Episode 81 Transcription

Welcome to Episode 81 of Behind The Mission, a show that sparks conversations with Psycharmor partners and educational experts. My name is Duane France, and each week I'll be having conversations with podcast guests that will equip you with tools and resources to effectively engage with and support military service members, Veterans, and their families. You can find the show on your podcast player of choice or by going to www.psycharmor.org/podcast. 

Thanks again for joining us on Behind The Mission; our work and mission are supported by generous partnerships and sponsors who also believe that education changes lives. This show is brought to you by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem, specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory that's free to individual learners as well as custom training options for organizations. 

On today's episode, I'm having a conversation with Jeremy Butler, the Chief Executive Officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a Veterans advocacy and support organization that connects unites and empowers post 9/11 Veterans to education, advocacy, and community. 

Jeremy joined IAVA with over 15 years of experience in government and the private sector and is a surface warfare officer in the Navy reserves. You can find out more about Jeremy by checking out his bio in our show notes. So let's get into my conversation with him and come back afterwards to talk about some of the key points. 

DUANE: So Jeremy, as a nonprofit leader, you've done much to support post 9/11 Veterans through your leadership of IAVA. Before we get into that, however, it'd be great to hear about your professional journey from your time in the Navy, how you came to work with IAVA and why it's important to you. 

JEREMY: Yeah, they really do link together. So I joined the Navy back in 1999. I graduated college. I knew a little bit about the military, but nothing too in depth. And, I frankly, just looking for something that would gimme a chance to travel and, I didn't want to be in an office. So I was looking for something interesting.

I knew the Navy well enough to know that, join the Navy, see the world. I knew that slogan. I did a little bit of research. I knew that, already having a college degree, I could go in as an officer. And so did a little bit of talking to a recruiter, learned about some of the overseas bases we had and thought this is for me.

Went in, signed up directly to be a surface warfare officer. went to officer candidate school in Pensacola, Florida, back in 99. I was commissioned in early 2000, and was really planning on doing my four years and getting out. But I was on my first deployment as an Enson, on a ship, outta Everett Washington, we were on our deployment down off the coast to South America doing counternarcotics operations with the coast guard, on 9/11. And that, obviously changed things for everybody. And certainly for me, it made, what was this post-college adventure. It turned into a very real world thing. And we thought that because we were already deployed we thought we might get immediately diverted to the Gulf. So it ramped up very quickly, turned out we weren't, they had us just finish our but interestingly, you know, it was still another couple of months before we were back in the US. So it was a very kinda surreal return to the US.

Very changed country, certainly a very changed military. So I finished that deployment, went onto my next duty station, which is in Yuka, Japan. Something that I'd wanted from the time I joined with to be based overseas. But Japan is also, what's called the forward deployed Naval forces.

That's the, Navy's tip of the spear if you will. And sure enough, the ship that I was on and the carrier battle group is what we called them back then, was tasked with supporting the buildup and then the invasion of Iraq. So we deployed, for that, sailed over, ended up doing a lot of escort operations, moving ships and cargo through and into the Persian Gulf.

So going through the straight Hormuz. And then we were in the Gulf, for the duration of the declared operations. The declared combat operations, in Iraq. Came back, finished up that tour, got lucky enough to be stationed at the Naval academy, which was incredible.

So I spent two years teaching at the Naval Academy, both in the classroom, and on the water. The Naval Academy does a lot of, on the water training, everything little laser sailboats, all the way up to offshore sailboats, to what we call yard patrol craft, which were like mini versions of a worship.

So that midshipman get that full experience to stand and watch be at sea and things like that. And so just an incredible experience, especially for me, someone that did not go to the Naval Academy to get to experience all that. But while I was there, I also got married and, married life in the military is challenging, when your spouse is not in.

And so after that, two years at the Naval Academy, which brought me to six years, I transitioned straight into the reserves. And we stayed in the DC area cuz I knew I wanted to still serve. But I thought I would, stop putting my wife through the challenges, which are being, married to a military person.

And got a job as a defense contractor, which was, this was 2006, lots of demand for a junior officers with security clearance. So it was very easy to find a job, stay in the DC area, and very much enjoyed my work. I had a company that I worked for great benefits, everything like that. Very easy transition. But what I found is that I was just not satisfied. It was not fulfilling the way my time in uniform was. And I kept being reminded of that because I both volunteered for some assignments as a reservist to go back on active duty. I also got mobilized for a year. So it was a range of everything from, staff work at the Pentagon.

