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>> Jennifer Thornton: My name is Jennifer Thornton,
and I'm a military brat, as well as a military spouse.
I was a seventh grade English teacher for seven years.
However, about three years into my teaching career,
my husband came home from Iraq as a wounded warrior,
and I ended up being a teacher and an advocate
for him while he was going through the medical board.
And unfortunately, there are so many soldiers that have to go
through this without somebody like me by their side.
And just seeing what I was doing made me realize
that the end result of what my husband came out with,
being medically retired, being 100% disabled through the VA,
so many soldiers do not walk away with that.
And it's so unfair, because these are not benefits
that are a prize, these are not benefits that he shouldn't have.
These are benefits that he needs, because he has two
or more medical appointments every single day.
And really, just the fact that other soldiers would have
to do this on their own is a travesty.
I'm sure that he gets more services than most veterans,
but it's not because somebody came to me with a platter
and said, "These are all the services available;
which ones would you like for your husband
to maximize his benefits?
Which ones would you like to make him the healthiest being
that he could be?"
It's because I've taken a lot of time off work.
I've done a lot of investigating.
And I'm just not simply okay with settling
for the status quo, not only for my husband's well-being,
not only for my well-being, but we have a little boy.
22 veterans commit suicide every day.
And I'm not afraid to share this:
February fourth was the last time
that my husband tried to commit suicide.
It's still that bad.
And as I said, he has all these services;
what more do I need to do?
Once I get my MSW, I would like to work with wounded warriors
or their families, or children of wounded warriors,
something in that capacity, because I really think
that it truly is one of those lifestyles
that you cannot understand until you have been in the trenches.
I was the first of my friends to go through this.
At the time they thought I was crazy.
They didn't know what was going on with me,
because I was pulling back a little bit.
Now, unfortunately, I have too many friends that are going
through the same situation.
The scholarship -- well, first off I want to say that I am
so honored and humbled, and so appreciative of this.
Having already gone to graduate school,
I have student loans for that.
So, it's allowing me not to seep into greater debt for having
to change my career due to our life's circumstances.
But it's allowing me to further my education and to give back
to the wounded warrior community.
I really see it as just allowing me to pay it forward.
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