Organizations help make tough times easier

Whether families are greeting their wounded veterans with welcoming hugs or honoring fallen troops with a final salute, there is help for the difficult transition to a life after war.

During the last decade, 988 of Indiana's military sons and daughters have returned wounded from Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. One-hundred and thirty-six others have returned home in coffins.

Organizations across the country strive to bring hope and provide comfort to the families these men and women leave behind and to the veterans who must integrate back into society.

The United Service Organization, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors and the Wounded Warrior Project are three of the many that provide assistance.

The USO's Families of the Fallen makes travel arrangements within 24-to-48 hours after a family has been notified of their loss.

"This just eases things for them," said Wendy Fish, program manager. "Sometimes there can be issues like the family's seats aren't together (on the airplane), someone may need special accommodations or they may have flight delays. We deal with the simple things like this to help the families in their time of need."

The program helps families book flights, works with the various airport Transportation Security Administrations, sets up car rentals and contacts the Dover's Fisher House, a home on the base where families can stay free of charge, notifying the home of the incoming families housing needs.

In 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved a policy change that allowed media coverage of dignified transfers at Dover Air Force Base, located in Dover, Delaware, as well as provided funding for families to meet their loved one upon returning.

Before the funding only 1 percent of families traveled to Dover to meet their fallen solider, now 82 percent of families make the journey to Dover Air Force Base with the help of the USO's Families of the Fallen program, Fish said.

For the USO this program is a new concept, Fish said.

"Normally the USO is kind of the cheerleader," she said. "They are out there lifting spirits and helping troops out and this is the one program within the USO that is different. We are still trying to lift spirits, but there is a different feel to it."

TAPS has reached out to the USO's Families of the Fallen to help, Fish said.

"TAPS has helped us tremendously in learning how to accommodate for these families in the best possible way," Fish said.

TAPS is a nationwide program that provides peer-based emotional support and grief and trauma counseling for survivors and has helped more than 30,000 families, since 2001, regardless of circumstance or relationship to the fallen.

Survivor Outreach Services Coordinator for the Indiana National Guard Carly Glorioso said that 150 people attended Indiana's fourth-annual TAPS convention this August.

"The first two years of the program we opened it up just to our National Guard fallen families," Glorioso said. "The last two years we took it statewide and opened it up to all losses no matter what the branch of service was."

On average, bereavement specialist estimate that with every active duty military loss there are 10 people that are significantly impacted by the loss. Whether it's husbands and wives, parents and siblings or aunts and uncles, TAPS provides assistance to those suffering by creating a sense of family with its peer-based counseling.

"We are big with peer-based support," Glorioso said. "Parents meet with parents, siblings with siblings, fiancés with fiancées to give a sort of understanding. They know what you are going through, they are there or have been there themselves."

Aside from families of America's fallen sons and daughters, many wounded veterans are seeking help in order to adjust and integrate back into the civilian world.

The Wounded Warrior Project is a nationwide program that structures itself around four main pillars, mind, body, economic empowerment and engagement geared towards helping the injured.

The project's objectives are set to nurture its warriors to a well-adjusted mind and body, providing the services they need to join the civilian world as well as making sure they are pursuing careers and employment and staying connected with one another.

Under each pillar of the organization there are programs to help ensure that these veterans are provided the help they need.

Through Project Odyssey and Wounded Warrior Project Restore, mental health issues, many of which are linked to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, are address. The Wounded Warrior Project gives veterans access to helpful resources and addresses the stigma attached to PTSD.

The Wounded Warrior Project also provides rehabilitation as well as recreational programs like Soldiers Ride, an adaptive cycling program that allows the wounded to bike across the United States helping them both mentally and physically.

Although the organization has six different office locations across the United States the same programs are offered in each area, said Becky Melvin, Public Relations Coordinator for the Wounded Warrior Project.

While each of these programs offers very different support, without their help the lives of families and veterans would be very different.

"We are here to help these families," Fish said. "I've had family members say that they will be here when their service member gets home no matter how they get home."

Jessica, a Linton-Stockton High School graduate, is a senior at Ball State University majoring in journalism. She can be reached by email at jessicadtharp@gmail.com .