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All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.

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This is Veterans Radio.

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Welcome to Veterans Radio.

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I am Jim Fossone.

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I'm the officer of the deck today.

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We've got some great programs for you.

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I think you'll find very interesting.

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We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook site

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or at the web.

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VeteransRadio.org is our new URL, VeteransRadio.org.

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Where we're on the web 24-7, you can find a lot of our podcasts there as well.

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We post new ones every Tuesday, so you can get a new story, a new interview,

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something you didn't know before by going to VeteransRadio.org.

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And before we get started, we want to thank our sponsors.

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First up, we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org.

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It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran-owned businesses.

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You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org.

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We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans.

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Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation.

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You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at LegalHelpForVeterans.com.

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We want to welcome to VeteransRadio today, Navy Veteran Jenna Carleton.

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Jenna, welcome to VeteransRadio.

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Thank you.

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Thank you so much for having me.

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Well, we're going to talk to Jenna.

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She is also known as the Millennial Veteran.

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She is active on all sorts of different social media programs.

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Facebook, she has a group.

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Instagram, a big group.

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Does VETCHETS live on Instagram?

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And she has, among other things, a monthly opinion piece and task and purpose.

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She recently wrote on the recruiting crisis, and that's particularly caught my attention,

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and said, I got to talk to Jenna and get the view of a younger vet.

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Now let me set this up, if you will, Jenna, and you can correct any mistakes I make.

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You were a nice Wisconsin girl graduating from high school, and you thought, I should

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join the Navy.

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Yes, yes, pretty much.

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I had an uncle who served, and he really talked me into it, said, you know, you're going

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to see the world, you're going to get out of Wisconsin, and I was sold.

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I was excited to have a new experience.

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So she served four years in the United States Navy from 2013 to 2017, got out as a petty

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officer second class.

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You were, and I don't think I've ever spoken to anybody who was an AeroGrapher's mate,

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and you deployed on the Harry S. Truman.

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Tell us what you did in that capacity.

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Yes, so, AeroGrapher's mate is weather meteorology, oceanography.

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So I was trained as an observer, a weather observer, so basically I told you what was

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going on now, and that's pretty important for pilots, you know, they need to know where

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the ceilings are at for cloud bubbles, what the wind speed's at.

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So I did a lot of briefing pilots on the carrier.

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And that part of getting out of Wisconsin was to see the world, so did you get a chance

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to do that?

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Yes, I did.

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Yep, on that deployment we went to Dubai, we went to Greece, we went to Croatia, and

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we went to Bahrain.

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So I definitely got to see a lot of the world, and it was a lot of fun.

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You are not in Wisconsin anymore at that point.

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No, far from it.

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I always get a kick out of folks in the Navy, because generally there are folks who were

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not on the ocean's edge.

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You know, somebody from Iowa or Nebraska or Illinois or Wisconsin makes it to the Navy.

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Now, at least Wisconsin, you say, well, I had a great lakes, I knew a big water was, but

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so it was an uncle who talked you into this.

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You still talking to him?

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Yes, oh yes.

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Well one of the other things that you were able to do after the Navy, I assume, is use

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your GI Bill and you picked up your bachelor's degree in public policy from St. Mary's College

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of Maryland in 2020.

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Am I correct in that?

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Yes, yep.

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And as part of that, I think you get an internship at the House of Representatives, which probably

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helped ignite your interest in public policy.

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Yes, it absolutely did.

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And that's where I got to really work with a lot of the public and a lot of veterans

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and hear a lot of, you know, how policy is, how the sausage is made, as they say.

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Yes, some of that stuff you don't want to see because it's not very pretty.

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We're going to back up to her time on the carrier in a minute, but she's currently working

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at Naval Air Systems Command as a government employee.

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You've been doing that for a couple of years there.

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Do you want to explain briefly what that role is about?

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Yes, so as you can see, the politic route did not work out, so I ended up working back

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for the Navy as a civilian and I currently do contracts.

