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{ timecode: 0, handler: 'blob', id: 1, data: {text: 'REPRESENTATIVE JOE ARMSTRONG: This panel is a dialogue with our veterans, and the first person I’d like to introduce on our panel, and I’m going to introduce all three at the same time, '}},
{ timecode: 11, handler: 'blob', id: 2, data: {text: 'but first let me talk about Mr. Clarence Davis, affectionately known as Tiger. He was born in Wilkes County, Georgia, and his family moved to Baltimore in 1948. He’s a graduate of the world '}},
{ timecode: 30, handler: 'blob', id: 3, data: {text: 'renowned Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School in 1960, where he was not only the class president, but the captain of the football team, and after serving four years in the United States Air Force, '}},
{ timecode: 44, handler: 'blob', id: 4, data: {text: 'Delegate Davis attended Morgan State College and University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science and a Master’s of Art degree in history and social science. He has '}},
{ timecode: 60, handler: 'blob', id: 5, data: {text: 'pursued doctoral studies also at Morgan State University. But while serving – while attending college, Delegate Davis served as a civil rights organizer for the Congress of Racial Inequality '}},
{ timecode: 76, handler: 'blob', id: 6, data: {text: 'Corps. He later published a newspaper in Hartford County, the David Walker Journal, and has served as host of local talk shows there in the Baltimore area. In 1993, he was commissioned as the Honorary '}},
{ timecode: 91, handler: 'blob', id: 7, data: {text: 'Colonel of the Maryland Line, and was appointed honorary member of the 175th Infantry Regiment by the Order of the Secretary of the Army. Professionally, he serves veterans as the Director of '}},
{ timecode: 108, handler: 'blob', id: 8, data: {text: 'Veteran’s Affairs at the Catonsville Community College and Director of the Mandawa Vet Center, where he provides social psychological service therapies for Vietnam combat veterans. In 1982, '}},
{ timecode: 125, handler: 'blob', id: 9, data: {text: 'Delegate Davis was elected to the House of Delegates of Maryland, where he served in several leadership positions. Let’s welcome State Delegate Clarence Tiger Davis. Our next panelist is a '}},
{ timecode: 147, handler: 'blob', id: 10, data: {text: 'Vietnam vet. Tom Harris served in the 1st Air Cavalry from 1965 to 1966. Currently, he is the Director of Veterans Education Training Programs that’s sponsored by the National League of Cities. '}},
{ timecode: 165, handler: 'blob', id: 11, data: {text: 'He served in that capacity from ’71 to ’79. He was a team leader for the Indianapolis Veterans Center from ’82 to ’91, and he serves on national advisory committees for the '}},
{ timecode: 179, handler: 'blob', id: 12, data: {text: 'Department of Veterans Affairs. He’s a founding member of the Veterans Brain Trust with the Congressional Black Caucus. Let’s welcome Tom Harris. Next we have Phyllis Baker, a registered '}},
{ timecode: 198, handler: 'blob', id: 13, data: {text: 'nurse, licensed and certified, board certified by the American Nurse Credentialing Center of Adult Psychiatric and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialists. She’s a graduate of Indiana '}},
{ timecode: 212, handler: 'blob', id: 14, data: {text: 'University with a Master’s in Nursing. She has an undergraduate from Ball State University. She currently is working at the psychiatric clinic as a nurse specialist. Her responsibilities include '}},
{ timecode: 227, handler: 'blob', id: 15, data: {text: 'advanced practice of substance abuse team, the treatment section, also management of psychotropic medications for a diverse class load of veterans in collaboration with the team psychologists. '}},
{ timecode: 241, handler: 'blob', id: 16, data: {text: 'Let’s welcome Phyllis Baker to our panel. And so Tiger, you’re on. DELEGATE CLARENCE DAVIS: Thank you very much Joe. First of all, let me say thank you to NBCSL, and I’ll let you '}},
{ timecode: 264, handler: 'blob', id: 17, data: {text: 'know now in Maryland, in about four years ago when we passed the resolution to establish the Military Veterans Affairs Committee within NBCSL, I went upstairs and cried, yeah, because, you know, my '}},
{ timecode: 280, handler: 'blob', id: 18, data: {text: 'generation, if you look at all of the hoopla about Iraq and Afghanistan, nobody gave a damn about our generation, nobody. And so this generation of veterans is benefiting from the work that '}},
{ timecode: 296, handler: 'blob', id: 19, data: {text: 'we’ve done. And one of the key people in initiating the whole veterans movement is with us today, George Knight. Would you please stand. The Veterans Health Care Members Act of 1979 was signed '}},
{ timecode: 316, handler: 'blob', id: 20, data: {text: 'by Jimmy Carter in June of ’79, was the first real acknowledgement that there was a problem. George Knight was working on this problem in 1970, ’71, and so he was one of the forerunners in '}},
{ timecode: 332, handler: 'blob', id: 21, data: {text: 'focusing attention on the mental health and other readjustment problems of Vietnam veterans, and so George, hey we still together man, and every time we see each other, it’s such a pleasure. But '}},
{ timecode: 345, handler: 'blob', id: 22, data: {text: 'one of the things I think we need to do is to walk you through what it is to be a Vietnam veteran. RECORDING: INTERVIEWER: FBI…..Okay now, so you saw… VETERAN: Yes. INTERVIEWER: after '}},
{ timecode: 363, handler: 'blob', id: 23, data: {text: 'about six months half of your outfit wiped out? VETERAN: Right. You can read about it we was always getting wrote up. We (pause) actually we was sort of an elite unit, you know, and Times and Newsweek '}},
{ timecode: 385, handler: 'blob', id: 24, data: {text: 'reporters and stuff, they come out in the field, that would tilt the one battle, we killed about 3000 people. It was all, you know, it was a wild thing and the reporters came, came out in the field '}},
{ timecode: 403, handler: 'blob', id: 25, data: {text: 'and they started taking pictures, oh yeah, it’s the field and jungle, it’s just layered with fighters, you know, and all that news, big thing you know. So anyway, back to this unit we '}},
{ timecode: 417, handler: 'blob', id: 26, data: {text: 'fought the 272nd North Vietnamese People’s regiment and they made, you know, they gave us battle. Actually, we surprised because that night (INAUDIBLE ) and all that, and the whole point of it '}},
{ timecode: 438, handler: 'blob', id: 27, data: {text: 'was, it was fighting this other, you know, the 198th Light Infantry. And the 77th artillery. They done got them and the guys, we could hear ‘em on the radio, guys asking for help, you know, they '}},
{ timecode: 454, handler: 'blob', id: 28, data: {text: 'was being overran. Our troops were being overran, right, and well, we listened to ‘em on the radio, ‘cause we couldn’t get to ‘em. We thought we couldn’t get to ‘em '}},
{ timecode: 465, handler: 'blob', id: 29, data: {text: 'because of sort of a stream, you know, and the only thing we could do was send up artillery and stuff like that, you know, and uh gun ships and this went on, but that morning we found (INAUDIBLE ), we '}},
