Medal of Honor Histories, Hiring our Heroes Job Fairs, Casualty Report, Get Skills to Work Graduates, Cultivating Empathy

Hollywood couldn’t even come close to these true stories of heroism.  The Video of the Day is the inspirational story of Medal of Honor Recipient Joe Jackson (currently 90 years young), who served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam, see it at: http://youtu.be/7hcISjvEdOI For more about Colonel Jackson’s story, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_M._Jackson And for the rest of the amazing true stories of our Medal of Honor recipients, see this YouTube channel’s living history in video format at: http://www.youtube.com/user/MedalOfHonorBook and share this channel with your friends.

Here’s the upcoming April dates for the Hiring our Heroes job fairs throughout the nation (there is one in Phoenix on April 25), see the full list at: http://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/9009/veterans-employment-hiring-our-heroes-events-through-april/

There are many ways to view the cost of war, here is one from the Congressional Research Service, showing injuries and deaths from OIF/OND/OEF missions as of February 5th, 2013 (see the full report at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf)
Total OEF/OIF/OND Killed in Action:            6,640
Total Wounded in Action:                             50, 450
Total Active Duty w/ PTSD diagnosis:         103,792
Total diagnosed with TBI:                            253,330
                Mild TBI:                                    194,561
                Moderate TBI:                              42,063
                Severe or penetrating TBI:              6,476
                Severity TBI not classified:            10,210
Amputations:                                                   1,715
                Major (whole limb):                        1,493
                Minor (toe, finger, partial):                222
Quite a sobering review of the last ten years.

Get Skills to Work program celebrates first veteran graduates of manufacturing career training, see more at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/03/14/program-helps-veterans-find-jobs/1988493/ 

Here’s an interesting article about cultivating empathy in order to combat feelings of isolation and anxiety.  Like any new sport or exercise, it takes time and effort to practice empathizing with others.  It will take honing your observation skills, adjusting your perspective, and reflective listening techniques – try them to see if they help you.  Whether you are naturally shy, or your social skills are rusty, or you’re transitioning out of active duty, this article may provide some insights.  See the full article at: http://negarkhaefi.com/articles/the-importance-of-empathy-in-decreasing-social-anxiety.html