This 2011 Annual Report is offered to inform and hopefully motivate all those who share a common interest in our mission of assisting post-9/11 military and their families.

USA Cares was born out of an international conflict. And during the near-decade of our existence, we’ve grown, not just physically, but in our ability to stay in sync with the needs of military families.

An October 2011 report from the Pew Research Center shows that 83 percent of Americans believe military families have made “a lot of sacrifices.” The report further notes that modern-era veterans say the general American public has little or no understanding of the problems they face. The report also noted that the public generally agreed with that impression by 71 percent.

USA Cares and its supporters are very aware of the sacrifices endured by military families.

This annual report highlights our ever-strong commitment to military families and of our aggressiveness in meeting their changing needs.

The non-profit community saw many troubling changes in 2011. Most notably - there are fewer military charities. Some simply “ran out of steam.” Others “out of mission” as the needs of our troops evolved with the strategic landscape. Fewer horses to “pull the plow” means more is demanded from those of us who remain. In 2011, the USA Cares’ assistance team acquired resources totaling over $136,000 that were added to the dollars contributed by our patriotic donors. And we will have to find even more of both in 2012.
Also in 2011, USA Cares was finally rated by the leading organizations involved in establishing quality levels in charities—GuideStar, Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau. Thanks to our transparency, efficiency, and impact on those we serve, we received quite high ratings from all three groups.

This report will show that USA Cares is a very efficient charity, but, more importantly, it is a most effective organization in bringing needed assistance to our troops and their families. USA Cares did not widen its mission envelope in 2011. It deepened it.

 As unemployment became a key factor in housing losses and other financial woes for our military families, USA Cares responded with a robust Jobs for Vets program that embodies one-of-a-kind concepts to ensure that the veteran actually gets a skill plus a job—at a living wage.
 We added a child care grant to our program for military/veteran spouses to help them overcome a significant barrier to employment.
 Our innovative efforts to assist veterans who can’t afford mental health treatment continued in 2011. And as the troops come home, this program must be much more robust and better-funded.

We are proud that our innovative planning in these and other areas brought USA Cares to the attention of the White House as we “joined forces” with the First Lady and her team. We celebrate and cherish our old friends and donors, but . . . We will need more Americans to join with us in 2012.

Though today’s job market is tough for everyone to navigate and land the next big thing, military spouses have struggled with securing employment long before the market “tanked.”  A Department of Defense study released in June 2011 estimated that 26% of military spouses were unemployed.  This is triple the current civilian unemployment rate and more than double the rate of Post 9/11 Veteran’s.
 
There are about 1.2 million military spouses, of which about 85 % want to work. Of that fragment, it is estimated about 265,000 are either unemployed or underemployed with a wage gap of about 25 % between military spouses and their civilian counterparts.

Moving as a unit every two to three years for stability and readiness for their soldier brings an ongoing fight of battling negative stigmas from employers. In military communities, it is well known that frequent moves and the cost of child care play a major role in the efforts of spouses securing employment. 

The challenge:  Provide an opportunity to those spouses who show a commitment and ability to adapt to new environments by removing employment barriers such as childcare start up costs and giving them access to “military friendly” employers.  Spouses should be viewed as an asset to an employer, not a risk.

In an effort to “give a hand up,” USA Cares is broadening its current Jobs for Vets program to include financial assistance for spouses who have found success in obtaining employment.  USA Cares now assures military spouses do not have the obstruction of child care cost preventing them from their next career.

Qualifications:
• Active duty military spouse
• Current spouse of a honorably discharged veteran
• Must have secured new employment
• Must show a demonstrated need for child care assistance

Employment Assistance Grants:
USA Cares Jobs for Veterans program will provide qualifying military families a financial assistance grant paid to a licensed child care facility.  The grant will support the military family from two to four weeks, pending future salary and pay schedule. 

Employment & Training Referral/Advocacy Support:
USA Cares will continue its outreach to government, private/public, and nonprofit organizations to increase awareness of this unique grant to support and directly affect change of those military spouses who have served our country too.

The Rewards and Burdens of Military Service•Veterans who served on active duty in the post-9/11 era are proud of their service (96%), and most (74%) say their military experience has helped them get ahead in life. The vast majority say their time in the military has helped them mature (93%), taught them how to work with others (90%) and helped to build self-confidence (90%). More than eight-in-ten (82%) say they would advise a young person close to them to join the military.

•At the same time, however, 44% of post-9/11 veterans say their readjustment to civilian life was difficult. By contrast, just 25% of veterans who served in earlier eras say the same. About half (48%) of all post-9/11 veterans say they have experienced strains in family relations since leaving the military, and 47% say they have had frequent outbursts of anger. One-third (32%) say there have been times where they felt they didn’t care about anything.

•Nearly four-in-ten (37%) post-9/11 veterans say that, whether or not they were formally diagnosed, they believe they have suffered from post-traumatic stress (PTS). Among veterans who served prior to 9/11, just 16% say the same.

