Behind The Mission - BTM169 - MaCherie Dunbar and Ashley Carothers - LGBTQIA+ Veteran Healthcare

BTM169 - MaCherie Dunbar and Ashley Carothers - LGBTQIA+ Veteran Healthcare

05/14/24 • 32 min

Behind The Mission

Previous Episode

BTM168 – Jennifer Ballou – The Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation

Show Summary

On today’s episode, we feature a conversation with Army Veteran and Gold Star Family Member Jennifer Ballou, Chief of Staff of the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation, an organization that is guiding the development of a national memorial that honors the service and sacrifice of all who have contributed to global counterterrorism efforts since September 11th, 2001.

About Today’s Guest

Jennifer R. Ballou is originally from Mentor, Ohio. In June of 1994, three weeks after her high school graduation, she enlisted in the United States Army as a Dental Assistant. Jennifer served for almost 21 years, retiring in May 2015. She held numerous leadership positions throughout her Army career, culminating as the Senior Enlisted Advisor of the United States Army Resilience Directorate, Army G1, Pentagon. She also served as First Sergeant, 257th Dental Company (Area Support), 44th Medical Brigade, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It was during this assignment, while deployed to Afghanistan, that her husband, SSG Edwardo Loredo, was Killed in Action.

Some of Jennifer’s awards and decorations include the Secretary of the Army Public Service Award and the Legion of Merit. She is currently enrolled at Maryland University of Integrative Health, pursuing a Master’s Degree in Yoga Therapy. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and is an alumnus of the 2022 Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program through the President George W. Bush Presidential Center.

Jennifer initially joined the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation as the Gold Star Fellow. She was previously the Deputy Chief of Staff for the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus, Ohio. Additionally, she is a Certified Professional Life Coach, and a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher, specializing in trauma-sensitive, therapeutic, and adaptive yoga.

Jennifer is the wife of Omari Ballou, Command Sergeant Major, US Army Retired, and is the proud mother of Alexis, Eddie, and Sophia.

Links Mentioned In This Episode

Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation

PsychArmor Resource of the Week

This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the blog post, The Silent Plea of Monuments. This blog article is a reflection on the words of the Gettysburg Address, which includes some additional thoughts on why memorials and monuments are important, not only for remembrance, but for reminding us of our responsibilities to the memories of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

You can see find the article here: https://veteranmentalhealth.com/monuments/

Episode Partner:

This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor. PsychArmor is the premier education and learning ecosystems specializing in military culture content PsychArmor offers an. Online e-learning laboratory that is free to individual learners as well as custom training options for organizations.

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Theme Music

Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.

Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com

Next Episode

BTM170 - Ellen Gustafson - We the Veterans and Military Families

Show Summary

On today’s episode, we feature a conversation with military spouse and family member Ellen Gustafson, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of We the Veterans and Military Families, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that empowers the veteran and military family community to strengthen democracy. We’re going to talk about their work supporting education around information integrity and civic involvement in the military affiliated population.

About Today’s Guest

Ellen Gustafson is a proud Navy Spouse and Navy and Coast Guard Granddaughter. She is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of We the Veterans, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that empowers the veteran and military family community to strengthen democracy. She is also the Co-Founder of the Military Family Building Coalition, the first non-profit supporting active duty military in building their families. She previously co-founded FEED, Food Tank and co-directed the Summit Institute.

Ellen is the author of "We the Eaters: If We Change Dinner, We Can Change the World," has been a Fortune Most Powerful Women Entrepreneur and given four TEDxTalks. She lives with her husband and three young children in Virginia Beach, VA.

Ellen is a member of the Board of We the Veterans Society for American Democracy and is the Executive Director and Board member of We the Veterans Foundation. As Executive Director, Ellen is the chief executive officer of We the Veterans, overseeing all general management and operations.