A veteran is a person who has significant experience and expertise in an occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer in a military.
Embedded journalism refers to news reporters being attached to military units involved in armed conflicts. While the term could be applied to many historical interactions between journalists and military personnel, it first came to be used in the media coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The United States military responded to pressure from the country's news media who were disappointed by the level of access granted during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
Paul (P.J.) Rieckhoff is an American writer, social entrepreneur, activist and veteran of the United States Army and the Iraq War. He is the president of Righteous Media Inc and the host of the Independent Americans podcast. Prior to that, he was the founder, CEO and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), a non-partisan non-profit founded in 2004. He served as an Army first lieutenant and infantry rifle platoon leader in Iraq from 2003 through 2004. Rieckhoff was released from the Army National Guard in 2007. He is also the Karl Lowenstein Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in the Political Science Department at Amherst College, where he designed and taught a class on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, titled Understanding 9/11.
ABF The Soldiers' Charity, formerly the Army Benevolent Fund, is the national charity of the British Army. Since 1944, it has provided a lifetime of support to soldiers, veterans and their immediate families when they are in need.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse over time and can result in dementia.
Aaron Glantz is a Peabody Award-winning radio, print and television journalist who produces public interest stories. His reporting has sparked more than a dozen Congressional hearings, a raft of federal legislation and led to criminal probes by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission. Because of his reporting, 500,000 fewer U.S. military veterans face long waits for disability compensation, while 100,000 fewer veterans are prescribed highly addictive narcotics by the government.
The Ground Truth is a 2006 documentary film about veterans of the Iraq War. It was directed and produced by Patricia Foulkrod.
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) veterans organization founded by Paul Rieckhoff, an American writer, social entrepreneur, advocate, activist and veteran of the United States Army and the Iraq War. He served as an Army First Lieutenant and infantry rifle platoon leader in Iraq from 2003 through 2004. Rieckhoff was released from the Army National Guard in 2007.
Marcus Luttrell is a retired United States Navy SEAL who received the Navy Cross and Purple Heart for his actions in June 2005 against Taliban fighters during Operation Red Wings in which he was the lone survivor. Luttrell became an SO1 by the end of his eight-year career in the United States Navy.
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is a global counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks and is also the most recent global conflict spanning multiple wars. The main targets of the campaign were militant Islamist and Salafi jihadist armed organisations such as al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and their international affiliates, which were waging military insurgencies to overthrow governments of various Muslim-majority countries. Other major targets included the Ba'athist regime in Iraq, which was deposed during an invasion in 2003, and various militant factions that fought during the ensuing insurgency.
Jonathan Shay is an American doctor and clinical psychiatrist. He holds a B.A. from Harvard (1963), and an M.D. (1971) and a Ph.D. (1972) from the University of Pennsylvania. He is best known for his publications comparing the experiences of Vietnam veterans with the descriptions of war and homecoming in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
Rethink Afghanistan is a 2009 documentary by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films, about the US military presence in Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Daniel Leonard Bernardi is a professor of Cinema at San Francisco State University, founder and President of El Dorado Films and Commander in the United States Navy Reserve. Bernardi earned a Bachelor of Arts in Radio-TV (1984) and a Masters of Arts in Media Arts (1988) from the University of Arizona. He went on to earn a PhD in Film and Television Studies from UCLA (1994) and he completed a University of California postdoctoral research fellowship in 1997.
American Widow Project (AWP) is a non-profit organization providing peer to peer support to a new generation of military widows grieving the loss of a spouse in the United States armed forces.
Shannon P. Meehan is a public speaker, author of a critically acclaimed memoir and spokesman for veterans' issues. He is a retired captain in the United States Army. He was a tank platoon leader in the 1st Cavalry Division. He served with the U.S. Army in the Iraq War, where he earned the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and an Army Commendation Medal for Valor, among other honors. In September 2007, Meehan was injured in an IED strike during the Battle of Baqubah. Meehan spent two years completing rehabilitation and was officially retired in November 2009. Through speaking engagements across the country, Meehan has become a spokesperson for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder. Meehan, now retired, is finishing his degree to become an English teacher. He taught at North Penn High School in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, during the final part of the 2013–2014 school year.
Operation In Their Boots (OITB) is a film fellowship launched by the In Their Boots division of Brave New Foundation. The OITB program, led by executive producer Richard Ray Perez, provided five Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with the opportunity to write, produce, and direct their own documentaries about veterans. The film fellowships were fully funded and each participant was provided with a budget to make their film, as well as a stipend for their work. In addition, they were supported by the professional production team at In Their Boots.
Tristan Dyer is an American film director, stop-motion animator, and Iraq war veteran from Waldoboro, Maine. He served in the U.S. Army for five years and spent one year at Camp Taji, Iraq with an Air Cavalry unit. After being honorably discharged from the Army in 2005, Dyer attended the Brooks Institute of Photography in Ventura, California where he earned a BA in Visual Journalism.
Chris Mandia is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director, and Iraq War veteran from San Pedro, California. He was a U.S. Marine infantryman and served two combat tours in Iraq, including the battle for Fallujah. Mandia has won numerous awards for his work and received a Jack Nicholson scholarship to attend the MFA program at the University of Southern California's film school. In 2010, he received an Operation In Their Boots fellowship and “Get Some,” a film he authored, was a Cannes Film Festival selection. In 2012 he co-wrote the multimedia physical theatre piece, Trajectories: Transformations with Meron Langsner for Evet Arts. The piece was based on interviews with servicemen from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and was performed in Boston and Chicago.
The Gray Team, currently evolved into the Grey Team, and more formally known as the Joint Neurosciences Inspection Team, was the name given to a series of special inspection units commissioned by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to serve as mechanism to help improve the care of American forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their missions were particularly focused on the "invisible wounds of war" such as traumatic brain injury or post traumatic stress.
Lieutenant Colonel Garth Callender is the author of After the Blast: An Australian Officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, published by Black Inc. in 2015.
