Ft. Bragg Stories Podcast

North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC
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  • PERSONAL JOURNALS

The Ft. Bragg Stories podcast uses personal narratives to explore life on and around this country's largest military base. It's a collaboration between the Fayetteville Observer and WUNC's American Homefront Project.

  1. 12/28/2018

    FT. BRAGG STORIES: 'Time To Bow Out'

    This year, after more than a decade of service as a linguist and a paratrooper, Jay Huwieler made the decision to leave the military. “It was a combination of feeling like I’d served my purpose, and at the same time feeling like there had been too many times when I was too far away from my wife,” he said. Huwieler recalled his sergeant major telling him: “One day you’re not going to be in the Army. When it’s over, there needs to be a family there because you didn’t leave them behind.” He came to see his own experience echoed that of past generations of service members who translated what they learned in the military into valuable skills in the civilian world. “I think what that ends up meaning is you don’t have to make a career out of it in order for that experience to be useful and fruitful for the rest of your life,” Huwieler said. “I felt like it was okay say I don’t have to stay all 33 years. It’s okay to do your part, to give, in my case, more than a decade of my life to my

    4 min

  2. 12/23/2018

    FT. BRAGG STORIES: 'More Happiness In My Life'

    Jeremy Moore was on a night patrol in Afghanistan in 2012 when he fell nearly 60 feet down an open well. He suffered serious injuries to his legs, spine, and head. He returned to Fort Bragg, determined to stay in the Army and keep working, even while he recovered from trauma that made routine activities difficult.

    4 min

  3. 12/16/2018

    FT. BRAGG STORIES: 'What We Were Called To Do'

    Military service is the thread that weaves Bobby and Alexia Fields’ family life together. He’s on active duty at Fort Bragg, she serves in the Army Reserve. Together, they balance the demands of the Army with the responsibility of raising three young children.

    4 min

  4. 12/09/2018

    FT. BRAGG STORIES: 'A Turning Point In My Life'

    From 1942 until 1978, women who wanted to join the Army served in the Women’s Army Corps. Former Specialist Victoria Landes spent six years as a WAC during the 1960s, training to be a dental assistant at Fort Bragg. “When I graduated at 18, I really didn’t have any significant plans,” said Landes. “Going to college really wasn’t going to be an option.”

    4 min

  5. 12/02/2018

    FT. BRAGG STORIES: 'The War Was Wrong'

    As a young man in the late 1960s, Hal Noyes faced the prospect of being drafted to fight in Vietnam. He was opposed to the war, but decided to enlist, hoping to avoid combat. By 1969, he found himself stationed at Fort Bragg, working in the s upply room in the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center. He and a group of fellow soldiers decided to join G.I.’s United Against the War in Vietnam and began publishing Bragg Briefs, which became one of the longest running G.I. anti-war newspapers of the Vietnam era. Noyes recalled it was both frightening and exhilarating to protest the war as an enlisted soldier. The activists handed out the paper at the PX and the Enlisted Men’s Club. When Army brass got word, Bragg Briefs was banned, but Noyes and his friends persisted, sneaking the publication into barracks and handing it out on Hay St. “We were trying to reach both other soldiers and the public at large to try to convince them the war was wrong,” he said. Noyes said many low-ranking soldiers

    4 min

  6. 11/25/2018

    FT. BRAGG STORIES: From Agriculture To Airborne

    Growing up on his family’s farm in southern Alabama, Private First Class Tyler Dunn thought his future lay in agriculture. “Our family farm, we’ve got roughly 3,000 acres that we row crop, we have chicken houses, and we have close to 3,000 head of cattle,” he said. “We’re a fairly large operation compared to those around us. I started physical labor [on the farm] around eight years old. I just enjoyed being in the field with my grandad and my father.”

    4 min

  7. 11/18/2018

    FT. BRAGG STORIES: Helping Incarcerated Veterans

    Lynn and Steve Newsom spent five years as co- directors of Fayetteville’s Quaker House. During their tenure, they advocated for better mental health care for incarcerated veterans, organizing a petition and vigil in A pril 2016 to draw attention to the plight of former Staff Sergeant Josh Eisenhauer . Eisenhauer was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following two deployments to Afghanistan. When emergency responders came to a small fire at his Fayetteville apartment in 2012, Josh barricaded the door and shot at police and firefighters. He was shot multiple times. Waking in the hospital, Eisenhauer told his nurse he thought he was on a rooftop in Afghanistan. He was sentenced to serve up to 18 years in prison. Eisenhauer had a mental breakdown in prison. His supporters argued he was not receiving adequate treatment for his PTSD and lobbied successfully to transfer him to another facility. Lynn Newsom said the vigil was not only for Eisenhauer, but on behalf all incarcerated

    4 min

  8. 11/11/2018

    FT. BRAGG STORIES: 'No End In Sight'

    Sergeant First Class Kelly Rodriguez deployed more than five times in the course of her 21-year military career, serving as an Army Combat Medic in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and twice in Afghanistan. She loved her work, but it exposed her to some of the worst realities of war.

    4 min
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About

The Ft. Bragg Stories podcast uses personal narratives to explore life on and around this country's largest military base. It's a collaboration between the Fayetteville Observer and WUNC's American Homefront Project.

Information

  • Creator
    North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    90
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC
  • Show Website
    Ft. Bragg Stories Podcast