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Flanders Fields is a US veteran-founded 501(c)(3) volunteer-staffed nonprofit organization focused on US military veterans' welfare.

History

Flanders Fields was founded by Ben Owen, a US Army veteran, on March of 2021. The organization was granted 501(c)(3) status by the IRS on August of the same year.

In 2011, Ben and his wife took in an at risk army veteran associate who had lost a leg and was struggling with opiate addiction, providing him with a place to stay and a job at the company they owned. This individual was eventually rehabilitated, which acted as the catalyst for a wider program to address this issue among veterans. By 2014, 14 unofficial "safe houses" had been set up to provide clean living conditions for at risk veterans and individuals seeking to escape lives in organized crime gangs as well as sex and drug trafficking.

Within months of its founding Ben identified an emerging mental health crisis among the veterans' community he was serving, stemming from the imminent US withdrawal from Afghanistan. To alleviate the the impact, Ben connected and collaborated with a number of different volunteer organizations involved in the Digital Dunkirk initiative to help evacuate Afghan allies US personal.

Services and Operations

Veterans Supporting Veterans

Flanders Fields mission is to provide mental health support, clean living assistance and job training/placement support to veterans experiencing hardships. Flanders Fields has been specifically working to alleviate unaddressed gaps in veterans welfare programs by providing immediate assistance to opiate crisis among veterans and providing longer term resettlement support towards sustainable employment. Since it's founding Flanders Fields retained a particular focus towards suicide prevention among veterans by providing long term support networks.

Flanders Fields has gained significant experience providing help to address long term physical trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) counselling for former combat soldiers. Particular focus is placed on addressing complications resulting from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Afghan Evacuation

During the early days of the evacuation Flanders Fields was involved in pulling in information and relevant vetting data on Afghan allies who needed to be evacuated. On the ground Flanders Fields provided direct coordination with Afghan evacuees through cell phone.

These efforts resulted in the rescue efforts at Kabul International Airport on August 26th, later dubbed the "Chesty Puller Family". Ben Owen, on behalf of Gus Biggio, a prominent member of the US Marine Corps, coordinated the rescue of an Afghan ally and his family of eight by having them carry giant cardboard signs saying "Chesty Puller" and the date "10th November 1775" the birthday of the US Marine Corps . This Afghan ally had assisted Gus and his marines in the Nawa district of Helmand Province during coalition military operations in the region in 2009, making him a prime target for the Taliban as the Afghan government fell. Earlier efforts had failed to get this family through the crowd gathered at the Abbey Gate of the Kabul International Airport. Flanders Fields used the name of Chesty Puller, a decorated Marine, and the date to signal to the Marines guarding the gates the identity of this ally. The family of 8 was rescued before the bombing at the Abbey Gate occurred.

Flanders Fields has been involved at various different levels in the efforts around Digital Dunkirk initiative. In collaboration with marketing intelligence company BlackRifle Co, Flanders Fields has built a means to vet and screen incoming Afghan refugees through monitoring device-activity. This device activity is then cross referenced with various open source and public domain databases to ascertain the affiliation of the device user's phone number and email address. The provision of this system to partner volunteer organizations made sure that no refugees being taken on under the care of said organizations would be without appropriate vetting. This same intelligence network has been used to locate missing relatives and to plot safe transfer of at risk high-value targets (HVT).

Flanders Field has coordinated with Operation 620 for safe houses in various cities in Afghanistan, providing safe harbors to house former US military allies from possible Taliban reprisals. Procedures implemented by various organizations under the guidance of Flanders Fields has assured a high OPSEC readiness level throughout the Afghan evacuation efforts run by private groups.

Flanders Fields continues to work closely with Moral Compass Federation, Operation North Star and Task Force Argo, all volunteer organizations coordinating evacuation flights After US withdrawal. Flanders Fields has helped Task Force Argo raise funds using Flanders Fields' 501(c)(3) status, allowing Task Force Argo to focus on it's operational details in Afghanistan for flights and safe house management.

Flanders Fields has actively collaborated with its Afghan Evacuation Coalition partners to provide food, coordinate medical support and manage transportation logistics for at risk Afghans interpreters, allies and families thereof.

On US soil, Flanders Fields continues to provide support to repatriated Afghan allies by providing direct help in resettlement efforts and special support cases that fall under extraordinary circumstances.

Ukraine Evacuations

Flanders Fields is involved in evacuating Ukrainian civilians out of areas affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Towards this end Flanders Fields is collaborating with Heart Of An Ace, Fill The Needs and Calvary Chapel church to provide food and medical support as well as conduct evacuation operations of the vulnerable segments of the population. Using the expertise gleaned from the Afghanistan evacuation operations Flanders Fields led by Ben Owen successfully evacuated 300 Ukrainians out of harms way. Through Flanders Field Ben also used his NGO network to help ease the administrative obstacles to evacuate around 10,000 Ukrainian orphans.

Leadership

The public facing portion of Flanders Fields consists of Ben Owen (founder and managing director), Robert Coleman (board member), Darrell Brown (board member), Jessica Owen (recovery/treatment lead) and Tyler Ledford (finance lead).

Executive team

The executive team for Flanders Fields consists of a diverse mix of US veterans, active duty service members, reservists, former and current State Department and Department of Defence personnel as well as civilian subject matter experts with backgrounds in business strategy, finance, education and human resources.

Ben Owen serves as the managing director of Flanders Fields, with a background in social advocacy, marketing intelligence and data analysis. Tyler Ledford, a former US Marine Corps Sergeant (Purple Heart), with education and industry background in the finance sector, serves as the executive team's finance lead. Jessica Owen, a Certified Medical Assistant, provides the team with expertise in addiction recovery and treatment programs. Brandon Deaton (formerly of US Army's 10th Mountain Division) serves as lead for traumatic brain injury and PTSD affairs.

With the advent of the fall of Kabul, multiple team members have been personally involved in evacuating Afghan friends or close professional associates from their time spent serving in Afghanistan.

Board of Directors

As of February of 2022, the board of directors of Flanders Fields consists of Rich Anderson, Darrell Brown, Robert Coleman and Sal Jaramillo.

Rich Anderson is a former member of US Marine Corps and a graduate of Naval War College, with a career spanning from 1978 to 2013. Rich continues to serve with DEA's international training programs.

Darrel Brown started his career in the US Marine Corps, then spent a number of years at the Michigan Army National Guard and then returned to the US Navy Reserve as a sailor. After 9/11 Darrell was mobilized and subsequently spent two and a half years in various positions among them 17 months in Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa. Later he would serve a farther six years as a civilian at US Department of the Army's cyber security division of PEOCS&CSS.

Sal Jaramillo, is a graduate of US Military Academy at West Point. He joined as an infantry officer and served in the Paktia Province, Afghanistan. After leaving active duty in 2014 Sal has worked in management positions in the oil and gas sector.

Robert Coleman is a graduate of US Officer Candidates School (United States Marine Corps). He completed his degree in Economics from Georgia College and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts. He is currently employed the data marketing industry.