Please upgrade your web browser

These pages are built with modern web browsers in mind, and are not optimized for Internet Explorer 8 or below. Please try using another web browser, such as Internet Explorer 9, Internet Explorer 10, Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari.

Resources for other Vulnerable Veteran Subpopulations

Veteran

Kevin Bourgault Eugene, OR

I am a disabled combat veteran (Somalia) and a community veteran advocate in the Eugene, OR area. For the past few years I have been working on organizing a veteran's reintegration program (Camp Alma).

I need some help on program development and marketing in order to help other veterans. My research and data (Oregon Health Authority) shows that in my state, pre-911 veteran suicides happen 10:1 in relative comparison to post-911 veterans (who have an abundance of programming). Since 2003, Oregon loses about 110 veterans to suicide each year (no matter the budgets or programs) - roughly 100 of the 110 of the annual veteran suicides are for veterans that are not eligible for the majority of national veterans programs. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (2020) estimates that each of these suicides cost Oregon taxpayers about $1,080,000 per suicide (estimated by the economic loss to direct and indirect benefits).

Anyway, I would like to speak to someone about developing and expanding advising and mentoring services for underserved veteran subpopulations including: (1) pre-911 vets; (2) Rural vets; (3) Single parent vets; and (4) Female vets. These populations continue to be largely ignored by the VA, the ODVA, as well as most national non-profit organization.

We desperately need help, services, and solutions, now more than ever in this time of unprecedented economic collapse.

I also want to advocate for a national quick dial crisis number for veterans - #1111. It is far more memorable than the 1-888-whatever number that even VA staff has a hard time reciting. Plus it is easy and familiar - 1111 or 11/11 - Veterans Day (Armistice Day).

9 June 2020 1 reply Education & Training

Answers

Veteran

Kevin Bourgault Eugene, OR

Thank you Dara. I will skulk around on the site a bit more to suss out some more appropriate contacts. I would be interested in talking with anyone who can help me address improved programming and opportunities for veterans. I am especially interested in programs of authentic integration, as I know from my own personal experience growing up on an Indian reservation, there can be no reintegration for those that were never politically and economically integrated to begin with.

I have been working with local rural development agencies and state agencies to try and forward a few issues that I think could not only help veterans but save taxpayer funds. In addition to the #1111 campaign, I am also pushing to get an authentic count on veterans eligible for VA care. In Oregon, it appears that the VA refuses care to many veterans and they default to state health plans, borne by state taxpayers. I have talked with the Oregon Attorney General's office and am gathering information for a class-action lawsuit from Oregon against the VA to actually provide services for all eligible veterans. There is potential for a multimillion dollar savings to Oregon taxpayers.

I am also organizing a farming program with my own neighborhood to take fallow farmland (from non-veterans) and allow (female) veterans interested in agribusiness to try farming before taking on exorbitant USDA loans. Nationally the USDA is pushing hundreds of millions of dollars to try and make us all farmers, without allowing veterans to "try before they buy." I am developing a market-centric curriculum to get people not only to grow food, but to develop a realistic plan that will pay them living wage to farm.

As far as help... I will take any that you can muster. In my experiences, there are far too many programs that talk a good game then fade away when I ask them to support meaningful change. I think that there is almost a marketing fetish to make a "splash" without ever considering the long-term impacts on veterans empowerment and mental health. I am data-driven and want to help the most people and save the most money... even if the intervention is not as "sexy" as giving away freebies. I am currently working with Stop Soldier Suicide and providing them state and county demographics on mortality, morbidity, economic wellness, houselessness, incarceration, drug abuse, etc. I can develop and share similar products for other partners if requested.

Respectfully,

Kevin Bourgault, PhD
10th Mountain Infantry

Your Answer

Please log in to answer this question.

Sign Up

You can join as either a Veteran or an Advisor.

An Advisor already has a career, with or without military experience, and is willing to engage with and help veterans.
Sign Up as an Advisor.

A Veteran has military experience and is seeking a new career, or assistance with life after service.
Sign Up as a Veteran.