•These psychological and emotional problems are most prevalent among post-9/11 veterans who were in combat. About half of this group (49%) say they have suffered from PTS. And about half (52%) also say they had emotionally traumatic or distressing experiences while in the military. Of those who had these types of experiences, three-in-four say they are still reliving them in the form of flashbacks or nightmares.

•Overall, about one-in-six post-9/11 veterans (16%) report they were seriously injured while serving in the military, and most of these injuries were combat-related. And about half (47%) say they know and served with someone who was killed while in the military, not significantly different from the share of pre-9/11 veterans (43%) who say the same.  The survey finds that post-9/11 veterans who either experienced or were exposed to casualties are more supportive than other post-9/11 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, they also report having more difficulty re-entering civilian life.

“This was a necessity for health reasons,” said Vickie who is married to career Staff Sgt. Jeffery Perry, 46, with the Army National Guard.

According to the National Weather Service, August 2011 was the second-warmest August on record.

The Perry’s Kentucky hometown showed some of the nation’s most excessive heat indexes with temperatures of 116 to 120 degrees for several days between July and August. During this time and while her husband was stationed at an Indiana armory to prepare for his fourth deployment to Iraq, the Perry’s ancient air conditioner conked out in the middle of the excessive summer heat.

With Jeffery just coming off of unemployment and still waiting on his first military check, there was a little-to-no fund in their household finances to buy a new unit, which costs upwards of $3,000.

Her clerical job at the local school district helped them sustain during the lull, but couldn’t support such an expensive emergency. “I moved small window units downstairs, but it’s a pretty big house,” and those smaller units didn’t suffice.

With her suffering with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a progressive lung disease that frequently makes it hard for her to breathe, and with her mother – who lives with them – battling heart and lung conditions, Vickie moved into action and frantically began looking for help.

They were without sufficient cool air in their home for approximately 10 days. “We weren’t doing this to get something free,” said Vickie, 44. “We needed the assistance.”

She found USA Cares through a military community channel. “At first we were denied assistance because they thought I was asking for a repair,” which USA Cares does not assist with, said Vickie. “

“But I wrote again that we needed a new unit since the old one wasn’t repairable” she said.

With donations from the American public, USA Cares was able to assist with $750 towards the cost of the $3,125 unit. The Perry’s raised $875 and another community organization assisted with $1,500, said Vickie.

“It was a very upsetting time,” said Vickie. “We were the type of people who always helped other people. So to be in that position was just very different.”

“When I got the phone call that USA Cares was going to help, I started crying,” said Vickie. “USA Cares was there for us when we needed them to be there.”

“My goal is to go to the mall and stay for one hour,” says Wilfie, 52, a former staff sergeant and medic with the Army National Guard.

He says his dislike for crowds might be a sensory overload, but that it is definitely a residual of him being hit daily - and repeatedly - by mortar and Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, while serving in Iraq.

“Really, I lost count,” he says with a slight chuckle of how many times he was hit with rounds.

Military experts say that mortar attacks are probably the most common threat faced by American troops. A common tactic of Iraq insurgents is to place mortars in heavy residential areas where the insurgents can go unseen and easily pop off a few rounds at military base camps without being easily discovered.

While most mortar rounds land harmlessly, they can cause plenty of damage and casualties if they land directly onto an individual or object.

“During one round I was standing by a truck. The mortar lifted it off the ground,” says Wilfie. “Another time we were having a platoon competition and a Russian-made rocket came overhead. It knocked me to the ground. One guy was hit by the shrapnel and almost died.”

“In a fast situation like that, you don’t think, you react. You start to protect what is yours and just think, ‘Is it over?’”

As a medic, “You just take your mind off of it and just go on. You don’t think about yourself.”

When he got back stateside, he says he began to behave strangely and obsessively, and that he suffered with recurring nightmares. He also worked hard to avoid places with a crowd. “It’s like I was just waiting on something to happen,” says Wilfie. “Crowds? No way. I look at things and think ‘There might be a bomb there.’”

He was diagnosed with the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. It’s an anxiety disorder that can develop after witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event. “It’s something you can’t see, but it’s a wound,” says Wilfie.

He entered into residential treatment which took him away from his family for several months. While the treatment was necessary to helping him better handle the nightmares and paranoia, it also caused a major and instant decrease in his family’s income.

His family contacted USA Cares for mortgage assistance. “I was worried about the money issue. I was about to get in my car and come back home,” he says. “And this was a hard program to get into.”
With donations from the American public, USA Cares assisted his family with $1,872.51 - one month’s mortgage.

“The help really was like a miracle, just a miracle.”

To learn more about the project Click Here.

If you know of disabled vet that might be interested in applying for the home, the link to the application is:  Click Here.

She says his post-deployment transition became a time of considerable turmoil for their family. He was monstrously short tempered with their five children; age’s three to 12 and had no sense of purposefulness.

