Pillar I: Veterans Care, Rights, and Dignity
Every veteran deserves care, dignity, fairness, and access after service.
Episodes on Pillar I: Veterans Care, Rights, and Dignity.
Armed Men at the Polls
General Dan Caine told Senator Elissa Slotkin in writing that no federal troops or federalized National Guard will be sent to polling places for the midterms. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin added that agents could still respond to a threat, and the panel worked the gap between those two statements. They also covered roughly $40 million in unspent election security money at DHS and the extended USS Abraham Lincoln deployment.
Event Highlight: Operation Take Up Space
With Lindsey Knapp
Lindsey Knapp, an attorney and Army veteran, laid out Operation Take Up Space, a 300 mile, 22 day ruck march led by women veterans from Asheville to Wilmington by way of Charlotte and Fort Bragg, stepping off September 12. She tied it to election protection after Texas removed voters from its rolls, and explained why it ends at the 1898 Memorial in Wilmington.
Charged: 50501 Veterans' Dana Briggs on What Follows a Protest
With Dana Briggs
Dana Briggs, an Air Force veteran and member of 50501 Veterans, Veterans For Peace and Common Defense, described being shoved and arrested outside the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, a night in the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center, a felony charge downgraded and then dropped, and the lawsuit he joined over DHS taking his DNA. The show opened with a veteran arrested that afternoon in Greene County, Missouri.
SITREP: The Checks Aren't Checking
Tim Boivin, Bryan Winter and guest panelist Frank Stolba, a Navy and intelligence community veteran and attorney, worked a hard news week. They covered the USS Abraham Lincoln approaching 300 days at sea with no port calls and sailors reporting suicidal ideation, the USS George Washington leaving the Western Pacific without a carrier behind it, reporting on the intelligence behind a secret presidential flight, and the loss of roughly 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones.
SITREP: The Kuwait Drone Attack, USS Lincoln Families, and Birthright Citizenship
The week worked pillar by pillar: the Democratic investigation into the Iranian drone attack that killed six US troops at Shuaiba in Kuwait, pressure on the Strait of Hormuz, USS Lincoln families confronting acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, the Senate panel vote to hold Fauci in contempt, and the birthright citizenship orders. Tim Boivin, former Stars and Stripes Wurzburg bureau chief, sits on the panel.
Back in the Pit: Three Pillars, Panelist's Choice
No guest and no script. Steph Money and John Moses took apart the Take Care of America's Veterans Act and its Section 108 cuts to tinnitus and sleep apnea ratings, the split between the American Legion and the VFW, and the discharge petition for the Major Richard Star Act sitting three signatures short. They also covered the SAVE Act riding on the FY27 NDAA and the 239 deported veterans counted by the National Immigration Forum.
Why We March: Veterans and Military Families on July 4th in Philadelphia
With Billie Winner Davis
Organizers explain why veterans and military families marched in Philadelphia on July 4th. Hanna Lafko of Common Defense, Billie Winner-Davis of Military Families Speak Out, Steph Money, Katie Chorbak, and Carl Able talk moral injury in the drone program, troops on SNAP, deported veterans, and what the uniform signals when it shows up at a protest.
Shaving Heads in Solidarity: Burn Pits, the PACT Act, and Women Veterans' Health
With Danielle Palmer Cooper
The panel shaved their heads on air in solidarity with 50501 Veterans vice president Lisa Wohlrab and raised money for the Hunter Seven Foundation. Between clippers they covered toxic exposure from Agent Orange to burn pits, Camp Lejeune and PFAS, full funding for the PACT Act, and why women veterans face a roughly 40 percent higher breast cancer risk and have to fight the VA to be taken seriously.
No Exceptions: Lindsay Church on the VA Abortion Ban Lawsuit
With Lindsay Church
Lindsay Church, executive director and co-founder of Minority Veterans of America, walked through the organization's lawsuit over the VA ban on abortion and abortion counseling, the 2022 interim final rule, and the more than 20,000 public comments the department left unanswered. They tied toxic exposure at Fort Ord and Camp Lejeune to pregnancy loss, including their own, and covered privatization and community care.
Who's Next? The White House's Counterterrorism Strategy and the Threat to Dissent
With Christopher Hooper
The White House counterterrorism strategy names left-wing extremism alongside foreign terror threats. Tom Sidle, John Moses, Bryan Winter, and Carl Able work through what it means to criminalize an ideology, where DOD Directive 5240.01 fits, and why the Red Scare is the closest comparison anybody has.
Military Sexual Trauma: Survivors and Advocates on Retaliation and VA Care
With Lindsey Knapp
Host Katie Chorbak, an MST survivor, brings together Diana Danis of Service Women Who Serve, military law attorney Brian Lewis, Lindsey Knapp of Combat Sexual Assault, Lisa Wohlrab, Steph Money, and Dee James. They cover underreporting, retaliation against survivors, advocacy for male survivors, and what the VA does and does not deliver once a claim is filed.