SPEEA Veterans Committee

Useful links:

Boeing military and veterans

Boeing military & veteran profiles

Veterans Clinics in Washington

KBTC - Resources for Veterans

Veterans benefits for seniors

Senior Living for Veterans

Guide to Veterans benefits

About the committee

The SPEEA Veterans Committee was formed to provide an avenue for addressing the problems and issues associated with SPEEA's military employees, veterans and their families; provide information and education to increase SPEEA member's understanding of veterans' and their families issues; and works with the IFPTE Veterans' Committee to influence national positions, congressional legislation and administrative rulemaking.

Officers

Chair:	Mike Shea	425-294-2349	Email Mike
Vice-Chair:	Dan Sergent	253-657-6734	Email Dan
Secretary:	Craig Kowald	425-717-6068	Email Craig

Join us

Meetings are held virtually during the pandemic on the 4th Thursday of odd-numbered months. For details, email meetings@speea.org.

Meeting time: 4 p.m. (Pacific) / 6 p.m. (Central)

Veterans suicide prevention resources

Boeing Employee Assistance Program: http://eap.web.boeing.com/program.asp

866-719-5788 (within the U.S.)
+44 20 8987 5966

Within the United States: The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a confidential service designed to connect Boeing employees and their families with experienced licensed counselors for support with stress management, relationships, work-life balance, grief and loss and more. You can access a counselor face-to-face, online or by phone – whichever is most convenient for you. The program is available to all employees and their eligible dependents at no cost. Boeing has contracted with Beacon Health Options to provide EAP services to employees and their dependents. Counselors are available in your local communities, and also onsite at some U.S. Boeing locations.

Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

When the phone is answered tell them you are a veteran and they will do their best to connect you with another veteran.

Veterans Crisis Line: https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/

Connect with the Veterans Crisis Line to reach caring, qualified responders with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Many of them are Veterans themselves. Call 1-800-273-8255, text 838255 or visit the website to chat or need support if you are deaf or hard of hearing.

Save A Warrior: https://saveawarrior.org

Having shown nearly 1,400 Warriors The Hero's Journey home; Save A Warrior™ (SAW™) is committed to ending the staggering suicide rate plaguing our veterans, active-duty military and first responders. We conceive, originate and produce Integrated Intensive Retreat (IIR) program experiences to transform the way our heroes live their lives.

Mission 22: https://mission22.com

WHEN THEIR TOUR IS OVER, OUR MISSION BEGINS.

Serving Warriors and their families since 2013, Mission 22 is dedicated to healing America’s veterans when they need it most — right now. We offer treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury and all of the issues veterans are facing today.

Make the Connection: https://www.maketheconnection.net/

Resources for Veterans, Family & Friends, and medical personnel.

Megan Meier Foundation: https://www.meganmeierfoundation.org (Note this organization does focus on women’s suicide prevention.)

Suicide is the reaction of extremely intense feelings of loneliness, worthlessness, hopelessness, or depression, which typically involves voluntarily taking one's own life.

If you or someone you know is in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), a free 24-hour hotline. In the case of a life threatening emergency, please call 9-1-1 or visit your nearest emergency room.

Article: Tricare and Other Health Insurance

By Jerry DiLeonardo, SPEEA Co-Director Ed Wells Partnership

For some SPEEA-represented veterans at The Boeing Company, there is a benefit you might be unaware of. If you are eligible for Tricare medical coverage, combining it with your company provided coverage can potentially save you thousands of dollars with very little effort.

Continue reading...

Veterans help Guide Dog Training Center

Mark Beasley, a Boeing engineer in Huntsville, Ala., is a U.S. Air Force veteran and amputee. He met and received his service dog, Cruiser, at Southeastern Guide Dogs in Florida. Realizing the center lacked an airplane mockup to help dogs learn about boarding airplanes, Beasley solicited surplus seats from Boeing. The SPEEA Executive Board recently paid to transport two rows of seats to the training center. Now, to build an airplane set and provide other help for the center, the SPEEA Veterans Committee started a “GoFundMe” page.
Read more about Mark and the airplane seat effort in the January edition of SPEEA Spotlite.

Visit the GoFundMe page: Veterans Service Dog Training Support

In this photo: The USS Midway after colliding with the Panamanian merchant ship Cactus, July 29, 1980.

"I was on board the night this collision happened (mid 1980). In fact, if you see where the catwalk on the side of the hull is still attached and the broken piece is bent down, I was less than 10’ inside that oval hatch in the side of the hull. This happened in transit from the Philippines to the Indian Ocean.

The freighter Cactus came out of the rain and took our angle deck (and several F-4 Phantoms) right in her bridge. Glancing blow to the hulls, no openings below the waterline. The only warning we had was the “BEEP.BEEP.BEEP..…BEEP.BEEP.BEEP” of the collision alarm over the 1-MC speaker system. The only reason I heard it was because I was sitting on top of the workbench, near the overhead and right below the speaker (I was hanging out in the shop, off duty, because we didn’t have air conditioning down in the dead-end hole that was my berthing area).

Nobody else knew a thing until the ship rolled in the collision. Lost two shipmates, one right at the point of collision, crushed between the hull and other structure."

- Geoff Case,
Veterans Committee Chair