Vets4Vets Published July 2, 2009 By Susan Griggs 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Five noncommissioned officers from the 336th Training Squadron have banded together to launch the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chapter of Vets4Vets, a peer-to-peer support group for post-9/11 veterans. The chapter meets at 6 p.m. today and the first Thursday of every month in Room H-1 of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College's Jeff Davis Campus in Gulfport, according to Tech. Sgt. Charissa Rotundo, one of the coordinators. The other members of the steering group include Master Sgt. Carrie-Ann Pogue, Tech. Sgts. McNelley and Mosley and Staff Sgt. Marsheila Baker. "We aren't psychologists we are strictly a peer-to-peer support group," said Sergeant Pogue, who's spent the last four of her 16 years in the Air Force at Keesler. "Vets4Vets enables one military member to support another through some potentially confusing, stressful and difficult times." Vets4Vets offers a safe environment for people to talk, share and lift each other emotionally, according to Sergeant Pogue. She sees special value in the group for military members who have deployed, as she did to Bosnia from Italy in 1999 and to Saudi Arabia in 2001. "They may need to talk to someone who has 'been there, done that,'" she explained. "During the hard times in life, we all need a person or place where we feel we won't be judged, but simply need someone to listen. I feel this group provides that atmosphere and ensures a safe environment." Sergeant Rotundo, who deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2002, found out about Vets4Vets through the Knowledge Now website. Last year, she and Sergeants Pogue and XXXXXXX went to one of the national organization's weekend workshops in Alabama and came back determined to make a difference in the lives of other veterans. "That weekend was the most spiritual experience in my life without religion," Sergeant Rotundo recalled. On behalf of Vets4Vets, Sergeant Rotundo attends quarterly meetings of the "Our Turn Network," a group of community partners serving veterans and their families in south Mississippi. The network is cosponsored by the Veterans Affairs Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System and the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. The network helped Vets4Vets find a regular meeting place and offers a variety of resources that Vets4Vets can recommend to its members. Sergeant Rotundo was part of a VA focus group for members who had deployed as part of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. "One group member was a young man who had served in Iraq he had already transferred to civilian life, but still had time on his VA benefits," she said. "He told the group he was tired of talking to the VA counselors because they hadn't been there, they really didn't know what he was going through. "That's where I believe Vets4Vets can make a difference," she continued. "It gives post 9/11 veterans the opportunity to talk to someone who's been there, who can relate, and sometimes that makes all the difference in the world." Sergeant Pogue reiterated that Vets4Vets isn't a professional counseling environment, and doesn't offer advice or psychological services. "We have resources we can recommend, but our mission is strictly a support group - if vets just want to talk, they are welcome here," she commented. For more information, log on to http://www.myspace.com/vets4vets_ms.