I spent six months in West Africa, working with the Navy and local partner forces to do training with them. I got mobilized for a year to go to the Southern Philippines, to work with the joint, special operations task force that was down there. So I got a lot of chance to be back in uniform and each time it just really reminded me that much more fulfilled personally, when I was in uniform, than when I was working as a defense contractor. And again, that's nothing against defense contractors. It's just that, for me personally, it really reminded me of how much I enjoyed the comradery, the sense of mission and the sense of fulfillment that I got from being in the uniform.

After a number of years, maybe 10 years or so, being back in the civilian world, as a reservist, my wife and I decided we wanted to move to New York City. She'd gone to grad school there and was anxious to get back. And I knew of IAVA but I did not know that their headquarters was there.

I thought they were headquartered in Washington, DC. So reached out to them along with a number of other Veteran organizations just to talk about what's possible. And really hit it off with the folks at IAVA a, and started making some trips up to New York to talk to staff there, met with Paul Reko, the founder, and then CEO of IAVA a to talk to him quite a bit and, um, really just hit it off.

And he said, hey, we'd love to bring you on board. You don't have non-profit experience, but you certainly have the military leadership experience. Could bring you on, maybe you work with us for a year. If it doesn't work, if it's not for you, we can just shake hands and go our separate ways.

But if it does great, we can see what goes from on from there. And it was a great opportunity for me and my wife to relocate to New York, with a job, and ended up just really loving it. I started off mostly doing fundraising, with IAVA but that allowed me to learn about every aspect of the organization.

I was doing a lot of grant writing and, things like that, which require in depth conversations with all the different things that the organization is doing. So make sure I can apply for grants and make sure provide grant updates and things like that. So really gave me a very quick, deep dive into the workings of the organization.

Really enjoyed it, and just started taking on more and more responsibilities. Moved up to chief operating officer after a couple of years, and then about, four years ago, Paul decided it was time for him to step down. After 15 years were running the organization, and he and the board asked me to take over.

And moved into the CEO role, about three and a half years ago, and it's just been an incredible ride. So I've been there for nearly seven years and now almost half of that time has been as CEO and just, it continues to be an incredible learning experience. Obviously dealing with the pandemic and the changes that brought were extra challenging, but really pleased with, the amount the organization has gotten done, how dedicated the staff has been. And it's really just been an amazing journey, to learn about nonprofits, to work with other Veteran serving organizations, and just incredible Veterans all around the country, how dedicated they are and how, how much they want to come together and continue to serve.

I think that's one of the defining characteristics that we often talk about when we talk about the post 9/11 generation. Even when they hang up the uniform, they want to continue to serve and they want to find ways to do that. And that's just been incredible to be able to be, working with and alongside so many dedicated individuals doing just a variety of things.But all with the idea of we want to continue to serve our country and make it better. So it's been incredible.

DUANE: You know, I always find it interesting talking to veterans like you. I served about 10 years of my career before 9/11 and I was overseas the same, you were deployed overseas? I was in Germany, so for me, 9/11 happens like in the afternoon. All of my memories are very different, but it's, but that idea of you knew what the military was like before 9/11. And then you remained after 9/11. And even thinking of your time, by the time you got to the Naval academy, especially those younger, mid shipment, they knew what they were getting into. Everyone who enlisted or were appointed or went to the academies after 9/11, knew what they were getting into.

But that perspective of that unique group of post 9/11 veterans, who served before and after. That's a really interesting perspective, that not a lot of post 9/11Veterans have. 

JEREMY: No, it's true. And it also makes me feel old when, know, I realize now that, considering with in my reserve time, it's been 22 years that I've been in the military so far. But it was just enough pre 9/11 time to definitely be able to remember how different it was back then compared to now.

And you're absolutely right. It's incredibly inspiring, especially in those early years, after 9/11 to, work with, and help mentor a lot of these junior personnel that absolutely joined knowing what they were getting into, especially these mid shipment who was in high school, or so on 9/11 and then chose to, pursue a life in the military or at least a junior, in their junior years to go into the military, deciding to go to the Naval academy. Knowing that they were gonna be sent to war. Everything from like me being on a ship in the Persian Gulf to deciding to seek a commission as a second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps and absolutely be putting yourself in harm's way. So, yeah, it was a very different thing, but incredibly inspiring, not only their desire to serve, but also how serious they took their training. Maybe more seriously, than you and I did when it was okay,yeah. we're in the military, we're not really going to war or anything. And it's been amazing. And so many people now that they continue to work with that, that joined after 9/11, and joined because of 9/11, because they wanted to serve, they wanted to go overseas.

