When it comes to thanking U.S. military veterans, Americans have many ways to show appreciation

Thanking military veterans can be in-person or through
advocacy. (Photo by Wesley Tingey, Unsplash)

The list of things most Americans can agree on might seem short sometimes. But surveys show it includes an affection for U.S. postal workers, pride in our National Park Service and a shared belief that our military veterans deserve good jobs and health care upon retirement. And while Veteran's Day is in November, the entire month can be a time for Americans to express their appreciation and care for military veterans.

One way civilians can support veterans is by getting to know their backgrounds and thanking them in person when possible. For instance, roughly 20% of the U.S. military hail from rural America and many experience homesickness. While serving in the U.S., most military personnel live on bases across the country. Here is a list of where you can find them. Thanking your serviceman or woman can begin with asking where home is or what branch they served in and where.

Another way to assist current veterans is to help them find viable employment as they re-enter civilian life. To that end, every November, Forbes magazine teams up with market research firm Statista to "survey more than 24,000 veterans (those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, the Reserves or the National Guard) working for companies with more than 1,000 employees in the U.S.," reports Rachel Rabkin Peachman of Forbes. Respondents are asked to rate and review their employers "on criteria ranging from work atmosphere and salary to health benefits, career development opportunities, and programs tailored to veterans." Forbes' full list of "Best Employers for Veterans" is here.

Providing medical and mental health care for veterans also needs civilian advocacy. Since 20% of the U.S. military call rural America home, it makes sense that around a quarter of all retired military live in rural places, which can be peaceful and scenic, but can also make getting to and from health care providers challenging. Supporting rural telehealth and broadband expansion can be another way to help veterans thrive.

For people looking for more hands-on ideas that make veterans know they are appreciated, the Wounded Warrior Project has more suggestions here.

Local foes of Army's plan to burn nerve gas persuaded the federal government to change its plans; the job is now done

Craig Williams, local activist, became a national leader.

Headlines around the world Friday announced that the United States had completed destruction of its last chemical weapons, accomplishing a 1997 global treaty's goal of eliminating all declared national stockpiles of such weapons. The final deed was done at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Ky., ending decades of concern in the town of 36,000 and the surrounding rural area about leaks from the 23-square-mile depot and the incinerator that the Army wanted to build to burn nerve gases and other chemical agents.

Residents of the area mounted a campaign that succeeded in getting the plans changed to a chemical neutralization process, which required more billions and more time but eased fears. In 2019 U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell praised the Kentucky Chemical Demilitarization Citizens’ Advisory Commission and the Chemical Destruction Community Advisory Board, both co-chaired by local resident and Vietnam veteran Craig Williams. "He said no community has ever had a more effective leader looking out for their interests," the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

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“With singular focus and an unwavering drive, Craig poured over literally every document, every detail, and literally every inch of Blue Grass. He became the leading expert,” McConnell said. “Time and again, Craig showed an uncanny ability to find answers nobody wanted him to see.” The story of the efforts by Williams and others is told in a documentary by Ben Evans and the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, "Nerve," which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Environmental Film Festival at Yale University.

Documentary on rural soldier's heroism and campaign to get him the Medal of Honor is returning to TV this weekend

Lt. Garlin Murl Conner

A year ago today, on Memorial Day 2020, Kentucky Educational Television premiered a documentary about a soldier from one of the most isolated places in America who repeatedly put his life on the line for his country – but quietly returned to his very rural life and wasn’t fully honored for his heroism until 73 years later.

"From Honor to Medal: The Story of Garlin M. Conner," will air again on KET's Kentucky Channel at 8/7 p.m. ET/CT Monday, May 31, and is available online at www.ket.org.

The hour-long documentary tells the story of one of the most decorated soldiers of World War II, who received the nation’s highest military decoration only after a 20-year campaign by his widow and friends.

Their campaign ended in June 2018, at the White House, when then-President Trump presented the medal to Pauline Conner, who still lives on their small farm near Albany, just down the road from their son Paul. Soon she plans to deliver his military memorabilia to the Third Infantry Division museum at Fort Stewart, Ga., where there is a Murl Conner Room, next to the Audie Murphy Room.

