Adversity to Entrepreneurial Venture

After a debilitating motorcycle accident, most people’s wheels would stop turning, but for former Marine John Miller, they were just getting started.

Seeing opportunity in the face of adversity, he began his entrepreneurial venture, Illumatek, to prevent accidents like his. Ten years ago, the avid biker was run over not once, but twice. After the first impact, he was on the ground behind the SUV, pinned under the weight of his bike and in pain. That’s when he heard the vehicle switch into reverse. Unable to hear his shouts, the driver continued in reverse and ran over him again.

How could this happen? Miller’s Harley-Davidson was well lit in the front and back, but those lights weren’t visible from side angles. The driver of the SUV simply didn’t see him.

Miller was lucky to be alive, and set out to solve the problem that caused the accident. If his bike lighting were easily visible from any view, it would be much safer to ride at night. While watching a friend create a custom-etched windshield for his bike, he wondered what it would take to illuminate the fixture through fiber optics. After a long process of trial and error, and five years waiting for a patent, Miller had perfected his “glowshield” and found a renewed sense of purpose.

Years earlier, following his military service, the veteran moved between a wide variety of jobs. He was injured while working as a respiratory therapist and told he would not work again. Faced with the reality of living on monthly disability checks, he felt lost. The development of his glowshield sparked an entrepreneurial passion that helped him get through the surgeries following his accident and offered new hope for his future.

Many investors were keen to team up with Miller in the early stages of Illumatek, but he was wary of their motives. Miller says he felt “totally lost” in most entrepreneurial circles and was concerned about being exploited or losing control over the company. His hesitation was not unfounded. These early would-be investors looked toward outsourcing manufacturing to China in an effort to cut costs. For Miller, however, hiring other disabled veterans (especially those coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq) and establishing his manufacturing facility in Wisconsin were non-negotiable topics.

It was at this point that Miller came to VETransfer, a Milwaukee, WI business accelerator that offers support to veteran entrepreneurs. For the first time, Miller found a solid base of people he could trust to coach him through each step of building his business. The organization offers entrepreneurship training, office resources, networking, and capital-raising assistance at no cost to veterans. As one veteran entrepreneur puts it, “the overwhelming aspects are taken out, so you can focus on getting your business off the ground.” Miller says that working with the team “was like doing 3 years of networking in a week.”

The creative energy and sense of community in the organization are equally important. Veteran entrepreneurs share common ground and are eager to help one another, just ask former Sailor of the Year, Ronnie Reum. He joined the organization to accelerate his cleaning company, but after sitting next to Miller’s Illumatek display every day (which includes a brilliantly illuminated Harley-Davidson), he began devising business strategies to help out his fellow comrade.

The two formed a strong connection; Reum was also recovering from a serious auto accident. He had spent fourteen months in a hospital bed, and learned to walk all over again. When he finally recovered in 2011, grim economic conditions awaited him. His career in real estate had dissolved and he lost everything. He felt that he and Miller were in similar positions, physically, mentally and professionally. Reum joined Miller in his venture, using his sales and networking expertise to take Illumatek to the next level. This type of collaboration isn’t rare. Military training instills a strong sense of teamwork in veterans, and it’s only natural for them to join together to build something.

Today, Illumatek is expanding rapidly. They’ve leaked their glowshields and wind deflectors into the market at various Harley-Davidson dealerships, and have experienced great initial success. “When dealers see the product, the average time it takes to sell is three minutes,” says Miller. The two are excited to take their business beyond just motorcycles. Already, they’ve been approached about creating windshields for vehicles from snowmobiles to ATVs. A Florida woman even prepaid so she can have the very first Illumatek windshield for her golf cart.

For these two resilient veterans, the future looks as bright as Miller’s bike. Within the year they’ll be moving into their own manufacturing facility and creating jobs for veterans returning home from overseas. It’s been a remarkable journey for these two heroes. Excited but humble, the two find constant motivation in helping other veterans, and most importantly keeping people safe. As Miller puts it, “If it saves one biker’s life, I’ve done my job.”

Jodi Elias is the Communications Manager at Veteran Entrepreneurial Transfer, Inc., a Milwaukee, WI based business accelerator for veterans. Funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs as a pilot program, VETransfer offers training, resources, and mentoring to veterans in entrepreneurial endeavors.

