“I Will Not Be Broken”

Yesterday, I received a mail from Dani Sevilla of Survivor Corps – a support service programme for US soldiers returning from War, who are hurt, either emotionally or physically. Survivor Corps is a programme that grew from Landmine Survivors Network. The organisation has expanded its mission to help all survivors of war. Landmine Survivors Network was co-founded in 1997 by two landmines survivors, Jerry White and Ken Rutherford. From the late Princess Diana of Wales to Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan the organisation received support, praise and partnerships at the highest levels.

The purpose of Dani’s mail to me was to highlight “Operation Survivor”. According to Survivor Corps, ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are creating a generation of veterans in the United States from all branches of the armed services and all 50 states who are struggling to overcome physical and psychosocial injuries. Most combat veterans convalescing in military hospitals across the country will survive physically, but getting on with their lives after returning home to their families and communities is proving a significant challenge for hundreds of thousands. Among the 1.6 million who have served since 2001, suicide is on the rise, as is unemployment and incidents of substance abuse and domestic violence.

This programme is a not-for-profit initiative, through which Survivor Corps and its partners are determined to avoid the mistakes made when veterans returned from Vietnam, which resulted in tens of thousands of post-war suicides and over 200,000 men and women living on the streets. Survivor Corps is offering an alternative “treatment” that can be made readily available in all communities, regardless of proximity to traditional military or government centres of support. the organisation’s approach is nimble enough to address the needs of individual survivors, while still broad enough to build a coalition of survivors and service providers working to effect long-term positive change.

This new programme will help the recovery and reintegration of hundreds of thousands of returning U.S. service members at a critical time for them and their country. Over the past ten years, we have established successful peer support programs in eight war affected countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. For more information on “Operation Survivor”, please visit this link. For those who would like to donate in support of this great initiative, please click here or mail Dani Sevill at dsevilla[at]survivorcorps.org.

I am sure many countries have similar programmes for soldiers, who defend their countries when the citizens such as you ane me, are fast asleep. I though am not aware of such programmes running in my home country India. If anyone reading this blog post knows of such programmes, you can write to me at chris[at]chrisfernando.net.