{"articles":[{"id":"vn-ctjf8p","slug":"navy-imposes-1-year-limit-on-medical-shaving-waivers","title":"Navy imposes 1-year limit on medical shaving waivers","excerpt":"Sailors whose medical conditions make daily shaving painful, or even leave scars, now face being separated if they cannot be clean-shaven after a year of treatment, Navy officials have announced.","content":"Sailors whose medical conditions make daily shaving painful, or even leave scars, now face being separated if they cannot be clean-shaven after a year of treatment, Navy officials have announced.\n\nThe policy update was released in a recent Navy Administrative Message, or NAVADMIN. The changes do not apply to religious waivers to grooming standards for facial hair. The changes implement last year’s direction from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that military commanders begin separating troops who require medical waivers from shaving rules.\n\nThe new order Navy directs commanders to treat “willful non-compliance” of the Navy’s uniform regulations “as a military justice matter,” the message says.\n\nHegseth has targeted shaving waivers since his first days in the Defense Department, ordering only temporary waivers for medical conditions such as pseudofolliculitis barbae, or PFB, a painful skin condition common among Black men that is made worse by shaving.\n\n“Today at my direction, the era of unprofessional appearance is over,” Hegseth told hundreds of generals and admirals on Sept. 30. “No more beardos. The age of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done.”\n\nTop Stories This Week\n\nFormer soldier convicted of stealing $1 million worth of MREs\n\nTop medical commander fired at Joint Base Langley-Eustis\n\nAir Force cancels promotions for 135 sergeants after testing error\n\nThe updated Navy policy makes clear that only commanding officers can authorize medical waivers for shaving as part of a treatment plan. Medical waivers for conditions such as PFB will be evaluated in 90-day increments and cannot be extended beyond one year, according to the Navy message.\n\n“Commands shall process personnel determined to have an unmanageable Permanent Condition for administrative separation due to failure to comply with grooming standards after 12 consecutive months of medical treatment,” the message says,\n\nSuch administrative separations will begin one year after the release of the July 7 Navy message.\n\n“This time is necessary to provide commands, medical care providers, and leaders ample time to update and distribute local policies, procedures, training aids, educational materials, and conduct counseling to all affected Sailors,” the message says.\n\nThe changes are meant to make sure that sailors’ facial hair does not risk their safety, mission readiness, or hamper their ability to use protective breathing equipment, the Navy message says. Navy leaders have long cautioned that beards can prevent sailors’ gas and oxygen masks from sealing properly.\n\nThose claims have been dubbed “unsubstantiated” by dermatologists with military experience.\n\nAs part of the Navy’s policy, commanders will conduct reviews every three months of sailors with medical waivers for shaving who use breathing protection as part of their jobs, training, or the environment in which they are working.\n\nThe policy also allows special operations units to request “modified standards” to the Navy’s uniform regulations based on mission requirements. Service members in those units often grow beards when working in countries where beards fall under cultural norms.\n\nBut special operators are required to be clean-shaven under the new policy if they are deployed to areas where they face a high risk of a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attack, the message says.","category":"service","author":"Jeff Schogol","publishDate":"2026-07-08T21:10:18.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Navy-Shaving-Policy-2026.png?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/sailors-must-shave-1-year/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-09T00:00:50.291Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:48.242Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-vyjvwk","slug":"this-us-soldier-tried-to-cover-a-retreat-in-vietnam-and-instead-compelled-the-en","title":"This US soldier tried to cover a retreat in Vietnam — and instead compelled the enemy to","excerpt":"On July 25, 1968, Leonard Louis Alvarado enlisted in the U.S. Army and by August 1969 he was a Specialist 4 and a rifleman in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division...","content":"On July 25, 1968, Leonard Louis Alvarado enlisted in the U.S. Army and by August 1969 he was a Specialist 4 and a rifleman in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).\n\nBarely a year later, the California native found himself part of a small reaction force advancing through thick jungle near Duc Phong in Phuoc Long Province, in response to Vietnamese communist soldiers threatening another American platoon. What followed was a counterattack that put D Company in jeopardy, in which Alvarado played a vital role.\n\nAs his platoon moved toward the ongoing fight, Alvarado detected enemy movement and opened fire. In spite his swift reaction, he and his troopers found themselves pinned down by heavy small arms fire and blocked from joining the endangered platoon they’d come to assist. It soon became clear that a large, well-armed component of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) was targeting his platoon for overrunning as well as the men they were trying to rescue.\n\nAlvarado’s next action was to charge forward through a storm of machine gun fire in order to engage the enemy. Suddenly, a grenade exploded nearby, wounding and temporarily stunning him. Regaining his wits, however, he killed the North Vietnamese grenadier just as another barrage wounded him again. Nevertheless, he continued his forward crawl under heavy fire to pull several wounded comrades back within the perimeter they had hastily formed.\n\nEvaluating the situation and deciding his unit needed to break away from the larger enemy force, he began maneuvering forward alone to cover the disengagement.\n\nAlthough he was knocked to the ground repeatedly by exploding satchel charges, he continued advancing and firing, using his rifle and grenades to silence several PAVN positions, including a machine gun nest. Taking shelter in a dangerous forward position, he persistently laid suppressive fire on the enemy until the communists, rather than his platoon, broke contact.\n\nJust afterward, however, his comrades-in-arms discovered that he had succumbed from his wounds. He left behind a wife and daughter.\n\nThe engagement at Duc Phong cost D Company four men killed and 26 wounded. Alvarado’s all-out, ultimately sacrificial role in saving his platoon from possible disaster did not go unnoticed among his fellow Air Cav troops.\n\n“I was Leonard’s squad leader,” remarked William Lytle during an interview. “Us, as surviving members of the 2nd platoon, never forgot him on this day.”\n\nAlvarado was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, as well as the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal and Army Commendation Medal with “V” device.\n\nA re-evaluation of his record, however, made it clear that his sacrifice had been underrated. With the passing of the Defense Authorization Act, his daughter, Lenora, was called to the White House in Washington, D.C. on March 18, 2014, to see his DSC upgraded and receive the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama. His remains rest in his home turf, at the Greenlawn Cemetery in Bakersfield.","category":"legacy","author":"Jon Guttman","publishDate":"2026-07-08T17:45:45.000Z","image":"https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/H7757YNRGJE2XKXWTSOCR2VT74.png","source":"Navy Times - Veterans","sourceUrl":"https://www.navytimes.com/veterans/military-history/2026/07/08/this-soldier-tried-to-cover-a-retreat-and-ended-up-compelling-the-enemy-to/","serviceBranch":"Navy","priority":3,"qualityScore":95,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-09T00:00:52.884Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:48.242Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-1cuhwl","slug":"this-us-soldier-tried-to-cover-a-retreat-in-vietnam-and-ended-up-compelling-the-","title":"This US soldier tried to cover a retreat in Vietnam — and ended up compelling the enemy to","excerpt":"On July 25, 1968, Leonard Louis Alvarado enlisted in the U.S. Army and by August 1969 he was a Specialist 4 and a rifleman in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division...","content":"On July 25, 1968, Leonard Louis Alvarado enlisted in the U.S. Army and by August 1969 he was a Specialist 4 and a rifleman in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).\n\nBarely a year later, the California native found himself part of a small reaction force advancing through thick jungle near Duc Phong in Phuoc Long Province, in response to Vietnamese communist soldiers threatening another American platoon. What followed was a counterattack that put D Company in jeopardy, in which Alvarado played a vital role.\n\nAs his platoon moved toward the ongoing fight, Alvarado detected enemy movement and opened fire. In spite his swift reaction, he and his troopers found themselves pinned down by heavy small arms fire and blocked from joining the endangered platoon they’d come to assist. It soon became clear that a large, well-armed component of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) was targeting his platoon for overrunning as well as the men they were trying to rescue.\n\nAlvarado’s next action was to charge forward through a storm of machine gun fire in order to engage the enemy. Suddenly, a grenade exploded nearby, wounding and temporarily stunning him. Regaining his wits, however, he killed the North Vietnamese grenadier just as another barrage wounded him again. Nevertheless, he continued his forward crawl under heavy fire to pull several wounded comrades back within the perimeter they had hastily formed.\n\nEvaluating the situation and deciding his unit needed to break away from the larger enemy force, he began maneuvering forward alone to cover the disengagement.\n\nAlthough he was knocked to the ground repeatedly by exploding satchel charges, he continued advancing and firing, using his rifle and grenades to silence several PAVN positions, including a machine gun nest. Taking shelter in a dangerous forward position, he persistently laid suppressive fire on the enemy until the communists, rather than his platoon, broke contact.\n\nJust afterward, however, his comrades-in-arms discovered that he had succumbed from his wounds. He left behind a wife and daughter.\n\nThe engagement at Duc Phong cost D Company four men killed and 26 wounded. Alvarado’s all-out, ultimately sacrificial role in saving his platoon from possible disaster did not go unnoticed among his fellow Air Cav troops.\n\n“I was Leonard’s squad leader,” remarked William Lytle during an interview. “Us, as surviving members of the 2nd platoon, never forgot him on this day.”\n\nAlvarado was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, as well as the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal and Army Commendation Medal with “V” device.\n\nA re-evaluation of his record, however, made it clear that his sacrifice had been underrated. With the passing of the Defense Authorization Act, his daughter, Lenora, was called to the White House in Washington, D.C. on March 18, 2014, to see his DSC upgraded and receive the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama. His remains rest in his home turf, at the Greenlawn Cemetery in Bakersfield.","category":"legacy","author":"Jon Guttman","publishDate":"2026-07-08T17:45:45.000Z","image":"https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/H7757YNRGJE2XKXWTSOCR2VT74.png","source":"Military Times - Veterans","sourceUrl":"https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/military-history/2026/07/08/this-soldier-tried-to-cover-a-retreat-and-ended-up-compelling-the-enemy-to/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:48.427Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:48.242Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-evtkrv","slug":"this-us-soldier-tried-to-cover-a-retreat-and-ended-up-compelling-the-enemy-to","title":"This US soldier tried to cover a retreat — and ended up compelling the enemy to","excerpt":"On July 25, 1968, Leonard Louis Alvarado enlisted in the U.S. Army and by August 1969 he was a Specialist 4 and a rifleman in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division...","content":"On July 25, 1968, Leonard Louis Alvarado enlisted in the U.S. Army and by August 1969 he was a Specialist 4 and a rifleman in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).\n\nBarely a year later, the California native found himself part of a small reaction force advancing through thick jungle near Duc Phong in Phuoc Long Province, in response to Vietnamese communist soldiers threatening another American platoon. What followed was a counterattack that put D Company in jeopardy, in which Alvarado played a vital role.\n\nAs his platoon moved toward the ongoing fight, Alvarado detected enemy movement and opened fire. In spite his swift reaction, he and his troopers found themselves pinned down by heavy small arms fire and blocked from joining the endangered platoon they’d come to assist. It soon became clear that a large, well-armed component of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) was targeting his platoon for overrunning as well as the men they were trying to rescue.\n\nAlvarado’s next action was to charge forward through a storm of machine gun fire in order to engage the enemy. Suddenly, a grenade exploded nearby, wounding and temporarily stunning him. Regaining his wits, however, he killed the North Vietnamese grenadier just as another barrage wounded him again. Nevertheless, he continued his forward crawl under heavy fire to pull several wounded comrades back within the perimeter they had hastily formed.\n\nEvaluating the situation and deciding his unit needed to break away from the larger enemy force, he began maneuvering forward alone to cover the disengagement.\n\nAlthough he was knocked to the ground repeatedly by exploding satchel charges, he continued advancing and firing, using his rifle and grenades to silence several PAVN positions, including a machine gun nest. Taking shelter in a dangerous forward position, he persistently laid suppressive fire on the enemy until the communists, rather than his platoon, broke contact.\n\nJust afterward, however, his comrades-in-arms discovered that he had succumbed from his wounds. He left behind a wife and daughter.\n\nThe engagement at Duc Phong cost D Company four men killed and 26 wounded. Alvarado’s all-out, ultimately sacrificial role in saving his platoon from possible disaster did not go unnoticed among his fellow Air Cav troops.\n\n“I was Leonard’s squad leader,” remarked William Lytle during an interview. “Us, as surviving members of the 2nd platoon, never forgot him on this day.”\n\nAlvarado was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, as well as the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal and Army Commendation Medal with “V” device.\n\nA re-evaluation of his record, however, made it clear that his sacrifice had been underrated. With the passing of the Defense Authorization Act, his daughter, Lenora, was called to the White House in Washington, D.C. on March 18, 2014, to see his DSC upgraded and receive the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama. His remains rest in his home turf, at the Greenlawn Cemetery in Bakersfield.","category":"legacy","author":"Jon Guttman","publishDate":"2026-07-08T17:45:45.000Z","image":"https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/H7757YNRGJE2XKXWTSOCR2VT74.png","source":"Army Times - Veterans","sourceUrl":"https://www.armytimes.com/veterans/military-history/2026/07/08/this-soldier-tried-to-cover-a-retreat-and-ended-up-compelling-the-enemy-to/","serviceBranch":"Army","priority":3,"qualityScore":95,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:53.240Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:48.242Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-69wqou","slug":"a-veteran-business-hard-learned-lessons-on-building-and-rebuilding-a-brand","title":"A veteran business’ hard-learned lessons on building—and rebuilding—a brand","excerpt":"Any veteran entrepreneur in business long enough probably feels like they’ve made every mistake in the book and paid for all of them. Chances are also good that they keep going anyway.","content":"Any veteran entrepreneur in business long enough probably feels like they’ve made every mistake in the book and paid for all of them. Chances are also good that they keep going anyway.\n\nJon Klipstein is no different. Ten years ago, he founded his workout supplement and apparel company as UXO, which he has since rebranded as Die Tryin Co. The rebrand was strategic, but not necessarily necessary—the Army veteran is working out of a 2,500-square-foot warehouse, not drawing a salary by choice, but still texting his business partner at 1 a.m. about product launches.\n\nHe wouldn’t have it any other way.\n\n“It goes back to that mission statement,” Klipstein told We Are The Mighty. “Knowing why we started this company and believing in the product, believing in what we’re doing—that always continued to push me forward.”\n\nThe mission he’s talking about is to provide safe, effective supplement formulas while educating people on how to use them the right way. He founded the company after one of his soldiers died during a run after taking a dangerous pre-workout.\n\nKlipstein’s story is one that more than 1.6 million veteran-owned businesses in America can probably relate to, even if the specifics vary. Veterans start companies for a lot of reasons, but the throughline is usually purpose. The military instills leadership, discipline, and mission-orientation—soft skills that translate well to entrepreneurship.\n\nThe problem is that the path from uniform to founder is rarely a straight line.\n\nKlipstein deployed to Afghanistan in 2010, serving as an artillery crew member alongside a tight-knit group of soldiers who remain close to this day. When he took the uniform off and entered civilian life, the loss of identity hit hard. It’s a challenge researchers document time and again among the roughly 200,000 service members who separate from the military each year.\n\n“You put that uniform on every single day, you served with a purpose, and you had meaning; you felt fulfilled,” he said. “Then you take that uniform off, and it’s like, ‘Who am I? What is my purpose now?’ Getting my first job right out of the military, that’s all that was. It was just a job.”\n\nSo he started a company.\n\nWhat’s In a Name?\n\nThat company was originally called UXO Supplements, and Klipstein launched it out of his garage. Veterans probably know the business was named after the military term for unexploded ordnance. The brand leaned into its veteran roots from day one, something Klipstein now views as a double-edged sword.\n\n“We were heavy on the veteran side and the focus of being veteran-owned,” he said. “We’ve seen other supplement companies enter the space, and they lean so heavy into the veteran ethos to where it almost becomes… pandering. For us, I know we have a quality product. I want us to be recognized first and foremost as a quality supplement company. The veteran-owned piece is the cherry on top.”\n\nA business owner who later considered buying the company offered feedback that stuck with Klipstein for years.\n\n“To you, UXO means something,” he’d told Klipstein. “To everybody else, it’s just a three-letter acronym. You need a name that people can connect with.”\n\nThe market bore out that advice. At CrossFit events, announcers kept pronouncing the name UXO as “Uhxoh.” At trade booths, Klipstein often spent 20 to 30 minutes explaining what the name meant to anyone who asked.\n\nThe problem wasn’t the product; it was the signal the brand sent before anyone even opened a container.\n\nThe $25,000 Question\n\nBefore he tackled the name, Klipstein made a more expensive error: he hired a branding agency.\n\nThe agency told him the original minimalist black labels weren’t going to move product. The answer, they said, was bright and flashy: labels that jumped off the shelf. Klipstein had a gut feeling it was wrong. He talked it over with his wife and his operations manager, Michaela. They had the same feeling. He went ahead with the redesign anyway.\n\n“Deep down in my heart, I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is it,’” he said. “But it was almost like second-guessing yourself. That’s one of those times where I should have just trusted my gut.”\n\nThe customer reaction was swift. They hated the new look. The rebrand didn’t just fail aesthetically; it disconnected the company from its core audience. The blue-collar, military-veteran community energy that the original labels quietly communicated was gone.\n\nThis kind of mistake catches a lot of founders. The supplement space is brutally competitive, and access to capital remains one of the top challenges for veteran entrepreneurs. Some 75% of veterans cite it as a top barrier, and 72% rely on personal or family savings to fund their businesses.\n\nWhen you’re bootstrapped, and someone with claimed expertise tells you to go a certain direction, it’s hard not to defer. Especially when you’ve already learned not to trust every instinct early on.\n\n“I had to trust these guys,” Klipstein said. “This is what I’m paying them for.”\n\nHis trust cost him $25,000 and set the company back. He calls it a valuable lesson. That’s vet-speak for something that hurt like hell.\n\nDie Tryin’\n\nThe failed redesign was ultimately the nudge Klipstein needed to address the name itself. This time, he did it right. He tested new label designs with a subset of loyal customers before committing.\n\nHe then went back to the business owner who’d once tried to buy UXO and asked him directly what he thought of the new direction.\n\n“He said, ‘Dude, I love it,'” Klipstein recalled. “So we went all in.”\n\nThe new name, Die Tryin’ Co., is built around the “die trying” concept. And the difference has been tangible. Apparel sales surged. People who don’t even take supplements are buying Die Tryin’ gear because they connect with the mentality.\n\n“We have a lot of people who don’t even take supplements that will buy the apparel,” Klipstein said. “They come across it, and they love the branding. They love the design. They love the message.”\n\nThat’s the ideal outcome of any rebrand: when the name starts doing marketing work on its own. But the success came with costs. Months after the rebrand, Klipstein was still running into people who hadn’t heard about it. Brand equity built over a decade under one name doesn’t automatically transfer.\n\nView this post on Instagram\n\n“There’s still people who don’t know. I met someone the other day at the gym, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t even know you guys rebranded,'” he said. “So now it’s getting the message out there and getting Die Tryin’ in front of everybody. Really telling that story.”\n\nBack to the Usual Grind\n\nFor all the strategic lessons in Klipstein’s decade of building, the most relatable parts of his entrepreneurial efforts are about endurance.\n\nHe’s currently not paying himself. He also found an officially unofficial partner who wanted to develop a mushroom-based supplement. Onur Oncer is a fellow veteran who served alongside Klipstein in Afghanistan and he came on board to handle SEO for Die Tryin’ Co. (as well as develop the new mushroom product). Oncer isn’t getting paid either.\n\nThe two of them were texting about the business at 1 a.m. the night before this interview.\n\n“When you are an entrepreneur, you have to wear all the hats, you have to work your ass off,” Klipstein said. “You’re not going to get paid in the beginning. I see us in the next year being in a position with the company to begin reaping the rewards of our hard work and sleepless nights.”\n\nThere are many veteran entrepreneurs who don’t know that kind of thing when they get into their first business. Lack of mentorship in the community is also a challenge. With 20% of veteran entrepreneurs citing the absence of mentors as a significant barrier, Klipstein’s early years of figuring things out the hard way aren’t unusual.\n\n“We didn’t have a mentor,” he said. “We just had to learn from and chalk them up as losses and learned experiences.”\n\nCash flow in the supplement space is especially brutal: the product is paid for upfront, testing takes 12 to 16 weeks, and that money is tied up the entire time.\n\n“Another lesson learned was burning the boats too soon,” he added. “I did step away from corporate America because we were making enough money and decided to go all in on UXO Supplements.\n\nI was paying myself a salary for about three years, which allowed me to pay my bills and take care of my family. I made that decision too soon. I found out real quick that money was starving the business, when we could be injecting it into marketing and systems that would help it grow.”\n\nFor capital, he’s considered loans, walked away from investors who didn’t bring enough to the table beyond a check, and watched a potential acquisition fall through—something he now views as fortunate.\n\n“Entrepreneurs getting started have to be comfortable with not getting a paycheck to do what is right for the business,” he said. “It’s like a kid who needs to be nurtured and developed. Obviously, they have to walk that thin line between sacrifice and insanity. Sometimes I feel like I’m over that line. But everyone’s road to success is a little different.”\n\nDie Tryin’ Co. originally started with a $10,000 check. It now carries $200,000 in inventory and is preparing to move into a new warehouse double the size of the current one.\n\n“We started this company with ten grand,” Klipstein said. “That’s the stuff that motivates me. I always tell people, never look back. You always have to look forward. But sometimes you have to look back to see how far you’ve come.”\n\nTo learn more about Die Tryin’ Co. or to buy some of Klipstein’s products, check out the website. All the ingredients are clearly labeled, and even newcomers can feel good about the safety of the supplements they’re buying.\n\nThink of it as having a good NCO watch over you at the gym.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• The best online colleges for veterans in 2026, according to US News and World Report\n• The hidden costs of service and why military families are always starting over\n• Everything you need to know about using the GI Bill with other financial aid\n\nA veteran business’ hard-learned lessons on building—and rebuilding—a brand\n\nReal military captains drive Jeep’s ‘Captains of America’ commercial\n\nWanna make movies? Here’s a way to start for a dollar.\n\n5 easy ways to support veteran-owned local businesses\n\nVietnam vet Bill Roedy left the Army for cable TV—and helped win the Cold War","category":"service","author":"Blake Stilwell","publishDate":"2026-07-08T16:56:12.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/veteran-business-rebrand-die-tryin.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/military-life/veteran-business-learned-lessons-building-and-rebuilding-brand/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:52.590Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:48.242Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-ccgwbj","slug":"the-hard-earned-right-250-years-of-the-american-veteran","title":"The hard-earned right: 250 years of the American veteran","excerpt":"“The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776,” by John Trumbull. A severely wounded James Monroe (on the ground, left of center) is depicted as being held by Dr. John Riker.","content":"The 250th anniversary of the United States is often framed through the lens of grand ideals: liberty, representation and the pursuit of happiness. But for those who fought to secure those ideals, the reality was often precarious. As the nation prepares to celebrate, it has an obligation to renew the sacred contract between the country and its veterans—a contract that wasn’t written into our founding documents but forged through a series of national shames and hard-won victories in the halls of Congress.\n\nA Pension (With a Catch)\n\nIn 1776, the American veteran as a social category didn’t exist. The people fighting the Revolution were farmers, blacksmiths and tradesmen who picked up muskets for seasonal campaigns. To the average colonist, the idea of a standing army was not a symbol of pride but an expensive tool of tyranny similar to the one they were currently revolting against.\n\nThis deep-seated suspicion was written into the law of the land. Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution restricted funding for the army to two-year terms. This was intended as a kill switch; if the army became too powerful or too expensive, the people’s representatives could simply starve it of resources.\n\nA decade earlier, the first piece of legislation for veterans, the Pension Act of 1776, had been born of desperate practicality. As British forces arrived in New York, the Continental Congress needed a way to keep men in the field. They promised half-pay for life, but with a catch: It was reserved exclusively for those with a visible disability. Because the founders feared a permanent military class, veteran care was viewed as a form of charity, to be doled out to the destitute, rather than an obligation earned through service. If a soldier returned from the war with his limbs intact but his farm in ruins, the government felt it owed him nothing but a handshake.\n\nSpeculators and Prize Money\n\nWhen the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, the United States found itself in arrears to 300,000 to 350,000 veterans. At the same time, the nation was drowning in $43 million of debt—roughly $1.3 billion in today’s currency. The federal government’s first solution was to pass the buck to the states. Some states were generous, but many were bankrupt, leaving thousands of veterans with nothing.\n\nCongress attempted to bridge the gap with the Bounty Land Act, which promised acreage to soldiers who had served until the end of the conflict. It was a grand gesture that failed in practice. Much of the land was remote, undeveloped, and required capital that most veterans simply did not have. Most veterans, needing immediate cash to feed their families, sold their land rights to speculators for pennies on the dollar. The land that was supposed to be a veteran’s reward instead became the foundation of real estate empires for men who may never have seen a day of combat.\n\nBy 1799, the government realized it needed a more sustainable model, particularly for the Navy. Unlike the Army’s tax-funded model, the Navy Pension Fund was financed by prize money. When a U.S. vessel captured an enemy ship, the proceeds from the sale of that ship and its cargo were split: Half went to the crew, and the other half funded the pension. As naval historian Margherita Desy told DAV, this was a brilliant system during the back-to-back wars between 1789 and 1815. Afterward, the fund dried up because there were no prizes to capture.\n\nThe Veteran Advocate in the White House\n\nBy 1816, the heroes of the Revolution had become symbols of the nation’s inadequacy to care for warfighters. At the time, the government operated on a strict patriotic duty model. Service was considered its own reward, and pensions were reserved exclusively for those visibly shattered in battle. Still, the sight of men who had fought at Yorktown begging for bread in tattered uniforms sparked a wave of national guilt.\n\nJames Monroe, elected president in 1816, embodied the role of a veterans advocate. Wounded at the Battle of Trenton, he carried a British musket ball in his shoulder for the rest of his life. Monroe understood the opportunity cost of service: A man who enlisted at 18 and returned at 26 had missed the window to establish a trade or a farm and build wealth while his civilian peers moved ahead.\n\nMonroe embarked on a public relations tour, traveling the country in a buff-colored Continental Army uniform. He was a superstar to a public that had previously viewed the president as a distant clerk. He used this goodwill to push through the Pension Act of 1818. For the first time, a veteran could receive a pension for nine months of service, regardless of disability. It was a revolutionary shift. The federal government was taking ownership of veterans’ well-being.\n\nHowever, the contract remained fragile. When over 20,000 veterans applied—far exceeding the government’s estimate of 1,600—Congress panicked at the cost. It passed the 1820 Remedial Act, forcing veterans to prove extreme poverty to keep their checks. Men had to list every possession in open court; one veteran lost his benefits because he owned a wig and a broken mirror.\n\nThe Art of Justice and the Widow’s Pelt\n\nIf Monroe was the policy champion, artist John Neagle was its campaign manager. In 1829, Neagle found 73-year-old veteran Joseph Winter huddled in the snow in Philadelphia, dressed in rags. His portrait, “A Pensioner of the Revolution,” became a viral image of the 19th century. It forced Americans to contrast their 50th-anniversary celebrations of the nation with the reality of its defenders living as beggars.\n\nThis visual shame campaign fueled the Pension Act of 1832, which codified service as a debt owed. This act was so massive it forced the government to modernize, creating the Bureau of Pensions—the direct ancestor of today’s Department of Veterans Affairs.\n\nAs the system grew, so did the recognition of the veteran family. The 1836 Widow’s Bill acknowledged that a pension was an earned debt that belonged to a veteran’s estate. Yet even this was fraught with difficulty. In an era before digital records, 80-year-old survivors had to find living witnesses to weddings that occurred in the 1770s. One widow, Charity Snider, proved her marriage by presenting a preserved mole pelt her husband had sent her from the front lines as a love token.\n\nThe inclusion of women and underrepresented groups remained a slow, grinding process. Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to serve in the Continental Army, had to petition for years to receive the same pension as her male counterparts. Similarly, Native American veterans—who often fought on lands they were simultaneously being displaced from—were frequently trapped in legal limbo as the federal government’s inconsistent treatment of tribal sovereignty left their eligibility for benefits unclear and unevenly applied.\n\nThe Industrialization of Care\n\nThe Civil War changed the scale of veteran care forever. In 1860, the Bureau of Pensions had 18 clerks; by 1865, it was processing 75,000 applications a year. To house the operation, the government built the massive Pension Building in Washington, D.C. The architect, U.S. Army Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs, designed the building with the disabled veteran in mind. The stairs had shallow risers for those with prosthetic limbs, and a document track moved files for 1,500 clerks.\n\nThis era also saw the birth of the universal pension. The 1890 Dependent and Disability Pension Act allowed any veteran unable to perform manual labor to collect a check, and by 1907, age itself became a qualifier. At 62, an honorable discharge was all a veteran needed to prove they earned certain benefits.\n\nAt this point in time, the government’s approach was largely hands off. It prioritized minimal financial assistance over physical well-being. That changed with Delphine Baker.