After 22 years out of service, veteran Jami Raishbrook participated in this year’s San Fernando Valley Veterans Day Parade for the first time.
“I was really humbled,” said Raishbrook about her time in the parade. “That was my first time to really see a collection of everybody and celebrate because that was the first time I truly wanted to celebrate [my service].”
She said the day helped her be grateful for what she’s been through and where she’s at now, and to feel acknowledged for her service.
“It’s taken me a long time to get to this point with my experience coming out of the military,” she continued. “I was quite resentful and angry when I got out.”
Raishbrook was medically discharged in 2002 after serving as a medic in the United States Air Force (USAF).
Talking to other veterans at the parade helped her realize she isn’t alone in those sentiments and, that the more she talks about her past, “others are able to relate to those experiences, and there’s a community in that.”
Raishbrook now taps into her past experiences as she advocates for veterans’ mental health awareness and empowers female veterans by connecting them to essential resources and building strong support networks.
An Honorable Service
After switching from working as a firefighter, Raishbrook enlisted in the USAF in 1999 with the goal of finishing her nursing degree. She was deployed to Japan, where she specialized in labor and delivery. When the attacks of Sept. 11 took place in 2001, she was less than six months from finishing her two-year enlistment.
But, within two months of being brought back stateside, Raishbrook began experiencing seizures – 23 seizures within two days, and more than 100 within those few months. She was prescribed medication for epilepsy, but it didn’t stop the seizures. So, she was sent off base to a civilian hospital to get a 72-hour electroencephalogram (EEG), a test that measures the electrical activity of the brain.
“Once I was away from the base, I just stopped having seizures,” said Raishbrook, who had been experiencing them multiple times a day. “What I realized later on was, that [environment] was contributing to my medical condition, and it was making my situation worse.”
She was diagnosed with two different types of seizures, one from epilepsy, and another mentally induced type, then called conversion disorder, now referred to as psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES).
That diagnosis didn’t translate well into the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system, which caused Raishbrook to encounter roadblocks in retaining benefits and being discharged.
“They held me in for about nine months trying to do a ‘dishonorable discharge,’” said Raishbrook. “Since I understood medically what was happening after I got my diagnosis, I fought them on that dishonorable discharge, because … I’d done nothing wrong.”
If someone is dishonorably discharged from service, they do not receive medical or retirement benefits. After being subjected to many hurdles, Raishbrook was able to separate with an honorable discharge, allowing her to retain the medical benefits she so desperately needed. It wasn’t until later that she fought for and regained her retirement benefits.
“Medically, I knew I needed help, I needed services, and the only people that were going to be able to do that for me was going to be the VA,” said Raishbrook.
Re-Discovering Her Inner Fighter
Raishbrook works to de-stigmatize mental health issues and help veterans – especially women veterans – find the resources and community to move forward after returning from service.
“As easily as somebody would go get checked if they had a cold or flu, I think we need to be checking ourselves and seeing a doctor for our mental health because it controls the rest of your body,” said Raishbrook. “I’m living proof. If my head is not sorted, literally my body isn’t controlling itself.”
The transition from service to civilian life wasn’t easy for Raishbrook. Beyond her medical battles, over the years she found herself feeling alone, with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and even suicidal thoughts.
“I was barely a functioning person, even though, on the surface, it looked like I could get it together,” Raishbrook recalled. “[There were] too many balls in the air. They were literally all dropping around me.”
She thought about her son – he was four at the time, the same age she was when her father passed. She decided to make a change, to give him a different future – one with a parent.
It took some time for Raishbrook to change her mindset, to re-discover that inner fighter.
“We’re just telling ourselves this story that we want to believe, but it’s just that, it’s a story,” said Raishbrook about her mental state. “We don’t know how to get out of our own way.”
Now she wants to help others in a similar situation, realizing she has the tools and experience to coach them in navigating the VA system and to connect them with community support.
Transitioning to Civilian Life
Finding community after returning from service “can be literally life or death,” Raishbrook said.
“The military community, we get stuck, because we’ve been programmed to be told what to do,” said Raishbrook. “Once we lose that sense of community and team,” it can feel like the “rug is pulled out from underneath us.”
When people leave the service, they often transition from a life of training to follow orders with support from a tight-knit military community, to trying to figure out life alone as a civilian without guidance, help or clear direction.
“We’re not designed that way. We’re designed to be teamed up. We’re designed to be together and work together,” said Raishbrook.
During the Veterans Day Parade, she connected with Vietnam-era veterans who ride in motorcycle clubs, are in fishing clubs, or are members of the American Legion Post.
“We all have a sense of community,” said Raishbrook. “Even joining in peer groups and support groups, that’s how we’re able to move forward.”
She hopes that servicemembers “don’t spend my 22 years of figuring that out,” but rather “spend 22 minutes to figure that out, and get that [network] established before they transition.”
For mentorship and counseling from Raishbrook visit: jlinnovativeconcepts.com
To learn more about benefits and services for veterans visit: calvet.ca.gov
For support transitioning to civilian life visit: woundedwarriorproject.org, gruntstylefoundation.org or thepinkberets.org
For mental health services and support for veterans visit: irreverentwarriors.com or legion.org
For veteran disability assistance visit: dav.org