Online social network offers support for vets

Online social network offers support for vets

By Janet Kornblum - USA TODAY
Posted : Tuesday Nov 11, 2008 6:20:44 EST

After Brendan Hart left the Marine Corps in 2005, he wanted to reconnect with other veterans, people who would understand what he went through and what support he might need.

Plenty of services exist, says Hart, 26, who is on medical leave from Dartmouth College due to a contaminated smallpox vaccine he was given while serving. But finding them was another matter.

Hart launched Student Veterans of America, and now he’s applauding a new service officially launching Tuesday in honor of Veteran’s Day: MyVetwork. It is a non-profit social Web community that wants to bring together veterans, their families and their supporters.

“When I was making a transition out of the military, I had a ton of questions that I could not find thorough and honest answers for,” says Hart, who lives in New York City.

Sometimes, veterans are reluctant to seek out services, says Jaine L. Darwin, a psychologist who directs Strategic Outreach to Families of All Reservists, a non-profit providing free mental health support to extended family of those in the Reserve and National Guard who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Based in Cambridge, Mass., the group has expanded to Michigan and soon will offer services to New York and southeastern Florida.

”So much of what soldiers are concerned about feels shameful to them,” Darwin says. “Soldiers are not supposed to be fearful. Soldiers are not supposed to be scared. They’re not supposed to be upset by things they did.”

That’s why they need support.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/gns_myvet_network_111008/