They wanted to defend our country. And to now have them so often need the government's help. And not be able to get that. That's a lot of what led me to IAVA as well. The frustration, that I got from me personally having a very easy transition from active duty to the civilian world.  I didn't have any major challenges from my time in active duty that carried over.

I was able to find employment very quickly that came with healthcare and things like that. But so many people that I worked with both in and out of the reserve community, so many reservists that I then worked with that would volunteer, to go back to Afghanistan and Iraq because they had families, they had spouses and kids that they needed, a steady income for. And the best way they could do that was by volunteering again, to go to a combat zone, that was really challenging. And now, as we often see so many Veterans, combat Veterans that need help from their government and yet they're fighting the VA, they're fighting their government, to get the things that they earned and that were promised to them.

That's what really keeps me going every day to want to do this job and to make sure that they get what they deserve because they put in so much more,than I ever did. They deserve to be able to, to get what they have coming to them without having to fight for it.

DUANE: And there is such a large cohort. IAVA, the name says it all right. I mean, it is Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. You have a very narrow focus, supporting very specifically Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans. But really that cohort spans three generations. The senior leaders at the beginning of global terror were in Vietnam in the Cold War. Then you have the generation like ours, where we split our time between pre and post. And then you have a full 20 year generation of service members who served afterwards, that this is really the largest cohort of combat Veterans since World war II. Obviously World War II is in the millions, but this is such a large and diverse cohort population wise, age wise, diversity wise. What's it like for you serving such a and I don't wanna say narrowly defined, but at least a conflict defined group that is also so diverse? 

JEREMY: No, it's a great question. And one of the things I always talk about is that's how we were started. Paul Rickhoff came back from a tour, in Iraq, early on and saw that there was a need that wasn't being met by the older variations of Veteran serving organizations. And there was a lack of understanding of what was needed for this new generation that had more women that had more combat time where you didn't have the ability to go behind the lines to rest and relax, you were always in the combat zone because of the nature of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And you had an all volunteer force that was deploying over and over and over again. And you also had a country that was very disconnected from that very small percentage of the country that was fighting these conflicts.

So the name Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is today now kind of a  misknower. It was created at a time when that was the primary folks we were talking about. Now you have so many more Veterans in the post 9/11 area, that have fought in Yemen, Syria, Philippines. 

Exactly.I didn't even know we had service members in the Philippines until I got mobilized to go there. Yeah, exactly. So learned a lot and so it continues to grow. And so that's one of the things I always try and emphasize is that yes, our name is Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, but one, our focus is on all post 9/11 Veterans, regardless of where you served, even if you never left the country, even if your service, was only.

You still deserve access to all the benefits, that were promised to you when you raised your right hand to, to volunteer for this force. And also we find that more and more often, the things that we're fighting for are things that pre 9/11 veterans groups also support and they're changing and coming along with it, you know, the burn pits and the toxic exposure is the best example of that, because that is certainly not something new.

It's one of the, the biggest symbols of our conflicts are those burn pits, you've got agent orange, you've got radiation exposure from the past. You've got so much of, this toxic exposure that goes back decades, that isn't new to us. So you find common ground there and you also now find the older, some of the older generation of, of Veterans groups realizing that they need to be working to, expand access, for women Veterans to facilities and things like that. And so we find more and more common ground with some of the older generation of Veterans groups. And we also find that as we move farther and farther away from 9/11, as you said, the range and age and breadth and depth of the Veterans that we represent, is only growing.

And that means the number of areas in which we need to be focused on working with the VA and Congress, to improve and make sure we're taking care, of these Veterans, continues to expand. Even though we are moving away from, the actual combat Iraq and Afghanistan. there is still certainly no shortage of issues that we need to be focused on.

And that's one of the things that I often like to remind the civilian listeners and things like that because they think, oh, haven't we been out of those, wars for, some of them think we've been out of Afghanistan, for years and years. But either way say, hey, just because the war ends doesn't mean the need to take care of the Veterans end, like that goes on for a long, long. 

