Operation Veterans Promise

It takes a unique breed to volunteer and personally sacrifice for a cause greater than oneself. A commitment to excellence through training, readiness, and attention to details are just a few attributes service members share which are en-grained to ensure mission success.  This is maintained through the chain of command. A support structure from which constant situational awareness, down to manageable accountability are preserved. Training is the constant effort to advance an individual’s skill sets to increase the group’s effectiveness on mission. This is difficult, frustrating and time consuming, although it brings a sense of purpose, sense of duty to one’s comrades and the unit; it is necessary for our military to achieve success. Like most movements in the military, there are many “moving pieces” that must coalesce to achieve the objectives, whether training or on deployment. Readiness, because it must be constant, may be considered the hardest aspect to maintain. Being consistently vigilant while awaiting further direction is what requires the most discipline. Being a soldier is much like performing in an orchestra; the silence before your cue to play is as important as each note being played. Since timing is everything, attention to detail is a necessity. Together these traits help cultivate and maintain an atmosphere of professionalism. While in the service, if at any time we lose sight of our goals, the team and the chain of command are there to help perpetuate and reinforce our vigilance. Everyone is a leader but the best leaders are also great followers.

 

Often when we speak of systems, we speak of components or objects that function within an established set of parameters. Every component within a system has a tolerance for how much stress it can handle before degradation leads to failure. To delay addressing issues as they arise in each piece, first performance will suffer; functionality becomes limited, and finally the arrangement as a whole stops until critical issues are resolved. Conditioned by military service, we are each fortified as we become a crucial piece to each other’s survival. We are trained to function within a very rigorous and stringent system. Nevertheless, vigilant readiness and deployments to difficult environments can often have negative accumulated effects on a soldier even if direct combat engagements are not experienced.

 

Everyone handles stress differently, but everyone must handle it. It’s relatively simple to identify the deficiencies when it is physical, not that it makes it any easier to treat. However, we often don’t have the tools or experience to deal with the psychological stress that accumulates. Difficult economic times add strain to the personal aspects of readjusting simultaneously rising costs of makes more difficult for everyone back home. These realizations take place in short succession and cumulatively have a disorienting effect. This, compounded by a sudden change in environment from military to civilian, can leave veterans at a disadvantage. It takes years to properly train and broaden the specializations of service members, yet the out-processing at the end of an enlistment contract takes but a few months. Without proper guidance, this all too brief transition period can have permanent long term consequences such as creating depression or worsening pre-existing conditions such as anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. These conditions can cause a progressively decreasing quality of life. Which left unchanged over time can make employment and building healthy relationships increasingly difficult. This is a challenge many cannot overcome alone. The belief that opportunity can overcome despair is at the core of our values for Operation Veterans Promise.

 

Respectively no one is an island; no one can exist without a community and expect to do more than just survive. To prosper, open-communication channels must be established from the ground up. Veterans who have overcome these challenges, are usually in a much better position to render aid. Functioning within a system is something Veterans understand well. With some backing and guidance available within a well-built network, a cooperative effort could then be made nationwide with a real positive impact on the quality of life veteran’s experience. In this way we believe opportunity can overcome despair. Camaraderie can curb loss. Communication can extinguish the silence before another Veteran takes their life.

 

Our project seeks to create an alternative. There are a great deal of motivated and inspired veterans and civilians alike who have established organizations to help during this time. Many, such as us, fellow not-for-profits dedicating their own time, resources and talents, are designed to help our nations Veterans while asking for nothing in return from those they assist. While the cause is noble and most have a positive effect on the Veterans they help, the alarming suicide rate tells us that this is not enough. By empowering selected organizations and individuals who have a plan or are already established yet lack the financial resources to launch or expand, together we can broaden our collective efforts. We at OVP believe this is the fastest and most effective way toward a workable solution. Our renewable energy program will create training, residential, and financial opportunities for Veterans who join our team. While, at the same time, participate in a project that will gather the necessary support to help our fellow former Brothers and Sisters in Arms.

 

(C3) Communication, Community, Camaraderie