Tag Archive for: military

Sarasota, Florida hosting Female Wounded Warriors Retreat on September 16-19, 2014

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“Women veterans are increasing in numbers for military service and will continue to do so….”

Georgie Alfano-Cronk

Georgie Alfano-Cronk

Annually the Sarasota County Veterans Commission (SCVC) recognizes the Veteran of the Year, Woman Veteran of the Year and Auxiliary Person of the Year. In 2010, the Female Veteran of the Year Award went to Ms. Georgie Alfano-Cronk.

Far too often, when someone receives an award they tend to quietly return home and place their award on a shelf to just collect dust. But not so with Alfano-Cronk. Alfano-Cronk is a U.S. Army disabled woman veteran.

Alfano-Cronk states, “We have many ‘women warriors’ that need our recognition and assistance in transitioning back into their communities or back into the work force”. Alfano-Cronk has become a passionate advocate for America’s women veterans.

Alfano-Crock notes, “No matter where our female veterans are in their lives; whenever they need help navigating the VA system or just need an ear to listen to one of their concerns, they dial my phone number. As a former police officer and retired New York State Correction Sergeant I can easily look at a veteran’s life and view their problems without passing judgment on them.” She knows how hard the road of life can be because she herself has been there and done that.

By 2011, she had convinced the SCVC that a special committee should be named and formed to assist woman veterans after military service. She was nominated for and became the Chairwoman of this newly formed committee.

Fast forward from November 2011 to the present when Alfano-Crock discovered a not-for-profit organization, which loves veterans and their families as much as she does, and partnered with them. This organization is the Professionals Assisting Military Families & Friends (PAMFF). Working together the SCVC and PAMFF decided to have a free retreat for America’s women warriors. The retreat allows women wounded warriors a safe environment to share their transitional concerns and receive free counseling and access to support groups after the retreat is over.

Then there was that little problem of fundraising for the retreat.

SCVC and PAMFF knew early on that they wanted to make this a totally free event. The PAMFF committees, without any major contacts or knowledge of grants or fundraising, began to solicit donations from veterans’ organizations and community members. But would that be enough financial support? As the applications starting rolling in from women veterans across America, the PAMFF selection committee, decided that none of the women veterans should be turned away and so the original number of 10 applicants allowed to participate in the event increased to 15 women veterans. There is still a waiting list and applications are no longer being accepted.

The reaction from women veterans clearly shows a need to support, recognize, and help them as much as there is for their male counterparts.

Alfano-Crock notes that since women veterans were trained to be strong and independent, like their male counterparts, that often a women veteran will not ask for help until she is in a full blown, major crisis. And often they do not know where to find the proper resources to help them or to move ahead. Women veterans have a tendency to fall through the cracks of an already saturated VA health care system.

Alfano-Crock is adamant that female veteran’s needs are “totally different” than the needs of our male veterans and wounded warriors.

Women naturally process life’s ups and downs differently than men do and need a different type of an environment to vent and must have a trust system in place with a counselor prior to sharing their personal stories and unique concerns.

From Tuesday, September 16th to Friday, September 19th, 2014 fifteen “woman warriors” will share their lives with each other, and with PAMFF’s licensed clinicians and female community volunteers and form “battle buddy relationships” that will hopefully blossom and grow. “After all,” says Alfano-Crock, “the most therapeutic sharing sessions are those that are done in a nurturing environment with other veterans present who have gone through the same sequence of events and realize the type of traumas that often accompany military life and war. No one understands a veteran better than another veteran who has ‘walked the walk’.”

RETREAT INFORMATION:

Event Title: “A Season of Change – You Can!” 1st Annual Retreat for Female Veterans.
What: Topics for discussion will be: MST, TBI, PTS, Balance in One’s Life, Heeding the Red Flags, Interviewing and Job Hunting Techniques, Meditation, Resources, and many more.
When: September 16th – 19th
Where: Christian Retreat Conference Center in Bradenton, FL

EDITORS NOTE: Applications are closed for this retreat. For any additional questions or information you may contact Georgie Alfano-Cronk at (941) 266-2769 or PAMFF at (941) 224-1094. PAMFF still needs financial assistance to keep the retreat free for the 15 attendees. PAMFF must secure approximately $400.00 per person in donations. If you wish you may send a donation to PAMFF, P.O. Box 2171, Sarasota, FL 34230. The featured image is of Ladda Tammy Duckworth an American woman wounded warrior and politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Illinois’s 8th congressional district since 2013.

Liam Neeson movie explains why Obama wants to decimate the military

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The new Liam Neeson film reveals exactly why Obama wants to shrink the military – and accommodate more turbans, beards, and hijabs. We’ve got the good and bad guys all mixed up!

You know, I’ve always enjoyed Liam Neeson, since his 1995 adventure film Rob Roy where he portrayed the18th century Scottish hero Rob Roy MacGregor. And I even got my entire family of West women to sit down and watch the first “Taken” film, one of their favorites. So when I saw the trailers for Liam Neeson’s film “Non-Stop” I was kinda excited. Now, thanks to an article in Breitbart.com, I’m kinda not.

