervor that only a
20-something can, alternately having fun and trying to outrun the cynical
voices of my young psyche: <i>What am I
doing? What am I supposed to be doing? How do I do this? What does this mean?
What’s the point? WHO AM I?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I know these struggles are not unique to me. Our 20s are
inevitably a time of transformation—from our social circles, to our
professional lives, to our priorities, right down to our <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141164708" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">brain </span>structure</a>. But I
think these issues are intensified in a military environment—and/or when you
leave that environment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4JuFWyQBrdA/UuHNqrtZA3I/AAAAAAAADBQ/2joLY-YwVqY/s1600/Military+Family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4JuFWyQBrdA/UuHNqrtZA3I/AAAAAAAADBQ/2joLY-YwVqY/s1600/Military+Family.jpg" height="240" title="" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">A very military family, at my commissioning</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I signed my military contract at 18. For the next four years, I
was a college student, but mostly I was an ROTC cadet. I was held to the standards
of conduct and grooming commensurate with my position as a soon-to-be Air Force
officer. Because we spent so much time together and because, for the most part,
we shared similar values, my ROTC classmates became my best friends. ROTC
activities (both official and unofficial) dictated my social life.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">After I commissioned, the Air Force moved me across the country—about
as far as one can move from home without crossing an ocean, from Seattle to the
Florida panhandle. Again, this is not an entirely unique situation, but the
military transition is unique in that it serves as a half-step of sorts toward
independence. I was living on my own for the first time, but I had assistance
finding a place and a housing allowance once I did. I was in an unfamiliar
area, but I had a whole city of a base to fulfill my basic needs. I knew no
one, and though as a young, single female officer in a small unit it was harder
to meet people in my demographic, it was easy enough. (I may or may not have
stalked every female 2<sup>nd</sup> Lieutenant in the base’s network and sent a
mass email about getting together for dinner…). I didn’t need to stress over what
to wear in the morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A military base is a strange microcosm of real life. At once
intimate and segregated. The learning curve is steep because the stakes are
high, yet always governed by rules, regulations and routine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Most strikingly when it comes to the tumultuous 20s, as a
servicemember, you must internalize the values of the military. You must talk
the talk and walk the walk, because everything you say and do reflects on the
military. As a public affairs officer, where my job was to promote support for
the Air Force, I—rightly or not—took this to the highest level. I drank the Kool-Aid.
The Air Force ideology became <i>my </i>ideology.
The badge on my uniform all but declared me [Property of] U.S. Air Force. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Then I deployed and gained exposure to other ways of thinking and
to the shortcomings of the ways I’d adopted. Isn’t that what your 20s are
about? Gaining perspective? Learning and growing? Sometimes it comes gradually,
through a natural progression of experiences. Sometimes, it metaphorically whaps
you in the head with a 2x4.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">My one-size-fits-most military persona was shattered. Shortly
thereafter, my contract was up and I re-entered the civilian world. And all
those things the military had cushioned for me during my last “coming of age”
were no longer there. I didn’t have a career trajectory set out in front of me.
I half-heartedly applied to a few jobs in the PR field, which seemed safe and
logical but unsatisfying. I took a leap and followed a dream and applied to
grad school to study writing (because an English major wasn’t financially
unviable enough). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I moved across the country. Again. But this time I didn’t have
military movers to help, just my parents and seven suitcases and a series of
hiccups in the condo sale and a very patient lawyer and a hotel an hour away
and a hostel downtown and the couch of a generous grad school classmate who
thankfully didn’t think I was a homicidal maniac. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I spent hours trying on different outfits, trying to figure out what style suited me (anything</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SD0GuSDoWyc/UuHKNoVDpGI/AAAAAAAADBE/mYcNtkxF2ds/s1600/army+pants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SD0GuSDoWyc/UuHKNoVDpGI/AAAAAAAADBE/mYcNtkxF2ds/s1600/army+pants.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">but </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">camo and combat boots was fair game!)</span>.<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> I was
self-conscious as a non-native New Englander and a non-traditional student, and
had to constantly remind myself that I didn’t need to censor what I did or said—that
autonomy was both liberating and terrifying.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Despite the marvel of Google maps, I got frustratingly lost in my
new city. Boston felt enormous and crammed with people, yet I struggled to
connect with anyone outside my grad school classes. I tried on-line dating and seriously
considered joining a convent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But in the big enormous city I also discovered the wonder of freedom.
I could be anonymous. I could be a student, I could be a veteran, I could be a hermit-writer-cat
lady, or all of the above. With my new wardrobe, I could chose to stand out or
blend in. In class, I could listen to lectures and feedback, take time in
forming my own opinions, and present them how and when I chose. I could speak
my mind. Or not. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It’s finding our individual windows of freedom and getting
comfortable there, I think, that our 20s are all about. With is prescribed
structure, the military complicates that process. But I also credit the Air
Force for shaping my window with a breadth of experience and contact with
people that helped move me a few steps closer to answering that elusive “Who am
I” question. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I’m starting this next decade with a pretty good idea.</span></div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-49042673324858682352013-11-08T14:50:00.000-05:002013-11-08T14:50:31.943-05:00Mesothelioma, Veterans & the Affordable Care Act<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I was recently contacted by someone at the Mesothelioma Cancer
Alliance and asked to share some important information. I’d heard of
mesothelioma; when I browse the community bulletin boards at the VA there are
usually flyers advertising support groups or research studies for afflicted
patients. Because I am not an afflicted patient, my interest has never moved beyond
curiosity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It turns out mesothelioma is a rare but aggressive cancer affecting the lining
of the lungs or abdomen. The cancer is caused primarily by asbestos exposure, and
because veterans who served between the WWII and Vietnam era were at risk for
increased exposure, </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">more than one third
of all mesothelioma patients are veterans.</b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Family members and colleagues of
those directly exposed have also been infected due to secondary exposure.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i6mpQMdeA58/Un0-udeQLnI/AAAAAAAAC-w/bM54lUvBuFE/s1600/mesothelioma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="259" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i6mpQMdeA58/Un0-udeQLnI/AAAAAAAAC-w/bM54lUvBuFE/s320/mesothelioma.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mesothelioma.com</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The disease can lie dormant for decades, so many veterans are just
now being diagnosed. The VA is struggling to play catch-up and provide sufficient care.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">More healthcare changes are on the horizon with the implementation
of the Affordable Healthcare Act. How do these changes impact veterans battling cancers like mesothelioma? Mesothelioma.com reports:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“The Veterans’ Administration says that if you are enrolled in the
veteran’s healthcare program; the Civilian Health and Medical program
(CHAMPVA); or the spina bifida health care program, you are square with the
ACA. The new law will not change your benefits or out-of-pocket costs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Further, you don’t have to sign up or enroll in any other program.
