Tag: Christen McCluney

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Freedom Awards Recognize Employer Support

September 30, 2010
By Christen N. McCluney

Hundreds of people came together last week to honor 15 employers from across the nation for the 2010 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.

The Freedom Award, created by Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense agency, publicly recognizes employers who provide exceptional support to their Guard and Reserve employees.

The award, which is in its 15th year, is the highest in a series of employer recognition awards given by the Department of Defense.

Nominations come from a Guard or Reserve member employed by the organization they are nominating or from a family member.

James G. Rebholz, the National Chairman of ESGR said that there were over 2700 nominations for the award this year and that a select committee narrowed it down to 15 candidates. He added the winners this year stood above the other entries based on the types of things they’ve done on a personal human basis for their employers.

“Every year it’s exciting to me,” he said. “It never ceases to amaze me that the level of employer support seems to increase and that is what we are seeing here.”

The 2010 recipients included include seven large American corporations, four small businesses and four public sector organizations and ranged from universities to major corporations.

One of the recipients of the Freedom Award was East Carolina University. They were nominated by Lt. Col. Paul J. Schenarts who is in his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan with the United States Army Medical Corps and serves as trauma surgeon at the university in the school of medicine. Steve Ballard, chancellor of the university, said he was “honored, surprised and thrilled” to receive the award.

“To get this recognition  made us feel good,” he said. “Other universities get more money, get more credit and get more recognition but this is more important to us than any of those things.”

U.S. Army Master Sgt. Steven Boos also nominated his employer Food Lion for their support during his deployment. Boos, who works as a store manager for the company, said his company worked around his schedule when he had to leave for training , made sure to keep him in the loop while he was deployed through emails and phone calls and always made him feel comfortable that he had a place to return to.

“They made me feel like I was a part of the bigger picture,” he said.

Cathy Green, president of Food Lion, accepted the award on behalf of her organization. She said the company has over 230 employees in the Guard and Reserve and they send care packages, write letters, check in on families and do yard work to make sure the families know they are cared for.

“It’s an incredible honor for our organization,” she said.  “When I think about people like Steve and the things they do everyday to give us freedom as Americans words can’t describe how I felt that we were nominated.”

The 2011  Freedom Award nomination season will be Nov. 1 to Jan. 17, 2011 and nomination information will be available on the Freedom Award website.

To learn more about the Employer Support Freedom Awards and to see a complete list of  recipients visit the Defense.gov special.

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One of thing that I love doing is podcast and digital journalism. The following clip is from a DOD blogger roundtable. In these roundtables bloggers are invited to talk with DoD officials and various subject matter experts on a variety of subjects. This was my first roundtable I moderated in my new position on August 10, 2010.Listen to the roundtable

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A Forum on Women Veterans
August 5, 2010
By Christen N. McCluney

Hundreds of women came together last week at The Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery for a forum on Women’s Veterans.

The purpose of the forum was to educate, engage and to empower women veterans and women veteran advocates with the latest information from the Department of Veterans Affairs and to expand the dialogue of what is available to women veterans. The forum, which was held for the first time, tackled tough issues that women veterans are facing including health care needs, mental health, military sexual trauma, benefits and homelessness amongst women veterans.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, addressed the crowded auditorium and shared that women represent nearly eight percent of the overall women population and nearly six percent of all veterans that use the health care services at the VA.

“We expect that number to double in the next ten years,” he said. In 2009 alone the department experienced a 20-percent jump in the number of women using the health care facilities.

“Our goal is 100 percent accessibility to veterans that need us and we must anticipate and address the challenges faced by women,” Shinseki added.

Dr. Patricia Hayes, chief consultant, Women Veterans Health also told the crowded auditorium that in the Vietnam era only about three percent of the total active-duty population were made of women. That number today is nearly 15 percent. She added because of that the face of women veterans are also changing.

“Our new generation of veterans are young,” Hayes said, “[Currently], 47.3 percent are younger than 30 years old and 78 percent are less than age 40.”

Because of that, the VA has to tackle new needs such as reproductive health, flexible hours for working parents and increased appointment availability.

One of the main things they are trying to do is change the culture of how women are taken care of in the VA. Instead of transferring from doctor to doctor their hope is to have the whole scope of women’s health care covered in one visit.

At each VA Medical Center, Women Veterans program managers are also available to assist women veterans. They help coordinate all the services women need including primary care, medical services and even mental health and sexual abuse counseling.

There are many complexities with dealing with women in the VA, Shinseki told the crowd. “It becomes our responsibility not just to acknowledge the differences but to anticipate those changes and where they might lead us.”

