Reflection: Military Veterans in the Classroom
11/07/2013
1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Clark Hall, Room 405 OFD Conference Room
3 participants
Presenter: Tina Nelson-Moss
Risk Assessment Case Manager and Program Manager,
Violence Prevention and Threat Management (RACM)
This workshop briefly addressed the following:
1. Military culture
2. Specific issues as they relate to combat veterans (traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and additional wounds)
3. Readjustment to the classroon
4. Readjustment issues for female veterans
5. Classroom tips
We were challenged to look at our own views and beliefs of the military population and veterans to assist in developing a greater understanding of the reality of a veteran's experience and the impact of their role in a veteran student's success.
Reflection:
Summer 2012 was my first experience with ongoing contact with a military community during war time. My daughter began working at the Womack Army Medical Center on Fort Bragg, Fayetteville, NC. As a public health educator she was coordinating and recruiting for a head-injury study ongoing at the hospital. Her first weeks were traumatic as she brought home stories of the horrors she heard daily and was unable to compartmentalize work from her private life.
On April 2, 2013, I attended the screening of the documentary, The Invisible War at Witherspoon Student Center Theater. The showing was followed by a panel discussion with members of the Fort Bragg’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention Program, the Director for the Fayetteville Rape Crisis Volunteer Community Center; and the Supervisor of Fayetteville Police Department Special Victims Unit & Cyber Crime. There were also members NC State’s Women’s Center for Interpersonal Violence Prevention, and two clinical practice of social work professors from NC State. Tina Nelson-Moss chose not to attend but noted she had suggested the panel include personnel from the military base.
The documentary is a culmination of research on how the mainstream press has covered the phenomenon of military sexual assault and trauma. It probes at the depths of trauma caused by sexual assaults in the U.S. armed forces, and focuses on the number of women who were raped and what happened to them in terms of PTSD, after they left the service. The filmmakers followed several women and filmed how they were coping with their emotions when they were not believed and/or no perpetrators were prosecuted. The film also interviews military leaders for their responses in the history of military failings in addressing the issue and bringing survivors' stories to light.
This was the history I brought to the Military Veterans in the Classroom workshop.
From her NCSU profile:
Tina Nelson-Moss served in the United States Air Force for 5 years where she was the officer in charge of installation level Family Advocacy, Suicide Prevention and Special Needs Identification and Assignment Coordination Programs. As a military social worker, she further provided individual, marital and group therapy to service members and their families. She developed one of the first sexual assault prevention programs in the Air Force for Tyndall Air Force Base in 2004. In 2007, she deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan serving as a mental health provider to American Troops serving in remote forward operating bases. Mrs. Nelson-Moss received the Company Grade Officer Social Worker of the Year Award in 2005 for the Air Education Training Command (AETC) and 2006 and 2007 for the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).
Tina Nelson-Moss brought a great deal of experience to the workshop. We began the afternoon by discussing the lack of interest in the workshop. Also noting that Veterans Day is not a holiday at NCSU. We talked about the lack of respect women veterans are afforded and she brought up how annoyed she is when shopkeepers, who offer veterans discounts, always look to her husband as the veteran – which he is not. She talked about symptoms and signs to watch for in any student who is in distress, various coping mechanisms, and help available on and off campus. She shared useful information and guidance.
I asked her about the documentary, The Invisible War, and was surprised at her reaction. She was defensive and thought the film was reactionary and overblown. Basically, her response was similar to the military leaders interviewed in the film – there were not as many problems as the film portrayed and there were new safeguards in place. The impression she gave me (without verbalizing such), was this was a military problem and the documentary should not be part of film festivals and non-military viewing. At that point Tina seemed to shut down and would not discuss the subject further. I was surprised.
The final portion of the workshop was devoted to a long viewing of sweeping images of beautiful scenes accompanied by a patriotic country song glorifying the military and honoring those who died for our country.
1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Clark Hall, Room 405 OFD Conference Room
3 participants
Presenter: Tina Nelson-Moss
Risk Assessment Case Manager and Program Manager,
Violence Prevention and Threat Management (RACM)
This workshop briefly addressed the following:
1. Military culture
2. Specific issues as they relate to combat veterans (traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and additional wounds)
3. Readjustment to the classroon
4. Readjustment issues for female veterans
5. Classroom tips
We were challenged to look at our own views and beliefs of the military population and veterans to assist in developing a greater understanding of the reality of a veteran's experience and the impact of their role in a veteran student's success.
Reflection:
Summer 2012 was my first experience with ongoing contact with a military community during war time. My daughter began working at the Womack Army Medical Center on Fort Bragg, Fayetteville, NC. As a public health educator she was coordinating and recruiting for a head-injury study ongoing at the hospital. Her first weeks were traumatic as she brought home stories of the horrors she heard daily and was unable to compartmentalize work from her private life.
On April 2, 2013, I attended the screening of the documentary, The Invisible War at Witherspoon Student Center Theater. The showing was followed by a panel discussion with members of the Fort Bragg’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention Program, the Director for the Fayetteville Rape Crisis Volunteer Community Center; and the Supervisor of Fayetteville Police Department Special Victims Unit & Cyber Crime. There were also members NC State’s Women’s Center for Interpersonal Violence Prevention, and two clinical practice of social work professors from NC State. Tina Nelson-Moss chose not to attend but noted she had suggested the panel include personnel from the military base.
The documentary is a culmination of research on how the mainstream press has covered the phenomenon of military sexual assault and trauma. It probes at the depths of trauma caused by sexual assaults in the U.S. armed forces, and focuses on the number of women who were raped and what happened to them in terms of PTSD, after they left the service. The filmmakers followed several women and filmed how they were coping with their emotions when they were not believed and/or no perpetrators were prosecuted. The film also interviews military leaders for their responses in the history of military failings in addressing the issue and bringing survivors' stories to light.
This was the history I brought to the Military Veterans in the Classroom workshop.
From her NCSU profile:
Tina Nelson-Moss served in the United States Air Force for 5 years where she was the officer in charge of installation level Family Advocacy, Suicide Prevention and Special Needs Identification and Assignment Coordination Programs. As a military social worker, she further provided individual, marital and group therapy to service members and their families. She developed one of the first sexual assault prevention programs in the Air Force for Tyndall Air Force Base in 2004. In 2007, she deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan serving as a mental health provider to American Troops serving in remote forward operating bases. Mrs. Nelson-Moss received the Company Grade Officer Social Worker of the Year Award in 2005 for the Air Education Training Command (AETC) and 2006 and 2007 for the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).
Tina Nelson-Moss brought a great deal of experience to the workshop. We began the afternoon by discussing the lack of interest in the workshop. Also noting that Veterans Day is not a holiday at NCSU. We talked about the lack of respect women veterans are afforded and she brought up how annoyed she is when shopkeepers, who offer veterans discounts, always look to her husband as the veteran – which he is not. She talked about symptoms and signs to watch for in any student who is in distress, various coping mechanisms, and help available on and off campus. She shared useful information and guidance.
I asked her about the documentary, The Invisible War, and was surprised at her reaction. She was defensive and thought the film was reactionary and overblown. Basically, her response was similar to the military leaders interviewed in the film – there were not as many problems as the film portrayed and there were new safeguards in place. The impression she gave me (without verbalizing such), was this was a military problem and the documentary should not be part of film festivals and non-military viewing. At that point Tina seemed to shut down and would not discuss the subject further. I was surprised.
The final portion of the workshop was devoted to a long viewing of sweeping images of beautiful scenes accompanied by a patriotic country song glorifying the military and honoring those who died for our country.