This week, we’ll discover Fort Snelling’s last war with military historian Stephan Osman and, with the holidays quickly approaching, Les Hanson of Toys4Military Kids will join us to talk about how you can help kids in need.

This week’s featured veteran in Army Capt. Ryan Curl. Ryan just returned from his first tour in Afghanistan having also completed a tour in Iraq. As a Logistics Officer with the Minnesota National Guard, he was a Military Advisor for the Afghan National Army. He has experience managing several support organizations in addition to recruiting and marketing for the Army ROTC program at the University of Minnesota. He’s also held civilian jobs for the American Red Cross and at a family owned bank.

This week we discover an innovative University of Minnesota invention that’s saving the lives of Soldiers in Afghanistan and police officers here at home and we’ll take a look at Minnesota’s Warrant Officer Corps with the state’s Command Chief Warrant Officer. Guests include:

This week we talk with former Navy Captain, now Representative, Chip Cravaak about his service in the military and congress. We also talk with Eric Carranza about his work bringing the joy of music to Minnesota’s veterans’ home.

This week’s veteran is former Navy Corpman Bill Lamoreaux. Bill served 8 years as a Navy Corpsman with the Marines during the Gulf War and continued his service with the Naval Reserve out of Fort Snelling. For the past 17 years, Bill has worked for a local financial business providing IT support, networking, web administration and web development services. He is currently looking for a position in Web Development, Web Administration or similar.

Bill and hundreds of others are ready to work hard on their next mission. Can we Hire Minnesota’s Heroes? To connect with Bill contact the Blaine WorkForce Center at 763-279-4342 or to learn more, visit: PositivelyMinnesota.com/Veterans.

This week the 55th Civil Support Team‘s Air Force Staff Sgt. Josh Joyce told about how this National Guard team uses there significant capabilities to assist local and state agencies that may be overwhelmed by and intentional or unintentional natural or man-made disasters.  We also had a conversation with Alan Duff and Alex Tittle about the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Veteran Outreach Project.

This week’s veteran is Staff Sargeant Jim Davis of Columbia Heights.  Jim has served in Germany, Viet Nam, Korea and the US for over 21 years as a cook and mess steward supervisor.  Also he worked as an instructor in food services and fed up to 10,000 servicemen at one time.  He has completed amphibious training at the Little Creek Naval Base in Norfolk, VA.   He is always there during any situation including 2 hurricanes off the coast of New York and Ft Hood, TX.  Now Jim wants to work in Customer Service and continue serving our community.

Jim and hundreds of others are ready to work hard on their next mission.  To connect with Jim Davis contact the South Minneapolis Work Force Center at 612-821-4009. To learn more, visit Positively Minnesota.

This week we find out about a study from the University of Minnesota with the help of the Minnesota National Guard and Reserves that studies family resilience and is developing tools to support resilience among military families as they cope with the stress of deployment and reintegration.  We also talked with Mike Polehna and heard out about the upcoming Welcome Home the Troops Pheasant Hunt at Wild Wings of Oneka.

This week’s veteran is Sgt. Krista Hanson from Blaine, Minnesota. Krista just returned from his first tour in Iraq and Kuwait. As a Human Resources Non-commissioned Officer with the Minnesota National Guard, she was responsible for maintaining and updating the unit’s personnel files and any handling administrative issues. She is also pursuing a degree in Business and Administration.

Krista and hundreds of others are ready to work hard on their next mission.  To connect with Krista Hanson contact the South Minneapolis Work Force Center at 612-821-4009. To learn more, visit Positively Minnesota.