Pets, Olympian Veterans, Jobs

Video Highlight: Video link: http://youtu.be/yBwj3FF1PGQ
Pets for Vets is an organization that helps match needy shelter animals with veterans to help them both overcome their issues.  To find out more about them, or how you can help, see: http://pets-for-vets.com/

It’s Olympics season, for an interesting article about veteran-athletes, see: Veterans in the Olympics To see the list of veterans in the 2012 Paralympics, see: Veterans in the Paralympics If you haven’t seen the incredible athletic performances, check them out.

Your Northern Arizona Veterans Business Services Representative is James Ramm, who offers a variety of job services to veterans through our DES offices.  He also offers monthly Veterans Ultimate Job Search workshops at several locations, though the dates change each month, here is a sample of a recent schedule.  Please call to RSVP at your preferred location and confirm date/times:
7/16/12   9:00-3:00 DES Flagstaff 397 Malapais          928-779-4557
7/21/12   9:00-3:00 DES Prescott 1519 W Gurley   928-277-2702/3
8/8/12     9:00-3:00 DES Cottonwood 1500 E. Cherry   928-634-3337

Employer highlight: Military.com has a section of their webpage dedicated to helping veterans find jobs, and highlighting military-friendly employers.  Their pick this week is Allstate Insurance: http://www.military.com/jobs-in/employer/allstate/?ESRC=mrvr.nl and Allstate’s direct job search link is: http://www.allstate.com/careers/job-search.aspx  When looking for veteran-friendly employers online, use your ID theft/scam-detector senses and double check everything.

Also from Military.com: “The Troops to Teachers program provides funds to recruit, prepare, and support former members of the military services as teachers in high-poverty schools. Service members with a baccalaureate degree or higher are eligible to begin the teaching certification process to become a teacher. However, many service members may already qualify to become a vocational/technical teacher. Military members from all of the armed forces can use tuition assistance for their teaching certification while on active duty. For more information, visit the Troops-to-Teachers Program webpage at www2.ed.gov/programs/troops/index.html and the Department of Education Teachers-Teachers.com website at www.teachers-teachers.com, which lists teaching vacancies for each state.”  Hint: Yavapai College offers education courses toward your transfer degree, and NAU offers coursework for their Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education at the YC Prescott campus.

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Exciting Careers, Fresh Starts, Cowboy Poets, and Job Opportunities

Video Highlight: Do you want to be a movie star?  Here’s a nicely-produced video about the Yavapai College Zaki Gordon Film Institute, which offers students hands-on education in film making for their certificate or credits transferable to universities.  Learn more about this program and the 30 degrees and 54 certificates we offer at Yavapai College at www.yc.edu

The Veterans Upward Bound program is currently registering students for these free pre-college veteran-only modules: our Summer Math Insanity session beginning August 13 and our Fall semester session beginning August 20.  Learn more about what we offer on our webpage: www.yc.edu/vub or call 928-717-7686.

The Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering is hosting three performances this year specifically for veterans and their families.  The first performance is at the Prescott Vet Center (3180 Stillwater Dr. #A) on Friday, August 10th at 10:00 AM.  The other two performances are at Yavapai College (1100 E. Sheldon, Building 4, Rooms 16-18) on Saturday, August 11th at 4:00 PM.  Cowboy poetry is a unique performing art with a rich history in the West.  Several of the poets who are performing for our veterans are veterans themselves, and tailor some of their poems to honor our military veterans.  They are selflessly giving their time and their talent, performing for our local veterans and their families.  Refreshments will be served, please call 928-778-3469 to RSVP. Please come and spread the word!

Veteran-only job opportunity in the Camp Verde area: If you are able to work hard, outdoors, a non-profit veteran-serving organization is hiring five temporary positions, clearing invasive plant species out of the Verde River area, and will most likely involve four, 10-hour days, beginning in September.  Any interested veteran can contact Gary Rideout at 773-425-5822.

