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Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 11/12/2013 11:25:00

Good Morning.

Today is our 4,419th day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing war, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 2,287
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,105

We find this morning's Cost of War passing through:

$ 1, 488, 302, 280, 000 .00


We've not visited with our friends at IAVA in quite some time. After all, it was Paul Rieckhoff's weekly visit with the good Dr. Maddow long ago now that was the genesis for this wee little column. With yesterday being Veteran's day, there are a few stories worth checking out.


IAVA links us today to an extensive gallery at CNN, featuring many veterans and their stories. I've clicked through a couple, and it's worth your time to check some of these out.

Of course, wars don't stop because we're having a holiday. While I won't necessarily be posting the latest dispatches from the front today, there's another story that is giving me pause. We all remember the fiasco we left behind with those Iraqis that dared to help the United States by acting as translators? Many were killed, persecuted, and their families suffered through all the years we were there; perhaps even more so now that we're gone. Of course, we learned from our mistakes and won't let the same thing happen in Afghanistan, right?


KABUL — A growing number of Afghan interpreters who worked alongside American troops are being denied U.S. visas allotted by Congress because the State Department says there is no serious threat against their lives.

But the interpreters, many of whom served in Taliban havens for years, say U.S. officials are drastically underestimating the danger they face. Immigration attorneys and Afghan interpreters say the denials are occurring just as concerns about Taliban retribution are mounting due to the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

“There are tons of Talibs in my village, and they all know that I worked with the Americans,” said one interpreter, Mohammad, who asked that his last name not be published for security reasons. “If I can’t go to the States, my life is over. I swear to God, one day the Taliban will catch me.”

Mohammad received a U.S. form letter saying he had failed to establish that there was a “serious threat” against his life. He had explained in his application that the Taliban had spotted him on the job and spread word in his village that he was a wanted man.

In one particularly dangerous assignment, he was asked to mediate between U.S. soldiers and locals after an American convoy ran over and killed an Afghan child, he said.

In the initial phase of the visa process, “an applicant has to establish that he or she has experienced or is experiencing an ongoing serious threat as a consequence of employment by or on behalf of the U.S. government,” said Robert Hilton, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

He said the applications were examined by an embassy committee, which decided whether they should move forward to Washington.

Hilton and other U.S. officials would not explain what constitutes a “serious threat” or discuss specific cases in which applicants were denied visas.



I'll leave you with a story that comes close to home for your Loyal TriSec. War sometimes cuts through all facets of society, and every now and again, unlikely warriors surface and get their stories told. I've run across a story about musicians and performing artists at war. While Papa TriSec never went to combat, he did serve in the US Army in the late 1950s...primarily as a bass player in his base's jazz band. My great-uncle Ray who passed last year had his own big band after the war; our cousin Sonny served in a military band on the west coast during those years, and my own grandfather, while 4-F, nevertheless worked with the Vaughn Monroe big band during the war years entertaining the troops.


His musical pitch, vocal range or favorite aria did not come up much when B. R. McDonald, a tenor, was kicking down doors and jumping out of planes in Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the Army’s Joint Special Operations Command.

“At 12,000 feet, the last thing you’re going tell somebody is: I was an opera singer,” he said.

Mr. McDonald, who has a vocal performance degree from the University of North Carolina and sang in an a cappella group — the Clefhangers — put that side of himself aside during eight years in the military.

But when he left the service in 2009 and wanted to pursue a career in the performing arts, Mr. McDonald felt at a loss. He had not performed in years. His skills were rusty. He had no mentor, no professional contacts.

If many returning veterans have re-entry issues, those reclaiming, or starting, careers in the arts encounter unusual hurdles, Mr. McDonald said. Repertoires have gone stale. Auditions loom like dental visits. Professionals assume they are amateurs.

“Most of us are stepping into it later in life,” he said. “That presents a challenge in any industry but especially in arts and entertainment. It’s all about relationships: Who do you know?”

So Mr. McDonald started one of a growing number of organizations that are set up to give veterans with a creative bent the kind of support they need and have trouble finding.

His Veteran Artist Program helps former soldiers learn to navigate the entertainment business and pitch their projects. Its Vets on Sets initiative, for example, helps veterans start careers in filmmaking, and its visual arts project arranges gallery shows and workshops.

Last week, in honor of Veterans Day, the program — together with the veterans group Warrior Gateway — held a weeklong Arts & Service Celebration in Manhattan. The program offered networking opportunities, career development and performances. In one session, veterans pitched their ideas for projects to producers, directors and agents. WNET, the Tribeca Film Institute, the Independent Filmmaker Project and New York University’s film school were among the organization’s that sent representatives.

The week concluded on Saturday with a performance of “The Telling Project,” in which military veterans — and their family members — tell their stories onstage; various incarnations have been performed in 14 cities and nine states since 2008.

Other programs like Mr. McDonald’s include one run by the Writer’s Guild Foundation that gives veterans mentors, professional film and television writers.


As more and more of our troops come home from war, hopefully we can all be enriched by their experiences. While a 1950s style postwar prosperity is farfetched, especially given the current atmosphere in Washington, nevertheless we all must do what we can as we get away from constant war.
 

44 comments (Latest Comment: 11/12/2013 22:44:27 by Raine)
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