'Coffee Strong' Near Joint Base Lewis-McChord - an Out of the Box Approach for Helping Vets

There are other outlets like Coffee Strong located near US military bases helping Vets in kind and creative ways, please watch the Operation Red Dragonfly interview with Andrew Wright.

(TACOMA) - I visited Coffee Strong in the Tacoma area Friday and was pleased to see a team organized to offer a strong outpouring of support for soldiers and other members of the military in the Joint Base Lewis-McChord area. They offer valuable services to those traumatized by the military and war. So many are suffering; shuffling down the street appearing to be homeless, wearing partial army uniforms...

It is a heartbreaking scene and the existence of Coffee Strong could not be more important. They assist service members and Veterans with everything from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) counseling to discharge upgrades. I met a Conscientious Objector named Phillip Chi who is an army specialist from San Francisco, who was born in China. His story spoke to the true diversity that Coffee Strong represents.

This was a valuable stop for my solo national motorcycle tour designed to raise awareness among Veterans about health hazards from contaminated military bases, titled Operation Red Dragonfly. I picked up a great deal of reference material that I will carry and distribute that explores areas less covered, like those pertaining to amputees, victims of TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and military sexual trauma.

Andrew Wright was a US Marine and that laid the foundation for his role at Coffee Strong where he stays very busy organizing their mission and following up on any number of cases involving Vets. We talked about the myriad problems they assist with, the list is long. Both Andrew and Dr. Mills, a licensed, accredited VA claims agent who served in the US Army during the Vietnam War, are associated with groups like Veterans for Peace. I enjoyed meeting both and also interviewed Dr. Mills for our upcoming documentary on PTSD. He discusses a program called 'tap therapy' which he describes as an extremely helpful and successful option for those dealing with the impacts of PTSD.

There are other outlets like Coffee Strong located near US military bases, please watch the interview with Andrew Wright below to learn more. (article continues below)

US military bases all over the nation and world are contaminated with deadly chemicals. The problems span generations with many of these chemicals, I have concentrated on the effects of TCE (trichloroethylene) which was widely used by the military for many years, and often discarded after use into the ground grates, ultimately contaminating the underground water tables.

This is a critical issue that Americans need to be exposed to. I am available for radio, TV and newspaper interviews. I will be in Seattle through Friday, and I will be in Boise, Idaho soon and connecting with media there and Charlie Smith, whose son inspired 'Trevor's Law' - legislation introduced by Senators Boxer and Crapo, to help communities investigate and address disease clusters and environmental hazards.

Those interested in learning more can contact me via my email below, I am also addressing PTSD and Veteran suicide and gathering elements for a documentary on PTSD that is under production. Anyone with questions can call 916 308-5902.

Many people are already helping, one significant person is Sheree Evans in Missouri, she is the east coast contact person for 'Operation Red Dragonfly'. You can write to Sheree at evasher6@cebridge.net if you are interested in seeing this event come to your city or town.

People and organizations who have contributed include Paul Stanford and The THC Clinic, Coral Theill, Charlie Smith, Vic Pittman, Mary Vogel, Joan Vogel, Kevin Saunders, Leonard Lawrence, Dennis Paterka, Karin Rougeau, Charlie Smith, Jean James, Bob and Donna Collinsworth, Robert and Grace O'Dowd, Al Hayward, James Frederickson, Michael Rawlings, Gary Bennett, Veterans United for Truth, EnyaDreamz Productions, the King family, Sacramento Motorcycle Rentals, and several other are already stepping up. It is time to think outside of the box, time to reach out in person. We believe this is a cheap and effective approach that will gain measurable ground in our fight to save lives.

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With almost 25 years of experience on the west coast and worldwide as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor, Tim King is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a 'Good Neighbor Award' for his reporting, by the The Red Cross.

Tim's years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu

In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005. Serving readers with news from all over the globe, Tim's life is literally encircled by the endless news flow published by Salem-News.com, where more than 100 writers contribute stories from 23+ countries and regions.

Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide; and maintains that the label 'terrorist' is ill placed in many cases; specifically with the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where it was used as an excuse to slaughter people by the tens of thousands; and in Gaza, where a trapped population lives at the mercy of Israel's destructive military war crime grinder. At the center of all of this, Tim pays extremely close attention to the safety and welfare of journalists worldwide.