The two soldiers are a study in commonality and contrasts. Murphy, a son of Texas sharecroppers, won the Medal of Honor for his heroism in northeastern France on Jan. 26, 1945. He returned to the U.S. as perhaps the most decorated American soldier of the war, and became a major movie star.

Conner, who knew Murphy, earned the medal the day before and just a few miles away, but in the fog of war only got the Distinguished Service Cross. He returned to a creekside farm in Southern Kentucky's Cumberland River valley with no electricity or running water. Like most soldiers, he rarely talked about his exploits, which included suffering many wounds and earning four Silver Stars.

Only after Conner died in 1998 was his story told – first by a rank stranger who became his greatest advocate and inspired others to join his campaign to get Conner the Medal of Honor. Led by a neighbor who wouldn’t take no for an answer, they struggled for 20 years to break through Army bureaucracy, losing at every turn – but remaining inspired by Conner’s examples of determination and resolve.

Conner, fresh out of a hospital for a serious wound, volunteered to be a forward observer for artillery that was needed to stop a German attack – an attack that came so close he finally called in artillery on his own position. His commanding officer said he should receive the highest possible medal, but the officer was wounded the next day and didn't follow up.

The follow-up came decades later, from Richard Chilton, a Green Beret veteran from Genoa City, Wisconsin, who met Conner and learned his story while researching the service of his uncle, who died at Anzio under Conner’s command; and from Walton "Chip" Haddix of Albany, Ky., who took up the campaign begun by Chilton and wouldn't take no for an answer. The Army finally relented.

The documentary was produced by Lexington filmmaker Jeff Hoagland and the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky. It was sponsored by private donors and the Veterans Trust Fund of the Kentucky Department for Veterans Affairs, a state agency that assisted the Conner team's legal efforts at the direction of then-Commissioner Heather French Henry, whose cause was veterans when she was Miss America.

Trailers for the documentary are online at honortomedal.us, along with information about Murl Conner and some of the major players in the effort to get him the Medal of Honor. The program has been aired by public TV stations in other states; check local listings for broadcasts outside Kentucky. DVDs of the documentary are available from the Institute for $29.95, by emailing al.cross@uky.edu.

New documentary by Institute for Rural Journalism recounts 20-year fight to honor WWII soldier with Medal of Honor

Garlin Murl Conner

Seventy-five years ago today, a Kentucky soldier who had been in combat for more than two years, suffering many wounds and earning four Silver Stars, offered the ultimate sacrifice – calling in artillery on his forward position in order to save his battalion.

That soldier’s heroism, and the 20-year campaign to recognize it with the Medal of Honor, are recounted in “From Honor to Medal: The Story of Garlin M. Conner,” an hour-long documentary coming soon from the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky (which publishes The Rural Blog).

A trailer and a “teaser” for the documentary are online at honortomedal.us, along with information about Conner and some of the major players who worked hard to get him the nation’s highest military honor. It was a long time coming.

Conner—“Murl” to friends and family—survived that horrible day in a ditch in the French province of Alsace, and came home to a farm with no electricity or running water near Albany, Ky. He had a family, gave them a good life, and was a leader of his fellow farmers and veterans. He suffered in body and mind from his Army service, but rarely talked about it.

Only after Conner died in 1998 was his story told – first by a complete stranger who became his greatest advocate and inspired others to join the campaign to get the Medal of Honor for him. Led by a neighbor who wouldn’t take no for an answer, they struggled for 20 years to break through Army bureaucracy, losing at every turn – but remaining inspired by Conner’s battlefield examples of determination.

In the end, in an amazing turn of events, they won. And now their story is being told, along with the story of Lt. Conner, who, it turns out, may have been the most decorated American soldier of World War II.

The documentary, which highlights the rurality of Conner's life, is sponsored by private donors and the Veterans Trust Fund of the Kentucky Department for Veterans Affairs, which assisted the Conner team’s legal efforts at the direction of then-Commissioner Heather French Henry, who has championed veterans since her tenure as Miss America 20 years ago.

