Tag: #veteran

Autism 51 – Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings

NEW VIDEO!  Step into the experience of living with autism.  This is a neurological problem that, among other things, impedes the ability of us on the spectrum to perceive and feel emotions in real time.  This lack of emotional sensation and reality helps to isolate us from our peers, and can create real difficulty for … Continue reading Autism 51 – Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings

Veteran Talk – Fighting the VA

Join me for a brief and energetic conversation about problems with the VA in general, and the VA Pensacola Clinic in particular.  After being shunted between NINE providers (primary care and mental health) in LESS than two years, I'm fed up.  There is a solution to this, but it's a long game and we have … Continue reading Veteran Talk – Fighting the VA

Veteran Talk – The Trauma Olympics

(Pensacola, Florida; Jan. 25, 2023) – The Trauma Olympics don't actually exists, but there are many people, both veterans and civilians, who still try to root for them! I've never tried to hide my frustration, indeed, my outrage and indignation, that I've been sidelined and marginalized by many veterans organizations and other trauma support groups … Continue reading Veteran Talk – The Trauma Olympics

Mental Health – Tossing Toxic Tails on the Tarmac

(Pensacola, Florida; June 16, 2022) – I threw Alvin out of my house and life only 48 hours into a five-day visit. ‘Alvin’ is not his real name, but we’ll use it here.  I met him in Virginia’s Hampton Roads area back in 2014 when my ex-wife and I first separated.  I was predictably devastated … Continue reading Mental Health – Tossing Toxic Tails on the Tarmac

Veteran Talk – Mach Two Max Has Gone Ashore

(Pensacola, Florida; May 13, 2022) – Mach Two Max passed away last month at the age of 78, and, while the world is not a ‘smaller’ or ‘lesser’ place without her, it is a different place now that this quiet pioneer has entered the mystic realm of myth. Patricia Maxine Mallette was fluent in three … Continue reading Veteran Talk – Mach Two Max Has Gone Ashore

Veteran Talk – Deceleration is Authorized!

(Pensacola, Florida; Jan. 23, 2022) – The military life is a fast-paced, tightly scheduled animal defined by rigid schedules and flavored with the endless expectation each member will never stop striving forward towards greater leadership and responsibility. The post-military ‘slow down’ in life can make you feel like a bird flying smack into a plate … Continue reading Veteran Talk – Deceleration is Authorized!

Veteran Talk – Morning Quarters

(Niceville, Florida; 16 September 2021) – Twenty-four years ago today I was a trembling, quaking, skinny (yes, I was skinny!) 25-year-old kid swearing into the Navy at the MEPS in Jacksonville, Florida. It’s always fun to look back a bit and see how far you’ve come.  It doesn’t take a scanning electron microscope to see … Continue reading Veteran Talk – Morning Quarters

Veteran Talk – Twenty Years Later

(Niceville, Florida; 11 September 2021) – Twenty years ago today I was standing on the flight deck of USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) as we spun up the Tomcats of VF-213 for a routine day of flying over the Arabian Sea. One of our civilian tech reps had a small camera and waved to me, … Continue reading Veteran Talk – Twenty Years Later

Mental Health: Open Letter to Afghanistan Veterans 2

(Niceville, Florida; August 21, 2021) – It’s been five days now since we watched the horrific farce play out in Afghanistan. I can’t even look at any of my ‘Navy Pride’ stuff.  T-shirts, ball caps, anything.  Looking at it fills me with such rage, such betrayal, such a singular sense of senseless futility that I … Continue reading Mental Health: Open Letter to Afghanistan Veterans 2