Project seeks 1 million veterans to give blood, DNA for disease research

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for a few good men and women to volunteer for a battle it's waging at home — against disease.

Actually, more than a few are needed. Officials overseeing health care for the nation's veterans are undertaking what may be the largest effort of its kind in the nation, to collect medical records and blood samples from a million former service members for a bank of genetic information.

The idea is to give researchers enough DNA and other data to link specific genes to mental and physical maladies, from post-traumatic stress disorder to heart disease, and eventually develop new preventive measures or treatments.

"We did tell them that this may not benefit them directly," said Dr. Joel Kupersmith, the VA's chief research and development officer. "But vets are very altruistic people and they're likely to help if you tell them it will benefit someone else."

Kupersmith said researchers have long seen the potential at the VA because the system has 8 million enrollees of various ages and ethnicities with most every kind of age-, health- and service-related disorder. All have an electronic medical record stretching up to 15 years. The only shortcoming is the number of women — just over 6 percent of the system overall, and 13 percent of those actively serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Already, almost 51,000 men and women have agreed to participate since requests began going out by mail at the end of last year. They will visit one of 40 centers, including Baltimore, and almost half have already come in to answer questions and have blood drawn. The goal is to sign on the entire million in five to seven years, though studies will launch more immediately.

Among the early volunteers is Aaron Franz, 27, who left the Air Force in 2008 and now lives in Baltimore.

"I'm pretty scientifically minded," he said. "I'm very interested in the science of genetics and medicine. And I have a bit of service instinct. Donating a sample of blood is probably one of the easiest ways I can think to advance modern medicine."

Kupersmith said most research in the past hasn't been able to cobble so many people together. A well-known study led by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute that helped determine heart disease risk factors, for example, recruited about 5,000 people in 1948. The grandchildren of original participants of the "Framingham study," are now being studied for genetic traits.

"Imagine having a pool of million people," said Kupersmith, adding that already researchers are pitching studies to VA officials about post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

The veterans' personal information will be kept confidential and they will have the option to participate in individual studies, which would likely require additional questions.

While the findings will benefit society as a whole as researchers build on each other's work, for now only those with a VA affiliation will be able to tap the databank. Many of the thousands with privileges will likely partner with outside scientists who are experts in their field, though.

Heading up the Baltimore region's effort to sign up 25,000 veterans is Dr. Alan Shuldiner, who is associate dean for personalized and genomic medicine in the University of Maryland's School of Medicine, as well as a VA physician and researcher.

Shuldiner also expects to continue his own studies. He's been involved with genomics research for more than 20 years, including work he's done to discover gene variations for diabetes, heart and bone disease and other maladies in the Amish in the Lancaster, Pa., area.

He said many discoveries of genes that make people more susceptible or immune to disease have been made in the past five years, but they've been slow to translate into therapies. Known gene variations don't always substantially increase risk, and when they do there aren't always obvious remedies such as diet or drugs. The databank could accelerate the discoveries and their uses, he said.

He expects to use the databank specifically to study genes that may determine who benefits and who is harmed by certain medications. Using other subjects, he and fellow Maryland researchers already have worked on a test for a genetic variation that determines how well patients will respond to Plavix, a drug commonly used to prevent heart attacks and strokes. A third of patients carry a gene variation that calls for an alternative drug.

Shuldiner said he's found that local veterans are eager to help solve the mysteries. Already, 160 people have signed up in Baltimore, including Franz, a math student at Baltimore City Community College.

Franz said the questionnaire took less than 20 minutes. And he hopes his effort helps doctors treat those who become sick — and understand those who don't — after exposure to the mental and physical hazards of war.

He'd like researchers to come up with cures and prevention methods for those with diabetes, which afflicted his mother from childhood. He also has a brother with schizophrenia and several relatives with hypertension.



"You've got a million people you can sample from," he said. "Maybe you've got enough where you can start seeing all these things they have in common, a couple of genes that for some reason are active or inactive in making you more susceptible or immune."

That's the kind of thing Dan Arking is looking at now, without the use of the giant VA database. He's an associate professor in the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine in Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

He said treatment and prevention might be a ways off for many diseases, but there is a lot of ongoing research that can benefit from the DNA of Franz and his fellow veterans.

Typically, large studies now involve groups of about 10,000 to 15,000 pooled from 10 to 20 sources. He's seen other countries attempt to create such large databases as the VA, but this is the largest he knows of in the United States.