\n\nDelphine Baker was a visionary who reshaped the landscape of American veteran care, moving it beyond simple financial stipends toward a model of comprehensive, institutional support. Born in 1828 and raised in an environment that championed intellectual independence, Baker became an unconventional leader and a sophisticated public communicator. After her own physical collapse while serving as an independent supply agent and nurse during the Civil War, she shifted her focus to intellectual advocacy, launching The National Banner to fund and promote the cause of long-term care for volunteer soldiers.\n\nBaker’s primary contribution was the realization that a “check in the mail” was insufficient for veterans with life-altering injuries and no means of support. She witnessed firsthand the “revolving door of misery” in wartime hospitals, where soldiers were discharged into homelessness because they were too disabled for manual labor but healthy enough to leave surgical wards.\n\n“What I think is really neat about Delphine Baker’s vision is this kind of idea of whole care that was really new at the time,” said Melissa Winn, director of marketing and communications at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. “It was not just treating wounds and bandages. It was looking at care in a recreational way. Considering their lives as whole lives, not just making sure that they could feed themselves or accommodate for some of these things that they weren’t able to do anymore.”\n\nThis prompted Baker to draft what history remembers as the “Power Petition,” a 30-page scroll of signatures she leveraged to corner Congress. By securing the endorsement of influential figures like Ulysses S. Grant and P.T. Barnum, she turned the cause into a moral and social mandate that even a reluctant government couldn’t ignore.\n\nHer persistence culminated on March 3, 1865, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the National Asylum Act. This legislation established a federal obligation to provide whole care—including housing, medical treatment and vocational activity—for the volunteer forces, a group previously ineligible for such benefits. The resulting National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers were massive, self-sustaining campuses featuring libraries, theaters and even zoos, signaling to the public that veterans were honored guests rather than charity cases.\n\nA Hard-Earned Right\n\nThe history of veterans benefits in America isn’t a straight line of progress. It’s a story of creative, often desperate measures—from prize money and mole pelts to the grotto gardens of the National Soldiers’ Home where veterans worked the soil to heal their shattered nerves.\n\nAs we approach the 250th anniversary, we must remember that DAV’s mission is the continuation of this struggle. The sacred contract isn’t a gift or a charity. It’s a hard-earned debt. From the smoke of the Revolution to the modern PACT Act, the lesson of history remains the same: The nation’s debt to its defenders is a permanent social obligation that must be renewed by every generation.\n\nUP NEXT\n\nThink the fight for veterans benefits ended with the turn of the century? Think again. In Part 2, which will be published in the next issue of the magazine, we’ll dive into the 20th-century chaos where the heroes of World War II—MacArthur, Patton and Eisenhower—burned protesting veterans’ camps to the ground.\n\nWe’ll discover how a “Tombstone Bonus” and a massive nationwide telegram campaign forced Congress to defy a popular president and transform a bureaucratic nightmare into a sacred, legally protected right. Along the way, we’ll trace how these early battles for recognition and compensation set the stage for something even more enduring—the birth of a modern, member-driven force that would redefine veterans advocacy for generations to come: the founding of DAV.","category":"benefits","author":"DAV Communications","publishDate":"2026-07-08T15:00:05.000Z","image":"https://www.dav.org/wp-content/uploads/Neagle_APensionerOfTheRevolution.jpg","source":"DAV","sourceUrl":"https://www.dav.org/learn-more/news/2026/the-hard-earned-right-250-years-of-the-american-veteran/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:52.592Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:49.717Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-2jh329","slug":"air-force-cancels-promotions-for-135-sergeants-after-testing-error","title":"Air Force cancels promotions for 135 sergeants after testing error","excerpt":"Just before the long July 4th weekend, 586 Air Force staff sergeants in the service’s largest career field were told they were being promoted, a moment that is traditionally a cause for celebration...","content":"Just before the long July 4th weekend, 586 Air Force staff sergeants in the service’s largest career field were told they were being promoted, a moment that is traditionally a cause for celebration in every corner of the military. Beaming commanders shook their hands in happy ceremonies. Some units held parties with balloons and cakes, some decorated with the 5-striped chevrons of a technical sergeant, the rank the airmen had earned.\n\nOn Tuesday, the Air Force said 135 of those promotions have been canceled.\n\nAccording to promotion officials, a written promotion test taken earlier this year by staff sergeants in the security forces career field — the largest job in the Air Force — was graded incorrectly. Those incorrect scores inadvertently ranked 135 staff sergeants too high among the more than 2,000 security forces airmen competing for promotion to technical sergeant.\n\nUsing that list, the top 586 security forces staff sergeants were told they had been selected for promotion, including the 135 with inflated scores.\n\nWhen tests were regraded, Air Force officials said Tuesday, the reshuffled order bumped those 135 airmen out of the promotion range and their promotions have now been canceled. A different 135 security forces staff sergeants, whose corrected test scores moved them up in the rankings, will now get those promotions.\n\n“Preserving the integrity of the promotion system, the enlisted promotion team conducted a full re-score,” Air Force officials said in a press release. “The result established a new, correct promotion cut-off, identifying the rightful earners for promotion and those whose line numbers will be revoked.”\n\nOfficials with the Air Force Personnel Center said in the release that “the error was an isolated and highly unprecedented anomaly” that affected only security forces, whose troops the Air Force calls Defenders. The error, the release said, was not due to AI. “No artificial intelligence products were used in the erroneous promotion cycle process; it was the result of human error.”\n\n“We owe it to those affected to address it immediately,” said Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David R. Wolfe. “This is going to be hard for everyone impacted.”\n\nError hits Air Force’s largest career field\n\nRoughly one in every seven members of the Air Force serves in security forces, whose 43,000 Defenders are nearly all enlisted. Security forces are charged with all aspects of base security and on-base law enforcement. Airmen in the job wear distinctive dark blue berets and are ubiquitous at every Air Force base and installation around the world, often serving as “the face” of an installation at the front gates and in interactions with civilian agencies.\n\nThe testing error applied to current staff sergeants in the job seeking promotion to technical sergeant. A promotion to technical sergeant in the Air Force is often the ticket for an airman to serve a full 20 years in uniform, allowing them to retire with full benefits.\n\nFor promotions, airmen compete for limited advancement slots against peers within their career, with a heavy emphasis placed on a written test known as the Specialty Knowledge Test, or SKT. As a result, SKTs for every Air Force job and rank are different and graded seperately.\n\nDuring the 2026 cycle, 2,285 security forces staff sergeants took the SKT. But officials say they discovered afterwards that the answer key used to grade those tests incorrectly scored 27 questions.\n\nThe 135 security forces airmen now in line for the promotion will be informed next week, the Air Force said, as part of a “supplemental promotion release.”\n\nThe Air Force said steps were being taken “to mitigate the possibility of similar errors in the future.” Grading and ranking systems, the release said, will get “a thorough review” along with “implementing quality-assurance safeguards to prevent this specific point of failure in future promotion release cycles.”\n\n“We promote Airmen based on merit, which is established in federal law and policy,” said Lt. Gen. Jefferson O’Donnell, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services. “We have a core obligation to ensure the airmen who earned it are selected.”","category":"service","author":"Matt White","publishDate":"2026-07-08T14:46:24.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/6335991-e1783524290911.jpg?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-cancels-promotions-for-135-sergeants-after-testing-error/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:51.385Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:49.717Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-qbkesw","slug":"bridging-the-distance-bringing-care-closer-to-home-for-rural-veterans","title":"Bridging the distance: Bringing care closer to home for rural Veterans","excerpt":"In Navajo Nation, VA trainees close the distance to care For rural Veterans living on or near the Navajo Nation reservation, seeking care has often meant hours on the road.","content":"In Navajo Nation, VA trainees close the distance to care\n\nFor rural Veterans living on or near the Navajo Nation reservation, seeking care has often meant hours on the road.\n\nSuch distances pose a serious barrier, particularly for elderly or disabled Veterans. In rural New Mexico, VA trainees are working to close that gap, bringing accessible, high-quality medical care to underserved Veterans while training the next generation of medical providers. The effort is part of a pilot program VA launched this year in five locations across the United States.\n\nExpanding rural access to care\n\nBy partnering with academic affiliates, hospitals and clinics, the VA MISSION Act program known as the Pilot Program for Graduate Medical Education and Residency (PPGMER), ensures rural Veterans can access needed care much closer to home.\n\nTo date, 34 VA residents across the U.S. have served 1,440 unique patients, both Veterans and non-Veterans. These rotations in rural and underserved locations, including facilities operated by Indian Health Service, Indian tribes or tribal organizations, have proven mutually beneficial for learners and Veterans alike.\n\n“I like it here [at the Northern Navajo Medical Center], and it’s close by so I can get treatment,” said Army Veteran Virgil Wood. “It’s a nice place, beautiful, and the people are real friendly, from the doctors to the nurses. They really figure out what’s going on with you and help you out.”\n\nRather than traveling long distances for basic needs, Veterans can see providers, obtain medications and receive personalized attention right in their communities.\n\nInnovative approaches to care\n\nOne of the hallmark programs unique to the Northern Navajo Medical Center is “street medicine,” an outreach effort that brings health care directly to patients who need it, founded by Dr. Asha Atwell, an IHS medical doctor there. In this program, doctors travel in vans stocked with medical supplies to specific outdoor public locations to treat patients in their community on a weekly basis.\n\n“We treat patients where they are,” said resident Dr. Chantel Clark. “We provide medical resources to those who can’t access traditional care: distributing medications, food and clothing, including socks; checking blood pressures; and offering STD testing.”\n\nBuilding trust and cultural understanding\n\nServing a population that includes many members of the Navajo Nation, the GME pilot meets Veterans where they are. In neighboring Arizona, another resident from the pilot program is doing the same.\n\n“I’ve been really impressed by how VA is able to meet Veterans’ needs across the spectrum,” said Dr. Tessa Foti, who recently completed her residency in this program at the Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility.\n\nFoti also enjoyed learning about a patient population she didn’t know much about. “This was my first time practicing, or really having a lot of exposure to, the Navajo Nation, so I definitely think it was a valuable experience in gaining greater cultural awareness and understanding,” she said.\n\nThe area’s patients are also uniquely welcoming, said Dr. Heather Kovich, who is stationed with Indian Health Service (IHS) in Shiprock, New Mexico, at the Northern Navajo Medical Center.\n\n“Our patients, Veterans and non-Veterans, are always so inviting, especially to new learners,” she said. “Our Veterans are happy to work with the residents, share their stories and help them grow.”\n\nSurveys of residents who have taken part in the pilot report overwhelmingly positive experiences. “Residents appreciate the opportunity to provide full-spectrum care and apply all of their training in a rural context, supporting those who need it most,” Kovich said.\n\nChanging lives, inspiring futures\n\nFor many medical residents, the GME pilot is more than a training ground; it’s an inspiration.\n\n“After my rotation, I would seriously consider working at an IHS or VA facility,” Clark said. “I love hearing Veterans’ stories, understanding their experiences and being there when they need care. The gratitude Veterans show is extraordinary, and it’s a privilege to serve.”\n\nFoti echoed those thoughts. “Veterans have a brand of humor that can just really be delightful,” she said. “They’re tough, but their health needs can be complex. It’s an honor to help them navigate their health journeys.”\n\nIt’s clear the feeling is mutual. Veterans consistently report satisfaction with their care. “She gave me all the information I needed and made sure I understood what was going on with me,” Wood said of his interactions with Clark. “I was always satisfied. She treated me with respect.”\n\nCommitted to Veterans, close to home\n\nBeyond meeting current medical needs, this initiative reflects a commitment to each Veteran’s well-being and access to care. Whether through primary services, innovative street medicine or building bridges of cultural understanding, the program is paving the way for rural Veteran health care across the country.\n\nAs the pilot program continues through 2031, lessons learned in New Mexico and the other rural sites in Arizona and Wyoming will inform future efforts, proving that, with the right partnerships and dedication, barriers of distance can be overcome.\n\nFor Veterans and families in the region, it’s more than just convenience, it’s care rooted in respect, understanding and gratitude for their service. And for the next generation of VA health care professionals, it’s a chance to learn, be inspired and serve those who have served.\n\nTrainees like Clark and Foti are among the 124,000 health professions trainees educated by VA every year, overseen by the Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA). Find out more information about OAA or the VA MISSION Act’s PPGMER.","category":"health","author":"Nikki Verbeck","publishDate":"2026-07-08T14:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/07/Dr.-Clark-at-street-clinic_van1.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148097/bringing-care-closer-home-rural-veterans/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:49.688Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:49.717Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-dqaq89","slug":"country-music-legend-george-jones-legendary-lawn-mower-booze-run","title":"Country music legend George Jones’ legendary lawn mower booze run","excerpt":"Country music legend George Jones had a lifelong struggle with alcoholism that was as legendary as his voice. Born among the East Texas oil fields in 1931, Jones gravitated to music to escape his...","content":"Country music legend George Jones had a lifelong struggle with alcoholism that was as legendary as his voice. Born among the East Texas oil fields in 1931, Jones gravitated to music to escape his alcoholic father’s booze-fueled rampages. He turned to drinking himself to overcome his stage fright and survive the demands of playing on the road.\n\nThe emotions that inspired his music only added more fuel to the fire. He’d tried to escape a life of being awakened in the middle of the night to play for his dad and his drunk buddies by singing his way across Texas. Despite multiple marriages and children, as well as a stint in the Marine Corps, the singer’s addiction followed him for most of his adult life.\n\nIt also led to an alcohol-related incident with his second wife that became the subject of many stories, murals, and no fewer than three recreations in modern country music videos. George Jones recalled the lawn mower incident (and his time in the Marines) in his 1967 autobiography, “I Lived to Tell It All.”\n\nThe Jones family was living in a wild, swampy area of Texas call “The Big Thicket” when they finally bought a radio in 1938. George was just seven years old. He and his mother would tune into the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights and by age nine, George even had his own guitar.\n\nAs he grew up, he began playing the churches and streets of Beaumont. At age 16, he left home for Jasper, Texas, where he began singing on the local radio station. He eventually meandered to the Port of Houston, playing Ernest Tubbs songs in rough honky tonks, protected from flying beer bottles only by chicken wire strung up on the stage.\n\nThat’s where he met Dorothy Bonvillion. The couple soon married, but Dorothy’s parents weren’t going to have a honky tonk singer with no money in the family. They tried to get him a job as a house painter, but it didn’t take. The couple were married and divorced before their daughter was born. Jones couldn’t afford the child support payments and he couldn’t afford the jail time for not paying the support payments.\n\nSo he joined the Marine Corps.\n\nAt 18, he was sent to San Jose, California. With a check from the Corps, he could support his daughter but he made far more money by playing the local nightclubs.\n\n“People have asked what I remember most about the service,” Jones wrote in his 1996 autobiography “I Live to Tell It All.” “I don’t answer with talk about guns or six-mile hikes and the like. The most vivid memory I have is coming in a four o’clock in the morning on New Years Day 1953, after playing a show. I lay down in the darkness and the entire barracks was silent except for one voice. I belonged to the guy in the bunk next to mine.\n\n‘Hey,’ he said. ‘Your buddy is dead.'”\n\nThat voice was referring to Hank Williams, whom Jones regarded as country music’s greatest singer-songwriter. Jones’ stage fright was not just a case of the jitters. He was so stricken, he had the opportunity to play electric lead guitar behind William for a radio show, but held his guitar instead, “too afraid to move”paralyzed with fear.”\n\nJones left the military in 1953, having spent his entire career stateside. He returned to Beaumont, where he became disc jockey, but kept playing music and drinking. The next year, he married Shirley Ann Corley. When they married, he was a relatively unknown musician playing “hillbilly music,” but in 1955 his career took off. He released “Why Baby Why” in 1955, but hit it really big with the number one single “White Lightning” in 1959.\n\nHis marriage grew increasingly strained as time went on. The pressures of his newfound fame, constant touring, womanizing, and his severe battle with alcoholism took a heavy toll on the relationship (to put it lightly). In his book, Jones describes benders that lasted for days and even weeks, where he disappeared completely.\n\nThen there’s the now-famous 1967 lawn mower incident, one that even he says “I can laugh at now, years into my sobriety. But no one was amused at the time.\n\nJones had been drunk for days when his wife finally decided she’d had enough. She would make it physically impossible for him to buy any alcohol. At the time, they lived eight miles from the nearest liquor store in Beaumont. She took the keys from all of their cars and left.\n\nShe forgot about the lawn mower.\n\nThe singer was angry that he couldn’t find the keys to any car. He eventually found himself just staring out of their window at a light that shined over their property. Like some kind of divine spotlight, he realized it was shining on their riding lawn mower and its ten-horsepower engine.\n\nAt a top speed of five miles per hour, it took Jones more than an hour and a half to get to the liquor store on the two-lane highway into Beaumont. George and Shirley were divorced the next year, but the lawn mower incident has been immortalized in country music lore, with Jones poking fun at himself in 1996’s “Honky Tonk Song.”\n\nJones makes a cameo in Hank Williams Jr.’s music video for “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” riding a lawn mower to the party; Mike Judge’s 2017 series “Tales from the Tour Bus,” animates the story for a new generation; and a John Deere lawnmower was even displayed at the George Jones Museum in Nashville.\n\nAlthough it became the stuff of legend, Jones’ third wife Tammy Wynette apparently didn’t get the memo. Ten year later, the “Possum” would hop on another mower down a main highway, this time to get to a bar 10 miles from his house.\n\nJones’ boozing more than caught up to him. It might have led to some of his greatest music, but it also led to drunken rampages, missed show dates, lawsuits, and, eventually, bankruptcy. At one point, Jones was homeless and living in his car, weighing only 105 pounds. He was even committed in a psychiatric ward.\n\nIn 1984, he sobered up. But even after writing his book in 1996 and laughing at the lawn mower incident, his struggle with alcoholism continued. In 1999, he nearly died after driving his car into a bridge after drinking. That was the last straw. George Jones remained sober until he died in 2013 at age 81.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• ‘Jimmy’ celebrates World War II hero Jimmy Stewart for America’s 250th with a new trailer\n• SFC’s Chloe Turner on why sport fishing is reeling in veterans\n• Army veteran trades filmmaking for music in his 40s\n\nCountry music legend George Jones’ legendary lawn mower booze run\n\nJames Bond’s longest-running ‘Q’ survived 5 excruciating years as a POW\n\n‘Jimmy’ celebrates World War II hero Jimmy Stewart for America’s 250th with a new trailer\n\nHow Mel Brooks kept his sense of humor while serving in World War II\n\nRetired Marine colonel to lead NASA’s Artemis III mission","category":"advocacy","author":"Blake Stilwell","publishDate":"2026-07-08T14:04:26.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/george-jones-redfern-getty.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/entertainment/marine-corps-veteran-george-jones-lawn-mower/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:52.590Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:49.717Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-tkopuw","slug":"air-force-veteran-returns-to-the-golden-age-games-with-strength-faith-and-fight","title":"Air Force Veteran returns to the Golden Age Games with strength, faith and fight","excerpt":"Terrence “Terry” Munoz hadn’t competed in powerlifting in more than 20 years. Life had brought injuries, retirement, family, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and two battles with cancer.","content":"Terrence “Terry” Munoz hadn’t competed in powerlifting in more than 20 years. Life had brought injuries, retirement, family, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and two battles with cancer.\n\nStill, when he learned about the National Veterans Golden Age Games, one thought kept returning to him: “I think I got one more meet left in me.”\n\nStrength beyond the barbell\n\nAt 58, the Air Force Veteran from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, arrived in Tampa representing the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System in Charleston. A former C-141 loadmaster, Munoz said fitness has been a constant throughout his life, even when gyms were hard to find during deployments to places such as Somalia and the Middle East.\n\nToday, strength means far more than numbers loaded onto a barbell.\n\nFor Munoz, resistance training is discipline. It is recovery. It is spiritual balance. It is a way to fight back when life adds weight that cannot be measured in pounds.\n\nRecently diagnosed with cancer for the second time, Munoz said VA doctors caught it early and worked with him so he could compete before beginning radiation treatment.\n\n“They told me, ‘Go compete in Tampa. Go make your mark. Go do your thing,’” Munoz recalled.\n\nThat support has meant everything.\n\n“VA saved my life more than once,” Munoz said. “Now I get to live life in support of other Veterans.”\n\nAt the Games, Munoz found more than competition. He found smiles, energy and a familiar sense of belonging.\n\n“There’s an understanding,” Munoz noted. “There’s a spirituality to it. And in the end, you take your game face off. You’re all friends again.”\n\nHis return to powerlifting is not about chasing the man he used to be. It is about honoring the man he is now, a husband, father, Veteran and fighter still willing to step onto the platform.\n\nOne more lift\n\nMunoz said his strategy is simple: complete the first lift, trust his training and walk out on his own power.\n\n“When that weight feels inhuman, and your brain screams, ‘What are you thinking?’” Munoz encouraged, “It’s time to take it for a ride.”\n\nFor other Veterans, Munoz’s message is just as straightforward.\n\n“Put your game face on. Compete. Take it off and smile,” Munoz encouraged. “Enjoy the camaraderie. That’s what we’re here for.”\n\nAfter two decades away from competition, Munoz didn’t come to Tampa looking backward. He came to test himself, represent South Carolina and stand with fellow Veterans. Because, as he put it, “that weight isn’t going to lift itself.”","category":"service","author":"audreybhullar","publishDate":"2026-07-08T13:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/07/Terry-Munoz-Power-Lifting-scaled.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148070/veteran-returns-golden-age-games-strength-fight/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:49.688Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:49.717Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-ywrp6r","slug":"us-strikes-more-than-80-targets-as-trump-calls-iran-ceasefire-over","title":"US strikes more than 80 targets as Trump calls Iran ceasefire ‘over’","excerpt":"President Donald Trump said he considers the ceasefire with Iran “over” after the U.S. military launched strikes against more than 80 targets on Tuesday in response to recent attacks against...","content":"President Donald Trump said he considers the ceasefire with Iran “over” after the U.S. military launched strikes against more than 80 targets on Tuesday in response to recent attacks against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.\n\n“As far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” Trump said on Wednesday during a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. Future talks between the two countries, Trump said, were also in doubt.\n\nU.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, announced on Tuesday that it had “completed a new round of offensive strikes against Iran” following attacks on three oil tankers, for which the command says Iran is responsible.\n\nTop Stories This Week\n\nFormer soldier convicted of stealing $1 million worth of MREs\n\nTop medical commander fired at Joint Base Langley-Eustis\n\nArmy rolls out rules on waist-to-height body standards\n\n“U.S. forces struck Iranian air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and near the strait to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce flowing through the international trade corridor,” a CENTCOM news release said.\n\nThe attacks were meant “to impose heavy costs” against Iran for the attacks against commercial shipping, a separate CENTCOM statement says.\n\nIn response to the strikes, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has announced that it has launched attacks against U.S. military bases in Bahrain and Kuwait.\n\nDefense officials have not publicly provided a detailed report of damage to U.S. bases in the Middle East since the war with Iran began on Feb. 28. Media outlets have reported that Iranian attacks over the course of the conflict have damaged and destroyed U.S. missile defense radars in the region and severely damaged the Combined Air Operations Center in Qatar, a major command post used for decades to direct air operations in the Middle East.\n\nFor months, the United States has been seeking to reach an agreement with Iran to end the war, but one issue that has bedeviled negotiations is the American demand that Iran allow commercial ships to freely transit the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil flows. A three-month-old ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran has been punctuated by frequent bouts of fighting.\n\nThe future of negotiations between both countries appears uncertain after Trump said on Wednesday that talking to the Iranians was a “waste of time.”\n\n“They’re bad people, and frankly, I don’t want to waste my time with them,” Trump said. “Now, I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it.”","category":"service","author":"Jeff Schogol","publishDate":"2026-07-08T13:05:09.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Iran-Ceasefire-2026.jpg?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/military-iran-ceasefire-over/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:51.385Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:50.598Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-l595ox","slug":"the-enduring-mystery-of-a-navy-ship-that-sank-in-the-bermuda-triangle","title":"The enduring mystery of a Navy ship that sank in the Bermuda Triangle","excerpt":"Named after a mythological one-eyed figure, the USS Cyclops just disappeared. The U.S. Navy bulk cargo ship departed Barbados for Baltimore on a scheduled nine-day voyage.","content":"Named after a mythological one-eyed figure, the USS Cyclops just disappeared.\n\nThe U.S. Navy bulk cargo ship departed Barbados for Baltimore on a scheduled nine-day voyage. The vessel—540 feet long and 65 feet wide—carried more than 300 people along with approximately 11,000 tons of manganese ore. The metal is a key ingredient in steelmaking and heavy artillery.\n\nThe last known sighting of the Cyclops was on March 4, 1918. It went down in the Bermuda Triangle, that mysterious stretch of the North Atlantic Ocean in which roughly 50 ships and 20 airplanes reportedly were lost over the years.\n\nThe Bermuda Triangle produces a deep well of conspiracy theories whenever a ship or aircraft goes missing. The Cyclops was no different. In the aftermath of its disappearance, Navy search crews found no trace of a sunken ship. They came across no evidence of debris or an oil slick on the water. More importantly, they recovered none of the passengers’ remains.\n\n“Usually a wooden bucket or a life preserver identified as belonging to a lost ship is picked up after a wreck, but not so with the Cyclops,” Capt. E.K. Roden wrote in Santa Fe Magazine. “She just disappeared as though some gigantic monster of the sea had grabbed, men and all, and sent her into the depths of the ocean, and the suddenness of her destruction is amplified by the absence of any wireless calls for help being picked up by any ship along the route.”\n\nLaunched in 1910, the Cyclops became part of the Naval Auxiliary Service. The Navy commissioned it into active service after the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917. For nearly a year, the Cyclops reliably transported troops and fuel.\n\nThe Cyclops departed Norfolk, Virginia, in January 1918 for a nearly three-week trip to transport almost 10,000 tons of coal to Rio de Janeiro. After arriving in Brazil, the crew offloaded the coal and replaced it with manganese ore. Manganese ore is much heavier than coal, and the Cyclops carried more of it when it departed on February 15.\n\nThe Cyclops and its commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. George W. Worley, stopped as planned more than 700 miles away in Bahia, Brazil, before pulling into Barbados for an unscheduled stop. It left the then-British colony on March 4 without use of one of its two steam engines.\n\nIts last known communication amounted to four words: “Weather Fair, All Well.”\n\nAfter the Navy’s efforts to locate the Cyclops proved futile, assistant Navy secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the ship lost. The disappearance of the Cyclops remains the single greatest loss of life in noncombat in the Navy’s history.\n\n“In terms of loss of life and size of ship, it’s probably the last great mystery left unresolved,” underwater explorer James Delgado told The Washington Post in 2018.\n\nThe Navy never reached an official conclusion regarding what happened to the Cyclops. As with any mystery, theories abound—some more plausible than others.\n\nSome cast blame on Worley, the commanding officer, including Officer Conrad A. Nervig. In 1969, Nervig described Worley in a U.S. Naval Institute article as “a very indifferent seaman and a poor, overly cautious navigator.” Nervig also said those who served on the Cyclops didn’t like Worley. Rumors of a possible mutiny against the lieutenant commander even circulated at the time.\n\nDespite the apparently low regard in which the Cyclops’ crew regarded Worley, other bits of speculation emerged to explain the ship’s disappearance. Some wanted to blame a German U-boat for the tragedy, but no enemy submarine reportedly was in the area. Other theories mentioned sea monsters and meteorites. Turbulent seas could have pummeled the Cyclops under the water’s surface, but as The Washington Post observed, the weather was relatively calm that day. The possibility of a rogue wave, however, can’t be discounted.\n\nAnd then there are those who pointed out that the Cyclops was operating with only one engine and was carrying an extremely heavy amount of metal. Is it possible that that combination of factors caused the Cyclops’ hull to break apart?\n\nThe fascination surrounding the Cyclops is such that in 2024, History broadcast an episode of its series, “The Bermuda Triangle: Into Cursed Waters,” on the mystery. The series chronicled search efforts for the Cyclops.\n\nMarvin Barrash, whose great-uncle died on the sunken ship, first learned of the disaster when he was 10 years old. While those efforts did not result in a discovery, Barrash remains cautiously optimistic that divers eventually will find the Cyclops.\n\n“I just want her to be found,” Barrash told the Post. “I want the 309 [crew and passengers] to be at rest, as well as the families. It’s something everybody needs: some resolution.”\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• How the Navy and Coast Guard frantically searched for Amelia Earhart\n• How these Navy submariners worked to save themselves after their sub sank\n• The US Navy took out a German sub in a legendary, high-stakes WWII battle","category":"legacy","author":"Stephen Ruiz","publishDate":"2026-07-08T12:00:00.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/uss-cyclops-navys-biggest-ship-getty.jpg?