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Okay, well, I have to back up to this story because she told it to me before we got started

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and said it was okay to bring it on the air.

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So you met your future husband while you were on the Truman Dinshah.

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Yes, I did.

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I met him in our last court and this was in Greece and, you know, we were all dressed

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up for a friend's birthday and me and one of my friends, we stepped out of the bar to

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get a breather and we went down to another quiet bar.

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And as soon as this guy walked in with us, you know, he said, I'll go somewhere quieter

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with you guys.

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So we walked into this other bar.

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He walks in with two pretty girls and this, it was a British football team, soccer team,

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and they whistled at us girls.

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And my future husband, you know, he said, hey, you can't do that to them and they just

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jumped on him and he got knocked out.

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He was bleeding and then his friends and came and took him away because if you served in

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the Navy, you know, there's such thing as shore patrol.

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They're like police officers that are dressed as civilians and they report on anyone misbehaving.

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So they took him away.

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So if you want to get caught.

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And then I never got his last name.

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So I didn't see him the rest of the deployment.

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And then about six months later, we were reunited at a going away party.

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I saw him there and we started dating ever since.

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Well, there's a five year old daughter to that's very thankful that you were on the

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Truman in Greece, observing a bar fight so that you could connect with your future husband.

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And unfortunately, all too many folks who've been in the Navy or any service who've been

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away for out on ship for a long time, you get into port and you maybe drink too much

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and you got a lot of pent up energy.

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So I'm sure all of that was part of that evening, but it all worked out, didn't it?

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It was meant to be, I guess.

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Well, you've taken those experiences from your Navy time and your time on the house

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and thought about how veterans of your generation are being treated or not treated, heard or

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not heard.

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And it really has launched you into this passion of being a veteran advocate.

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As I say, the millennial veteran is the name that you use on a lot of these sites.

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Talk to us about how that evolved and how it brings you to where you are today.

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Yes.

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So like I mentioned, I did my internship and then when I got out, I joined the local Legion

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and I realized that I was the youngest one by about 20 years, me and my husband.

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And so when we come in, they would call us the millennial veterans.

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Oh, the young people are here.

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So it just got me wondering, where are all the younger veterans?

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I live near a base, so I figured there would be more out and about or wanting to be a part

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of something like the Legion.

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And then as the pandemic hit, I started reaching out online to other people that have gotten

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out and just trying to share advice on benefits or schooling.

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So yeah, that's kind of how I started my online thing, trying to get younger veterans involved

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because I realized a lot of them don't realize they have a whole community and they have

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benefits that they can turn to.

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A lot of veterans like to isolate themselves.

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It's very easy to feel you're the only one in this.

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Nobody else is going through what I'm going through and nothing could be further from

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the truth.

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And part of that is about 30% of veterans have some sort of disability rating from VA,

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which means a big group of veterans, 70% or so, don't have those situations arise in

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their life.

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But it's really easy if you're in that 30% group or otherwise struggling in transition

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to think, well, I'm the only one who's never had a job or I'm the only one who hates the

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job that I've gotten.

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And as you've talked to literally thousands and interacted with thousands of younger veterans,

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what are some of the themes that you hear?

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Yes, yeah, I hear a lot about isolation.

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I hear a lot of people who delay getting help.

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And you know, I think every generation, all generations, we have the same problem since

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war has started really coming back re-entering into society, having injuries, either physical

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or mental.

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But I think what changes per generation is how you want to seek care.

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What do you want to remedy all these old age problems?

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And I think a lot of younger veterans are more open to mental health.

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And right now the VA just doesn't have that mental health care that matches the demand

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in the community.

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So that's something I've seen that's been kind of a bigger problem with younger veterans.

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One of the also differences between the Vietnam era where I fit myself into in today's veterans

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is the increase in women who have served in the military and then become veterans.

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Any additional themes that you've heard from that cohort?

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Yes, that's a great point, Tom, because the veteran community is becoming more female

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and we need the VA to also reflect that.

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But yes, and we need to make sure women feel comfortable in these spaces and just having

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more women involved will help change that.

