How We Got Started
Veterans and Families was founded in 2003 by John Henry Parker who is a former U.S. Marine, son of a Korean War Marine Combat Veteran and father of an Combat Veteran who at the time was serving his second tour in Afghanistan with the Army’s 10th Mountain Division.
In the fall of 2003, John Henry’s son, Sgt. Danny Facto, was leading a squad of soldiers searching for Osama Bin Laden and his forces in the Afghan mountain region bordering Pakistan. Sgt. Facto was interviewed on a special segment of Peter Jennings’ “World News Tonight” that focused on the conditions at forward fire bases on the Afghan/Pakistan border, and the experiences of the brave American soldiers fighting in those mountains.
Shortly after this interview, Danny telephoned his father from Afghanistan. Danny, a married father of two children, described how he was having major concerns about coming home after seeing and experiencing the realities of combat. He added that he would likely be in need of “serious” counseling when he returned to the U.S., and expressed a high level of anxiety about how his experiences would affect his ability to transition back to a “normal” family and civilian life after his deployment.
Alarmed by this dilemma, John Henry began an aggressive and broad based search for solutions and resources by phone and the Internet to see how he could help his son handle what would later be diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and to find ways to ease his re-integration into civilian life. While John Henry did find limited mental health resources available for veterans, he was not able to locate any long-term readjustment assistance for the family members, employers and others who would be so heavily invested in his son’s day to day readjustment. John Henry quickly became frustrated and concerned after finding that he couldn’t cut through the maze of veterans’ related information and organizations to get quick assistance for what he felt his son and those close to him would need to make the transition from military to civilian life.
With more than 30 million veterans in the United States, and hundreds of thousands of returning current soldiers like Danny multiplied by tens of millions of family members who are being impacted by war and deployment, John Henry knew that he was not alone. His concern created the genesis for Veterans and Families.
John Henry began by recruiting a volunteer Mental Health Advisory Board of the world’s leading experts on veterans, family counseling and combat stress. He then forged alliances many national organizations such as The National Center For Post Traumatic Stress Disorder www.ncptsd.org, the National Military Families Association www.nmfa.org (dedicated to active duty military families) and many other national organizaiton who now link and send thousands of visitors a month to the Veterans and Families website.
The story of Danny and his father was covered by Paula Zahn on CNN in June 2004.
After serving seven years, two tours in Afghanistan and recieving his Purple Heart Danny separated from the military in early 2005 to attend college at Syracuse University where he is persuing a degree in psychology. At present, his career goal is to become a counselor to Combat Veterans and their families. He currently resides in the Syracuse area with his wife and two children. At present, the 10th Mountain Division has re-deployed to Iraq.
Testimonial
"Veterans and Families has greatly improved our family's understanding of the challenges of homecoming. Even though we will not be completely through this process for many years to come, the launching of this organization has been a learning experience for all involved and will continue to be a resource for future families in need."
John Henry Parker
Founder Veterans and Families
Veterans and Families is a 501 c 3 non-profit organization.
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