After returning from a second deployment in 2009, his behavior escalated into physical aggressiveness. “I had to have him arrested,” said Amanda, 29. “He had me in a choke hold so hard I blacked out. He didn’t realize what he was doing,” she said.

“I’m not afraid of him; he’s just not who I married.”

David, now 32, was finally diagnosed with severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, a mental anxiety disorder that occurs after witnessing a traumatic event. “I don’t know if he would want me to say those things” said Amanda about his war experiences and duties.

But Amanda’s worries weren’t solely centered on his changing behavior. Just before his second deployment and subsequent PTSD diagnoses, David’s military pay became entangled in a series of delays that spun the family into financial distress. That was when she called USA Cares for financial assistance.

“We weren’t getting half of what he was supposed to get,” said Amanda. “We just got so far under. We were grounded.”

With donations from the American public, USA Cares was able to assist the McCaullas with two mortgage payments, two car payments and two month’s worth of water, gas and light utility payments, all totaling $3,472.87.

“I could never repay USA Cares for the impact they’ve had on my family and myself,” said Amanda. “I could never repay USA Cares for what they have done for us and how greatly appreciative we are. USA Cares gave me my sanity and my life back,” she said.

But this story is still waiting for its happy ending. Today, David’s pay is still delayed. Amanda says that since March 2010, they have been getting less than half of what he earned; a situation she hopes is being reviewed. Tragically, they recently lost their home, her childhood home which they bought from her mother.

Amanda and their four youngest children now live in a three-bedroom trailer with her mother. David lives with his grandmother in a town one and half hours’ drive away.

Amanda and David are hopeful of the day they finally collect his back pay because they believe it will enable them to once again purchase a family home where they can live together. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to be a family again,” she says.

David now attends bi-monthly clinical PTSD treatment and therapy sessions, which Amanda holds with great hope. “I love my husband and I want him to get well. He wants to get well.” “We had a very passionate marriage,” said Amanda. “We loved each other. He was everything I ever wanted and he still is.

“I absolutely did not have the money to get there,” said Sgt. Chambers who retired as a senior human resources supervisor. “And it made me feel like, ‘what did I do for 24 years to be in this situation?’”

Sgt. Chambers was among the estimated 2.3 million veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq now confronting the worst job market since the Great Depression of 70 years ago. Ironically, his Army job was to help Soldiers develop their careers. “Everyone said it would be easy for me to a get a job, but it wasn’t that way,” he said. The lackluster job market compounded his financial situation: He was sapping his savings and small pension with a $1,800 mortgage, $420 car payment and devotedly sending his mother in New York City $500 to help supplement her monthly rent.

“I was trying to pay regular bills,” he said. “I realized that if I was going to get ahead again, that I would have to put aside my pride and ask for help.”

With donations from a nation grateful for his service, USA Cares assisted Sgt. Chambers with $100 for gas and $199.95 for a D.C.-area hotel room. When he got a second interview at the Pentagon, USA Cares assisted again with $200 for gas. “The help I got (at USA Cares) was very, very good,” he said. “I can attest that they did everything to help me; every possible thing.”

Today, Sgt. Chambers is an administrator with the United States Agency for international Development – East Africa Division. He works in Washington D.C. “The gas money was important because it gave me a boost.”

It may just be coincidental, but it certainly is serendipitous that the 10th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11 falls during the 70th anniversary year of the attacks on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941. Unlike Pearl Harbor, the 9/11 attacks did not happen thousands of miles offshore in an era of relatively primitive communications. Instead, they purposefully happened in New York City with the whole world watching. It had been 60 years since an enemy had attacked American shores. Read more.

At a time when American deployed combat troop levels are going down, demands on support services are going up.  Here at USA Cares, a national military charity, requests for financial assistance have gone up 53 per cent since February.  This demand growth has been most evident in 3 often inter-related areas:  jobs, housing, and access to mental health treatment. Click here for full article.

SVM, maker of retail, restaurant and gas station gift cards around the country announces Operation Basic Needs.

The newly-launched Commissary Gift Card can be used by military personnel, retirees and their families to make purchases at any one of the commissaries operated worldwide.  In honor of the men and women that serve our country, SVM, LP is matching all Commissary Gift Card purchases donated to USA Cares through a special designated website. Click here for press release.

Click here for more information.

Here we are in the run-up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and part of our celebration of the heroism of our first responders and military is to threaten the troops (once again) with no pay?  Hollywood couldn’t make up a story like this and; I suspect, old time politicians of both parties would never have dreamed that the government would let the paychecks of our troops become a bargaining chip. (Click here for full article)

The President’s announcement of the start of Afghanistan troop withdrawals marks a new phase in the War on Terror.  No group of Americans will be happier about the reduction of forces in harm’s way than our service members and their families. 

And whether or not one agrees with the reasons for, or implications of, the withdrawal, all Americans can rejoice in the return of our soldiers and Marines from combat. Click here for full article.