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Torn apart by roadside bombs, sniper attacks, land mines in a war that doesn't have a frontline, hundreds of injured veterans return home to an empty future.


Their tour of duty may be over, but for many service men and women, the conflict and struggle persists. Physical and psychological injuries never let them forget.

CALL TO DUTY:

Recovery Through Education, Recreation and Fellowship.



We aim to:

In addition to customized, veteran friendly vocational/career preparation, veterans will receive coursework in health & wellness, psych education, human development, service learning, lifetime sports and recreation.

OUR MISSION

Call to Duty's mission is to create a recovery model for a national network of programs that is recognized to be the best source of occupational training, human development, and transitional assistance delivered through institutions of higher education for traumatized veterans.

WHAT MAKES VETERANS BACK TO LIFE DIFFERENT?

The Veterans Back to Life Program combines:

BEST PRACTICES IN TRANSITIONAL SERVICES


VETERANS RECOVERY CURRICULUM
This 15 credit course is designed to develop the individual, build the team and develop leadership skills in a civilian setting. The course begins with a 26 day retreat and wilderness "peak experience"* followed by a semester long human development curriculum customized to the unique needs of veterans.

A WILDERNESS ADVENTURE/LIFETIME SPORTS PROGRAM
Based upon over 25 years of experience and success with people with disabilities in vigorous adventure recreation and Life time Sports. Research has shown that veterans with disabilities participating in lifetime sports and recreation are 48% more likely to become employed.

APTITUDE TESTING AND CAREER SERVICES
Veterans Back to Life programs will provide career-focused education with course work dedicated to developing career skills. The program will assist participants in securing internships and job placement.

EVALUATION AND RESEARCH
This will assure effectiveness and keep Back to Life 'Best Practice.'

Soldiers Returning from War with Disabilities

A Serious Social and Economic Issue

Some four hundred and fifty thousand Americans have returned from the War on Terror with physical and emotional trauma that prevents them from re-entering society. A recent Rand Study estimates the cost to the nation at $6.2 BILLION over the next two years alone! This is an economic and human toll the country cannot bear.

Our Commitment to Disabled Veterans and America is to save this Nation $4 Billion in the next 6 years.

Let's Do the Math

Assumption: A disabled veteran that lives for 30 years and fails to enter the work force could cost taxpayers $35,000 a year for medical treatment and disability payments. (30 years x $35,000 per year = 1,050,000) That's more than $1 million to support one veteran over their lifetime. Now, multiply that by 450,000 (the number of returning veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Chronic Depression, Traumatic Brain Injury and Physical Disabilities) and you're beginning to understand that this is a 450,000,000,000 dollar problem that will not go away and has to be addressed.

Call to Duty Offers a Realistic Solution

Call to Duty is seeking to do more than take these service people off welfare. Our goal is to give them the means and the desire to contribute to society with dignity so they can lead fulfilled and successful lives.

Turning Lives Around Benefits Individuals and Our Nation

Instead of being a drain on this nation's resources, Call to Duty helps returning veterans become productive members of society once again. Our gift to them is their gift to us. And, once in the workforce, like the Energizer Bunny they just keep on going and going and going!

A Real Return on Our Investment

In 30 years of earning and contributing to the economic wealth of this nation, it is not unrealistic to believe that one person's earning power is $1,050,000 ($35,000 per year for 30 years). Now, add to that the $1 million saved and you have a Positive Impact on Our Nation's Economy of more than $2 million per disabled veteran over their lifetime.

I think you will agree, at $2 million a person you don't need a huge program to make an enormous contribution to the nation ... we just need a very good one!

The Bottom Line

In the next 6 years, Call to Duty will have impacted the lives of at least 2,000 traumatized service men and women. $2 million per employed veteran, multiplied by 2,000 gives you a cost benefit of $4 Billion.

No matter how impressive the numbers are, let us not lose sight of the true intent of Veterans Call to Duty's mission. These are American patriots who answered their nations call and are in distress. They completed their mission. Now we, as a nation and as a people need to complete our mission. What we are talking about is quality of life, dignity and self respect.

Veterans Back to Life Offers a Proven, Successful Solution

Tom Whittaker has developed a proven therapeutic process to assist people with disabilities to effectively transition through a stage in their life that is preventing them from moving forward and living, fulfilled and happy lives. His process has helped many hundreds of individuals with disabilities to re-engage in life and has been utilized in the US, Canada and Australia.

Serving Veterans on College Campuses Nationwide

By expanding this process to include a strong vocational and therapeutic focus for people returning from our armed services , the foundation will develop a network of satellite programs on college campuses across America. Veterans, suffering the debilitating effects of combat, will be able to participate in the lifeengaging process while they are preparing for the career of their choice.

Call to Duty Provides Funding for Veterans Back to Life Program

Building and sustaining the Veterans Back to Life programs throughout the United States requires significant funding. The Call to Duty Foundation, a non-profit organization, has been established for the sole purpose of starting, building and providing the on-going management and support of Veterans Back to Life programs in Colleges of Technology, Junior Colleges and Universities nationwide.

The Future of Call to Duty

The Call to Duty Foundation began operation in March, 2009. Our goal is to have at least ten Veterans Back to Life programs up and running within the next six years, with some 2,000 veterans perusing their career goals. Tom Whittaker will be the executive director of the foundation, operating under the direction of the Foundation's Board of Directors. He has the assistance of a strong professional management team, and as needed, contracted subject matter experts in areas such as legal, finance, and marketing.


*Psychologist Abraham Maslow believed all individuals are capable of peak experiences and described how the peak experience is uplifting and affirms meaning and value in life. Peak experiences are therapeutic because they tend to increase the individual's free will, self-determination, creativity, and empathy. He maintained they give a sense of purpose to the individual, a feeling of belonging and that they have a permanent positive effect on the individual. These are characterized by 'feelings of limitless horizons opening up to the vision, the feeling of being simultaneously more powerful and also more helpless than one ever was before, the feeling and wonder and awe'

Abraham Maslow brought a new face to the study of human behavior. Maslow's thinking was surprisingly original - most psychologists before him were concerned with abnormal behavior. He wanted to know what constituted positive mental health. Humanistic Psychologists believe that every person has a strong desire to realize his or her full potential, to reach a level of Self-actualization.


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