Tonight more than 200,000 veterans in America will sleep on the streets. Our current conflicts have already produced as many amputees as did the Civil War. The incidence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is growing rapidly. These consequences are inevitable when service members must fight in neighborhoods and on crowded streets, with women and children often caught in the cross fire and explosive devices set on roadsides. Clearly the instincts used to fight in these conditions cannot simply be turned off like a light switch when veterans return to civilian life.

Consider also that our service members typically enlist on a four year contract, with two of those years spent training to go into combat and the other two spent overseas in combat environments. For the better part of four years they are separated from friends, family and the world they grew up in with their lives essentially dedicated to war. Once they have served their time and met the obligations of combat duty they come home to a world with no understanding of what they have been through. There are few if any job opportunities. As a nation we tell our service members that we support them, that we will remember their names and that we will honor them. But do we? Are we truly aware of the sacrifice expected of our men and women in uniform in these very difficult times? Are we honoring that sacrifice when they return from combat?

Our service members receive superior training and develop the highest quality leadership skills. They take responsibility for the lives of other members of their unit, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment in their charge on every mission. As our nation faces the difficult times ahead its talent pool of skilled veteran leaders is prepared to help get us through these difficult times. The same qualities and skills that made the generation of WWII the “Greatest Generation” reside in a new generation of returning combat veterans who are poised to become the “Next Greatest Generation”. Now it is our turn. We must honor their sacrifice by putting in place the resources to help them re-focus and adapt their skills to the private sector. This is our call to action as a nation and it offers a logical solution to many of the problems our nation faces.

Answering that call to action is Archi’s Acres, a small-scale farm utilizing sustainable agriculture techniques that coordinates with Mira Costa College to support service members’ re-entry into the private sector. Archi’s Acres started its Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training (VSAT) program to harness the skills that veterans gained in the military through job training in a setting that allows veterans the time necessary to decompress and re-focus. Through the process of learning organic farming (agriculture and business) in a rural environment, VSAT trainees open to a new employment opportunity to restore essential life skills (e.g., stress relief through physical exercise, cooperation and community building). They work side-by-side in a relaxing therapeutic setting with fellow veterans and active duty military who are returning to the workforce, operating the farm hands-on and studying relevant curriculum-based coursework. Coordination with local employers helps VSAT graduates gain access to employment opportunities that they are unlikely to find elsewhere. In less than three years this pioneering initiative has put in place the first working farm model to successfully transition veterans back into society.  Veterans trained in sustainable agriculture benefit immensely but perhaps just as important are the benefits to their families, their communities and the planet as a whole.

VSAT is helping veterans in transition right now in very concrete ways. The typical program duration is Six Weeks, up to 40 hours a week. Eligibility for VSAT is based on enrollment through Mira Costa College and Archi's Acres through the TAP program, but not limited to that program only. Contact Mira Costa College or Archi's Acres direct. Now men and women have the opportunity to get a fresh start through this structured program geared to support the unique challenges faced by veterans in transition.  To hear a Fox News 5 interview with Sergeant Colin Archipley and a veteran served by VSAT go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il8X6a1V9GY.

Sergeant Archipley and wife Karen,
Founders of Archi’s Acres
Valley Center, CA