| VetVoice is the online home of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. It is for Active Duty, Reserve, and National Guard members, as well as for veterans, their families, and their supporters. VetVoice is where we can come together to sound off on the issues that concern all of us.
VetVoice aims to be a nexus for information and opinion on war news, war politics, deployments, optempo, veterans' issues, troops' families' issues, and more.
Editor
Richard Smith
Formerly known throughout the blogosphere as "RockRichard," Richard Smith was raised in northwest Florida and enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 18. After serving a stint with the 6th Cavalry and the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea, Richard was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In 2007 he deployed with his unit to Afghanistan where he served as an NCO for 15 months. He returned home in April 2008.
In addition to VetVoice, Richard's writing has appeared on Daily Kos, Attackerman, and on the now defunct Wordsmiths blog. His work has been noted in the Wall Street Journal and he's been interviewed by the New Yorker magazine, the Washington Independent, on Air America Radio, Indie Talk Radio, and several other media outlets across the country.
Richard has a two-year old daughter.
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Contributing Writers
Chris LeJeune
Chris LeJeune joined the Army in 1998 as an infantryman. He went through OSUT at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was then stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. In 2000, Chris was deployed to Kuwait for Operation Desert Spring. Upon returning five months later, he transitioned to the 6th MP Group (CID), where he did an 18-month internship as a Military Police Investigator. Chris was assigned shortly thereafter as a training NCO for MP's who were deploying to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom.
Chris left active duty in June 2002, and joined the Utah Army National Guard. Initially he was with the REC unit of the 19th Special Forces, however, he then transitioned to become a combat engineer (Explosives and Demolitions) with the 1457th Engineer Combat Battalion. He was deployed with his unit on February 8, 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Chris served in Baghdad and Dogwood until May 2004. He returned home with 60% disability for PTSD and bilateral hearing loss (as an AT-4 had been fired next to his left ear).
Chris left the Army after receiving an honorable discharge and enrolled in college. He earned a BS in Computer Science, and now works for Oracle. Chris lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife, Christine, and their four daughters.
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Kayla Williams
Kayla Williams is a former sergeant and Arabic linguist in a Military Intelligence company of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). During her year in Iraq, Kayla spent her time at the forefront of U.S. interactions with Iraqis, while simultaneously navigating the challenges that come with being part of the 15 percent of the Army that is female.
Kayla is the author of Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army, a memoir of her experiences negotiating the changing demands on today's military. Kayla graduated cum laude with a BA in English Literature from Bowling Green State University, and earned her Masters in International Affairs with a focus on the Middle East from American University. She currently lives near Washington, D.C. with her husband Brian McGough, a fellow veteran.
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Matthew Alexander
Matthew Alexander (a pseudonym) is a former senior military interrogator and author of How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq. He led an elite interrogation team in Iraq that located Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the former Al Qaida leader, who was killed in a subsequent airstrike. He has conducted more than 300 interrogations and supervised more than 1,000. Alexander has served for 17 years in the Air Force and Air Force Reserves. He is currently a Fellow at the Open Society Institute.
Kate Hoit
Formerly known throughout the blogosphere as "GI Kate," 25, served as an Army photojournalist in Balad, Iraq, from 2004 to 2005, with the 301st Area Support Group out of Queens, New York. She was raised in Albany, New York and joined the Army Reserves at 17. She has served eight years in the Reserves. She is pursing a bachelor's degree in journalism at the State University of New York at Albany and is working on a documentary film about women in the military.
In addition to maintaining a blog, gikate.com, she has appeared in the History Channel documentary special Band Of Bloggers and has guest blogged for The New York Times The Caucus: The Politics and Government Blog of The Times.
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EyesOnly
"EyesOnly" is an Active Duty Noncommissioned Officer who joined the Army in November 1999. He has served in duty locations across the United States and around the world. Currently, EyesOnly is scheduled to deploy to Iraq in mid-December, 2009 for his second Operation Iraqi Freedom tour. While deployed, EyesOnly will offer a unique perspective on issues as they relate to Soldiers and Veterans and also will seek to shed light on the day to day life that our Soldiers are living, as the US draws down in one theater, only to build up in another.
EyesOnly states that he hopes to use blogging as a platform to "ensure that our military is not used to further anymore wild adventures, and to hold accountable those who send the military into harms way. Troops are not just numbers, we are human beings with families, loved ones, and should be seen as an American asset, not just chattel to throw at an inconvenient foreign policy problem."
EyesOnly is married and the father of four daughters. |
