STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
A retired Navy admiral told Higher Ground supporters that it’s up to local leaders and groups like Higher Ground to help veterans make a successful transition back into civilian life.
“If you’re waiting for Washington, it’s not going to happen,” said Adm. Michael C. Mullen. “(Our agencies) run lousy transition programs. The time we spent on transition programs is zero.”
Mullen spoke Friday night at Higher Ground’s annual Hero’s Journey Gala fundraiser under a big tent on the Dondero lawn in Greenhorn. The crowd of 225 people included Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired naval aviator, astronaut and the husband of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was nearly killed in a 2011assassination attempt.
Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for Presidents Bush and Obama, counsels global clients on issues related to geo-political developments and national security interests. But on Friday he spent his time challenging those in the audience to think about what they can do to care for the current generation of soldiers.
“Twenty-one is the average age. They carry the load for the country,” he said.
Mullen said that today’s world-class medicine can save 95 percent of those who are wounded, including those who may lose both arms and legs, if they’re treated within an hour. And, he noted, today’s soldiers could very well live another 70 years.
Unemployment for vets has been through the roof, and 60 percent of vets say they’re underemployed, he said. Homelessness is a real issue. And Mullen said he’s haunted wondering how veterans who have been severely injured in combat will cope as they age and no longer have the strength to make today’s adaptive technology work for them.
He commended former Sen. Elizabeth Dole for setting up a foundation for caregivers because of her experiencing caring for former Sen. Bob Dole after he was wounded in the back and arm while serving in the 10th Mountain Division during World War II.
He told of TAPS—a program that his wife of 53 years takes part in. The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors has provided compassionate care to 100,000 family members grieving the death of a military loved one with peer support, survivor seminars and Good Grief camps since it was founded in 1994.
“Families matter,” he said.
Mullen noted that today’s soldiers tend to be bipartisan, thanks to their worldly experience.
“I have a lot of faith that that generation is going to fix the trouble our country is in,” he said. “But I worry about the country looking away from those who have sacrificed so much. Suicides—20 a day. We store it away and compartmentalize it. Seventy percent of suicides are among vets 55 and older. How do we intervene? And opioids have hurt us badly.”
“Trauma is a part of the experience of being a soldier,” Army veteran Luke Bushatz of Palmer, Alaska, told the audience. Bushatz described the shame he felt because of decisions he made that he said contributed to fellow soldiers’ deaths.
“Programs like Higher Ground help veterans because they strip away our routine,” said Bushatz, who has taken part in two Higher Ground programs. “When I came alongside other veterans the healing started. Higher Ground provided a safe space to work through trauma.”
Higher Ground started a pilot program for First Responders last year. And Nampa Police Officer Aaron Coleman recounted how it helped him.
“With first responders, unlike veterans, the trauma doesn’t stop,” he said, noting that he sees trauma repeatedly over the course of a year. “I still have years to go. I still have a family to support. I have to keep going.”
Coleman said he didn’t think about the bad stuff, including the suicidal people, for the first time in 20 years while on a Higher Ground whitewater raft trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon. “Most first responders—we don’t talk about it. Now I know where I can go to get away from it.”
Brienne Costa, who works with the First Responder program, said that it appears what works with veterans can be applied to first responders. The camps teach coping skills, including mindful movement, progressive muscle relaxation, forward thinking versus looking back, light yoga, trigger point release, tai chi and sound therapy using Tibetan bowls.
“First responders go into traumatic situations consistently,” she said. “We use these camps to flip how they deal with traumatic situations to look at positives.”
DID YOU KNOW?
- About 350 volunteers provide tens of thousands of hours of service enabling Higher Ground to channel 85 percent of every dollar donated into programs, according to Higher Ground Director Kate Dobbie. Higher Ground has had more than 700 volunteers since it started.
- Higher Ground serves 2,500 veterans annually between its programs in Sun Valley, Los Angeles and New York.
- The program has grown from a local program with a $900,000 budget a little fewer than 20 years ago to a $4 million national organization.
- Those attending Friday’s fundraiser were told they could sponsor recumbent tandem bicycles for seniors for $5,000. It costs $500 to pay for a season ski pass and three lessons for local athletes.