“Regard your soldiers as your children; and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your beloved…and they will stand by you even into death.” -Sun Tzu
Welcome to Stand Beside Them! Our mission is to help our returning service members and their families who are going through obstacles here on the home front. President Obama has just announced that 34,000 troops will be retur
ning from Afghanistan by early 2014 and by the end of next year possibly all remaining troops will have returned. But what happens after the war zone experience when our brave men and women are looking for jobs, or housing, or trying to renew relationships strained by long absences? You’ve probably heard some disheartening stories already involving our returning heroes, including the fact that the unemployment rate is 17% among them, 10% percent higher than the already high percentage amongst the rest of our nation. Sometimes our returning military are finding it is not so easy to reconnect emotionally with a partner, children, friends after long absences and internal changes; many find barriers to care and treatment seem insurmountable. And often it is hard for a returning soldier to single-handedly change a state of mind that is necessary during deployment to a dangerous region to a new mindset that is more productive to healthy relationships at work, home, and in the community. Anyone of us can get stuck in unproductive thinking, such as feeling guilty, or attaching a stigma to seeking help, equating it with weakness. The good news is, and the field of neuroscience has proven, that changes in rigid thinking patterns are possible at any time of life. Change can be achieved a lot easier and faster, however, with the assistance of a supportive coach and that’s where we come in. Too many returning veterans are finding themselves stuck, and it is our mission to coach them get on track to fulfilling, happy lives at home, at work, in the community. That’s what our coaches do: we help our brave servicemembers set and achieve their new goals…guiding them to create for themselves the future they deserve. We appreciate whatever support you are able to give,
Stephanie Richmond
Executive Director