Go ahead and use your benefits just as you have in the past. If you are
combining VA benefits with Medicare or other insurance, you can continue to do
that, too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In fact, some VA hospitals and clinics are trying to get the word
out to all uninsured veterans — sign up for VA benefits! If you do, you won’t
have to pay a penalty for being uninsured, and you won’t have to deal with the
glitchy federal insurance website. If you think you might be eligible for VA
benefits, you can go to the VA Health Benefits Explorer page and find out for
sure.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Read the full article: <a href="http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/barbara/how-will-the-new-health-care-affect-cancer-treatment-and-veterans.htm#ixzz2k5HIo4Q8" target="_blank">How Will the New Health Care Affect Cancer Treatment and Veterans</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Read more about <a href="http://www.mesothelioma.com/veterans/" target="_blank">Veterans & Mesothelioma</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">See the <a href="http://www.publichealth.va.gov/PUBLICHEALTH/exposures/asbestos/index.asp" target="_blank">VA Public Health Asbestos Exposure</a> page for information on associated health problems and disability and health care eligibility.</span></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-63702393801825103882013-10-09T11:36:00.000-04:002013-10-09T13:54:33.744-04:00Original Glamour essay link<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm pleased to present a link to my original Glamour essay, now available <a href="http://www.glamour.com/inspired/2013/10/home-from-war-but-not-at-peace" target="_blank">here</a> on Glamour.com.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I sincerely hope no one out there who's suffering is deterred from seeking help as a result of the Daily Mail "article" and the backlash it generated. </span><span style="background-color: white;">No one should be chastised for suffering, regardless of the degree or cause, and no one who suffers should be discouraged from seeking help.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Thank you for reading,</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Lauren</span></span></div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-55919243470405477252013-10-07T22:27:00.000-04:002013-10-07T22:27:33.434-04:00Public Service Announcement<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Dear readers,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">If you found me via the Daily Mail article, hi, welcome. I appreciate you taking the time to refer to my blog rather than simply adding to the Daily Mail's comment thread. I have been receiving a lot of comments here regarding that "article" and since many deal with similar issues, I figured I'd post something here for posterity:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">I did not write the Daily Mail "article," nor was I involved in it in any way (believe me, if I was, I definitely would have chosen more flattering photos, and photos that are a more representative cross-section of the Facebook page they were taken from, including at least one of my cats). I wasn't even aware of the "article" until I started receiving messages about it. The "author" of that "article" took a random assortment of quotes from my blog and the Glamour essay and smushed them together for her "story," changing the context and the tone. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">This is a public forum, and I welcome your thoughts and feedback. However, I would appreciate you withholding your feedback until you read the essay that I actually wrote versus the DM's sad excuse for journalism. Read my actual writing, then bring it on.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Thank you,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Lauren</span></div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-57674718873124640052013-09-18T14:59:00.000-04:002013-09-18T14:59:39.245-04:00Welcome, Veteran Poster Boy: Aaron Alexis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I should be polishing the essay I turn in to my workshop class tomorrow, or starting the research paper due next month, or chipping away at
that looming thesis project. But sometimes there’s something that needs to be
written before anything else can be. Today, that something revolves around
Monday’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/us/shooting-reported-at-washington-navy-yard.html?pagewanted=1" target="_blank">shooting at the Washington, DC Navy Yard</a>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s been a violent week. Last weekend, <a href="http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/09/14/three-shot-outside-south-boston-sports-bar-one-critically-wounded/CoO7YUlpDaSZYgGhdNzvcJ/story.html" target="_blank">three separate shootings rocked my home city of Boston</a>. The Navy Yard incident, though farther from home, hit me hardest. Not because
of the scale—though how can you not balk at the gruesome facts: at least 12
killed and eight injured in the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/police-search-for-active-shooter-on-grounds-of-washington-navy-yard-in-southeast-dc/2013/09/16/b1d72b9a-1ecb-11e3-b7d1-7153ad47b549_story.html" target="_blank">“single worst loss of life in the District”</a> since a Boeing 737 crashed into the Potomac River in 1982, killing 78 people. <o:p></o:p></div>
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No, the Navy Yard shooting hit me hardest because <i>the shooter was a veteran</i>. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cjpf2rvJt8M/UjnzW8JUXiI/AAAAAAAAC9I/WKZYl9nNP94/s1600/alexis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cjpf2rvJt8M/UjnzW8JUXiI/AAAAAAAAC9I/WKZYl9nNP94/s200/alexis.jpg" width="156" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aaron Alexis, the new veteran <br />Poster Boy<br /><i>UNCREDITED/AP</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
That makes it personal. That adds Aaron Alexis to a list of
high-profile poster boys who represent what the public knows to be a veteran.
He’s in the company of Army Staff Sergeant <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/23/justice/robert-bales-afghan-killings/index.html" target="_blank">Robert Bales</a>, who recently pleaded
guilty to killing 16 Afghan villagers in March 2012; Iraq veteran <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2017153774_skyway04m.html" target="_blank">Benjamin Colton Barnes</a>, who shot and killed a park ranger at Mt.
Rainier National Park almost exactly a year ago; and Army veteran <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/06/authorities-search-for-motive-in-deadly-shooting-at-wisconsin-sikh-temple/" target="_blank">Wade Michael Page</a>, who fatally shot six people at a Sikh temple
in Wisconsin in August 2012.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course, any shooting death is tragic. But a perpetrator with
military connections makes it doubly tragic for the veteran community. Cue the
ripple effects of reinforced stereotypes. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Additionally, this situation is hard for me because I know that as a
veteran, Alexis had access to a support network. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The military and VA certainly don’t lack for negative press, especially
in light of shocking statistics like in 2012, <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/14/169364733/u-s-militarys-suicide-rate-surpassed-combat-deaths-in-2012" target="_blank">the number of military suicides was higher than the number of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan</a>. Still, the military community comes with an inherent support network that
includes not only official mental healthcare channels, but also chaplains,
family support centers, supervisors who are trained and charged with their
soldiers’ well-being, and, of course, peers who have “been there, done that.” So
many resources—if Alexis had reached out to one, could this tragedy have been
prevented?<o:p></o:p></div>
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And is it really that simple? Of course not.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Seeking help requires a degree
of self-awareness and an emotional vulnerability that goes against military
culture and training. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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The military thrives on an ethos of hyper-masculinity. In war, you
can’t afford to be emotional. I am by nature one of the most emotional people I
know (I <i>still </i>have to fast-forward
through Mufasa’s death scene), but in Afghanistan, out of necessity (and
somewhat unwittingly), I built barriers around my emotions. It was a defense
mechanism that enabled me to do my job—one which keeps war-fighters focused and <i>alive</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But emotional dullness doesn’t translate back to “real life.” I
recognized that on some level—that’s what spurred me through the doors of my
base’s Mental Health Clinic when everything in me wanted to turn around. My
military mentality told me I was weak. A failure. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In hindsight, I realize that incredibly difficult, controversial
decision was one of the most important choices I’ve ever made. But can a
veteran be faulted for <i>not</i> making it?
Is there an element of institutional failure as well?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Right now, the details of Alexis’ military career are sketchy. There's no information on whether he deployed. Reports
say that during his service as a Navy reservist he had a “pattern of misconduct”
but ultimately received an honorable discharge. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/us/washington-navy-yard-shootings.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fnational%2Findex.jsonp" target="_blank">The <i>New York Times</i> also reports</a> that Alexis “exhibited signs of mental
illness” for many years. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Surely, there were people who interacted with Alexis and noticed red
flags. Surely some such interactions occurred during his time in the service. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In response to the shocking suicide rates, the military has become, in
theory, hyper-aware of mental health issues. One of my annual Air Force
training requirements was a lengthy Suicide Prevention presentation that was so
cheesy and mind-numbing that we all joked it made us <i>want</i> to commit suicide. Each unit took “training days” to discuss
our individual and group concerns. We filled out questionnaires about our
mental health. We were given flyers with a hotline number.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t4exBSqpb0g/UjnzaN5S4tI/AAAAAAAAC9U/jfcKmzSGXP0/s1600/va+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t4exBSqpb0g/UjnzaN5S4tI/AAAAAAAAC9U/jfcKmzSGXP0/s320/va+poster.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Mental health was a hot topic for discussion, but too easily clashed with the
aforementioned culture <i>in practice. </i>A change in culture starts at the top, and
takes more than handouts and PowerPoint. And ultimately, each person is
responsible for his or her own sphere of influence. How many paths did Alexis
cross where he could have been turned? How many people were too busy, too
distracted, too disinterested, too self-absorbed, too scared, too lenient to
act?</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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As a 2<sup>nd</sup> Lieutenant, my second year in the Air Force, I got
a call in the middle of the night that one of my Airmen had been put on suicide
watch. The Airman was someone I directly supervised, someone I interacted with
on a daily basis, someone I was responsible for. I had failed. It can be so
easy—and so terribly costly—to fail. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I could never justify or rationalize the killing of innocent people.
