'Extremely rewarding': Columbia resident serves with Travis Mills Foundation to assist recalibrated veterans

Pamela Schroeder married John Swan Jr. in 1987, just three years into his 23-year military career and with little knowledge of the lasting effects her experiences as an Army wife would have on her future.

Her experiences ignited her passion for service members and their families through her work at Veterans United Home Loans and further as a member of the Travis Mills Foundation board of directors since May 2020.

In the early days of marriage, Swan recalled thinking the worst thing she would have to experience was her husband being deployed.

While he was away at training, she found out she was pregnant with the pair's first child.

"The next time I saw him, I was eight and a half months pregnant," she said. "I flew for the first time in my entire life to West Point to visit him so he could see me pregnant."

Shortly after she gave birth, John was deployed overseas for operation Desert Storm.

Throughout his time away serving in the United States Army, she recalled feeling lonely and questioning her decision to take up the difficult lifestyle.

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She quickly learned to rely on relationships with others, primarily other women and families in the cul-de-sacs and neighborhoods where they were stationed.

Both while John was away and when he was home, the two battled financial struggles, but were able to hold their heads above water thanks to Pamela's ability to work, even when having to take care of the couple's children on her own.

Over the past 35 years, she has dedicated her life to aiding active duty and veteran soldiers with financial difficulties and adjusting to their "new normal."

She spoke of a passion for aiding junior enlisted and military families, educating them about handling finances.

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"I knew that if I could bring anything from my past to today's military from my time as a military wife and show them all the benefits and how to take those and use them for our betterment, it's financial," she said. "I will never be somebody that says service members make enough money. ... I wanted to make (finances) my mission."

For over 10 years, she has worked at Veterans United. She currently serves as the vice president of military relations and business development.

She has since been appointed to the Travis Mills Foundation as a member of the board of directors. In the role, she aids in budgeting, scheduling, creating programs and making decisions with the group.

The foundation supports recalibrated veterans and their families through various programs that help the men and women overcome physical and emotional obstacles, strengthen their families and provide rest and relaxation.

So far, the non-profit has served 882 families from 44 states.

Some of the adaptive and traditional activities include yoga, bass fishing, pottery, martial arts, horseback riding and massage therapy.

Honor was her primary feeling when she received a call from foundation Chairman Jim Shubert that Mills had requested a phone call with her to discuss the possibility of adding her to the team.

"I'm sitting there the whole time thinking, here's a man that has lost so much and he decided on having a foundation within 12 months of having every extremity blown off his body." she said. "... I couldn't understand why he would want somebody like me on the board. He saw something bigger and I'm grateful that he thought I could accent the board and help it move forward to the next phase. It's been extremely rewarding."

While in Boston for a Veterans United work trip, she was given the opportunity to visit one of the foundation's retreats in Maine.

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"They're very protective of the veterans' privacy there," she recalled. "I felt I was in this secure place from the moment the gates opened to the estate. When I met Travis, I felt like I had been sitting around a fireplace talking to him for years."

The retreat is hosted in the Belgrade Lakes Region, providing an all-inclusive, all-expenses-paid, barrier-free experience for the families of veterans who have been injured in active duty or as a result of service to the country.

His kindness and desire to make her feel comfortable are unique traits she remembered sticking out to her from her visit, she said.

"When I'm talking to Travis and many of our other veterans that may have lost limbs or are burn victims, I don't see those disabilities," she said. "If anything, I see more than what they had before. Travis is one of those examples."

The foundation role melds with what she already does at Veterans United, and at times she struggles to remember which job she is working that day, she said.

Joining the foundation's board was a natural next step.

"That's what makes it so fun. There are so many similarities that there are a lot of times that I get to reference one with the other," she said. "... It is so satisfying to me that I am able to do this and hopefully make an impact."

Lauren Tronstad covers local government and politics for the Tribune. Contact her at LTronstad@gannett.com or on Twitter @LaurenTronstad.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbian serves on foundation assisting recalibrated veterans