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My next guest runs a property that helps our veterans in many ways and was recently granted new land to continue their mission.

Yeck is a former United States Marine, Special Intelligence Communications (MOS 2651—Company L, Marine Support Battalion, NSGA, Guantanamo Bay, and 1st Radio Battalion, Kaneohe, Marine Corpe Air Station), and Information Management Officer (IMO) with the U.S. Department of State, Foreign Service, Diplomatic Corps. Among his postings, he served three tours at the American Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, during its 18-year civil war, the American Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during Operation Desert Shield / Storm, “the original” Gulf War, and the American Consulate in Bogota, Columbia, during the FARC rebel conflict.

Alan’s 23-year career in higher education includes senior roles as associate dean, director, and executive dean at two-year and four-year institutions in the U.S. and internationally. Alan is the author of several theatrical plays, including “2266,” about the abandonment of American POW/MIAs during the Vietnam War. General William C. Westmoreland attended the New York opening as the guest of honor. Other works include "A Line in The Sand," about the chemical contamination of thousands of U.S. troops in Desert Storm, and “The Killing of American Higher Education,” about the corrupt student loan industry and its dirty connection to even dirtier politics.

In 2021, he published “C is for Corruption: An ABC Book About American Politics” and “Where the Weasels Sing,” a nonpartisan look at our elected officials (#theyallsuck). He is also the executive director of Veterans Healing Farm. The group provides space for veterans' healing and camaraderie through beekeeping, organic farming, herb therapy, workshops, and more programs. The father of six adult children and Baba to a boatload more, he enjoys all things outdoors: hiking, hunting, fishing, lousy golf, live music, local artisans, foodie, and the ever-vibrant micro-brewery scene in Western North Carolina.

Veterans Healing Farm -

Visit my website: https://thehello.llc/THERESACARPENTER
Read my writings on my blog: https://www.theresatapestries.com/
Listen to other episodes on my podcast: https://storiesofservice.buzzsprout.com
Watch episodes of my podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheresaCarpenter76

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On April 6, 2018, Sgt. Ryan Carter went to Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for what is considered a routine back surgery for chronic neck pain. He left the hospital paralyzed, never to walk again.

He and his wife believe he is the victim of military malpractice, but is currently unable to litigate his case and receive due process all because he served in the military.

However, at the time of his surgery, he was not on active duty, which should have qualified him to file a claim against the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Yet months after this devastating procedure, the military backdated his orders, making him ineligible to file.

This is the story of his fight to receive compensation for this life-altering injury, which has profoundly impacted him and his family. He now can only use his left arm, paralyzed from the chest down. Due to this surgery, he was forced to relocate from his home in Maryland to be closed to family and near a veterans hospital in Flordia that specializes in spinal cord injuries.

His story is not an anomaly. There are hundreds of cases of what many say are botched surgeries and gross negligence by doctors who are not held accountable within military hospitals for mistakes and violations of the standards of care. However, due to a 1950 Supreme Court ruling known as the Feres Doctrine, which lumps injuries and even sexual assaults on active duty as “incident to service,” victims never receive their day in court.

Join us as I talk to Ryan, his wife Kathleen, and his lawyer, Chris Casciano, about how this happened to him and the story behind a cause much more significant than his case alone.

This case is about how one ruling 74 years ago has now been grossly exaggerated and broadly applied in ways that advocates say were never intended.

More on his case and implications of Feres -https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-06-23/military-lawsuit-supreme-court-feres-doctrine-14273529.html

Visit my website: https://thehello.llc/THERESACARPENTER
Read my writings on my blog: https://www.theresatapestries.com/
Listen to other episodes on my podcast: https://storiesofservice.buzzsprout.com
Watch episodes of my podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheresaCarpenter76

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What can be do to stop the spread of divisiveness? How can we understand one another and seek to empathize with people who don’t look like us, act like us, or even think like us?

I believe this understanding is vital. One amazing veteran has founded an organization that’s on the front lines of healing our fractured communities through coffee, conversation and advocacy.

Join us on the S.O.S. podcast as we kick off season 3 with what this show has always represented - our service to others by talking about our most pressing issues!

Jake Harriman graduated with distinction from the United States Naval Academy and served seven and a half years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a Platoon Commander in both the Infantry and Force Recon.

During his military service, Jake led four operational deployments, including two combat tours in Iraq. Following his service, Jake enrolled at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to gain the business acumen he would need to follow this new direction. While at Stanford, Jake founded Nuru International to eradicate extreme poverty in the world’s most unstable, vulnerable regions to help end violent extremism.

Due to the desperate condition of the U.S. political system, Jake has now turned his attention to helping protect the American Democratic experiment, which he fears is on the brink of failure—a failure that would have terrible global consequences. Jake is the Founder of More Perfect Union, a veteran-led movement to heal the divide in the nation by creating meaningful connections through civics, service, and leadership.

Jake has received several honors including the Unsung Hero of Compassion presented by The Dalai Lama (2014), White House Champion of Change (2014), Presidential Leadership Scholar (2015), and 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs presented by Goldman Sachs (2015). He is also a Council Member of NationSwell (2016), an Unusual VC Academy Partner (2018), and a Truman National Security Fellow (2018). Jake has been interviewed on ABC, BBC World Service, CNN, Fox Business and MSNBC’s Morning Joe and received coverage in the Christian Science Monitor, Devex, Forbes, Huffington Post, The New York Times, Stanford Magazine, Fox News, and others.

More Perfect Union - https://www.mpu.us/

Visit my website: https://thehello.llc/THERESACARPENTER
Read my writings on my blog: https://www.theresatapestries.com/
Listen to other episodes on my podcast: https://storiesofservice.buzzsprout.com
Watch episodes of my podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheresaCarpenter76