Tag Archive for: Afghanistan

 

Tim Kerr (right) and Kabul Area Office resident engineer Randy Braley brief TAA commander Col. Michael J. Price, Kabul Area Office officer in charge Col. Richard Heitkamp at the site of a project that began as an open field near a village. (Official USACE TAA photo by T.W. Lyman/released)

 (Credit: T.W. Lyman, Army Corps of Engineers)

This week, we check in on the rebuilding efforts and drawdown in Afghanistan and with more and more aging veterans being cared for at home, we discover a respite option available for them and their caregivers. Guests include:

  • Army Col. Michael Price of the Afghanistan Engineer District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  • Ann Rostratter & Craig Barness of the Minneapolis Veterans Home’s Adult Day Center
  • Command Sgt. Maj. Cindy Kallberg of the Minnesota National Guard

 

Veterans_Day_2013_PosterThis Veterans Day we’re live from the Inver Grove Heights Armory at the official Minnesota state event. Guests and co-hosts include:

  • Hour 1: Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie
    • Governor Mark Dayton
  • Hour 2: Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner and Vietnam Veteran Larry Shellito
    • Les Hanson of Toys4Military Kids
  • Hour 3: Afghan War Veteran Mike McElhiney of the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs
    • U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
    • Maj. Gen. Rick Nash of the Minnesota National Guard

Hour 1:

Hour 2:

Hour 3:

This week, just back from Afghanistan, Twin Cities Public Television Producer Luke Heikkila tells us about his embed with the Soldiers of the Minnesota Agribusiness Development Team and we’ll talk about the uncertain future of our VFWs with incoming state commander Lee Ulfert.

This week, we call Capt. Bryan Watters in Kabul, Afghanistan for an update on the Minnesota National Guard’s  mission in Afghanistan and Todd Kubinski, President of the Minnesota Association of County Veteran Service Officers, joins us to talk veterans benefit advocacy.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day from Afghanistan!

Building the infrastructure needed to feed a nation may be one of the keys to stabilizing Afghanistan. This week we’ll catch up with Col. Eric Ahlness, the commander of the Minnesota National Guard’s Agribusiness Development Team currently deployed in Zabul Province and see why the National Guard is so well suited for this critical mission.

Also, as our troops, like Marine Dick Theis, returned from Vietnam their welcome was not what they expected. We’ll explore that turbulent time in American history and how we’ve learned from our mistakes.