The VA is also trying to make sure that women realize that they are veterans too and deserve the care that is being offered. Dr. Billie J. Randolph, deputy chief consultant of the VHA Prosthetics and Sensory Aids services received a thunderous applause from the audience when she added that people need to realize “women are not little men.”

Another issue that many women veterans are facing is homelessness. Peter Dougherty, director of the homeless veterans program said there are about 107,000 homeless veterans out on a given night and although the number of homeless veterans is decreasing the number of women are increasing. He said that women returning from war have unique risk factors for homelessness, such as trauma from sexual assault while in the military and lower earning potential than men. The VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development are working together to develop programs like HUD-VASH, that helps eligible homeless veterans find and retain stable independent housing and supportive services for at risk veterans.

The forum ended with a showing of Lioness, the story of the first group of women soldiers to be sent into direct ground combat and an information marketplace full of information and resources that would be useful for women veterans.

When asked about what is next after this forum Dr. Irene Trowell-Harris, director of the VA Center for Women Veterans said, “We put this forum together specifically for the women to look at the overall big picture to see how we could immediately implement policies, look what is being done and know what needs to be done for the future,” said Trowell-Harris.

One message that she wanted to get out is that many women don’t self identify as veterans because they have a perception that if they did not serve in combat they aren’t considered a veteran.

“If they served and had honorable discharged they are eligible for all the benefits and services that men get. The only difference is that women have gender-specific needs.”

Visit http://www1.va.gov/womenvet for more information on the Center for Women Veterans and services the VA has to offer women.

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Cyclist Ride 2 Recovery

June 9, 2010
By Christen N. McCluney

Early Tuesday morning of last week, hundreds of cyclist and volunteers gathered outside of a hotel in Manassas, Va. to prepare for day two of the Ride 2 Recovery Memorial Challenge. The event is a six-day, 350 mile ride from The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to Virginia Beach.

The challenge supports the physical and mental health of injured veterans through cycling, which is an activity that almost all patients with mental and physical disabilities can participate.

The participants in the race, which included servicemembers, veterans and family members, came from all walks of life from all across the country to participate in this challenge.

Army Staff  Sgt. Anthony Lemaitre became involved in the race because some of the soldiers he supervises went on the last ride. “I figured that other than supporting them at the unit this was another way to lend my support,” he said. After this he will also participate in two more rides in Colorado and Florida.

Terry Cleveland, who recently retired from the Navy after 31 years, was a first time rider in this challenge. “It’s my little way to support the vets overseas that have been wounded.”

When asked how he felt after the previous day of cycling he said he was happy that he could actually stand up and feel his legs but it was for a good cause.

Delvin McMillian, a retired airman from Bessemer, Ala. and quadruple amputee participating in Ride to Recovery, June 1. Photo by Christen N. McCluney

The cyclist who were escorted by local police and The American Legion Riders, were greeted with cheers on the side of the road as they set out on a 55-mile trek from Manassas to Fredericksburg, Va.

Employees from the Defense Contract Management Agency, who have an office nearby, decided to stop on the road and lend their support to the cyclist. “We we were doing our morning wellness walk and saw them getting ready to leave and decided to support,” said Sandra Smith, a DCMA employee.

All throughout the ride, which took the cyclist through  historic battlefields and scenic countryside, people from the community and local military organizations were on the route lending their support by waving flags and cheering the riders on as they passed.

Members from  American Legion Post 290 and the USO also provided a rest stop for the riders halfway into the trip for them to take a break and refuel.

Army Spc. Gilad Afridonidze, a member of the Warrior Transition Unit, who was also a first time rider said the trip was pretty difficult and hot, but one of the biggest lessons he learned from this entire journey was to be patient and keep moving on.

The bicycle ride began May 31 and ended June 5 with a party and concert sponsored by the USO.

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Just a few pictures from a 60th birthday celebration I planned in Las Vegas, Nevada. The entire event was coordinated by me including accommodations, ground transportation, cake, restaurant selection and decor. The party was a “girls only getaway” and the theme of the dinner was “Red Hot 60.” The ladies had a custom menu and a view of the kitchen where the chef hand delivered their meal and a celebratory bottle of champagne. Here are a few pictures from the penthouse accommodations at the Signature by MGM and dinner at Envy Steakhouse Las Vegas. Cake made by Retro Bakery LV.

vegas
[click for full size image]

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Joint Task Force Haiti Prepares for ‘New Horizon’

By Christen N. McCluney
Emerging Media, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2010 – Joint Task Force Haiti is preparing to stand down its disaster-relief mission in Haiti at the beginning of June, nearly six months after a Jan. 12 earthquake devastated the country.