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/the-enduring-mystery-of-a-navy-ship-that-sank-in-the-bermuda-triangle/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T12:00:52.305Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:50.598Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-zi5526","slug":"my-father-was-a-decorated-black-soldier-with-a-secret-me","title":"My Father Was a Decorated Black Soldier With a Secret: Me","excerpt":"Photos courtesy of S. Renée Phillips There was no celebration when my mother learned she was pregnant—only a conversation.","content":"Photos courtesy of S. Renée Phillips /> There was no celebration when my mother learned she was pregnant—only a conversation.\n\nThree married adults sat in a room weighing what my existence might cost them: a rising soldier in the United States Army with a reputation to protect, a mother facing the weight of shame, and a husband willing to raise a child who was not his. In that moment, a pact was made.\n\nMy biological father was the first Black Army recruiter in the Southeast, which included North and South Carolina, working to build trust in communities in the aftermath of Jim Crow. For a Black man in uniform, that role carried more than prestige. It carried scrutiny.\n\nHis reputation had to remain spotless. However, he had an affair with the wife of one of his recruits. That could have cost him his job for “conduct unbecoming.”\n\nLester Edward Phillips III, left, receiving a medal during an Army recognition ceremony. (Photo courtesy of the author) alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43751\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-7.jpeg?w=318&ssl=1 318w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-7.jpeg?resize=283%2C400&ssl=1 283w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-7.jpeg?w=370&ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-7.jpeg?w=400&ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px\" />\n\nSomewhere between duty and familiarity, their lives became intertwined—and when my life began, that connection became the foundation of a decision shaped by risk, reputation, and survival.\n\nMy biological father remained in the background; my mother’s husband gave me his name. I was left to carry that name, though it never truly belonged to me.\n\nThe weight of that created a silence that I felt long before I understood it. Silence has a way of shaping a child. It teaches you which questions not to ask, which doors not to knock on, which truths are too dangerous to say out loud.\n\nEven in the silence, there were clues. I was the dark-skinned daughter in a house of light-skinned people—my mother, father, and sister all shared a complexion I didn’t. They called me “Black child,” a name that marked me as an outsider long before I understood biology.\n\nIn a family that was supposed to be mine, the mirror told a different story, making it obvious, even without a word of explanation, that I didn’t truly belong to them.\n\nAnd then came eighth grade.\n\nAt the time, I lived with the man I believed was my father in a home that felt chaotic and unpredictable. I started playing sports not out of passion, but as an escape—a way to stay away from home longer, a way to delay returning to an environment that rarely felt steady.\n\nOne evening after practice, hungry and tired, I walked into the house hoping for rest. Instead, I was met with words that would stay with me: “I’m not your daddy.”\n\nThat moment shifted something in me. It confirmed what I had always felt but could never explain: I didn’t quite belong where I was.\n\nThe summer before ninth grade, my mother sat with her phone book open and simply handed me the receiver.\n\nThe author’s school photo. She found it among her biological father’s belongings after he died. (Photo courtesy S. Renée Phillips) alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43752\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=475%2C1030&ssl=1 475w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=184%2C400&ssl=1 184w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=768%2C1665&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=708%2C1536&ssl=1 708w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=945%2C2048&ssl=1 945w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=472%2C1024&ssl=1 472w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=780%2C1691&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=400%2C867&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?w=1153&ssl=1 1153w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2-475x1030.png?w=370&ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" />\n\nOn the other end was a voice I had never heard: Lester Phillips, my biological father.\n\nHe had lived a life defined by discipline, structure, and honor. He was the first Black Eagle Scout in South Carolina and among the first Black officers in the 45th Infantry Division. He served in multiple wars and was a member of Gen. William Westmoreland’s staff in Vietnam. In 2009, the South Carolina General Assembly issued a resolution honoring my father’s military service.\n\nBy the time of the phone call, both he and the man who raised me had retired from the military. Both transitioned into civilian lives, where the threat of a court-martial or conduct unbecoming charges no longer loomed.\n\nThe fear of military backlash that had kept me a secret for years had faded. But there was no apology for the lost time, only the sudden, jarring reality of a father who had been a ghost in my life.\n\nHe told me I could move in with him. I thought I had found what I had been searching for: stability, protection, a place where I finally fit. He told me I could stay. I let myself imagine a different life. A room of my own. Structure. Belonging. A father who would finally claim me.\n\nBut that didn’t happen.\n\nThe room he prepared for me existed, but belonging did not. And when that door closed, something in me became even more desperate to find where I belonged.\n\nShortly thereafter, I met an older man. As a young teenager, I didn’t have the language to understand what I was walking into. I only knew what it felt like: attention, protection, a sense of being chosen, things I had been searching for my entire life.\n\nSo at 14 years old, I ran away from home toward this father-figure boyfriend. Not because I was rebellious, but because I was searching for belonging the only way I knew how.\n\nWhen my boyfriend’s family came looking for me, I remember hiding behind a furnace—small, quiet, trying not to be seen.\n\nAs I got older, I chased belonging with achievement, through degrees, professional status, and the kind of accomplishments I believed would make me undeniable.\n\nIn many ways, I was striving to reach the bar set by my biological father by accumulating degrees—one bachelor’s, two master’s, and a doctorate—while mirroring his legacy as a public servant through my own careers in law enforcement and education. My goal was to inhabit the world my father had established, one defined by structure, discipline, and hard-earned respect.\n\nI thought if I could rise to that level, I would finally feel like I belonged there too. But even then, it never fully settled. Because belonging isn’t something you achieve. It’s something you’re given—or something you learn to create for yourself.\n\nPrior to the Covid pandemic, S. Renée Phillips spent many Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays with her biological father, Lester Phillips. (Photo courtesy of the author) alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43753\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=774%2C1030&ssl=1 774w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=300%2C400&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=768%2C1022&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=1154%2C1536&ssl=1 1154w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=1538%2C2048&ssl=1 1538w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=450%2C600&ssl=1 450w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=150%2C200&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=1200%2C1597&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=769%2C1024&ssl=1 769w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=780%2C1038&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=400%2C532&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?w=1878&ssl=1 1878w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8-774x1030.jpeg?w=370&ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 774px) 100vw, 774px\" />\n\nAfter my father passed away in 2024, everything unraveled.\n\nThe silence I had lived with for years became louder. I drank. At one point, I was hospitalized, not because I was trying to leave this world but because I was trying to be seen in it.\n\nSomething shifted after that.\n\nNot overnight. Not perfectly. But honestly.\n\nI had to face a truth I had spent most of my life avoiding: Not everyone was going to choose me. Not every space was meant to hold me. Not every table was mine to sit at.\n\nAnd for the first time, I stopped trying to force my way into places that required me to shrink in order for me to stay.\n\nI stopped asking to be included. Instead, I asked a different question: Who am I when I’m not trying to be accepted?\n\nThe answer didn’t come all at once. But it came. I began to understand something I had missed all along: I was never lacking. I was never “less than.” I was simply a child trying to find belonging in places that were never meant to welcome me.\n\nThis War Horse Reflection was edited by Kim Vo, fact-checked by Jess Rohan, and copy-edited by Mollie Turnbull. Kim Vo wrote the headlines.","category":"family","author":"S. Renée Phillips","publishDate":"2026-07-08T11:00:00.000Z","image":"https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Love-Child-1.png?w=2000&ssl=1","source":"The War Horse","sourceUrl":"https://thewarhorse.org/army-affair-black-officer-south-jim-crow/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T12:00:48.962Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:50.598Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-fqj17x","slug":"the-emotional-phases-of-a-deployment-cycle","title":"The emotional phases of a deployment cycle","excerpt":"Before our family experienced our first deployment, I assumed the hardest part would begin after my husband left — once the house was quieter and routines changed.","content":"Before our family experienced our first deployment, I assumed the hardest part would begin after my husband left — once the house was quieter and routines changed. What I did not expect was how much of the emotional shift would begin long before “day zero” came.\n\nIn the weeks leading up to deployment, life on the surface looked normal. There were workdays, school schedules, errands and the everyday routines that keep a household moving. But underneath those routines was a quiet awareness that our lives were about to change for a while.\n\nSome days felt steady and focused. Other days brought reflection and uncertainty. At times, it felt like living in two timelines at once. One part of life kept moving forward like normal, while another part of my mind was preparing for the moment everything would change.\n\nIt took me a little while to realize that the waves of emotion you move through during this season are completely normal. In many ways, it is simply part of learning how to accept and say ”see you later” before the separation begins.\n\nOver time, I also learned that many military families describe the deployment cycle as a series of emotional phases. Even before a service member leaves, families experience a period of anticipation and adjustment as they begin preparing for what lies ahead. Recognizing that these emotions were common brought an unexpected sense of reassurance.\n\nPreparing for separation in small but meaningful ways\n\nAs deployment approached, we began focusing on small ways to stay connected through the months ahead.\n\nOne of the first things we did was write letters to each other for different moments that might come up during the deployment. We wrote letters for holidays, difficult days, and times when encouragement might be needed. Knowing those letters were already written created a sense of steadiness as we prepared for the time apart.\n\nWe also started thinking about how to preserve something simple but incredibly meaningful: my husband’s voice.\n\nOne way we did that was through a story box with a small figurine painted to resemble a soldier. When the figurine is placed on the box, it plays recorded messages. My husband can record new messages from his phone wherever he is, which means there may always be a new message waiting whenever we check it.\n\nWe also added a recordable storybook to the mix. We chose “Under the Same Moon,” and hearing his voice read the story created a moment that felt familiar and grounding during a season that felt anything but familiar.\n\nVisit United Through Reading for one option to record a free storybook.\n\nBefore leaving, he also recorded several short videos meant for moments when hearing his voice and seeing his face might help close the emotional distance that comes with deployment. Technology has made it possible for military families to stay connected in everyday ways, as well. Sometimes that means a quick video call to help go over homework or sharing updates from swim class. Even brief moments of connection can help maintain a sense of continuity when life is changing.\n\nLooking back before moving forward\n\nOne evening before the deployment, we pulled out letters we had written years earlier during basic training. At the time, our relationship was still brand new. In fact, our first date had only been a few days before he left. Writing letters back and forth became the way we got to know each other during those early months.\n\nReading those letters again years later felt like opening a time capsule from the very beginning of our story — so much has changed since then. What started as two people figuring out a new relationship has grown into a family navigating military life together. Looking back on those early letters reminded me how far we have come since those first months apart. Little did I know that season was quietly preparing us for the challenges and growth that come with military life.\n\nLearning from families who have walked this road\n\nAnother important step in preparing for deployment was attending a Yellow Ribbon event. These events support reserve and National Guard families by providing information about resources, expectations during deployment, and the reintegration process that follows.\n\nLearn about Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program events for all stages of deployment.\n\nIt was reassuring to realize that the anticipation, reflection and adjustment we were experiencing were all common parts of the deployment cycle. For military families approaching deployment for the first time, events like Yellow Ribbon offer both practical resources and a powerful reminder that you are not alone in navigating this season.\n\nLessons from the lead-up to deployment\n\nOne of the most important lessons I have learned so far is that there is no perfect way to prepare for deployment.\n\nEven with planning and preparation, emotions can shift from day to day. Some days you feel steady and focused, like you have a clear plan for how you will move through the months ahead. Other days, the reality of the season you are stepping into simply feels heavier.\n\nOver time I have come to realize that those shifts are simply part of the process. Preparing for deployment is not only about logistics and plans. It is also about giving your heart time to adjust to the changes that are coming.\n\nMilitary families often discover strengths they did not even realize they had during seasons like this. Over time, those moments reveal patience, resilience and a deeper appreciation for the time you do have together.\n\nIf you are approaching your first deployment season and find yourself riding similar emotional waves, know that you are not alone. Sometimes the preparations we make ahead of time end up meaning more than we expected: letters written in advance, and stories recorded in a familiar voice offer small reminders that even across distance, the connection between family members is still there.\n\nFor me, one of the most reassuring things during this season has been realizing how many people in the military community understand exactly what this experience feels like. Whether it is a conversation with another spouse, advice shared at a Yellow Ribbon event, or a friendship formed with someone who “gets it,” those connections matter more than I expected.\n\nIf this is your first time navigating deployment, give yourself grace as you adjust and do not be afraid to lean on the people around you. Chances are, someone nearby has walked this road before and is more than willing to help the next family find their footing.\n\nFollow Sarah Barron @sarahs.new.era for more military life content.","category":"service","author":"U.S. Military Publishing, LLC","publishDate":"2026-07-08T09:00:15.000Z","image":"https://militaryfamilies.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SarahBarron_BasicTraining-scaled.jpeg","source":"Military Families Magazine","sourceUrl":"https://militaryfamilies.com/military-deployment-reintegration/the-emotional-phases-of-a-deployment-cycle/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":4,"qualityScore":95,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T12:00:54.500Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:50.598Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-4r95mj","slug":"navy-identifies-sailor-lost-in-helicopter-crash-as-squadron-commander","title":"Navy identifies sailor lost in helicopter crash as squadron commander","excerpt":"Navy officials have identified Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards, commanding officer of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5, as the sailor who went missing after an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from the aircraft...","content":"Navy officials have identified Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards, commanding officer of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5, as the sailor who went missing after an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush crashed last week into the Arabian Sea.\n\nEdwards was one of four crewmembers on board the helicopter. The other three sailors survived and were recovered.\n\n“The thoughts and prayers of every member of the Carrier Strike Group 10 team are with the Edwards family.” Rear Adm. Todd Cimicata, commander, Carrier Strike Group 10, said in a statement. “While we are far from home, our heartfelt support remains at your side. Gabe’s legacy as a husband, father, friend and fearless leader will never be forgotten. We are thankful to each who carry a unique and indelible part of Gabe’s memory with us as we continue this important mission.”\n\nThere was no indication that the July 1 crash was caused by hostile action, according to the Navy’s 5th Fleet, which termed the mishap an “emergency landing.” The 5th Fleet oversees about 2.5 million square miles of water including the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and parts of the Indian Ocean.\n\nTop Stories This Week\n\nFormer soldier convicted of stealing $1 million worth of MREs\n\nTop medical commander fired at Joint Base Langley-Eustis\n\nThe new Marine Scout career field is officially here\n\nThe search for Edwards spanned more than 102 hours and 14,000 square miles, according to a Navy news release. The effort involved five destroyers; fixed-wing aircraft from the Bush and a second carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln; two P-8 Poseidon squadrons; and several aircraft from the Air Force.\n\nAn investigation into the crash is underway.\n\nPosthumous promotion to captain\n\nEdwards held the rank of commander at the time of the crash but had been selected in April to be promoted to captain. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said in a release Tuesday that Edwards would be posthumously promoted to that rank.\n\nEdwards assumed command of the squadron, known as the “Nightdippers,” in July 2025 and was selected for promotion to captain by the fiscal year 2027 O6 line officer promotion board, according to the Navy. The squadron flies the MH-60S, which Navy fliers call the “Sierra.” The helicopters are tasked with a wide range of missions including submarine and surface warfare, search and rescue, and air assaults with Marines and Navy SEALs.\n\nEdwards flew more than 2,000 flight hours in the MH-60S and other helicopters, and his military awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and various unit and campaign awards.\n\nEdwards is survived by his wife, Rebecca, and two children.\n\n“We are profoundly grateful to every Sailor, aviator, and Airman who devoted countless hours, extraordinary skill, and unwavering determination in the effort to bring Gabe home,” Rebecca Edwards said in a statement. “Gabe has dedicated his life to serving his country with honor, courage, and commitment. He led with humility, integrity, and compassion, always putting his people before himself. To those who served alongside him, he was a respected leader and mentor. To our family, he is the love of my life, an extraordinary father to his children, and the foundation of our home. His greatest joy was always his family.”","category":"service","author":"Jeff Schogol","publishDate":"2026-07-07T21:15:47.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Edwards-3.jpg?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-squadron-commander-identified/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T00:00:56.007Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:52.395Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-6b51rd","slug":"talk-about-it-tuesday-offers-insights-advice-to-job-seekers","title":"Talk About It Tuesday offers insights, advice to job seekers","excerpt":"From application advice to insights into day-to-day work at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Talk About It Tuesday (TAIT) is back to help viewers learn more about VA and how to better...","content":"From application advice to insights into day-to-day work at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Talk About It Tuesday (TAIT) is back to help viewers learn more about VA and how to better navigate the federal hiring process.\n\nHosted by VA National Recruiter Mike Owens, TAIT invites job seekers like you to explore career opportunities, learn helpful application tips and find out what it’s like to work at VA from our fellow VA employees.\n\nAiring each week at noon ET on the Department of Veterans Affairs LinkedIn page, TAIT is a livestream program dedicated to discussing VA job opportunities and providing career advice to potential applicants.\n\nMissed an episode? Check out what we’ve been doing since the show returned in May.\n\nMaking the most of May\n\nWe welcomed TAIT back on May 12 with a special Nurse’s Week episode, where we invited Ashton Carder, a VA nurse recruiter, to share her experiences about what it means to work at VA.\n\n“I think the main thing is to just go ahead and jump forward,” she advised viewers who may be considering a move to VA. “Reach out to that recruiter. I know I’m a nurse recruiter, but I talk about any position in the facility, so if you have any questions or concerns, reach out. Go ahead and hit the button and apply.”\n\nFrom there, we turned the focus to the updated federal resume requirements, and then segued into and exploration of the General Schedule and how that federal system helps fairly determine the skills and experience needed for different pay grades.\n\n(That’s a topic we recently covered right here on the Job News and Advice page, too, if you’re interested in further reading.)\n\nJune was for job-seekers\n\nFrom there, TAIT took some time to discuss what to expect from the federal hiring process and 3 common resume mistakes to avoid when submitting your application.\n\nAnd as we closed out the month, we were honored to welcome VA Deputy Secretary Dr. Paul R. Lawrence, who spoke about being a Veteran and resources available for Veterans at VA.\n\nLooking ahead\n\nWe’ve got a great summer of TAIT planned, including episodes on the best practices for selecting references, preparing for your VA interview, an explanation of how Veterans’ preference works and more.\n\nBut we want you to be part of the conversation!\n\nHost Mike takes a few questions at the end of every broadcast, and we invite the audience to share what’s on their minds related to the week’s topic of choice. For a broader array of questions, though, we host a Q&A Week on the second Tuesday of every month.\n\nKeep an eye on the VA Careers social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter) and LinkedIn, where we’ll post an open call for questions about applications, interviews and anything else related to the VA hiring process.\n\nDuring Q&A Week, Mike will answer as many of those questions as he can, and who knows—maybe a question someone asks will help you get answers, too!","category":"transition","author":"Michelle Weaver","publishDate":"2026-07-07T20:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/07/VHARM-3520_Blog-Banner_TAIT-Relaunch_Web_2000x1196_96dpi_0505_p1-1.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/147692/talk-about-it-tuesday-advice-job-seekers/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T00:00:54.130Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:52.395Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-qkt1yr","slug":"va-s-top-health-administrator-departs-post-temporary-replacement-named","title":"VA’s top health administrator departs post, temporary replacement named","excerpt":"Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Health John Bartrum left his job Monday after less than seven months on the job. Bartrum, who announced his resignation to staff June 30, did not provide a...","content":"Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Health John Bartrum left his job Monday after less than seven months on the job.\n\nBartrum, who announced his resignation to staff June 30, did not provide a specific reason for leaving the VA’s top health job, other than saying he looked forward to “focusing on my family and my health” and supporting the administration’s efforts “in the private sector.”\n\nA retired Air Force Reserve major general, Bartrum was nominated to the post June 2 by President Donald Trump and confirmed Dec. 18 by the Senate in a 53-43 vote.\n\nBartrum became the first under secretary of health without a physician background and was responsible for the nation’s largest medical system, overseeing the budget and management of 171 medical centers and more than 1,000 outpatient clinics that serve roughly 9 million veterans each year.\n\nHe succeeded Dr. Shereef Elnahal, who resigned Jan. 20, 2025, with the change of administration between President Joe Biden and Trump. Bartrum was the first under secretary of health to serve under Trump; the position went unfilled by a confirmed appointee during Trump’s entire first administration.\n\nIn his message to employees, Bartrum said he was leaving the VA with “deep gratitude and a sense of accomplishment.” He noted the relaunch of the department’s electronic health record modernization program, the reorganization of the Veterans Health Administration and work to create a center in Los Angeles to address veteran homelessness among recent accomplishments.\n\n“These were not small undertakings, and I am confident in the foundation we have built. Each of these initiatives is now on a strong and sustainable trajectory, carried forward by the talented team I have had the honor of leading,” Bartrum wrote.\n\nCiting President George Washington’s retirement, Bartrum added “I am persuaded that, with these initiatives now firmly on track, you will not disapprove my determination to retire from public service.”\n\nAccording to the department, Dr. Lee Payne, currently serving as deputy under secretary for health, will fill the role as acting under secretary. Payne, a retired Air Force major general, has worked for the VA since last November, responsible for supporting the electronic health record program and other duties.\n\nA specialist in internal, emergency medicine and medical management, Payne commanded three military hospitals, worked as a chief flight surgeon in support of combat operations and directed combat support and the Defense Department’s electronic health record modernization program.\n\nHe also managed the DoD’s department’s diagnostics and testing efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\nVA Secretary Doug Collins did not make any public statements regarding Bartrum’s departure. VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven said the VA wished him well.\n\n“We thank John for his leadership of VHA and the many VA accomplishments he presided over during his 17 months of service at the department,” Slaven said, referring to the months prior to Bartrum’s confirmation that he worked as a member of the transition team and a senior advisor to Collins.\n\nBartrum has spent more than 40 years in public service, spending much of his Air Force career in medical administration. He served as a mobilization assistant to the Air and Space Force surgeon general and was assigned as deputy incident manager in emergency support functions for the COVID-19 epidemic.\n\nIn his civilian capacity, he was a professional staff member of the House Appropriations Committee for more than eight years, working on labor, education and health issues, including infectious diseases like Ebola.\n\nBartrum’s departure leaves two of the department’s three under secretary positions open.\n\nThe administration has not announced a candidate for the under secretary for benefits position following the withdrawal last October of nominee Karen Brazell over opposition to her role as senior advisor to Collins during the administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government.\n\nUnder Secretary for Memorial Affairs Sam Brown was confirmed last July.","category":"service","author":"Patricia Kime","publishDate":"2026-07-07T19:42:01.000Z","image":"https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/OLEZT4RLKZAIRIPT3LVUPBEMEU.jpg","source":"Military Times - Veterans","sourceUrl":"https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2026/07/07/vas-top-health-administrator-departs-post-temporary-replacement-named/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T00:00:53.034Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:52.395Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-gcyrm3","slug":"army-rolls-out-rules-on-waist-to-height-body-standards","title":"Army rolls out rules on waist-to-height body standards","excerpt":"The Army rolled out new body composition standards Tuesday with requirements that mostly match existing Pentagon directives that a soldier’s waist measurement can be only slightly wider than half of...","content":"The Army rolled out new body composition standards Tuesday with requirements that mostly match existing Pentagon directives that a soldier’s waist measurement can be only slightly wider than half of their height.\n\nThe new standards, officials said in a release, take effect immediately and require soldiers to maintain a waist-to-height ratio less than 0.55. Soldiers will not be separated for failing to meet the standards during an initial 180-day assessment as officials review the results of the new rules.\n\n“We are adopting new metrics to ensure our soldiers are healthy and physically fit to fight and win,” said Sgt. Maj. Monsanto, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, Directorate of Prevention, Resilience, Readiness.\n\nThe Marine Corps announced in February that its required waist-to-height ratio would be slightly skinnier than the Pentagon’s requirements, at 0.52. Navy officials confirmed sailors use the 0.55 standard, while the Air Force and Space Force adopted the 0.55 standard in 2023.\n\nIn January, the Defense Department directed all military services to start using waist-to-height ratio as a primary “health assessment tool,” ditching height and weight tables, circumference-based tape test, and supplemental body fat assessments. The simpler measurement divides the measurement of a service member’s waist circumference by their height.\n\nTop Stories This Week\n\nFormer soldier convicted of stealing $1 million worth of MREs\n\nTop medical commander fired at Joint Base Langley-Eustis\n\nThe new Marine Scout career field is officially here\n\nAs part of the new approach, soldiers will be tested twice per calendar year to see if they meet the waist-to-height standards, the news release says. Soldiers who do not meet standards will take a follow-up test from another team on the same day.\n\nIf they fail again, they will be flagged as overweight and placed in the Army Body Composition program, the news release says. Soldiers in the program are monitored as they diet and exercise to meet the service’s body fat standards.\n\nPreviously, the military services used tables that set maximum weight for a soldier’s height, but those standards led many troops to complain that heavily muscled soldiers like weightlifters were being flagged as overweight for muscle mass rather than body fat.\n\nFollowing the Pentagon’s direction to switch to the waist-to–height ratio, the Marine Corps announced in February that it would mandate that Marines have a waist-to-height ratio of 0.52 or less — a standard that means Marines will have to keep their waistlines between 2 and 3 inches skinnier than the Defense Department standard.\n\nA Marine Corps spokesman told Task & Purpose at the time that the 0.52 waist-to-height ratio “represents a balance between health and performance.”\n\n“From a health perspective, it serves as an initial screening to identify Marines for further evaluation before they reach higher health risk categories,” Maj. Hector Infante, a spokesman for Training and Education Command, said in February. “From a performance perspective, studies show that a high percentage of Marines below this threshold achieve first-class fitness scores.”","category":"service","author":"Jeff Schogol","publishDate":"2026-07-07T17:20:24.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/8394094-e1783446043966.jpeg?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-wasit-height-2026/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T18:00:47.273Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:52.395Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-9n6qmb","slug":"does-a-bear-shop-at-the-commissary-one-did-at-this-alaska-military-base","title":"Does a bear shop at the commissary? One did at this Alaska military base.","excerpt":"The commissary at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, had an unexpected customer over the July 4th weekend when a bear dropped by and began browsing the store’s produce section.","content":"The commissary at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, had an unexpected customer over the July 4th weekend when a bear dropped by and began browsing the store’s produce section.\n\nVideo of the bear’s visit, captured in a roughly 30-second clip posted to social media, shows the bruin checking out the commissary shelves, munching on a piece of fruit, and then wandering off.\n\nAn Air Force official at JBEAR — sorry, JBER — confirmed that the young black bear seen in the video entered the main exchange shopping mall around 9 a.m. on July 5.\n\n“It found its way down the hall into the Commissary where it helped itself to a peach and left the building,” said Maj Carly Costello, director of public affairs for the 673rd Air Base Wing.