Vets Experience

Make the pledge to volunteer during VetServe 2023 and the national day of service on April 21. Whether you choose to plant a tree, package boxes at a local food bank or offer to serve with a nonprofit, what matters most is that you go out and engage.

Many active-duty service members and Veterans play video games to relieve stress, connect with friends and have fun. Here are three community resources you can connect with to learn about electronic sports (esports) and gaming events for Veterans.

Join the Bob Woodruff Foundation on April 5 at 3 p.m. EST for an online panel discussion. Experts from VA and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) will discuss the historic expansion of benefits and health care provisions in the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.

The Veterans Experience Office is excited to announce the top two winners of the new Community Catalyst Award, The Greater Miami Valley myVeteran Community of Ohio, and Project for Return and Opportunity in Veterans Education (PROVE) from New York. 

The PACT Act expands benefits, health care, and services to Veterans and their survivors, who were exposed to environmental toxins such as Agent Orange in Vietnam, burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, or other herbicides or radiation exposures in other places around the world where Veterans served.

In January, the U.S. Small Business Administration took over verification for Veteran- and service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses. But VA still provides critical resources to make the pursuit of federal contracts accessible to entrepreneurs who’ve served in the military.

March is Women’s History Month, and wear blue: run to remember is holding its third annual Piestewa Challenge to remember fallen female warriors and celebrate women in military service. 

The Travis Mills Foundation (TMF) supports recalibrated Veterans and their families through various programs that help Veterans overcome physical and emotional obstacles, strengthen their families, and provide well-deserved rest and relaxation.

In 2013, Veterans to Farmers was launched to allow Veterans to re-utilize those skills while taking on the challenge of continuing to feed our growing nation and securing our food sovereignty. Its classes provide the hands-on training needed to learn about the many ways a Veteran may participate in agriculture.

The nonprofit group Volunteers of America (VOA) recognizes the challenges Veterans often face in confronting moral injury, which is essentially a conflict with one’s personal code of morality.

The US Cyber Challenge is back with another exciting Cyber Quests competition. Cyber Quests are a free and fun but challenging series of online competitions allowing participants to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of information security realms. Veterans can test their skills against others throughout the nation.

Staff at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System recognize how stress impacts daily life and are promoting stress management programs to improve the overall health and well-being of Veterans.