DUANE: No, I absolutely agree. I think that, and especially as you mentioned, in the last year, during the fall of Kabul, the youngest combat Veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan may be 20 or 21 right now were the oldest combat Veteran served in 03 or 04, so they're approaching their sixties really.

And so I think there's this idea of needing to be able to continue to support Veterans. Yeah, we've supported the service members and their families, but we've still got another 50 years of this. 

JEREMY: Absolutely. Yeah. And, I forget the statistic and I should look it up. But if you, the VA, will say this, that the highest demand for VA services from the Vietnam Era, it didn't come in the eighties or something like that, that hit like in the early two thousands, that is what led to a lot of the wait time issues at the VA is that you had this overlap of, Vietnam Veterans getting to a certain age where they had more and more health needs that the VA was required to take care of.

But then you also had the post 9/11 Veterans, needing a unexpected increase in care and things like that. So the needs for our generation of Veterans, they're gonna continue to increase as we get further and further away, from the gen decades of these conflicts. And yeah, it's a very confusing thing to explain to a lot in the civilian world and stuff like that, but, there's still a lot we're gonna learn.

And when you go back to burn pits, we still have a lot to learn about what those health effects are gonna be. And, so we have no shortage of work cut out for us, that's for sure. 

DUANE: That's one of the things IAVA, as you mentioned, you do a lot of different work. You have a number of clearly stated priorities and a couple of different ways that you go about advocating on behalf of post 9/11 Veterans for those priorities. What can you tell us about some of the priorities and programs that IAVA supports? 

JEREMY: Yeah, no, it's a great question. And it's one of the things that I tried to focus on when I took over as CEO was to look at what other groups are doing. And try not to do those if they did 'em well. And so then look at also, what does IAVA do very well and let's focus on those and advocacy is, you know, I think inarguably the thing that we do the best and that we're most well known for.

And it's not to say that other groups don't also do it well, but I think we have a unique skillset when it comes to doing advocacy. So that's certainly the biggest thing that we do. The burn pits and the toxic exposure and the Pact Act, that was a huge, huge, long, far victory that, we're still celebrating the implementation of that.There's still a lot to be done. Now that that deal is over the finish line but it's certainly not done. So implementation of the PACT Act is going to be a primary focus that we continue to look at, but also one issue that we have been working on, but also hope to be able to now one increase our attention to it and also timely wise. It's very applicable for right now. And that's taken care of our Afghan allies, that we some have gotten out, but many of whom are still trapped in Afghanistan. So I think your listeners are probably familiar with the special immigrant visa. There's many more SIV eligible Afghans that worked with the US and that were absolutely instrumental, to, so many service members to their jobs, their missions and things like that.

We relied on them so much and far more of those SIV eligible Afghans are still in the country than that we ever got out. That said the ones that we did get out also still need help. We're coming up on a year of them being here and, they are here under what's called humanitarian parole. And that's something that expires after one year of being here.

So one of our big priorities right now that we continue to work on is what's called passing of the Afghan Adjustment Act. You'll hear it sometimes referred to as the triple A. And what that'll do is it gives permanent, residents legal status to those Afghans, that supported us, and that we brought over with the evacuation.

It's another fight that is strangely being necessary to wage within Congress. We're hoping to get the Afghan adjustment act passed, here very soon, either through a continuing resolution or through, the national offense authorization act. But it really does need to happen soon. And then we're, you're gonna see a big push on that, we're approaching, the one year anniversary of both the fall of Kabul and then also the US leaving Afghanistan.

That'll be, August 15th and August 30th are the two dates that you'll often hear. You know, August 15th the fall of Kabul. And August 30th is the last US service members leaving the country. So we're gonna be doing a lot around those two dates and with the rest of this month.

But then the Afghan Adjustment Act is gonna be a focal point of ours until we get that done. But a lot of work needs to be done there. So that's the one thing I would touch on in terms of advocacy. There's more that we could talk about, but,that's the key one, right? Then on the programmatic side, is our quick reaction for us.

It used to be called our rapid response referral program or rip for short. We expanded though. We were able to move it from a five day a week program to now it's available, counselors are available seven days a week, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, to work with Veterans and their families to connect 'em to resources for anything that they need.