I’m not making excuses for Alexis’ actions. I imagine there are a
million factors that combine to make a person commit a violent act. And I
imagine that no matter how strict our gun laws or how strong a person’s support
network, if someone is dead-set on committing violence, he or she will find a
way to do so. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I can only hope that in the wake of this tragedy, we can all take stock
of our potential for failure—as individuals, as institutions, as a
society—and be hyper-aware <i>in practice</i>
of prevention.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-52427725666665887832013-05-24T11:50:00.000-04:002013-05-24T11:50:05.337-04:00Food for Thought on National BBQ Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="text-align: justify;">Last year was the first time Memorial Day really affected me. </span><br />
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I’m
ashamed to admit that. 2012 wasn’t my first year with military association—my mother
served in the Army and deployed to Saudi Arabia when I was seven. It wasn’t my
first year as a veteran myself, or my first year with a connection to a
military comrade killed in action.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://uncamouflaged.blogspot.com/2012/05/today-i-cry.html" target="_blank">Memorial Day 2012</a> was, however, the first time I gave the holiday the
consideration it deserves.</div>
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Previously, I’d bounced between opposite ends of the spectrum of
observance. Before I served in the military, I flitted past the final Monday of
May without much thought. There are so many distractions in civilian America: work,
family, friends, school, health, groceries, cleaning, sports, hobbies, politics . . . With holiday weekends come travel, traffic, sun (or complaints about rain), relaxation,
barbeques and beer . . . It’s easy to overlook the <i>meaning</i> of the holiday; or to simply acknowledge, but not honor the
purpose.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the military, it’s impossible to forget. Reminders are everywhere,
every day of every year. <o:p></o:p></div>
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My base in Afghanistan had a memorial wall with portraits of each of
the 17 fallen comrades of Paktya province. I stared at those photos daily;
proud faces of young men who had died in the space where I lived and worked. My
base in Florida had names chiseled into a memorial outside the base chapel.
There were plaques in the airpark commemorating those lost in aircraft crashes.
Streets shared names with fallen Airmen. I attended memorial services; I wrote
profiles on their subjects. <b>Every day was Memorial Day</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I don’t remember how I spent Memorial Day 2011, my first year out of
the military. Maybe I was stuck in limbo on that spectrum—at once too separated
from the military, cozy with my family in my childhood home in Seattle; and too
close, my war still fresh and raw and unprocessed. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As Memorial Day approached last year, my mind went back to the faces in
Paktya and the names at Hurlburt Field. It lingered for a long time with
memories of Randy Voas, <a href="http://uncamouflaged.blogspot.com/2012/02/in-memoriam-few-good-men.html" target="_blank">Ryan Hall</a> and <a href="http://uncamouflaged.blogspot.com/2012/02/another-good-man.html" target="_blank">JD Loftis</a>. I didn’t tell my mind to go
there, but I didn’t try to redirect it either. I let those names and faces and
memories form a backdrop to my time with family, to my sun and relaxation, food
and drink. I toasted them. Then for one minute on Memorial Day, at 12:01pm Eastern
Standard Time, I closed my eyes and cleared my head of everything but the names
and faces I knew, and the countless others I didn’t, who made the ultimate
sacrifice. <o:p></o:p></div>
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On some level, those names and faces are always with me now. They are
part of who I am as a veteran. I can already feel them pushing a little harder
as Memorial Day weekend approaches, and like last year, I won’t push back. I
will again bring them to the forefront for a minute of silence this Memorial
Day, and I hope you will do the same. <o:p></o:p></div>
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12:01pm EDT Monday: <a href="http://iava.org/splash/index.php" target="_blank">#GoSilent</a> for one minute to honor the men and women who have given
their lives for our country. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Then enjoy your weekend. That’s what they would want.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-81599673986100175022013-04-16T14:27:00.001-04:002013-04-16T14:27:54.835-04:00Another tragedy, and all I can do is write<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I live in the Fenway area, about a mile and a half from the Boston
Marathon finish line. I was safe at home yesterday when the bombs went off. I
heard sirens, but with a major hospital complex right down the street, I
thought nothing of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Then my phone lit up with inquiries from family and friends. Then my
boyfriend turned on the TV and hollered at me to call my friend who lives downtown.
Then I saw the first shaky video clips.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My initial reaction was horror. How could it be anything else? I joined
the frantic texting/social media frenzy to account for my friends. I prayed.
The news was a loop of fragmented, terrible details. Two dead. Twenty-two
injured. Then 50. Then 75. One hundred.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Other thoughts filtered in. <i>I
hope the attacker isn’t a veteran; I hope it’s not a new poster boy (or girl)
for PTSD</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>I hope it’s not an extremist who reinforces
hateful stereotypes.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>I hope the bastard is brought to
justice.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<b><i>I thought I was done with war zones. <o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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As a bystander in a situation like this, I think in some ways it’s
easier to be a veteran. Not <i>easy</i>, by
any means, not un-affecting—especially for those whose trauma symptoms are
triggered. But, unfortunately, it’s something we’re familiar with. We’ve been
involved in attacks, whether directly or on the fringes. We’ve been through
planning and exercises. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We’ve carried that burden, taken that risk, in hopes that others won’t
have to; that this will be a safe place to return home; that citizens will not
have to live in fear; that children can watch their parents run 26.2 miles on a
beautiful spring day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I thought of the marathon I ran in Houston in 2009—masochistically wonderful
and peaceful and inspiring. I thought of watching my sister run Coeur d'Alene
last year, my two-year-old niece jogging along on the sidelines. I thought of
the fear in the eyes of the Afghan children I met; a necessary, deep-seeded
complex no child should have to endure.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yesterday, more than fear I felt completely helpless. I wasn’t
downtown to help and couldn’t get there if I tried. Because I’ve “lived” in an
area with a prevalence of certain diseases, I can’t even donate blood.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So I ate a bunch of junk food. I hugged my boyfriend and
snuggled with my cat. I watched something funny on TV.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And I wondered if I <i>had </i>been
there, what would I have done? When my fight or flight reflexes kicked in,
which would win? I don’t blame those who ran away—self-preservation is a
logical and natural human reaction, and probably saved lives yesterday, not to
mention alleviated mass confusion. But as a veteran, as someone with training
and experience, would I join them? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Or would I be one of the hundreds who ran <i>toward</i> the scene? Would I help clear debris and carry victims to
safety? Would I use my combat lifesaver training to render emergency first aid?