{ timecode: 490, handler: 'blob', id: 30, data: {text: 'found (INAUDIBLE ) the stream to get to ‘em. And they didn’t, they knew that we were around, they knew that, you know, they know, we know each other, you know, but when we can’t, we '}},
{ timecode: 506, handler: 'blob', id: 31, data: {text: 'got across they was really surprised (INAUDIBLE ) after seeing the guys, they would, the North Vietnamese, I could see ‘em, it was just that close, you know, we were, they were just surprised, '}},
{ timecode: 522, handler: 'blob', id: 32, data: {text: 'you know, what they were doin’. They was goin’ through the pockets of the dead GIs and all that type of stuff, going up artillery pieces and all that, but we just, you know, we just, a big '}},
{ timecode: 538, handler: 'blob', id: 33, data: {text: 'slaughter. Now how, most of our guys was wiped out in that light infantry outfit. Yeah, that 198th. I met a guy from Baltimore. I remember we’re goin’ back and he was in a fox hole, I mean '}},
{ timecode: 552, handler: 'blob', id: 34, data: {text: 'he was out of ammo and he was wounded. I gave him some of my ammo, you know. I kept, I ran across the him again and all, but they, they searched through it and (INAUDIBLE ). I could see the ground, '}},
{ timecode: 574, handler: 'blob', id: 35, data: {text: 'right, I could see their officers with pistols waving their men all into, you know, to attack, you know, keep up, you know, making ‘em move into the guns, you know, moving to the side, you know. '}},
{ timecode: 594, handler: 'blob', id: 36, data: {text: 'But the reporters after that, they only last for about four or five hours, not even maybe half not that long, but the whole place was just filled up with bodies, bodies everywhere. (INAUDIBLE )thing '}},
{ timecode: 610, handler: 'blob', id: 37, data: {text: 'on the radio was to kill those that looked like they were dying, you know. INTERVIEWER: You mean the Vietnamese? VETERAN: Yeah if they were dying. Uh-huh and stuff like that, so we went on '}},
{ timecode: 622, handler: 'blob', id: 38, data: {text: '______(10:20) except the perimeter, and I had to go back through the area, you know, going to do the killing, you know. We just shoot em, bash them in the head, or something, you know. That is what we '}},
{ timecode: 643, handler: 'blob', id: 39, data: {text: 'did. (INAUDIBLE ) you know shooting up men that close blood splatters up on your stuff, you know, and that went off, then the reporters came, we (INAUDIBLE ) guys (horn beeps in the background) some '}},
{ timecode: 661, handler: 'blob', id: 40, data: {text: 'of the guys was (INAUDIBLE ) we always went through the pockets, you know. INTERVIEWER: When you say guys would mutilate(INAUDIBLE ) ……(very soft and mumbling hard to hear at this '}},
{ timecode: 679, handler: 'blob', id: 41, data: {text: 'point.) When you say guys were mutilating peoples bodies ……. (stopped at this point.) DELEGATE CLARENCE DAVIS: We won’t play that part, Joe. Ladies and gentleman, this is one of '}},
{ timecode: 695, handler: 'blob', id: 42, data: {text: 'our veterans who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. I think George, he got there about the same time he was about ready to leave, in fact, you all may have been providing some support '}},
{ timecode: 712, handler: 'blob', id: 43, data: {text: 'for them in the cause of support, he, George gave, he called death from the sky because you handled what was it, 155 howitzers, yeah, okay, and George and them could anything from anywhere because the '}},
{ timecode: 729, handler: 'blob', id: 44, data: {text: 'one thing about black soldiers is they took great pride in their military service because we always have something to prove. I don’t care how well we did, we still always had something to prove, '}},
{ timecode: 743, handler: 'blob', id: 45, data: {text: 'and this is one of the – see, there’s a cultural aspect to dealing with people on PTSD too, and I think Dr. Poussaint mentioned that this morning, because we demanded that there were black '}},
{ timecode: 756, handler: 'blob', id: 46, data: {text: 'counselors and therapists to deal with our people, but very few had an interest. And so Fred here, he’s dead now, but he will go on and recount his military experiences, and they were directly '}},
{ timecode: 775, handler: 'blob', id: 47, data: {text: 'related to many of the problems that he experienced when he came home. We like to use the term the guns fell silent and the war began. The guns fell silent and the war began. And so from that '}},
{ timecode: 794, handler: 'blob', id: 48, data: {text: 'particular point on, many of the guys we formed a vet club at Morgan, we had to deal with these problems ourselves because the V.A. did not help us at all. The American Legion and the VFW turned their '}},
{ timecode: 810, handler: 'blob', id: 49, data: {text: 'back on Vietnam veterans, and finally, DAV commissioned what was called a Forgotten Warriors Project where they studied the mental health problems and other problems of Vietnam veterans, and when the '}},
{ timecode: 826, handler: 'blob', id: 50, data: {text: 'DAV came back with the study, I think it was about ’77, ’78, around that time, then we began to get the attention, and we began at that point to persevere, and this is why you see all of '}},
{ timecode: 842, handler: 'blob', id: 51, data: {text: 'this mental health treatment for the young veterans or what have you, but we never received any, and so here we were 20 years out from the war and then we’re just beginning to get the services '}},
{ timecode: 856, handler: 'blob', id: 52, data: {text: 'in the mid-1980s, and so we call that, we use the term delayed stress syndrome because for many of our combat veterans, it was delayed stress. And so we’re grateful and thankful for everything '}},
{ timecode: 874, handler: 'blob', id: 53, data: {text: 'that you’ve done, and I’ve talked to Atiba about what can be done. When the gentleman from Eli Lilly mentioned that they gave a million dollars to two associations, I’d like to know '}},
{ timecode: 886, handler: 'blob', id: 54, data: {text: 'what those associations were. Was one of them the National Black Mental Health Alliance, and if it wasn’t, then we still left out in the cold because we still don’t have anybody to go to. '}},
{ timecode: 895, handler: 'blob', id: 55, data: {text: 'We can’t go to white therapists and counselors who don’t understand racism. They have no idea what’s raging within us. Fred, we had to battle like hell to get him disability. '}},
{ timecode: 911, handler: 'blob', id: 56, data: {text: 'I’ve got guys in my neighborhood right now who are just now getting disability, and they have shrapnel in their leg. I’m thinking of Bunny now because he’s come down with cancer. We '}},
{ timecode: 928, handler: 'blob', id: 57, data: {text: 'never got no help from anyone, and Bunny is just (INAUDIBLE ) disability. A white boy in Germany jumps off a damn tank, twists his ankle, he gets 30% disability, free education, everything that go '}},
{ timecode: 946, handler: 'blob', id: 58, data: {text: 'with it. We go to the V.A. for help, they give us a bag full of damn pills, psychotropic drugs and what have you, as though we had to pull back so we began to take care of ourselves, but now the sad '}},
