Episodes

  • Indomitable Spirit; The Joy of Rebuilding a Life’s Purpose!

    Indomitable Spirit; The Joy of Rebuilding a Life’s Purpose!
    Nov 10 2023
    Former Army medic Chris Swift has shared several podcasts with us. You will find his experiences leading up to this Friday August 12 episode on the podcast episode page of our webpage. Today we continue Chris’ transition experiences after his 55 month deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan serving as a combat medic. After years of […]
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    41 mins
  • Veteran Knows Wounds of the Body and Spirit

    Veteran Knows Wounds of the Body and Spirit
    Sep 20 2023
      Veteran Brian Eisch of Luxemburg, WI, spent 20 years in the Army. He was wounded during an ambush in Afghanistan, which resulted in the amputation of one of his legs. Eisch is the subject of a documentary movie, “Father Soldier Son,” which was filmed over a 10-year period. While he laments the loss of […]
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    57 mins
  • Facilitating Group Healing

    Facilitating Group Healing
    Sep 17 2023
    Mary Haupt is a readjustment counseling therapist at the La Crosse Vet Center in Wisconsin. She works with service members and veterans who have experienced trauma and other adverse experiences while serving in the military, including those who have experienced military sexual trauma. Extensively trained in trauma-informed therapy, she is also an EMDR therapist. Mary […]
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    51 mins
  • Working to Understand Moral Injuries

    Working to Understand Moral Injuries
    Aug 28 2023
    Mike Gemignani is a U.S. Army veteran who spent two tours in Iraq as a 13F forward observer with the 1-502 Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. He completed a short stint in college before his enlistment in 2004 and, after exiting the military, returned to school to pursue a career in biomedical electronics. […]
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    59 mins
  • Companions on Four Legs

    Companions on Four Legs
    Aug 5 2023
    Lani Rethaber, executive director of Patriot K9s of Wisconsin, is a Marine Corps and Wisconsin Army National Guard Veteran. Lani has a passion for helping Veterans and in 2019 started as a volunteer at Patriot K9s. Patriot K9s, a Central Wisconsin-based nonprofit, raises and trains psychiatric service dogs for disabled veterans. He has since become the […]
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    32 mins
  • From Clearing Combat Zone Roads to Clearing the Mind

    From Clearing Combat Zone Roads to Clearing the Mind
    Jul 28 2023
      West-central Wisconsin veteran Amanda McCune Cassidy’s U.S. Army service included a deployment to Afghanistan 2009-2010 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. During her deployment, she was one of a few females to do route clearance — working with explosive ordinance disposal technicians from different service branches to clear roads of improvised explosive devices; she […]
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    31 mins
  • ‘Uncle Tony’ Seeks Personal Peace

    ‘Uncle Tony’ Seeks Personal Peace
    Jul 21 2023
    Wisconsin Rapids-area veteran Cory Poast joined the U.S. Army when he was 34 years old. He served in Hawaii, and then deployed to Mosul, Iraq, in 2008, and served a year in-country. He works to find personal peace through humor, music, nature and sarcasm — working to keep toxicity out of his life. He notes, […]
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    32 mins
  • Telling the Military Sexual Trauma Story

    Telling the Military Sexual Trauma Story
    Jul 14 2023
    Sarah Blum has experienced first-hand the traumas of war, having served as a surgical nurse in the Vietnam War. She also has experienced another form of trauma faced by many veterans: military sexual trauma. Sarah wrote about MST in her book, Women Under Fire: Abuse in the Military, and continues to travel the nation advocating […]
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    29 mins