About Today’s Guest Mark William Balmert is retired United States Navy rear admiral. His last command was the joint Navy and Marine Corps Expeditionary Strike Group 3. He retired from the Navy in 2008 and joined Northrop Grumman as a Strategic Senior Consulting Manager. Balmert was born in Fort Madison, Iowa. He participated in the Navy Reserve Officer Training program (NROTC) at the University of Notre Dame, and graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He ear...
May 18, 2021•28 min
About Today’s Guest Retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Schmiegel is the CEO of Operation Gratitude, whose mission is to forge strong bonds between Americans and their Military and First Responder Heroes through volunteer service projects, acts of gratitude, and meaningful engagements in communities nationwide. Since 2003, Operation Gratitude has mobilized millions of volunteers nationwide and impacted over 3 million deployed Service Members, their children left behind, and First Responders,...
May 11, 2021•31 min
About Today’s Guest Michelle Norman is a Navy spouse of over 25 years and mother of a 17 year old daughter with cerebral palsy. She is the Executive Director and Founder of Partners in PROMISE, a non-profit organization focused on educating, advising and advocating for exceptional military families and their education. After years of successfully advocating and winning multiple legal cases to ensure her daughter receives the minimum education required by law, Norman was contacted by multiple mil...
May 04, 2021•32 min
About Today’s Guest As President of Axon, Luke Larson is responsible for leading the company's day-to-day operations and overseeing all aspects of the company. Luke joined Axon in 2008 and has filled a variety of executive and management roles since then, becoming President in April 2015. Prior to joining Axon, Luke served two tours in Iraq as a Marine Corps infantry officer and was awarded the Bronze star with V for valor on his first tour. Luke graduated from University of Arizona on an NROTC ...
Apr 27, 2021•27 min
About Today’s Guest Hannah Hutler-Boyd is the builder of the Camp Corral programs where she diligently focuses on how best to empower children of wounded, ill, and fallen military heroes. During her seven years with Camp Corral, she consistently increased the number of children served, built strong partnerships with ACA Accredited camps, and required the highest quality of services to be delivered to military-connected families. Now with a strong foundational program, Hannah focuses on the scien...
Apr 20, 2021•24 min
About Today’s Guest Steve Schwab is a national leader and voice for the nation’s 5.5 million military and veteran caregivers and their families. He has closely advised senior leaders in every sector, addressed audiences across the country, and testified before Congress about the challenges faced by America’s military caregivers and how our nation can do more to support these incredible Hidden Heroes. As CEO of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, Steve spearheads the country’s preeminent organization ...
Apr 13, 2021•28 min
About Today’s Guest Rye Barcott is co-founder and CEO of With Honor , a cross-partisan political organization led by veterans focused on promoting and advancing principled veteran leadership to reduce polarization in the U.S. Congress. Previously, he co-founded and led the clean energy investment firm Double Time Capital, and co-founded the non-governmental public health organization Carolina for Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. His memoir, It Happened on the Way to War , juxtaposes military service an...
Apr 06, 2021•27 min
Dr. Samuel Odom is President of the CRISP Board of Directors. He is an Adjunct Professor at Tulane University School of Social Work and a former professor in the Millie M. Charles School of Social Work on the campus of Southern University at New Orleans where he served as Faculty Senator and Faculty Senate Secretary. A native of Brewton, Alabama, he joined the United States Army in 1986 as a Forward Observer, Field Artilleryman, later becoming a Logistician and ultimately earning an Army ROTC Co...
Mar 30, 2021•34 min
About Today’s Guest A Mississippi native, Jerry Maniscalco first picked up a guitar at 16 and he has been writing and performing original music ever since. In 2003, he entered the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 2007 and entering service as an SH-60B Seahawk pilot. During his time in the Navy--including 3 deployments and a remote tour--he found that music allowed him to unwind and escape. Jerry recorded two songs on Operation Encore’s debut compilation album, the upbeat “Wake Up,” and Operatio...
Mar 23, 2021•27 min
About Today’s Guest Nathan Graeser is both a Social Worker and an Army Chaplain in the California National Guard. He serves on numerous local and national boards and is a national expert on policies and programs for supporting service-members transitioning out of the military. He has led multiple Veteran initiatives including Warrior Bards, the Los Angeles Veterans Collaborative and, most recently with Southern California Grantmakers to build the first county-wide Veteran Peer Access Network. As...
