Helping homeless Veterans find housing is a passion Ken Leslie feels deep in his bones. He is the founder and “Chief Advocate Officer” for the non-profit Veterans Matter. While Ken never served in the military, at one time he himself was homeless and living off the streets. As a traveling standup comedian in the 1980’s Ken began to notice a greater number of homeless around the country. This led him to start a homeless project in his hometown of Toledo. [...]
The Medal of Honor was presented to Staff Sergeant David Bellavia for his actions November 10, 2004 during the second battle of Fallujah. He would become the first living Iraq War Veteran to earn our nation’s highest military decoration. He also sits on the board of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation. While clearing a block of houses in Fallujah, David and his soldiers walked into a fortified ambush. He describes it as a “house ready to blow up”. [...]
Save the Brave Executive Director Scott Huesing was asked to give the eulogy at the memorial service for David White, a high school friend and Navy Veteran. David drank himself to death. Rather than fly cross country, Scott decided to undertake a 4,600 mile roundtrip motorcycle journey in order to honor David, raise awareness about the Post Traumatic Stress issues still bedeviling Veterans and raise funds for Save the Brave programs that help address this issue. Scott has never ridden [...]
Soldier Strong was originally established by Christopher Meek as “Soldiers Socks” in 2009. Chris was in the World Trade Center towers on September 11th and was responsible for getting 29 persons out on that day. Following those attacks Chris knew he had to do something to give back but didn’t know what form that would take. A few years later Chris learned from a Marine Corps mentor that some deployed troops were lacking essentials like socks and baby wipes. He [...]
Gary Sinise Foundation CEO Robin Rand joins us to discuss their programs in support of military members, first responders and their families. He updates us on the Foundation’s Emergency COVID-19 Combat Service program. Since March 9, this new element of their programming has funded over 5,000 pieces of PPE and large scale decontamination equipment for 56 first responder units in 25 states. Over $700,000 of the $ 1 million raised for this program has already been allocated and Robin assures [...]
Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation President and CEO Michael “Rod” Rodriguez certainly has the “bonafides” to lead this initiative. Military service is a “family business”; his grandfathers served in World War II and his father served in Vietnam. Rod’s wife is a Veteran and his son currently serves with the 82nd Airborne. Rod himself served 21 years, much of it as a member of the elite Green Berets. Green Berets are often the “first to go” and it was [...]
A glance at Dr. Alice Atalanta’s educational background would never give you a clue that she would become such a strong and vocal advocate for Veterans. She holds two Bachelor’s degrees, three Masters, and a Ph.D. – none of them in disciplines that have anything to do with the military. However, her mission has become one parallel to American Warrior Radio; to advocate by serving as a translator between the military and civilian communities. In a recent Havok Journal article, [...]
Service dogs and their relationships with the Veterans they help is the subject of a wonderful new documentary directed and produced by award winning filmmaker Josh Aronson. Josh and Tom Flood, one of the Veterans featured in “To Be of Service” join us for a discussion. Josh was “pitched” the concept several times before he felt prepared to do the project. However, he says doing the documentary changed him. “I saw the human species in a different way. It’s humbling [...]
The Second Mission Foundation was formed by Lt. Col. Charles Faint and other Veterans associated with The Havok Journal . Charles is a career Army Military Intelligence officer who has spent a great deal of his career in the intelligence community. He is also the owner of The Havok Journal. We are honored that he chose American Warrior Radio as the first forum to publicly announce the Second Mission Foundation. The Second Mission Foundation is a non-profit that was formed [...]
The Arizona 9/11 “Never Forgotten” Tower Challenge is believed to be the nation’s largest Sept. 11 memorial event using exclusively first responders, military members and their families. Last year over 2,000 participants accepted the challenge to climb 2,071 steps, equal to the number of floors in the World Trade Center Towers. The event has raised nearly $200,000 for charities that support military and first responder families. Rob Brandt is a Tucson Police Dept. Sergeant and President of the 9/11 Tower [...]