\n\nThe bear entered and left through the store’s automatic sliding doors. The video ends with the bear outside the commissary’s closed doors. There are no people seen in the video, which was first posted to a local Facebook group at the base outside Anchorage, and shared by the popular Amn/NCO/SNCO page.\n\nTop Stories This Week\n\nFormer soldier convicted of stealing $1 million worth of MREs\n\nTop medical commander fired at Joint Base Langley-Eustis\n\nThe new Marine Scout career field is officially here\n\nThe base’s wildlife program manager later determined that the event was “entirely incidental,” and the bear had triggered the building’s automatic doors by “displaying standard, non-confrontational foraging behaviors,” Costello told Task & Purpose.\n\nLarge wildlife wandering into buildings via automatic doors is not uncommon in Alaska. In 2023, a moose wandered through automatic doors into the lobby of an Anchorage, Alaska medical building, munching on decorative plants as medical workers in scrubs snapped photos. Security eventually shooed the moose away.\n\nThe commissary bear left on its own accord, wandering through the parking lot, Costello said. Conservation Law Enforcement officers who had arrived at the scene then coaxed the errant animal into nearby woods.\n\nThe conservation officers on JBER are civilian employees hired by the federal government, she said. Active-duty troops can volunteer to work alongside the civilian officers.\n\nAlaska is home to about 100,000 black bears, who as a species are generally smaller and more prone to excursions into urban areas than the state’s brown and polar bears. Brown bears forage less in human areas. Polar bears, while far more aggressive, live only in the mostly uninhabited northern coastal regions of the state.\n\n“It is not uncommon for residents or visitors to Alaska to see bears, usually from a safe distance,” according to the state’s Fish and Game Department. “But even if you don’t see a bear, you will never be far from one; Alaska is bear country.”\n\nWhile they are majestic creatures, bears can also pose a danger to humans. Two soldiers with the 11th Airborne Division were injured in April when they were attacked by a bear during a land navigation exercise at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.\n\nBase officials say new, tougher trash cans have reduced bear issues\n\nBears can become accustomed to encroaching on residential areas and campgrounds when unsecured sources of food are available, Costello said. That can lead to bears losing their fear of humans, creating a public safety threat and, eventually, force authorities to kill the bears.\n\nOver the past year, seven bears have had to be put down because they were deemed to pose a danger to humans, she said.\n\n“Lethally removing an animal is never the first choice, and using non-lethal techniques such as rubber bullets, flashbangs or sirens are preferred to discourage habituating behavior,” Costello told Task & Purpose. “Unfortunately, relocation is not always a solution as bears have a very strong homing instinct and will find their way back, potentially find new neighborhoods, or they may be placed unintentionally into another bear’s territory, potentially leading to territorial disputes that often prove fatal.”\n\nFortunately, the base has seen a drop in bear incidents since it introduced bear-resistant dumpsters in May that are built with thicker steel construction and feature interlocking lids and spring-loaded locking bars, Costello said.\n\nAuthorities on the base have also released a video letting people know how to use the trash receptacles and take other precautions to prevent dangerous encounters with humans and “keep bears wild.”","category":"service","author":"Jeff Schogol","publishDate":"2026-07-07T16:15:39.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Black-Bear-photo.jpg?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-bear-alaska/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T18:00:47.273Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:52.395Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-o54iba","slug":"continuing-to-serve-veterans-can-find-purpose-through-coaching","title":"Continuing to serve: Veterans can find purpose through coaching","excerpt":"Veterans leave the military with discipline, leadership, resilience and a deep commitment to service. But when the uniform comes off, many ask, “What’s next?","content":"Veterans leave the military with discipline, leadership, resilience and a deep commitment to service. But when the uniform comes off, many ask, “What’s next?” For many, the answer can be found in coaching—on the field, court, track or sideline.\n\nSoldiers To Sidelines helps Veterans, service members, military spouses and Gold Star families continue serving by becoming coaches. Through free certification, training, mentorship, networking and continued professional development, Soldiers To Sidelines gives members of the military community the tools to lead again—this time through sports.\n\nFinding purpose through coaching\n\nCoaching offers more than a new role. It provides purpose, structure and connection. Many Veterans miss the sense of team, mission and shared responsibility that defined their time in service. Coaching restores those elements in meaningful ways, allowing Veterans to use the leadership skills they already have to shape athletes, strengthen communities and inspire the next generation.\n\nThe impact reaches far beyond the scoreboard. Soldier coaches teach accountability, confidence, teamwork, discipline and character. They understand how to lead under pressure, how to put others first and how to help people grow through challenge. Those qualities make Veterans uniquely suited to coach, mentor and serve as role models for young athletes.\n\nSoldiers To Sidelines also helps Veterans translate military experience into civilian opportunity. Whether someone is new to coaching or already has experience, the organization provides education, resources and access to a national network of coaches and leaders. Certified soldier coaches can continue developing through additional education, networking events, tools, resources and job opportunities designed to support long-term growth in the coaching profession.\n\nFor many Veterans, Soldiers To Sidelines is more than a coaching program. It is a community. It connects people who understand service, transition and the desire to keep making an impact. It reminds Veterans that their leadership still matters—and that their next mission may be helping an athlete, a team or a community become stronger.\n\nUpcoming coaching summit\n\nRegistration is open for the 2026 Soldiers To Sidelines Coaching Summit, July 23–25, 2026, at the Vanderbilt Marriott in Nashville, Tennessee. The free, in-person event is open to service members, Veterans, military spouses and Gold Star families. It brings together current and aspiring soldier coaches with leaders from across the sports industry for coach development, connection and opportunity.\n\nREGISTER HERE\n\nCoaching changes lives, especially the life of the coach. For Veterans seeking purpose, community and a way to continue serving, Soldiers To Sidelines offers a path forward. The next mission may start with a whistle, a team and someone who needs a leader.","category":"community","author":"audreybhullar","publishDate":"2026-07-07T16:00:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/07/STS-Summit-2026-Save-The-Date-6.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148063/veterans-find-purpose-through-coaching/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T18:00:41.199Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:53.482Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-3165ys","slug":"real-military-captains-drive-jeep-s-captains-of-america-commercial","title":"Real military captains drive Jeep’s ‘Captains of America’ commercial","excerpt":"The Jeep® brand is one that is nearly synonymous with military history, dating back to June 1940 and the outbreak of World War II when the U.S.","content":"The Jeep® brand is one that is nearly synonymous with military history, dating back to June 1940 and the outbreak of World War II when the U.S. Army solicited bids from automakers for a light reconnaissance vehicle tailored to Army specifications.\n\nBy Armistice Day 1940, Willys-Overland delivered its prototype “Quad” vehicle and the “jeep” would go on to be the trusted brand for soldiers throughout the European theater. One jeep was even awarded the Purple Heart. Jeep continued to serve in both combat and civilian roles, becoming a beloved brand known for rugged vehicles and classic designs.\n\nTo this day, Jeep strives to continue to honor military service members with cash incentives or Veteran’s Day specials and non-profit donations.\n\nBut for America250, they did something extra fun: they teamed up with Marvel and found real military captains for a special “Captain America” themed commercial.\n\nThe featured captains include:\n\nCapt. Gary Neuger, Army (Jeep Wrangler A250 driver)\n\nCapt. Kschris Anda, Air Force (Jeep Wrangler driver)\n\nCapt. Scott Kennedy, Marine Corps (Jeep Grand Cherokee driver)\n\nCapt. Joz McCaw, Army (Jeep Cherokee driver)\n\nCapt. Margaret McCoy, Army National Guard (Jeep Compass driver)\n\nCapt. Roberto Portales, Army (Jeep Gladiator driver)\n\nCapt. Hiram Murray, Marine Corps (Jeep Grand Wagoneer driver)\n\nCapt. Alan Pietruszewski, Navy (Naval Aviator)\n\nCapt. Bodhi Rader, Air Force (Pilot)\n\nIt’s worth noting that some of these captains went on to achieve higher ranks in the military, so these do not necessarily reflect how quickly you should snap to attention when they walk in the room.\n\nJeep didn’t have to actually cast veterans. They could have cast any actor to play their captains. Instead, they took the time to search for the real thing.\n\nLet me tell you why that’s so important.\n\nWhen veterans transition to civilian careers after their military service, they’re already years behind their civilian counterparts. Sometimes their military jobs can translate on the resume, but oftentimes it means starting over.\n\nIn a career like the entertainment industry where youth is king, it can be brutal to try to get a job that a celebrity with a decade of roles on their resume is also auditioning for. Why would you cast me when you have Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway right there?\n\nWell, for a military role, experience actually does come in handy. We know how to wear the uniform, march in formation, and salute. We know how to pronounce military lingo and communicate with shorthand. In other words, we bring authenticity to a career field that is highly honored and routinely portrayed in film and television, and when you get it wrong, every veteran in your audience groans.\n\nTake it further and make the scene a combat scene — vets are already trained with weapons, with callouts, and with the gravity of the situation. It definitely translates.\n\nIt’s not just that we have quicker access to the authenticity of the character; vets bring a work ethic to set as well. I chatted with Marine Corps veteran Hiram Murray, one of the vets featured in the Jeep spot, who is also a professional actor, and he shared some observations.\n\n“With military veterans, you have a built-in technical advisor. We all know that when you’re on set, time is money, but vets already know what to do. We know how to salute and how to walk and talk military. The thing about working with veterans is that we all know mission accomplishment. We all have the goal in mind,” Murray asserted.\n\nSo how do you go about finding real veterans for military roles?\n\nNavy veteran Alan Pietruszewski is a fierce proponent of using what he calls “a veteran note” on audition breakdowns — the casting calls used on production sites to announce roles that are being cast.\n\nHere’s an example of the note used for Army veteran Gary Neuger’s parajumping role:\n\n“Must be a real, retired military captain (or above) who served on active duty. Paratrooping experience is a plus. PLEASE INDICATE MILITARY BRANCH, RANK, AND PARATROOPING EXPERIENCE IN SUBMISSION NOTES TO BE CONSIDERED FOR CASTING.”\n\nNow, we’re still working with movie magic and safety, so that’s definitely a stunt performer leaping out of a grounded fuselage, but you had jump wings in the aircraft lending credence to the pre- and post-jump moments.\n\nCredit here goes to Dan Bell Casting, a casting office that is well-known for their support of military veterans. Dan Bell Casting has also worked on other military-friendly projects like USAA; there’s no doubt why Jeep and Marvel selected them.\n\nYou can tell Jeep was stoked to work on this commercial, along with director Anthony Leonardi, because they also created some behind-the-scenes videos featuring the vets and their perspectives. For a working actor, booking a principal role in a commercial means a nice pay day.\n\nEvery time that commercial is renewed or edited for a different market, the residuals grow. Commercials are a great way for union performers to qualify for health care, so this kind of commercial can literally be life-changing.\n\nAnd for an emerging actor, anything that helps open the door to the casting room is an opportunity to book those roles that will strengthen our resume and get eyes on our talent and craft. As a veteran and professional actor myself, I was proud as hell to see friends book this job.\n\nI hope the teams at Stellantis, Jeep, Marvel, Dan Bell Casting, and beyond know how much this kind of support helps us and how much we appreciate it. On behalf of all #ActorsWhoServed, I give our thanks—and congratulations on a fun project!\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• Captain America and the boldest punch in American pop culture\n• NASA’s X-59 breaks the sound barrier without the sonic boom\n• The combat jumps of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team in Korea\n\nReal military captains drive Jeep’s ‘Captains of America’ commercial\n\n6 songs that will always remind America of the Vietnam War\n\nJames Bond’s longest-running ‘Q’ survived 5 excruciating years as a POW\n\nSFC’s Chloe Turner on why sport fishing is reeling in veterans\n\n‘The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower’ reveals the true, sometimes surprising history of Sparta","category":"service","author":"Shannon Corbeil","publishDate":"2026-07-07T16:00:00.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/jeep-captains-of-america.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/entertainment/captains-of-america-jeep-commercial-real-captains/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T18:00:51.940Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:53.482Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-t5vy8g","slug":"the-fascinating-history-of-the-military-duffel-bags-we-know-and-love","title":"The fascinating history of the military duffel bags we know and love","excerpt":"You can spot it from across any airport, slung over one shoulder, listing the person carrying it about fifteen degrees off vertical. The military duffel is not elegant.","content":"You can spot it from across any airport, slung over one shoulder, listing the person carrying it about fifteen degrees off vertical. The military duffel is not elegant. It is a fabric tube with a strap, a cylinder of canvas or nylon that holds everything a service member owns and surrenders none of it without a fight.\n\nWhatever you need is at the bottom. It is always at the bottom. That is how the fundamental physics of the thing—a law as old as the bag itself—works.\n\nThe duffel will never get a statue, a callsign, or a slow-motion hero shot. It is the least glamorous object the military ever handed you, and also the most loyal, the one piece of gear that followed you from the first day of boot camp to your last move, dragged across every parking lot, gym floor, and tarmac in between.\n\nThe Navy calls it a seabag. Everybody else calls it a duffel. Either way, it has been quietly hauling the entire contents of a military life for more than two centuries, and it has barely changed, because it barely needed to.\n\nBury the Box, Grab the Bag\n\nIt started, in true naval tradition, with an officer who could not stand clutter. In 1803, aboard the USS Constitution, Commodore Edward Preble, a man remembered as a stickler for neatness, ordered that bags be issued to his crew in place of their wooden sea chests.\n\nKnockoff pirate treasure chests ate up precious room on a crowded warship, so the common sailors lost theirs. The petty officers, naturally, were allowed to keep theirs, because some things will never change. Within a decade, the chest had all but vanished from the fleet, replaced by a soft sack a man could cram into any corner.\n\nThose first bags were flax linen, painted black to keep the seawater out, and closed with a drawstring at the top, which means the modern misery of the top-loader is not modern at all. Herman Melville griped about it in the 1840s, complaining that a sailor could get into his black bag only once a day, and only during a stretch of utter chaos.\n\nTwo centuries before you stood in a barracks dumping an entire bag onto a bunk to find one clean sock, a future literary giant was doing the same thing and hating it exactly as much as you did.\n\nSailors made the bags their own from the very beginning. They painted their names on the canvas, and some went further.\n\nA gunner on the Constitution named John Lord decorated his with a cannon and a fouled anchor stacked over a pile of cannonballs, which is simply the 1820s version of the guy who covers his duffel in unit patches and the names of every base he ever passed through.\n\nThe military bag evolved the way the military evolves everything, slowly, expensively, and while quietly complaining. Original models were almost 4 feet tall when filled and were black. By the early 1900s, it had turned white and shrunk to a more manageable thirty-six inches.\n\nSailors learned to split their gear between the bag and their hammock so they could actually find things, a workaround that earned its own name, the lash-up, and hardened into a tradition that outlived the problem it solved.\n\nFor generations, the bag carried your bedroom like a mule, first your hammock and later your mattress. That happily ended after World War II, when the Navy stopped issuing hammocks, and a new regulation finally spared sailors from dragging a dirty personal mattress around the globe.\n\nYour redesigned bag picked up the features it still, umm, features today, such as a shoulder strap, an outside pocket, and a locking closure, and it got a great deal lighter to love.\n\nThe version most people picture arrived in two steps. In 1952, the services settled on a single olive-drab bag, and that quiet act created the naming schism that survives to this very day, a seabag to the Navy and a duffel to everyone else, one tube to rule them all.\n\nVietnam ushered in nylon and proper straps, so a person could finally wear it across the back like a pack instead of lugging it like a sack of emotional baggage.\n\nIt’s a Keeper\n\nYou and your duffel become a relationship, and not a healthy one either. It will try to dislocate one shoulder, then offer to even things out by snapping a rotator cuff in the other. It develops a signature funk over the years as well, a blend of molding canvas, foot powder, and stains sweated through, that no amount of washing ever fully removes.\n\nIt demands you move it like a graceless bride, half-carrying, half-shoving it across the floor for the moments when the thing is simply too heavy to lift with any real dignity.\n\nAnd yet you loved it. You wrote your name on it. You added the patches, the unit, the places you had been, exactly like a gunner did with a paintbrush two hundred years ago.\n\nA faded, beaten, salty old duffel is a badge of honor, proof that you went somewhere hard and came back, provided it still seals and the seams still hold.\n\nPeople will keep them long after the uniform comes off, hauling them down from a closet shelf to move a kid into a dorm or to haul camping gear, still full of funk, but still loyal, still impossible to pack correctly.\n\nThat is the strange allure of the dumbest bag in the military. It asks for nothing, complains never, and quietly carries everything you own through the hardest years of your life.\n\nIt outlasted the sea chest, the hammock, the mattress, and a dozen wars, and it will almost certainly outlast the rest of us, too, waiting on a closet floor somewhere with one clean sock still wedged at the very bottom.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• Why the US military wants to take your wisdom teeth so fast\n• A 100-plus year history of iconic US military helmets \n• The US military’s drinking water was the worst water you’ve ever loved\n\nThe fascinating history of the military duffel bags we know and love\n\nThe tradition and history of the military Challenge Coin\n\nFrom 7.62 to 5.56 to the new 6.8mm—did the Army finally get its round right?\n\nWhy the US military wants to take your wisdom teeth so fast\n\nFrom Decoration Day to Memorial Day: How the US came to honor its fallen heroes","category":"legacy","author":"Adam Gramegna","publishDate":"2026-07-07T15:00:00.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/history-of-the-duffel-bag-dvids.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/duffel-bag-history-an-ode/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T18:00:51.940Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:53.482Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-a8tktq","slug":"us-troops-could-restart-poland-deployments-in-the-coming-weeks","title":"US troops could restart Poland deployments in the ‘coming weeks’","excerpt":"A Polish defense official said the U.S. military will resume rotating troops into Poland in the “coming weeks,” two months after the Pentagon abruptly canceled an Army deployment of nearly 4,000...","content":"A Polish defense official said the U.S. military will resume rotating troops into Poland in the “coming weeks,” two months after the Pentagon abruptly canceled an Army deployment of nearly 4,000 soldiers to the country. U.S. officials did not directly address on Monday whether a large-scale rotation was in the works, but noted that some number of U.S. troops have remained in Poland throughout the summer.\n\n“The rotation of U.S. troops, which was suspended several weeks ago, is resuming and will continue, and in the coming weeks, the rotation of U.S. troops to Poland will be completed,” Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said in a public speech Monday. He appeared to be referring to a long-scheduled rotation of nearly 4,000 soldiers from the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division that was abruptly canceled in May.\n\nKosiniak-Kamysz said he had been informed of the reactivated rotation by Stephanie Holmes, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw and from the U.S. Military Attaché in Poland.\n\nU.S. officials with the Pentagon, U.S. European Command and the State Department did not respond to requests for comment Monday about Kosiniak-Kamysz’s remarks.\n\nThe announcement comes almost two months after the Pentagon canceled the 4,000-soldier 1st Cavalry Division rotation. Kosiniak-Kamysz, who is also the deputy prime minister, announced the resumption of rotating troops at an event in Bydgoszcz, Poland, celebrating a deal to make American-designed cruise missiles in the country.\n\nIt is not clear when specifically American forces would rotate in, how many will be a part of that force or what unit they will be drawn from.\n\nMuddled troop levels in Poland and central Europe\n\nSince the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States has increased the number of troops rotated into central and eastern Europe to support NATO partners as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve. That peaked with as many as five brigades and two division headquarters, but it has decreased since the start of 2025, a defense official told Task & Purpose this May.\n\nThe 1st Cavalry Division troops set to deploy to Poland this year as part of a regularly scheduled rotation in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, with some already on the ground by May. The deployment was one of two confirmed deployments canceled earlier this year, along with a missile defense unit long planned to go to Germany.\n\nThe May cancelation came the same day that the White House said it would draw down 5,000 troops from the continent amid a diplomatic feud between President Donald Trump and German leadership over the war with Iran.\n\nPresident Donald Trump later announced that an additional 5,000 American troops would go to Poland, although that has not yet happened and it is unclear where those troops would come from. In mid-June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a review of American troop deployments to Europe, which is set to last several months.\n\nAlthough the cavalry unit’s deployment was canceled, thousands of American personnel are still in Poland. At the end of June, the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division transferred authority to the 1st Infantry Division as it wrapped up a nine-month deployment to eastern Europe.","category":"service","author":"Nicholas Slayton","publishDate":"2026-07-07T14:14:29.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/9672465-1-e1783433167420.jpg?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/us-troops-restart-poland-deployments/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T18:00:47.273Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:53.482Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-9eytwc","slug":"serving-up-competition-and-connection-at-the-golden-age-games","title":"Serving up competition and connection at the Golden Age Games","excerpt":"Whether it was playing table tennis at local Boys & Girls Clubs in his hometown of Hampton, Virginia, or pickup basketball games at the community center, David Hill has never been one to shy away...","content":"Whether it was playing table tennis at local Boys & Girls Clubs in his hometown of Hampton, Virginia, or pickup basketball games at the community center, David Hill has never been one to shy away from keeping score. That lifelong competitive spirit drove him to compete at the 2026 National Veterans Golden Age Games in events ranging from table tennis and basketball to swimming, cornhole and horseshoes.\n\nBut at the Games in Tampa, Florida, the retired Navy Veteran discovered that the best part of the games wasn’t the medal hanging around his neck at the end of the week.\n\nIt was the people.\n\nMore than medals\n\nHill, who recently wrapped up a 35-year government career on April 30, returned to the games this year after attending his first competition in Memphis.\n\n“It’s one great experience after another. If you’re a Veteran, you need to go,” said Hill. “I always want to win, but it’s also about meeting people. We’re all Veterans and just having a good time.”\n\nOne moment from last year’s games has stayed with him. After helping his team capture gold in three-on-three basketball, he recalled standing on the podium: “The people I played against were the first people to come hug me afterward. There’s a lot of love here.”\n\nSupport and community\n\nHill’s fiancée, Desmonet Vincent, watched it unfold for the first time.\n\n“I was so excited,” Vincent said. “I didn’t get the chance to go last year, but this year I’m here for support. I just love this competition with other Veterans and the camaraderie.”\n\nHill credits much of his journey to the encouragement of Monique Harris, a recreation therapist at the Hampton VA Medical Center who has spent years encouraging Veterans to participate in adaptive sports and recreation programs.\n\nHill said Harris had been nudging him to attend the games long before he became age-eligible, and when registration issues nearly prevented him from attending last year, she stepped in to make sure he had the opportunity.\n\n“She told me, ‘You’ve been waiting to do this all this time. We’re going to get you in,’” Hill said. “She supports everybody. She’s everywhere and does a wonderful job.”\n\nFor Harris, seeing Hill finally compete has been worth the wait.\n\n“I’m so proud of Hill,” Harris said. “He counted down the years waiting until he turned 55, and when the time came, he was so excited. Seeing him finally here competing is amazing.”\n\nPlaying for more\n\nEven after a tough table tennis loss early in competition, Hill wasn’t discouraged.\n\n“It was a good match. Good competitor,” Hill said with a smile. “I might see him again on the basketball court. Then I’m sure I’ll get revenge.”\n\nFor Hill, that’s what the games are all about. They are a reminder that healing, friendship and community can thrive long after military service ends, proving that some of life’s greatest victories happen far beyond the scoreboard.","category":"community","author":"audreybhullar","publishDate":"2026-07-07T13:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/07/David-Hill-1-scaled.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148080/serving-competition-connection-golden-age-games/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T18:00:41.199Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:53.482Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-itxz2j","slug":"why-the-cia-once-bought-up-the-world-s-supply-of-lsd-during-the-cold-war","title":"Why the CIA once bought up the world’s supply of LSD during the Cold War","excerpt":"Behind bars in Atlanta for bank robbery in the 1950s, Whitey Bulger became depressed and pondered thoughts of suicide. The infamous crime boss began seeing things that weren’t there and hearing...","content":"Behind bars in Atlanta for bank robbery in the 1950s, Whitey Bulger became depressed and pondered thoughts of suicide.\n\nThe infamous crime boss began seeing things that weren’t there and hearing voices when no one was around. He thought he saw blood coming out of walls and humans transform into skeletons. For someone with an obsessive need to control and intimidate, Bulger thought he was going insane.\n\nThat wasn’t what happened to Bulger at all. In reality, as part of a clinical trial in which Bulger agreed to participate under false pretenses, Bulger received doses of LSD for more than a year.\n\nThe effects left Bulger vowing to kill the doctor.\n\n“I was in prison for committing a crime, but they committed a greater crime on me,” said Bulger, who died in 2018.\n\nWhat Was MK-ULTRA?\n\nThe psychedelic drugs that Bulger took were part of a secret CIA program, MK-ULTRA. During the Cold War, the United States’ top foreign intelligence agency fervently (and erroneously) believed communist countries possessed drugs to control the mind. Shortly after becoming the CIA’s director, Allen Dulles said as much during a speech at Princeton in 1953. He also said that practice was beneath the United States.\n\n“We in the West have somewhat limited possibilities for brain warfare,” Dulles said. “Such experiments without consent, even on enemies, contradict not only American, but also universal human values.”\n\nLess than a week later, Dulles authorized MK-ULTRA. He placed Sidney Gottlieb in charge of the highly secretive program. By outward appearances, Gottlieb looked like a mild-mannered chemist. Underneath, he had a diabolical side, author Stephen Kinzer noted in the book “Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control.”\n\nKinzer referred to Gottlieb as a “gentle-hearted torturer,” and his subjects suffered terribly under MK-ULTRA. Through extreme measures, the program attempted to break down one’s mind, then fill the gaps with other thoughts. How the CIA did this was through not only drugs, but also electroshock therapy, hypnosis, and radiation. It also employed sensory isolation and deprivation. Sometimes, it resorted to verbal and sexual violence on their drugged subjects.\n\nThe CIA was so invested in MK-ULTRA that it authorized Gottlieb to spend $240,000 (more than $3 million in today’s dollars) to buy the world’s supply of lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD.\n\n“A License to Kill”\n\nThe spy agency used its abundant supply of acid liberally, Kinzer reported.\n\nIt gave LSD to mental patients, prisoners, and drug addicts without their consent. The CIA dispensed it for taxpayer-funded experiments at universities, hospitals, research facilities, and drug companies. Soldiers, doctors, and civil servants received some.\n\nKen Kesey, author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” volunteered for the MK-ULTRA program. So did Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead and Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg, according to Kinzer.\n\nThe CIA’s experiments extended far beyond American borders. They took place in detention centers in Japan, Germany, and the Philippines. Overseas, detainees received doses of LSD and other drugs, including heroin and morphine. Sometimes, program representatives gave subjects barbiturates intravenously in one arm and amphetamines in the other, Babel—a Ukraine-based media outlet—reported in 2023.\n\nGottlieb was at the center of it all.\n\n“This guy had a license to kill,” Kinzer told National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air” program in 2019.\n\nBecause of the covert nature of MK-ULTRA, no one can say with certainty how many people died because of the illicit program. Some definitely were pushed to their limits and beyond. Gottlieb and others even gave psychedelic drugs to some of the CIA’s own operatives; one of them, under the influence, fell out of a 13th-floor window on November 28, 1953.\n\nThe circumstances of whether Frank Olson killed himself or was pushed remain unresolved. His family received a $750,000 settlement from the federal government, plus an apology from President Gerald Ford.\n\nTestifying Before the Senate\n\nWhen it began, MK-ULTRA aimed to eventually create a truth serum that it could use against the United States’ Cold War adversaries. Once the CIA determined it couldn’t produce one to control the mind, the agency began to curtail the program.\n\nMK-ULTRA completely shut down in 1973. When it did, then-CIA chief Richard Helms and Gottlieb attempted to destroy any evidence it ever existed. Some files escaped the shredder, however.\n\nThe following year, media reports describing illegal CIA experiments emerged. In 1975, Gottlieb appeared before the Church Committee, which Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho) chaired. That panel sought answers regarding alleged illegal practices from several U.S. government agencies, including the CIA. Then in 1977, Gottlieb testified with immunity before senators during hearings about MK-ULTRA.\n\n“He was allowed to requisition human subjects across the United States and around the world and subject them to any kind of abuse that he wanted, even up to the level of it being fatal—yet nobody looked over his shoulder,” Kinzer told NPR’s “Fresh Air.” “He never had to file serious reports to anybody. The mentality must have been [that] this project is so important—mind control, if it can be mastered, is the key to global world power.”\n\nGottlieb died in 1999, but interest in the MK-ULTRA program remains high today. In June, Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) began House Oversight Committee task force hearings on MK-ULTRA.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• This CIA agent was the ‘Master of Disguise’\n• How James Bond’s longest-running ‘Q’ survived 5 excruciating years as a POW\n• Graphic novel spotlights the covert dealings that helped win the American Revolution\n\nWhy the CIA once bought up the world’s supply of LSD during the Cold War\n\n6 songs that will always remind America of the Vietnam War\n\nThe Marquis de Lafayette’s Paris gravesite is filled with dirt from Massachusetts\n\nJames Bond’s longest-running ‘Q’ survived 5 excruciating years as a POW\n\nWorld War II\n\nHow an American Nazi became the World War II propagandist ‘Lord Haw-Haw’","category":"legacy","author":"Stephen Ruiz","publishDate":"2026-07-07T12:00:00.