Would I offer soothing words and a hand to hold?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I hope if I were there I would stay. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I hope I never have to find out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>RIP to those who lost their lives
in this senseless attack. May victims and family members find comfort and
healing—physically and emotionally.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Thanks to the first responders, medical
and security personnel, K-9 units, blood donors, and those around the city and
across the nation who’ve offered thoughts and prayers of support. You have
shown that tragedies like this unify us and make us stronger.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>May we hold onto unity and love long
after the wounds begin to heal. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-25372147075598304032013-03-29T14:43:00.000-04:002013-03-29T14:43:28.584-04:00On top of the world...literally<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Wow</i> have I been slacking on the blog front. It's a good thing I have some super cool military friends who are doing super cool things that I can brag about in lieu of my own super coolness. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rob Marshall's super coolness was obvious the first time I met him: He was from Washington State, contagiously enthusiastic, drove an alternative fuel-powered vehicle, and was in the process of climbing the highest mountain on every continent to raise money for the families of Special Operations Airmen killed in action. </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CkwInt1z9Q4/UVXdjyeNp-I/AAAAAAAAC5c/PMIb8IBuBaI/s1600/7+summits+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CkwInt1z9Q4/UVXdjyeNp-I/AAAAAAAAC5c/PMIb8IBuBaI/s1600/7+summits+logo.png" /></a><span style="color: #222222;">It was this final point that led me to Rob. In 2009, I wrote a </span><a href="http://www2.hurlburt.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123135098" style="color: #222222;" target="_blank">feature article</a><span style="color: #222222;"> on the </span><a href="http://usaf7summits.com/index.php" style="color: #222222;" target="_blank">U.S. Air Force 7 Summits Challenge</a><span style="color: #222222;">. I was impressed not only by the effort itself--which, if successful, will be the first time a U.S. military team has accomplished the ultimate mountaineering feat--but also by Rob and his team's sheer commitment and determination. They used their own money to fund the climbs, and burned through personal vacation time. They planned, trained, and executed around two, three or more deployments-a-year schedules. Here I was, struggling to find the time and energy to make something other than frozen pizza for dinner. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">At the time Rob and his team had two peaks left to climb: </span><span style="background-color: white;">Vinson Massif in Antarctica, and the crown jewel of mountaineering . . . Everest. A year later, I <a href="http://www2.hurlburt.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123231291" target="_blank">chronicled their preparations</a> for the Antarctic climb</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">, which they successfully completed just as I was leaving the Air Force. </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yigoIhP48Gk/UVXcpgEsxLI/AAAAAAAAC5U/VJ3GMm95Eq8/s1600/mt+vinson.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yigoIhP48Gk/UVXcpgEsxLI/AAAAAAAAC5U/VJ3GMm95Eq8/s320/mt+vinson.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Rob and Graydon Muller at the summit of Vinson Massif</i><br />(USAF7Summits.com)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222; text-align: left;">Rob and I have kept in touch, and a few days ago I got the news that </span><i style="color: #222222; text-align: left;">IT'S ON</i><span style="color: #222222; text-align: left;">. </span><b style="color: #222222; text-align: left;">Everest or bust! </b><span style="color: #222222; text-align: left;">As I write this,12 Airmen, including three wounded warriors, are en route to the highest mountain in the world to see a 12-year dream to completion.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I encourage you to read Rob's message below, explore the <a href="http://usaf7summits.com/index.php" target="_blank">USAF 7 Summits website</a>, <a href="http://www.usaf7summits.com/blog/" target="_blank">follow their progress</a>, offer support through thoughts and prayers, and, if you feel so inclined, through a<a href="http://www.usaf7summits.com/contact-donate.php" target="_blank"> donation</a> to their very worthy cause.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Be inspired. Be amazed.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">In Rob's words: </span><br />
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I'm about to depart on a huge journey. On Thursday, March 28th, I'm flying to Nepal to lead a team of Air Force members to Mt. Everest. Six of us will go for the summit, and six other Airmen will turn around upon reaching Everest Base Camp. Three of these folks are wounded warriors who I invited to join us in hopes that it aids them in their emotional and physical recoveries. No team of US military members has ever attempted to climb Mt. Everest. If successful, not only will we be the first team of American military members to reach the summit, but we will also be the first military team from any nation to successfully climb the '7 Summits'- the highest peak on each of the seven continents.</div>
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I'm sure to most of you this isn't breaking news! I created this climbing challenge back in 2005 with my best friend Mark Uberuaga when we were stationed with the Air Force in England. Since then, I've been traveling the world, climbing mountains in an effort to raise esprit d' corps among Airmen, generate positive media stories, promote physical and mental health, and to honor my friends who have died since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks. We've also been raising awareness of a great charity that pays for all the college costs for children who lose a parent serving in US Special Operations, as well as a charity that serves the men and women of Air Force Combat Rescue- the folks tasked with saving lives in the worst of conditions. Over the last eight years, we've raised over $70,000 for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and That Others May Live Foundation.</div>
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Suicides in the military keep going up, so I'm really hoping we can strike a chord with the Air Force and other branches when it comes to the link between physical exertion and mental health. I've been through my lows, especially when working from an isolated area or after the loss of a friend, but I found that the best medicine for me was to get outside, get my body working, and to start sweating. There is also something healing about forests, mountains, rivers, and oceans. It's my hope that I can help find a way to safely get military members suffering from depression, PTSD or a similar personal issue into the outdoors and give them the opportunity to sweat, get their heart rates up, and to renew their confidence and self esteem. Perhaps after Everest I'll get that chance!</div>
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Many of you have generously supported me and these charities throughout these climbs. Well, this is the last of the seven! I'm sure I'll keep climbing, but as far as our project goes, this big one is also the final one. So I'm writing to ask for your support for this last mountain. If you are interested in making a donation, it's real easy this time. You can visit our <a href="http://usaf7summits.com/contact-donate.php" target="_blank">website</a>. It's possible to donate through Amazon or Paypal on our site. 50% of your donation will go directly to the <a href="http://www.specialops.org/" target="_blank">Special Operations Warrior Foundation</a>, which is a 501(c)3. The other 50% will go to the USAF 7 Summits Challenge, a 501(c)19 'War Veterans Organization', and be used to pay for climbing gear, permits, and logistics. So your donation is tax deductible in accordance with IRS regulations. However, if you want to adjust the percentages, just let me know and we'll make it happen! </div>
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I'm happy to say that we're going to be doing daily updates throughout the expedition. Our website has been revamped thanks to the donation of a local Amarillo web development firm, so it's looking real nice! Visit our <a href="http://www.usaf7summits.com/blog/" target="_blank">blog</a>, where you will be able to follow us up the mountain and hopefully see photos every day or so. Our wounded warriors and climbers will be writing about the journey, likely in personal ways, so I think you'll find the reading quite entertaining.</div>
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My brain is pretty tired- it's soon to be 1:40am here and I've spent the day packing dozens of medications, first aid kit supplies, climbing gear, and clothes, so I better wrap this up! Lots more packing to do tomorrow after work. I'm smiling, thinking about what the next 70 days are going to hold for me. My heart is happy, as I've wanted to return to Everest ever since I stood at its base in 2001. I had no intention of climbing it, but when I visited it on a cloudy, deserted day in June, I had the strangest feeling that I needed to return. But it needed to be for something bigger than just me. Well, it took 12 years, but here I am, on my way back to the mountain, and it's for a cause bigger than I could have ever imagined way back then. It is going to be an epic adventure and I thank all of you for supporting me with your friendship, love and wisdom throughout all these years.</div>
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Feel free to pass this on to anyone you think might be interested in following our progress on Everest. Oh, and I am planning on setting a world record for pushups on the summit of Everest. I've done pushups on every mountain I've climbed since I went to the Air Force Academy in '97. Some people egg me on by pledging donations to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation for every pushup I do in one minute. If you'd like to do that, just send me an email with your pledge. That way I'll have a little more motivation to knock out a few extra! I'm aiming for 40 pushups in a minute, but it could be more, and it could certainly be less!<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Good luck to Rob and the 7 Summits Team!</span></i></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">USAF7summits.com</td></tr>
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Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-16638110697015719752013-02-14T23:07:00.000-05:002013-02-14T23:07:34.560-05:00A Love Story<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is a bit of a departure from my usual blog content, but bear with
me, it <i>is </i>military related. It’s a
story of the loneliness and isolation that can accompany military life, and the
adaptability necessary for (or bread from) military transience. It’s a story of
comfort and compassion. It’s a story of a cat. And in honor of Valentine’s Day,
it is, above all else, a love story.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>(WARNING: The following may be
sentimental or even downright mushy. But that’s okay, because it’s Valentine’s
Day).<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I got Annabelle</b></span> in April 2007. Six months earlier I had moved across
the country—literally as far as one can move in the continental U.S., from
Seattle to Florida—to begin my Air Force career. I’d left home before, but it
was a temporary arrangement, to a series of college dorms. This was my first
time really truly on my own. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I dove into my new job, moved into my first grownup apartment, and
adjusted way too easily to the Gulf Coast bar scene. But socially, I struggled.