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Yeah, we now have more women in leadership positions, Secretary of State commanders of

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the services, that sort of thing.

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So it really is hopefully changing and clearly for the better.

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As you've talked to folks and thought about these issues, it kind of led you to write

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this opinion piece on all of the services that are missing the recruiting goals and

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you can't keep doing that and have national security.

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So Jenna, I guess I wanted to get your views on the recruiting problem that the military

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faces and what kind of compelled you to write the opinion piece that you did on this issue

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from the point of a younger veteran.

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Yes, so I went out to the military influencer conference and they had a panel which I attended

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and it was the VA Press Secretary.

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There's a lot of big names up there, the president of MOA, and they were talking about

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how veterans should share their stories and be involved in helping the recruiting crisis,

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which it's a great sentiment and I wish it was that easy, but I couldn't help but thinking

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about sometimes the hardest part of serving is the aftermath and the lifelong injuries

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that our veterans are living with and sometimes that's the most painful part is continuing

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your life after service with these life altering injuries and not being helped, which you were

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promised to be helped through the VA.

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And so I kind of took the opinions of when I worked in Congress and I would get folks

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of the Vietnam era calling in, you know, needing help but not qualifying due to different parameters

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and then also the messages that I get daily from people who have served, especially women

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who have had MST and just all those opinions were swirling in my head and I was like, I

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got to say something, you know, I think a lot of us would love to advocate about the

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great experiences but also we can't just ignore the pain that it's caused.

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So that's really where I was writing from.

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And you see this reflected in the studies done by the Rand Corporation or IAVA just

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came out with a survey of women warriors this summer and they got a chance to talk to Alison

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Jaisalow, their president and CEO over that.

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You still have 50 or 70% depending on the stats of people recommending, you know, would

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you recommend to your family members, friends that they consider joining the military?

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And I'm kind of surprised by that number sometimes because it's not for everybody.

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And particularly, you know, just coming out of a 20 year war, hopefully we're not going

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back into anything.

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It's a different type of service if you're not in a war.

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But so many people don't serve at the front line.

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Everybody's got these different experiences and I suppose I'm interested if you think

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overall younger veterans would be much lower than 50% approval of or recommendation of

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going into the military.

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Oh, yeah, I would be curious to know that as well.

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Especially for, you know, younger veterans are having less deployments.

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They're not going to have that combat experience as other generations.

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But still, I think the most harmful thing is what I hear the most is just the culture

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of the military.

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And I've had people reach out to me that have served of all eras and say, yes, you know,

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I've seen such a shift in just how military leadership is.

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And I think that's one of the biggest pain points is just that disconnect between leadership

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and, you know, creating a culture of, you know, being able to reach out for help or

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just better communication all around.

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The military is a big organization.

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If you work for any big organization, communications from the top down is always a challenge and

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seems like it always gets changed as it keeps working its way down.

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But one of the things you said in your opinion piece was that you felt many of the younger

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veterans were given unrealistic expectations of what our military service would be like.

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Are you referring to what the recruiter told you or the image that, you know, your uncle

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or Hollywood or something else put in your head is about how this would be in the Navy?

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I'm referring to all of it.

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Just how society portrays service.

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Even even recruiters, of course, you know, they're going to tell you anything to get

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you to sign.

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Yeah, you can't believe the thing they tell you.

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That's what I tell everybody who has.

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Take whatever the recruiter says with a grain of salt.

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Oh, absolutely.

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And, and definitely Hollywood, you know, they put this image.

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You're doing a heroic thing.

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You're going to be changing the world.

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You know, when I joined the Navy slogan, what they were pushing was a global fight for good.

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So I really thought that I was out there, you know, maintaining that.

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And I think a lot of us are kind of fed that image.

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And then when you join, you realize, okay, you know, maybe America's not the shining

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hero that I thought it was, you know, I witnessed a lot of terrible things the military accidentally

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did to other countries.

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And, and you know, you're just putting things in perspective in that way, which is, you

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know, it's kind of hard to come to terms with.