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/psychedelic-eye-mind-altering-drugs-wikimedia-commons.jpg?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/why-the-cia-once-bought-up-the-worlds-supply-of-lsd/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T12:00:39.436Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:54.569Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-sko1tj","slug":"when-you-are-assigned-the-duty-station-nobody-celebrates","title":"When you are assigned the duty station nobody celebrates","excerpt":"When my husband received orders for recruiting duty , no one congratulated us. They apologized instead, and issued warnings. “Prepare for the worst.” “Hours are so long and you will never see him.","content":"When my husband received orders for recruiting duty, no one congratulated us. They apologized instead, and issued warnings.\n\n“Prepare for the worst.”\n\n“Hours are so long and you will never see him.”\n\n“I would rather him be deployed than recruiting.”\n\n“Recruiting ruins marriages.”\n\n“Just survive the next three years.”\n\nBefore we ever arrived, we were cautioned about long hours, strained marriages, burnout and the challenges that supposedly awaited us. It seemed everyone had a horror story to share.\n\nPacking away expectations\n\nIn 2022, when he left for Basic Recruiter Course (BRC) on July 4th — Independence Day — I felt anything other than freedom. Everyone’s warnings echoed in my mind.\n\nThen came one unexpected blessing: our assignment was to RSS Altamonte Springs, Florida, just over an hour from our hometown. When the movers packed our Hawai’i home into boxes, I packed my expectations away as well. I was determined that someone else’s experiences would not write our story on this duty before we had the chance to live it.\n\nWhen we arrived in Florida that fall, the challenges began almost immediately. As movers unpacked our household goods, we discovered that Hurricane Ian had flooded the storage facility where our crates were kept. Mold had ruined furniture, clothes, uniforms and countless keepsakes. The claims process felt endless. Days later, my husband left for South Carolina for two weeks of training while we found our new normal.\n\nIn the middle of this chaos, I remember thinking, “maybe everyone was right.”\n\nTreasuring the ordinary\n\nWhen my husband came home after training, he began working at the recruiting station in Altamonte Springs. The hours were long. Saturdays disappeared, Sundays were not guaranteed, and mission pressure was constant. Many nights he came home from a 14-hour day, completely exhausted.\n\nThen the holidays came, and my fears about recruiting began to fade. For the first time in years, military life was not telling us what we had to miss — it was showing us what we had been given.\n\nEvery Christmas prior, it was either duty, distance or deployment that stood in the way of having a big family holiday. Christmas 2022 changed everything as we finally celebrated together — not over a video call, but around the same table.\n\nAfter that holiday season, we became intentional with the time we had. Sometimes that meant lunch (and dinner) at his office, ice cream across the street, or turning overnight training into staycations as a couple or a family. None of this changed the very real demands of recruiting duty, but they changed how we lived through them and showed up for each other.\n\nI began to realize that recruiting was not living up to the fears we were fed, and it was quickly becoming a season that taught us to treasure the ordinary. Our time was limited, but it became more meaningful because we were intentional. Our marriage grew stronger as we looked for ways to love each other on purpose. As our marriage grew stronger, so did our family.\n\nLooking back, I understand why so many people warned us. Not everyone can move close to home, some do not have a good family support system, and while the demands are standard to the duty, everyone handles them differently. Their experiences were real and valid, but I learned that someone else’s story doesn’t make it mine.\n\nThe refining assignment\n\nEach duty station brings unique hardships, and recruiting duty was no exception. It did, however, bring unexpected connection, resilience and memories our family will forever cherish. The duty station no one celebrated became a season that quietly strengthened us, taught us to find joy in the little moments together, and showed that we were more in control of our story than we believed.\n\nSometimes the hardest part of a duty station isn’t the assignment itself — it is managing the horrors we have been told and the narrative we have accepted. Recruiting duty challenged us in ways we never expected, but it also gave us memories, traditions and a stronger marriage than we imagined possible. Sometimes the assignment you think will break you is the one that refines you.","category":"service","author":"Megan Slaton","publishDate":"2026-07-07T09:00:48.000Z","image":"https://militaryfamilies.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/480FF69A-DF44-4E80-9358-6D011B5A929A-scaled.jpeg","source":"Military Families Magazine","sourceUrl":"https://militaryfamilies.com/military-life/when-you-are-assigned-the-duty-station-nobody-celebrates/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":4,"qualityScore":95,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T12:00:41.617Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:54.569Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-29iku2","slug":"6-songs-that-will-always-remind-america-of-the-vietnam-war","title":"6 songs that will always remind America of the Vietnam War","excerpt":"When it comes to wars that define a generation, there’s nothing that can top the Vietnam era. The war dominated the national conversation in the news and on television.","content":"When it comes to wars that define a generation, there’s nothing that can top the Vietnam era. The war dominated the national conversation in the news and on television. There were movies made about the Vietnam War while the war was ongoing, but nothing like the critical and popular favorites that would be made after the war.\n\nThe music of the era defined a generation so distinctly that even four generations later, kids so far removed from the Vietnam War still associate certain songs with hippies, Hueys, and Ho Chi Minh. It’s safe to say these songs will always make all Americans remember the Vietnam War, long after the last Vietnam vet dies.\n\n1. “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival\n\nTry not to think of a helicopter air assault flying over a jungle canopy when the first drum beats of “Fortune Son” start coming through your speakers. Even CCR can’t change that mental image. In 2018, the band released a new music video for the song to celebrate its 50th anniversary. There wasn’t a single military image in sight, but does anyone think of that video when the song comes on? Absolutely not.\n\nEverything about this song is perfect. Frontman John Fogerty skewers the wealthy in American society who support the war because they will never have to go and fight it. At the same time, he praises America’s patriotic working class. This is the anthem for working-class heroes, suffering for a war they didn’t even want.\n\n2. “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield\n\nAfter Buffalo Springfield’s lead singer attended an anti-war rally in Los Angeles in 1966, he went and wrote the most legendary anti-war song ever made. It speaks to both the American public, who would naturally choose whether they were for or against the war, while at the same time evoking images of Vietnamese civilians caught in the war’s crossfire.\n\n3. “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” by The Animals\n\nIt won’t be hard for anyone who’s ever deployed to realize why this song caught on with U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1965. As some Vietnam Veterans and music historians recall, this was the Vietnam anthem. Every bad band that ever played in an Armed Forces club had to play this song. It’s not just the song title or the lyrics; the way it builds is continuously aggressive, especially for 1965.\n\n4. “The End” by the Doors\n\n“The End” was released in 1967, one year before the Tet Offensive, so by the time the infamous North Vietnamese surprise attack happened, this Doors song was widely available to become the theme song of the war’s turning point. After 1968, “The End” was cemented as part of the Vietnam War’s official soundtrack. It didn’t hurt that it was prominently featured in “Apocalypse Now,” either.\n\n5. “Street Fightin’ Man” by The Rolling Stones\n\nThis song was also inspired by a lead singer attending an anti-war protest. This time, the singer was Mick Jagger, and the protest was going on in London. The Stones were one of the biggest bands in the world at the time and had witnessed many demonstrations and instances of civil unrest. “Street Fightin’ Man was the result of the band watching its generation “bursting at the seams.” But where Steven Stills is merely watching the protest in 1966, Mick Jagger is actively participating in 1968, reflecting a shift in the mood of the generation.\n\n6. “Search and Destroy” by Iggy and the Stooges\n\nBy the time “Search and Destroy” was released in 1973, the war was winding down (for the U.S., anyway), but that doesn’t mean people weren’t still angry it was ongoing at all. The feel-good rhythms of the 1960s were gone, and angry punk rock was beginning to take its place, especially in anti-war music. Iggy Pop used military terminology to describe the anger and frustration many continued to experience until the war finally ended.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• How to get a name rubbing from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall\n• America’s last combat revolver served from World War I to Vietnam\n• How Ronald Reagan healed scars from Vietnam on Memorial Day in 1984\n\n6 songs that will always remind America of the Vietnam War\n\nGreen Beret ‘Hatchet Forces’ terrorized the communists during the Vietnam War\n\nA Medal of Honor recipient explains what being an American means\n\nMedal of Honor\n\nTwo legendary Vietnam War Marines and a GWOT Green Beret received the Medal of Honor\n\nThis Medal of Honor recipient turned on his helicopter lights during a risky rescue in Vietnam","category":"legacy","author":"Blake Stilwell","publishDate":"2026-07-07T00:55:57.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/14/GettyImages-599747989.jpg?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/6-songs-that-will-always-remind-america-of-the-vietnam-war/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T06:00:39.134Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:54.569Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-cc05ry","slug":"the-marquis-de-lafayette-s-paris-gravesite-is-filled-with-dirt-from-massachusett","title":"The Marquis de Lafayette’s Paris gravesite is filled with dirt from Massachusetts","excerpt":"According to the history books, his name is Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette. In the United States, however, his legend is such that he has transcended a full name.","content":"According to the history books, his name is Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette. In the United States, however, his legend is such that he has transcended a full name. Like Cher, Madonna, the Rock, Prince, Eminem, and Beyoncé, he just doesn’t need all that.\n\nIn America, we simply call him “Lafayette.”\n\nWhen France needed help during World War I, a squadron of American airmen volunteered their skills to fight against the invading Germans. They called themselves the Lafayette Escadrille, and when those American troops finally arrived in France years later, their leaders walked into the tomb of the nobleman and announced, “Lafayette, we are here!”\n\nThe relationship between the Marquis de Lafayette and the United States has endured for 250 years because of his admiration and service to a country that was not his own. That admiration runs so deep, that the nobleman is buried in American soil—in Paris.\n\nWhen Lafayette came to the United States to fight the British in the Revolutionary War, he was so committed to the cause that he volunteered to serve without pay. Unlike other French officers volunteering, Lafayette actually had the military pedigree to be of use. His family’s military roots ran deep: all the way back to fighting alongside Joan of Arc.\n\nHis father was a colonel of grenadiers and was killed during the Seven Years War, and the young Marquis became one of King Louis XV’s musketeers while attending college. After college, he became an officer of dragoons and was soon enamored with the American fight for liberty.\n\nBy 1775, Lafayette was a captain in Paris and was anxious to join the Americans, to both fight for the cause of freedom and exact revenge on the British for killing his father. He could have avoided the war altogether; he was beyond wealthy, having inherited an astronomical annual salary (more than $1 million in today’s currency), and both his family the government in Paris was against it.\n\nHe left anyway, purchasing his own ship (as well as its cargo and a load of weapons) to make the journey. He landed in South Carolina in 1777, made his way to Philadelphia, and soon came to be the right hand man to Gen. George Washington himself.\n\nAlthough he was well-trained, his pedigree didn’t come with much actual experience in combat. Lafayette would be learning as he served the American cause. Luckily, as a wealthy man, his personal contributions more than made up for what he lacked in military experience. But as he gained that valuable experience, he proved himself an able commander.\n\nA dedicated Enlightenment thinker, his devotion to the cause of American ideals led him to fight in several battles, to be wounded at the battle of Brandywine, and encourage France to recognize American independence. Most crucially, it was Lafayette’s forces that harassed Cornwallis on his way to Yorktown.\n\nThis forced the British to move across the James River, where they were eventually trapped by Washington, Lafayette and Comte de Rochambeau by land and the French fleet by sea. He was forced to surrender his army after an almost three-week siege. It was the beginning of the end of the war, and the start of the American experiment.\n\nLafayette fought in the Continental Army all over the colonies, from New England to the Mid-Atlantic to the South, and was one of the few things that all the new states of the United States had in common. He so loved the ideals of the American Revolution that he tried to export them to France when he returned home.\n\nHis advocacy for American liberty would serve him and his wife well in the coming years of the French Revolution. The French admiration for American values literally saved the heads of the nobleman and his wife.\n\nLafayette would return to the United States many times in the years following the French Revolution. His visits would confirm the idea that the Founding Fathers had created a functioning democracy, based on the egalitarian values of the Enlightenment. He came to love the United States and proclaimed that he wanted to be buried in American soil.\n\nOn his final visit to the United States in 1824, Lafayette was the last surviving major general of the Revolution. Although more than 40 years had passed since the birth of the new nation, he still received a hero’s welcome from the American people. He visited all of the then-24 states in the Union, a journey of some 6,000 miles.\n\nWhile visiting Massachusetts on the trip, he managed to fill a trunk full of earth from the land near Boston’s Bunker Hill and bring it home with him to France. When the “Hero of Two Worlds” died of pneumonia in 1834, his son (aptly named Georges Washington) interred him in the dirt he’d brought back from America. To this day, he rests in both French and American soil.\n\nThe American flag has flown over his grave continuously since 1850, even through the Nazi occupation of Paris during World War II. Being a simple site in a private cemetery, hidden behind an innocuous high stone wall, no one ever thought to look there.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• Marquis de Lafayette: Washington’s indispensable French commander\n• The original US Navy was an armada of American rebels and privateers\n• Daniel Morgan’s Revolutionary War riflemen were America’s original scout snipers\n\nThe Marquis de Lafayette’s Paris gravesite is filled with dirt from Massachusetts\n\nWorld War II\n\nJames Bond’s longest-running ‘Q’ survived 5 excruciating years as a POW\n\nWorld War II\n\nHow an American Nazi became the World War II propagandist ‘Lord Haw-Haw’\n\nCelebrate America’s 250th with a real Revolutionary War cocktail\n\n‘The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower’ reveals the true, sometimes surprising history of Sparta","category":"legacy","author":"Blake Stilwell","publishDate":"2026-07-07T00:52:01.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Marquis-de-Lafayette-monmouth-nara.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/why-this-french-noblemans-paris-gravesite-is-filled-with-dirt-from-massachusetts/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T06:00:39.134Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-08T04:00:54.569Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-5hvk51","slug":"vfw-defends-first-amendment-rights-amid-blowback-over-political-cartoon","title":"VFW defends First Amendment rights amid blowback over political cartoon","excerpt":"The nation’s largest combat veteran organization is fending off criticism over a political cartoon that depicts vets facing a firing squad for proposed changes to benefits in a sweeping reform bill —...","content":"The nation’s largest combat veteran organization is fending off criticism over a political cartoon that depicts vets facing a firing squad for proposed changes to benefits in a sweeping reform bill — an illustration that drew fire last week from one of the bill’s primary sponsors.\n\nThe Veterans of Foreign Wars has used the cartoon to protest a portion of the Take Care of America’s Veterans bill that would pay for new benefits by altering requirements for sleep apnea and tinnitus disability ratings.\n\nAlthough veterans who currently get compensation for the two conditions would not see a change to their ratings as a result of the legislation, the VFW has opposed the provision because it would reduce future benefits to pay for other veterans’ programs.\n\nLast week, the organization posted an ad on its social media platform for t-shirts for its Honor the Contract campaign. The shirts, made by Grunt Style, feature a political cartoon created by the VFW last year that shows suited “bureaucrats” (presumably VA employees) and the “media” pointing rifles at two veterans with the subtext “punishing veterans,” “removing benefits” and “‘waste and fraud.’”\n\nVFW officials said the illustration was created primarily in response to a series of articles by the Washington Post on fraud and abuse in veterans benefits and disability compensation as well as visits this year to Capitol Hill by VFW leadership.\n\nBut on Wednesday, House Veterans Affairs Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., said the VFW was inciting political violence with the imagery. He called on VFW to remove the cartoon from social media, stop the sale of shirts and affirm its “commitment to fact-based advocacy.”\n\n“The recent inflammatory, fearmongering, and dangerous political rhetoric from the Veterans of Foreign Wars is inappropriate and must end immediately,” Bost said in a statement. “While I respect the First Amendment rights of every American, including those who work at VFW and have served in uniform, suggestions that VA’s dedicated workforce – or the media – or anyone else are actively shooting and punishing service members and veterans is unacceptable and creates a dangerous, politically charged environment that can put lives at risk.”\n\nVFW officials said the organization has used some iteration of a firing squad cartoon dating to 1933.\n\n“The VFW has never apologized for forcefully defending veterans and we are not about to start now,” VFW National Commander Carol Whitmore said in response to Bost’s statement.\n\n“Political cartoons have long been part of American public discourse because they communicate difficult truths in memorable ways. When bureaucrats take aim at veterans’ earned disability benefits, we will continue to use every tool available to ensure veterans’ voices are heard,” Whitmore added.\n\nThe Take Care of America’s Veterans Act includes more than 60 bills that would improve compensation for medically retired combat veterans and the spouses of fallen troops who decide to get remarried before age 55, among other proposals.\n\nThe legislation is supported by at least 23 military, family and veterans organizations, including the American Legion, the Military Officers Association of America, the National Military Family Association, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and more.\n\nThe coalition wrote a letter June 29 to the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees supporting the legislation but also asked for more details regarding the sleep apnea and tinnitus proposal, saying that “under ordinary circumstances it is not an approach we would support.”\n\n“This comprehensive package reflects years of bipartisan and bicameral work to improve care, benefits, and services for the veteran community. Republicans and Democrats have authored elements of the bill, and we believe it represents one of the most thorough efforts to deliver non-partisan support and relief to both broad and narrow segments of the communities we serve,” the groups wrote.\n\nDisabled American Veterans and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America have joined the VFW in opposing the provision that addresses paying for the legislation, which could reduce disability compensation payments to veterans by $57 billion over the first 10 years.\n\n“Veterans have earned their benefits through service and sacrifice,” Dr. Kyleanne Hunter, CEO of IAVA, said in a statement. “They should not be forced to pay for new initiatives through reductions to benefits they already rely upon, and we should never indicate to one set of veterans that their service is worth less than any other.”\n\nTo cover the cost of the legislation, which includes the widely supported Maj. Richard Star Act that would give medically retired combat veterans their full military retirement pay and Veterans Affairs disability compensation without an offset, the bill would implement a 2022 proposal to the VA’s ratings schedule for sleep apnea and tinnitus.\n\nUnder the legislation, veterans with asymptomatic sleep apnea or a mild case controlled by treatment would receive a 0% to 10% disability rating.\n\nSimilarly, tinnitus, which currently receives a 10% disability rating, would be treated as a symptom of another condition, such as hearing loss or a traumatic brain injury, and would no longer get a standalone rating.\n\nSupporters argue that the legislation would not cut benefits and instead would protect them. Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee chairman, told Military.com that the VA planned to implement the new sleep apnea and tinnitus regulations by the end of the year.\n\n“If we don’t get out ahead of that business, the reduction in spending...will not be used for veterans,” ” Moran told the outlet.\n\nDemocrat lawmakers say the proposal does amount to cutting veterans benefits, saying the method for paying for the bill’s cost is a “shell game.”\n\n“The Republican plan cuts existing veterans’ benefits to fund new ones — asking the next generation of veterans to pick up the tab for the last. That’s not progress; that’s a shell game that takes money out of veterans’ pockets. Caring for veterans is the cost of war. We cannot make compromises on the backs of veterans,” said Rep. Mark Takano of California, ranking Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee.\n\nThe House was to consider the bill the week of June 22 but the planned vote was postponed. The House returns to session July 13.\n\nThe Senate has not scheduled a vote on the bill.","category":"advocacy","author":"Patricia Kime","publishDate":"2026-07-06T21:57:01.000Z","image":"https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/RWCTUECQSVGRRB27JPF3UTKHUY.webp","source":"Military Times - Veterans","sourceUrl":"https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2026/07/06/vfw-defends-first-amendment-rights-amid-blowback-over-political-cartoon/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T00:00:36.713Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-07T04:00:36.679Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-rz0qgw","slug":"live-whole-health-325-give-yourself-a-lift-with-guided-imagery","title":"Live Whole Health #325: Give yourself a lift with guided imagery","excerpt":"Imagine your body as one of those Macy’s Day balloons, but instead of helium your body is filled with stress, anger, pain and overall misery. Sometimes you feel you are about to burst!","content":"Imagine your body as one of those Macy’s Day balloons, but instead of helium your body is filled with stress, anger, pain and overall misery. Sometimes you feel you are about to burst! Now imagine that same outline and shape, but instead you can fill it up with feelings of peace, safety, contentment and ease.\n\nWhen someone is in pain or feeling down, we say they have a “heaviness” about them, while someone who is enjoying life could be said to be “on cloud 9!”\n\nThere are no easy answers or magic pills for emotional and physical pain, but there are ways you may be able to “lighten your load” even for just a little while. Guided Imagery is a relaxation practice where you bring positive images to mind that support healing. During guided imagery, you focus on something that helps you feel relaxed. This may be a specific object, place or sound.\n\nLighten up\n\nGive it a try today with this 9.5-minute recorded session that allows your mind to go to a safe and relaxing place while your body settles into a comfortable, relaxed rate of breathing.\n\nReach out\n\nPain and suffering are part of life, but you don’t have to go it alone! There are many ways that VA can support you through difficult physical, mental and emotional challenges.\n\nHere are five resources that can help Veterans and caregivers:\n\nVA Chaplain Service\n\nHealth and Wellness Coaches\n\nVA Mental Health Services\n\nVA Caregiver Support Program\n\nVA Apps","category":"health","author":"Jason Davis","publishDate":"2026-07-06T20:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/07/FemaleChairYoga_BrainBreak.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148031/live-whole-health-325-give-yourself-a-lift-with-guided-imagery/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-07T00:00:37.989Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-07T04:00:36.679Z","linkStatus":"ok"}],"events":[{"id":"mobilize-379336","title":"Take Action for Nebraska","description":"Fill out this form to help us elect Democrats up and down the ballot. (You will also be among the first to know when we have yard signs!)\n\nIf you want to help, we can put you to work. We will connect you with county parties and candidates so you can help in your local area too. \n\nVolunteer opportunities include phonebanking, canvassing, postcards, hosting events, and delivering yard signs.\n\nYou can also use this form to connect with caucuses and councils, just type the group in the comments box and we will connect you. \n\n**Affiliated Caucus Organizations:**\n  \n- Black Caucus\n- Democrats Experiencing Disabilities\n- Latinx Caucus\n- Native Caucus\n- Stonewall Democrats\n- Women’s Caucus\n- Young Dems\n\n**Affiliated Policy Councils:**\n\n- Climate Council\n\n- Interfaith Council\n\n- Rural and Agriculture Council\n\n- Secular Council\n\n- Veterans and Military Families Council\n\n- Working Families Council","organization":"Nebraska Democratic Party","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/NDP-DEM_Donkey-Logo-Horz-RGB_20250715203748488336.png","startDate":"2026-07-09T05:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-07-10T04:59:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Chicago","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"","address":", ","city":"Lincoln","state":"NE","zip":"68510","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/nebdems/event/379336/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/NEDEMS_ButtonGraphic-ImBuildingTheParty_20241113195557678804.png","eventType":"volunteer","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"379336","scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T12:00:58.697Z"},{"id":"mobilize-776124","title":"Join 48th/51st Street RESISTANCE Friday’s","description":"Join us  - every Friday Rush Hour! \n\nWe are two sister decks*  in the RESISTANCE! \nThis is a crisis, and the time to act is now. We have misters and stuff to stay cool! \n\n4:00pm -5:30pm  during the summer\n\nWe RESIST, DEFY, & ORGANIZE! We make joy out of honks and demand justice for those detained by ice. Our message to the world that we do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies. Alongside Americans across the country, we are marching, rallying, and protesting to demand a stop the chaos and build an opposition movement against the looting of our country. We want a world for all living creatures.\nNONE OF US IS FREE UNTIL WE ARE ALL FREE. \nLove forward together! \nNO KINGS and NO WAR! \n\nWHERE ARE THE BABIES. \nFREE THEM ALL. \nGEO GROUP KILL CAMPS. \nGEO ICE CAMPS KILL OF THE PRESS. \nNO WAR. \nTAX THE EPSTIEN CLASS.  \nNO KING IN AMERICA. \nDUE PROCESS FOR ALL. \nHEALTH CARE FOR ALL. \nHUMANITY. \nEMPATHY. \nABOLISH ICE. \nWE LOVE PEOPLE\nSocial security stays.  \nICE OUT. \nWE SUPPORT VETERANS.  \nUNMASK ICE.  \nWe will sacrifice NO ONE! \nJAIL ALL THE PEDOS - JUSTICE FOR SURVIVORS. \nICE CAMPS KILL. \nNO WAR. \nFILES INTO TRIALS. \nTRANS VISIBILITY.  \nTAX THE EPSTEIN CLASS. \nPUT ALL ICE IN THE COOLER. \nGEO ICE CAMPS KILL. \nNO WAR FOR GREED.\n\n\nPlease follow along and VOTE!\n\n4:00pm -5:30pm  during the summer\n\nWe stand up in peaceful protest which is our constitutional right.\nDonald Trump and Peter Theil think this country belongs to them. \nICE agents, CA Guard and the Marines that have been turned into pawns and WE SAY NO!  \n\nThis is a crisis, and the time to act is now.\n* (a deck is a bridge or an overpass with a team and banners)","organization":"Coalition Against Project 2025","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/Full%20Color%20Background_20260601013044817204.jpg","startDate":"2026-07-10T23:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-07-11T00:30:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Los_Angeles","isVirtual":false,"location":{"venue":"This event’s address is private. Sign up for more details","address":"This event’s address is private. Sign up for more details, ","city":"Sacramento","state":"CA","zip":"95819","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/cap25/event/776124/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/IMG_4590_20260606151659391353.jpeg","eventType":"health-screening","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"776124","scrapedAt":"2026-07-04T06:00:46.157Z"},{"id":"mobilize-774947","title":"Weekly Napa Rally to Resist the Trump/Musk/GOP Regime!","description":"This a local Indivisible event!  This is a peaceful protest to support the rights of ALL Americans and show RESISTANCE to the current Trump/Musk/GOP regime's dismantling of our Government services, destruction of our economy and headlong descent into oligarchy and authoritarianism.  Veterans are invited as we Support and Respect all those that have served our Country.  Bring a sign, a friend, your good humor and enthusiasm.  JOIN US in Napa!","organization":"Indivisible","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/Mobilize_Indivisible_Horizontal_ForLightBackground_20250320155651214400.png","startDate":"2026-07-11T00:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-07-11T01:00:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Los_Angeles","isVirtual":false,"location":{"venue":"","address":"Soscol Avenue & 3rd Street, ","city":"Napa","state":"CA","zip":"94559","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/774947/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/organization/Mobilize%20Generalized%20Indivisible%20Event%20Campaign%20Image%201_20231214173802957298.png","eventType":"rally","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"774947","scrapedAt":"2026-07-04T06:00:46.157Z"},{"id":"mobilize-755826","title":"Ingleside Cleanup","description":"The Clean Side of Ingleside! Join the Civic Joy Fund, Refuse Refuse, SF Public Works, and the community for a friendly neighborhood cleanup!\n\nVolunteers will meet at Ocean Ale House (1314 Ocean Ave) to grab your tools. Then, cleaning will occur from 11:00am to 12:00pm. Stay afterwards for free food and drinks!\n\nSign up today and let’s beautify San Francisco together!\n\nOrganizer: David\n\nBy participating or registering in a cleanup or volunteer event, I acknowledge and agree to the Civic Joy Fund and Refuse Refuse volunteer waivers:\nhttps://civicjoyfund.org/volunteer - https://refuserefusesf.org/waiver","organization":"Civic Joy Fund","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/Civic%20Joy%20Fund%20Circular-Lockup-Color-trans-lrg%20%282%29_20250820005555879377.png","startDate":"2026-07-11T18:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-07-11T19:00:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Los_Angeles","isVirtual":false,"location":{"venue":"Ocean Ale House","address":"1314 Ocean Ave, ","city":"San Francisco","state":"CA","zip":"94112","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/civicjoyfund/event/755826/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/_Ingleside._001_20230719224925244221_20250214145050122596.jpeg","eventType":"volunteer","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"755826","scrapedAt":"2026-07-05T00:00:42.895Z"},{"id":"mobilize-765447","title":"Support Veterans Rush Hour Rally","description":"Support veterans: Protect the VA!\n\nJoin our Rush-Hour Resistance Rally outside the Chalmers Wylie VA Clinic to protest the cuts to the VA and support veterans!\n\nThis huge facility, serving veterans from a wide area, is on James Road just south of the Columbus Airport. Thousands of cars pass this location during rush hour every weekday afternoon, making this the perfect place to inform people about the crippling cuts that Trump, Musk and DOGE are making to our federal government.\n\nDemonstration area: We will be demonstrating on public sidewalks on both sides of James Road, which are highly visible to commuters passing by.