Eagles, Discounts, and Leaders

Video highlight of the week: In this week’s inspirational video, Beauty, the Bald Eagle, overcomes her disabilities through the assistance of technology – much like many of our wounded warriors.  See the video at: http://vimeo.com/15184546

This week, Military.com highlighted a service that allows you to sign up for military discount information on purchases of a variety of sporting, outdoor recreation and tactical products at: https://www.govx.com/milcom/ and don’t forget that there are also discounts on entertainment, state/national park entrance fees, vehicles, and financial products from a variety of merchants.  Do your research in advance to know the best deals.  For example, www.USAA.com offers insurance and banking services, exclusively to eligible military-connected families, and has blogs on topics such as financial advice, retirement planning, insurance needs.  Remember to always protect your personal info and double-check any deals that seem too good to be true or require payment for discount coupons (many are scams.)

Dr. Amen’s article about developing leadership skills includes five main tips: proper sleep, exercise, activity, nutrition, and a positive attitude.  He also stresses the importance of increasing resilience by practicing the following:
• Claim personal control/Stop blaming others
• Nurture your relationships
• Focus on what you like about your life
• Be goal-oriented but remain flexible
• Counter your negative thoughts/self-talk
See the full article in Success.com at: http://www.success.com/articles/1879--develop-a-leader-s-mind

Connections for Veterans

An excellent video is located at: http://youtu.be/mlfbrzjbeeo which highlights the help veterans can give each other to help ease transition to civilian life, to listen, and to mentor others - it all starts with  making a connection to others and the VA.  See more stories at: http://MakeTheConnection.net and get connected.

A feature in this week’s Military.com is about the benefits of further education for wounded warriors, and many of their resources apply to all students.  Check out the article at: http://www.military.com/education/keys-to-success/educational-opportunities-for-wounded-warriors.html?ESRC=education.nl and these good links for the SVA: http://www.studentveterans.org/ and the Army’s resources at: http://www.wtc.army.mil/

If you are currently searching for a job, don’t overlook the Department of Labor’s website for job seekers at: http://www.doleta.gov/jobseekers/ which has assessments, tips for increasing your employability, suggestions for workers that are laid off, and a list of employee rights.

Here’s an online newspaper that focuses on veterans issues: http://www.veteranshour.com/ It has sections for veterans of each era, a women veterans' section, current news and legislation, and amazing array of statistics, and inspiring stories.

There are a variety of links for women veterans highlighted at: http://www.va.gov/womenvet/ including benefit and healthcare information, and stories of female veterans.  At the VA site is also a great resource for veterans that want to start their own business at: http://www.va.gov/osdbu/ which has tips for planning and funding, as well as franchise opportunities for vets.

Video Highlights

The Northern Arizona Veterans Upward Bound YouTube channel (YCVUB) is under construction, and we’d like to invite you to view our uploaded videos and playlists, and make suggestions for additional content that would help other veterans.  Here’s our introduction video: http://youtu.be/31cFRFhRfaQ  if you can't see it in the viewer above, or just search YouTube for YCVUB.

Videos are a popular way for people to learn and do research these days, and Google has partnered with YouTube to provide a wealth of videos for veterans wanting to go back to school, get a job, tell their stories, manage their money, and more.  Click on this link to explore their site: http://www.youtube.com/user/veterans?feature=results_main

Through searching YouTube for “Veterans Resources” this video came up on job searching at: http://youtu.be/IG246t8j1Gc and the website for the organization is http://www.job-hunt.org and it is a gold mine of tips and links.  Hint: gold mining is not always comfortable and does take time; there is so much information here, you’ll want to pace yourself to avoid getting overwhelmed.  Like vitamins, take one link a day.

News You Can Use

The RAO Bulletin reports that over 25,000 veterans have applied for benefits under the new VRAP program for unemployed veterans, age 35-60; approximately half of those have already been approved.  Veterans chosen for the 45,000 slots in the first year of the program will receive educational benefits for one year, to help them train for high-demand careers.  For more information, see your local VA or DES Veterans Representative, or see: http://benefits.va.gov/vow/education.htm

Applications for our Summer II and Fall sessions of VUB free pre-college modules, online and in-person at Yavapai College, are being accepted.  See our web at www.yc.edu/vub or call 928-717-7686, for more information.