**SPOILER ALERT** You can’t read the rest of this article without having it ruin the surprise ending for you. But after you read this article, I don’t think you’re going to want to see it anyway. Unless you want to get pissed off.

John Nolte writes at Breitbart.com, “There is no question that “Non-Stop” is a well-made, involving, not-terribly-dumb action-thriller that delivers plenty of suspense and endears Liam Neeson further into the heart of those of us who love well-made, involving, not-terribly-dumb action-thrillers. “Non-Stop” is a good movie. Heck, it is darn near very good. But the left-wing sucker punch at the end is a new low, even for Hollywood.”

On an international flight over the Atlantic, burnt-out alcoholic flight marshal Bill Marks (Neeson) is hoping for a nice easy flight in first class. But he gets a text message informing him that one person on the flight will die every twenty-minutes unless $150 million is wired to an account.

People start to die. Marks is fingered as the hijacker. Who’s doing this? Why are they doing this? What is their motive?

Well, here’s the kicker folks. The villain is not a hijacker but a terrorist with a political goal. The terrorist is a 9/11 family member, yep, that’s right, a family member who lost a loved one at the World Trade Towers.

But that’s not all — after 9/11 this family member joined the military but found himself disillusioned by the “pointless wars.” So now we have a 9/11 family member, former US Army serviceman, who will be seen as having suffered from PTSD due to America’s involvement in a worthless combat endeavor.

But that is still not all — the 9/11 family member-former serviceman-turned terrorist is upset because America hasn’t done enough to ensure there will never be another 9/11. And so he figures if he can get an air marshal blamed for a terrorist attack forcing America to wake up. And who is his sidekick? Another former member of the American military. But the insidious left wing plot doesn’t even end there, as Nolte reveals, “The one passenger on the plane who is forever helpful, kind, reasonable, noble, and never under suspicion is a Muslim doctor dressed in traditional Muslim garb including a full beard.”

So now we know why President Obama wants to shrink the US military — clearly they are actually all a bunch of undercover terrorists who will eventually blow up planes and kill innocent Americans. Now I thoroughly comprehend why Obama has mandated the US military accept turbans, beards, and hijabs — they are the good guys.

I don’t hold any of this against Liam Neeson — well, perhaps I do. He should have read the screenplay and said, as John Nolte does at the end of his review, “screw you, Hollywood.”

And that’s exactly my sentiment. You’re not getting a dime from me to watch this FUBAR film.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on AllenBWest.com.

Religious freedom under attack at Florida’s military bases

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I am dedicated to the First Amendment. The First Amendment reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

There is a reason the First Amendment begins with and is anchored by the “free exercise” of religion. America was founded as and remains a Judeo-Christian nation. The Armed Forces are a bastion of Judeo-Christian values, a tradition that pre-dates the founding of the United States of America. The absolute need for a military chaplaincy was understood and promoted by General George Washington. Military chaplains were authorized by the Second Continental Congress, at Washington’s insistence, on July 29, 1775, thereby predating the Declaration of Independence by one year. Chaplains have been the center of support and succor for soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, the Coast Guard and their families as they deal with the pressures of war fighting, prolonged absences and duty to the nation.

Florida is home to twenty-one military bases and facilities, including the headquarters of the US Central Command at MacDill AFB in Tampa, FL.

Religious freedom is under attack within our military as demonstrated in the video below courtesy of the Thomas More Law Center. In the video members of the US Armed Forces speak out about the culture of fear and intimidation in the US military that is forcing Christian soldiers to hide their faith in Florida and elsewhere.

TMLC states, “This is happening despite the fact that, since its inception, America has been considered a Christian Nation. The overwhelming percentage of the men and women who currently serve in our Armed Forces are Christian. And an overwhelming percentage of those who have died in defense of our country were Christian.”

The attacks on Christianity in the military have caused the Bible to be banned from military hospitals, chaplains to be deemed non-essential, prayer to be banned from military funerals and soldiers to be dismissed for voicing their Christian beliefs about homosexual marriage. For a more exhaustive list of attacks on the religious freedom prepared by the Family Research Council of Christians click here.

“The attack on the religious freedom of Christians in the military is a warning for us all of what is coming if we do not stop it now,” warns TMLC.

TMLC asks, “If you are a member of the Armed Forces in Florida and believe that your right to religious freedom as a Christian has been violated click here to complete the legal help request form or call the Thomas More Law Center at 734-827-2001.”

EDITORS NOTE: The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity and Watchdog Wire have begun an effort to raise awareness about and protect the First Amendment using the #IAM1A project. To learn more about #IAM1A click here.

ABOUT THE THOMAS MORE LAW CENTER:

The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life.  It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America.  The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities.  It does not charge for its services.  The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization.  You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.