The film is written and directed by Jeff Hoagland of Lexington, who has helped produce, write and edit documentaries that have appeared on KET, the American Heroes Channel (formerly the Military Channel) and the National Geographic Channel. The associate producer is Janet Whitaker, formerly of KET and the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues. The institute’s director, UK School of Journalism and Media Professor Al Cross, is executive producer.

Retired army captain with PTSD teaches farming, beekeeping to help vets deal with the disorder

Army Captain (Ret.) James McCormick
(Charleston Gazette photo by Kenny Kemp)

James McCormick, 46, a retired Army captain, realized one day that working in his garden was a comfort that helped him get past his haunting memories of wars with Iraq. He wondered if others like him could benefit from farming, so he began teaching veterans from local shelters the art of agriculture. "He envisioned a special program where veterans could lease land from the government for farming," Sandy Wells writes for The Charleston Gazette.

With the help of state Agriculture Commissioner Walt Helmick, McCormick's brainchild became the West Virginia Veterans and Warriors to Agriculture Project. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society gave McCormick a service award in 2012; only three are given each year. "As a contract worker for the state Department of Agriculture, he works diligently to introduce displaced veterans to the rewarding business of farming and beekeeping," Wells writes.

McCormick said his father fought in Vietnam and struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder. At age 17 in 1985, he joined the Army National Guard and was a part of the military for many years. In 2006, he began gardening to help him deal with his PTSD. Although he tried to volunteer to go to Afghanistan in 2008, he failed to meet the medical standards and was asked to retire. He retired as a captain and opened the farm in 2009.

"We locate funds through nonprofit corporations. If veterans don't have property, the state has thousands of acres," McCormick said. "We can give them a special veteran lease opportunity to raise crops or animals. And we have probably 42 veterans who are beekeepers all over the state." He said that by next year, more than 100 veterans will be raising crops to sell. "Our logo will start showing up on honey and produce. Anybody who goes to buy it will know it is raised by one of our veterans," he said. (Read more)

20% of U.S. movie houses, many in rural areas, may close because they can't afford digital transition

The film industry announced last year that it would no longer make film copies of its movies, and would only provide digital versions, forcing theaters across the U.S. to retire their 35mm projectors and go digital. That switch is not cheap, since digital projectors cost tens of thousands of dollars, and some small theaters would have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to make the conversion. Most big theaters have already made the switch, but experts estimate that 20 percent of all theaters in the U.S., most of them small, independently owned and in rural areas, will be forced to close because operators can't afford the changes, Emily Pace of WSPA-TV in North Carolina reports. Some communities, especially those with not-for-profit theaters, are raising money to help them switch. One of those is Capital Cinemas in Princeton, Ky., owned by Heidi Boyd, above. (Photo from The Times Leader, Princeton) UPDATE, 2/22/14: The drive was successful, and the theater has reopened as digital.

In Webster, S.D., The Webster Theatre "was closed for seven years" but Judy Galikowski reopened it "with generous support from the community," reports Heidi Marttila-Losure of Dakotafire Media, quoting her from the 2008 documentary “Small Town Silver Screen”: “Ever since we opened, I could be walking down the street and someone would stop and greet me and say, ‘We are so thankful that you opened the theater. It has made a big difference in our community. Keep it open. We want this.” Dakotafire concludes, in its report on similar theaters in the eastern Dakotas, "Whether that will be possible in the near future is still in question." (Read more)

Sixty movie theaters on military bases will close because the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, which operates on-base movie theaters can't afford to convert. Sixty other military-base theaters will make the conversion, but it's not cost-effective to convert less-used theaters, The Associated Press reports. Spokesman Judd Anstey told AP that the 60 theaters slated for closure would be at bases where people went to off-base theaters more. Base theaters are limited to showing second-run movies. Their ticket prices are lower, and so is with attendance; Anstey said base theaters have been hurt by streaming services and DVD rental kiosks. (Read more)

Military suicides exceed number killed in combat

The number of U.S. military service members who committed suicide last year reached an all-time high of 349, outpacing the number killed in combat, according to military officials. The suicides "underscored the toll a decade of wars has taken on the all-volunteer force and the extenet to which the Pentagon continues to grapple with an issue senior leaders have called an epidemic," Ernesto Londono of The Washington Post reports. Veterans and active-duty service members come disproportionately from rural places.

