Hooking up heros

08/12/2026

HOMELESS VETERANS NEED MORE THAN VAGUE ADVICE

When a homeless veteran asks for help, I often see replies such as, “Call the VA,” “Contact a VSO,” or “Go to a shelter.”

Those answers may be well-intended, but they are often too vague to be useful.

A veteran who is living in a vehicle, sleeping outside, staying temporarily with friends, facing eviction, or trying to leave an unsafe home may already be overwhelmed. The veteran may not know which VA office to call, what program to ask for, or how to explain the situation.

Telling someone to “call the VA” can leave that person right where they started.

Helpful guidance should explain who to contact, what to ask for, and what information to have ready.

A veteran who is homeless or at immediate risk of homelessness can contact the nearest VA medical center and ask specifically for the homeless-services program or a homeless-services social worker. Do not assume the main telephone operator will automatically understand what help is needed unless the veteran clearly explains the housing situation.

The veteran can say, “I am homeless,” “I am living in my vehicle,” or, “I have received an eviction notice and may lose my housing.” Those details help the VA understand the urgency and direct the veteran to the correct team.

The National Call Center for Homeless Veterans may also help connect the veteran with local VA resources. A veteran does not have to be sleeping on the street before asking for assistance. Someone facing eviction, staying in an unstable arrangement, or lacking a safe place to remain may still need immediate help.

Another important program is SSVF (Supportive Services for Veteran Families). SSVF organizations may help eligible veterans and their families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Depending on the circumstances and local program, assistance may involve housing searches, case management, help with deposits, temporary financial assistance, transportation, utilities, or other services designed to stabilize housing.

The veteran should ask whether there is an SSVF provider serving the county where the veteran is currently located. These programs are generally operated by local nonprofit organizations, so the veteran may not recognize the provider’s name as a VA program.

HUD-VASH (Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing) may also be available for certain veterans who need longer-term housing support and case management. However, HUD-VASH is not usually an immediate emergency shelter program, and availability may depend on local resources, eligibility, and waiting periods.

That distinction matters.

A veteran who has nowhere safe to sleep tonight needs a different response from someone who is housed but needs help preventing an eviction next month. Immediate shelter, transitional housing, rental assistance, and permanent supportive housing are not the same thing.

When responding to a veteran, ask a few practical questions when it is appropriate and safe to do so. Is the veteran currently outside or in a vehicle? Is there an eviction date? Are children or other family members involved? Does the veteran have a telephone, transportation, identification, or access to medications? Is the veteran in immediate danger?

Do not ask for private details in a public comment section. Move sensitive information to a private message when possible, and never pressure the veteran to post an address, Social Security number, medical information, or other identifying details publicly.

Transportation can also become a major barrier. A veteran may be given the name of an office but have no way to get there. When possible, provide the address, telephone number, hours, transportation information, and the exact department or program to request.

The same applies when recommending a shelter. Do not assume every shelter accepts veterans, families, pets, people with mobility limitations, or individuals using oxygen or medical equipment. Some shelters may be full, require identification, limit belongings, or have rules that make the location unsuitable for that particular veteran.

Verify the details before sending someone across town.

I would also avoid making comments that frighten veterans away from asking for help. Statements such as, “The VA will take your children,” “You will lose your benefits,” or, “They will force you into a nursing home” may be based on rumor rather than fact and can prevent someone from contacting a program that may actually help.

Homelessness does not always look the way people expect. A veteran staying on a relative’s couch, moving between motels, living in an unsafe building, or remaining in an abusive home because there is nowhere else to go may still be experiencing housing instability.

The veteran does not have to wait until everything is gone before seeking assistance.

The bottom line is this: Homeless veterans need more than vague advice. Give them a specific contact, the name of the program to request, the type of help it may provide, and the next practical step. “Call the VA” is not enough when the veteran does not know who to call or what to ask for.

08/09/2026

Let me preface this by saying I don’t think any administration—Republican or Democrat—has ever truly cared about military spouses. “If the military wanted you to have a spouse, they would have issued you one,” is still the predominant mindset among a large enough subset of government and military leadership that it’s taken until 2026 to even propose a spouse commission.

This mindset continues to be directly reflected in the DOD budget, which has shifted significantly over the last several decades from Personnel, to Operations and Maintenance (O&M), and Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E).

And in the absence of adequate, reliable support, resources, and funding for policies and programs that benefit quality of life for service members . . . who do you think fills in the gaps?

Why, the military spouse, of course.

It is astonishing to me that the stereotype of the military spouse as a lazy “dependa” or “dependapotamus” is still so pervasive. The irony is that the military literally runs on the unpaid labor we perform.

Spouses have established our own communication networks so we can pass along the most current, up-to-date policies and guidance, cut through bureaucratic red tape, and navigate confusing, complicated systems like Tricare.

