Do you mean from the VAC perspective? I would say to start reaching out to the actual community. Show up to the events. We have events, and VAC doesn't show up. It's like they're scared of us. I've been to plenty of VAC events, and I don't see folks like me, meaning I consider myself that 0.01%. Tattoos on the neck...like we were war fighters. We weren't there to protect people per se, we were there to fight a war, so we're aggressive. We look scary. That's okay. That's who we are. But come to where we're at. That would be the first thing.
The second thing would be that the model of care is the wrong model. We're trying to solve the wrong problem. We're looking at the veteran like this precious China doll. As I said, it's emasculating. It is emasculating because I'm a war fighter. I will never not be a war fighter. What I did is what I did. I want to move on. I want to rebuild. I want to be stronger. I don't want to be put in this box of therapy and drugs and talk about my problems. How do I build back better? The model itself needs to be re-evaluated at VAC, and that model exists if you just look outside the box. Again, that comes down to talking with the community and talking with folks like me, who have been doing this for years. I'd be happy to share what I know with VAC, any time, any place.