Paul Rieckhoff of IAVA Gets Veterans Health Bill Signed into Law

The October 30th CNN.com article by Ed Hornick headlined "Rieckoff takes veterans' fight from 'sandbox' to White House" is a powerful tale of how one person can make a difference.

Paul Rieckhoff is executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America (IAVA), an organization that did not exist until Rieckhoff started it after he served as an Army platoon leader in Iraq.

Read the story now to learn what one man has achieved.

P.S. See my new Twitter list @ZimblerMiller/us-troops-supporters .
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. Her newest project is www.FilmsThatSupportOurTroops.com.

Phyllis' company MillerMosaicLLC.com does power marketing that combines traditional marketing principles and Internet marketing strategies to put power in your hands.

USO Program Brings Deployed Parents Home to Their Children

USO's United Through Reading program:

In 62 locations around the globe, the USO's United Through Reading volunteers make DVDs of GIs reading children's books – like "Goodnight Moon" or "The Cat In The Hat" – aloud. The DVD and the book are then mailed to the kids back home to show them that mommy or daddy, though far away, is in fact OK.

In less than three years, the United Through Reading program has exploded. Over 50,000 recordings have been made this year, and 100,000 are projected for 2010. Your donation will help the USO provide the cameras (many are wearing out from overuse)... the books… the DVDs and mailers... even the boxes of tissues that must be placed in every recording location.

Visit the USO site now to donate to this program.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. Her newest project is www.FilmsThatSupportOurTroops.com.

Phyllis' company MillerMosaicLLC.com does power marketing that combines traditional marketing principles and Internet marketing strategies to put power in your hands.

Author Bob Mayer Uses His Green Beret Training to Teach Civilians How to Win

West Point graduate, Special Forces veteran and New York Times bestselling author Bob Mayer discussed on the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com how to apply Special Operations tactics in the civilian world.

Bob's new book WHO DARES WINS uses these tactics to help people succeed in their civilian careers. He's now working on a book that will apply these tactics to teams.

Bob has 40 books published, some non-fiction and many fiction, including military fiction titles. He also writes under the pseudonym Robert Doherty for the Area 51 series and other books.

Historical note: Bob said that at West Point they had to memorize that 155 battles out of the 160 Civil War battles were waged by generals on both sides who had graduated West Point. (Bob is working on an historical novel starting at the Mexican War and moving forward to the Civil War.)

Listen to his interview now and then learn about the writing courses he teaches by visiting his website at www.bobmayer.org.

(The above Amazon link is an affiliate link.)
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. Her newest project is www.FilmsThatSupportOurTroops.com.

Phyllis' company MillerMosaicLLC.com does power marketing that combines traditional marketing principles and Internet marketing strategies to put power in your hands.

Karie Fugett Talks About Caregivers of War-Wounded Service Members

On the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com, Karie Fugett, writer of the blog Wife of a Wounded Marine featured on Cinchouse.com, talked about her experiences being the wife and caregiver to a wounded warrior.

Karie mentioned that the organization NotAlone.com provides "help for warriors and families dealing with war trauma."

Karie also talked about how helpful the WoundedWarriorProject.org is for families dealing with the aftermath of war-inflicted injuries. She urged everyone to support Senate Bill 801, the Caregivers and Veterans Support Act of 2009. You can support this bill right now.

Listen to Karie talk about her experiences during the last four years of being her husband's caregiver (she had been married only three months when her Marine husband was wounded in Iraq). What you learn may help you or someone else you know.

Then visit Karie's blog where she shares with readers what she goes through on a daily basis.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. Her newest project is www.InSupportOfOurTroopsFilms.com.

Phyllis' company MillerMosaicLLC.com does power marketing that combines traditional marketing principles and Internet marketing strategies to put power in your hands.

McCormick and Schmick's Seafood Restaurants Host Veterans Appreciation Day on November 8th

McCormick and Schmick's Seafood Restaurants will offer a complimentary entree from a special menu on Sunday, November 8, to show appreciation to veterans. Reservations are needed and proof of eligibility is required.

Check out the information now, including participating locations.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She is also an Internet business consultant and the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.

Phyllis' company provides Internet marketing training as well as social media marketing to promote your business more effectively.

The Amazing Story of a Staff Sergeant Who Deployed with Her Unit 30 Days After Being Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

The following is from a transcript of a Department of Defense Bloggers Roundtable and is used with permission:

LINDY KYZER (Army Public Affairs): We're very pleased to have with us Staff Sergeant Elizabeth Cowie. She's a National Guard soldier. She was preparing for deployment to Iraq in the spring of 2007 when an Army-mandated mammogram revealed a tumor. With a year-long deployment around the corner, Staff Sergeant Cowie opted for an aggressive treatment plan and went on to deploy with her unit. Certainly an amazing story, especially as we recognize breast cancer awareness month this October.

