This weekend at the 1st Annual Koterra Golf Classic, I had the incredible honor of receiving the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs Commander’s Award, presented by General James S. Hartsell, Executive Director of the FDVA. To have General Hartsell stand with us, acknowledge our impact, and affirm publicly that “HBOT heals ” was a moment of validation for every family, every volunteer, every donor, and every Veteran who has walked through our doors searching for hope.

Over 66,000 Veteran Service Organizations have sprung up since 9/11. No one can doubt the overwhelming resilience of most Veterans and the goodwill shown by foundations and volunteers, and billions of dollars of donated monies spent to restore normalcy to Veterans injured in war. No doubt the intentions of investigators on the DOD Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee meant well with their Report that encouraged “caring contacts” but said not a word about healing brain wounds. The entire tenor of the Report ignores any discussion about the physiological underpinnings of suicidal ideation. Suicide continues to be viewed as a problem fixable by more human contact, mental health programs, and psychiatric and drug interventions, not as a physiological condition brought about in any way by an untreated brain wound.

Publishers are not acting in good-faith and in a transparent and fair fashion to the researchers that have done the yeoman’s work to inform the public. There is certain information that is viewed as too outside the Overton Window, to be allowed out in the open. Too bad this is science and not politics – with politics you would expect this level of underhanded, power-seeking behavior. With science, this is never acceptable.

We intend to explore realistic paths forward that can make the VA and DOD real heroes to the Veterans so in need of help for their brain wounds. The Awakening has to happen on both sides, those that resist, and those that need to understand that resistance. We need to find ways to sit with decision makers to construct the roadmap to success.

Dr. Carol Henricks, a premier neurorehabilitation and Hyperbaric Oxygenation specialist, passed away on October 1, 2025 in a way that makes her friends smile. She flew in to Anchorage to address the Alaska Emergency Suicide Prevention Summit, sponsored by Alaska Rising, helping to nurture Veterans and other brain-wounded back to health. Typical Carol, giving until the end.