Everyone I knew was two time zones away. In an environment where relationships
are rank-dependent, I was one of two young officers in my office and the only
unmarried one. Without the social Velcro of a classroom or work setting, I was
clueless on how to make friends. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So I did what any single, lonely girl would do: I adopted three cats. <o:p></o:p><br />
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Okay, that’s not really how it played out. I’d grown up with cats, loved them dearly, and planned to get one of my own once I was settled in in Florida. But fate had other plans. The day I called my apartment manager to ask about a pet deposit, he found a beautiful long-haired black cat and her four newborn kittens on his property. A few weeks later, when the kittens were weaned, I carried mama and two babies across the courtyard to my apartment. Annabelle, Gracie and Milo Johnson. We were a happy little family.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hU41589kkVU/UR2omStE4jI/AAAAAAAAC3E/Koo8LGuza8k/s1600/Lauren's+House+023_edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hU41589kkVU/UR2omStE4jI/AAAAAAAAC3E/Koo8LGuza8k/s320/Lauren's+House+023_edited.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First family photo!</td></tr>
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Eventually I did make friends (among whom I was the center of many
good-natured Cat Lady jokes, which I thought afforded me a level of social
prestige—I’d always wanted a cool nickname!). But we were all busy with
stressful jobs and steep learning curves, and as with all nascent adult
friendships, my connections lacked the shared history to make me comfortable
enough to really open up. To cry. To scream. To cry and scream while eating ice
cream for dinner in front of <i>Sex the City</i> reruns. To wonder what the heck I was
doing with my life and why did I keep screwing up and when would I get a boyfriend
already.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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My cats didn’t say much, but they were good listeners. Especially
Annabelle. While Milo and Gracie entertained me with their spastic kittenly
antics, Annabelle comforted me. She was my lap cat. She greeted me at the door
as soon as I got home. She slept on my bed every night. If I had visitors, Milo
and Gracie hid. Annabelle went to the first available lap. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In my frequent absences, they liked to hang out on <br />"off limits" surfaces like the kitchen table</td></tr>
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Military life can obviously be hard on people: the long and
unpredictable hours, frequent moves, TDYs and deployments. We don’t often think
of the toll these things must take on military pets. Less than two months after
I got my cats, I was sent out of state for a six-week training session. The
cats stayed with a gracious colleague (thanks Amy!). <o:p></o:p></div>
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During other, shorter trips, a series of friends rotated through cat
care duty. <o:p></o:p></div>
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For base exercises, emergencies and special events, I volunteered for
night and weekend shifts because I didn’t have a family at home.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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When it came time to deploy, I moved out of my house and left my cats
in the care of my parents . . . on the other side of the country. My parents flew
to Florida to help me pack, then flew a terrified, yowling Milo and a silent,
cowering Gracie back to Seattle as carryons. The airline had a two pet per
flight rule, so Annabelle made the trip alone in cargo. (Her mellow demeanor
made her the obvious choice—proof that no good goes unpunished).<o:p></o:p></div>
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My nine months in Afghanistan probably would have been much more
pleasant with a cat. As it was, I settled for a stuffed one. My sister had given
it to me before I adopted my real cats, and it just happened to look like
Annabelle. The likeness slept with me on my hard Afghanistan mattress. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Back in Seattle, my mom worried about me like mothers do, and pampered
my cats, fattening them up like grandmothers do. She adored them all, but said
Annabelle gave her the most comfort. Annabelle sat in her lap, greeted her at
the door, slept on her bed. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iZlPwtPHfbY/UR2rRBSIfHI/AAAAAAAAC3g/NbOdpp1vI6o/s1600/IMG_3919.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iZlPwtPHfbY/UR2rRBSIfHI/AAAAAAAAC3g/NbOdpp1vI6o/s320/IMG_3919.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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When I returned from my deployment, “home” was a fuzzy notion. In
Florida, most of my friends had moved to other bases or were themselves
deployed. My belongings were still in storage, my cats still in Seattle. I had
eight months left in my military commitment, the definition of transient. Not
wanting to sign a year-long lease, I bounced from spare bedroom to corporate
apartment to housesitting; I took odd jobs and short term assignments at work
so as not to upset the balance of operations without me. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A few months after my homecoming, my grandfather passed away after his
own war: with cancer. I made it to Seattle to say goodbye and attend the
memorial service. When I left I authorized the loan of “The Therapy Cat” to
keep Grandma company. Annabelle took a trip to Tacoma, breaking in a new
lap and getting hopelessly addicted to cat treats. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I completed my Air Force commitment just before Christmas and moved
back to Seattle. I was luckier than most recently separated veterans: I had
time to decompress before jumping into the next chapter of my life, and a safe,
supportive place to heal. I kept to myself much of the time, holed up in my
room writing about war, reading about war, thinking about war. Annabelle kept an eye on me from my childhood
bed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
The following fall, I moved across the country again—not quite as far,
just to Boston this time. I was excited for graduate school but hated the
thought of starting over again, friendless and catless. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
The transition wasn’t as difficult as I’d feared. Maybe because I’d
done it before. Maybe because I found myself in classrooms with wonderfully
welcoming and supportive peers. Maybe because I had a plan to bring my cats
along as soon as possible. Probably because Boston has a lot of really good
beer. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Whatever the reason, by the end of my first year, I was feeling happy
and almost whole again. Almost. Taking advantage of the glory that is student
vacation time, I flew to Seattle for a few weeks, then returned, cats in tow.
Again hampered by the two pet per flight rule, and again trusting Annabelle to best
handle the stress of separation, Milo and Gracie came first. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
The cats brought a sense of life, comfort and coziness that had been
missing from my condo. (It sounds so cheesy, but anyone who’s ever had a pet
can understand). They’re just so stinking adorable and endearing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0CD0kIUFJgE/UR2sfzbDqbI/AAAAAAAAC34/ICa4HlBQPTM/s1600/IMAG0307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="110" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0CD0kIUFJgE/UR2sfzbDqbI/AAAAAAAAC34/ICa4HlBQPTM/s200/IMAG0307.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3DSa2hfS080/UR2sZ1GORAI/AAAAAAAAC3w/q22GuBz6eLk/s1600/IMG_0548.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3DSa2hfS080/UR2sZ1GORAI/AAAAAAAAC3w/q22GuBz6eLk/s200/IMG_0548.JPG" width="200" /></a>I felt bad separating Annabelle and her babies.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
They were family; they groomed each other and cuddled up together, legs and fur entwined so that it was hard to tell which cat ended where. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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I missed her too, of course. And I didn’t know it yet, but I needed her in Seattle. </div>
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<br /></div>
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She was waiting for me when I flew home unexpectedly last fall,
devastated with a broken heart. Once more, I holed up in my old room. Once more,
she watched over me. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
Finally, a month ago, we were all reunited. Annabelle tolerated the
cross-country flight better than I did, and within 48 hours claimed her
territory sprawled out on her back in the middle of the condo hallway.<br />
<br />
On her first night, she peed in the bathtub. Like directly over the
drain. Whether or not you’re a cat person, that’s impressive!</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-66Ub2P7ngmw/UR2uCRblKUI/AAAAAAAAC4I/yowAzCV7ES4/s1600/shower+pee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-66Ub2P7ngmw/UR2uCRblKUI/AAAAAAAAC4I/yowAzCV7ES4/s200/shower+pee.jpg" width="175" /></a></div>
<br />
It took a few days, but Milo and Gracie decided they were glad to have Annabelle
back too. The Johnson family was whole again.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Then last week, Annabelle died.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
The vet said it was probably a heart condition, a common cause of
sudden death in cats. But I like to think of her as a fuzzy black four-legged
guardian angel. She came to me when I needed her and helped me through some of
the most difficult times in my life—and did the same for my mom and grandma.
She saw all of us over the holidays, checking in in turn, making sure we were okay.
In Boston, she could tell I was okay; happy, healing, settled, in good hands.