Mar 16, 2021•31 min
About Today’s Guests RanDee McLain is a proud US Navy veteran that spent time in Iraq, Kuwait and Spain. After being medically separated in 2009, RanDee went on to earn a B.S in Criminal Justice from SDSU in 2012 and her Master’s degree in Social Work with a concentration in Military and Veteran’s programs from USC. After a difficult transition, RanDee decided to make a career of serving her fellow veterans and their families. Her passions include serving post 9-11 veterans, specifically those t...
Mar 09, 2021•30 min
About Today’s Guests A national policy leader with over 20 years of experience, Dr. Keita M. Franklin is the Chief Clinical Officer at Loyal Source Government Services – the nation’s leading healthcare solutions provider – and also serves as the Co-Director of the Columbia Lighthouse Project, a Columbia University NY State Psychiatric Institute initiative focused on preventing suicide risk. Prior to joining the Loyal Source team, Dr. Franklin was a senior executive at PsychHub, and both the Depa...
Mar 02, 2021•24 min
About Today’s Guests Kathy Roth-Douquet is an advocate for the role of the military in civil society; she is an author, nonprofit leader, attorney, and former government official. Kathy is the CEO of Blue Star Families, the largest Chapter-based nonprofit organization serving active duty of all branches, Guard and Reserve, wounded, and transitioning veterans and their families. Blue Star Families mission is to strengthen military families and our nation by connecting communities and fostering le...
Feb 23, 2021•24 min
About Today’s Guests Kaprece James is a Social Entrepreneur, Humanitarian, Founder & CEO, Women & Girls Advocate, Best Selling Author, and an International Leader. Mrs. James has served her community volunteering and working in the nonprofit sector for over 30 years. She started two nongovernmental organizations in Liberia, West Africa and has assisted many other nonprofits with building their programs nationally and internationally. Mrs. James has a Master’s in Public Administration wit...
Feb 16, 2021•33 min
About Today’s Guests Dr. Heidi Kraft Heidi Squier Kraft received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the UC San Diego/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology in 1996. She joined the Navy during her internship at Duke University Medical Center and went on to serve as both a flight and clinical psychologist. Her active duty assignments included the Naval Safety Center, the Naval Health Research Center and Naval Hospital Jacksonville, FL. While on flight status, she flew in nearly ever...
Feb 09, 2021•34 min
About Today’s Guest Benjamin Pomerance, Esq., is the Deputy Director for Program Development for the New York State Division of Veterans’ Services. In this role, he serves as the Deputy General Counsel for the agency, as well as working as the agency’s Legislative Liaison and overseeing several of the Division’s programming initiatives. His work focuses on advocacy and assistance for Veterans, Servicemembers, and their families on a wide range of federal and state issues. Benjamin graduated as t...
Feb 02, 2021•34 min
BTM03 – Jim Beamesderfer – Prudential Financial Military Spouse Employment and Financial Management Courses <iframe width="100%" height="180" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless src="https://share.transistor.fm/e/dd263d80"></iframe> Show Summary On this episode of Behind the Mission, Army Veteran Jim Beamesderfer, Vice President of Veterans Initiatives at PsychArmor sponsor Prudential Financial, joins the show to talk about the importance of military spouse employment and financ...
Jan 26, 2021•25 min
About Today’s Guest Jill E. Bormann is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Adult Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing, a Clinical Professor and Research Health Scientist. She developed the Mantram Repetition Program – a spiritually-integrated health program for symptom and stress management. She received the prestigious “Edge Runner Award” from the American Academy of Nursing for innovation in nursing. She also received Excellence in Research Awards from the American Psychiatric Nurses Association and t...
Jan 19, 2021•30 min
About Today’s Guest Tina Atherall, DSW, LMSW, brings to PsychArmor her vast experience and leadership in the military non-profit community and academia. In 2006, she co-founded Hope For The Warriors, an organization dedicated to serving combat wounded servicemembers and their families. Scaling a grass-roots effort to a national platform, she worked extensively with various levels of military leadership, agencies, corporations, and communities educating and advocating for critical support for tho...
Jan 08, 2021•33 min