The Pentagon has tracked suicides since 2001, and the military became concerned in 2006 when the rates began to rise. The military saw about one suicide a day last summer, prompting Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to express frustration. The rate remains slightly lower than in the general population, but officials say it is "nonetheless unacceptably high," Londono reports. The military has implemented several programs to encourage veterans and active-duty members to seek help for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, including hiring more behavioral health-care professionals, expanding a mental-health crisis line and starting a long-term study of mental health for service members.

The Marine Corps, which has had success in lowering its suicide rate, saw a 50 percent increase last year over 2011. The branch's number of attempted suicides last year reached a record high at 179. The Army had 182 suicides in 2012, compared to 159 in 2011. The Navy and Air Force, which have traditionally had lower rates of suicide than the Army and Marines, saw suicide rates increase by 15 and 16 percent, respectively. (Read more)

Would Obama's order to Pentagon to buy more meat raise prices for producers? Analysts disagree

The Obama administration has ordered the Pentagon to buy more beef, pork and lamb to try and help ranchers through the severe drought, prompting the Defense Department to determine whether it can afford to buy more. The military buys millions of pounds of meat every year to feed troops around the world.

Some analysts say the move would only help Obama politically, but others say it could be an opportunity for the Pentagon to pay less for meat it will eventually need and can freeze. Drought has forced up the price of corn, which livestock producers use as supplemental feed, and since they aren't able to make livestock heavier faster, they are forced to sell sooner than usual, Jennifer Rizzo of CNN reports. This causes more meat to be available, making prices drop, which also reduces the profit that ranchers have available to buy feed. Rizzo reports the mandate to buy more meat is an attempt to raise prices by taking more meat off the market.

Iowa State University economist Bruce Babcock told Rizzo the impact of these purchases is suspect. "The purchase is delaying the day of reckoning because ... it will raise their prices somewhat now and it will allow them to purchase more feed, but that feed cost isn't going to go down for a year," Babcock said. The livestock industry has to shrink by reducing herd sizes in order to afford corn in the future, he said. American Farm Bureau Federation economist Bob Young told Rizzo that even though the purchase would only make a small dent in the market, the move will ultimately help ranchers. (Read more)

VA is recruiting clergy to help rural veterans

In response to the increasing number of veterans with mental health issues, the Veterans Health Administration has started a program to enlist clergy members to connect with rural veterans and help them find VHA resources, reports Andy Matarrese of the Marine Corps Times. About 30 to 40 percent of new veterans return to rural areas, and they often suffer more health problems because many Department of Veterans Affairs facilities are in urban centers, far from their homes. When rural veterans seek help, they often turn to ministers, Matarrese reports.

The VHA wants to take advantage of that trend. It is hosting five workshops in Southern states in the next few months to train clergy to better understand mental health needs of veterans and the resources offered by VHA. Response from ministers about the workshops has been "overwhelming," said VA psychologist James Goalder. He said since the release about the program was sent, he's received calls from 23 states, four congressional offices, and people in Guam and Uganda. (Read more)

Army has destroyed 90 percent of chemical weapons, stored mainly in remote rural areas

The U.S. Army came one step closer yesterday to destroying its stockpile of 20th Century chemical weapons, stored mostly in remote rural areas. After a two-hour process in which 23 projectiles filled with mustard agent were stripped of the agent's ability to blister skin and attack the respiratory system, the last of the "hard weapons" at the Deseret Chemical Depot near Tooele, Utah were destroyed. The facility once housed the Army's largest supply of chemical weapons, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The U.S. signed a treaty to dispose of its chemical weapons by April 29, 2012, but is expected to get waivers for missing that deadline, and the U.S. is farther along in this task than some other treaty signers, including Russia. The Army has destroyed about 90 percent of its chemical weapons. The remaining 10 percent are in Colorado and Kentucky, but those stores may not be destroyed until 2021. For decades, the Tooele facility burned chemicals, releasing toxins into the air. In the 1970s, more acceptable disposal methods were sought. (Read more)

Death of South Carolina soldier illustrates Iraq war's high toll on rural America

In the wake of President Obama's announcement this week of the end of combat operations in Iraq, a rural South Carolina area's story from the war is an important reminder to the disproportionate toll military service has on rural areas. Rodricka Youmans of Allendale, S.C., joined the Marine Corps in 2003 after failing to find a job in his hometown and was killed less than a year later in Iraq, Johnny Edwards of The Augusta Chronicle reports. "What happened to Youmans is a stark example of the heavy toll paid by Allendale County and other small communities in the Iraq war," Edwards writes. "Their price in flag-draped coffins, according to community leaders and demographic research, has been disproportionately high, attributable to the economic ills in much of rural America."