“We will stand down the joint task force on the first of June,” Army Maj. Gen. Simeon G. Trombitas, the task force’s commanding general, said during a “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable yesterday. “That is when I will take the last elements of United States Army South home and send those sister-services personnel back to their home stations.”

More than 22,000 U.S. servicemembers were in Haiti at the height of the mission. Of those, about 14,000 were in ships at sea, while 8,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen were on the ground at any given time during the height of operations, Trombitas said.

The mission remains to save lives and alleviate suffering while transitioning into mitigating the ill effects of weather, the general said.

Currently, there are about 850 servicemembers on the ground in Haiti. Once the joint task force stands down, eight people will stay in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince to work with a traditional military liaison office. Their job will be to coordinate humanitarian missions with the U.S. Agency for International Development — the lead U.S. federal agency in the effort — and the Haitian government during an already-scheduled theater security cooperation exercise called “New Horizons.”

The exercise will bring in about 500 soldiers, mainly from the Louisiana National Guard — along with soldiers from the Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Puerto Rican and Virgin Island National Guards — to conduct engineering activities and medical readiness training exercises around Gonaives, which is north of Port-au-Prince. The group will work on engineering projects that include rebuilding three schools and building a fourth. They also will receive training to become culturally aware of the activities in the country while bringing medical help to people in need.

When asked to measure the success of Joint Task Force Haiti so far, Trombitas said he doesn’t believe that success can be measured in numbers.

“Our first success was the incredible flexibility of our military,” he said. Success is measured, he added, in how the Haitian people see the U.S. effort.

“Our success is measured and will be continued to be measured in those things that we have done here and how the Haitian people remember us,” the general said.

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Secretary Flournoy Discusses Women in Defense
March 25, 2010
By Christen N. McCluney

The Pentagon Channel recently sat down with Michèle Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, to discuss the role of women in the Department of Defense. Flournoy highlighted the progress that has been made and the hope she has for the future of women within the DoD.

“We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress from the 1990’s,” she said. “During that time if you invited all the senior woman of the Pentagon to have lunch you could probably fit them at a small table, now you’d fill a large dining room.”

One of her goals is to reach out and educate women on careers in defense. She said a key way to do that is through exposure and allowing people to see that defense is a field that welcomes women.

“The more visible women become the more other women will be attracted to the field,” she added.

She also cites mentorship as an important part of being successful. “I’m very conscious of what I gained from my mentors and I try to spend some time giving back and instilling that value of mentorship in my mentees.”

Flournoy also believes that in the next generation every door will be open for women in the military and by welcoming them the talent pool will grow by 100 percent.

“You see the walls coming down and you see a vanguard of women at multiple levels who are just paving the way for those who will follow.”

She also encourages women to follow their dreams and sense of calling and don’t take no for an answer in their careers.

When asked who inspires her she said that some of her greatest inspiration comes from women in uniform.

“They are so impressive. I think we should be tremendously proud of their contributions and grateful for those contributions every day,” she added.

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**Note this story is something I wrote that got more coverage for me then I would have ever imagined. It was a great piece to write**

Walter Reed Patients Test Next-generation Prosthesis
By Christen N. McCluney
Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – Wounded warriors at the Military Advanced Training Center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here are testing a new microprocessor-controlled prosthetic knee.

The X2 microprocessor knee by Otto Bock HealthCare is the result of a medical research project funded in support of the Military Amputee Research Program.

This project, administered by the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, had the goal of developing “an electronically controlled prosthetic knee joint that meets the specific demands of military staff in real world activity,” said Troy Turner, Advanced Technology Research Program manager at TATRC.

He added that in 2005, officials recognized that even the cutting-edge prosthetic devices weren’t good enough.

“Otto Bock had the C-Leg,” he said. “It was the best that was available, but not the best needed.” Soldiers needed a prosthetic knee with a longer battery life that would enable them to walk and run backward and forward and go up stairs foot over foot.

Otto Bock developed a proposal that later was funded and has developed a new knee that has more durability and functionality, extended battery life, remote-control functions and can handle higher weight loads.

Adele Levine, a physical therapist at the center, said many patients were dealing with knee and joint pain with the C-leg, and saw relief almost immediately once they began wearing the new X2.

“Once I got the confidence to trust the leg that it would do what it was supposed to do, I almost got immediate relief,” said Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Marcus Wilson, one of the three patients at Walter Reed testing out the microprocessor knee. “No knee pain [or] hip pain. Everything evened out.”