Sgt. Cowie, can you tell us about the aggressive treatment and why you decided to go through that treatment, and how you were able to actually deploy with your unit? Because that seems to be a really amazing story that the amount of time was not a lot that you were able to get your treatment in and actually deploy with your unit. Can you describe that?

SGT. COWIE(pictured above): What happened was, once they saw the mammogram and they saw that there was something on there, I had an ultrasound done, and right away the ultrasound confirmed that there was something. They just didn't know what. So through TRICARE I found a physician that was a breast care specialist that was in Indianapolis, which we were at Camp Atterbury during our mob [mobilization] training. And through my TRICARE I could go to see the civilian doctors.

So we went ahead and did that and he did a biopsy and I had to wait about 10 days to see him, so it was a little nerve-wracking. But they understood, you know, it was important for me to hurry up and get there. I had talked with the doctor's office a little bit about the sense of urgency.

So I got in there, did my biopsy, and about three days later had the results back that I was stage zero breast cancer, which is very, very early.

The breast care specialist had very rarely ever seen stage zero. Usually it's caught at stage two to three, so it was by lucky stars that somebody looked close enough at the mammogram to see something that was caught early. Once we had the diagnosis, you know, we talked about my deployment and my time line. I had about 30 days before we were ready to go.

He explained to me some different options. Standard treatment for breast cancer is lumpectomy and then six weeks of radiation therapy. However, there was a new treatment available that I was a good candidate for, and it's called MammoSites.

What it is, instead of having external radiation, you have internal radiation for five days. So you go in twice a day, about 15 to 20 minutes each session for five days, and you're done. So that's what I chose to do because, again, it was on my time line.

I was really committed to my deployment. Being so far into the training, it just was not an option for me personally to back out and say, hey, I have to go home. I'd made a commitment to these troops and to this unit to see them through and that's what I was going to do, as long as the military would let me.

So we went from biopsy to lumpectomy to five days of radiation and cleared for deployment within 30 days. It was pretty aggressive, but again, for me, because they caught it so early, I was a good candidate for it.

Had I not had the mammogram done prior to deployment, had it done a year and a half, two years later, only God knows what it would have been, so I consider myself pretty lucky to have caught it so early.

Again, this month, the whole thing for breast cancer awareness is early detection. I'm a perfect example of that.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She is also an Internet business consultant and the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.

Phyllis' company provides Internet marketing training as well as social media marketing to promote your business more effectively.

Documentary WAR DOGS OF THE PACIFIC Tells an Amazing Story

Producer and director Harris Done of the new documentary WAR DOGS OF THE PACIFIC has preserved an amazing story of the U.S. Marines training donated family pets for scout dogs in the jungle fighting in the Pacific during World War II.

The dogs' abilities to smell and hear sounds that the men couldn't saved an incredible number of American lives. And the bonds formed between the dogs and their handlers are truly compelling.

Go to the film's website now at www.wardogsmovie.com to learn more about this documentary. And I've created a page for it at my new site www.FilmsThatSupportOurTroops.com .
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She is also an Internet business consultant and the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.

Phyllis' company provides Internet marketing training as well as social media marketing to promote your business more effectively.

Organization Provides Donated Event Tickets to Veterans and Active Duty Military

Veteran Tickets Foundation founder/CEO Michael Focareto discussed on the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com how his organization is making a difference
in the lives of veterans everywhere.

Michael told the story of how the idea for the all-volunteer work of this organization came to be, and it's a compelling story of seeing something he thought was wrong and setting out to make it right.

Now his organization is a central gathering point for donated tickets for all types of events. The tickets are then given out to veterans and active duty military personnel.

Michael (pictured here) is a disabled veteran (shoulder injury) of the US Navy (1988 - 1993) serving in the 1st Gulf War; he was a Naval Nuclear Engineer aboard the USS Virginia (CGN-38).

Listen to Michael explain how the system works.

And then go to his site now to offer tickets, make a donation or, if you are a veteran or active duty military, sign up for free to receive donated tickets.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She is also an Internet business consultant and the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.

Phyllis' company provides Internet marketing training as well as social media marketing to promote your business more effectively.

Chef Seeks Recipes for Military Cookbook

Kate Gabriele appeared on YourMilitary.com's BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com to talk about her quest to have recipes submitted for a book on the food missed by service personnel when they were away from home.

Kate shared her cooking background (including her cooking show) and her motivation for starting this cookbook project to collect and preserve the recipes as well as the photos and stories of the service personnel to whom these recipes meant so much.

Please help Kate by passing along word of this project to people you know. You can find out more at her website at www.militarycookbookproject.com.

And listen to her interview now.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She is also an Internet business consultant and the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.

Phyllis' company provides Internet marketing training as well as social media marketing to promote your business more effectively.

