During The Real World Brooklyn, Ryan Conklin visited the VA Medical Center in Manhattan. He stated that his reason for going was to find out what the main needs of returning soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq are and how the VA takes care of them. What he found out was that, with many soldiers having trouble transitioning back into civilian life, "the VA is constantly trying to do everything they can and as much as they can. And the way that one of the doctors put it, is, 'we don't want to happen to the current day veterans, of the latest generation, what happened to, say, the Vietnam veterans when they came home.'"
Ryan acknowledged that some of the conditions that he was told about were things that he could relate to. He said he planned to get a check up for not only for his knees and ankles, but also for his general anger and for the anxiety he feels sometimes when he is in a crowd. He expected that it would be something he would need to continue with back in Pennsylvania after his RW experience.
Ryan was impressed that there were so many people at the VA willing to help for all kinds of medical conditions. He said he was shocked to find out how wide ranging the benefits are, including medical, dental, education, etc. In Confessional, he said he encourages all veterans, even if they think they are in perfect health, to go to the VA and get checked out.
"Though people may feel alone with some of their problems, and feel like, 'maybe this is just me being stupid,' or, 'I feel like this [(stupid)] just because it's totally unrelated.' (And it may be related.) It's not the first time [people at the VA] have heard that, so honestly, no one's by themselves. I encourage everyone to get out there."
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