Their Mission is Complete; Ours Has Just Begun

America’s military conflicts of the past decade affected veterans, active duty service members and their families alike. Multiple deployments, frequent moves and long periods of separation can present many challenges and opportunities for military families. So this Veterans Day, as we honor and thank those who have given so much for our country and our freedoms, we also commend the spouses, parents, children, siblings, grandparents and significant others who provide support and structure to their loved ones throughout their times of service.

At Home Base, we know that when one person serves, an entire family serves. As the largest private sector clinic in America with the sole focus of helping at-risk veterans and military families, our goal is to help families and communities rebuild when our heroes return. We are leading efforts in New England – and across the country – to help post-9/11 service members, veterans, and their families heal from the invisible wounds of war: traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress (PTS) and other related conditions. 

By caring for veterans in a family-based clinic and working in cooperation with the Veterans Administration (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), we are striving to create a replicable model to promote the health and wellbeing of veterans nationwide. Central to this model is our “three generation” approach, which extends high-quality care to the parents, children and extended family members of veterans – regardless of ability to pay, branch of service or discharge status. The result is highly coordinated, individually tailored care that helps heal the invisible wounds of war – which affect an estimated one in three returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans – in a supportive environment that understands and embraces military culture.

In our first seven years, Home Base’s treatment and support programs have directly served more than 11,000 veterans, service members and family members completely free of charge. And thanks to support from our many partners, including AT&T, that number will only grow.

On November 7, Home Base will be joining AT&T New England alongside Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, and several other business and civic leaders to recognize thousands of service members and veterans from across New England at our fourth annual Mission: Gratitude celebration. We hope that people across the country will also find a way this November to stop and #ThankOurHeroes. Their mission is complete, but ours has just begun.