{ timecode: 961, handler: 'blob', id: 59, data: {text: 'thing about it is nobody in our damn community gave a damn. Nobody in our own community. Where was our support system? Nobody cared, nobody cared. And whenever we mentioned something, then some of the '}},
{ timecode: 977, handler: 'blob', id: 60, data: {text: 'guys on the street would get smart and say, well, you had no business taking your ass over there and killing colored people for the white man. Those were the remarks we received. And so we’ve '}},
{ timecode: 987, handler: 'blob', id: 61, data: {text: 'hung together and we have persevered, and we’re still standing strong and we’re here now because we’re taking care of our children and our grandchildren. I have a granddaughter who '}},
{ timecode: 1000, handler: 'blob', id: 62, data: {text: 'served in Iraq. Her Marine Corps husband served in Iraq. The mother of my twin grandsons, my son’s ex, she’s been to Iraq once, and she’s at home now preparing to deploy again, and '}},
{ timecode: 1019, handler: 'blob', id: 63, data: {text: 'she’s the mother of my twin grandsons. Well who’s going to take care of those kids? I mean that’s a, that’s a new issue, isn’t it? What about our women? And there’s '}},
{ timecode: 1029, handler: 'blob', id: 64, data: {text: 'one thing for us men to be treated as crazies, but we cannot tolerate black women being treated as crazy, and we don’t need no white folks counseling them either. All around. No one in our '}},
{ timecode: 1044, handler: 'blob', id: 65, data: {text: 'community ducked the war. We’re not George Bush and egghead fascist Cheney, and I’m sorry if this goes out over the network, but that’s just how we see it. They ducked the war, and '}},
{ timecode: 1058, handler: 'blob', id: 66, data: {text: 'then they could send our children and grandchildren to war when they would not go to war. Now what about those kinds of stresses. You know, can a white counselor deal with that? No. No, they '}},
{ timecode: 1072, handler: 'blob', id: 67, data: {text: 'can’t. They have no idea of what’s raging within us. And then what happens when these mothers come back home and they have to raise these children, and they’re suffering from delayed '}},
{ timecode: 1085, handler: 'blob', id: 68, data: {text: 'stress syndrome or PTSD. What happens to them? What happens to the children, because let me tell you something, I know, you know, and every day and I don’t, and I need to say it, but somehow '}},
{ timecode: 1102, handler: 'blob', id: 69, data: {text: 'it’s hard to say, but I need to thank my wife for staying with me all these years, because when you wake up in the middle of the night and your hands is around her throat because you’re '}},
{ timecode: 1111, handler: 'blob', id: 70, data: {text: 'fighting some enemy, and then you wake up and realize that you at home in your warm bed. What about the divorce rate among our veterans? There are many issues, and what I’m telling you is that '}},
{ timecode: 1129, handler: 'blob', id: 71, data: {text: 'white counselors and therapists cannot deal with that because they have a perception of who they think we are. They will treat a white boy for sociopsychological illness and then turn around and say, '}},
{ timecode: 1149, handler: 'blob', id: 72, data: {text: 'we’re psychotic, and put us on drugs. And the only thing that happens with the drugs is some of the brothers were bringing them home, selling them. And I’m not going to take too much time '}},
{ timecode: 1162, handler: 'blob', id: 73, data: {text: 'because I want to give my brother Tom, Tom Harris, look, we’ve been together so long, the first time I’ve seen you, what about 20 years, George? About 20 years, yeah, so but the one thing '}},
{ timecode: 1177, handler: 'blob', id: 74, data: {text: 'we know is that all across this country we got some brothers and we take care of each other. I will call Light Bug, he’s from East St. Louis, but I call Light Bug when I have a little problem I '}},
{ timecode: 1189, handler: 'blob', id: 75, data: {text: 'need somebody to talk to. I’ll call Blackwell down outside of Houston, or even, I even call Sugar Bear, Sugar Bear ain’t got no legs, they’s blowed off at Nam, but old Sugar '}},
{ timecode: 1200, handler: 'blob', id: 76, data: {text: 'Bear’s always fun to talk to, and if you want to get cheered up or something, you call Sugar Bear because he always has a joke or something for you. And even, we got some good white brothers '}},
{ timecode: 1211, handler: 'blob', id: 77, data: {text: 'too, because Shad and Meshad ain’t back now. Shad is alright. Okay, he’s out in L.A., and then Jack is gone, Jack died didn’t he? Another good white brother out of Philadelphia, but '}},
{ timecode: 1222, handler: 'blob', id: 78, data: {text: 'ended up in California where, what, sold some plow shares, right? Yeah, that’s right. So we got good brothers, both white and black, and the one thing that was certain is that it’s time '}},
{ timecode: 1233, handler: 'blob', id: 79, data: {text: 'that we begin to move beyond race, but we can’t move beyond race until white folks understand the nature of racism in this society and no offense, my brother Eli Lilly, and when you take a half '}},
{ timecode: 1244, handler: 'blob', id: 80, data: {text: 'million of that one million dollars and give it to the National Black Mental Health Association, may God bless you, and Tom, it’s all yours brother. TOM HARRIS: Thanks a lot, Clarence. Is it on? '}},
{ timecode: 1259, handler: 'blob', id: 81, data: {text: 'Thanks a lot Clarence. You know, before I get started, I want to show everybody something. This was in Friday September the 26th Indianapolis Recorder. Okay, and under this, it says Suicides of Black '}},
{ timecode: 1281, handler: 'blob', id: 82, data: {text: 'Troops Increases, and under that it lists some of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. So enough said for black soldiers not suffering from PTSD. Uh, I like to thank Clarence, my old friend '}},
{ timecode: 1300, handler: 'blob', id: 83, data: {text: 'Tiger, for inviting me to speak to you today. I’ve been in the trenches, like he has, for many years, fighting for Vietnam veterans, especially black veterans. They have me listed down here to '}},
{ timecode: 1317, handler: 'blob', id: 84, data: {text: 'talk about a personal story on PTSD. My story is not unique, so rather than going to that, I’d like to carry on something that brother Davis was talking about, and that is the misdiagnosis of '}},
{ timecode: 1332, handler: 'blob', id: 85, data: {text: 'post-traumatic stress disorder in black veterans, and how it affects them in terms of disability compensation. You know, in my many years of working with black veterans, when we would send them over '}},
{ timecode: 1346, handler: 'blob', id: 86, data: {text: 'to the V.A., they would come back with the same thing. This guy is not suffering from PTSD because (a) he’s working a job, (b) he’s got a family, (c) he and his wife both have cars, '}},
{ timecode: 1362, handler: 'blob', id: 87, data: {text: 'he’s got a home in the suburbs. But let me tell you something. Yes, that guy had a job, yes his wife was working, yes he had children, yes he had cars, yes he had a home in the suburbs. What '}},