Ten of the 18 soldiers killed in Iraq from the greater Augusta area came from towns of 7,000 people or fewer, Edwards reports. The newspaper's analysis of Pentagon and Census Bureau data showed "Allendale County and neighboring Barnwell County, both rife with poverty and unemployment, suffered South Carolina's highest and second-highest rates of Iraq war deaths per capita," Edwards writes, noting "nationally, among the top 10 for losses per capita were such sparsely populated states as Vermont -- which had the highest rate at 0.35 deaths per 10,000 people -- Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota and South Dakota."

"He [Youmans] joined because he was looking for a job," Rodricka's father, Johnnie Youmans, told Edwards. "If he could have found a job, he probably wouldn't have gone in." Using data from the Defense Department, the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Census Bureau, a 2006-07 study from the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute "found that the death rate for outlying counties was 48 percent higher than in metropolitan or suburban counties," Edwards writes. "Though only 19 percent of the nation's adult population lives in rural areas, those areas suffered 26 percent of the casualties." (Read more)

Military says wind turbines are threat to radar systems

Wind energy advocates may have a new unlikely opponent: the U.S. military. "Moving turbine blades can be indistinguishable from airplanes on many radar systems, and they can even cause blackout zones in which planes disappear from radar entirely," Leora Broydo Vestel reports for The New York Times. Dr. Dorothy Robyn, deputy undersecretary of defense, recently told a House Armed Services subcommittee, "Although the military says no serious incidents have yet occurred because of the interference, the wind turbines pose an unacceptable risk to training, testing and national security in certain regions," Vestel writes.
(Wind turbines, Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

Because of its concerns, the Defense Department has emerged as a serious opponent to the Energy Department in its attempts to foster wind power development. "I call it the train wreck of the 2000s," Gary Seifert, who has been studying the radar-wind energy clash at the Idaho National Laboratory, an Energy Department research facility. "The train wreck is the competing resources for two national needs: energy security and national security." Last year about 9,000 megawatts of proposed wind projects were abandoned following complaints from the military and Federal Aviation Administration.

"Collisions between the industry and the military have occurred in the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon-Washington border and in the Great Lakes region," Vestel writes. "But the conflicts now appear to be most frequent in the Mojave [Desert], where the Air Force, Navy and Army control 20,000 square miles of airspace and associated land in California and Nevada that they use for bomb tests; low-altitude, high-speed air maneuvers; and radar testing and development." The Energy Department hopes updating radar software can fix the problem, others say more help is needed. "I can’t imagine a better example of everyone wanting to do the right thing and nobody doing it," Howard Swancy, an aviation consultant and former FAA official, told Vestel. "We need an infrastructure-size development plan." (Read more)

Resources to localize Afghanistan troop coverage

President Obama is expected to announce a new plan to send around 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan during a national television address tonight. While large-scale troop counts and war strategies can be difficult to localize, Al Tompkins of the Poynter Institute has provided some excellent resources for local journalists in his Morning Meeting. More than 850 Americans have died in or around Afghanistan since the start of the war.

ICasualties.org also has an interactive map that breaks down the number of wounded and killed by state. Here is tyhe iCasualties site, which is updated daily to include the number of deaths, wounded and missing or captured. The Washington Post's ongoing "Faces of the Fallen" page honors fallen soldiers with a picture, biographical information and details of their death. PBS also has a brief history of Afghanistan and timeline of American involvement in the country. (Read more)

Army charity fund is hoarding millions, AP reports

"From 2003 to 2007 — while military families dealt with long deployments and more home foreclosures — Army Emergency Relief grew into a $345 million behemoth," reports Jeff Donn of The Associated Press. "During those years, the charity put $117 million into its reserves while spending only $64 million on direct aid, according to an AP analysis of its tax records." This impacts rural families especially hard since Army recruitment draws disproportionately from rural areas.

