WASHINGTON — Today the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) expanded the Veterans Legacy Memorial (VLM) — the nation’s largest digital platform dedicated to the memory of Veterans and service members — to allow Veterans to tell their own story before they pass away. The new “Your Story, Your Legacy” feature will allow Veterans who have been approved for VA’s pre-need eligibility determination for burial in a VA national cemetery to log in to a secure website where they can privately submit images, autobiographies, military and life milestones, and historical documents.

One of the biggest challenges to any nonprofit organization is keeping their members motivated and engaged. All our members are here for the same purpose, furthering our mission of keeping our child’s memory alive through service to others. But what that looks like may differ from person to person. 

We all have those members we know will show up for every meeting and every event and some of us have members we have never met in person. It’s really difficult for our members who are in states where there aren’t organized chapters or leadership to feel connected and like they’re making a difference. 

Kyle didn’t realize how seriously he had been affected until he came home.
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“I had to do all that Christmas shopping,” the U.S. Army combat Veteran remembers. “Something that seemed so innocent — being in a crowded mall — that was a tough circumstance to be under,” Kyle says.

Jim had a similar experience when he returned from Operation Restore Hope, a humanitarian mission in Somalia. After he was injured, he left the Marine Corps, but the emotional scars didn’t leave him.

“Christmastime, he would just sit in the room away from everybody or walk into a different room if a large crowd came in,” recalls his wife, Terri, a Navy Veteran.

Although Kyle and Jim didn’t share the same combat experience or diagnosis, they both found themselves feeling on edge around the holidays. That’s not unusual. While stress responses can be triggered anywhere, anytime, for many Veterans, the places, the music and noises, increased social interaction, and familiar smells that come with major holidays are particularly difficult. Crowds of people — whether strangers at a holiday parade or loved ones at a party — can add to the pressure.

At the same time, the absence of traditional holiday festivities — whether the result of homelessness, loss of a loved one, isolation, or any number of conditions — can also trigger unhealthy responses such as anxiety, depression, or problems with drugs or alcohol. No matter when they fall on the calendar, holidays can be reminders of happier times, before relationships were difficult or transitioning from military service meant returning to a familiar setting as a different person.

Jim had issues with anger, sleep, and hypervigilance for years, and when his marriage ended, it became too much for him to bear. “It all crashed at one time,” he says. “That's when I started getting real treatment from my posttraumatic stress disorder.”

Kyle had sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) from a grenade blast during his deployment in Afghanistan, affecting both his mental and physical health. When he got home, he says, “I scanned every room I would go into. I sat with my back against a wall. I never, never let anyone come up from behind on me, anything like that.”

For Hal, a Marine Corps Veteran who served in Vietnam, the year-end holidays marked an annual pattern of unhealthy behaviors. “Every winter, starting in like September, I would start down into depression, and I would bottom out about Christmastime,” he says. Hal survived major depression and a suicide attempt before he found himself in treatment more than 20 years after leaving the Marines.

“They said, ‘You need to go to the PTSD program,’” Hal remembers. “And so I did this 90-day inpatient program. I’ve learned how to deal with my depression, and I’ve learned how to deal with my rage and my anger.”

Hal found solace in support groups and group therapy, starting with Narcotics Anonymous, which helped him stop using drugs. He eventually found the mental health resources he needed through VA.

“Getting involved in the VA put me back in touch with other combat Vets,” Hal says. “That’s a huge part of normalizing who I was and realizing that I wasn’t alone in this process.”

Kyle, too, finds comfort in forging connections with other Veterans. “I think you get a little bitter, knowing that you had seen things that 99.9% of the population hadn’t seen,” he says. “So for me, it was 31 other guys that I knew that could relate, but a lot of us were having a hard time adjusting. We were trained well for war, but we weren’t really trained to come home.”

In addition to finding a kinship with his fellow Veterans, Kyle learned strategies at VA that helped him cope with the light sensitivity, irritability, memory lapses, and debilitating headaches that came with his TBI.

“I can sit with my back to the door if it comes down to it. I don’t scan every room. I don’t get as irritated with the general public as much. I can handle questions, about my service — about what it was like over there,” Kyle says. “And I’ve definitely noticed it’s a lot easier now to handle that. And you have your bad days, but I know how to cope a lot better nowadays because of the treatment that I sought and that I received from the VA.”

For Jim, therapy at VA has quelled his anger, improved his marriage to Terri, and allowed him to enjoy life more. “He’s out more in public, a lot more,” Terri says. “Prior to that, he didn’t really like to go anywhere — he tried to avoid crowds. And now, like at Christmas, he is actually in the crowd with everybody opening presents, talking to people. So, it has helped out a lot.”

If you need help getting through the holidays, or anytime, connect with local resources for Veterans. Veterans in crisis and their families and friends may also contact the Veterans Crisis Line, which connects them with qualified, caring VA responders. Veterans and their loved ones can Dial 988 and Press 1, chat online, or send a text message to 838255 to receive confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
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“We owe it to our brothers and sisters that didn’t come home to make sure that we take care of ourselves,” says Kyle.

Submitted by Toni Gross
AGSM, Inc., Tampa Bay 
VAVS CDCE Chairman

In 2017, I attended my first Westgate Foundation Military Appreciation Weekend. I was invited during my first week as the Department President of FL-PR, and it marked my first official opportunity to build relationships outside my local chapter.

Every year, the Westgate Foundation provides vacations to eligible active-duty military members, veterans, and Gold Star families. These families enjoy a three-day, two-night, stress-free weekend filled with family-friendly activities, live music, and patriotic displays at the Westgate property in Kissimmee, Florida. Additionally, various veteran service organizations, including American Gold Star Mothers, set up tables for a one-day resource fair. Many of these organizations focus on managing PTSD through counseling, equine therapy, and the use of service dogs. 
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Seven years later, that initial opportunity has allowed me to connect with numerous individuals from various veteran service organizations. They share a common vision and a commitment to the same goals as AGSM, Inc. If you attended our 2021 national convention in West Palm Beach, you may remember that the Westgate Foundation was a sponsor. Since then, the Foundation has generously donated to the Department of FL-PR. With these donations, we established our own Chapter Grants for veteran service projects, similar to our National Chapter Grant program, and named it the Georgie Carter-Krell Grant.

This past weekend, my Gold Star sisters, Lorrie Fleming and Sandy Miller, managed the resource table, after which we attended the concert. It was during this event that we received a generous $10,000 donation! Just imagine how many veterans we can support with that funding!

Annette M Kirk
National 1st Vice President
American Gold Star Mothers, Inc.
Proud Gold Star Mother of
PFC Paul O Cuzzupe II, US Army
12/2/86 - 8/8/10
“Standing in the Gap”