iraq veteran

TRACTS, based at the VA Boston Healthcare System, is carrying out one of the most comprehensive VA studies on blast injuries on post-9-11 Veterans.

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Air Force Veteran Nicole Malachowski, who was the first female pilot to fly with the Thunderbirds.

When families of a deceased Veteran start planning burials at Quantico National Cemetery in Virginia, one of the program support assistants they may meet is a Veteran who chose to work for VA to serve fellow Veterans. Damion Jacobs enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1993. His assignments included Camp Pendleton, California, where he deployed three times, including to shut down humanitarian operations in Mogadishu, Somalia. Jacobs also spent a year protecting the fence line at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as an instructor at Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California, and deployed to Iraq as an augmentee for the initial invasion in 2003. After his instructor assignment, Jacobs went back to Camp Pendleton, where he deployed twice. During his second deployment in 2006, an improvised explosive device detonated near Jacobs. He lost his leg below the knee.

While returning from a mission in Iraq, an unknown automobile packed with explosives rammed Connie Spinks' vehicle and exploded.

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Army Veteran Claudette Williams. Claudette served during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

After his tour, Henry Norcom separated from the service and eventually became the Director of the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Agriculture.

During the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Taylor Winston sprang into action and used a truck to transport victims of the shooting to a nearby hospital.

Melissa Watson was one of the first women to be on an active non-compliant boarding team while serving in the area of responsibility for USS Port Royal.

In 2017, Nicholas Amsberry was deployed with the 1st Combined Arms Battalion in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve in Germany and died on Feb. 4, 2018.

Jeffrey Roos was later stationed in Balad, Iraq with the 31st Combat Support Hospital, followed by Baghdad, Iraq where he worked with trauma patients.

Elliott McKenzie left the Marines in 2007 and started developing symptoms of PTSD. He uses music as therapy and a way to give back to the Veteran community.

Marc Ortiz graduated from West Point in 1999 with a degree in mathematics. He served as a signal corps officer with a special operations unit.