The nonprofit organization has, for the most part, been funded by troops. Donn writes that the program "allows superiors to squeeze soldiers for contributions; forces struggling soldiers to repay loans, sometimes delaying transfers and promotions; and has violated its own rules by rewarding donors with such things as free passes from physical training."

The program, started in 1942, was design to ease the financial difficulties "of active-duty soldiers and retirees and provides college scholarships for their families," adds Donn. "Its emergency aid covers mortgage payments and food, car repairs, medical bills, travel to family funerals and the like." The latest recession surely represents an emergency for many soldiers.

AP found that instead of giving money to soldiers, "the Army charity lent 91 percent of its emergency aid during 2003-07," writes Donn. "Smaller civilian charities for service members and veterans say they are swamped by the needs of recent years, with requests far outstripping their ability to respond." (Read more)

Pentagon pays landowners to protect endangered birds in Texas, but long-term impact is questioned

A controversial Pentagon program funded through Texas A&M University pays landowners near a Texas military post to protect endangered bird species to offset damage to the birds' habitats damaged inside the post's boundaries. "Despite complaints that the program is a boondoggle for the landowners, some federal officials are pushing to replicate it at other military sites and in federal highway projects," Juliet Eilperin of The Washington Post reports. "The program's effectiveness has been questioned by several military officials, federal wildlife authorities and an independent consulting firm, which recommended that the Army cancel it."(Post map)

Many question whether the program will help the birds in the long run, since the easements on private property are temporary. Permanent easements that permanently bar development are known to be more effective in protecting threatened species.

"It remains unclear whether the program is succeeding in expanding the number of golden-cheeked warblers in central Texas," writes Eilperin. "A biological evaluation issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service on Aug. 2, 2007, agreed with the Army that the project's impact would not necessarily boost the bird's numbers."(Read more)

Wars putting special stress on military families

Add to the list of homefront troubles from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the military members are disproportionately rural, some things that really hit home: divorce and domestic disputes.

"The strains and separations of no-end-in-sight wars are taking an ever-growing toll on military families despite the armed services' earnest efforts to help," reports David Crary of The Associated Press. "Divorce lawyers see it in the breakup of youthful marriages as long, multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan fuel alienation and mistrust. Domestic violence experts see it in the scuffles that often precede a soldier's departure or sour a briefly joyous homecoming."

Crary writes, "A Pentagon-funded study last year concluded that children in some Army families were markedly more vulnerable to abuse and neglect by their mothers when their fathers were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, the latest survey by Army mental health experts showed that more than 15 percent of married soldiers deployed there were planning a divorce, with the rates for soldiers at the late stages of deployment triple those of recent arrivals." Army wife Jessica Leonard told Crary, "Infidelity is huge on both sides — a wife is lonely, she looks for attention and finds it easier to cheat. It does make even the most sound marriages second-guess."

Crary has several chilling examples of violence brought home. The Army told him that its domestic violence rates are no worse than for civilian families, but Johns Hopkins nursing professor Jackie Campbell, who served on a Defense Department domestic-violence task force, told him, "They have no clue what the rate of domestic violence is — they only know what's reported to the system, and that's always lower than the actual rate." And other critics say there is a lack of comprehensive, updated data that reflects the impact of war-zone deployments and tracks cases involving veterans, reservists and National Guard members," he writes. "The Miles Foundation, which provides domestic-violence assistance to military wives, says its caseload has more than quadrupled during the Iraq and Afghan conflicts."

In some ways, the domestic burdens are greater than in previous wars because of "the deployment pattern — two, three, sometimes four overseas stints of 12 or 15 months," Crary writes. "In the past, that kind of schedule was virtually unheard of." Rene Robichaux, social work programs manager for the U.S. Army Medical Command, told him, "There's nothing that has prepared many of our families for the length of these deployments. It's hard to communicate to a family member how stressful the environment is, not just the risk of injury or death, but the austere circumstances, the climate, the living conditions." (Read more)