\n\nUPDATED PARKING INFO: To eliminate any possibility of getting in the way of patients or staff at the clinic, we are asking everyone to avoid using the VA lot to the east of James Road. Instead, please park west of James Road. Look for Visitor Parking signs in the lot for Africentric High School, 3223 Allegheny Ave, Columbus, OH 43209. Or you can park on three side streets—Kellner, Lowell and Edgevale—off Ruhl Ave., which is the first stoplight intersection south of the VA clinic. If you’re car-pooling, you should be able to drop off passengers on Allegheny Ave. just west of James, on the way to the Africentric parking lot.","organization":"Indivisible Central Ohio","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/OHCentral_3C_NEW%20%281%29_20241126201819684787.jpg","startDate":"2026-07-14T20:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-07-14T21:00:00.000Z","timezone":"America/New_York","isVirtual":false,"location":{"venue":"Chalmers P. Wylie Ambulatory Care Center","address":"420 N James Rd, ","city":"Columbus","state":"OH","zip":"43219","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/indivisiblecentralohio/event/765447/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/VA%20visibility%20Mobilize%20graphic%20no%20date_20250429224625739293.png","eventType":"rally","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"765447","scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T06:01:17.046Z"},{"id":"mobilize-752269","title":"AndersonDems Non-Fiction Book Club","description":"Join us for our Non-Fiction Book Club — a laid-back, come-as-you-are space to read, think, and talk about the real world with good people.\n\nEach month we pick one nonfiction title (history, politics, organizing, biography, science — anything that helps us make sense of what’s happening) and spend about an hour swapping takeaways, questions, and “wait… did you catch that part?” moments.\n\nNo pressure: you do not have to finish the whole book to join the discussion. Bring your notes, your curiosity, and a friend. We’ll kick off with a quick recap, then open it up for conversation.\n\nChoose a time that works for you: we’re hosting two identical sessions of the same book on the same day — 2:00 PM (afternoon) and 6:30 PM (evening).\n\n2026 Book List\n\n- January: Lawless — Leah Litman\n- February: Separation of Church and Hate — John Fugelsang\n- March: How to Stand Up to a Dictator — Maria Ressa\n-  April: Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America — Heather Cox Richardson\n- May: Giving Up Is Unforgivable — Joyce Vance\n- June: Liar's Kingdom — Andrew Weismann\n- July: Vigilante Nation: How State-Sponsored Terror Threatens Our Democracy — David N. Hurd and Jon D. Michaels\n- August: The Death of Expertise — Tom Nichols\n\n2025 Highlights: On Tyranny (Timothy Snyder) • The 1619 Project (ed. Nicole Hannah-Jones) • Navalny (Alexei Navalny) • Rediscovery of America (Ned Blackhawk) • Nexus (Yuval Noah Harari) • On Freedom (Timothy Snyder) • Who Is Government? (ed. Michael Lewis) • Erasing History (Jason Stanley) • Science Under Siege (Michael E. Mann)","organization":"The Anderson County Democratic Party","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/ACDP%20-%20Block%20%284%29_20240309214104092794.png","startDate":"2026-07-16T18:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-07-16T19:00:00.000Z","timezone":"America/New_York","isVirtual":false,"location":{"venue":"Anderson County Democratic Party","address":"14 Kentucky Ave, ","city":"Oak Ridge","state":"TN","zip":"37830","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/andersoncountydemocraticparty/event/752269/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/DEMS%20%26%20FRIENDS%20%2811%20%C3%97%208.5%20in%29%20%281920%20x%201080%20px%29.pdf%20%28Facebook%20Cover%29%20%2831%29_20260105120648133969.png","eventType":"rally","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"752269","scrapedAt":"2026-06-21T00:01:05.552Z"},{"id":"mobilize-780995","title":"Indivisible 1431 Monthly Meeting","description":"Indivisible 1431 monthly meeting for July 2026\n\nNote: During Zoom, please put your email in chat, especially if registered as guest. Thank you in advance!\n\nAgenda (subject to change): 6:30 pm Tuesday, 7/7/2026\n\nRegister here: https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible1431/event/780995/ \n\n1. Welcome – Mike Killalea, chair (hello@indivisible1431.org)\n\n•\tNew member welcome – Cindy Skinner, secretary\n•\tFinancial check in & importance of regular donations – Marc Zawrotny, treasurer\no\tDonate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/indivisible1431?refcode=website \n•\tAugust donations doubled by Indivisible National (up to $300 per group), and an additional $300 for Indivisibles in Battleground states\n\n2. Meet the Candidates! (alpha by first name)\n\nEach candidate will have five minutes for opening remarks, with another two minutes for questions.\n\n👉🏽 Got questions for the candidates? Email to hello@indivisible1431.org. Put “QUESTION” in the subject line\n\n-- Chris Jimenez, candidate for House District 52\n\n“When Texans can afford housing, access basic healthcare, and feed their families, they can focus on building their future. I’m mad as hell that we’ve drifted so far from those basics, and that's why I’m running—because our government should do its most basic job: ensure every Texan has what they need to live, work, and thrive.”\n\n-- Heather Jefts, candidate for Williamson County Judge\n\n“From attracting high-quality jobs and excellent entertainment options, to reducing traffic and improving our infrastructure, parks, and trails, public safety concerns, to addressing water access and conservation, there’s a lot to do to keep our county vibrant and thriving. Together we can make the best decisions for who and where we are now, with a sharp eye on how to prepare for the future.”\n\n-- Matthias-Jonah Early, candidate for House District 20\n\n\"I didn’t come to politics because I was ambitious. I came because I was standing in a hospital, watching people fall through the cracks, and I realized the real work had to happen upstream.\"\n\n-- Justin Early, candidate for Congressional District 31\n\n“As your Congressman, I will put hardworking Central Texans first. I will protect our neighbors, our jobs, our families, and our communities.... I know what it feels like to be one bad week away from real trouble or to have the loss of a single check create chaos for our family.... I am running for Congress to make sure this community has a real voice and a representative who never forgets where they came from.”\n\n3. Let’s get social: Meet up with your favorite Indivisibles on Thursday, July 16!\n\nJoin Indivisible 1431 at Red Horn Brewery & Roastery, 1615 Scottsdale Dr, Bldg 1, Suite 110, Cedar Park (at Scottsdale & US 183A) -- Buddies, beverages, and bites\n\nCome when you can, stay as long (or as little) as you like! Have a coffee, or something stronger. They have food too! . (Individual tabs, please)\n\n5-8:30 pm, Thursday, July 16\n\n4. “Our Community, Our Future:” Next edition planning\n\na. First edition: Veterans Memorial Park – 11 am – 2 pm Saturday, June 13\n\nb.  Purpose & Theme\n•\tTheme: “Know Your Neighbors, Know Your Rights, Know Your Power”\n•\tPrimary goals:\n◦\tBuild community connection; put neighbors before politics\n◦\tShare civic/voter information through action tables\n◦\tIncrease name recognition for Indivisible 1431\n◦\tActivate supporters toward small, concrete actions\n•\tInspired by advice from Indivisible national leaders Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg: community gatherings are among the best investments of activist energy and money\n\n5. Texas is a battleground state: Tools to help protect democracy\n\nIndivisible National has identified Texas as a “battleground state,” which means Texas Indivisibles can receive more resources for training and other activities. We are a state that could determine the composition of the US Senate. The biggest focus will likely be on Talarico, but we can use help with Congressional candidates, as well.\n\n•\tIndivisible’s Election Defense Corps (EDC) is designed to ensure all eligible voters get to cast their ballot, and that those ballots get counted — through community power and preparation, not panic. https://click.ngpvan.com/k/134497387/631320283/1317094078\n\n•\tNeighbor2Neighbor: Talk to like-minded neighbors. Face-to-face conversations can make a real impact, as research shows. It can also lessen polarization. Indivisible’s Neighbor2Neighbor will connect you with like-minded neighbors. When I signed up, I received 10 names in nearby homes. To my surprise, I only knew two of them. . https://click.ngpvan.com/k/134497394/631320288/-889645622 \n\n•\tImmigrant justice training -- When ICE comes to your community, do you know what to do? This summer, Indivisible is giving you a blueprint. Immigrant Justice Summer is a five-call national training series that will level up how you show up for immigrant justice.  https://indivisible.org/campaigns/dismantling-detention/ \n\n•\tSecurity Parties: Our digital security is also critical, in a political environment where we can expect no fair play. No particular expertise needed either. Gather 3–15 people for 90 minutes, and work through a checklist — Essentials, Signal, ICE watch, or doxxing — and lean on each other for accountability. . https://click.ngpvan.com/k/134497397/631320290/-143579631 \n\n•\tGood Trouble Lives On, July 17, 18, 19: Six years after the passing of Civil Rights hero John Lewis, we're continuing the fight with the “Good Trouble Lives On Weekend of Action,” a national nonpartisan, nonviolent weekend of action to resist threats against the right to the vote. This year, the weekend will have three phases, with Friday being \"Teach!,\" Saturday being \"Reach!,\" and Sunday being \"Preach!\" !\" https://www.goodtroubleliveson.org/\n\n6. Watch “What’s the Plan,” released at 2 pm CDT Thursdays, and available as a podcast the following day https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/874938/ \n\n7. What Else?\n\n8. Next meeting: 6:30 pm Tuesday, August 4, 2026\n\n9. Adjourn","organization":"Indivisible 1431","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/Indivisible%201431%20Banner%20White%20Taylor_20260213203857639749.png","startDate":"2026-08-04T23:30:00.000Z","endDate":"2026-08-05T00:30:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Chicago","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"","address":", ","city":"","state":"","zip":"","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible1431/event/780995/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/July%207%20meeting%20agenda%20with%20Candidates%20for%2077_20260706004827517731.png","eventType":"health-screening","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"780995","scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T06:01:17.046Z"},{"id":"mobilize-770562","title":"Sign-up For Democracy Action Network / Indivisible LA","description":"The Democracy Action Network (DAN) was founded in November 2024 by David Comfort in response to the re-election of Donald Trump. Emerging as a grassroots organization dedicated to defending democratic institutions, promoting civic engagement, and fostering inclusive democracy, DAN has quickly become a prominent force in the pro-democracy movement. With a nonpartisan ethos and a commitment to nonviolent resistance, DAN seeks to address threats to constitutional governance while building a broad-based coalition for democratic renewal.\n\nMission and Vision\nDAN’s mission is to protect and strengthen democratic institutions, resist authoritarian tendencies, and promote an inclusive vision of democracy that upholds universal human rights and dignity. The organization operates on the principles of nonviolence, transparency, and participatory decision-making while fostering hope-centered messaging and constructive solutions. It aims to create sustainable organizing structures that empower communities and build long-term resilience against democratic backsliding.\n\nEarly Achievements\nSince its inception, DAN has demonstrated its capacity for impactful action:\n\n- February 22nd 2025: Organized a successful march and rally in West Hollywood, drawing hundreds of participants advocating for government accountability and democratic principles\n.\n- February 2025: Played a key role in coordinating protests at SpaceX, bringing attention to issues tied to corporate influence and public policy.\n\n- Held weekly organizing meetings with 300 to 400 people attending.\n- Developing a core group of activists and organizers\n\n- March 22nd 2025: Held a really successful \"March for our Constitution\" at the Federal Building in Westwood / Los Angeles. Had over 2,000 participants and hosted speakers such as Martin Sheen and Maxine Waters\n\n\nThese events have helped establish DAN as a credible voice for democratic activism while galvanizing public support for its mission.","organization":"Indivisible","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/Mobilize_Indivisible_Horizontal_ForLightBackground_20250320155651214400.png","startDate":"2026-12-31T16:45:00.000Z","endDate":"2027-01-01T07:45:00.000Z","timezone":"America/Los_Angeles","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"","address":", ","city":"Los Angeles","state":"CA","zip":"90069","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/770562/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/organization/Mobilize%20Generalized%20Indivisible%20Event%20Campaign%20Image%202_20231214173755488494.png","eventType":"rally","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"770562","scrapedAt":"2026-05-07T00:00:51.820Z"},{"id":"mobilize-434596","title":"2020 Victorious! | National Voter Mobilization-Education Year of Action | Communities United","description":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United is conducting a National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration Year of Action to get our communities prepared to #VoteReady and promote #VoterEducation from __January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.__  This is a national conversation on how we can all work together every year to expand our collective mission to protect democracy, fight voter suppression, and ensure all Americans have equal access to the ballot box.  This is democracy and it requires action.\n\nWe are inviting you to join 2020 Victorious! | Communities United for National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration Year of Action to get our communities prepared to #VoteReady and promote #VoterEducation from __January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.__ We are counting on you to participate by organizing and supporting [virtual] voter registration drives where you will register eligible voters, and help experienced voters check-confirm and update their registration.\n\n__This month's target campaign will champion a call-to-action for:__\n\n__U.S. Senate Georgia Runoff Election__ - Tuesday, December 6, 2022\n\n__Launch a Community Conversation__ in your neighborhood-network! Let’s create a truly democratic space where we can connect together through meaningful dialogue.\n\nAdvance Preparation: Organize a personal list of colleagues-neighbors, family-friends eligible to vote in the battleground-swing states below: then write a brief statement to motivate-inform the recipients.  This discussion is for immediate participation in the call-to-action to protect our democracy.\n\n__Battleground-Swing States:__ AK-Alaska, AZ-Arizona, FL-Florida, GA-Georgia, KS-Kansas, MI-Michigan, NC-North Carolina, NV-Nevada, OH-Ohio, PA-Pennsylvania, SC-South Carolina, TX-Texas, WI-Wisconsin ... (governor, secretary of state, senator, congress)\n\n_Relational Organizing in the battleground-swing states._\n\n- - - - -\n\n__Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote,__ a powerful 2020 Brave New Films production documentary about the growing threat of voter suppression and election sabotage to our 2022 midterm elections.  There will be multiple documentary series presented throughout the year. [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n\n* Monday-Friday, October 3-7, 2022 - __National Voter Education Week__ *\n* Documentary Screening, _upon advance request *_ [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n\n__Preparation:__ We will organize our creative inspirations-skills to design several written expressions that capture the spirit of the national holiday for a monthly targeted campaign. The inspirational expressions will be distributed nationally to promote the advancement of voting rights throughout our respective communities.  This will include the development of a voting toolkit of best practices.  The community feedback provided by-to attendee-participants will guide-improve the collective voter mobilization-education-registration response.\n\n__GETTING STARTED__\n\n__A Simple Task:__  Ask your community networks of colleagues-neighbors and family-friends to check the status of their voter registration at VOTE.gov or VOTE.org ... (and ask that they pass it on to their networks).  _\"Check your voter registration status at VOTE.gov or VOTE.org and ask your networks to do the same.\"_\n\n__National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration Year of Action is a call to action.__\n\n* THE GOAL: Engage at least 3-5+ potential voters in 5-days of action!\n* Ambitious Goal:  Engage at least 20-25+ potential voters in 5-days of action!\n\n__Immediate Next Steps:__ Early Voting [(calendar)](https://www.vote.org/early-voting-calendar/) - Mail-In Ballot [(rules)](https://www.vote.org/absentee-voting-rules/) - Sample Ballot [(guide)](https://www.usa.gov/voter-research) - Invite your colleagues-neighbors, family-friends, and community networks to be mobilized and educated about the issues that most impact them.  Include the early voting locations-dates-times, mail-in ballot instructions, and sample ballot previews information links in your personal distributions to ensure election day preparedness.\n\nNational Voter Education Week [(NVEW)](https://www.votereducationweek.org) strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election and provides days-of-action and voting resources.\n\nLearn how to register the 4-million youth voters who will become eighteen and eligible to vote this year, the 30-million Americans who moved and need to update their voter registration, the 2-million Americans living abroad (required to verify status annually), the 2-million Americans who got married (and changed their names) and need to update their voter registration, and the millions of Americans purged from the voter registration rolls for simple and avoidable reasons.\n\nELECTION PROTECTION HOTLINE: Call or Text 866-OUR-VOTE * Tweet @866OURVOTE\n\n- - - - -\n\n__5 Days | 5 Actions__ National Voter Education Week (NVEW) helps voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot. During this week of interactive education, voters have the opportunity to find their polling location, understand their ballot, make a plan to vote in person or remotely, and more. NVEW strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election.  Review the NVEW website to become familiar with the days-of-action and other voting resources. [(... more NVEW)](https://www.votereducationweek.org)\n\n__Optional Task:__  VoteRiders is seeking dedicated virtual volunteers to help manage voter appointments and rides to the DMV and other ID-issuing agencies on an ongoing weekly basis. Responsibilities include making appointment reminder calls, scheduling rides and handling communications between drivers and voters. No experience is necessary.  VoteRiders will provide all of the training and support needed to be successful. This opportunity is ideal for volunteers living in the Central Time Zone or Eastern Time Zone as the voters we help most frequently live in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas. [(... more VoteRiders)](https://www.voteriders.org)\n\n__12 Months | 21 Actions__ National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration Year (NVMERY) helps voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot. During this year of interactive education, voters have the opportunity to find their polling location, understand their ballot, make a plan to vote in person or remotely, and more. NVMERY strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election.\n\nWhile National Voter Mobilization-Education Year of Action is a __TARGETED campaign__ scheduled for a full extended year, the __Call-to-Action__ can begin today and continue any-every month-day throughout the year.  We will meet, as a collective, on the designated dates-times above to discuss our daily encounters-progress and brainstorm ideas!\n\nA few great places to host voter registration drives include: local businesses (ask customers-employees to distribute-share the links), places of worship (ask to get a table in the lobby after services), the business office workplace (talk to each colleague to get them to update their registration), your high school or college-university (set-up a table in a high-traffic area or talk to fellow students during breakfast-lunch), and high-traffic areas in your community (laundromats, playgrounds, public parks, restaurants, supermarkets), etc.\n\n- - - - -\n\n2020 Victorious! | Communities United is counting on all of us to participate by registering our colleagues-neighbors, families-friends and communities to ensure that eligible voters check and update their voter registration status during National Voter Mobilization-Education Year of Action.  We are calling on you to participate by registering your friends, family, and neighbors, and helping eligible voters check and update their voter registration.\n\nBegin by thinking of several dates and places that you can integrate voter registration into your schedule, including the places that you will already be! Think about the gatherings you already attend, and places where you regularly have conversations with others.  RSVP to this event page to indicate that during the Year of Action, you will participate by registering voters in your neighborhood and help your colleagues-neighbors, families-friends and communities check and update their voter registration!\n\nNational Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration Year (NVMERY) ... (potential dates)\n\n* Saturday, January 1, 2022 - New Year's Day\n* Saturday, January 1-31, 2022 - New Year's Day through January 2022\n* Monday, January 17, 2022 - Martin Luther King (MLK) Day of Service\n* February 2022 - Black History Month\n* Monday, February 14, 2022 - Valentine's Day\n* Monday, February 21, 2022 - Presidents' Day\n* March 2022 - Women's History Month\n* Thursday, March 17, 2022 - St. Patrick's Day\n* Friday, April 1, 2022 - April Fool's Day\n* Friday, April 22, 2022 - Earth Day\n* Sunday, May 15+22+29, 2022 - Documentary Screening [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n* Monday, May 30, 2022 - Memorial Day\n* Sunday, June 5+12, 2022 - Documentary Screening [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n* Tuesday, June 14, 2022 - Flag Day\n* Sunday, June 19, 2022 - Juneteenth\n* Monday, July 4, 2022 - Independence Day\n* [August 1-31, 2022 - Advance Preparations for Mid-Term Elections]\n* Monday, September 5, 2022 - Labor Day\n* Sunday, September 11, 2022 - 9-11\n* Saturday, September 17, 2022 - Citizenship Day\n* Monday, September 19, 2022 - National Voter Registration Week of Action Kickoff Rally with Michelle Obama and celebrity guests\n* Tuesday, September 20, 2022 - __National Voter Registration Day__\n* Monday-Friday, October 3-7, 2022 - __National Voter Education Week__\n* Monday, October 10, 2022 - Columbus Day\n* November 2022 - Native American Heritage Month\n* Friday, November 11, 2022 - Veterans Day\n* Thursday, November 24, 2022 - Thanksgiving\n* Monday, December 26, 2022 - Christmas Day\n\n- - - - -\n\n__National Voter Registration Week of Action Kickoff Rally__ with former __First Lady Michelle Obama__ and celebrity guests on Monday, September 19, 2022 7:00pm ET / 4:00pm PT.  __National Voter Registration Day is Tuesday, September 20, 2022.__  This rally will be a strong start to the week, as we prepare to get our colleagues-neighbors, family-friends and communities mobilized-educated-registered and ready to vote during National Voter Registration Week.\n\n__Ramp Up the Vote Rally:__ It’s time to Ramp Up The Vote! When We All Vote is hosting our Ramp Up The Vote Rally on Thursday, August 25, 2022 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT. Join us along with the partners, volunteers, and celebrity co-chairs and ambassadors as we get ready for this year’s midterm elections and ensure we all make our voices heard in the future of our country. \n\n__Special * Juneteenth Acknowledgement with Call-to-Action:__ Juneteenth marks the end of slavery in America and commemorates the collective freedom of African-Americans.  This guided discussion will acknowledge the legacy of Juneteenth in Galveston, Texas to promote thought and commit to a plan to take action for our communities, _including voter mobilization-educations-registration_.\n\n* Sunday, July 10, 2022 (special meeting, _including voting rights_)\n\n- - - - -\n\n160 million Americans cast their ballots in 2020 – shattering voter turnout records and making history.  And we can’t stop now.  There is still work to be done before we are #VoteReady!\n\nELECTION PROTECTION HOTLINE: Call or Text 866-OUR-VOTE * Tweet @866OURVOTE\n\nCopyright © 2021-2022 Communities United | 2020 Victorious!","organization":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/2020_20220210235441440024.png","startDate":"2028-01-01T05:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2028-01-02T04:45:00.000Z","timezone":"America/New_York","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"","address":", ","city":"","state":"","zip":"","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/2020victorious/event/434596/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/iStock-1200571987_20211230195758876840.jpg","eventType":"health-screening","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"434596","scrapedAt":"2026-04-01T16:41:53.462Z"},{"id":"mobilize-580830","title":"National Voter Education-Registration-Empowerment Year of Action | Communities United","description":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United is conducting a National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year of Action to get our communities prepared and #VoteReady to promote #VoterEducation from __January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024.__  This is a national conversation on how we can all work together every year to expand our collective mission to protect democracy, fight voter suppression, and ensure all Americans have equal access to the ballot box.  This is democracy and it requires action.\n\n- - - - - - - - - -\n\n__Training Session:__ (outline update)\n\n* Basic Voter Education-Registration ... (30-minutes, ends 7:30pm) ... review resources in advance, arrive on-time, prepare-ask questions, take notes\n* Brave New Films: \"Suppressed and Sabotaged\" | The Right/Fight to Vote [(trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI) ... (45-minutes, ends 8:15pm) ... prepare to be attentive, note impressionable incidents, remarkable statements\n* Advance Voter Mobilization-Empowerment ... (30-minutes, ends 8:45pm) ... bring experiences-questions, take notes. take action\n\n- - - - - - - - - -\n\nWe are inviting you to join 2020 Victorious! | Communities United for National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year of Action to get our communities prepared and #VoteReady to promote #VoterEducation from __January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024.__ We are counting on you to participate by organizing and supporting [in-person/virtual] voter registration drives where you will register eligible voters, and help experienced voters check-confirm and update their registration.\n\nThis year's target campaign will champion a call-to-action for: ... (to be updated)\n\nLast year's target campaign will champion a call-to-action for:\n\n__National Voter Registration Day__ - Tuesday, September 17, 2024\n\n__National Voter Education Week of Action__ - Sunday, September 15-22, 2024\n\n__National Voter Education Week__ - Monday-Friday, October 7-11, 2024\n\n__Vote Early Day Celebration!__ - Tuesday, October 29, 2024\n\n\n__Launch a Community Conversation__ in your neighborhood-network! Let’s create a truly democratic space where we can connect together through meaningful dialogue.  __Note:__ The national acknowledgement date may differ from the date of meeting-discussion.\n\nAdvance Preparation: Organize a personal list of colleagues-neighbors, family-friends eligible to vote in the battleground-swing states below: then write a brief statement to motivate-inform the recipients.  This discussion is for immediate participation in the call-to-action to protect our democracy.\n\n__Battleground-Swing States:__ AK-Alaska, AZ-Arizona, FL-Florida, GA-Georgia, KS-Kansas, MI-Michigan, NC-North Carolina, NV-Nevada, NY-New York, OH-Ohio, PA-Pennsylvania, SC-South Carolina, TX-Texas, WI-Wisconsin ... (governor, secretary of state, senator, congress)\n\n_Relational Organizing in the battleground-swing states._\n\n- - - - -\n\n__Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote,__ a powerful 2020 Brave New Films production documentary about the growing threat of voter suppression and election sabotage to our 2023 midterm-year elections.  There will be multiple documentary series presented throughout the year. [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n\n* Monday-Friday, October 7-11, 2024 - __National Voter Education Week__\n* Documentary Screening, _upon advance request *_ [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n\n__Preparation:__ We will organize our creative inspirations-skills to design several written expressions that capture the spirit of the national holiday for a monthly targeted campaign. The inspirational expressions will be distributed nationally to promote the advancement of voting rights throughout our respective communities.  This will include the development of a voting toolkit of best practices.  The community feedback provided by-to attendee-participants will guide-improve the collective voter mobilization-education-registration-empowerment response.\n\n__GETTING STARTED__\n\n__A Simple Task:__  Ask your community networks of colleagues-neighbors and family-friends to check the status of their voter registration at VOTE.gov or VOTE.org ... (and ask that they pass it on to their networks).  _\"Check your voter registration status at VOTE.gov or VOTE.org and ask your networks to do the same.\"_\n\n__National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year of Action is a call to action.__\n\n* THE GOAL: Engage at least 3-5+ potential voters in 5-days of action!\n* Ambitious Goal:  Engage at least 20-25+ potential voters in 5-days of action!\n\n__Immediate Next Steps:__ Early Voting [(calendar)](https://www.vote.org/early-voting-calendar/) - Mail-In Ballot [(rules)](https://www.vote.org/absentee-voting-rules/) - Sample Ballot [(guide)](https://www.usa.gov/voter-research) - Invite your colleagues-neighbors, family-friends, and community networks to be mobilized and educated about the issues that most impact them.  Include the early voting locations-dates-times, mail-in ballot instructions, and sample ballot previews information links in your personal distributions to ensure election day preparedness.\n\nNational Voter Education Week [(NVEW)](https://www.votereducationweek.org) strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election and provides days-of-action and voting resources.\n\nLearn how to register the 4-million youth voters who will become eighteen and eligible to vote this year, the 30-million Americans who moved and need to update their voter registration, the 2-million Americans living abroad (required to verify status annually), the 2-million Americans who got married (and changed their names) and need to update their voter registration, and the millions of Americans purged from the voter registration rolls for simple and avoidable reasons.\n\nELECTION PROTECTION HOTLINE: Call or Text 866-OUR-VOTE * Tweet @866OURVOTE\n\n- - - - -\n\n__5 Days | 5 Actions__ National Voter Education Week (NVEW) helps voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot. During this week of interactive education, voters have the opportunity to find their polling location, understand their ballot, make a plan to vote in person or remotely, and more. NVEW strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election.  Review the NVEW website to become familiar with the days-of-action and other voting resources. [(... more NVEW)](https://www.votereducationweek.org)\n\n__Optional Task:__  VoteRiders is seeking dedicated virtual volunteers to help manage voter appointments and rides to the DMV and other ID-issuing agencies on an ongoing weekly basis. Responsibilities include making appointment reminder calls, scheduling rides and handling communications between drivers and voters. No experience is necessary.  VoteRiders will provide all of the training and support needed to be successful. This opportunity is ideal for volunteers living in the Central Time Zone or Eastern Time Zone as the voters we help most frequently live in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas. [(... more VoteRiders)](https://www.voteriders.org)\n\n__12 Months | 21 Actions__ National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year (NVMEREY) helps voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and actually casting a ballot. During this year of interactive education, voters have the opportunity to find their polling location, understand their ballot, make a plan to vote in person or remotely, and more. NVMERY strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their own communities for every election.\n\nWhile National Voter Mobilization-Education-Empowerment Year of Action is a __TARGETED campaign__ scheduled for a full extended year, the __Call-to-Action__ can begin today and continue any-every month-day throughout the year.  We will meet, as a collective, on the designated dates-times above to discuss our daily encounters-progress and brainstorm ideas!\n\nA few great places to host voter registration drives include: local businesses (ask customers-employees to distribute-share the links), places of worship (ask to get a table in the lobby after services), the business office workplace (talk to each colleague to get them to update their registration), your high school or college-university (set-up a table in a high-traffic area or talk to fellow students during breakfast-lunch), and high-traffic areas in your community (laundromats, playgrounds, public parks, restaurants, supermarkets), etc.\n\n- - - - -\n\n2020 Victorious! | Communities United is counting on all of us to participate by registering our colleagues-neighbors, families-friends and communities to ensure that eligible voters check and update their voter registration status during National Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year of Action.  We are calling on you to participate by registering your friends, family, and neighbors, and helping eligible voters check and update their voter registration.\n\nBegin by thinking of several dates and places that you can integrate voter registration into your schedule, including the places that you will already be! Think about the gatherings you already attend, and places where you regularly have conversations with others.  RSVP to this event page to indicate that during the Year of Action, you will participate by registering voters in your neighborhood and help your colleagues-neighbors, families-friends and communities check and update their voter registration!