And she saw that her babies were okay.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Then she decided she could go. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>RIP to a remarkable cat</b></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pt07bLG0L3E/UR2ufTQ_hHI/AAAAAAAAC4Q/m3AKje92Id4/s1600/P1000731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pt07bLG0L3E/UR2ufTQ_hHI/AAAAAAAAC4Q/m3AKje92Id4/s320/P1000731.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gracie and Milo only snuggled when Annabelle was there<br />(she clearly brought out the best in everyone)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5extTvNIePQ/UR2ulOml-_I/AAAAAAAAC4Y/Wzwlfx7_0dY/s1600/IMG_3920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5extTvNIePQ/UR2ulOml-_I/AAAAAAAAC4Y/Wzwlfx7_0dY/s320/IMG_3920.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evidence that my dad once let her sit on his lap!<br />(anyone who knows my dad knows what a phenomenon that is!)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n-fRvKnnhmg/UR2u07RFFgI/AAAAAAAAC4g/9rXmIhYoN0g/s1600/IMAG1168.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n-fRvKnnhmg/UR2u07RFFgI/AAAAAAAAC4g/9rXmIhYoN0g/s320/IMAG1168.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She didn't mind my three-year-old nieces</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-amNKqZu3KgM/UR2vmBNdJAI/AAAAAAAAC4o/pPPK-MHZGKk/s1600/IMAG1312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-amNKqZu3KgM/UR2vmBNdJAI/AAAAAAAAC4o/pPPK-MHZGKk/s320/IMAG1312.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As a parting gift, she gave my boyfriend a soul . . .<br />never before had he cried at the death of a pet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-60744453375074588432013-01-08T22:15:00.000-05:002013-01-08T22:15:42.837-05:00Good Samaritanism <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b>Summer 2010:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i>It was a dark and stormy night . . . </i>Actually, I think it was warm and clear. But it was dark and stormy inside my head. I had finished a long day of
work, in a series of many long days, and was en route back to my new condo.
Which wasn't really <i>my </i>condo; I was
house-sitting for a friend who was deployed. Before that I’d been in a short-term
corporate apartment, before that I’d spent a few weeks in a friend’s spare
bedroom, and before that I’d been in Afghanistan. All my belongings were still
in storage.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I had recently started seeing a social worker at my Air Force base’s
Behavioral Health Clinic for the depression and anxiety that had been nagging
me since my deployment. At work, I was good at pretending I was okay (hence the
long days, time is always a good substitute for motivation), but not far below
the surface, I was stressed, tired, and unsettled, teetering on the verge of
falling apart. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And, as I drove “home,” I was hungry.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I wasn't in the habit of stopping at restaurants in my uniform. I was
always anxious to leave base and put on “normal” clothes (ie. pajamas), to
de-militarize as quickly as possible. But that night, I needed some comfort
food and couldn't fathom the energy to scrounge up dinner from the meager
contents of my borrowed kitchen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The green glow of the Olive Garden sign beckoned me from the side of
Highway 98. I placed a To-Go order for something creamy and smothered in cheese
and slumped onto a bench in the waiting area. All around me, people were
laughing and chatting excitedly. Just listening to them made me tired. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OzNfggnSP40/UOze_HUO9lI/AAAAAAAAC2w/nFBWkO3rKpM/s1600/dinner+change.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OzNfggnSP40/UOze_HUO9lI/AAAAAAAAC2w/nFBWkO3rKpM/s320/dinner+change.jpg" width="320" /></a>When the hostess brought out my order, I had my credit card ready. She
shook her head and smiled warmly. “It’s already been paid for. The gentlemen
thanks you for your service.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Shocked, I mumbled a “thank you,” took my food and returned to my car,
where I immediately burst into tears—not because I was tired or stressed or
frustrated or missing my cats that were still in Seattle with my parents, but
because <i>I was appreciated</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b>January 2013:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
As we begin this new year, a lot of people seem to be looking for a
fresh start. For many, the last few years have been soured by a tough economy, political bickering and countless other personal and financial problems. Whatever you’re dealing with in 2013, I wish you
strength and perseverance. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
And I issue you a challenge: Sometime this year, take a moment to step outside
your own crazy, busy, frazzled life to make someone else’s day. Buy coffee for
the customer behind you at the Starbucks drive through. Carry groceries for the
older woman in your building. Thank those soldiers at the airport, the cops
directing traffic at your 5K, the firemen on break outside their station.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
The Olive Garden Good Samaritan didn't know I’d had a rough couple
months. Maybe I wouldn't have been as touched by his gesture if I’d been in
better spirits. If he’d gone on with his meal and not given me a second glance,
he’d have an extra $15 in his pocket, and I’d probably be just fine.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
I don’t know the story of the soldier sitting by himself at the Conn. Red
Robin last month. I don’t know what his job is in the Army. I don’t know if he’s deployed once, multiple times, or not at all. I don’t know if he saw me slip the
waitress my credit card to cover his check. I don’t know if it made him smile. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
I just know, for me, it felt good on both sides.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
**<i>Photo from the Flickr Creative Commons: “Buying dinner with Change” by
Flickr user “Juli Crockett” (Licensed by CC 3.0)</i></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-74283442312115753762012-12-20T23:49:00.000-05:002012-12-20T23:53:15.075-05:00If the world ends, at least I'll have been in a book<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
A while back I wrote a poem. Or, I wrote something that maybe kinda sorta a little bit resembled a poem. (Hey, I write nonfiction. The extent of my poetic knowledge is <i>Where the Sidewalk Ends</i>. But sometimes content just begs to written in a different way.) On a whim, I submitted my poem-ish thing for publication in an anthology of veteran writing. And to my surprise, it was accepted!</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vgVrSiNCsng/UNPmsjprwkI/AAAAAAAAC2c/dK2kpSLhFcQ/s1600/IMAG1068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vgVrSiNCsng/UNPmsjprwkI/AAAAAAAAC2c/dK2kpSLhFcQ/s320/IMAG1068.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Look! My name's in print!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="text-align: justify;">Just before Veterans Day, my poem, as well as a short essay, were published along with the work of 60 other veterans in </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors. </i><span style="text-align: justify;">I may be slightly biased, but it's a pretty amazing collection, featuring writing from both veterans and their families, spanning from World War I to Iraq and Afghanistan, covering the experiences of medics to infantrymen to staff officers.</span><br />
<br />
I'm still reading throu<span style="font-family: inherit;">gh the <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">pieces—I
have to take war literature in small doses—but every essay, story and poem hits me in a deep, intimate way. Regardless of the era or the battlefield, there's a thread through each; a raw, emotional<i> something</i> I can relate to. It's once again a testament to the veteran connection. And to the power of art to bring people together. </span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CJut-_u1CmU/UNPmRfijoNI/AAAAAAAAC2U/XYIAOlNulHQ/s1600/News_ProudtoBe_2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CJut-_u1CmU/UNPmRfijoNI/AAAAAAAAC2U/XYIAOlNulHQ/s200/News_ProudtoBe_2012.jpg" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">It's easy to feel isolated by your unique experiences; we need reminders like this to show that we're not so alone, after all.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Veterans and non-veterans alike, I encourage you to check out Proud to Be. It's available</span></span> from the <a href="http://www6.semo.edu/universitypress/Proud_to_Be1.htm" target="_blank">Southeast Missouri State University Press</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/proud-to-be-susan-swartwout/1113018357?ean=9780988310308" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a>, or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Proud-Be-Writing-American-Warriors/dp/0988310309/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352827762&sr=8-1&keywords=proud+to+be%3A+writing+by+american+warriors" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.<br />
<i><br /></i>
Since the rights revert back to me (and since I'm a shameless self-promoter), here's a sample of the content, my first published poem:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><b style="font-family: inherit;">The Soldier’s Two-Step</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="maintextlarge">Barely five feet tall, she does not hunch under
sixty pounds of body armor and supplies.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="maintextlarge">The girls in rags run up to her, tell her she
is strong. “No,” she says, “You are
strong.” And she is right. And so are they.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">She cries into a pink pillowcase she brought
from home. For a son’s broken heart, a daughter’s birthday, an anniversary,
missed. Dancing between two worlds; her partner the cold barrel of a gun, music
the hollow tones of war and hollow, cheerful voices on the phone. This is the
melody of loneliness.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The women ask why. Why the risk, the sacrifice?
