Our 2010 Year in Review

Here's our 2010 Year in Review:

January

JR with Congressman Kevin McCarthy (22nd District, CA)

• JR started his second year at Bakersfield College. He focused a lot of his energy on getting a Veterans Club established at BC after a recommendation from Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R).

February:

• Feb. 9: We celebrated our 4th anniversary of meeting each other on Feb. 9, 2006. To read how we met, check out Our Story HERE.
• Feb. 19: We started this blog, PTSDdiary.com. On the same day, our interview with reporter Jim Scott about dealing with TBI appeared on our local NBC affiliate. See our blog entry for more info HERE.
• Feb. 28: We attended the Wounded Heroes Fund's big fundraiser event. We blogged about it HERE.

March:

Our niece Jordyn

• We welcomed our niece, Jordyn Maxine Olivias, into the world. Her dad, Steven, was deployed to the Gulf at the time and come home a month later.
• Having a new baby in the family prompted JR to quit smoking.

April:

• We celebrated everything that has happened since our recognition of PTSD in our lives with our blog entry: A Year After the Breakdown.
• JR shared history story at the Spring Front Line Conference on PTSD and TBI and received a Quilt of Valor.
• We spoke at CalState University Bakersfield at their Veteran's Club conference on PTSD.

May:

JR placing flags at the cemetery

• JR's hard efforts to get a Veteran's Club started at BC became a reality, with the club becoming official. We blogged about it HERE.
• JR was nominated for a Recovery & Well Being Award at "The Eleventh Annual Academy Awards Banquet" hosted by Kern County Mental Health.
• We placed flags on the graves of soldiers at a local cemetery for Memorial Day... it was a very moving experience.

June:

• JR became a trained support group facilitator through NAMI California. We blogged about his experience HERE.
• We were contacted by the Oprah Winfrey show when they were interested on doing a story on PTSD. It ended up that they did a show focused on Women Veterans, so naturally JR did not qualify, but talking to the Oprah show was still very exciting for us!
• We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary and went to an LA Dodger game.

July:

• We drove over an hour to Lancaster, CA for JR to have his QTC for our appeal regarding his disability rating for PTSD and for an psych evaluation for his initial TBI claim. While she said she saw evidence of PTSD that could increase our claim appeal, she said she saw no evidence of TBI. We have yet to receive our appeal rating, but JR did get 10% TBI and 10% for vertigo... which we are challenging again in 2011.

August:

• We shared our story of dealing with PTSD/TBI with a local Kiwannas group.
• We went on a family trip to Mammoth Lakes, CA with Nicole's family. It was a much needed time to relax.
• JR, with fellow veteran Denita Hartfield, started a Vet2Vet support group.

September:

• JR participated with AMPSurf and learned how to surf with fellow veterans with TBI, as well as amputee veterans. It was a beautiful experience and we highly recommend both the organization and the program.
• We met with our local district supervisor Mike Maggard, who's son is an Afghanstan veteran, and he vowed to declare a day for our local veterans.

October:

JR and I in our Team Warrior t-shirts at the walk

• We celebrated JR's 30th Birthday by hosting Oktoberfest at hour house with family and friends. There is no photographic evidence of this event however, but that's probably a good thing.
• October 12: JR received a certificate, along with Front Line Founder Patrice Maniaci and fellow veteran Denita Hartfield at the Kern County Board of Supervisors Meeting, where the supervisors declared the day "Front Line Day" in honor of our veterans participating in the Front Line PTSD support groups through NAMI.
• Nicole, with the help of JR of course, managed the 2010 NAMIWalk Kern County at The Park at River Walk with over 800 people in attendance and raised @$20,000 for the NAMI organization.

JR's picture on the Army Car

November:

• Nov. 4: Nicole curated an exhibit at her co-op art gallery The Foundry called "Heroes" where 20% of all sales benefited the Wounded Heroes Fund.
• Nov. 11: We participated in the Kern County Veteran's Day Parade, riding on top of the Front Line NAMI Float. The float won 1st place!
• Nov. 14: JR's picture appeared on the special Veteran's Day paint scheme for the U.S. Army Racing car #39.

December:

• Dec. 20: We attended the NAMI Christmas Party and JR received a Congressional Certificate from Congressman Kevin McCarthy, honoring JR for founding the Veterans Club at Bakersfield College.

It's been a busy year for us. Nicole managed a major fundraiser, I had my hands full with working to help student veterans, and we both decided to pursue the USC Military Social Work degree, so the work is just beginning. It has also been an eye opening year at the same time.We have met some wonderful people, and discovered some amazing organizations like Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and Wounded Warrior Wives. 2010 has been a year of discovery and introspection for us and many others out there.

The things that we have experienced have changed us personally, and altered the course of our lives. We are fighting this from the front, we are in the trenches, and we are proud to be a part of a community of veterans and family members who are ready and willing to educate themselves and others. Thank you to everyone that has sent us comments this year, saying that this site helped you in some way. This is very new to us, but 2011 will be even better than 2010 if we all stick together. Thank you, God Bless, and we will talk to you in 2011!

**Originally posted on our main blog: PTSDdiary.com