\n\nNational Voter Mobilization-Education-Registration-Empowerment Year (NVMEREY) ... (potential dates) ~2024 DATES TO BE UPDATES~\n\n* Monday, January 1, 2024 - New Year's Day\n* Monday, January 1-31, 2024 - New Year's Day through January 2023\n* Monday, January 15, 2024 - Martin Luther King (MLK) Day of Service\n* February 2024 - Black History Month\n* Wednesday, February 14, 2024 - Valentine's Day\n* Monday, February 19, 2024 - Presidents' Day\n* March 2024 - Women's History Month\n* Sunday, March 17, 2023 - St. Patrick's Day\n* Monday, April 1, 2024 - April Fool's Day\n* Monday, April 22, 2024 - Earth Day\n* Sunday, May 12+19+26, 2024 - Documentary Screening [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n* Monday, May 27, 2024 - Memorial Day\n* Sunday, June 2+9, 2024 - Documentary Screening [(movie trailer)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RhrbEh-osI&t=1s)\n* Friday, June 14, 2024 - Flag Day\n* Wednesday, June 19, 2024 - Juneteenth\n* Thursday, July 4, 2024 - Independence Day\n* [August 1-31, 2024 - Advance Preparations for Mid-Term Elections]\n* Monday, September 2, 2024 - Labor Day\n* Wednesday, September 11, 2024 - 9-11\n* Tuesday, September 17, 2024 - Citizenship Day/Constitution Day\n* Sunday-Sunday, September 15-22, 2024 - National Voter Registration Week of Action\n* Sunday-Tuesday, September 15-October 15, 2024 - Hispanic Heritage Month\n* Tuesday, September 17, 2024 - __National Voter Registration Day__\n* Monday-Friday, October 7-11, 2024 - __National Voter Education Week__\n* Monday, October 14, 2024 - Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day\n* November 2024 - Native American Heritage Month\n* Tuesday, November 5, 2024 - __NATIONAL ELECTION DAY__\n* Monday, November 11, 2024 - Veterans Day\n* Thursday, November 28, 2024 - Thanksgiving\n* Friday, November 29, 2024 - Native American Heritage Day\n* Wednesday, December 25, 2024 - Christmas Day\n\n- - - - -\n\n- - - - -\n\n160 million Americans cast their ballots in 2020 – shattering voter turnout records and making history.  And we can’t stop now.  There is still work to be done before we are #VoteReady!\n\nELECTION PROTECTION HOTLINE: Call or Text 866-OUR-VOTE * Tweet @866OURVOTE\n\nCopyright © 2021-2024 Communities United | 2020 Victorious!","organization":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/2020_20220210235441440024.png","startDate":"2028-01-01T05:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2028-01-02T04:45:00.000Z","timezone":"America/New_York","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"","address":", ","city":"","state":"","zip":"","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/2020victorious/event/580830/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/iStock-1200571987_20211230195758876840.jpg","eventType":"health-screening","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"580830","scrapedAt":"2026-04-01T16:41:56.037Z"},{"id":"mobilize-413625","title":"2020 Victorious! MLK NATIONAL DAY-WEEK OF ACTION-IMPACT-SERVICE | Communities United","description":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United is excited to partner with organizations across the country to participate in a National Day of Service on Monday, January 17, 2021 in honor of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  2020 Victorious! | Communities United encourages volunteers and community leaders to host virtual or socially distant service events in their community.\n\n__“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?'” – The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.__\n\nJOIN 2020 Victorious! | Communities United supporters from all across the nation for the MLK National Day-Week of Action-Impact-Service!\n\nThe full week-weekend of action-impact-service series on Monday-Tuesday, Thursday-Friday, Saturday, and Monday, January 10-11, 13-14, 15, 16, and 17, 2021 will cover critical topics and share action planning about how to be of service in our communities and to our nation.  The plan is to mobilize in order to support the The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia and throughout the nation.  Please feel free to attend-participate in ALL-some or part of each daily-weekend action-impact-service event. Sign up with a friend!\n\nJoin us as we criss-cross the nation from New York to California, from Florida to Texas, from Washington, DC to the State of Washington (east-west, north-south) to honor the successes-triumphs of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:\n\n* MONDAY-TUESDAY, January 10-11, 2022 10:00am-1:30pm ... (3-hour 30-minutes) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Nonviolence365®  Virtual Series: Keys to Creating a Culture Shift That Sticks https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/\n\n* THURSDAY-FRIDAY, January 13-14, 2022 10:00am-5:30pm/4:00pm ... (7-hour 30-minutes) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Observance Beloved Community Global Summit https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/ ... Rebroadcast [(01-13-2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne9tMDgmZ9M) [(01-14-2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIr_ULBzZDg)\n\n* FRIDAY, January 14, 2022 12:00pm-6:30pm ... (6-hour 30-minutes) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Observance Beloved Community Global Youth Summit https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/ ... Rebroadcast [(01-14-2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2GuNy1TMR4)\n\n* SATURDAY, January 15, 2022 10:30am-11:30am ... (1-hour program) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Beloved Community Book Reading: “It Starts With Me”: A Virtual Youth Book Reading and Puppetry Presentation https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/ ... Rebroadcast [(01-15-2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TvlBJBSVnY)\n\n* SATURDAY, January 15, 2022 7:30pm-9:30pm ... (2-hour program) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Beloved Community Awards (Formerly the Salute to Greatness Awards) https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/ - Streaming on The King Center Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and website. ... Rebroadcast [(01-15-2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TvlBJBSVnY)\n\n* SUNDAY, January 16, 2022 2:00pm-2:45pm ... (45-minute program) 2020 Victorious! King Center Holiday Flame of Hope Ceremony Hosts: the King Center and Earth Caravan – Location: The King Center Plaza. *masks required\n\n* MONDAY, January 17, 2022 10:00am-1:00pm ... (3-hour program) 2020 Victorious! Martin Luther King Jr. Beloved Community Commemorative Service https://thekingcenter.org/king-holiday-2022/\n\n- - - - -\n\n__OTHER MLK EVENTS:__ ... (as schedules are made available)\n\nVirtual Rally: __Poor People’s Campaign National Launch of the Moral March on Washington and to the Polls – June 18, 2022__ [(livestream)](https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/livestream/) – Friday, January 14, 2022 10:00am ET * Tune in to hear Poor People’s Campaign co-chair Rev. Dr. William Barber II offers a vision for the National Launch of this season of nonviolent moral direct action culminating in the Mass Poor People's and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls – June 18, 2022.  And then, make your calls to Congress to let them know that we don’t have scarcity of resources in this nation, we are dealing with a scarcity of political will. Every day of continued injustice will only embolden our agitation and strengthen our resolve to realize our moral agenda and the nation we have yet to be. Our demands can't wait. Call now and demand Congress to:\n\n* Pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act\n* Pass the For the People Act\n* End the Filibuster\n* Pass the Build Back Better agenda as a first step\n* Pass $15/hr Minimum Wage now\n* Pass Protections for All Immigrants\n* Stop the Destruction of Apache Holy Site Oak Flat\n\nVirtual Rally: __Poor People’s Campaign National Launch of the Moral March on Washington and to the Polls – June 18, 2022__ [(register)](https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84734193899) – Monday, January 17, 2022 4:00pm-6:00pm ET * Join the NYS PPC Faith Organizing Team online to learn the history of the Poor People's Campaign and to hear what the movement is calling for us to do right now! Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis will join and we will learn from impacted leaders in the NYS campaign who will share their experiences and insights with us as well. We will hear from faith leaders and share collectively our religious traditions' grounding for us in this campaign. AND, we will sing, take action together that day and sign up for concrete ways to build towards the Mass Poor People's Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 18th! \n\nMONDAY, January 17+24, 2022 1:00pm-2:00pm ... (1-hour program) 2020 Victorious! Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) – __History Alive! Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: The Last Five Years.__  Honor the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with living history interpreter John McCaskill as he chronicles the last five years of King’s life and shares other stories of the individuals who fought to end racial segregation and discrimination in the United States.  Additional Information:  John McCaskill brings dynamic public speaking presentations in Washington, DC and across the country.  To authenticate his living history presentations, he adorns period attire for colonial, WWII/Army Air Corps Tuskegee Airmen, and Civil War U.S. Colored Troops, World War I, Reconstruction, Buffalo Soldier, and the 1960’s Civil Rights period. ... Rebroadcast [(01-17+24-2022)](https://video.ibm.com/channel/zCPF4U3hFPc)\n\nWhile we reflect on the past and look towards the future with hope and intention, the MLK National Day-Week of Action-Impact-Service will be an analysis of our national history and future legacy.  The weekend series will be a continuum of daily information discussions conducted by The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by a brief 30-minute open group discussion (optional). We want you to bring your favorite relevant historical civil rights and social justice topics and your best community service ideas to the discussion.\n\nAnd once you register, make sure your communities, colleagues, friends and family join too!\n\nPRE-MLK DAY of Service Discussion: If you are looking for a place to start, but are unsure how to do so, join one of our information sessions scheduled for January 10-11-13-14-15-17, 2022 10:00am ET / 7:00am PT.  If you don't know where to start, don't have the time to research or can't wait to get started with hands-on work, join us on one or more projects for the MLK Day-Week of Action-Impact-Service scheduled between Monday-Tuesday, Thursday-Friday, Saturday, and Monday, January 10-11, 13-14, 15, and 17, 2021.\n\nCopyright © 2021-2022 Communities United | 2020 Victorious!","organization":"2020 Victorious! | Communities United","organizationLogo":"https://mobilize-uploads-prod.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/organization/2020_20220210235441440024.png","startDate":"2028-01-01T14:00:00.000Z","endDate":"2028-01-01T15:00:00.000Z","timezone":"America/New_York","isVirtual":true,"location":{"venue":"New York City","address":", ","city":"New York","state":"NY","zip":"11430","country":"US"},"virtualUrl":null,"registrationUrl":"https://www.mobilize.us/2020victorious/event/413625/","image":"https://mobilizeamerica.imgix.net/uploads/event/i-have-a-dream-pavement_20211230165501685375.jpg","eventType":"memorial","source":"mobilize","sourceId":"413625","scrapedAt":"2026-04-01T16:41:53.462Z"}],"briefing":{"stories":[{"id":"vn-ctjf8p","slug":"navy-imposes-1-year-limit-on-medical-shaving-waivers","title":"Navy imposes 1-year limit on medical shaving waivers","excerpt":"Sailors whose medical conditions make daily shaving painful, or even leave scars, now face being separated if they cannot be clean-shaven after a year of treatment, Navy officials have announced.","content":"Sailors whose medical conditions make daily shaving painful, or even leave scars, now face being separated if they cannot be clean-shaven after a year of treatment, Navy officials have announced.\n\nThe policy update was released in a recent Navy Administrative Message, or NAVADMIN. The changes do not apply to religious waivers to grooming standards for facial hair. The changes implement last year’s direction from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that military commanders begin separating troops who require medical waivers from shaving rules.\n\nThe new order Navy directs commanders to treat “willful non-compliance” of the Navy’s uniform regulations “as a military justice matter,” the message says.\n\nHegseth has targeted shaving waivers since his first days in the Defense Department, ordering only temporary waivers for medical conditions such as pseudofolliculitis barbae, or PFB, a painful skin condition common among Black men that is made worse by shaving.\n\n“Today at my direction, the era of unprofessional appearance is over,” Hegseth told hundreds of generals and admirals on Sept. 30. “No more beardos. The age of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done.”\n\nTop Stories This Week\n\nFormer soldier convicted of stealing $1 million worth of MREs\n\nTop medical commander fired at Joint Base Langley-Eustis\n\nAir Force cancels promotions for 135 sergeants after testing error\n\nThe updated Navy policy makes clear that only commanding officers can authorize medical waivers for shaving as part of a treatment plan. Medical waivers for conditions such as PFB will be evaluated in 90-day increments and cannot be extended beyond one year, according to the Navy message.\n\n“Commands shall process personnel determined to have an unmanageable Permanent Condition for administrative separation due to failure to comply with grooming standards after 12 consecutive months of medical treatment,” the message says,\n\nSuch administrative separations will begin one year after the release of the July 7 Navy message.\n\n“This time is necessary to provide commands, medical care providers, and leaders ample time to update and distribute local policies, procedures, training aids, educational materials, and conduct counseling to all affected Sailors,” the message says.\n\nThe changes are meant to make sure that sailors’ facial hair does not risk their safety, mission readiness, or hamper their ability to use protective breathing equipment, the Navy message says. Navy leaders have long cautioned that beards can prevent sailors’ gas and oxygen masks from sealing properly.\n\nThose claims have been dubbed “unsubstantiated” by dermatologists with military experience.\n\nAs part of the Navy’s policy, commanders will conduct reviews every three months of sailors with medical waivers for shaving who use breathing protection as part of their jobs, training, or the environment in which they are working.\n\nThe policy also allows special operations units to request “modified standards” to the Navy’s uniform regulations based on mission requirements. Service members in those units often grow beards when working in countries where beards fall under cultural norms.\n\nBut special operators are required to be clean-shaven under the new policy if they are deployed to areas where they face a high risk of a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear attack, the message says.","category":"service","author":"Jeff Schogol","publishDate":"2026-07-08T21:10:18.000Z","image":"https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Navy-Shaving-Policy-2026.png?quality=85","source":"Task & Purpose","sourceUrl":"https://taskandpurpose.com/news/sailors-must-shave-1-year/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-09T00:00:50.291Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:48.242Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-1cuhwl","slug":"this-us-soldier-tried-to-cover-a-retreat-in-vietnam-and-ended-up-compelling-the-","title":"This US soldier tried to cover a retreat in Vietnam — and ended up compelling the enemy to","excerpt":"On July 25, 1968, Leonard Louis Alvarado enlisted in the U.S. Army and by August 1969 he was a Specialist 4 and a rifleman in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division...","content":"On July 25, 1968, Leonard Louis Alvarado enlisted in the U.S. Army and by August 1969 he was a Specialist 4 and a rifleman in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).\n\nBarely a year later, the California native found himself part of a small reaction force advancing through thick jungle near Duc Phong in Phuoc Long Province, in response to Vietnamese communist soldiers threatening another American platoon. What followed was a counterattack that put D Company in jeopardy, in which Alvarado played a vital role.\n\nAs his platoon moved toward the ongoing fight, Alvarado detected enemy movement and opened fire. In spite his swift reaction, he and his troopers found themselves pinned down by heavy small arms fire and blocked from joining the endangered platoon they’d come to assist. It soon became clear that a large, well-armed component of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) was targeting his platoon for overrunning as well as the men they were trying to rescue.\n\nAlvarado’s next action was to charge forward through a storm of machine gun fire in order to engage the enemy. Suddenly, a grenade exploded nearby, wounding and temporarily stunning him. Regaining his wits, however, he killed the North Vietnamese grenadier just as another barrage wounded him again. Nevertheless, he continued his forward crawl under heavy fire to pull several wounded comrades back within the perimeter they had hastily formed.\n\nEvaluating the situation and deciding his unit needed to break away from the larger enemy force, he began maneuvering forward alone to cover the disengagement.\n\nAlthough he was knocked to the ground repeatedly by exploding satchel charges, he continued advancing and firing, using his rifle and grenades to silence several PAVN positions, including a machine gun nest. Taking shelter in a dangerous forward position, he persistently laid suppressive fire on the enemy until the communists, rather than his platoon, broke contact.\n\nJust afterward, however, his comrades-in-arms discovered that he had succumbed from his wounds. He left behind a wife and daughter.\n\nThe engagement at Duc Phong cost D Company four men killed and 26 wounded. Alvarado’s all-out, ultimately sacrificial role in saving his platoon from possible disaster did not go unnoticed among his fellow Air Cav troops.\n\n“I was Leonard’s squad leader,” remarked William Lytle during an interview. “Us, as surviving members of the 2nd platoon, never forgot him on this day.”\n\nAlvarado was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, as well as the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal and Army Commendation Medal with “V” device.\n\nA re-evaluation of his record, however, made it clear that his sacrifice had been underrated. With the passing of the Defense Authorization Act, his daughter, Lenora, was called to the White House in Washington, D.C. on March 18, 2014, to see his DSC upgraded and receive the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama. His remains rest in his home turf, at the Greenlawn Cemetery in Bakersfield.","category":"legacy","author":"Jon Guttman","publishDate":"2026-07-08T17:45:45.000Z","image":"https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/H7757YNRGJE2XKXWTSOCR2VT74.png","source":"Military Times - Veterans","sourceUrl":"https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/military-history/2026/07/08/this-soldier-tried-to-cover-a-retreat-and-ended-up-compelling-the-enemy-to/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:48.427Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:48.242Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-vyjvwk","slug":"this-us-soldier-tried-to-cover-a-retreat-in-vietnam-and-instead-compelled-the-en","title":"This US soldier tried to cover a retreat in Vietnam — and instead compelled the enemy to","excerpt":"On July 25, 1968, Leonard Louis Alvarado enlisted in the U.S. Army and by August 1969 he was a Specialist 4 and a rifleman in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division...","content":"On July 25, 1968, Leonard Louis Alvarado enlisted in the U.S. Army and by August 1969 he was a Specialist 4 and a rifleman in Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).\n\nBarely a year later, the California native found himself part of a small reaction force advancing through thick jungle near Duc Phong in Phuoc Long Province, in response to Vietnamese communist soldiers threatening another American platoon. What followed was a counterattack that put D Company in jeopardy, in which Alvarado played a vital role.\n\nAs his platoon moved toward the ongoing fight, Alvarado detected enemy movement and opened fire. In spite his swift reaction, he and his troopers found themselves pinned down by heavy small arms fire and blocked from joining the endangered platoon they’d come to assist. It soon became clear that a large, well-armed component of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) was targeting his platoon for overrunning as well as the men they were trying to rescue.\n\nAlvarado’s next action was to charge forward through a storm of machine gun fire in order to engage the enemy. Suddenly, a grenade exploded nearby, wounding and temporarily stunning him. Regaining his wits, however, he killed the North Vietnamese grenadier just as another barrage wounded him again. Nevertheless, he continued his forward crawl under heavy fire to pull several wounded comrades back within the perimeter they had hastily formed.\n\nEvaluating the situation and deciding his unit needed to break away from the larger enemy force, he began maneuvering forward alone to cover the disengagement.\n\nAlthough he was knocked to the ground repeatedly by exploding satchel charges, he continued advancing and firing, using his rifle and grenades to silence several PAVN positions, including a machine gun nest. Taking shelter in a dangerous forward position, he persistently laid suppressive fire on the enemy until the communists, rather than his platoon, broke contact.\n\nJust afterward, however, his comrades-in-arms discovered that he had succumbed from his wounds. He left behind a wife and daughter.\n\nThe engagement at Duc Phong cost D Company four men killed and 26 wounded. Alvarado’s all-out, ultimately sacrificial role in saving his platoon from possible disaster did not go unnoticed among his fellow Air Cav troops.\n\n“I was Leonard’s squad leader,” remarked William Lytle during an interview. “Us, as surviving members of the 2nd platoon, never forgot him on this day.”\n\nAlvarado was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, as well as the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal and Army Commendation Medal with “V” device.\n\nA re-evaluation of his record, however, made it clear that his sacrifice had been underrated. With the passing of the Defense Authorization Act, his daughter, Lenora, was called to the White House in Washington, D.C. on March 18, 2014, to see his DSC upgraded and receive the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama. His remains rest in his home turf, at the Greenlawn Cemetery in Bakersfield.","category":"legacy","author":"Jon Guttman","publishDate":"2026-07-08T17:45:45.000Z","image":"https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/H7757YNRGJE2XKXWTSOCR2VT74.png","source":"Navy Times - Veterans","sourceUrl":"https://www.navytimes.com/veterans/military-history/2026/07/08/this-soldier-tried-to-cover-a-retreat-and-ended-up-compelling-the-enemy-to/","serviceBranch":"Navy","priority":3,"qualityScore":95,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-09T00:00:52.884Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:48.242Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-69wqou","slug":"a-veteran-business-hard-learned-lessons-on-building-and-rebuilding-a-brand","title":"A veteran business’ hard-learned lessons on building—and rebuilding—a brand","excerpt":"Any veteran entrepreneur in business long enough probably feels like they’ve made every mistake in the book and paid for all of them. Chances are also good that they keep going anyway.","content":"Any veteran entrepreneur in business long enough probably feels like they’ve made every mistake in the book and paid for all of them. Chances are also good that they keep going anyway.\n\nJon Klipstein is no different. Ten years ago, he founded his workout supplement and apparel company as UXO, which he has since rebranded as Die Tryin Co. The rebrand was strategic, but not necessarily necessary—the Army veteran is working out of a 2,500-square-foot warehouse, not drawing a salary by choice, but still texting his business partner at 1 a.m. about product launches.\n\nHe wouldn’t have it any other way.\n\n“It goes back to that mission statement,” Klipstein told We Are The Mighty. “Knowing why we started this company and believing in the product, believing in what we’re doing—that always continued to push me forward.”\n\nThe mission he’s talking about is to provide safe, effective supplement formulas while educating people on how to use them the right way. He founded the company after one of his soldiers died during a run after taking a dangerous pre-workout.\n\nKlipstein’s story is one that more than 1.6 million veteran-owned businesses in America can probably relate to, even if the specifics vary. Veterans start companies for a lot of reasons, but the throughline is usually purpose. The military instills leadership, discipline, and mission-orientation—soft skills that translate well to entrepreneurship.\n\nThe problem is that the path from uniform to founder is rarely a straight line.\n\nKlipstein deployed to Afghanistan in 2010, serving as an artillery crew member alongside a tight-knit group of soldiers who remain close to this day. When he took the uniform off and entered civilian life, the loss of identity hit hard. It’s a challenge researchers document time and again among the roughly 200,000 service members who separate from the military each year.\n\n“You put that uniform on every single day, you served with a purpose, and you had meaning; you felt fulfilled,” he said. “Then you take that uniform off, and it’s like, ‘Who am I? What is my purpose now?’ Getting my first job right out of the military, that’s all that was. It was just a job.”\n\nSo he started a company.\n\nWhat’s In a Name?\n\nThat company was originally called UXO Supplements, and Klipstein launched it out of his garage. Veterans probably know the business was named after the military term for unexploded ordnance. The brand leaned into its veteran roots from day one, something Klipstein now views as a double-edged sword.\n\n“We were heavy on the veteran side and the focus of being veteran-owned,” he said. “We’ve seen other supplement companies enter the space, and they lean so heavy into the veteran ethos to where it almost becomes… pandering. For us, I know we have a quality product. I want us to be recognized first and foremost as a quality supplement company. The veteran-owned piece is the cherry on top.”\n\nA business owner who later considered buying the company offered feedback that stuck with Klipstein for years.\n\n“To you, UXO means something,” he’d told Klipstein. “To everybody else, it’s just a three-letter acronym. You need a name that people can connect with.”\n\nThe market bore out that advice. At CrossFit events, announcers kept pronouncing the name UXO as “Uhxoh.” At trade booths, Klipstein often spent 20 to 30 minutes explaining what the name meant to anyone who asked.\n\nThe problem wasn’t the product; it was the signal the brand sent before anyone even opened a container.\n\nThe $25,000 Question\n\nBefore he tackled the name, Klipstein made a more expensive error: he hired a branding agency.\n\nThe agency told him the original minimalist black labels weren’t going to move product. The answer, they said, was bright and flashy: labels that jumped off the shelf. Klipstein had a gut feeling it was wrong. He talked it over with his wife and his operations manager, Michaela. They had the same feeling. He went ahead with the redesign anyway.\n\n“Deep down in my heart, I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is it,’” he said. “But it was almost like second-guessing yourself. That’s one of those times where I should have just trusted my gut.”\n\nThe customer reaction was swift. They hated the new look. The rebrand didn’t just fail aesthetically; it disconnected the company from its core audience. The blue-collar, military-veteran community energy that the original labels quietly communicated was gone.\n\nThis kind of mistake catches a lot of founders. The supplement space is brutally competitive, and access to capital remains one of the top challenges for veteran entrepreneurs. Some 75% of veterans cite it as a top barrier, and 72% rely on personal or family savings to fund their businesses.\n\nWhen you’re bootstrapped, and someone with claimed expertise tells you to go a certain direction, it’s hard not to defer. Especially when you’ve already learned not to trust every instinct early on.\n\n“I had to trust these guys,” Klipstein said. “This is what I’m paying them for.”\n\nHis trust cost him $25,000 and set the company back. He calls it a valuable lesson. That’s vet-speak for something that hurt like hell.\n\nDie Tryin’\n\nThe failed redesign was ultimately the nudge Klipstein needed to address the name itself. This time, he did it right. He tested new label designs with a subset of loyal customers before committing.\n\nHe then went back to the business owner who’d once tried to buy UXO and asked him directly what he thought of the new direction.\n\n“He said, ‘Dude, I love it,'” Klipstein recalled. “So we went all in.”\n\nThe new name, Die Tryin’ Co., is built around the “die trying” concept. And the difference has been tangible. Apparel sales surged. People who don’t even take supplements are buying Die Tryin’ gear because they connect with the mentality.\n\n“We have a lot of people who don’t even take supplements that will buy the apparel,” Klipstein said. “They come across it, and they love the branding. They love the design. They love the message.”\n\nThat’s the ideal outcome of any rebrand: when the name starts doing marketing work on its own. But the success came with costs. Months after the rebrand, Klipstein was still running into people who hadn’t heard about it. Brand equity built over a decade under one name doesn’t automatically transfer.\n\nView this post on Instagram\n\n“There’s still people who don’t know. I met someone the other day at the gym, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t even know you guys rebranded,'” he said. “So now it’s getting the message out there and getting Die Tryin’ in front of everybody. Really telling that story.”\n\nBack to the Usual Grind\n\nFor all the strategic lessons in Klipstein’s decade of building, the most relatable parts of his entrepreneurial efforts are about endurance.\n\nHe’s currently not paying himself. He also found an officially unofficial partner who wanted to develop a mushroom-based supplement. Onur Oncer is a fellow veteran who served alongside Klipstein in Afghanistan and he came on board to handle SEO for Die Tryin’ Co. (as well as develop the new mushroom product). Oncer isn’t getting paid either.\n\nThe two of them were texting about the business at 1 a.m. the night before this interview.\n\n“When you are an entrepreneur, you have to wear all the hats, you have to work your ass off,” Klipstein said. “You’re not going to get paid in the beginning. I see us in the next year being in a position with the company to begin reaping the rewards of our hard work and sleepless nights.”\n\nThere are many veteran entrepreneurs who don’t know that kind of thing when they get into their first business. Lack of mentorship in the community is also a challenge. With 20% of veteran entrepreneurs citing the absence of mentors as a significant barrier, Klipstein’s early years of figuring things out the hard way aren’t unusual.\n\n“We didn’t have a mentor,” he said. “We just had to learn from and chalk them up as losses and learned experiences.”\n\nCash flow in the supplement space is especially brutal: the product is paid for upfront, testing takes 12 to 16 weeks, and that money is tied up the entire time.\n\n“Another lesson learned was burning the boats too soon,” he added. “I did step away from corporate America because we were making enough money and decided to go all in on UXO Supplements.\n\nI was paying myself a salary for about three years, which allowed me to pay my bills and take care of my family. I made that decision too soon. I found out real quick that money was starving the business, when we could be injecting it into marketing and systems that would help it grow.”\n\nFor capital, he’s considered loans, walked away from investors who didn’t bring enough to the table beyond a check, and watched a potential acquisition fall through—something he now views as fortunate.\n\n“Entrepreneurs getting started have to be comfortable with not getting a paycheck to do what is right for the business,” he said. “It’s like a kid who needs to be nurtured and developed. Obviously, they have to walk that thin line between sacrifice and insanity. Sometimes I feel like I’m over that line. But everyone’s road to success is a little different.”\n\nDie Tryin’ Co. originally started with a $10,000 check. It now carries $200,000 in inventory and is preparing to move into a new warehouse double the size of the current one.\n\n“We started this company with ten grand,” Klipstein said. “That’s the stuff that motivates me. I always tell people, never look back. You always have to look forward. But sometimes you have to look back to see how far you’ve come.”\n\nTo learn more about Die Tryin’ Co. or to buy some of Klipstein’s products, check out the website. All the ingredients are clearly labeled, and even newcomers can feel good about the safety of the supplements they’re buying.\n\nThink of it as having a good NCO watch over you at the gym.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• The best online colleges for veterans in 2026, according to US News and World Report\n• The hidden costs of service and why military families are always starting over\n• Everything you need to know about using the GI Bill with other financial aid\n\nA veteran business’ hard-learned lessons on building—and rebuilding—a brand\n\nReal military captains drive Jeep’s ‘Captains of America’ commercial\n\nWanna make movies? Here’s a way to start for a dollar.\n\n5 easy ways to support veteran-owned local businesses\n\nVietnam vet Bill Roedy left the Army for cable TV—and helped win the Cold War","category":"service","author":"Blake Stilwell","publishDate":"2026-07-08T16:56:12.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/veteran-business-rebrand-die-tryin.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/military-life/veteran-business-learned-lessons-building-and-rebuilding-brand/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:52.590Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:48.242Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-ccgwbj","slug":"the-hard-earned-right-250-years-of-the-american-veteran","title":"The hard-earned right: 250 years of the American veteran","excerpt":"“The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776,” by John Trumbull. A severely wounded James Monroe (on the ground, left of center) is depicted as being held by Dr. John Riker.","content":"The 250th anniversary of the United States is often framed through the lens of grand ideals: liberty, representation and the pursuit of happiness. But for those who fought to secure those ideals, the reality was often precarious. As the nation prepares to celebrate, it has an obligation to renew the sacred contract between the country and its veterans—a contract that wasn’t written into our founding documents but forged through a series of national shames and hard-won victories in the halls of Congress.