From time to time Camp Liberty will invite Veterans to be part of free special events around the state or at Camp Liberty. Through our partnerships and relationships with various organizations, we often have opportunities for Veterans and sometimes their family members, to be invited guests that would include, but not be limited to: NASCAR races at the Michigan Speedway; Professional and College Sporting Events; Corporate Golf Outings; Woodward Dream Cruise; Tip Ups for Troops and Tight Lines for Troops fishing events; Camp Liberty Open House and the Camp Liberty Gala. Camp Liberty wants to make sure that eligible Veterans and their families can enjoy all our activities, not just hunting and fishing. It is important for Veterans to visit our website on a regular basis and review upcoming events that may be of interest. If the activity is something you like, please fill out the volunteer or activity sign up form in the event section.
New Programs
V.B.M.A.T. Veteran Basic Martial Arts Training
VBMAT is designed to acclimate veterans into the basics of mixed martial arts, providing training in stand up as well as ground fighting situations.
Urban Farming
We have partnered with Michigan State University through their SNAP Outreach for Veterans program.
Bee Keeping
Continuing our partnership with Michigan State University we are connecting Veterans to their bee keeping program “Heroes to Hives“.
Food Pantry
Food pantry is open to all Veterans in need of food items. We are also working with United Free Methodist Church food handout program. We will deliver food items from both programs to homebound Veterans.
Clothing
We have a collection of clothing items that Veterans can shop for free.
Youth Hunting: A Smart Parent’s Guide for Safely Hunting with Kids
It’s a pivotal time for the sport of hunting, especially among America’s youth. Due to urbanization, endless activities for children, and the constant humming draw of electronics, kids are getting less exposure to the outdoors and showing even less interest in hunting. Sadly, hunting has become a dying sport – and yet you can do something about it. Hunting educates children on how to aim, shoot, and field dress an animal. It also arouses a lifelong passion for harvesting their own food, being in nature, and conserving the world around them.
To learn more, click on this link for more valuable information about developing a young hunter: Youth Hunting – A Guide for Hunting Safely
What is PTSD and TBI?
What is PTSD and TBI in layman’s terms: “I’m not a medical person, but when I asked some of the leading experts in the field to define both TBI and PTSD for me they said to think of them this way.”
“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD as you hear it, is a psychological response to a stress induced activity. It’s a normal response to a very abnormal situation. Many of us in the Veteran support field, including some in the medical community, are trying to get the “disorder” part of the name dropped because of the negative connotations and additional burdens associated with the stigma of mental health issues. PTS is not just a combat related issue as it can happen anywhere anytime to anyone. As with a Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI, PTS is treatable, but requires professional guidance and intervention in most cases.”
“Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)is a physical injury to the brain. Think of it as damaging the micro prossesser in our heads. Typically concussive in nature, when your brain is subjected to an impact sufficient to cause damage, it no longer processes information as efficiently. Executive functioning and cognitive processing can all take a hit. Blast concussions have taken their toll as the hyper sonic blast wave passes through the body. There is a rapid expansion and retraction that occurs and it damages the neurons. There are about 30 symptoms associated with a TBI and you can find them on the CDC’s website or at the Brain Injury Association of Michigan’s website at Welcome to the Brain Injury Association of Michigan.”
“The two most common symptoms we saw coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts were headaches and memory loss, but there were many others. Vision, balance, and sleep problems, and frustration, anxiety, and depression were also prevalent. PTS and TBI both can yield symptoms that significantly overlap with each other and it takes a specially trained medical professionals to differentiate which of the two, PTS or TBI, is causing the issues. To add to the problem, 2/3s of TBI survivors are co-morbid for both PTS and TBI because they also have been impacted with PTS because of the incident which caused the injuries.“
The Most Important Takeaways:
1.) PTS and TBI can make life more difficult than it needs to be and those impacted by either or both must understand that both these health issues can be treated.
2.) The most critical step is for our troops to admit they are having issues and seek help.
3.) Camp Liberty and other programs around the nation truly care about helping our Veterans and military service personnel get their lives back on track and moving forward but they must seek us out.
4.) When identified as needing help the system must be there that has the willingness, resources, and expertise to help these brave young men and women. They have earned and deserve that from us as a nation.” For more information about clinical definitions of both Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injuries please visit some of these resources.