{ timecode: 1375, handler: 'blob', id: 88, data: {text: 'they didn’t know was once that guy got home from work, what he did was isolated himself, he’d shut himself up in his room, he was abusing his wife and his children, he was abusing drugs '}},
{ timecode: 1391, handler: 'blob', id: 89, data: {text: 'and/or alcohol, and he did this seven days a week, but he would return to work, and because he was working, they would say he didn’t suffer from PTSD. What they didn’t realize for, like '}},
{ timecode: 1407, handler: 'blob', id: 90, data: {text: 'Clarence had said, not knowing our culture, they didn’t realize that in spite of PTSD, we knew how to function. We function in spite of it. We did it in spite of racism, and we did it in spite '}},
{ timecode: 1422, handler: 'blob', id: 91, data: {text: 'of the PTSD. But the PTSD in black veterans is just as real as it is in their white counterparts. The problem was the white counterparts would walk into a place with guns, they would blow up stuff, '}},
{ timecode: 1437, handler: 'blob', id: 92, data: {text: 'they would do this and do that, and so everybody would say, wow, this guy’s got PTSD, give him 100% disability, and then he lives the rest of his life taken care of. The black veteran suffering '}},
{ timecode: 1450, handler: 'blob', id: 93, data: {text: 'just as much didn’t get it because he was trying to work in spite of it. And the misdiagnosis of black veterans is the biggest travesty that has been committed by our federal government since '}},
{ timecode: 1465, handler: 'blob', id: 94, data: {text: 'who knows when. It probably goes back beyond Vietnam, it probably goes back as far as Korea or beyond because war trauma, even though we got it in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual as PTSD, it goes '}},
{ timecode: 1482, handler: 'blob', id: 95, data: {text: 'back farther than that. It always has been war trauma related to serving in combat. In World War I they called it shell shock. In World War II is was combat fatigue. And all of a sudden it’s, we '}},
{ timecode: 1501, handler: 'blob', id: 96, data: {text: 'called it, like Clarence said, we called it Vietnam syndrome or delayed stress syndrome, and now it’s called post-traumatic stress disorder, and once they came up with it, now it’s being '}},
{ timecode: 1513, handler: 'blob', id: 97, data: {text: 'used to describe a whole lot of different things, but it is the most misdiagnosis, especially for black veterans, it is the most misdiagnosed ailment I think in the whole Diagnostic Statistical '}},
{ timecode: 1528, handler: 'blob', id: 98, data: {text: 'Manual. I think it’s the most misdiagnosed simply because it’s just like an octopus, it has many tentacles, and unless you know which and what to treat and how to treat it, then it’s '}},
{ timecode: 1542, handler: 'blob', id: 99, data: {text: 'never ending. I don’t believe it can ever be totally cured, I think that it can be controlled and you can learn to function in spite of it. Right now I’m doing a thing through my church '}},
{ timecode: 1555, handler: 'blob', id: 100, data: {text: 'and others, I’m doing a thing on spiritual disconnection of combat veterans, because I think that the rehabilitation or readjustment of veterans is going to involve reconnecting with God, and '}},
{ timecode: 1572, handler: 'blob', id: 101, data: {text: 'that’s where I’m coming from now, and that’s what my focus has been on, and that is to help veterans reconnect spiritually, because I think when you talk about veterans, and '}},
{ timecode: 1585, handler: 'blob', id: 102, data: {text: 'I’m using Vietnam as an example because that’s my experience, walking around with necklaces made out of ears and thumbs, when you talk about people nailing divisions and signatures into '}},
{ timecode: 1599, handler: 'blob', id: 103, data: {text: 'skulls of dead Vietnamese, there is no way that that person can be operating like that and still be connected to God. Mental health professionals call it psychic numbing. They say that in order to '}},
{ timecode: 1617, handler: 'blob', id: 104, data: {text: 'function in a traumatic situation, one must shut their system down psychologically. I say, I call it spiritual disconnection, I say that you disconnect from the prior God and operate in spiritual '}},
{ timecode: 1632, handler: 'blob', id: 105, data: {text: 'darkness, and it allows you to do those kinds of things, and it starts, to me, in basic training when they go through that dehumanization process, where they teach you to not call another person '}},
{ timecode: 1648, handler: 'blob', id: 106, data: {text: 'another human being, but to look at them as something different. In Vietnam it was gooks. To me, there is no difference in calling a Vietnamese a gook then calling me a nigger, and I think it’s '}},
{ timecode: 1662, handler: 'blob', id: 107, data: {text: 'that same dehumanization process that they were taught that allowed them to do those things, and I still believe to this day that that is the result of being spiritually disconnected, and I think that '}},
{ timecode: 1674, handler: 'blob', id: 108, data: {text: 'when you talk about treatment for those people, I think that you need to combine good therapy with family and the church, to reconnect that person and help with that whole rehabilitation process. If '}},
{ timecode: 1695, handler: 'blob', id: 109, data: {text: 'you go, for example, if you go after the substance abuse and the substance abuse only, yeah, you’ll dry them out, yeah, you’ll stop them from using drugs temporarily, yeah, you’ll '}},
{ timecode: 1706, handler: 'blob', id: 110, data: {text: 'stop them from drinking temporarily, but the moment that stressor hits them and causes them to have a flashback, then their substance abuse will start all over again. So you got to combine everything '}},
{ timecode: 1720, handler: 'blob', id: 111, data: {text: 'together and make that treatment a total treatment package, and the one thing that therapists need to understand is it’s not a quick process, this is not something that you can write in a book '}},
{ timecode: 1733, handler: 'blob', id: 112, data: {text: 'and say it’s going to happen over a period of 13 visits a year, maybe even five years. This is a slow process for every step back you take, I mean forward you take, you’re going to take '}},
{ timecode: 1748, handler: 'blob', id: 113, data: {text: 'three backwards, so it’s a low, slow, long process that’s going to require the help of a lot of people, in particular the professionals, and also family and the church, and I think if you '}},
{ timecode: 1763, handler: 'blob', id: 114, data: {text: 'use all of that in concert, the possibility of total readjustment can occur. I think that we need to, I’m glad to see that you finally got it on the picture, you got it on the picture now, that '}},
{ timecode: 1781, handler: 'blob', id: 115, data: {text: 'they need to take it and continue to go with it, because if there’s anything that needs help when it comes to post-traumatic stress disorder, we’ve already seen our black veterans, because '}},
{ timecode: 1793, handler: 'blob', id: 116, data: {text: 'I think they are the most misdiagnosed veteran that there is, and I also agree with you on Eli Lilly’s, there’s several places that that money can go to, I’d like to think that the '}},