\n\nA Pension (With a Catch)\n\nIn 1776, the American veteran as a social category didn’t exist. The people fighting the Revolution were farmers, blacksmiths and tradesmen who picked up muskets for seasonal campaigns. To the average colonist, the idea of a standing army was not a symbol of pride but an expensive tool of tyranny similar to the one they were currently revolting against.\n\nThis deep-seated suspicion was written into the law of the land. Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution restricted funding for the army to two-year terms. This was intended as a kill switch; if the army became too powerful or too expensive, the people’s representatives could simply starve it of resources.\n\nA decade earlier, the first piece of legislation for veterans, the Pension Act of 1776, had been born of desperate practicality. As British forces arrived in New York, the Continental Congress needed a way to keep men in the field. They promised half-pay for life, but with a catch: It was reserved exclusively for those with a visible disability. Because the founders feared a permanent military class, veteran care was viewed as a form of charity, to be doled out to the destitute, rather than an obligation earned through service. If a soldier returned from the war with his limbs intact but his farm in ruins, the government felt it owed him nothing but a handshake.\n\nSpeculators and Prize Money\n\nWhen the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, the United States found itself in arrears to 300,000 to 350,000 veterans. At the same time, the nation was drowning in $43 million of debt—roughly $1.3 billion in today’s currency. The federal government’s first solution was to pass the buck to the states. Some states were generous, but many were bankrupt, leaving thousands of veterans with nothing.\n\nCongress attempted to bridge the gap with the Bounty Land Act, which promised acreage to soldiers who had served until the end of the conflict. It was a grand gesture that failed in practice. Much of the land was remote, undeveloped, and required capital that most veterans simply did not have. Most veterans, needing immediate cash to feed their families, sold their land rights to speculators for pennies on the dollar. The land that was supposed to be a veteran’s reward instead became the foundation of real estate empires for men who may never have seen a day of combat.\n\nBy 1799, the government realized it needed a more sustainable model, particularly for the Navy. Unlike the Army’s tax-funded model, the Navy Pension Fund was financed by prize money. When a U.S. vessel captured an enemy ship, the proceeds from the sale of that ship and its cargo were split: Half went to the crew, and the other half funded the pension. As naval historian Margherita Desy told DAV, this was a brilliant system during the back-to-back wars between 1789 and 1815. Afterward, the fund dried up because there were no prizes to capture.\n\nThe Veteran Advocate in the White House\n\nBy 1816, the heroes of the Revolution had become symbols of the nation’s inadequacy to care for warfighters. At the time, the government operated on a strict patriotic duty model. Service was considered its own reward, and pensions were reserved exclusively for those visibly shattered in battle. Still, the sight of men who had fought at Yorktown begging for bread in tattered uniforms sparked a wave of national guilt.\n\nJames Monroe, elected president in 1816, embodied the role of a veterans advocate. Wounded at the Battle of Trenton, he carried a British musket ball in his shoulder for the rest of his life. Monroe understood the opportunity cost of service: A man who enlisted at 18 and returned at 26 had missed the window to establish a trade or a farm and build wealth while his civilian peers moved ahead.\n\nMonroe embarked on a public relations tour, traveling the country in a buff-colored Continental Army uniform. He was a superstar to a public that had previously viewed the president as a distant clerk. He used this goodwill to push through the Pension Act of 1818. For the first time, a veteran could receive a pension for nine months of service, regardless of disability. It was a revolutionary shift. The federal government was taking ownership of veterans’ well-being.\n\nHowever, the contract remained fragile. When over 20,000 veterans applied—far exceeding the government’s estimate of 1,600—Congress panicked at the cost. It passed the 1820 Remedial Act, forcing veterans to prove extreme poverty to keep their checks. Men had to list every possession in open court; one veteran lost his benefits because he owned a wig and a broken mirror.\n\nThe Art of Justice and the Widow’s Pelt\n\nIf Monroe was the policy champion, artist John Neagle was its campaign manager. In 1829, Neagle found 73-year-old veteran Joseph Winter huddled in the snow in Philadelphia, dressed in rags. His portrait, “A Pensioner of the Revolution,” became a viral image of the 19th century. It forced Americans to contrast their 50th-anniversary celebrations of the nation with the reality of its defenders living as beggars.\n\nThis visual shame campaign fueled the Pension Act of 1832, which codified service as a debt owed. This act was so massive it forced the government to modernize, creating the Bureau of Pensions—the direct ancestor of today’s Department of Veterans Affairs.\n\nAs the system grew, so did the recognition of the veteran family. The 1836 Widow’s Bill acknowledged that a pension was an earned debt that belonged to a veteran’s estate. Yet even this was fraught with difficulty. In an era before digital records, 80-year-old survivors had to find living witnesses to weddings that occurred in the 1770s. One widow, Charity Snider, proved her marriage by presenting a preserved mole pelt her husband had sent her from the front lines as a love token.\n\nThe inclusion of women and underrepresented groups remained a slow, grinding process. Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to serve in the Continental Army, had to petition for years to receive the same pension as her male counterparts. Similarly, Native American veterans—who often fought on lands they were simultaneously being displaced from—were frequently trapped in legal limbo as the federal government’s inconsistent treatment of tribal sovereignty left their eligibility for benefits unclear and unevenly applied.\n\nThe Industrialization of Care\n\nThe Civil War changed the scale of veteran care forever. In 1860, the Bureau of Pensions had 18 clerks; by 1865, it was processing 75,000 applications a year. To house the operation, the government built the massive Pension Building in Washington, D.C. The architect, U.S. Army Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs, designed the building with the disabled veteran in mind. The stairs had shallow risers for those with prosthetic limbs, and a document track moved files for 1,500 clerks.\n\nThis era also saw the birth of the universal pension. The 1890 Dependent and Disability Pension Act allowed any veteran unable to perform manual labor to collect a check, and by 1907, age itself became a qualifier. At 62, an honorable discharge was all a veteran needed to prove they earned certain benefits.\n\nAt this point in time, the government’s approach was largely hands off. It prioritized minimal financial assistance over physical well-being. That changed with Delphine Baker.\n\nDelphine Baker was a visionary who reshaped the landscape of American veteran care, moving it beyond simple financial stipends toward a model of comprehensive, institutional support. Born in 1828 and raised in an environment that championed intellectual independence, Baker became an unconventional leader and a sophisticated public communicator. After her own physical collapse while serving as an independent supply agent and nurse during the Civil War, she shifted her focus to intellectual advocacy, launching The National Banner to fund and promote the cause of long-term care for volunteer soldiers.\n\nBaker’s primary contribution was the realization that a “check in the mail” was insufficient for veterans with life-altering injuries and no means of support. She witnessed firsthand the “revolving door of misery” in wartime hospitals, where soldiers were discharged into homelessness because they were too disabled for manual labor but healthy enough to leave surgical wards.\n\n“What I think is really neat about Delphine Baker’s vision is this kind of idea of whole care that was really new at the time,” said Melissa Winn, director of marketing and communications at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. “It was not just treating wounds and bandages. It was looking at care in a recreational way. Considering their lives as whole lives, not just making sure that they could feed themselves or accommodate for some of these things that they weren’t able to do anymore.”\n\nThis prompted Baker to draft what history remembers as the “Power Petition,” a 30-page scroll of signatures she leveraged to corner Congress. By securing the endorsement of influential figures like Ulysses S. Grant and P.T. Barnum, she turned the cause into a moral and social mandate that even a reluctant government couldn’t ignore.\n\nHer persistence culminated on March 3, 1865, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the National Asylum Act. This legislation established a federal obligation to provide whole care—including housing, medical treatment and vocational activity—for the volunteer forces, a group previously ineligible for such benefits. The resulting National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers were massive, self-sustaining campuses featuring libraries, theaters and even zoos, signaling to the public that veterans were honored guests rather than charity cases.\n\nA Hard-Earned Right\n\nThe history of veterans benefits in America isn’t a straight line of progress. It’s a story of creative, often desperate measures—from prize money and mole pelts to the grotto gardens of the National Soldiers’ Home where veterans worked the soil to heal their shattered nerves.\n\nAs we approach the 250th anniversary, we must remember that DAV’s mission is the continuation of this struggle. The sacred contract isn’t a gift or a charity. It’s a hard-earned debt. From the smoke of the Revolution to the modern PACT Act, the lesson of history remains the same: The nation’s debt to its defenders is a permanent social obligation that must be renewed by every generation.\n\nUP NEXT\n\nThink the fight for veterans benefits ended with the turn of the century? Think again. In Part 2, which will be published in the next issue of the magazine, we’ll dive into the 20th-century chaos where the heroes of World War II—MacArthur, Patton and Eisenhower—burned protesting veterans’ camps to the ground.\n\nWe’ll discover how a “Tombstone Bonus” and a massive nationwide telegram campaign forced Congress to defy a popular president and transform a bureaucratic nightmare into a sacred, legally protected right. Along the way, we’ll trace how these early battles for recognition and compensation set the stage for something even more enduring—the birth of a modern, member-driven force that would redefine veterans advocacy for generations to come: the founding of DAV.","category":"benefits","author":"DAV Communications","publishDate":"2026-07-08T15:00:05.000Z","image":"https://www.dav.org/wp-content/uploads/Neagle_APensionerOfTheRevolution.jpg","source":"DAV","sourceUrl":"https://www.dav.org/learn-more/news/2026/the-hard-earned-right-250-years-of-the-american-veteran/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:52.592Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:49.717Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-qbkesw","slug":"bridging-the-distance-bringing-care-closer-to-home-for-rural-veterans","title":"Bridging the distance: Bringing care closer to home for rural Veterans","excerpt":"In Navajo Nation, VA trainees close the distance to care For rural Veterans living on or near the Navajo Nation reservation, seeking care has often meant hours on the road.","content":"In Navajo Nation, VA trainees close the distance to care\n\nFor rural Veterans living on or near the Navajo Nation reservation, seeking care has often meant hours on the road.\n\nSuch distances pose a serious barrier, particularly for elderly or disabled Veterans. In rural New Mexico, VA trainees are working to close that gap, bringing accessible, high-quality medical care to underserved Veterans while training the next generation of medical providers. The effort is part of a pilot program VA launched this year in five locations across the United States.\n\nExpanding rural access to care\n\nBy partnering with academic affiliates, hospitals and clinics, the VA MISSION Act program known as the Pilot Program for Graduate Medical Education and Residency (PPGMER), ensures rural Veterans can access needed care much closer to home.\n\nTo date, 34 VA residents across the U.S. have served 1,440 unique patients, both Veterans and non-Veterans. These rotations in rural and underserved locations, including facilities operated by Indian Health Service, Indian tribes or tribal organizations, have proven mutually beneficial for learners and Veterans alike.\n\n“I like it here [at the Northern Navajo Medical Center], and it’s close by so I can get treatment,” said Army Veteran Virgil Wood. “It’s a nice place, beautiful, and the people are real friendly, from the doctors to the nurses. They really figure out what’s going on with you and help you out.”\n\nRather than traveling long distances for basic needs, Veterans can see providers, obtain medications and receive personalized attention right in their communities.\n\nInnovative approaches to care\n\nOne of the hallmark programs unique to the Northern Navajo Medical Center is “street medicine,” an outreach effort that brings health care directly to patients who need it, founded by Dr. Asha Atwell, an IHS medical doctor there. In this program, doctors travel in vans stocked with medical supplies to specific outdoor public locations to treat patients in their community on a weekly basis.\n\n“We treat patients where they are,” said resident Dr. Chantel Clark. “We provide medical resources to those who can’t access traditional care: distributing medications, food and clothing, including socks; checking blood pressures; and offering STD testing.”\n\nBuilding trust and cultural understanding\n\nServing a population that includes many members of the Navajo Nation, the GME pilot meets Veterans where they are. In neighboring Arizona, another resident from the pilot program is doing the same.\n\n“I’ve been really impressed by how VA is able to meet Veterans’ needs across the spectrum,” said Dr. Tessa Foti, who recently completed her residency in this program at the Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility.\n\nFoti also enjoyed learning about a patient population she didn’t know much about. “This was my first time practicing, or really having a lot of exposure to, the Navajo Nation, so I definitely think it was a valuable experience in gaining greater cultural awareness and understanding,” she said.\n\nThe area’s patients are also uniquely welcoming, said Dr. Heather Kovich, who is stationed with Indian Health Service (IHS) in Shiprock, New Mexico, at the Northern Navajo Medical Center.\n\n“Our patients, Veterans and non-Veterans, are always so inviting, especially to new learners,” she said. “Our Veterans are happy to work with the residents, share their stories and help them grow.”\n\nSurveys of residents who have taken part in the pilot report overwhelmingly positive experiences. “Residents appreciate the opportunity to provide full-spectrum care and apply all of their training in a rural context, supporting those who need it most,” Kovich said.\n\nChanging lives, inspiring futures\n\nFor many medical residents, the GME pilot is more than a training ground; it’s an inspiration.\n\n“After my rotation, I would seriously consider working at an IHS or VA facility,” Clark said. “I love hearing Veterans’ stories, understanding their experiences and being there when they need care. The gratitude Veterans show is extraordinary, and it’s a privilege to serve.”\n\nFoti echoed those thoughts. “Veterans have a brand of humor that can just really be delightful,” she said. “They’re tough, but their health needs can be complex. It’s an honor to help them navigate their health journeys.”\n\nIt’s clear the feeling is mutual. Veterans consistently report satisfaction with their care. “She gave me all the information I needed and made sure I understood what was going on with me,” Wood said of his interactions with Clark. “I was always satisfied. She treated me with respect.”\n\nCommitted to Veterans, close to home\n\nBeyond meeting current medical needs, this initiative reflects a commitment to each Veteran’s well-being and access to care. Whether through primary services, innovative street medicine or building bridges of cultural understanding, the program is paving the way for rural Veteran health care across the country.\n\nAs the pilot program continues through 2031, lessons learned in New Mexico and the other rural sites in Arizona and Wyoming will inform future efforts, proving that, with the right partnerships and dedication, barriers of distance can be overcome.\n\nFor Veterans and families in the region, it’s more than just convenience, it’s care rooted in respect, understanding and gratitude for their service. And for the next generation of VA health care professionals, it’s a chance to learn, be inspired and serve those who have served.\n\nTrainees like Clark and Foti are among the 124,000 health professions trainees educated by VA every year, overseen by the Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA). Find out more information about OAA or the VA MISSION Act’s PPGMER.","category":"health","author":"Nikki Verbeck","publishDate":"2026-07-08T14:30:00.000Z","image":"https://news.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/07/Dr.-Clark-at-street-clinic_van1.webp","source":"VA News","sourceUrl":"https://news.va.gov/148097/bringing-care-closer-home-rural-veterans/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":85,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:49.688Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:49.717Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-dqaq89","slug":"country-music-legend-george-jones-legendary-lawn-mower-booze-run","title":"Country music legend George Jones’ legendary lawn mower booze run","excerpt":"Country music legend George Jones had a lifelong struggle with alcoholism that was as legendary as his voice. Born among the East Texas oil fields in 1931, Jones gravitated to music to escape his...","content":"Country music legend George Jones had a lifelong struggle with alcoholism that was as legendary as his voice. Born among the East Texas oil fields in 1931, Jones gravitated to music to escape his alcoholic father’s booze-fueled rampages. He turned to drinking himself to overcome his stage fright and survive the demands of playing on the road.\n\nThe emotions that inspired his music only added more fuel to the fire. He’d tried to escape a life of being awakened in the middle of the night to play for his dad and his drunk buddies by singing his way across Texas. Despite multiple marriages and children, as well as a stint in the Marine Corps, the singer’s addiction followed him for most of his adult life.\n\nIt also led to an alcohol-related incident with his second wife that became the subject of many stories, murals, and no fewer than three recreations in modern country music videos. George Jones recalled the lawn mower incident (and his time in the Marines) in his 1967 autobiography, “I Lived to Tell It All.”\n\nThe Jones family was living in a wild, swampy area of Texas call “The Big Thicket” when they finally bought a radio in 1938. George was just seven years old. He and his mother would tune into the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights and by age nine, George even had his own guitar.\n\nAs he grew up, he began playing the churches and streets of Beaumont. At age 16, he left home for Jasper, Texas, where he began singing on the local radio station. He eventually meandered to the Port of Houston, playing Ernest Tubbs songs in rough honky tonks, protected from flying beer bottles only by chicken wire strung up on the stage.\n\nThat’s where he met Dorothy Bonvillion. The couple soon married, but Dorothy’s parents weren’t going to have a honky tonk singer with no money in the family. They tried to get him a job as a house painter, but it didn’t take. The couple were married and divorced before their daughter was born. Jones couldn’t afford the child support payments and he couldn’t afford the jail time for not paying the support payments.\n\nSo he joined the Marine Corps.\n\nAt 18, he was sent to San Jose, California. With a check from the Corps, he could support his daughter but he made far more money by playing the local nightclubs.\n\n“People have asked what I remember most about the service,” Jones wrote in his 1996 autobiography “I Live to Tell It All.” “I don’t answer with talk about guns or six-mile hikes and the like. The most vivid memory I have is coming in a four o’clock in the morning on New Years Day 1953, after playing a show. I lay down in the darkness and the entire barracks was silent except for one voice. I belonged to the guy in the bunk next to mine.\n\n‘Hey,’ he said. ‘Your buddy is dead.'”\n\nThat voice was referring to Hank Williams, whom Jones regarded as country music’s greatest singer-songwriter. Jones’ stage fright was not just a case of the jitters. He was so stricken, he had the opportunity to play electric lead guitar behind William for a radio show, but held his guitar instead, “too afraid to move”paralyzed with fear.”\n\nJones left the military in 1953, having spent his entire career stateside. He returned to Beaumont, where he became disc jockey, but kept playing music and drinking. The next year, he married Shirley Ann Corley. When they married, he was a relatively unknown musician playing “hillbilly music,” but in 1955 his career took off. He released “Why Baby Why” in 1955, but hit it really big with the number one single “White Lightning” in 1959.\n\nHis marriage grew increasingly strained as time went on. The pressures of his newfound fame, constant touring, womanizing, and his severe battle with alcoholism took a heavy toll on the relationship (to put it lightly). In his book, Jones describes benders that lasted for days and even weeks, where he disappeared completely.\n\nThen there’s the now-famous 1967 lawn mower incident, one that even he says “I can laugh at now, years into my sobriety. But no one was amused at the time.\n\nJones had been drunk for days when his wife finally decided she’d had enough. She would make it physically impossible for him to buy any alcohol. At the time, they lived eight miles from the nearest liquor store in Beaumont. She took the keys from all of their cars and left.\n\nShe forgot about the lawn mower.\n\nThe singer was angry that he couldn’t find the keys to any car. He eventually found himself just staring out of their window at a light that shined over their property. Like some kind of divine spotlight, he realized it was shining on their riding lawn mower and its ten-horsepower engine.\n\nAt a top speed of five miles per hour, it took Jones more than an hour and a half to get to the liquor store on the two-lane highway into Beaumont. George and Shirley were divorced the next year, but the lawn mower incident has been immortalized in country music lore, with Jones poking fun at himself in 1996’s “Honky Tonk Song.”\n\nJones makes a cameo in Hank Williams Jr.’s music video for “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” riding a lawn mower to the party; Mike Judge’s 2017 series “Tales from the Tour Bus,” animates the story for a new generation; and a John Deere lawnmower was even displayed at the George Jones Museum in Nashville.\n\nAlthough it became the stuff of legend, Jones’ third wife Tammy Wynette apparently didn’t get the memo. Ten year later, the “Possum” would hop on another mower down a main highway, this time to get to a bar 10 miles from his house.\n\nJones’ boozing more than caught up to him. It might have led to some of his greatest music, but it also led to drunken rampages, missed show dates, lawsuits, and, eventually, bankruptcy. At one point, Jones was homeless and living in his car, weighing only 105 pounds. He was even committed in a psychiatric ward.\n\nIn 1984, he sobered up. But even after writing his book in 1996 and laughing at the lawn mower incident, his struggle with alcoholism continued. In 1999, he nearly died after driving his car into a bridge after drinking. That was the last straw. George Jones remained sober until he died in 2013 at age 81.\n\nDon’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty\n\n• ‘Jimmy’ celebrates World War II hero Jimmy Stewart for America’s 250th with a new trailer\n• SFC’s Chloe Turner on why sport fishing is reeling in veterans\n• Army veteran trades filmmaking for music in his 40s\n\nCountry music legend George Jones’ legendary lawn mower booze run\n\nJames Bond’s longest-running ‘Q’ survived 5 excruciating years as a POW\n\n‘Jimmy’ celebrates World War II hero Jimmy Stewart for America’s 250th with a new trailer\n\nHow Mel Brooks kept his sense of humor while serving in World War II\n\nRetired Marine colonel to lead NASA’s Artemis III mission","category":"advocacy","author":"Blake Stilwell","publishDate":"2026-07-08T14:04:26.000Z","image":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/george-jones-redfern-getty.webp?quality=85","source":"We Are The Mighty","sourceUrl":"https://www.wearethemighty.com/entertainment/marine-corps-veteran-george-jones-lawn-mower/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":2,"qualityScore":100,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T18:00:52.590Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:49.717Z","linkStatus":"ok"},{"id":"vn-zi5526","slug":"my-father-was-a-decorated-black-soldier-with-a-secret-me","title":"My Father Was a Decorated Black Soldier With a Secret: Me","excerpt":"Photos courtesy of S. Renée Phillips There was no celebration when my mother learned she was pregnant—only a conversation.","content":"Photos courtesy of S. Renée Phillips /> There was no celebration when my mother learned she was pregnant—only a conversation.\n\nThree married adults sat in a room weighing what my existence might cost them: a rising soldier in the United States Army with a reputation to protect, a mother facing the weight of shame, and a husband willing to raise a child who was not his. In that moment, a pact was made.\n\nMy biological father was the first Black Army recruiter in the Southeast, which included North and South Carolina, working to build trust in communities in the aftermath of Jim Crow. For a Black man in uniform, that role carried more than prestige. It carried scrutiny.\n\nHis reputation had to remain spotless. However, he had an affair with the wife of one of his recruits. That could have cost him his job for “conduct unbecoming.”\n\nLester Edward Phillips III, left, receiving a medal during an Army recognition ceremony. (Photo courtesy of the author) alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43751\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-7.jpeg?w=318&ssl=1 318w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-7.jpeg?resize=283%2C400&ssl=1 283w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-7.jpeg?w=370&ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-7.jpeg?w=400&ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px\" />\n\nSomewhere between duty and familiarity, their lives became intertwined—and when my life began, that connection became the foundation of a decision shaped by risk, reputation, and survival.\n\nMy biological father remained in the background; my mother’s husband gave me his name. I was left to carry that name, though it never truly belonged to me.\n\nThe weight of that created a silence that I felt long before I understood it. Silence has a way of shaping a child. It teaches you which questions not to ask, which doors not to knock on, which truths are too dangerous to say out loud.\n\nEven in the silence, there were clues. I was the dark-skinned daughter in a house of light-skinned people—my mother, father, and sister all shared a complexion I didn’t. They called me “Black child,” a name that marked me as an outsider long before I understood biology.\n\nIn a family that was supposed to be mine, the mirror told a different story, making it obvious, even without a word of explanation, that I didn’t truly belong to them.\n\nAnd then came eighth grade.\n\nAt the time, I lived with the man I believed was my father in a home that felt chaotic and unpredictable. I started playing sports not out of passion, but as an escape—a way to stay away from home longer, a way to delay returning to an environment that rarely felt steady.\n\nOne evening after practice, hungry and tired, I walked into the house hoping for rest. Instead, I was met with words that would stay with me: “I’m not your daddy.”\n\nThat moment shifted something in me. It confirmed what I had always felt but could never explain: I didn’t quite belong where I was.\n\nThe summer before ninth grade, my mother sat with her phone book open and simply handed me the receiver.\n\nThe author’s school photo. She found it among her biological father’s belongings after he died. (Photo courtesy S. Renée Phillips) alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43752\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=475%2C1030&ssl=1 475w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=184%2C400&ssl=1 184w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=768%2C1665&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=708%2C1536&ssl=1 708w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=945%2C2048&ssl=1 945w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=472%2C1024&ssl=1 472w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=780%2C1691&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?resize=400%2C867&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2.png?w=1153&ssl=1 1153w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-2-475x1030.png?w=370&ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" />\n\nOn the other end was a voice I had never heard: Lester Phillips, my biological father.\n\nHe had lived a life defined by discipline, structure, and honor. He was the first Black Eagle Scout in South Carolina and among the first Black officers in the 45th Infantry Division. He served in multiple wars and was a member of Gen. William Westmoreland’s staff in Vietnam. In 2009, the South Carolina General Assembly issued a resolution honoring my father’s military service.\n\nBy the time of the phone call, both he and the man who raised me had retired from the military. Both transitioned into civilian lives, where the threat of a court-martial or conduct unbecoming charges no longer loomed.\n\nThe fear of military backlash that had kept me a secret for years had faded. But there was no apology for the lost time, only the sudden, jarring reality of a father who had been a ghost in my life.\n\nHe told me I could move in with him. I thought I had found what I had been searching for: stability, protection, a place where I finally fit. He told me I could stay. I let myself imagine a different life. A room of my own. Structure. Belonging. A father who would finally claim me.\n\nBut that didn’t happen.\n\nThe room he prepared for me existed, but belonging did not. And when that door closed, something in me became even more desperate to find where I belonged.\n\nShortly thereafter, I met an older man. As a young teenager, I didn’t have the language to understand what I was walking into. I only knew what it felt like: attention, protection, a sense of being chosen, things I had been searching for my entire life.\n\nSo at 14 years old, I ran away from home toward this father-figure boyfriend. Not because I was rebellious, but because I was searching for belonging the only way I knew how.\n\nWhen my boyfriend’s family came looking for me, I remember hiding behind a furnace—small, quiet, trying not to be seen.\n\nAs I got older, I chased belonging with achievement, through degrees, professional status, and the kind of accomplishments I believed would make me undeniable.\n\nIn many ways, I was striving to reach the bar set by my biological father by accumulating degrees—one bachelor’s, two master’s, and a doctorate—while mirroring his legacy as a public servant through my own careers in law enforcement and education. My goal was to inhabit the world my father had established, one defined by structure, discipline, and hard-earned respect.\n\nI thought if I could rise to that level, I would finally feel like I belonged there too. But even then, it never fully settled. Because belonging isn’t something you achieve. It’s something you’re given—or something you learn to create for yourself.\n\nPrior to the Covid pandemic, S. Renée Phillips spent many Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays with her biological father, Lester Phillips. (Photo courtesy of the author) alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43753\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=774%2C1030&ssl=1 774w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=300%2C400&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=768%2C1022&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=1154%2C1536&ssl=1 1154w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=1538%2C2048&ssl=1 1538w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=450%2C600&ssl=1 450w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=150%2C200&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=1200%2C1597&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=769%2C1024&ssl=1 769w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=780%2C1038&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?resize=400%2C532&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8.jpeg?w=1878&ssl=1 1878w, https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/null-8-774x1030.jpeg?w=370&ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 774px) 100vw, 774px\" />\n\nAfter my father passed away in 2024, everything unraveled.\n\nThe silence I had lived with for years became louder. I drank. At one point, I was hospitalized, not because I was trying to leave this world but because I was trying to be seen in it.\n\nSomething shifted after that.\n\nNot overnight. Not perfectly. But honestly.\n\nI had to face a truth I had spent most of my life avoiding: Not everyone was going to choose me. Not every space was meant to hold me. Not every table was mine to sit at.\n\nAnd for the first time, I stopped trying to force my way into places that required me to shrink in order for me to stay.\n\nI stopped asking to be included. Instead, I asked a different question: Who am I when I’m not trying to be accepted?\n\nThe answer didn’t come all at once. But it came. I began to understand something I had missed all along: I was never lacking. I was never “less than.” I was simply a child trying to find belonging in places that were never meant to welcome me.\n\nThis War Horse Reflection was edited by Kim Vo, fact-checked by Jess Rohan, and copy-edited by Mollie Turnbull. Kim Vo wrote the headlines.","category":"family","author":"S. Renée Phillips","publishDate":"2026-07-08T11:00:00.000Z","image":"https://i0.wp.com/thewarhorse.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Love-Child-1.png?w=2000&ssl=1","source":"The War Horse","sourceUrl":"https://thewarhorse.org/army-affair-black-officer-south-jim-crow/","serviceBranch":null,"priority":1,"qualityScore":110,"lowQuality":false,"scraped":true,"scrapedAt":"2026-07-08T12:00:48.962Z","lastLinkCheck":"2026-07-09T04:00:50.598Z","linkStatus":"ok"}]},"total":1645,"limit":30,"offset":0,"hasMore":true,"lastUpdate":"2026-07-09T00:01:15.161Z"}