Military Wednesday with Air Force Veteran Autumn Hartpence

United States Air Force Veteran Autumn Hartpence joins us to discuss her time in the service and how that experience has led her to be a Veteran Navigator with the Walking with Warriors Program. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Not that I'm biased as an Air Force bratt but
how about that Air Force. This is West Michigan's Morning
News Steve Kelly, Brett Pikita. That is Laurence Smith. And
as we get ready for the Armed Forces Thanksgiving a
week from Friday, that's May sixteenth, at the jew Marriott,
we focus on local veterans making a big difference in
United States Air Force. Veteran Autumn Heart Pens joins us,

(00:22):
thank you for your service and for joining us this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
It's what you did afterwards that kind of blows us
all away. But when we talk about your more than
fourteen years with the Air Force, what advice do you
give to other people that ask you, other women that
ask you that might be interested in looking into the services.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Like in any career, that you are responsible for your
own actions and your own career choices because your leadership
is going to change, your location is going to change.
Of course, we have the camarderie in the military, but
be responsible for yourself, make good choices, you know, have
a plan for yourself and also keep in mind that
nothing is forever, so if your military service does and

(01:06):
for whatever reason, to make sure you set yourself up
for success.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
That is such a big part of what you are
now doing. And as Stevid mentioned, we're just blown away
with this talk to us about the Walking with Warriors
program and how your time in the service has led
you to this passion.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, that's a great question because one of the things
that veterans struggle with the most is we do not
transition well. And that's a big majority of our population
when we have that handoff between the Department of Defense
to the Veteran Affairs and there's a wide generation of
veterans who do not know that they have benefits that
are available to them, which is part of their struggle

(01:44):
when it comes to changing from military life to civilian life.
And so what the Walking with Warrior Progiden does. My
title is a Veteran Navigator and I do exactly if
that title sounds. I help veterans navigate to specific resources
to help them improve their quality of life, because when
you're in crisis mode, when you have a lot going on,
it's really hard to kind of put things together, and

(02:04):
we walk with them through that process to help them
find those specific things to know what they are eligible
for to help them improve their quality of life, not
only for themselves but their families.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
Autumn. I love reflections and I love what you said
here when we asked you about you know, your time serving.
What do you take away from that. I'm a sports guy,
so I always go back to my coaching and playing
days with sports and what it teaches you and teaching
my kids. But you know, obviously the military and that
commitment is a whole different level. But you said you
didn't go into war by yourself. Life battles are no different.

(02:38):
No one fights alone in or out of uniform. Talk
about that a little bit.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, So when people talk about the military, we don't
necessarily miss the military itself. We missed the camaraderie. And
one of the challenging things too, is we have a
military culture within the veteran community, and we can be
surrounded by people who love us and want to be
there for us. But what we as people who get
us and so something I do not only as a

(03:03):
navigator but as a veteran is trying to educate the
families about how to cope with the veterans, like the
mindset of the veterans in their life, so that way
they can kind of you know, the veterans can get
the healing that they need, but also when they come home,
have healing within their home for their families. Personal experience,
My daughter's dad deployed two months after she was born

(03:23):
and he was gone for a year, So I have
a lot of insight to know what the families go
through when their service member is gone and what it's
like when they come home. So now I want to
pass that forward to families to help them be successful
in all the healing journeys for the family, not just
the veteran.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, there are broad strokes when it comes to so
many emotions with all of that that you just described,
but sometimes there are some weird specifics that need to
be addressed to the Department of Defense. There's a lot
of d ds and numbers in sometimes navigating the process
to get to help. There's a lot of red tape, right.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Of course, and at the same time, but you know,
you have individuals like myself who have educated on the
system and understanding how to be eligible, who the subject
matter experts on that are knowledgeable to help them get
past that red tape to make sure that they're asking
the right questions. Do they qualify and then those who
are outside the veteran scope to other organizations, so like,

(04:22):
for example, elderly individuals who have like Senior Neighbors Love
INK all those types of other programs to help them
as well.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Staff sergeant in the United States Air Force, we appreciate
your time today, Autumn Heart pens. Thank you so much
for your service and your time today.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Great, thank you so much for yours