Why do you care? “All mothers are the same,” she tells them, “It doesn’t matter
what language you cry in.”</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The men don’t ask, they demand: more
buildings, more money, more time. She carries the promise on her small
shoulders; sharp-edged expectations of two countries. This is the burden of
hope.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="maintextlarge"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="maintextlarge">In her absence, the broken heart mended, birthdays
and anniversaries were celebrated. She is haunted by all that she missed and
all that she left, unfinished, behind. The little girls’ faces in her little
girl, the purse where armor should be.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="maintextlarge">From boots to high heels, from gun to spatula,
from Humvee to minivan, she keeps dancing. Because they need her to. And because
she is strong.</span></span></blockquote>
<br />
<b>To celebrate the launch of the anthology</b>, several contributors read their pieces for a packed house at a poetry center in St. Louis. Watch a video compilation of the event:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy9k9xUgBxQH0ZO7tua_ZW2TNpMFj2m8kfqgEvt0xZZ-BjBl3IsWvFN8twRmjYD0-_kkh8ednwuaaPKf2G8QQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<b>Check out these news stories, reviews and posts by contributors:</b><br />
<span id="goog_1232847519"></span>The Missouri Humanities Council <a href="http://www.mohumanities.org/news-updates/missouri-passages/november-2012-vol-10-no-6/veterans-writing-collection-released-november-1/" target="_blank">publication announcement</a><span id="goog_1232847520"></span><br />
A <a href="http://kdhx.org/blog/2012/11/25/the-things-they-still-carry-proud-to-be-writing-by-american-warriors-vol-1/" target="_blank">review</a> that quotes my poem! Legit!<br />
<a href="http://writingasaprofession.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/an-alliance-of-veterans/" target="_blank">Thoughts from the fiction contest winner Monty Joynes</a>--who wrote his winning story, chronicling a medic's first days in Vietnam, 34 years ago!<br />
<a href="http://janmorrill.wordpress.com/tag/proud-to-be-writing-by-american-warriors/" target="_blank">Reflections on the anthology and launch</a> by contributor Jan Morrill, who wrote about her uncle's World War II service<br />
<br />
<i>Proud to Be</i> is the first issue of an ongoing anthology series. <b>Submissions are now being accepted for Volume 2 </b>in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, photography, and interviews with warriors. All military personnel, veterans and military family members are eligible. <a href="http://warriorsartsalliance.com/contest-call-for-submissions/" target="_blank">Send in your work now</a>!<br />
<br />
<i>Proud to Be</i> is published in partnership by <a href="http://www.mohumanities.org/" target="_blank">The Missouri Humanities Council</a>, <a href="http://warriorsartsalliance.com/" target="_blank">Warriors Arts Alliance</a> and <a href="http://www6.semo.edu/universitypress/" target="_blank">Southeast Missouri State University Press</a>.</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-41666376119963670572012-11-07T22:05:00.000-05:002012-11-07T22:47:20.532-05:00Of Ballots and Bullets: An ode to voting in America<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I know it’s been a while since my last post, but did you really think I’d
miss out on the opportunity to be snarky and inflammatory during election
season? Fear not, my friends.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Perhaps this post would have been more fitting prior to Election Day,
but I guess I was too distracted by the bombardment of political advertisements
whenever I walked/drove/watched TV/listened to the radio/went online that for a
while I was really struggling to view myself as an intelligent, free-thinking
human being capable of making my own informed decisions, let alone writing
about them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K4yL4wzvrAg/UJscF2DNfmI/AAAAAAAAC1Y/2oSbljkRPeU/s1600/i+voted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K4yL4wzvrAg/UJscF2DNfmI/AAAAAAAAC1Y/2oSbljkRPeU/s320/i+voted.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Civic duty swag!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Anyway, all sarcasm aside (for now), in the wake of the election, I
feel the need to draw some comparisons. This year was my first time ever voting
at a polling station. As a college student attending school out of state, then
as a military member stationed across the country, I’ve always voted by
absentee ballot. My conclusion: it was easy. I ignored the campaign ads and
celebrity endorsements (as much as possible), watched debates, did research
online, walked half mile to the polling station, checked some boxes, got a
sticker, then went home and watched <i>Quantum
of Solace</i> until the news had actual legitimate grounds for announcing some
results. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I was in Afghanistan for the 2009 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
It was only the country’s second “democratic election,” and the first election
that was <i>supposed</i> to be completely
Afghan-led. In Paktya province, my unit and the units we were stationed with played
a “supporting” role—helping spread information on the election process and
candidates and countering insurgent anti-election propaganda through our "radio in a box" systems, the only thing close to mass media in Afghanistan; assisting with
training and mission planning for the Afghan security forces; providing reconnaissance
and back-up security at the polling sites for several days after they’d been
set up, during the election, and post-election while the ballots were counted
and transferred to regional, then national sites; coordinating supplies, like
tens of thousands of water bottles, for the security personnel at the sites. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Roughly 80% of the local population was illiterate. There were 140
presidential and parliamentary candidates. On the ballot, each was designated
with a set of symbols, which had to be explained by representatives from the
election committee, who traveled (or attempted to, or didn’t attempt to because
they were threatened by insurgents) to outlying areas of the province on
educational missions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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For weeks leading up to the election, insurgents passed out night
letters—threatening messages left in homes or villages in the middle of the
night warning people against voting—and broadcasted propaganda and threats on
mobile radio stations that always disappeared before we could track
their locations. Threats ranged from chopping off voter’s fingers, which were
dyed blue after votes were cast, to chopping off heads. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In Paktya's capital of Gardez, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a coordinated suicide bombing
attack on government buildings that left five people dead, calling it an attempt
to disrupt the elections. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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On Election Day, the government ordered a media blackout in an attempt
to prevent news of violence from dissuading potential voters. I sat in our
operations center biting my nails. We had teams standing by for Quick Reaction
Force convoys, ready to leave at a moment’s notice to defend against an attack
or provide medical support. The screens at the front of the room scrolled
through threats picked up by military intelligence, and showed grainy surveillance
footage of local villages. I kept waiting to see a building explode. I kept
waiting to hear the whistle of incoming mortars or gunfire. I kept waiting for
Hell to break loose.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It never did. We fared better than we feared. But still, there were more
than 50 attacks throughout the province. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And violence was the problem we were planning for, but it wasn’t the
only problem. Afghan law requires 27% of parliamentary positions to be held by
females. But in conservative areas like Paktya, many women couldn’t vote
without being escorted by a male relative. Not surprisingly, female voters were
sorely underrepresented. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Post-election, there were widespread allocations of voter fraud, ballot
stuffing and intimidation. In some of Paktya’s villages, the number of votes
cast dramatically exceeded the number of citizens. The legitimacy of the
election was questioned, and a runoff election was scheduled between President
Karzai and his main opponent Abdullah Abdullah.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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A month later, we would have to do the whole thing again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Conveniently, in the way government operations are often convenient,
the end of the election coincided almost exactly with the beginning of Ramadan.
