On Wednesday, March 14, IAVA Deputy Policy Director Tom Tarantino spoke about the quality of mental health care provided to American service members and veterans. While the U.S. military is incredibly good with treating physical injuries such as gunshot wounds, there is a stigma associated with treating invisible injuries like post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
On Tuesday, March 13, IAVA Deputy Policy Director appeared on CNN Newsroom and spoke about the incident in Kandahar which claimed the lives of 16 Afghans. The Army Staff Sergeant accused of killing the Afghans reportedly suffered a traumatic brain injury, but Tarantino cautioned that "correlation and coincidence doesn't necessarily equal cause."
On Tuesday, March 13, IAVA Deputy Policy Director Tom Tarantino appeared on CNN International: World Report and spoke about mental health screenings in the military and the recent incident in Kandahar, where 16 civilians were killed allegedly by an Army Staff Sergeant.
"This generation of veterans has been incredibly resilient," Tom said. "I think it's important that we don't let this one incident stain the honor and the service and the sacrifice that American men and women have faced when serving overseas."
On Friday, February 24, IAVA Deputy Policy Director Tom Tarantino responded to recent reports that the military has tried to avoid diagnosing veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder to cut costs.
On January 25, IAVA Deputy Policy Director Tom Tarantino was featured in a Bloomberg Businessweek article, "B-Schools Recruit More Veterans." The article discussed why so many new vets are using their GI Bill money to get business degress.
Tarantino spoke positively about the unique lessons vets can bring to the table. Vets “understand the concept of mission and what it means to be flexible in order to reach a goal,” he said. “Many times, their survival depended on that.”
On Saturday, January 21, IAVA Deputy Policy Director Tom Tarantino appeared on C-Span and spoke for 45 minutes about the unemployment crisis facing new veterans. With 13.1 percent unemployment in December, new vets face an economic hurdle when they return home.
Unemployment levels continue to rise for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. In December, the unemployment rate for new veterans topped 13.1 percent as the national rate declined to 8.5 percent.
On January 9, Tom Tarantino appeared on FOX News and spoke about the challenges new vets face as they transition home to high levels of unemployment.
On Wednesday, December 14, President Obama marked a symbolic end to the Iraq War at Fort Bragg. IAVA Senior Legislative Associate Tom Tarantino predicted America’s next battle will be on the homefront, where veterans face steep levels of unemployment and high rates of invisible injuries like post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
“As a country, [the homefront is] where our work really begins, to make sure that we have the care and services for these men and women as they come home,” Tarantino said.
On Thursday, December 8, IAVA Senior Legislative Associate Tom Tarantino appeared on CNN and spoke about the end of the Iraq War and war's legacy on service members and their families.
"Coming back from combat is a process for everyone," Tarantino said. The vast majority of service members are able to rise to the challenge with the support of family and friends. IAVA's new issue report "Unsung Heroes" is a critical first step in understanding what military families face after the service members come home.
On December 1, IAVA Senior Legislative Associate Tom Tarantino joined NPR's Morning Edition to discuss the high rates of unemployment in the veteran community. The unemployment rate for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan was 11.1 percent in November 2011, well above the 8.6 percent national average. IAVA Member Veteran Nick Workman also spoke about the difficulty of finding a job after serving for four years in Iraq as an infantryman.
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