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Some of this is the difference between being 19 year olds and being late 20s, right?

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I mean, don't you, is, is it hasn't your world view just evolved?

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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Absolutely.

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I think that that's very true.

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And most of us, we joined at 18, 19, you're joining at that age.

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And so, you know, once you get in there and you, you see it for what it is, it's, it's

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something you got to, you got to deal with.

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I call it, everyone has mixed feelings about their service in that way.

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One of the other things you write about, and, and I think this, I'm curious as to a younger

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veterans view on the transition out of service, you know, back, back in the day, there was

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no, the word transition didn't exist.

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You were in one day out the next.

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Hopefully you could find some civvies to where, but there seems to be a bigger emphasis

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on recognizing that there does need to be a transition out.

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But as you point out, the first year out is when the risk of suicide is highest, are we

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doing enough in transition and getting people ready for it, for that big change in lifestyle?

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I think we're doing great in, you know, there's a lot of career avenues because, you know,

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you're not going to get out and it's really hard to meet that same paycheck.

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I think they're pretty practical on that, but when it comes to the identity piece or

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how you're going to fit into society, I think we're, we're sugarcoating that a little bit.

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And I can just tell by some of the, I do a lot of short little clips on Instagram and

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I have people reaching out to me all the time saying, I thought I was the only, I thought

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I was the, the weirdo.

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I thought I was, you know, so alone, I thought there was something wrong with me on why I

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didn't fit in or why I couldn't get myself together after the military.

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So I think we just need to be more honest and understand that yes, being tough and being

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mission oriented and all those things that helped us in the military aren't necessarily

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going to help us in the civilian world.

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And we just need to start having more conversations like that.

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Yeah.

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And you use the word identity, which I think is pretty interesting because you have a certain

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identity when you're in uniform, right?

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And when you come home and you see your friends and they know what you're doing, you have

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this identity exists and maybe it's blown up a little bit, but it exists.

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When you get out, you no longer have that identity.

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A word I like to use as purpose.

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You have to have a purpose too in life.

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Otherwise, it's, you do sit on the couch, wallow and think about, you know, things like harming

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yourself, which you shouldn't do.

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Is that a little bit of what we're not helping veterans with enough is to have them realize

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it's going to take some time to have a new identity, to find a new purpose, to find the

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right job.

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We all think this is going to happen immediately, don't we?

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Right.

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Right.

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Right.

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Yes, that's so important because so much of our identity in the military, you know, society

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puts us kind of on a pedestal like they're out there, they're fighting for us.

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You know, you're doing something good with your job.

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And then you get out and you, like I went from, you know, being in the Navy to being

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a college kid and they're one of the most, you know, looked at as like entitled people.

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So it was just hard to go from military personnel to college or, you know, some people are getting

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out and having to take a lower paying job.

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And it's just, it kind of messes with you.

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It's like, what's my purpose?

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You know, what's my next mission looking like now?

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And I just think we could be more honest about how that's going to affect us because I don't

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know anyone who hasn't experienced that.

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This is, you know, just Jim's experience from years of talking to folks about this transition

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issue and look at, I hear her.

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How good is that?

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My two year old just came home too.

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I'm sorry.

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Not a problem.

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And my thought, my thought is that we're not honest with folks or we, we don't pass on

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what we've learned.

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It, it takes about honestly six years after you get out to go through, maybe it's some

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more college or education, maybe it's two or three lousy jobs before you figure out the

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one you really like.

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It doesn't happen in the first year or second year or third year.

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It may take six years before you go, man, I really feel solid now.

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Have you experienced that at all?

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Have you heard from folks who said, yeah, those first couple of years were horrible,

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but I really feel like I'm grounded now.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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And I get that question a lot.

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People are like, how long does it take?

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They want to know how, how long does it take for you to go through this transition phase?

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And I'm like, it's different for everyone.

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Absolutely.

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I think six years is a good number, more realistic than what people plan on like six month adjustment

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period.

