Supporting Veterans - Our American heroes

Fighting for your country is the ultimate sacrifice and Veterans from all around the world need to be recognized. With more than 21.8 million Veterans in the United States, one thing is for sure, we need to be constantly supporting our Veterans. By creating more awareness for Veterans, more jobs, shelter, and support will be waiting for them on their transition back home.

Helping the Homeless

Custom Veteran wristbands were created to spread awareness and combat the epidemic of homeless American Veterans. We are dedicated to bringing quality of life to these forgotten heroes. By increasing awareness, we can help our heroes find jobs and increase Veteran involvement in our communities.

Homeless Veterans Statistics

• Number of Veterans in the U.S. as of 2014: approximately 22.5 million.
• Increasing numbers of returning military personnel: according to the Mass. Dept. of Veterans’ Services, approximately 31,000 service members have returned to the Commonwealth since Sept. 11, 2001.
• Between 529,000 and 840,000 Veterans are homeless at some time during the year.
• 33% of homeless males in the U.S. are Veterans.
• Veterans are twice as likely as other Americans to become chronically homeless.
• Veterans represent 11% of the adult civilian population, but 26% of the homeless population, according to the Homeless Research Institute (2007).
• Veterans are more at risk of becoming homeless than non-Veterans.
• The number of homeless Vietnam-era Veterans, male and female, is greater than the number of soldiers who died during the war.

Jobs for Veterans

After spending years away serving our nation in another country, Veterans rarely return home with jobs readily awaiting them. The search for finding a job can be daunting, especially in this economy. Rejection by these employers leads to disappoint and the feeling of not being useful tends to lower a person’s confidence. We want to support the organizations that are helping our Veterans become confident and prideful members of society by giving the opportunity to earn income and live prosperously. We are the land of opportunity, lets make sure our Veterans are first in line.

Facts and statistics

1. The unemployment rate for all veterans is consistently below the unemployment rate for non-veterans. In July of 2015, the veteran unemployment rate was 4.7 percent, compared to the nonveteran unemployment rate (for individuals 18 years and older) of 5.4 percent.
2. 80 percent of veterans in America are age 45 or older. Only 3.4 percent of unemployed veterans are age 24 or younger.
3. In July 2015, the unemployment rate for veterans age 24 and younger was 9.8 percent, compared to the 11.3 percent unemployment rate for non-veterans of the same age.
4. The national unemployment rate for women veterans has been statistically equivalent to that of non-veteran women for the last two years.
5. The labor force participation rate for Gulf War II veterans is nearly 80 percent, compared to a non-veteran labor force participation rate of 65.8 percent.
6. The unemployment rate for Veterans is 3.9 percent. This represents about 422,000 Veterans unable to find work last month. Veterans make up about 7.5 percent of the American workforce.

Veterans and PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sometimes known as shell shock or combat stress, occurs after experiencing severe trauma or a life-threatening event. It’s normal for the mind and body to be in shock after such an event, but this normal response becomes PTSD when your nervous system gets “stuck.”

Responding to stress

• Social engagement: is the most evolved strategy for keeping yourself feeling calm and safe. Socially interacting with another person—making eye contact, listening in an attentive way, talking—can quickly calm you down and put the brakes on defensive responses like “fight-or-flight.”
• Mobilization: otherwise known as the fight-or-flight response, occurs when social engagement isn’t an appropriate response—such as in a combat situation—and you need to either defend yourself or escape the danger at hand. Your heart pounds faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and your senses become sharper. These physical changes increase your strength and stamina, speed your reaction time, and enhance your focus. Once the danger has passed, your nervous system then calms the body, slowing heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and winding back down to its normal balance.
• Immobilization: Immobilization occurs when you’ve experienced a traumatic amount of stress—in combat, for example. The physical danger of war has passed but you find yourself “stuck,” your nervous system unable to return to its pre-stress state of balance. This is PTSD.

Raising PTSD Awareness

The purpose of creating PTSD custom wristbands is to encourage everyone to raise public awareness of PTSD and its effective treatments. By working together we can all help those affected by PTSD. Developing a greater understanding of PTSD will help Veterans and others recognize symptoms, and seek necessary care.