Our friends at Military.com remind you to keep up with political issues that affect the military and/or to contact your local government representatives on hot-button topics, you may visit the Military.com Legislative Center.

In a discussion of recent Stolen Valor court decisions, the RAO Bulletin reported, “The Medal of Honor is among the rarest of honors: Only 81 of the 3,457 recipients since the Civil War are still living. Of those, only three are younger than 35, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.” To read more about this prestigious honor, see: http://www.cmohs.org/

For more information about the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) and their fight to have ‘invisible wounds’ of veterans treated as any other physical wound would be, see their website at: www.nami.org and their report "Parity for Patriots."  This website also has valuable resources and research, and local branches in each state.

Resource Bonanza

We’ve highlighted veterans going into agriculture on our blog before, but this group deserves special mention.  The Farmer Veteran Coalition has great resources, including highlighting female veterans in agriculture and fellowships available for new farmers, at: http://www.farmvetco.org/category/veterans/

A fund has been established to help veterans, who feel they have been misled by for-profit colleges into incurring debt, to help repay up to $5000 in student loans.  The application can be downloaded at: http://sms.scholarshipamerica.org/veterans-student-loan-relief/application.html 

From the RAO Bulletin, we learned about this new service: “Coaching Into Care,” a telephone service which provides assistance to family members and friends trying to encourage their Veteran to seek health care for possible readjustment and mental health issues.  The service is available on http://www.mirecc.va.gov/coaching or toll-free at 1-888-823-7458; or if a Veteran is experiencing an acute crisis, callers should contact the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 for immediate help.  The complete RAO Bulletin is available online at: http://sjcvets.zymichost.com/index.html

If you’d like to keep up with the latest news from the VA, like the recent Agent Orange case decisions for Vietnam Veterans and the latest in Parkinson’s Disease research by the VA, you can sign up for e-mailed press releases at: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/opa_listserv.asp

Scholarship info from Military.com: “Each year the Council of College and Military Educators offers $1000 scholarships for Servicemembers, Military Spouses, and Veterans who are working towards the completion of higher education degrees. CCME Scholarship Applications must be submitted online at cmeonline.org/scholarship. This year’s application will be available July 16 through the scholarship application deadline, October 1, 2012.” Read more at: http://militaryadvantage.military.com/2012/07/scholarship-update-ccme-2013/#ixzz2092e0tgO

Celebrating, Baseball, Assistance

Independence Day celebrations are happening in most communities – please stay safe and hydrated as you remember all the military families that have served and sacrificed, and the freedoms we cherish.  Happy Fourth of July, from Veterans Upward Bound of Northern Arizona and the Yavapai College family!

A special Summer II session of VUB free math and computer courses is available now, call 928-717-7686 to register.  We also have a new YouTube channel we are building at: http://www.youtube.com/user/YCVUB/videos with playlists of informational videos for veterans.

Ask.com and several other websites highlight discounts available to veterans – here’s one about Major League Baseball ticket discounts, including Arizona’s Diamondbacks: http://www.veteransunited.com/money/2012-major-league-baseball-military-discounts/ 

If you are an active duty member planning on separation, here is where you can start planning that transition: http://www.military.com/military-transition?ESRC=mrvr.nl  This site will give you an individualized plan, with e-mail reminders and checklists, to make sure your transition to civilian life goes smoothly.

Military.com has hints for being a successful online learner at: http://www.military.com/education/keys-to-success/five-factors-to-ensure-online-success.html?ESRC=education.nl

From msnbc.com: “A group of nonprofits and charities dedicated to helping veterans announced Wednesday a campaign to raise $30 million to assist former service members.”  See the details on this initiative at: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/27/12441027-nonprofit-groups-announce-30-million-campaign-to-help-veterans?lite