We leverage our institutional knowledge to facilitate less arduous and frustrating PCS moves, provide mentorship and continuity across duty stations, help each other navigate extended deployments and training exercises, and procure housing, schools, specialists, and social, religious, and educational support systems for each other at each and every duty station.

We sacrifice our own careers to support our service member’s, often giving up the chance for promotion or progression and the ability to be fully vested in our retirement funds. I personally put my own military career on hold for my husband’s.

Spouses build the communities that take care of each other when we are far away from immediate family, holding each other through stressors, transitions, and hardships that most Americans will never dream of facing in their lifetimes.

We become the SME in every imaginable scenario, from navigating the overseas screening process for an OCONUS assignment to figuring out what kind of entitlements are rated for a PCS from Camp Lejeune, NC to Camp Pendleton, CA as an E-5 with dependents and 8,000 lbs of HHG.

When our family experienced a medical emergency in the middle of an overseas PCS this summer, it wasn’t the military who fast-tracked our referrals and appointments with specialists or connected us to the right office to track down our belongings and facilitate their return.

It was my fellow military spouses.

We shouldn’t be classified as “dependents,” but rather “dependables.” The service members can do their jobs BECAUSE we do ours—we deserve a seat at ANY table where there are discussions about military policies that affect personnel.

That said, just because you sign an executive order and establish a fancy schmancy commission does not mean you actually care about spouses.

Because actions will always matter more than words.

And if you cared about spouses, you wouldn’t enact sweeping federal job cuts, which disproportionately affect military spouses because frequent PCS moves mean they are constantly in a “probationary” status.

If you cared about spouses, you wouldn’t withhold funding for SNAP last fall during the longest government shutdown in history. You wouldn’t let service members in fear of not getting their paychecks stand in food lines, you wouldn’t leave families set to PCS or service members going to schools or training in the lurch.

If you cared about spouses, you wouldn’t be pushing testosterone on a population in which domestic violence rates are high.

If you cared about spouses, you wouldn’t make drastic staffing cuts to the VA, or sneakily attempt to change the rules to reduce disability ratings.

If you cared about spouses, you wouldn’t eliminate a home loan program specifically for veterans.

If you cared about spouses, you wouldn’t send service members into a senseless war that does nothing except enrich the billionaire class.

If you cared about spouses, you wouldn’t literally erase the names of service members who gave their lives in said war.

If you cared about spouses, you wouldn’t fire top military leaders in the middle of said war.

If you cared about spouses, you wouldn’t detain more than 50 spouses and parents of active-duty service members in immigration crackdowns over the last year and a half.

If you cared about spouses, you wouldn’t choose a spouse to chair the commission who was literally a spouse for less than a single enlistment (they were married in August 2019, and he left the National Guard in 2021), never had to execute a single PCS, and was included in a Signal chat that divulged the location of U.S. strikes in Yemen.

If you cared about spouses, you would have representation on your board from all ranks, from EFMP families, Guard and Reserve families, dual-military families, veteran families, and male spouses.

I won’t apologize for my skepticism about this commission. I won’t put on my rose-colored glasses and “hope for the best.”

Because in order to address the top concerns facing military families today—affordability, housing, childcare, employment, healthcare—you actually have to CARE.

And every action this administration has taken since January 2025 indicates that it, in fact, does not.

So, spouses will keep doing the work ourselves, just like we always have.

Working from the ground up, instead of the top down.

08/05/2026

Starting July 31, 2026, VA is making it easier for Veterans whose records were damaged or destroyed in the 1973 National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) fire.

Instead of multiple separate requests, VA will now send one comprehensive packet with two forms at the start of the claims process:

NA Form 13055 (Request for Information Needed to Reconstruct Medical Data):https://www.archives.gov/files/st-louis/military-personnel/na-13055-info-2-reconstruct-medical-data.pdf

NA Form 13075 (Questionnaire About Military Service):https://www.archives.gov/files/veterans/military-service-records/na-13075-questionnaire-about-military-service.pdf

When records are confirmed or reasonably presumed destroyed in the fire, claims processors may apply a sympathetic evidentiary standard. Meaning fewer duplicate requests and faster, more predictable timelines for Veterans.

Questions about how this affects your claim? Reach out, we're here to help.

08/04/2026

Where do you turn when you need military and veteran resources?

Our Resource Hub makes it easier to explore resources for veterans, caregivers, military families, and the people who care for them, all in one place.

Find resources that meet you where you are: https://familyresourcehub.elizabethdolefoundation.org/resources-index/

07/30/2026

Struggling with mental health or feeling overwhelmed? The 988 hotline provides 24/7 access to trained counselors who can offer support and resources. It's free and confidential.

Other mental health resources: https://kansaspreventioncollaborative.org/get-help/

07/25/2026

My veteran got his from Retrieving Freedom Inc. they are based in Iowa and Missouri. He does these services and more 🩵

To most people, it’s just background noise.

