Choreographed by Robin Becker, a very talented artist and now a good friend of the company, the production follows the soldiers of the army battalion the Black Lions, 61 of whom died in an ambush by North Vietnamese on October 17, 1967. In a very poignant parallel, a second piece centers on the October 18, 1967, riot at the University of Wisconsin at Madison when student protesters tried to stop Dow Chemical, the maker of napalm, from recruiting on campus.

When we sponsored a performance in New York City over the summer, it struck a strong emotional chord with our members, whom we hosted with complimentary tickets. The interest still runs deep, and the continued dialogue about feelings is therapeutic. As one member wrote after viewing the Georgetown performance, “What a powerful and emotional piece of work. Thank you for the opportunity to attend.” Thank you to choreographer Robin Becker for this extraordinary artistic achievement.

We also hope you enjoy reading this week’s Cover Story, courtesy of Pulitzer prize winner Sarah Kaufman, dance critic at the Washington Post. Sarah recently interviewed me about our sponsorship of “Into Sunlight,” and you can read the full review here.

Our ongoing participation in the Veterans Advantage scholarship program is a way for us to recognize and reward military family members and to help offset the high cost of college. As you know, we also celebrate those who have served and gone on to great professional accomplishments or made major contributions to society as a whole with our TopVet, HeroVet and VetFamily designations and profiles.

In an update for Veterans Advantage members, we are honoring our HeroVet Bonnie Carroll, the founder of Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). I first met Bonnie in 2003 while she was serving as a special VA liaison for the White House. Over the years, we’ve become good friends. We are all proud that she served our nation a second time, in early post-war Iraq.

Thankfully, she returned home safely. She continues to run an important charitable organization with the same zeal and passion as she did when she held her first survivors seminar for 50 fellow military families in 1994. Attendance for her 17th annual meeting next May is expected to hit 1,500. Wow.

Reflecting back on the journey, Bonnie says: “It is about community. The pride that the families have in the service of their loved ones.”

We hope you enjoy reading Bonnie Carroll’s profile. She is a remarkable person who lives and reflects TAPS’ theme: “Remember the love, celebrate the life and share the journey.” Words to guide us all during this season.

On behalf of all of us at Veterans Advantage may you enjoy a peaceful holiday season and better times ahead in 2011.

We hope you like learning more about Carolyn Blashek by clicking here, or by supporting Operation Gratitude in any way you can by clicking here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The need for special mental health benefits for our servicemembers is growing at an alarming rate. According to a recent Veterans Advantage members’ poll, fifty percent feel that half of our nation’s military has struggled with combat-related stress.

As Dr. Van Dahlen says in her most recent exclusive commentary for Veterans Advantage members, the responsibility to attend to those in need of mental health care services and support falls within every community across America, not just within the Military and Veteran community:

If our military families are to withstand the strain, if they are to succeed in the face of adversity, they need their community wrapped around them. They need compassion, concrete assistance, and critical emotional support. By “community” I mean not the military community (which has historically and successfully supported those who serve), but our American community. I am referring to friends, neighbors, employers, and teachers. We all must draw upon our own experience of struggle and pain to reach out with assistance and understanding.

Veterans Advantage has been supporting the work of Give an Hour with financial resources and outreach communications for the past three years.  We thank and honor them for their extraordinary service to our military families.

Learn more about their efforts to build a network of therapists for our military families at www.giveanhour.org. And please spread the word with everyone you know, too!

In a special silent auction, Lin and I won two Trek bikes, plus gear for us to participate in an upcoming WWP Soldier Ride this coming July from New York City to Long Island. Trek bikes are great. I only hope I can keep up with the WWP gang.

Country Music sensation Trace Adkins — best known for his hits “This Ain’t No Thinking Thing,” “Ladies Love Country Boys,” and “You’re Gonna Miss This,” among others — was one of the honorees and we had time to chat about our common love for the WWP.

By the way, some breaking news from Trace: According to his own Web site, the Daughters of the American revolution will also be honoring Trace Adkins for his patriotic and humanitarian works as well.

According to Op Gratitude’s Carolyn Blashek, she plans to ship a total of 50,000 Care Packages in April through June to the troops in the Gulf region, and Pepsi’s donation will be a needed helping hand in covering these shipping costs. Over the last two years, Veterans Advantage has been donating complimentary membership cards in these care packages, and we salute Carolyn and the team at Operation Gratitude for keeping the momentum going.

Click here for more on Veterans Advantage charitable activities, including its support of Operation Gratitude.

We are proud of Fisher House, and have been longtime supporters of them as well. Their public/private partnerships are making a significant impact on the lives of the critically wounded and their families.

“The program is now becoming part of the American consciousness,” Chief Executive Ken Fisher told Veterans Advantage in an exclusive interview, our current VetFamily honoree. “It’s slowly but surely starting to gain a lot of momentum.”

Just two days before the announcement, I visited Ken’s offices to present our VetFamily Award to him. I was joined by Roy Asfar, our Vice President of Marketing, and producer of Ken’s VetFamily award designation, as well as Veterans Advantage board members Peter Eldredge and Gerry Byrne. Gerry is also on the Board of Fisher House.

(l. to r. ) Peter Eldredge, Ken Fisher, Scott Higgins, Gerry Byrne

We are grateful for your membership, which helps support the charitable activities of Veterans Advantage. This holiday season, we deployed another 65,000 complimentary Veterans Advantage membership cards to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan through our partners, Operation Gratitude and Operation Care & Comfort. To date, we have deployed 365,000 complimentary memberships. These sponsored memberships represent an important part of our charitable activities, as we honor and acknowledge the service of these brave men and women.

We also are working hard to add new and substantial benefits to the program. We ask companies to partner with us and offer preferred pricing on their goods and services as a thank you for service to the country. As we enter 2010, we are encouraged by the strong response we continue to receive. Our hope is that the companies we approach will want to participate, since Veterans Advantage provides them with a successful program to administer their benefit and an opportunity “To Give Back To All Who Serve.”

Finally, and importantly, Lin and I and the whole team at Veterans Advantage wish you and yours the most special of holiday seasons. We are honored to count you among our members, and wish you peace, hope and prosperity in 2010.

Please remember our brave men and women who serve today in your prayers.