Indomitable Spirit; The Joy of Rebuilding a Life’s Purpose!
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Born and raised in Mississippi, Charlie Walton enlisted in the United States Marine Corp in 1968 and trained as an infantryman. He witnessed his first war casualty before his feet even touched the ground in Vietnam when the man in front of him on the jet’s stairway was shot and killed by a sniper. Despite that terrifying incident, Walton carried forth and survived his tour of duty without suffering any physical wounds. Emotional trauma came later.
Discharged in 1972, Charlie eventually made his way to Milwaukee where he established several successful businesses. However, his personal life was beset with adversity. Decades after his military service Walton hit rock bottom.
In this segment of the Stigma Free Vet podcast, Charlie Walton reflects on his 72 years. He describes how he has applied lessons learned from skilled professionals designed to guide him through grueling personal challenges. We meet a man whose life today is infused with hope and faith and centered on inner strength.
For more information about the organization and what Charlie Watson does for Feast of Crispian please refer to the link below…
Website: INFO@FEASTOFCRISPIAN.org
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DISCLAIMER: The information and content shared in each episode of the Stigma Free Vet Zone are for informational purposes only. The Stigma Free Vet Zone hosts, Mike Orban & Bob Bach, are not, nor claim to be, medical doctors, psychologists, or psychiatrists and should not be held responsible for any claims, medical advice, or therapy/treatment recommendations mentioned on this podcast. Any advice mentioned or shared by Mike Orban, Bob Bach, or their guests is strictly for purposes of bringing awareness to the veteran community and the services available. Please speak with a medical professional before taking any advice or starting any therapy or treatment discussed or shared on this podcast.
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Randy Zemel calls himself a “D-minus” student who had no interest in college. After graduating from his Chicago area high school, he enlisted in the Marines in 1965. He served in Vietnam from 1966-’68 and left the service in 1969 as a sergeant.
Randy thought little about his Vietnam service after he returned home. Instead, he concentrated on his studies at a local teachers’ college. He spent about two years teaching high school special education classes at one of Chicago’s most challenging housing projects. Read More
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Angela Peacock, MSW served in the U.S. Army for seven years as a communications specialist. She deployed to Iraq in 2003 and was medically evacuated due to a non-combat, life-threatening illness. Angela Shares the years of profound life altering pain, loss of her marriage and other punishing reactions and effects of PTSD and withdrawal from psychiatric drugs. Angela shares how blind belief in medical treatment opened the door for much of what she experienced. She provides educational and valuable insights like informed consent and participating in our individual healthcare. After medical retirement and a long period of recovery, she earned her bachelor’s in science in psychology and master’s in social work from Washington University in St. Louis. Angela discusses her current work to plan and host community screenings of Medicating Normal across the world where members of the audience are invited to critically think about our modern mental health industry, informed consent, and psychiatric drug use and withdrawal. She is a mental health advocate, a writer, and YouTube creator who travels in her campervan across the United States with her service dog Raider, to improve the mental health care system for veterans and civilians alike. She can be found online @BeingHumanRV.
DISCLAIMER: The information and content shared in each episode of the Stigma Free Vet Zone are for informational purposes only. The Stigma Free Vet Zone hosts, Mike Orban, Bob Bach and Erin Schraufnagel are not, nor claim to be, medical doctors, psychologists, or psychiatrists and should not be held responsible for any claims, medical advice, or therapy/treatment recommendations mentioned on this podcast. Any advice mentioned or shared by Mike Orban, Bob Bach, Erin Schraufnagel or their guests is strictly for purposes of bringing awareness to the veteran community and the services available. Please speak with a medical professional before taking any advice or starting any therapy or treatment discussed or shared on this podcast.
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Scott Schultz grew up on a farm in Osseo, WI. Scott is co-founder, president and executive director of The Heartbeat Center for Writing, Literacy and the Arts, Inc. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he’s worked as a reporter and editor in print journalism for more than 45 years He’s also worked in radio and television journalism during the past five years, and has written hundreds of sociology essays about people’s connections with the land. Some of his writing was compiled into a book, Rural Routes and Ruts (The Guest Cottage, 2004), which has been used as required reading in a variety of university courses; his essays also were used in regional and national rural life projects, and he maintains a blog, “Rural Routes.”
Schultz has lectured about writing motivation and processes to elementary, high school and university students in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Florida and Pennsylvania, and has conducted writing programs for people of all ages in many other settings.
The Heartbeat’s Veterans Expressing Themselves project has become a large portion of Schultz’s life, as he and The Heartbeat co-founder Denise Beasley have organized the project from its beginning.
DISCLAIMER: The information and content shared in each episode of the Stigma Free Vet Zone are for informational purposes only. The Stigma Free Vet Zone hosts, Mike Orban, Bob Bach and Erin Schraufnagel are not, nor claim to be, medical doctors, psychologists, or psychiatrists and should not be held responsible for any claims, medical advice, or therapy/treatment recommendations mentioned on this podcast. Any advice mentioned or shared by Mike Orban, Bob Bach, Erin Schraufnagel or their guests is strictly for purposes of bringing awareness to the veteran community and the services available. Please speak with a medical professional before taking any advice or starting any therapy or treatment discussed or shared on this podcast.
