Pave the Way

On Thursday, Secretary R. James “Jim” Nicholson received the “Defender of the Faith” award from the Pave the Way Foundation. To name a few in attendance were, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Apostolic nuncio to the United States, John R. Drexel IV, KStJ, H.Em. William Cardinal Keeler, the Archbishop Emeritus of Baltimore, Msgr. Peter J. Vaghi of the Church of the Little Flower, and others.

Jim is the Senior Counsel for the law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, is the past Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He was sworn into that office in February 2005 and served through September 2007. As Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Nicholson was the principal advocate for veterans in the U.S. government, ensuring that they received the care, support, recognition and dignity they deserve for their service to our country. As VA Secretary, Nicholson also directed the federal government’s second largest Cabinet Department, responsible for a nationwide system of hospitals, health care clinics, benefits programs, and national cemeteries for America’s twenty-five millions veterans. The VA employs over 240,000 people with a budget of approximately 100 billion dollars. Prior to serving in the Cabinet, Mr. Nicholson served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See from 2001 to 2005. In January 1986, Mr. Nicholson was elected to be the Republican National Committeeman from Colorado. In 1993 he was elected vice-chairman of the RNC, and in January 1997 he was elected chairman of the RNC, where he served for four years, overseeing the elections of 2000, including the election of President George W. Bush.

The Pave the Way Foundation is dedicated to achieving peace by closing the gap in tolerance, education and the practical relations between religions, through cultural, technological and intellectual exchanges. They strive to eliminate the use of religion as a tool which, historically has been used, by some, to achieve personal agendas and to cause conflicts.

Our hats are off to Secretary Nicholson for receiving this award. Jim truly has been a defender of the faith throughout his entire life.

PTSD and the Armed Forces Foundation

On Monday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary Erik Shinseki spoke out regarding the importance of treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among U.S. servicemen and women. Their speech was held at a first-of-its-kind national summit to address PTSD, held in DC by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

While the military is just beginning to talk about PTSD, one organization, The Armed Forces Foundation has been working to address it for years. The Armed Forces Foundation is dedicated to providing comfort and solace to members of the military community through financial support, career counseling, housing assistance and recreational therapy programs. They offer these vital programs to active-duty and retired personnel, National Guard, Reserve components, and their loved ones.

Most recently, Patricia Driscoll, the President of the Armed Forces Foundation released a book, Hidden Battles on Unseen Fronts which documents the increasing number of cases of physical and mental/brain trauma such as PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) among our veterans returning home from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To order the book please click here.

Please think about supporting the foundation, and if you are going to be in Coral Gables, FL in November on the 19th, please visit the foundation’s website and consider participating in their annual Charity Casino night.