{ timecode: 1807, handler: 'blob', id: 117, data: {text: 'National Association of Black Veterans up in Milwaukee is a good place for that money to go to because they’re doing great work, they’re doing great work with black veterans, and '}},
{ timecode: 1820, handler: 'blob', id: 118, data: {text: 'they’ve been doing it for a long time. The late Tom Wynn was a very, very good friend of ours, and so I think that’s another place that it might go. And as I finish, one other thing I '}},
{ timecode: 1833, handler: 'blob', id: 119, data: {text: 'would like to suggest. That was a great story that veteran of Clarence Davis was talking, was a great story, but if you really want to hear more and read more, a late friend of ours, Wallace Terry, '}},
{ timecode: 1849, handler: 'blob', id: 120, data: {text: 'who incidentally was from Indianapolis, wrote a book called The Bloods, Fighting Men of Vietnam. That’s a good book that you might want to pick up and read. And his wife is still very active '}},
{ timecode: 1864, handler: 'blob', id: 121, data: {text: 'with that. And he’s also put a tape out called Guess Who’s Coming Home. That is a great graphic. It’s on CD now. That’s a great graphic picture of black veterans, and it was '}},
{ timecode: 1881, handler: 'blob', id: 122, data: {text: 'recorded live over in Vietnam. He interviewed several black veterans when he was over there, and including his brother-in-law, who was in Vietnam at the same time Wally was. And it’s just a '}},
{ timecode: 1894, handler: 'blob', id: 123, data: {text: 'great graphic example of Vietnam veterans, the frustrations they had to deal with, because understand that not only did they have to worry about fighting the enemy, but they also had to deal with what '}},
{ timecode: 1908, handler: 'blob', id: 124, data: {text: 'was happening back in the States during the ‘60s, the riots here, and they had to deal with the racism over there. We had to deal with the KKK signs over there, we had to deal with the '}},
{ timecode: 1923, handler: 'blob', id: 125, data: {text: 'confederate flags over there, so we had to deal with a lot of fraggin’ over there. These are things that are not readily told to people when they had another war which consisted of black against '}},
{ timecode: 1936, handler: 'blob', id: 126, data: {text: 'white on a double battlefield. So you’re fighting the enemy here and then black and white fighting there. And I think in, when we were in Washington last week, somebody mentioned when you talk '}},
{ timecode: 1950, handler: 'blob', id: 127, data: {text: 'about the history of Vietnam and the history of racism in the military, nobody talks about the Kitty Hawk. I’m not so sure a whole lot of people remember the Kitty Hawk, but that was an aircraft '}},
{ timecode: 1961, handler: 'blob', id: 128, data: {text: 'carrier, and they had a race riot on that thing. And so those are things that they never talk about that black veterans had to deal with, and so when you’re talking about dealing with fighting a '}},
{ timecode: 1975, handler: 'blob', id: 129, data: {text: 'war and dealing with fighting your own, that’s a problem that we need to overcome. So I’d like to thank you for allowing me to speak and share some of those stories, and I hope that in the '}},
{ timecode: 1990, handler: 'blob', id: 130, data: {text: 'future you will continue to increase your efforts to speak out on behalf of black veterans and their health care. Thank you. PHYLLIS BAKER RN: Well, I do feel honored to come and speak before such an '}},
{ timecode: 2012, handler: 'blob', id: 131, data: {text: 'incredible audience, and I appreciate the NBCSL inviting me. I’m not surprised that Lilly is supporting this, and others as well. My name is Phyllis Elizabeth Baker, and I am a black health care '}},
{ timecode: 2025, handler: 'blob', id: 132, data: {text: 'provider, a mental health care provider. As the syllabus says, I do work at the V.A., but I work for veterans. I have really been a product of the military. My father was a World War II veteran, is a '}},
{ timecode: 2040, handler: 'blob', id: 133, data: {text: 'World War II veteran, who certainly came home to the lack of respect that occurred during that time. Myself, I went into the Army to afford an education. It’s one of the reasons why I can sit '}},
{ timecode: 2057, handler: 'blob', id: 134, data: {text: 'here with the degrees and the experiences that I have here today, and I was Sergeant Baker in the Army, and I was a wheel and track mechanic, and not a particularly good wheel and track mechanic, but '}},
{ timecode: 2069, handler: 'blob', id: 135, data: {text: 'it certainly invested in learning and getting the benefits of treatment. And as you can see by the syllabus, that I have, I think most of you have got on your tables, that I submitted today, I’m '}},
{ timecode: 2080, handler: 'blob', id: 136, data: {text: 'also the mother, I’m proud to say, of two Marines. My oldest son, Justin Baker, just got back from Iraq in July, or in February, but completed his five years in July of this year, served two '}},
{ timecode: 2094, handler: 'blob', id: 137, data: {text: 'tours in Iraq, so I see this across time. I have another son who is also a Marine, still in the Marines, who’s in the Wounded Warrior Battalion East due to serious and permanent problems of '}},
{ timecode: 2110, handler: 'blob', id: 138, data: {text: 'injury in training, so sometimes veterans, even before we get to war, are seriously injured, psychologically injured as well as physically. I think I really should say early on that my superiors at '}},
{ timecode: 2128, handler: 'blob', id: 139, data: {text: 'the V.A. have asked that I say that I’m not representing the V.A., I’m representing myself as the daughter of a career veteran, as a veteran herself, and as a mother of veterans, and as an '}},
{ timecode: 2149, handler: 'blob', id: 140, data: {text: 'African-American who is concerned about the health care of, mental health care and physical health care of individuals in our community across our country. I think one of the things I, when I was '}},
{ timecode: 2162, handler: 'blob', id: 141, data: {text: 'putting together what I wanted to say today, was really more questions than answers, because I think that it is clear that we have to look at what services do we need so that we don’t have a '}},
{ timecode: 2173, handler: 'blob', id: 142, data: {text: 'recurrence of what happened to World War II and Vietnam veterans. I appreciate Vietnam veterans because they did open the door for those who are coming now, and I’m always amazed at how '}},
{ timecode: 2186, handler: 'blob', id: 143, data: {text: 'supportive they are at the V.A. of the young men and women who are now coming out, and helping them through this system, so everyone who was in the military during Vietnam deserves a tremendous '}},
{ timecode: 2201, handler: 'blob', id: 144, data: {text: 'praise. One of the reasons I stay in the job that I have is because I feel that I have some uniquenesses to offer, not that I have to be black to be able to understand the issues of people of color, '}},
{ timecode: 2214, handler: 'blob', id: 145, data: {text: 'but it certainly does help. I think that support within the military, I speak to many of my sons’ friends who will call me even though I’m the mom, and say, Mrs. Baker, I’m very '}},