Arking said that in addition to common diseases, the databank will be useful for rare ones because it's often tough to find enough people to study.

Limiting the databank to VA-affiliated researchers is a drawback for scientists like Arking, who has no relationship with the veterans department but has developed novel methodology and tools to study diseases —in his case autism and sudden cardiac death. He hopes the VA makes it easy to identify and partner with the proper researchers.

For example, Arking and his colleagues have identified some genes related to sudden cardiac death, which kills up to 250,000 people a year and generally has no obvious warning signs. But if all the right variants can be identified for those most likely to die, doctors can single them out for an expensive implanted defibrillator.

"Prevention in this case is major surgery, so we need to do a better job of risk assessment before we intervene," he said.

He added: "It's an exciting time to be doing genomic research. If everything comes together with the databank, there will be an incredible amount of new discoveries to come out of this."
Vets who would like to volunteer, can go to http://www.research.va.gov/mvp/ for more information or call 866-441-6075.

New Law Eases Airport Screening for Troops, Families

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2012 – President Barack Obama signed a bill into law yesterday to streamline airport screening procedures for service members and their families traveling on official orders.
The Risk-based Security Screening for Members of the Armed Forces Act gives the Transportation Security Administration six months to develop and implement a plan to expedite screening services for service members on orders and in uniform and, “to the extent possible, any accompanying family member.”
The act, in part, calls for the agency to establish standard guidelines for the screening of military uniform items, such as combat boots.
In a statement released today, agency officials said they’re in the process of reviewing options for these new procedures in consultation with the Defense Department.
Even before this law, the agency had several measures in place to aid troops through the screening process. For example, troops in uniform with a military identification card aren’t required to remove their boots or shoes unless they set off an alarm, according to the agency’s website.
The agency also seeks to accommodate family members. Families who would like to accompany a deploying service member to the boarding gate or greet them upon their return may receive passes to enter the secure area of the airport, the site said. Family members, agency officials advise, should contact their air carrier representative at the airport for local procedures.
The agency also expedites the screening process for Honor Flight veterans, and partners with the Defense Department to expedite screening for wounded warriors and their families. The Honor Flight Network organization transports veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit their war memorials.
Also aimed at expediting screening procedures, the agency is testing a new program at the airport in Monterey, Calif. In mid-November, troops traveling out of Monterey Peninsula Airport began presenting their DOD identification to a document checker for card-reader scanning.
The pilot program is designed to test the technology to verify service members’ status. If successful, it could pave the way for service members to be included in the agency’s expedited screening program, agency officials said, enabling them to use special lanes at participating airports to pass more quickly through airport security. These expedited procedures could involve not having to remove their shoes, belt and jackets or their laptops from bags.
Programs such as this one strengthen security, officials said, explaining that separating out low-risk people, such as members of the armed forces, allows the agency to focus its resources on travelers who present a higher risk.

US Marine Fights Conviction For Suicide Attempt

25-year-old Lazzaric T. Caldwell, a “discharged Marine private who slit his wrists in a suicide attempt,” is “fighting his military conviction for deliberately injuring himself, arguing the punishment is inconsistent with the armed forces’ efforts to battle a rise in suicides during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Caldwell’s defense attorney, Navy Lt. Mike Hanzel, “said this week he will ask the military’s highest court, the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington, to hear the case.” Hanzel “claims military law prohibits intentional self-injury prosecutions for genuine suicide attempts induced by depression, PTSD or other mental illness because the mental illness makes it impossible to prove a guilty intent.”

Veterans Wearing Slogan T-Shirts Escorted Out of Campaign Event: Romney Team, Like Bush's, Keeps Candidate in Bubble

One of the more exasperating practices of the Bush/Cheney gang was its "Bubble Boy" policies. Bush's team went to almost comical lengths to host overly-controlled events that shielded the president from anything even resembling dissent. These folks even screened public audiences at public events based on bumper stickers, clothing, and lapel pins -- if Bush staffers didn't approve of their perceptions about your ideology, you were out of luck.

We're starting to see signs that Mitt Romney is following in Bush's footsteps.

On Friday, in a very controversial move, Romney expressed support for privatizing veterans' health care, endorsing the notion of giving vets health care vouchers that they could use in the private market. It's a horrible idea, strongly opposed by groups like the VFW.

