April 2016

Wins for Warriors and Brig. General Allison Hickey (ret) This week on Veterans Radio: Sandy Hudson, Executive Director/CEO of the Wins For Warriors Foundation, Brigadier General Allison Hickey USAF (ret).

Wins for Warriors Foundation advocates for and invests in resources that engage veterans and their families to live a resilient life.

In August 2013, Detroit Tigers All-Star pitcher Justin Verlander announced a commitment of $1 million to launch Wins for Warriors. Wins for Warriors united with other philanthropic leaders in April 2014 when the organization participated in the launch of the White House’s Joining Forces Initiative Impact Pledge.

“I launched Wins for Warriors with a mission to empower those returning from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan who stand ready to continue to serve on behalf of all of us. By supporting their well-being and overall behavioral health, we can impact not just their lives but the lives of their family and work to build a healthier community for all.” Justin Verlander.

And…Retired Brig. Gen. Allison A. Hickey was part of the first class of female cadets to graduate from the Air Force Academy in 1980, and rose through ranks to become a brigadier general during her 27-year military career. She worked for several years in private-sector technology and customer service work before returning to federal service with the VA in 2011.

In October 2015 Allison Hickey, the Veterans Affairs Department’s top benefits official and arguably the most polarizing figure in the VA leadership ranks in recent years, stepped down from her post amid praise from her colleagues and renewed attacks from her critics. As under secretary for benefits, Hickey oversaw more than 20,000 VA employees and the delivery of benefits to more than 12 million veterans and their families. She was one of the last holdovers from former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki’s tenure, frequently praised by top officials for her efforts to modernize the department and her dedication to veterans.

“She has been an exceptional colleague and an even better friend to me,” VA Secretary Bob McDonald said in a statement. “Her commitment to excellence and service to our country is unquestioned.”

Humor in Uniform

This week on Veterans Radio join host, Dale Throneberry, and his guests authors Bob Woolsey and Mark Benvenuto as we take a humorous look at their outrageous antics while attempting to serve our country. We all knew guys like these when we served. Many provided the comic relieve we needed. We loved them then and we still do. Don’t miss this fun filled hour on Veterans Radio.

General’s Briefer. A hilarious story based on the two year military experience of Bob Woolsey at the Pentagon. After ROTC, a Fulbright Grant to Germany, and law school, Bob finally enters the Army at the height of the Vietnam War. He is a klutz who, with a little brains, makes it through Basic Infantry Training, and is lucky enough to be assigned as an Oral Briefing Officer to the General Staff. His only duty is to announce the ultra–Top Secret world news every morning, from the hush–hush “Black Book.” He takes us through his personal hell at Fort Benning to his eventual triumph as the favorite newscaster to the Chief of Army Intelligence. He poignantly describes the astonishing events of those times as well. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy; riots at the Chicago Democratic Convention; the Hippie March on the Pentagon; the rise of Mu’umaar Qaddaffi and Saddam Hussein—and the day we put a man on the Moon. It’s a wonderful lifetime of History that takes place in just two years.

Twisted Tales from VMI. Mark Benvenuto takes a humorous irreverent look back at his four years at The Virginia Military Institute. “The West Point of the South”

From the preface:” A word or two of caution, dear reader:
This is a compilation of stories of times at VMI, a little college in Lexington, Virginia with a big foot print. Plenty of folks have written some memoir of their college years, but this is probably very different precisely because VMI is very different from most other schools. That can be a source of great pride or eternal puzzlement, depending on you point of view, and how sober you are when discussing it”

Praise for Twisted Tales from VMI

“I laughed till I stopped!” ~ Dave Hagemann, ‘80  “Me, too.” ~ John Cooper, ‘83

“Written proof my roommate was in serious need of some psychiatric help.” ~Matt Waring, ‘83

“The funniest thing I have read since the last funny thing I read.” ~Tom Hathaway, ‘72

“That boy is nuttier than pecan pie!” ~ Lynn Seldon, ’83, author Virginia’s Ring

“I’m now convinced my Brother Rat was dropped on his head as a youngster – many, many times.”
~Scott Belliveau, ‘83

Battle Rattle. This week on Veterans Radio we look back at World War II through the eyes of 94 year old WWII veteran Roger Boas.

“The war has changed me in ways that will take the better part of my life to understand, let alone make peace with,” begins Roger Boas in his thoughtful, compelling account of World War II. As part of the Fourth Armored Division, he found himself at the spearhead of the Allied thrust into Europe. His memoir, Battle Rattle: A Last Memoir of World War II,  re-creates both the tension of the battlefield and the camaraderie behind the front line. It also relates his harrowing experience as a Jew of being one of the first American soldiers to discover a Nazi concentration camp. Boas reveals the powerful impact of war on those who fight them.

“The veterans of WWII are leaving us now, more and more of them each day and year stepping into our collective memory of the sacrifices they made nearly three-quarters of a century ago. Battle Rattle is a moving, honest and highly readable memoir of a young man, now 94 years old, who fought from Normandy to the German surrender as a forward observer for an artillery battalion in Patton’s army is an opportunity to more fully appreciate what young naive Americans learned about war and killing in the American campaign to end the war. Of particular interest to me and a point I had never thought about, was the contrast in the realities of men dying every day in the face of determined German resistance while back home people had already begun to talk about how the war was coming to a close. Roger Boas is a hero, not because of some extraordinary feat of arms a la Audie Murphy, but because he did his duty day in and day out knowing that each day could well be his last. You ought to have this book in your library just to remind you of the courage of those millions who stepped forward when the call came.” Bob Pearson rated it 4 stars on Goodreads.com