{ timecode: 2231, handler: 'blob', id: 146, data: {text: 'concerned. They’re still in the military and they know that they can’t just go talk about mental health concerns because the stigma is still there. This is what these young men and women '}},
{ timecode: 2240, handler: 'blob', id: 147, data: {text: 'are telling me off the record, and they’re asking me, how can I get help in the various parts of the world and country that they are, without letting the military know. So we need to look at '}},
{ timecode: 2250, handler: 'blob', id: 148, data: {text: 'what’s happening even before these young men and women are coming out of the military. And then once they’re out, what is the ease of access. We heard the story from the two previous '}},
{ timecode: 2260, handler: 'blob', id: 149, data: {text: 'speakers about disparities in the ways that individuals are diagnosed, and I have to be careful here because I do want to be employed, after 18 years I’m hoping to make it two more years, to at '}},
{ timecode: 2271, handler: 'blob', id: 150, data: {text: 'least have a retirement. But the research does show that whether we’re talking about military or we’re talking about African-Americans in general in this country, there has been a '}},
{ timecode: 2282, handler: 'blob', id: 151, data: {text: 'difference in how we were diagnosed, not only in terms of how we were diagnosed, but how we were medicated. The fact is, and we don’t have time in this forum, but there are many newer '}},
{ timecode: 2293, handler: 'blob', id: 152, data: {text: 'medications that are very effective and have fewer side effects and have more efficacy than some of the older ones, and are we seeing more African-Americans, especially our young men, in prisons and '}},
{ timecode: 2306, handler: 'blob', id: 153, data: {text: 'being treated with these older neuroleptics that are going to cause physical damage and changes in them that will be permanent. So this even goes beyond just the military, but being and '}},
{ timecode: 2320, handler: 'blob', id: 154, data: {text: 'African-American in general. And I think they have also addressed, and Dr. Poussaint also talked about the fact that we have to include families and significant others and communities in this care. '}},
{ timecode: 2331, handler: 'blob', id: 155, data: {text: 'Otherwise they are not going to heal, because we are not isolated as soldiers and as veterans, we are a part of a community, and that’s where we’re going to function. And I know at, '}},
{ timecode: 2343, handler: 'blob', id: 156, data: {text: 'currently at the V.A., that we are looking at working with families, but my question is, and this is something that we, I hope that we look at through some of these grants and some of the groups, as '}},
{ timecode: 2353, handler: 'blob', id: 157, data: {text: 'well as at the V.A., is how do we address African-American veterans, because we do have differences culturally, spiritually and in terms of how we express ourselves. I’ll never forget when I was '}},
{ timecode: 2365, handler: 'blob', id: 158, data: {text: 'a young nurse, I’m 57 now, so I’m in their generation, I just use a lot of Clairol, that I worked at a state hospital for many years before coming to the V.A., and I had a young woman at '}},
{ timecode: 2381, handler: 'blob', id: 159, data: {text: 'the time, and every time I would leave the unit, because back in those days there was like one R.N., and she had several units that she would go to, I would get a call and they’d say, we just '}},
{ timecode: 2391, handler: 'blob', id: 160, data: {text: 'put her in restraints, and I, but when I’d left she was just sitting there, so I was like, hmmm. Well, as I started to observe, I realized that because the volume of her voice was loud, that the '}},
{ timecode: 2403, handler: 'blob', id: 161, data: {text: 'basically Caucasian staff saw that as an aggressive behavior, whereas when I was with her, I probably was just as loud as she was, and I knew we were just talking, you know. So I realized early on '}},
{ timecode: 2416, handler: 'blob', id: 162, data: {text: 'that there had to be more sensitivity and more diversity training, not only in the military, but within the mental health care and the health care in general. We have to look at how are these people, '}},
{ timecode: 2431, handler: 'blob', id: 163, data: {text: 'not only the current group of people coming out of the military, but those who have been in the military many years and decades before, how are they becoming aware of available services. Are we '}},
{ timecode: 2441, handler: 'blob', id: 164, data: {text: 'addressing the needs of African-Americans in rural areas? We talked about where are we giving these services. And I invited one of my friends, Natasha Allen, today because she is a veteran, woman '}},
{ timecode: 2455, handler: 'blob', id: 165, data: {text: 'veteran, really moves my heart when I heard her talk and interact with other individuals, because it’s hard enough being an African-American with mental health care issues and needs in the '}},
{ timecode: 2467, handler: 'blob', id: 166, data: {text: 'United States, but try being a woman veteran and African-American. So we need to make sure that we’re addressing that as a unique subset as well. What kind of training do we need, and are we '}},
{ timecode: 2480, handler: 'blob', id: 167, data: {text: 'giving to those individuals who are treating African-Americans in this country today, and how can we make that better. And I think we’ve touched upon it a lot, but is the population who’s '}},
{ timecode: 2492, handler: 'blob', id: 168, data: {text: 'working with these veterans diverse. And it’s not only for the African-American veteran’s benefit, it is also for the Asian-Americans, for the Hispanic-American, and the '}},
{ timecode: 2502, handler: 'blob', id: 169, data: {text: 'Caucasian-American, that they see African-Americans at all levels in our health care and our mental health care clinics, and frankly within our country. And so a lot of times we need to make sure that '}},
{ timecode: 2519, handler: 'blob', id: 170, data: {text: 'that’s represented in a way that’s healthy for everyone and it benefits everyone, not just the African-Americans. How are we interacting with veterans groups. We just talked a little bit '}},
{ timecode: 2528, handler: 'blob', id: 171, data: {text: 'about a couple of groups here this morning. These groups need to be aware, those that are providing services of the unique needs of African-Americans, and how they can interact with the V.A. and with '}},
{ timecode: 2541, handler: 'blob', id: 172, data: {text: 'the government services that are available today. We want to do a collaboration with churches, we want to do a collaboration with a number of other organizations. And one of the other roles that I '}},
{ timecode: 2555, handler: 'blob', id: 173, data: {text: 'play is that I am one of the hepatitis C educators at my facility, and we talk a lot about HIV, and I’ll let you know, I am on the Indiana Board of the American Liver Foundation, so I do have an '}},
{ timecode: 2568, handler: 'blob', id: 174, data: {text: 'ulterior interest, but we have a disease called hepatitis C that is ravaging our young black communities in Indiana and across the United States, that has mental health care consequences that can '}},