So we call it our quick reaction force QRF, cuz that's a much more familiar term to those that served in the military. But that's exactly what it is. You can call, you can go online, to get connected and find resources for whatever help you might need. And that feeds right into our advocacy, cuz it allows us to understand where Veterans are unable to get the help that they need on their own. So if they're struggling to get VA help, if they're struggling to get medical help, whatever it is. It allows us to not only help Veterans directly, but we can also then take what we learn from that  interaction with the Veteran and then go to Congress, go to the VA and say, hey, here's where you guys are falling short.

This is where we need policy changes. This is where, we need new legislation. And it really helps to drive that home when we have, personal stories that we can bring and say, we're getting so many calls right now on this subject, and this is what needs to be done. And obviously we don't use names and stuff like that, but, can use anonymized data, to take to Congress, to take to the VA and say, this is what we're seeing.

And what often happens is that mirrors up exactly with other groups that are also providing these types of sources. So if we're talking about homelessness, we're talking about, unemployment. you can go to Veterans groups that are working on those issues and they'll say, oh yeah, we're also seeing a lot on that.

We're seeing a lot on this and it really adds up and provides, a really strong argument to Congress, to the VA that more needs to be done in those areas. And so those are the two things that I would touch on right now, in response to your question.

DUANE: I really like the, as you mentioned, the concept of, looking at the landscape of organizations, what others are doing and collaboratively working with them to help them do that. You're not doing community engagement, like the Mission Continues or Disaster Relief, like Team Rubicon or fitness, like RWB.

And this is really, I think an emerging concept from the newer VSOs, as we would call them, that really both give Veterans what they want and what they need. And really those two things that you just talked about, Post 9/11 Veterans feel very, very strongly about supporting our Afghan allies. That's what they want. And then also you have the ability to connect them to what they need, which is the resources to, make sure that their environment, their family then, and themselves are safe. And so really that concept of both supporting Veterans, listening to your constituent, saying, how can we help you make life more meaningful, right and give you what you want, but also support you with your needs. 

JEREMY: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that because that's been another focus of mine is collaborating with other groups. There's so many groups out there doing amazing work, and you just mentioned some of them that are , some of my personal favorites. I volunteer, with, Team Rubicon and the Mission Continues and I've done athletic events with Team Red, White, and Blue.

And then, I think the key is that we all talk about and reference each other. Most Veterans that are getting involved with any one of these will probably at some time or another need one of the other organizations. And to be able to just say, Hey, if I'm talking to somebody at a Mission Continues event,that is saying, Hey, I'm trying to get back into fitness or something like that.

He, or she might not know about team red, white, and blue. So I can tell them about that. Or they're looking to, make some changes. They start talking politics and saying, they want to get involved, say, Hey, come on over to IAVA. we've got programs where we'll bring you to Washington DC, where you can walk the halls of Congress with us.

And talk to senators, talk to representatives about, what you are so passionate about to help make these changes. And, and then they learn from that and they can take it back home. They can start doing that same thing locally. And yeah, that's the key collaboration is the key. We're all, pulling from the same well of Veterans.And we, I think really just need to continue to share resources amongst each other. And you see that that happens quite a bit. And, and it's great to see that. And I love working with all the other groups, and getting directly involved with them. I wish I had more time. I keep talking about Team Rubicon, and they're probably like, yeah when was the last time you actually came out with us and I'm like, okay. Yeah, it's been a while, but I'm busy. that's my excuse. I need to do more.

DUANE: We used to say, we have all the hats. Now we have all the shirts. I got the rainbow. All the shirts are in my closet. I got the gray one and the black one and the red one and blue one. And so Jeremy, this is great. I really, I can't imagine that there are listeners who aren't familiar with IAVA a as well, especially serving the current cohort of Veterans. But if people wanted to find out more about IAVA whether web presence, social media,how can they do that?

JEREMY: Yeah, and going to www.iava.org is the best way. Our website's got everything. You can get the dropdown on our policy agenda, learn about everything that we talked about. We only talked about two of, many of the, policy areas that we focus on. Our policy agenda is a massive document. We come out with a new one with every Congress,15 + issue areas that we're focused on and really all the details of what, we want, what changes we want brought about. So you can learn about that. You can check out our take action pages, where you're able to learn more on specific issues and reach out to Congress on those. You can get the links to the quick reaction for, and then certainly social media.