The leg enables him to stand in any position and rest on the amputated side, relieving pressure on his intact leg, he said. He also can run again without having to switch to another leg.

“With the old C-Leg, you can’t run,” he said. “Now, it’s as simple as getting a remote and putting it in running mode and going. As fast as you can go, the leg will keep up with you.”

Army Staff Sgt. Alfredo De los Santos has been using the new X2 microprocessor for a little more than two weeks. “Ever since I got this leg, it’s been heaven,” he said. “I went to Busch Gardens. I walked all day long. I only take it off when I go to sleep at night.”

De los Santos, who works out two or three times a day and recently participated in the Army Ten-Miler and the Marine Corps Marathon using a hand-crank chair, said that before using the X2 he occasionally would use canes to alleviate some of the back pain he was having because he enjoys being active. “Now, I can jump and mostly do everything,” he said.

Levine said that with the X2 De los Santos has alleviated a lot of his previous concerns about the pressure he was putting on his intact side and his concerns with quality of living.

“He is so much happier. He tells us this at least 20 times a day,” she said. “He’s always concerned about the future and his condition in 20 years; this gives him a lot of hope.”

The knees are currently being fitted on 30 wounded warriors at Walter Reed and at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, and are expected to be widely available in 2011.

“It’s what you make out of it,” De los Santos said when asked about his hope with the X2. “If you can do this, you can do anything. You can accomplish anything, and you have to make the decision to make it work.”

(Christen N. McCluney works in the Defense Media Activity’s emerging media directorate.)

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Historical Project Documents Navy Diversity

By Christen N. McCluney
Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 2010 – African-Americans have a long legacy in the military that began with the Revolutionary War and has continued to this day.

To highlight this legacy, the Naval History and Heritage Command is working on a project documenting the history of diversity in the Navy from 1775 to the present through a variety of products including oral histories, narratives, chronology, photographs and a book.

The diversity project covers not only African-Americans but also women, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asians. It also looks at religious diversity as well.

“African-Americans have always desired to support the nation in hopes that a better society would emerge for them,” said Regina Akers, a historian at the command and an expert on African-American history, during a Feb. 17 interview on the Pentagon Channel podcast “Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military.”

Diversity is a both strength and a strategic imperative for the Navy and its mission, Akers said, and the project is aligned with that to tell the story of how people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds came to serve in the U.S. Navy and how their roles have changed over time.

“Many times, I’ve observed that young Americans will select a hero who is an athlete or business person and they don’t consider the outstanding men and women that served in the military,” she said. “There is much to learn from their experiences.”

For example, she said, Navy Vice Adm. Samuel L. Gravely Jr. was the first African-American to be promoted to admiral and to command a war ship. During his time in the military from the 1940s to the 1980s, he faced many challenges. Early in his career — when his duties were not equal to his qualifications — he did not let that deter him, Akers said, believing every job was an opportunity to learn.

Gravely used his extra time to take correspondence courses, and when the opportunity for a better assignment arose, his test results, performance evaluations and experience made him one of the most qualified applicants.

Gravely’s formula for success was “education plus motivation plus preservation,” Akers said, and these and other factors helped him excel in his Navy career.

The oral history portion of the project helps to bring life to the subject matter, Akers said. “Oral history is critical,” she said. A written report, she explained, usually tells what happened. But an oral history explains how it happened and provides perspective.

Society is moving away from paper-based communication, Akers noted, so this historical research is important for the future.

“In the past, letters and other correspondence were able to capture history,” she said. “With technology today, one writes e-mails that are likely to be deleted. The research needs to continue so that we can understand what blacks and other minorities have done and are doing in uniform.”

One of the biggest challenges Akers said she has experienced is that many veterans think they don’t have a story worth telling.

“Some don’t understand the significance of their experiences, and you have to help them appreciate them and why someone would be interested,” she said. But once they do participate, she added, many find it to be cathartic.

“It can bring healing and peace to a part of life that was unsettled for them, she said, “and they are honored that their history will be a part of the government’s official archives.”

“Heroic,” “determined” and “sacrificial” are three words that Akers said describe the legacy of African-Americans in the armed forces. More information and accounts of the past, she said, will add to the body of knowledge.

“Today’s military is much more diverse than it has ever been,” Akers said. “But it doesn’t mean that racial equality and gender equality has necessarily been achieved. All the missing pages relating to minorities in the history of the Navy and of the United States have not been filled, so the study needs to continue so we can learn more and better understand their experiences.”

(Christen N. McCluney works in the Defense Media Activity’s emerging media directorate.)