In order to observe this tradition, many of the Afghan security personnel
abandoned their posts. The polling sites were left unsecured. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Ultimately, there was no runoff. Abdullah conceded because he saw the
system as too corrupt with no hope of a legitimate election.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I wondered how much the average citizen knew. Were they aware of the
fraud? The potential for a runoff? That Karzai had been reelected? Did they
have access to enough information to even know their stake in the matter? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Though Afghan citizens are starting to gain access to outside information
through mediums like our radios, much of their programming is produced by the
government. And their main source remains what it has been for hundreds of
years: the local mosque. <o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eHPTIpzRgV0/UJsf1jUxxUI/AAAAAAAAC1o/eCn_386Twt8/s1600/media.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eHPTIpzRgV0/UJsf1jUxxUI/AAAAAAAAC1o/eCn_386Twt8/s200/media.png" width="185" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So many options . . . so little time!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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I often tell people that they should never rely on a single source for
news. There is no such thing as completely fair and balanced. Every
organization is targeting an audience, lobbying for ratings. Every message,
directly or indirectly, is communicated with the intent of eliciting a certain feeling
or response. So in the wake of this election, amidst the mudslinging that is
still going on not only about candidates but also about FOX/CNN/MSNBC, I just
have to say that I’m grateful to have access to the full spectrum. I’m grateful
to have mass media at my fingertips, in whatever format I prefer. I’m grateful
to have the option to wade through as much or as little information as I chose.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And, though I certainly don’t exercise it as much as some of you (you
know who you are!), I’m grateful for the opportunity to disagree, to debate,
and to complain. You see, in the military you don’t have that option. Military
members cannot express political opinions because they represent the military.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So because I’m no longer beholden to those guidelines, I’ll just say
this: Very few people would argue that there’s nothing wrong with our current
system, and there were definitely things that
frustrated me about yesterday’s election. The fact that the two-party system
has become paralizingly polarized. The fact that the poor economy was
supposedly the #1 issue, but <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/us/politics/obama-romney-presidential-election-2012.html?pagewanted=2&hp&_r=0" target="_blank">$6 billion was spent funding campaigns</a>. The fact
that my polling station was plastered with campaign signs for a particular candidate
for senate, but not a single sign for the other. The fact that one of the local
ballot initiatives lumped veterans benefits in with unemployment and welfare,
and called for supporting these “assistance programs” with cuts in military
spending. (Am I the only one who finds funding veteran programs by cutting
active military programs ironic? “Military spending” includes troop support
programs, healthcare and protective measures . . . and those—along with “excess”
manpower that certainly never feels excess, especially to those who lose their
jobs after serving faithfully and being promised retirement benefits—are usually
the first things to go. It’s not as simple as just bringing troops home. There is
necessary, and expensive, post-war support. But that’s another blog post for
another time.)</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>I vote because I can, and because it’s my duty and privilege as a U.S. citizen.</b>
But I also know that voting isn’t enough, that one man or woman can’t make
everything perfect and certainly can’t make everyone happy. And instead of
complaining (or, okay, sometimes <i>while</i>
complaining), I choose action. I choose to educate and advocate, and to look
for—and make—opportunities to stand up for what I believe in, because I’m
pretty damn fortunate to live in a country where I can do that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So thank you to those of you who voted. You have earned the right to be
excited/angry/vindictive/controversial. Just remember that rants and raves are
usually just rants and raves. And whatever you’re ranting or raving about, please
take a break on Sunday to thank those who have willingly given up their own
rights to do so in order to protect yours. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7873444722989157802.post-54504917833545992512012-10-10T21:35:00.001-04:002012-10-10T21:40:32.497-04:00Lessons in bureaucracy...and sweet, sweet VICTORY!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One big lesson I learned in the military is that nothing is ever as
easy as it should be. Getting paid, taking leave, submitting a briefing for a
meeting—everything was drowned in extra layers of bureaucracy. My Army
instructors at pre-deployment training were fond of saying, “It’s not the right
way, but it’s<i> a</i> way.”<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Thus, another big lesson I learned was perseverance. I needed to get
paid, take leave and submit briefings for meetings, so I waded through the red
tape until I could.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Sometimes it sucked. (Extra administrative stress is exactly what you
need when preparing for war). But you know what I’ve learned since leaving the
military and entering the “real world”? Sometimes that sucks too.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Sometimes a process like waiving school health insurance because you
get comprehensive coverage through the VA hospital is not as simple as filling
out the waiver form, showing your VA ID, having a VA representative call the
school, or even providing examples of legislation that identify VA coverage as
fulfilling the state insurance requirement. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And sometimes it would be easier to give up.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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But then, two weeks, two in-person visits, two identical forms, and three phone calls later you receive a response like this that makes it all
worthwhile: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Dear Lauren,</i><i> </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>After reviewing the Veteran's
Administration Health Care Program in reference to State requirements of
comparable coverage, we have determined that although your program does not
meet each individual requirement, you are provided with access to the necessary
coverages, and the Health Care Program covers the costs of the requirements
which aren't included (specifically emergency care). I have processed your
waiver request for the Emerson Health Insurance and Health Services Fee and the
charges have been removed from your account.</i><i> </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I want to thank you for taking
the time to send us the information you did regarding the Health Care Program.
In order to make our policies clear for future Veteran's with this coverage, we
will be revising our website to include the VA Health Care Program under
acceptable comparable coverage for waivers.</i></blockquote>
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The VA is a strange entity that straddles the line between the military
and the real world. Therefore, it comes with a certain amount of built-in
confusion—a knowledge gap, as with so many military issues, on the civilian
side, and a perpetual inability for the government to keep up with the need to
educate. Caught in the fray are the veterans, left to struggle through frustration
and ignorance in order to use their earned benefits.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Until the government effectively takes control (lots of rolls of red tape away, I'm sure), I guess the task of bridging the gap is left to grassroots educators, like me. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So here’s my advice: persevere. Do your research, and throw it in their
face (tactfully, of course). Kick and scream (tactfully) until you get what you’re
entitled to. Eventually, you’ll get it. And you just might make it easier for
those who follow.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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For any MA vets struggling with insurance waiver issues (Hi! Thanks for
reading!), here’s some helpful legislation:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>When filling out <a href="http://www.mass.gov/dor/docs/dor/health-care/2011/hc.pdf" target="_blank">MA State Taxes</a>, </b>there is an option to select U.S.
Military (including TRICARE and VA coverage) to satisfy the requirement for minimal credible
healthcare coverage. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>From the </b><a href="http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/consumer/insurance/more-programs/student-health-insurance.html" target="_blank">Official Website of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services</a>:<b> </b></div>
<br />
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14. What is required
for a student to obtain a waiver from the SHP plan for alternative coverage?</div>
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The student must
submit a waiver application to the school and certify, in writing, that he or
she has alternative coverage, the name of the entity offering the plan, the
policy number or member identification number, the name of the subscriber or
primary enrollee and the relationship of that person to the student, and a
statement that the coverage is comparable to the coverage required under a SHP.
The waiver request must be on a form supplied by the institution, and may be
submitted electronically.<br />
<br />
15. What is
considered "comparable coverage" necessary to obtain a waiver from
the SHP?<br />
The health plan
must provide reasonably comprehensive coverage of health services, including
preventive and primary care, emergency services, surgical services
hospitalization benefit, ambulatory patient services, and mental health
services; and be reasonably accessible to the student in the area where the
student attends school.<br />
<br />
<b>According to the Mass Student Health Insurance legislation</b> <span class="apple-converted-space"><a href="http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dhcfp/g/regs/114-6-3.pdf" target="_blank">Section 3.05</a>, waivers can be given to students with MassHealth coverage. <a href="http://www.massresources.org/health-reform.html" target="_blank">VA coverage is acceptable</a> for the MassHealth waiver, and qualifies veterans under state
and now federal legislation as comprehensively covered </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><br />
<br /><b>UMass, the
state's university</b>, <a href="http://www.umass.edu/uhs/insurance/ship/" target="_blank">declares</a> that veterans are eligible for health
insurance waivers (See Waiver Eligibility).</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span class="apple-converted-space"><br /></span>
<span class="apple-converted-space">And good luck.</span><br />
<span class="apple-converted-space"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Lauren Kay Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248956855667204685noreply@blogger.com0