A Five Part Series from TTBOOK!

Public Radio International

Wisconsin Public Radio

PART FIVE: COMING HOME

Program 09-11-22-A

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President Obama says our combat mission in Iraq will end by August 31, 2010. This leaves many unanswered questions. What was our mission in Iraq? Did we succeed? What will become of the country we invaded? Whatever the answers, our troops are coming home. But what are they coming home to? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll talk with Iraq War veterans about the challenges of coming home. And, what about us? Are WE ready for THEM?

SEGMENT 1:

President Obama reminds us that he intends to end combat operations in Iraq by August 31, 2010 as we spend this hour surveying just what the troops are coming home to, and what it has all meant. Major Steve Beck is a Marine Casualty Notification Officer. Journalist Jim Sheeler wrote his book, "Final Salute," about him. Sheeler tells Anne Strainchamps that a Marine family's worst fear is seeing Major Beck at their door. Also, Iraq War veteran Sergeant John McCary reads an e-mail he sent his family in 2004 about the brutal nature of the insurgency.

SEGMENT 2:

Kyle Haussmann-Stokes, like many returning Iraq War veterans, struggled alone with his PTSD. Eventually he got help and made a film called "Now, After." He talks with Jim Fleming. Stokes is currently a film student at USC.

SEGMENT 3:

We hear the Commanding Officer of Fort Campbell, home of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, recorded when the based closed down for three days following a rash of eleven suicides. And, Brigadier General Loree Sutton is the military's top-ranking psychiatrist and Director of the Pentagon's Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. She talks with Steve Paulson about what the military is doing to combat the alarming statistics concerning suicide, alcoholism and PTSD in returning vets. Also, Anne Strainchamps talked with Colby Buzzell over 4 years ago after he returned from his first tour of duty in Iraq. At that time, having seen a lot of heavy combat, Buzzell wanted to sort out what had happened, get himself back together and take advantage of the GI bill for college. Now, Buzzell has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and struggles with addiction. He and Anne talked again. A collection of Colby Buzzell's Iraq War blog entries can be found in his book, "My War."

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 09-11-22-A.

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Books & CDs:

Jim Sheeler, Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives (The Penguin Press)
Colby Buzzell, My War: Killing Time in Iraq (Putnam)

Websites:

• Colby Buzzell’s blog “MY WAR”: http://cbftw.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html
• For a very powerful animated blog story by Colby Buzzell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDG4cZ0Cx2Q&feature=related
• To see the films of Kyle Haussmann-Stokes: http://www.kylehs.com/
• Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America: http://iava.org/
• For more on the Pentagon’s “Real Warriors” campaign (including watching PSAs): http://www.realwarriors.net/
• John McCary’s piece “The Fallen” was read by Jon McCary. Used by permission of the artist and the National Endowment for the Arts’ Operation Homecoming Initiative. For more information (including a free download of the book “Operation Homecoming Guide for Writers”):
  http://www.arts.gov/national/homecoming/guide.html
  

Music:

• Taps/The US Army Ceremonial Band/A Patriotic Salute to the Military Family/Cocker and McCree Inc. Music.
• Down Slow/Moby/Play/Little Idiots Records
• MK1/Radiohead/In Rainbows/Radiohead web release
• The music for John McCary’s piece “The Fallen” is original and by Jess Atkins: http://www.jessatkins.com/
• Building Steam with a Grain of Salt/DJ Shadow/Entroducing/Mo Wax Records
• The Rooster/Alice in Chains/Dirt/Virgin Records
• Original theme music for “Boots on the Ground: Stories from the War in Iraq” was written by Steve Mullen at Walk West Productions. http://walkwestworld.com

Distribution dates: week of 11/22/2009 - hour 1 click HERE for timings and cues

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