He Turned From his Father at the Bus Depot and Walked Into a Life he Couldn’t Have Imagined | Mark Alan
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Mark was born and raised in central Wisconsin to a large family. Mark is the eldest male child of
14 total siblings – 8 boys and 6 girls. Mark graduated from Necedah High School in 1998 and joined the Marines in 1999 where he served 8 years of active duty and achieved the rank of
Sergeant. Mark deployed to Fallujah, Iraq in 2004 during operation phantom fury. Mark exited the service in 2006 and subsequently attended school at UW Green Bay where he completed his bachelor’s degree. Mark has worked in the veteran community since 2012 in both non-profit and state government. Mark is presently the development director for Feast of Crispian and is on his last semester of his master’s program at UWM. Read More
Otis arrived in Milwaukee “on a stick” and homeless . It had been over thirty years since Otis had accepted a mainline injection of heroin as payment fora debt owed him. people, places and things were hard to make sense of.
Joe joins us today to share his experience of serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He explains why he chose to enlist in the Army instead of waiting to be drafted, why he was anxious to fight in the Vietnam War, and how the realities of war compared to his initial expectations. He shares the shocking realities of returning home after serving in Vietnam, how he was treated, and why he felt like an ‘outsider’ even within the U.S borders. He discusses the impact that burying his feelings and emotions about losing battle buddies has had on his life, how it led to his addiction to alcohol, and how the gift of sobriety helped him cope with those buried emotions. Joe also shares his motivation to connect with veteran outreach programs and dedicate himself to helping other combat veterans.
With great pride and patriotism Erin Schraufnagel joined the United States Marines Corps after the 9/11 attack in New York City in 2001. Twelve years later, Staff Sergeant Schraufnagel left the military life behind her. She shares her expectations for deployments to Iraq, a marriage strained between deployments, the unexpected enemies in her own ranks, rage, depression, alcohol and the horrifying near-death accident of her two-year-old daughter — which only added to the trauma. The inner strength that made Erin a Marine would now surface again, she took responsibility for life and brought love back to her family.
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 @
Ben Singleton grew up in a small town in northwest Indiana. He says the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11, which he watched on a television in a high school classroom, ignited a zeal within him to serve his country. He was 18 when he enlisted in the Army after graduation. A year later Ben deployed for the invasion of Iraq as a combat infantryman and paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne division. Three years later he deployed again, this time as a sniper and member of the 4th Infantry division. Singleton re-enlisted twice and left the Army in just under seven years after attaining the rank of Staff Sgt. When he returned to civilian life, Ben encountered a series of struggles, including a troubled marriage. He credits the support of family –mom, dad and younger brother—and friends, with helping him find a healthy way forward. Today, Singleton is the manager of therapeutic riding center called Heaven’s Gait Ranch which is located in a rural community north of Milwaukee. The ranch provides a variety of services to guests of all ages including veterans and individuals with special needs. Ben appreciates the opportunity to make connections with many different people. He calls the work deeply rewarding.
David Carlson served two tours in Iraq, in ’04 and ’07, as an infantryman with the Army National Guard. His re-integration back into the community after his second tour presented many punishing challenges. Unbeknownst to him, his participation in combat exacerbated his underlying struggles in his childhood, presenting after Iraq in the form of addiction, depression, hyper vigilance, suicidal ideation, reoccurring nightmares, and flashbacks. David’s maladaptive coping resulted in his incarceration for just under 5 years in Wisconsin jails and prisons. Since his release from prison, David built on the fitness he used while incarcerated to manage anxiety and anger, as a tool to reach other veterans who were having similar experiences. This led into David becoming involved in multiple forms of advocacy work, and not just for veterans, but for many people struggling with the demons of their past. David graduated with honors with his BA in English from the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire. He is the founder of C.C. We Adapt 
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.”