Your Military Life - When you need us, YourMilitary.com will be there for you

What if all you had left of a loved one was photos and memories? For those that have a family member killed as a soldier in the War Against Terrorism, that is all they have left of them. Using the family’s favorite photo, professional custom hand-drawn portraits are available free of charge to the families of all servicemen and women who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in America’s War Against Terrorism from portrait artist Michael Reagan. Michael Reagan is an internationally-recognized portrait artist who has assisted charities such as the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center raise over $10 million through his drawn and donated autographed celebrity portraits. As a portrait artist for more than 30 years, Reagan has drawn approximately 10,000 portraits including over 1500 portraits of celebrities, professional athletes, U.S. presidents and other heads of state.

Nancy Brown, President of YourMilitary.com discussed the Ambassador program. One military spouse in each military community nationwide is assigned in a volunteer role as an Administrator of that military community's online social networking website, which they call Spouse Centrals. You may follow them on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/spousecentrals. If you are a militsry spouse and would like to be the leader of your military community's Spouse Central, please click this link to fill out the online registration form: http://www.yourmilitary.com/index.php?what=ambassador As an Ambassador you will welcome new spouses to the community, answer questions, post events and blog. You will make new friends and learn new skills that you can list on your resume. To view a couple of our Spouse Centrals please visit: Camp Pendleton Spouse Central: http://www.camppendleton.ning.com Whiting Field Spouse Central: http://www.whitingfield.ning.com

Dr. Glenn Schiraldi, who has served on the stress management faculties at the Pentagon, the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, and the University of Maryland, will be discussing the nature, prevention, and treatment of combat stress injuries. Dr. Schiraldi is the author of The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook, World War II Survivors: Lessons in Resilience, The Self-Esteem Workbook, Ten Simple Solutions for Building Self-Esteem, and The Anger Management Sourcebook are available from Amazon.com and bookstores.

Our guest today is Michele Rosenthal, Survivor and Founder of Heal My PTSD, LLC, an advocacy organization for PTSD awareness, education, treatment and self-empowered healing. She will discuss how anyone can progress PTSD healing by constructing a post-trauma identity. Michele welcomes email at Michele@healmyptsd.com. For PTSD information and resources for diagnosis, coping, treatment and self-empowered healing, visit www.healmyptsd.com.

On Friday, May 22, 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched a revolutionary new website he calls "our NETWORK OF CARE." Network of Care is a state-of-the-art website that provides a direct link between members of the California military community in need of services and the specific organizations that can help them and their families. Our guests to discuss the Network of Care's mission is Founder and CEO, Bruce Bronzan and Chris Raschke, Veteran's Outreach Liaison for Network of Care. Chris is a veteran of the war in Iraq and knows first-hand about the difficulty many vets face in trying to locate services and resources.

We are hosting our first Military Brat Forum. Our panel will include three military "brats" who will share their experiences of growing up as a miitary child. This is a very important show because unless you are a military child, you are probably not aware of the pain, lonliness, strength and joy that the military children experience. Our panel will consist of Gregory Lynch, Scott Robin Hall and Patti Cadwallader.

Donna Musil, Founder and Executive Director of Brats Without Borders, and the Writer-Director of the first documentary about growing up military, “BRATS: Our Journey Home,” will discuss the challenges facing both current and adult “brats” and why understanding these challenges is crucial for not only the brats themselves, but their parents, teachers, counselors, and clergy.

GEICO- Dave Stinson Sr., GEICO Field representative will discuss GEICO’s Service to our Military and Government Employees and the mission of his local Northern Va office to our community.

Our guest today will be novelist T.K. Marion. He is the author of "Kill the Devil". He is with us today to talk about his crusade to help charities, including military non-profits.

Nearly 125,000 American military men and women are buried overseas in the lands where they fell. The bodies of almost 100,000 more have never been found. But not one of them has been forgotten. This Memorial Day, May 25, at 10 pm (EST), a new PBS documentary “Hallowed Grounds” features footage of 22 overseas U.S. military cemeteries from World Wars I and II, and vignettes about the heroic men and women buried there, and those who visit them. Hallowed Grounds was directed by national Emmy Award winner Robert Uth, and produced and written by Robert Uth and Glenn Marcus. We are excited to have Glenn Marcus here with us to discuss the making of the film.

USA Together is a non-profit that helps injured military service members as they recover and move forward with their lives. They do this by running a Craig’s List like web-site where the injured service members (and their families) can post things they need and then the public can respond and offer to help. Dave Mahler will be here to discuss his organization.

Dennis Norris, executive director of Spirit of America, is on his way to Afghanistan to witness first-hand Spirit of America dollars at work. In anticipation of the October launch of their national campaign entitled “Americans For Afghanistan”, Spirit of America will be sending Dennis to Afghanistan several times each year to assess needs; film, photograph and document Spirit of America projects in action; and establish relationships with Soldiers and Marines on the ground who request project funding for the local Afghan people. Please join Dennis as he describes for us his experiences in country, talks more about plans for the October initiative, and gives us some insight into future trips to Afghanistan.

This Memorial Day Weekend, PBS stations will be carry FIGHTING FOR LIFE, the critically-acclaimed film from two-time Academy Award Winning filmmaker, Terry Sanders. This powerful documentary tells the story of doctors, nurses and medics fighting to save the lives of soldiers and marines wounded and maimed in battle. Following the television broadcast premiere, the DVD will be released on May 25, 2009. Terry Sanders will be with us live to discuss the making of the film.

Bob Page is a former Marine turned Navy senior chief. He suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to his time in Iraq. He has just returned from Jacksonville, FL where he was a speaker at a two-day conference held at the University of North Florida. The conference was titled "Serving Those Who Have Served" and was sponsored by Jacksonville Naval Hospital. The course was designed to help civilian mental-health service providers help treat military-related patients who are dealing with combat-related issues.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller and Nancy Brown are the hosts of Your Military Life radio show. Phyllis is the author of Mrs. Lieutenant.com and Nancy is the President of YourMilitary.com. They took the time today to reminisce about the extraordinary guests that have appeared on their featured radio show in the last 6 months. They also discuss their One Year Anniversary working together as a team. If you misssed the 30 minute show you can still download the podcast on the host page, YourMilitaryLife.com or free on iTunes by searching for Your Military Life.