Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans and Ad Council PSA

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) in partnership with the Ad Council have launched a campaigned for Veterans of OIF and OEF. The campaign encourages Veterans to join an online community that is the first and only one of it's kind that is specifically exclusive to the Veterans of these conflicts. It is designed to help them connect with one another. Much like military blogs, the social networking site provides them a place to talk about their own unique experiences.

I received this information from Matt Hirsch, on behalf of IAVA, in partnership with the Ad Council and felt it important to help the word out about this site.

See, I am very lucky that when issues came up with my husband after he returned this last time....issues that had been there for many years (since his first tour) that he knew that there was something wrong. He knew that seeking help for the growing feelings he was experiencing was what he needed to do. I was also very lucky that my husband is a loving husband and father and never let the uphill climb he faced (and still does) destroy his love for us or his commitment to making through to the other side.

Other service members are not so lucky, they may not have the supportive love of a wife who understands, or children waiting for them so that they can pick up where they left off once they return, or a Command that "gets it", or family and friends standing by their side. Many do feel alone and as if they have no one that truly understands where they are coming from.

Maybe this will be one more tool to help them feel less like they are in it all by themselves. Please help me, help them spread the word......

Where was I when the world stopped turning

that September day......7 years ago....I was in the backyard on a crisp clear sunny September morning playing with my son in Virginia....he was 3. We had to do the dreaded commissary shopping trip....we never made it.....I would wait for hours before I would receive word that my husband had survived the attack....then hours later we'd hear jets flying low over our house escorting planes into Reagan National, by that night I would comment to my neighbor to listen, she asked to what and I said to the quiet.....my husband would not return home from the Pentagon until late....smelling horribly....covered in things I'd rather not talk about....and we knew our world had forever been changed. The other night we saw him on a show on the History Channel and we both just sat there with nothing to say....tears streaming down my face....we turned it off....we'd lived it once, it was enough.

Last year I spent it with my closest friend as we remembered those agonizing hours as we prayed across our post for friends, neighbors....... leaders that we both knew separately.....but this year it will be different....we are once again separated, but this time by many, many states and are spending it once again with our soldiers home.....who knows what our futures hold for either of us....but for those two September 11ths....we were on the same military installations....one grieving, the other remembering. Today, I miss you!

To all those who were the first victims of the war on terror and to each and everyone since as well as their families, as we once again look upon this anniversary of sorrow for our Great Nation, I pray for you, that you are able to move past what this war has done to you. That God grace your lives with love and comfort.....

To America, do not think for a moment that our enemy has forgotten what he did to us......he remembers far more then most of you do.....he laughs at our grief.....revels in every death caused by his hand and will stop at nothing to continue his path..... Support those that defend your Country, support their families, let them know that what they do for each of us, you honor. When the time comes that you find out that someone you know has laid down their life for you......let their family know that it was not done in vain......help them to know how much you appreciated that ultimate and great sacrifice....you have no idea what happens to a family who loses their service member, it does not end when the funeral is over, in fact, that is really when it just begins for most...... And America, where is your flag.....you make such a great stand of flying them when something horrible happens to our Nation....and yet my flag is the only one that flys on my street......it has flown every day for 20 years...... Why don't you honor our nation by flying it's national Flag?

The Pentagon Memorial......