Woman Eases Transition For Soldiers

A Charlottesville woman who has spent much of the past seven years aiding American troops in combat situations hopes to help them when they return.

Mary Ellen Wooten's organization, From Us to You, has supplied troops in Afghanistan and Iraq with everything from Christmas dinners to microwaves and generators. Now she hopes to host a peer-networking retreat for veterans making the transition from military to civilian.

"There is a trend across the nation of people taking the route of retreats and camps as a healing modality because they work," Wooten said.

If Wooten can find the funding for the estimated $6,000 retreat, which would be free for the veterans, it will be the first retreat of its kind in Virginia. She has applied for grants and is hoping others will donate to help the troops who have come home. For information on donating, contact Wooten at .

University studies have shown the peer-networking model to be effective. In the past year, the military has adopted similar peer-run programs with its own framework.

According to co-founder Abel Moreno, a veteran of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, the concept behind Vets4Vets is to provide veterans with an atmosphere of camaraderie while offering a safe and confidential environment to discuss everything from combat to adapting to life at home.

More than 1,000 veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom have attended the organization's 40-plus workshops since the group was created three years ago.

"We've made the move to take care of ourselves very fast because we realized the issues we were facing," Moreno said. "It's a proactive look at getting help for yourself and others and making the most of life outside of the military."

The military admits there are issues. Post-traumatic stress disorders, and the emotional effects of repeated deployments from war zone to homefront to war zone, have been recognized as problems by the Department of Defense.

On July 29, high-ranking officers from the country's four military service branches met with the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee to discuss the stress impacts.

"Unfortunately, in a growing segment of the Army's population, we've seen increased stress and anxiety manifest itself through high-risk behaviors, including acts of violence, excess use of alcohol, drug abuse and reckless driving," Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, told the committee.

In 2008, the Army's suicide rate was 20.2 soldiers per 100,000, compared with the national average of 19.2 suicides per 100,000. The military has since combined forces with the National Institute of Mental Health to study the problem.

"It's mind-boggling that someone's trained instinct to stay alive has turned into 'the only way I can feel better is to erase myself,'" Moreno said. "So much depends on how [troops] process their emotions in-country and on their ability to access resources at home."

Moreno said that he found little information on what to expect or how to adjust to civilian life when he left the military after more than seven years, including service in Fallujah, Iraq.

"When I came back, I was on the verge of losing everything," he said. "I needed direction and purpose and to learn how to communicate with fellow veterans, my family and the community. That's where Vets4Vets comes in."

Moreno and Vietnam veteran Jim Driscoll set up Vets4-Vets to encourage peer support. "When I returned from Vietnam, I found that peer support was very helpful," Driscoll said. "A lot of combat veterans didn't have that support and there were more us of who took their lives when they came back than there were lost in combat. I don't want to see that happen."

"Helping veterans is not just a VFW issue or an American Legion issue or a military or Veterans Administration issue, it's an issue for all of us as Americans," Moreno said. "They've served their country, and their service should matter to everyone."