Left: Aurita Maldonado places a finger through the bullet hole in her pack following a firefight in the Afghan countryside. While she remained unharmed, an improvised explosive device attack would later injure her. Right: A pen is used to illustrate the bullet’s path after punching through an iced tea bottle. The evident wetness prompted other soldiers to search for blood. A firefight was nothing new to Aurita Maldonado and her fellow soldiers trekking through the desolate Afghan countryside. What was different on this day in 2008, however, was the bullets punching through her pack. The drippi ..read more

Daniel Diebold at Chenar Vehicle Stopping Point during his deployment to Afghanistan with 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL DIEBOLD The van that Daniel Diebold was living in when a DAV chapter helped him was still better than what he had just been through. The veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was four months out of the Army when his life almost ended with a gallon of liquor on a cold beach near Tacoma, Washington. That was the day he said he decid ..read more

Charles Burke of Lexington, Kentucky With more than 4.7 million disabled veterans living in America today, our mission to empower veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity is essential. Thankfully, many DAV supporters, including Navy veteran Charles Burke, are stepping up to help by making a gift through a charitable gift annuity (CGA) to the DAV Charitable Service Trust. Burke was not yet a DAV member when an article in a Fidelity newsletter about the income and tax benefits of CGAs caught his eye. The article explained how gift annuities help charities. A lo ..read more

At age 74 and following several strokes, DAV member and retired benefits advocate John Parker was fighting to live life on his own terms. But after losing part of his peripheral vision and trying to manage the difficulties associated with diabetes, the Marine veteran found that goal difficult to achieve. That’s where his sister, Carol Sue Parker-Park, came into the picture. “He just got out of the hospital again recently,” Parker-Park said. “So I’m a caregiver now.” She said she explored all avenues of available in-home assistance in Barberton, Ohio. In addition to helping her brother tr ..read more

By Donna J. Bell, communications director, VA Office of Integrated Veteran Care “Anger is not a perfect circle of stages you work through — it is a big ball of craziness,” U.S. Army Veteran Amanda Seward said of her journey of healing and acceptance. She enlisted in the Army in 2011, however, after a decade of service and two deployments to Kuwait, it was a typical day on the job as a Guard Reserve recruiter in January 2019 that left her disabled. Only a month back from her second deployment, she pulled her car over to the side of the road and, after exiting, was struck by a vehicle from behi ..read more

After a yearlong deployment to South Korea, Army mortarman Jeremy Miller finally returned home to his wife, Viola, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. She was in her last semester of college, and life was going great for the young couple—until one day in June 1996. During a training exercise with the 101st Airborne Division, one of the main rotors of the Black Hawk that Miller was in collided with another helicopter, causing both airframes to fall from treetop level. The crash killed six people and injured 30 more. Viola still remembers hearing about it on the local news. “I knew Jeremy was in a heli ..read more

Eighteen years have passed since Kevin Blanchard first stepped foot on the mountain in Snowmass, Colorado. As a first-time National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic participant in 2006, he was limited in the activities he could take part in because of his fresh wounds. “I was still in the hospital, I was in a wheelchair, and I had this cage around my leg,” said Blanchard, who was injured in 2005 in Al Anbar, Iraq. “I couldn’t really ski or do much. “This time will be a lot different.” On the day he was injured, Blanchard’s convoy was on a patrol when a pressure-plated bomb rigged with t ..read more

U.S. Army Veteran Brent King speaks with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal during the 38th annual National Disabled Veteran Winter Sports Clinic. The event is taking place in Snowmass, Colo., from April 1 – 8, 2024, and provides approximately 400 Veteran participants an opportunity to participate in adaptive winter sports. (Photo by Axel Villacis-Maldonado, VA Media Team) SNOWMASS, Colo. – It’s been nearly three decades since U.S. Army Veteran Brent King and his Spokane VA Healthcare System Recreational Therapist Vance Pease first met. This year ..read more

Army Veteran and DAV Department of Florida Commander Brenda Reed is attending the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic for the eighth time. Brenda Reed out-processed from the Army on crutches. Reed had injured her foot while running in ill-fitting combat boots designed for men, and the physician assistant on base didn’t take the injury seriously. Reed was told to suck it up and go back to work. Eventually, at her sergeant’s insistence, Reed was sent to a hospital where she learned her foot had been broken in four places and was healing incorrectly. Before she knew it, her military c ..read more

Let’s take a minute to think about the word “community.” What comes to mind? For me, a community is a group of people united by a common tie that, in turn, fills them with a sense of belonging, purpose and responsibility. There are two communities I think about a lot: veterans and people who live near me. Like many of you, I feel called to be an active member in both groups. It’s important to use time and talents to help others, and being involved in our communities keeps them vibrant and strong. Fostering a vibrant, strong veteran community is why I’m excited to announce a new ..read more