On this episode of Behind the Mission, we feature a conversation with Danitza “Dee” James, a U.S. Army Combat Veteran and CEO of Repatriate Our Patriots, an organization that focuses on bridging the gaps for the repatriation of deported servicemembers and their reintegration back into the United States.  

 

DANITZA G. JAMES, M.S.W.

Danitza “Dee” James is the Executive Director at Repatriate Our Patriots (ROP). A U.S. Army Combat Veteran, military spouse and a passionate Macro Social Worker specializing in Military Programs & Policy. Dee Immigrated to Yuma, AZ from Mexico in 1996 where she learned English and graduated high school before joining the U.S. Army in June 2001.

Dee graduated from The University of Southern California (USC) with a Masters in Social Work. Dee is a first-generation graduate with over 15 years of experience working with servicemembers, military families, wounded veterans, and families of the fallen in the non-profit and federal government. Dee is married to Retired U.S. Army Combat Veteran, Sergeant Major Jade M.W. James.

Dee served on active duty for six years and completed two combat tours to Iraq in 2003 and 2005 where she served as an M2. 50 caliber machine gunner conducting escort missions for civilian contractors thorough Iraq. Her military career and journey have fueled her passion to help servicemembers and their families on every aspect of military life and civilian transition.

Dee volunteers as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Repatriate Our Patriots, a 501c3 non-profit organization that focuses on bridging the gaps for the repatriation of deported servicemembers and their reintegration back into the United States. As a servicemember who served as a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) who was not able to obtain Citizenship while in service due to deployments and training, Dee’s short-term goal is to stop future deportations and bring home those in exile.

Dee’s passion lies within, Human Rights Advocacy, Mental Health, Prevention and Repatriation of Deported Veterans, Suicide Prevention, Sexual Assault & Harassment Prevention. Her passion extends to the development and advocacy of programs, policy and legislation that impact the military community. Dee was instrumental in the passing of The Brandon Caserta Act and the lobbying and introduction of key articles of the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that will begin the work on how Military Sexual Assault & Harassment cases are handled in the Military.

This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the Behind the Mission podcast episode 52 featuring Scott Tirocchi, Veteran Courts and the organization Justice for Vets. In this episode, we talk about the importance of veteran treatment courts and the need to support justice involved veterans. 

 

You can see find this course here: https://psycharmor.org/podcast/scott-tirocchi

 

This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.

 

Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.