We're all over Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, keep you very much informed by following those. And also on the website, you can sign up. Anybody can become an IAVA member. We are not, we don't care if you served or if you didn't serve, if you're still serving, anyone can be a member. We're just here to keep you informed about what's going on primarily in Washington, DC, and where you can help, how you can help, how you can stay informed, because the more people that we get talking about these issue the bigger and faster changes we can get. If you look at the PACT Act again, this is where we were successful is we got the whole country understanding what a burn pit was, how horrible they were and why Congress needs to pass the PACT Act. And so that is one of the things that we do best. So I encourage everyone go to www.iava.org please sign up to become a member.

I promise you won't get hit with too many emails. We try and keep it relatively short because I know lots of people get lots of emails, but we'll tell you when something big is happening and we could use you help, and then check us out on social media. We're all over there. Lots of information coming out there.

And again, going back to our collaboration, talk, love, sharing information about other groups too. So those are my two recommendations, certainly the website and social media.

DUANE: Absolutely. And we'll make sure that all of those links are in the show notes. Thanks for coming on the show today. 

JEREMY: No. Thank you, Duane. It's great talking to you and, I appreciate what you guys are doing because it all goes back to conversation. We just had the more, that Veterans and civilian know about all the great groups that are out there. the better off we all are.

DUANE: Absolutely. 

Once again, we would like to thank this week's sponsor PsychArmor. PscyhArmor is the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory that is free to individual learners, as well as custom training options for organizations. 

I'm glad that we were able to feature a conversation with Jeremy and IAVA on the show, not just to share the work that they're doing, but also for the timely nature of the release of the show. If you're listening to this at any other time, besides when it's released in August of 2022. It's helpful context to know that this show's airing a week after the president signed the Sergeant first class, Heath Robinson honoring our promise to address comprehensive toxins act or the pact act into law. 

In addition to that, when Jeremy and I recorded our conversation, he mentioned the pending introduction of the Afghan adjustment act, supporting our Afghan partners in the global war on terror. That act was also introduced in Congress the week before the show aired. For those who may not be familiar with the pact act specifically, it's been significant national news for a number of different reasons. 

But it addresses the environmental exposure experience, not just by post 9/11 veterans, but also Veterans of different areas in conflicts over the past 50 years. Jeremy was very clear that advocating for and supporting the Pact act was not a soul IAB effort and he's absolutely right, but it would also be disingenuous not to give credit IAVA credit for their role in the effort. Again, as Jeremy said in the interview, through the consistent efforts of IAVA and oth post 9/11 Veteran support organizations, burn pits and toxic exposure have become much more widely known to affect the current generation of service members. 

Even said that it's becoming a signature condition of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you were to ask someone that even five years ago, they would have said that the signature conditions where PTSD and TBI. There's treatment for PTSD. We know that now. And the advances in neuroscience have enabled us to make great strides in recovery from adaptation to traumatic brain injury. 

But the pact act now addresses 20 presumptive conditions for Veterans, disability, compensation, and access to treatment, including 12 different forms of cancer. Currently, there is no cure for cancer. And it isn't always immediately obvious and it can develop decades after exposure. So the efforts of Jeremy, IAVA and others like them are critical in making sure that the veterans of all areas get the services they deserve and the resources they desire. 

Again, the fight to address toxic exposure and the support of our Afghan allies. Only two of the many different issues that IAVA is advocating for in Congress. Make sure to go to their website and see what other issues that they're tackling and get involved if it's something that you want to do. 

So I hope you appreciated my conversation with Jeremy. If you did let us know by dropping a review or sending us an email at info@psycharmor.org. We always appreciate knowing that you're listening, what you think and what you'd like to hear about in future episodes. 

For this week, PsychArmor Resource of the Week, I'd like to share the link to the PsychArmor course, Navigating the Prostate Cancer Journey, Empowering Veterans and Caregivers with Precision Medicine. 

Well, many might be familiar with courses like 15 things Veterans Want You To Know, there were a ton of courses in PsychArmor’s website, and some are specific to certain conditions. Given VA's role in supporting the PACT Act, I thought it might be a good opportunity to highlight this course, which is one in a series specifically related to cancer and as a resource for medical providers to share with the Veterans that they're treating for particular conditions. This courses designed for caregivers who are supporting Veterans, being treated for prostate cancer, to help them advocate for the best quality care and standing by them during a challenging treatment regimen. 

You can find a link to the course in our show notes.