A busy store. A crowded airport.
A restaurant full of voices, movement, carts, kids, alarms, bright lights, footsteps, and conversations all happening at once.

To a veteran living with a high-alert nervous system, that can become sensory overload fast.

It is not always one big obvious trigger.

Sometimes it is too many small inputs hitting the nervous system at the same time.
Overlapping voices.
Fluorescent glare.
Checkout beeps.
Carts rattling behind you.
People standing too close.
Nowhere quiet to reset.

And while our mission focuses on veterans, this is an experience many people recognize.

That is one reason task-trained service dogs matter.

A Battle Buddy can help provide grounding, Deep Pressure Therapy, and task work like Block or Cover - giving the veteran a physical anchor and helping regulate the nervous system so they can stay present instead of needing to leave.

The goal is not to avoid the world.

The goal is to help veterans live more fully in it.

Training and placing a Battle Buddy takes years of specialized work and significant resources. Your support helps make that independence possible for the veterans we serve.
Support the mission:
www.tbbf.org/donate-now

07/24/2026

People keep asking about ways to support our military right now. Here are a few ideas:

🇺🇸 Don’t spend $9 million on crab and lobster, $15.1 million on steak, $124,000 on ice cream machines, and over $100k on musical instruments while SNAP goes unfunded and service members stand in food lines during the longest government shutdown in history.

🇺🇸 Don’t cut tens of thousands of VA jobs, including nurses, medical officers, psychologists, social workers, and the employees tasked with evaluating claims for benefits, causing VA staffing shortages, longer wait times for care, and cuts to research studies.

🇺🇸 Don’t terminate a VA home loan payment assistance program, which now puts tens of thousands of veterans at greater risk of homelessness.

🇺🇸 Don’t put military paychecks in jeopardy every time a dysfunctional Congress can’t agree on a budget.

🇺🇸 Don’t elect a dysfunctional Congress that pays lip service to the military but then votes against important protections like healthcare for burn pit victims, or holds military promotions hostage over unrelated partisan issues.

🇺🇸 Don’t remove qualified officers from a promotion list because of racial or gender bias.

🇺🇸 Don’t require hundreds of the military’s top generals to travel from around the world on short notice to listen to a rant about grooming and fitness standards and how they don’t always belong in polite society.

🇺🇸 Don’t try and sneak around Congress to implement an interim final rule that would lead to lower disability ratings and benefits for veterans without providing advance notice or comment.

🇺🇸 Don’t give service members a “warrior dividend” and sell it as a gift, when it actually came from repurposed funds that were authorized for a military housing supplement that could have gone toward lowering long-term housing costs.

🇺🇸 Don’t strain NATO alliances, putting service members in the position of continuing joint exercises and operations while their administration is openly hostile to allied partners involved.

🇺🇸 Don’t send ICE onto bases to detain the spouses of service members, especially when they are following the correct process to obtain legal status.

🇺🇸 Don’t force Christian ideology on service members, infringing on their religious liberties and First Amendment rights.

🇺🇸 Don’t fire the most senior, experienced leaders in the middle of a war.

🇺🇸 Don’t start a war without a clear objective or end goal.

🇺🇸 Don’t lie about the true number of casualties of said war.

🇺🇸 Don’t text secret war plans in a Signal chat.

🇺🇸 Don’t rename a department without Congressional approval.

🇺🇸 Don’t say you support the military when your actions clearly say you don’t. ✌️

What else should we add??

07/23/2026

Behind every veteran facing the challenges of service-connected injuries, illness or loss, there are families carrying the impact alongside them.

For years, veterans, caregivers and survivors have waited for solutions to long-standing challenges — from earned benefits to meaningful support for the families who provide care every day.

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act brings together more than 60 critical priorities that would make a difference for millions of families across the country.

Our CEO Steve Schwab joined American Legion National Commander Dan K. Wiley in calling on Congress to act for the veterans, caregivers and survivors who have already given so much.

Read the op-ed: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/veterans-fought-benefits-congress-finally-give-what-they-need

07/19/2026

07/19/2026

Here are six great resources that can help people with disabilities access computers:

Computers for the Blind—can supply low-cost, refurbished computers with accessibility software to visually impaired individuals

Vocational Rehabilitation—can provide computers to individuals with disabilities when needed for job training or employment

iCanConnect—can provide computers, accessible computer equipment, and accessible software to eligible individuals with both hearing and vision loss

Multiple Sclerosis Foundation—offers computers to people with MS on limited or fixed incomes

Technology Association for Visually Impaired Missourians (TAVIM)—can provide refurbished computers to visually impaired Missourians ages 55+

Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program—can provide free computers to DoW civilian employees with disabilities, as well as to wounded, ill, and injured Service members

Call Missouri Assistive Technology to learn about more computer resources: (816) 655-6700.