Veterans Should Support Local Veterans Programs
Eric is a 35-year-old US Army Afghanistan War veteran who served 2 tours in Helmand province. He has been at the veteran’s center for about a year and usually avoids me because he does not want anyone to think he’s crazy. Eric finally came into my office last week and started to vent about the negative news uncovered about the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP). A prior employee of the WWP quit his position to protest the excessive spending on conferences and meetings. He also questioned WWP leadership about why there was little if no follow up to those who had utilized their program, their response was “Wounded warriors call us, we don’t call them”. To many veterans the WWP is sacred because of what they profess to do for veterans. But recent events uncovered about the WWP has given some veterans another reason to not trust civilians or the system.
It bothered me when I saw a report from CBS that the wounded warrior project is wasting money and spending large sums of their donations on raising more money. They spent 26 million dollars in 2014 on meetings and conferences which is about the same amount the organization has spent for combat stress recovery, its top program according to the CBS report. It’s estimated that the wounded warrior project has raised over 1 billion dollars since 2003. A little research showed at the time of the disclosure of the misused funds the WWP had 16 people on their executive staff. The CEO along with 8 other executives are not veterans. This causes some veterans to question WWP motives.
I recognize the WWP does do some good work for some, but I question how they spend their money after exploiting our veterans to raise it. The WWP spends very little of their funding on mental health. I will admit I have a bias about the unseen wounds. Mental health issues struggle to raise money because there is no “shock” value and the victims look unscathed. Mental health plays a large part in the 20 veterans a day who commit suicide. I work in the mental health field, attend veteran’s functions, and go to allot of veteran’s events and have met only one veteran who received any substantial help from the WWP. I talked to one veteran who said he had attended a couple of WWP events and now all he gets is e-mails asking for money. One ex-employee stated "A lot of the warriors I saw needed mental health treatment. They don't get that from Wounded Warrior Project,"
According to their web page the Wounded Warrior projects combat stress recovery program states they address the mental health and cognitive needs of warriors returning from war. CSRP provides military rehabilitation services at key stages during a warrior's readjustment process.
We challenge warriors to think about goal-setting and understanding their "new normal." Many warriors begin their journey with an outdoor, rehabilitative retreat that promotes peer connection, challenging outdoor experiences, and healing with other combat veterans.
This is fine to a point but their mental health issues should be addressed in the beginning of their treatment. Many wounded veterans need more than an obstacle course to improve their confidence. They need support from mental health professionals that see them on a weekly basis to help them work through the loss, grief, venerability, guilt, and shame of their new normal. Their new normal should involve a life of forgiveness and acceptance. Many who work through their mental health issues have spent years in therapy, it can’t be done on an obstacle course. Their needs to be consistent follow-up not an attitude of “Wounded warriors call us, we don’t call them”. The major veteran’s programs like the WWP have corporate sponsors. They also have a lot of overhead and salaries.
Eric does not appear to have any mental health issues but he is concerned about how veterans are being exploited to raise money. We talked and he left less frustrated but still annoyed. My suggestion to veterans who want to help is to get involved with a local veteran’s organization and ensure your brothers and sisters are taken care of. I suggest that those who want to contribute money to veteran’s organizations donate to local groups where you can see your donations at work.
For questions or comments, I can be reached at bo@afterdutyvets.com or visit our website at afterdutyvets.com.