{ timecode: 2581, handler: 'blob', id: 175, data: {text: 'happen not only from the disease process, but from the treatment in itself, and that has a medication regimen currently that is much less effecous than other nationalities for African-Americans, much '}},
{ timecode: 2596, handler: 'blob', id: 176, data: {text: 'less effective. So in conclusion, I have really challenged everyone here because every one of us has some power to make changes, to start to encourage, force, coerce our representatives, our '}},
{ timecode: 2613, handler: 'blob', id: 177, data: {text: 'communities, our churches, ourselves to do the research, to look at where those satellite clinics and satellite services needs to be served, to provide support for all veterans, including '}},
{ timecode: 2625, handler: 'blob', id: 178, data: {text: 'African-American veterans, African-American women veterans, and to monitor those outcomes and make those organizations that are involved in taking care of African-Americans accountable, responsible, '}},
{ timecode: 2638, handler: 'blob', id: 179, data: {text: 'and doing outcome-based practice. Thank you. REPRESENTATIVE JOE ARMSTRONG: Okay, we’re going to come back here to Indianapolis and we’re going to take questions here. REPRESENTATIVE SHARON '}},
{ timecode: 2653, handler: 'blob', id: 180, data: {text: 'BEASLEY-TEAGUE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m Sharon Beasley-Teague, and the Representative from Georgia. And Tiger, I’ve enjoyed working with you on the Labor and Military Veterans Affair '}},
{ timecode: 2664, handler: 'blob', id: 181, data: {text: 'Committee. Being a, well, a wife of a military veteran from the Vietnam era, I didn’t do like your wife, I divorced him and left him here in Indianapolis. I met your wife last night, she’s '}},
{ timecode: 2688, handler: 'blob', id: 182, data: {text: 'very beautiful, and I wonder if we can connect together, you know, last night when we met, but I’m just thankful that we have this type of forum and that you are able to come and give '}},
{ timecode: 2702, handler: 'blob', id: 183, data: {text: 'information and help other people to understand, because I know, like you know, that many of the veterans were released in ’72, went to the voluntarily military, simply so that they '}},
{ timecode: 2722, handler: 'blob', id: 184, data: {text: 'wouldn’t have to cover them in insurance, and they knew, you know, what the situation was. So I’m thankful and excited about the changes that are taking place, but I know how far '}},
{ timecode: 2734, handler: 'blob', id: 185, data: {text: 'we’ve come, but do you see anything that’s really working with the whole family, because we can get, if we get one veteran into services for mental health, you know, the wife and the '}},
{ timecode: 2748, handler: 'blob', id: 186, data: {text: 'children need to go because truly had they, we all had to have been working as a family unit, maybe, you know, it would have been a different outcome for me, and I’m sure it would have been a '}},
{ timecode: 2761, handler: 'blob', id: 187, data: {text: 'different outcome for a lot of other people. DELEGATE CLARENCE DAVIS: Well, one of the things, Sharon, is that most of us who’ve done counseling and work with our comrades, we understand the '}},
{ timecode: 2770, handler: 'blob', id: 188, data: {text: 'importance of family. Because, look, you know, whatever happens to that veteran will impact the entire family, and our kids can grow up and go astray, but this is nothing unique to our generation '}},
{ timecode: 2786, handler: 'blob', id: 189, data: {text: 'because remember now, our fathers, mainly World War II, they had the double V sign, victory over Hitler and victory over racism back here in America. And so black soldiers have always carried that '}},
{ timecode: 2803, handler: 'blob', id: 190, data: {text: 'burden, but the one thing that kept us going was that we would not let anybody outdo us in anything, we were going to be the best at what we did, and we were not going home in shame, we was going to '}},
{ timecode: 2816, handler: 'blob', id: 191, data: {text: 'make our people proud of us. We was fighting for you, not America, we was fighting for you and the dignity of African people. And that’s why it was so painful when you come home and '}},
{ timecode: 2832, handler: 'blob', id: 192, data: {text: 'everybody’s joking and nobody give a damn, because every, all the achievements we’ve made. Okay, I don’t want anything away from Thurgood Marshall, okay, but you got Brown vs. Board '}},
{ timecode: 2843, handler: 'blob', id: 193, data: {text: 'of Education because of black soldiers in World War II and Korea, and the 1948, President Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which effectively began the desegregation of the military. It did not '}},
{ timecode: 2860, handler: 'blob', id: 194, data: {text: 'happen right away, it took a war in Korea to bring it about, but by the time the war ended in July of 1953, it was less than a year, May 17th, 1954, that you get Brown vs. Board of Education, and I '}},
{ timecode: 2874, handler: 'blob', id: 195, data: {text: 'submit to you that it was because of the service of those black soldiers or what have you. Because remember, when Truman issued that executive order, he also commissioned the Fahy Committee, which '}},
{ timecode: 2888, handler: 'blob', id: 196, data: {text: 'came back with this study to secure these rights which led to the first civil rights commission, and from that point on. Now you can give anybody credit for that, but I’m telling you, it was '}},
{ timecode: 2902, handler: 'blob', id: 197, data: {text: 'black soldiers, and you have never given any kind of credibility to the services of black soldiers. You talk about public accommodation. It was not laws in Washington that brought about public '}},
{ timecode: 2914, handler: 'blob', id: 198, data: {text: 'accommodation, it was Secretary McNamara who issued an order in 1964 and ’65 that anyplace that discriminates against black soldiers is off limits to everybody. And around all these military '}},
{ timecode: 2929, handler: 'blob', id: 199, data: {text: 'installations, because you know we’re a military industrial complex, they would have, everybody would have been out of business if they did not do public accommodation, and it was black '}},
{ timecode: 2938, handler: 'blob', id: 200, data: {text: 'soldiers, and you have never given any kind of thought to that, but those of us who understand history, understand what went down, but see the problem in our community is we get into this Messiah '}},
{ timecode: 2949, handler: 'blob', id: 201, data: {text: 'thing, we got to have one person that did this and all that. Look, I ain’t taking nothing away from Martin Luther King, but I know Senator Clarence Blount, Battlefield Commission, I know the '}},
{ timecode: 2964, handler: 'blob', id: 202, data: {text: 'Tuskegee Airmen, I know the 92nd Infantry Division, I know the 761st Tank Battalion, I know the 2221 volunteers which you don’t probably know anything about, but I bet if you’re from '}},
{ timecode: 2978, handler: 'blob', id: 203, data: {text: 'Alabama you know about the 2221 because the 2221 was the first to integrate the military because in World War II, when big red won and all those groups are running out of soldiers to replenish their '}},
