Women veterans keep on serving
By SUE DOBBE-LEAHY For Shaw Media
Originally Published in the Northwest Herald, Friday, Nov 11, 2022
Military service is just that: a choice made to serve.
Perhaps it’s because of their nature, or perhaps it’s because of their training, but many female soldiers find they have the capacity and drive to serve in ways beyond their initial military service.
Marine Col. Patty Klop is one who has made a mission of helping others who have served to seek the help they may need for post traumatic stress disorder and other mental and physical health concerns. “I want to encourage others to not suffer needlessly, but to find the support to live their best lives,” she said.
Many who have left the military volunteer with nonprofits that help veterans and their communities.
Those who are still active duty and have decades of tenure often find themselves gravitating toward military careers that support, protect and uplift veterans and their families.
Several McHenry County women exemplify this notion of serving beyond their military enlistment. Learn more about them below.
Pulling rank
Col. Patty Klop
Col. Patty Klop, one of the few women to reach such a high rank in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, is an advocate for those suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder.
After two combat deployments – one to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and another to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as the mortuary affairs officer-in-charge – Klop found herself exhibiting signs of PTSD: uncharacteristic anger, anxiety, depression, irritability, and hypervigilance.
For years, she suffered through these symptoms.
It wasn’t until earlier this year when she spent 7 weeks at an inpatient treatment center in Cincinnati that she finally felt whole again, she said.
“I’ve learned to live my best life today, in mind, body, and spirit, thanks to the PTSD inpatient treatment I received from the VA,” she said.
Today, the Wauconda resident is driven to speak up about her experience, particularly while she’s still an active-duty colonel, because it “gives me a legitimacy to encourage male and female military – especially Marines, as they are specifically the ‘war unit’ of the U.S. military – to get help for PTSD,” she said.
“I know personally the devastation it can create on health, family and career,” she said. “But my results prove that there is treatment that can save lives.”
Klop shared her story of enduring PTSD at “Walk a Mile in Her Boots,” a women veterans event hosted in August by William Chandler Peterson American Legion Post 171 at Veterans R&R Operation Wild Horse in Bull Valley.
She has also shared her story on radio, online and at other events to motivate others who are suffering from PTSD to seek help.
Additionally, Klop works as an advisor for “Freedom, Fitness, America,” a nonprofit that prepares military servicemen and women to be “fit for the fight and life” by staying physically, mentally and spiritually prepared for the violence of combat and to excel in tackling obstacles in everyday life.
Taking care of others in uniform
Melissa Downey
Melissa Downey is still active in the Army National Guard – a post she’s had since 1993.
But her service extends far beyond her current role as senior food service advisor to brigade leadership.
She also works for the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs as a Veteran Service Officer where she helps veterans, dependents and surviving family members apply for benefits.
“As long as I’ve been in service, I’ve always tried to help take care of other soldiers while in uniform,” Downey said. “So, when I went to a VSO and he was dismissive of me and my case, I was disappointed in a fellow service member. I actually told him that I could do a better job as a VSO than he was doing.”
The Lake in the Hills resident also has been a victim advocate since 2008 and on-call volunteer for the Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response Prevention (SHARP) program.
In her free time, Downey volunteers with Veterans R&R Operation Wild Horse in Bull Valley, fosters dogs with the Animal House Shelter in Huntley, and serves with her children at the Lake in the Hills Food Pantry.
Finding purpose
Ashton Kroner
Ashton Kroner of Crystal Lake spent nearly eight years in the Marine Corps, and she experienced firsthand the challenges of coming back home.
“I struggled with finding my purpose outside of the Marines,” she said.
It was when she started working with the Road Home Program at Rush University Medical Center that she finally found purpose.
Her job as outreach manager of the Road Home Program is to introduce people to its multiple programs, which are dedicated to the mental health and wellness of veterans and service members of the National Guard, reservists, and their families.
The Road Home Program offers intensive outpatient programs, in-person therapy and counseling and family care and support at no cost and regardless of discharge status.
While she jokes that her job is “a professional friend maker,” Kroner noted she is grateful her position has given her the opportunity to help the veteran community.
“I have seen the veterans that come through our program leave in a better place than when they first walked through our doors,” she said.
‘My way to give back’
Nicole Eisenrich
Nicole Eisenrich is an Air Force veteran who works full-time as an AVP, senior risk control consultant at Gallagher, an insurance brokerage and risk management services firm.
But for the last six years, she’s also worked part-time as coordinator for Healthy Minds Healthy Bodies, a program for disabled veterans run by the Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association.
HMHB has provided fitness center access, personal trainers, social activities and camaraderie for more than 350 participants since 2013.
Eisenrich, who lives in Lake in the Hills, also puts together an annual calendar of events to keep veterans networking and socializing.
“This can be a big step in improving mental health, overall wellness, self-confidence and socialization for the participants,” said Eisenrich. “This is my way to give back!”