Live Ft Bragg Stories Event 2018

On Saturday AUG 18 at 11 AM WUNC is hosting another LIVE Ft Bragg Stories event.  It’s at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville (map below).  This is part of the radio/podcast series we’ve been producing this year.  We were invited to be a part of this weekend’s National Airborne Day activities and have been working with the following storytellers:

Kelly Rodriguez is a recently retired Army medic who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.  She is also married to a retired soldier and mother of an active duty soldier.

Jay Huwieler spent 10 years in the Army. He recalls one of the hardest, and longest, days of his military career- the twenty-four hours after his friend and fellow soldier was killed.

Joanna Nunez is a professional counselor who specializes in helping soldiers and their family members deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. But it took years to realize her own father, a Vietnam veteran, was suffering from PTSD as well. Working together, they've been able to make peace with his past and find new ways to help soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Maj. Ivan Castro (retired) lost his sight fighting in Iraq. After months of recovery, he went on to become the only blind officer serving in the Special Forces. Since then, he has run marathons, run with the bulls in Pamploma, trekked across the Antarctic with Prince Harry, and become a mentor to wounded service members.

Sgt. Maj. LaMonta Caldwell (retired) has served with two Airborne units, the 82nd and the 173rd. In the course of his 31 year military career, he's done everything from delivering humanitarian aid to his hometown of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to fighting in some of the harshest terrain in Afghanistan.