{ timecode: 2993, handler: 'blob', id: 204, data: {text: 'ranks, Eisenhower asked for 5000 Negro volunteers, and then they selected 2221 of them, and they went to those units, spread out in the heavy combat. Now how do you think those men feel when they go '}},
{ timecode: 3011, handler: 'blob', id: 205, data: {text: 'to the reunion of big red one for World War II and the white folks look at them, what they doing here, what they doing here. And then, look, that’s about the question so I look, I could go on '}},
{ timecode: 3025, handler: 'blob', id: 206, data: {text: 'and on. REPRESENTATIVE JOE ARMSTRONG: Tiger, alright, I’m going to have to apologize because we have gone over and we’re headed into our luncheon time, but we hope that we can continue '}},
{ timecode: 3046, handler: 'blob', id: 207, data: {text: 'some of this dialogue in lunch, and so we’re going to take very quickly, please don’t speechify it, just give it to him, and alright we’ll take it. NATASHA ALLEN: Thank you. '}},
{ timecode: 3060, handler: 'blob', id: 208, data: {text: 'It’s an honor to be here. I’m definitely honored to be with Vietnam veterans. My name is Natasha Allen, Iraq vet myself. I served in Iraq two, actually two tours, and it took a Vietnam '}},
{ timecode: 3072, handler: 'blob', id: 209, data: {text: 'veteran to let me know the idea of two tours because I always considered, we’ve only been over there once, one year, but my question is, I do outreach and I read your resume for the vets here in '}},
{ timecode: 3084, handler: 'blob', id: 210, data: {text: 'Indianapolis, and pretty much what I’m coming across is meeting people, especially the older generation, trying to convince them to come to the V.A., re-file, apply for your disability, find out '}},
{ timecode: 3099, handler: 'blob', id: 211, data: {text: 'what’s out here, what’s you’re entitled to. I don’t care of you’re a Vietnam veteran, a World War II, Korean veteran, you’re still entitled, even now you’re '}},
{ timecode: 3107, handler: 'blob', id: 212, data: {text: 'still entitled. I had to pretty much drag my father, which I’ve recently found out when I joined the V.A., he’s Air Force, but I had to go, Daddy come on, let’s go take you to meet '}},
{ timecode: 3121, handler: 'blob', id: 213, data: {text: 'with a claims rep to fill out your claims, because you have diabetes, you’ve been exposed to Agent Orange, so I think that you’re able to be entitled to something, although he didn’t '}},
{ timecode: 3130, handler: 'blob', id: 214, data: {text: 'really think he would, whatever, but because I’m a daughter, he went ahead and went, and probably six months, nine months later, he was able to be compensated, so now he’s receiving those '}},
{ timecode: 3143, handler: 'blob', id: 215, data: {text: 'benefits. But I have uncles, great-uncles that’s been in war too and things like that, and other people that I meet just out in the community, and what I find difficult is convincing them, you '}},
{ timecode: 3155, handler: 'blob', id: 216, data: {text: 'can re-apply or you can come back to the V.A., because although they didn’t help you in the past, they can help you now. And if you don’t want those benefits, at least let your family reap '}},
{ timecode: 3164, handler: 'blob', id: 217, data: {text: 'the benefits. So that’s something I want to know, how can I reach out to convince not only my family members as well as the older generations, because you do have those people that don’t '}},
{ timecode: 3176, handler: 'blob', id: 218, data: {text: 'talk about Vietnam. My father does not talk about it. Although I’ve been to war and back, we don’t talk about it, we don’t talk about military really pretty much at all. My other '}},
{ timecode: 3186, handler: 'blob', id: 219, data: {text: 'uncles don’t have anything to say, so that’s the thing that I find difficult. So when I meet people such as yourself, I love just information, history, yes. TOM HARRIS: Let me address '}},
{ timecode: 3199, handler: 'blob', id: 220, data: {text: 'that. When we first started the Vet Center Program, it was called the Outreach Program, and it was a huge emphasis on outreach, and what that meant was we didn’t want those outreach centers, vet '}},
{ timecode: 3216, handler: 'blob', id: 221, data: {text: 'centers to turn into just an extension of a V.A. mental health clinic. We wanted to actually go out there where these guys were hiding, where they were hunkered down that meant going out there into '}},
{ timecode: 3233, handler: 'blob', id: 222, data: {text: 'southern parts of Indiana, going into the neighborhood where these guys were at. These guys were, in fact, when we first got our group together here in Indianapolis, one of the first things we did was '}},
{ timecode: 3248, handler: 'blob', id: 223, data: {text: 'we went to the Marion County Sheriff and told him said look, we’re going to be going out into the community, dealing with these guys. You know a lot of them have drug problems, a lot of them are '}},
{ timecode: 3261, handler: 'blob', id: 224, data: {text: 'smoking drugs, a lot of them are dealing drugs. We don’t want to be in these places with them and then the police come in and we get hung up in that, and as a result, they gave us special ID, '}},
{ timecode: 3274, handler: 'blob', id: 225, data: {text: 'identifying us as special workers so that if we were in these places, then they knew that we were in there on official business. So that’s something that I’ve noticed that most vet centers '}},
{ timecode: 3288, handler: 'blob', id: 226, data: {text: 'have kind of pulled away from, they’re not as vocal as they used to be, they’re not out in the community doing outreach as much as they used to be. One of the things is you’ve got to '}},
{ timecode: 3302, handler: 'blob', id: 227, data: {text: 'become more noticeable, do more extensive outreach, let it be known that you’re in here, have things that, for example, community centers around the city, around the area, let them know that you '}},
{ timecode: 3319, handler: 'blob', id: 228, data: {text: 'are willing to leave the conference of the vet center and come out into the community, and once they find that out, you’ll find out that they will quickly come back in, because we never had any '}},
{ timecode: 3331, handler: 'blob', id: 229, data: {text: 'problems with veterans coming into our vet center when we were there, and I’m sure George was the same way. In fact, what we had to do was we had to go to operating from 8:00 to 11:30 at night '}},
{ timecode: 3346, handler: 'blob', id: 230, data: {text: 'because we had to run groups at night, because we were just so overflowed in the vet center. So that might be one of the things you might want to consider doing. REPRESENTATIVE JOE ARMSTRONG: Thank '}},
{ timecode: 3355, handler: 'blob', id: 231, data: {text: 'you, and let’s give our great panel a hand. We certainly appreciate it. This evening we will have open mike session also and possibly, if you can stay around for questions and answers during our '}},
{ timecode: 3372, handler: 'blob', id: 232, data: {text: 'open mike session. We have a luncheon scheduled in Regency C, so we’re going to move over there as expeditiously as possible….'}}
);