Veterans Service Organizations by Christopher White Veterans Service Organizations today range from MOAA (which we all know) to the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, service specific organizations like the Association of the United States Army (my bias) and many more. Unfortunately, these fine organizations do not always appeal to younger veterans, in part because older veterans who may not understand the needs and desires of the newer generation of veterans leaving the services today dominate them.
Our April Speaker, Ryan Simonson, understands that difference. A veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Ryan and his spouse Julie are West Point graduates, OIF veterans and members of MOAS. After leaving the Army, Ryan looked for a different way to bring today’s veterans together.
Forming VeteransU, Ryan developed an organizational formula that pulls a diverse group of today’s newest veterans into an organizational force focused on helping each other and actively supporting the community. VeteransU is a diverse, mixed grade, under 50 veterans group that looks for community support opportunities, mobilizes and then smothers that opportunity with shear numbers of veterans and family volunteers.
In addition to his work as an instructor at the Sarasota Military Academy, Ryan is also a consultant to The Patterson Foundation's recent Legacy of Valor veterans project. He emphasizes that “I'm proud of my service and I'm proud of what I did.” “Nobody wants to go to war,” he adds. “But at the same time, imagine a doctor who goes to med school and does his residency and never sees a patient, a surgeon that never operates, a baseball player who trains his whole life and never plays a game. None of us wanted that stuff, but when push came to shove, it's why we were there.” Told he had experienced a traumatic brain injury likely related to multiple explosive concussions, and is susceptible to lapses in memory, Ryan was at West Point when the 9/11 terror attacks unfolded, having committed himself to military service while attending Pine View High School. “Honestly, it sounds cheesy,” recalls Ryan, whose family had no real military traditions aside from his grandfather's role in World War II, “but I remember talking to my parents in the 10th grade and telling them I felt like it was all of our responsibility to do something for our country.”
West Point is where Ryan met his wife of 12 years. Both were mobilized for the invasion of Iraq after graduation from the U.S. Military Academy. Julie joined the 977th Military Police Company, but never made it out of Kuwait. She was medically evacuated after suffering a debilitating reaction to the anthrax vaccine. Be sure to join us on April 17th to learn more about VeteransU and this remarkable young veteran.