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Arianna Cirincione is from La Crosse, WI, born and raised until leaving home at the age of 18 to join the Air Force. Arianna served on Active Duty as a Security Forces member from 2005 until 2018, until she was medically retired. Arianna began her career at Spangdahlem, Germany, followed by RAF Lakenheath, Fort Leonard Wood, MO and finished her career back up at Spangdahlem. Arianna deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 where she performed duties as a detainee operations cell guard. Arianna was also deployed to Al Udeid AB Qatar where she was a DBIDS operator. While deployed she sustained injuries sending her garrison where she began working as a military police investigator. Following her medical retirement, Arianna returned back to the La Crosse area where she began graduate school in Mental Health Counseling with a focus in working with individuals with addictions and is scheduled to graduate in December. Arianna aspires to continue working with veterans and military following graduation and also runs the Tactical Recovery Group, a recovery program for veterans and their family members. Arianna has been married to her husband Dominic since 2006 and they have one son together named Harrison.
DISCLAIMER: The information and content shared in each episode of the Stigma Free Vet Zone are for informational purposes only. The Stigma Free Vet Zone hosts, Mike Orban, Bob Bach and Erin Schraufnagel are not, nor claim to be, medical doctors, psychologists, or psychiatrists and should not be held responsible for any claims, medical advice, or therapy/treatment recommendations mentioned on this podcast. Any advice mentioned or shared by Mike Orban, Bob Bach, Erin Schraufnagel or their guests is strictly for purposes of bringing awareness to the veteran community and the services available. Please speak with a medical professional before taking any advice or starting any therapy or treatment discussed or shared on this podcast.
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Heidi Carlson’s father was a Marine, her family had a history of substance abuse and addiction. Her marriage to a Vietnam War veteran — scarred by abuse — ended in divorce. The loves of her life would be her two sons and her six grandchildren. When her son David announced his decision to enlist in the US Army. Heidi was frightened yet proud. David, an infantryman, returned from his first deployment to Iraq in good spirit and health. When meeting David at the airport returning from his second tour she immediately noticed, as a mother would, that his eyes were different and evasive. While hugging her son he said to her, “your son did not come home this time.” Heartbroken and afraid, what waited for them both were many years of suffering, substance abuse, severe mental health issues and prison punished them, but a mothers love would never surrender.
DISCLAIMER: The information and content shared in each episode of the Stigma Free Vet Zone are for informational purposes only. The Stigma Free Vet Zone hosts, Mike Orban, Bob Bach and Erin Schraufnagel are not, nor claim to be, medical doctors, psychologists, or psychiatrists and should not be held responsible for any claims, medical advice, or therapy/treatment recommendations mentioned on this podcast. Any advice mentioned or shared by Mike Orban, Bob Bach, Erin Schraufnagel or their guests is strictly for purposes of bringing awareness to the veteran community and the services available. Please speak with a medical professional before taking any advice or starting any therapy or treatment discussed or shared on this podcast.
Punishing challenges to life, with his wife and two children, would lead to divorce and many regrets for Pospichal. A still-present battle with cancer arose which has gone into remission, but not without trailing health issues — including total double-hip replacement at 36.
From the glorious invisibility of a 20 year old soldier in a combat tanker division, through events leaving scars he could never not have foreseen: today, Pospichal is of positive mind and spirit.
Being a veteran and being hired, means you are a liability, right? Wrong. Michael Kirchner is the director of Military Student Services at Purdue University Fort Wayne and an Assistant Professor of Organizational Leadership where he teaches courses in leadership, training and human resource development geared towards veterans entering the workforce and the challenges they face. Kirchner was the first director of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Military and Veterans Resource Center (MAVRC) where he guided programming for the 1,500+ military-affiliated student population on campus. From 2013 to 2016, the campus built a nationally-recognized “military-college-career” framework focusing on supporting student veteran transitions.
Kirchner earned his Ph.D. in Human Resource Development from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and his research on veteran career transitions and applications of military leader development in non-military contexts has been published in numerous peer reviewed journals including Human Resource Development Quarterly, New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, Industrial and Commercial Training, Organization Management Journal and the Journal of Military Learning. Dr. Kirchner frequently provides consulting to small, medium and large organizations on military-friendly programing and new employee onboarding. He served a year in Baghdad, Iraq from 2004-2005 as part of the US Army National Guard.
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Jim Hackbarth grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was drafted into the Army shortly after graduating from high school. Hackbarth was trained first as a helicopter maintenance specialist and later as the door gunner on a UH-1 (Huey) helicopter.
Hackbarth arrived in Vietnam in October of 1968 and served a one-year tour of duty as a member of the 1st Cavalry Division. Although not wounded physically, Jim suffered other forms of anguish. For example, pain and isolation stemming from his combat experiences interfered with his ability to make and keep close friends and relationships.
However, decades after returning home from the war, Jim sought counseling and started writing poetry. He re-connected with former comrades and sought to share his message of hope and reconciliation with other veterans. His mission of outreach continues today.