Song "Road to Recovery" in Support of Our Troops

Diana D'Itri, CMO/Partner/Host of Web TV Network, gave me permission to share with you the song she co-wrote in support of our troops. She emailed me about the song:

The song initiated from a poem [by Marc Cattapan] that was sent to me from a man who volunteers for an organization called Ride 2 Recovery. I rewrote it and put music to it and had one of my singer friends sing lead. It was a labor of love as it was all volunteer (except for a few hundred dollars for the recording studio). All musicians are personal friends and my daughter and I sang back up.

Here are the credits and lyrics. And then listen to the MP3 below.

ROAD TO RECOVERY © 3/2009

Original poem by Marc Cattapan

Lyrics: Marc Cattapan, Diana D’Itri, Kelly Moore

Music: Diana D’Itri, Brett Duncan, Vanessa Vail,

Produced by Diana D’Itri, Bobby Dorman, Hal Ratliff

Engineered by Hal Ratliff - Keyboards and Programming: Hal Ratliff

Vocals: Bobby Dorman, Diana D’Itri, Vanessa Vail

Saxophone: Greg Vail - Guitar: Jay Stewart

C F

You took a bullet for me, a blast from an IED

Bb C

I wanna thank you, for your sacrifice

C F

For doing what you believe is right, never thinking twice

Bb C

I’m waving the flag, I’m here to salute you

C F Bb C

I don’t know your name, don’t know your face your story but I thank you

C F Bb C

I don’t even know your name, but I’m here to thank for, fighting for old glory

C F

Don’t ever think you’re alone, or nobody even cares at home

Bb C

It’s cause people like you, that make people like me free

C F

Free to be and say anything, free to even disagree

Bb C

One things for sure, you carry the weight of the world

REPEAT CHORUS

Dm F

Here’s wishing you…. well (break)

G C

On your road, on your road to recovery

F C F C F Bb

Oh Yeah, road to recovery, oh yeah road to recovery

Musical breakdown and Vocal over Chorus progression

C F Bb C

I don’t know your name, don’t know your face your story but I thank you

C F Bb C

I don’t even know your name, but I’m here to thank for, fighting for old glory

F C F C

I wanna thank you, I wanna thank you, I wanna thank you (vamp out)

Listen to the MP3 recording now.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She is also an Internet business consultant and the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.

Phyllis' company provides Internet marketing training as well as social media marketing to promote your business more effectively.

Authors Share the Impact Deployment Has on Military Families

Co-authors Jennifer MackInday and Patti Donahue of the new non-fiction book "Friends for Life: Strangers Brought Together by the War in Iraq" were interview guests on YourMilitary.com's BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com. The book provides an inside look into the lives of military families during deployment and the return of loved ones from war zones.

The two women met online when Jennifer's brother James and Patti's son Jon were deployed in the 2003-2004 time period. Both men were part of the U.S. Army's Deuce Four Stryker Brigade in the fight to secure Mosul; James as a driver and Jon as a medic.

After both men returned home, it took a long time before James was diagnosed with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) as well as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Jon sought treatment for his own PTSD.

The authors had saved correspondence from James and Jon during their deployment. And after the men returned to the U.S. the two women realized that they could write a book to share with Americans what military families go through. In fact, one important element of the book is the inclusion of resources to help military personnel and their families.

Listen to the show now.

And then get the book at http://friendsforlifebook.weebly.com/
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She is also an Internet business consultant and the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.

Phyllis' company provides Internet marketing training as well as social media marketing to promote your business more effectively.

Career Coaching for Military Spouses

Stacy Swearengen of MilitarySpouseCoaching.com appeared on air for the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com that Nancy Brown of YourMilitary.com and I co-host. Stacy shared with us how, as a military spouse, she used her background to create her business of career and education coaching for military spouses.

As some of you may know from personal experience, potential employers may see both pros and cons with hiring military spouses. Knowing how to field such questions in a job interview is just one of the many coaching services that Stacy offers. And, of course, her coaching is available by telephone.

Listen now to her BlogTalkRadio interview in which she provides valuable advice for military spouses -- and then check out her website at www.MilitarySpouseCoaching.com .
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She is also an Internet business consultant and the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.

Phyllis' company provides Internet marketing training as well as social media marketing to promote your business more effectively.

June Walbert of USAA Discusses the Importance of Financial Planning

Financial planning is essential for both military and civilian families. Nancy Brown of YourMilitary.com and I interviewed June Walbert, a Certified Financial Planner at USAA, on our BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.

June is also a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, and her expert advice has been featured on CNN, Fox Business News and CNBC as well as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Smart Money, Kiplinger’s and many others.

Listen to June's valuable financial planning strategies now (after fast forwarding past the opening technical difficulties).
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She is also an Internet business consultant and the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.

Phyllis' company provides Internet marketing training as well as social media marketing to promote your business more effectively.