Yesterday in South Carolina, several veterans wanted to express their concerns about this -- and that's when Romney's "Bubble Boy" policies kicked in.

A handful of people wearing "Vets against VA vouchers" T-shirts showed up at Mitt Romney's economic speech in Columbia to express opposition to an idea the GOP presidential candidate has floated about privatizing health care for military veterans. [...]

[Navy veteran and Columbia resident Melissa Harmon] said they had no intention of being disruptive and that she "stood there politely" when she revealed her "Vets against VA vouchers" T-shirt, but at different times they were escorted outside by Romney campaign aides, who allegedly told them to leave the premises.

They left the parking lot without incident and repositioned across the street where Romney would presumably see them as he was leaving.



Clearly, if folks show up for a public event and become disruptive, it stands to reason they'll be escorted away. But if four U.S. military veterans attend a public event, it's inappropriate to kick them out because a Republican campaign doesn't like their shirts.

The shirt wasn't obscene, it wasn't threatening, and it's unlikely Romney would have even noticed it. So why did Romney aides feel the need to throw these veterans out?

Army doctor at Madigan suspended over PTSD comments

Two physicians on a Madigan Army Medical Center psychiatric team have been removed from clinical duties, as the Army opens an investigation into whether PTSD screenings for soldiers were mishandled.

A Madigan Army Medical Center psychiatrist who screens soldiers for PTSD has been removed from clinical duties while investigators look into controversial remarks he made about patients and the financial costs of disability benefits, according to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray.

Dr. William Keppler is a retired Army officer who leads a forensic psychiatric team responsible for assessing the PTSD diagnoses of soldiers under consideration for medical retirement at Madigan, an Army hospital located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Tacoma.

Army Medical Command officials confirmed two doctors had been temporarily removed from clinical duties and assigned to administrative work, but they did not name them.

In a prepared statement to The Seattle Times, they said the command has "initiated a top-to-bottom review of the process associated with the forensic psychiatric reviews conducted at Madigan Army Medical Center."

"We are very sensitive to the issues that have been raised to this command and are working hard to address them," the statement said.

More than a dozen soldiers who believed their PTSD diagnoses were wrongly dropped by the Madigan team gained new reviews this year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in an unusual intervention arranged by Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho.

The forensic team's validation of a PTSD diagnosis can help qualify a soldier for a medical retirement with considerable benefits — such as lifelong health insurance for a retiree, spouse and dependents. The diagnosis also can help qualify a retiree for disability benefits from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

Keppler allegedly made inappropriate comments about the forensic team's role as financial gatekeeper in the Army retirement process during a September presentation, according to Murray.

In a meeting last fall attended by an Army ombudsman, Keppler and other team members reportedly made disrespectful comments about patients whose files were under review.

"I am deeply concerned about the things that I am hearing," Murray said. "Their (the doctor's) job is only one thing — to determine whether or not the patient has PTSD. And it's Congress' job to make sure we have the resources to compensate them."

Keppler could not be reached Friday for comment.

PTSD is a condition that results from experiencing a traumatic event, such as a battlefield casualty. Symptoms can include recurrent nightmares, flashbacks, irritability and feeling distant from other people.

As the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a toll on troops subject to repeated deployments, the Army has launched extensive campaigns to convince soldiers to overcome the stigma of seeking mental-health care and reach out if they have symptoms of PTSD.

But some medical professionals contend that PTSD is being over-diagnosed.

Meanwhile, some soldiers and veterans advocates have accused the Army of making it overly difficult to get a PTSD diagnosis in order to limit the numbers of those eligible for medical retirement. The Army has denied doing so.

Murray, who chairs the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, said she became angered by complaints last fall from Madigan soldiers that their PTSD diagnoses from other Army and VA providers were being unfairly reversed.

In rejecting those diagnoses, the Madigan team cited psychometric tests that indicated some of those soldiers were malingerers.

Some of the soldiers had been deployed repeatedly to combat zones and been diagnosed with PTSD by other medical professionals, according to a review of their medical records.

"Gen. Horoho has taken this seriously," Murray said. "I think it is important to send a message that this will not be tolerated."

Army officials said the removal of the two doctors was temporary and did not constitute a "prejudgement or adverse action."

Regimental combat team 5 watching the Super Bowl from Afghanistan