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I think we need to give ourselves more time and a lot more understanding, you know, it

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is a process and it's not going to be an overnight thing.

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And not only do we have to give it, we veterans have to give that timeline and ourselves more

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patience and more allowance for the time to go by, but we also have to communicate that

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to our family because whether it's mom or dad or uncle or spouse, they're all thinking

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like, man, this, what's taken so long.

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And the reality of it is it just takes a long time and it is different for everybody.

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And I, I'm just picking the number that I kind of have played with, with the folks in

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the past to get there.

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And I think both the veteran and his or her circle of friends and family have to understand

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it.

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And, and I don't think they do.

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Do you?

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No, no.

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And it's something you're right.

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I think we need to remind military personnel as they're getting out to identify that support

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system and you know, say those phrases like, Hey, I'm going to be different.

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You know, I'm not the person who, who left for the military.

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You know, I was 18 at that time and now I'm coming back.

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I'm not going to be the same person.

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I think a lot of families get frustrated with that or even, you know, they're, they're

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not used to them being around as much.

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So it can create issues, but, but yeah, they'll never fully understand.

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But they can have, they can have more compassion for you during that time.

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That's great to communicate.

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That's what you're looking for is just a little more compassion from those folks who, who want

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to be helpful, but they just sometimes don't know how and don't really realize how long

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it's going to take because you've got a lot of stuff to sort out finding your new identity,

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finding your new purpose.

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So as we wrap up, we're talking to Jenna Carleton.

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She is the millennial veteran on Facebook and Instagram.

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Jenna talk, give us, give her a veteran radio listener some idea of how they can follow

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along on what you're doing.

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Yes.

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So I'm most active over on Instagram.

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And I also, we also have a weekly podcast that comes out Sundays at nine is when we're

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live on Instagram.

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And then I usually have it posted Monday morning on the podcast.

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I also have a workbook that I self published for veterans to kind of work through a lot

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of the things we just talked about finding community that purpose after service, you

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know, diving into your new identity and really setting yourself up for the next chapter,

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the best way you can.

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And you could find the link to that also on my Instagram.

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Well, I'm also on LinkedIn, but I'm not as consistent over there.

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And you have a Facebook, the millennial veteran has a Facebook site as well.

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It seems fairly active.

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00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:07,840
Yep.

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We have a Facebook group and we have a lot of chats in there.

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People are always online, which is good because, you know, I encourage people to reach out

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if you're feeling isolated or lonely, someone's always going to be active on there and be

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able to talk to you.

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Well, we appreciate everything that you're doing for our veterans.

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Really a nice Wisconsin girl went to the Navy, found a husband in Greece and now has two

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chatty daughters.

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That's great.

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And we're glad for all that you're doing out there and spending a little time with Veterans

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Radio today.

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00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,200
Thank you so much for having me on, Jim.

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It's been such a pleasure.

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And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today.

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I am Jim Fossone.

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It's been a pleasure to be your host.

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I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans and you can reach us at

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00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:08,920
800-6934800 or LegalHelpforVeterans.com on the web.

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00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:13,800
You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio

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00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:18,440
shows by visiting us at veteransradio.org.

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That's veteransradio.org.

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00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:25,040
And until next time, you are dismissed.

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00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:28,840
If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for

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00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:33,080
Veterans at 1-800-6934800.

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00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:37,080
They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

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00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:41,040
Their number again, 1-800-6934800.

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00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:46,640
We again want to thank our national sponsors, the National Veterans Business Development

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00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:55,840
Council, NVBDC.org, VA Ann Arbor Health Care System, the Vietnam Veterans of America, Charles

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00:28:55,840 --> 00:29:04,520
S. Kettles Chapter, Ann Arbor, Michigan, VFW Graf O'Hara Post 423 in Ann Arbor, and

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the American Legion Press Corn Post 46 also in Ann Arbor.

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We appreciate all your support.

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00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:15,400
You can go to veteransradio.net.

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Click on the sponsor level and continue to support keeping veteransradio on the air.

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And until next time, you are dismissed.

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