Fort Drum, NY, Feb 09, 2012 — Fort Drum's 3rd Brigade Combat Team is beginning to come home after a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. The brigade, about 3,500 soldiers, was sent to an area just west of Kandahar City in southern Afghanistan, where few troops had been before.

They were deployed as part of President Obama's troop surge in the country. As the mission winds down, brigade commander Colonel Patrick Frank says his unit did a good job in a difficult setting. He spoke from Afghanistan with reporter Joanna Richards.
(CORRECTION: We originally reported that these troops were the first US soldiers in that region. Many comments on our story have challenged that assertion. We've contacted our sources at Ft. Drum for clarification and are still waiting for a reply. To the best of our understanding now, Col. Frank's unit was the first brigade level force to deploy there.)  Go to full article

Watertown, NY, Feb 03, 2012 — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced last week that the military wants to close some installations as its reduces its force size and winds down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The process is called BRAC, for "base realignment and closure."

A spokeswoman for Fort Drum said the post isn't commenting on the announcement, but reporter Joanna Richards spoke with Carl McLaughlin, executive director of the Fort Drum Regional Liaison Organization in Watertown, about how Fort Drum may fare as the BRAC process takes shape.  Go to full article

Fort Drum, NY, Oct 21, 2011 — A ceremony was held recently at Fort Drum to mark the deployment of the 10th Sustainment Brigade. The brigade is made up of units with many different specialties, so it deploys in pieces rather than as a brigade to support war efforts wherever the units' different skill sets are needed. Joanna Richards attended the ceremony and has the story.  Go to full article

Watertown, NY, Sep 12, 2011 — Ten years since the September 11th attacks, Fort Drum's home of Watertown is, in some ways, a very different place. It's certainly a bigger place with 19,500 troops now based at Fort Drum-- almost double pre-September 11th numbers--and many soldiers have brought their families.

Housing is more expensive and scarce, and yet, thanks in large part to Fort Drum, Watertown has been somewhat insulated from the recession.

It's also been the site of an endless cycle of deployments, homecomings and painful losses; 290 soldiers from the 10th mountain division have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Go to full article

Keene Valley, NY, Apr 11, 2011 — The history of the 10th Mountain Division runs deep in the North Country. On Thursday of last week, Keene Valley's Jim Goodwin passed away at the age of 101.

Goodwin was a celebrated teacher and mountaineer, who first started guiding in the Adirondacks at the age of 12. He later trained many of the 10th Mountain Division's soldiers. He later served as a medic during the Italian campaign. In 1997, Brian Mann sat down with Jim Goodwin to talk about his life in war and his life in the mountains.

NOTE: A memorial service is planned for Saturday, April 23 at 3 pm at the Keene Valley Congregational Church with a reception to follow.  Go to full article

Saranac Lake, NY, Sep 06, 2010 — Last week, we began a new on-going series called the Hospice Path.

North Country Public Radio is looking in-depth at the way hospice programs across the region are changing people's lives at a time when they're forced to confront the certainty of death.

We're telling that story in part by spending time with the Gallagher family in Saranac Lake.

Bill Gallagher is 87 years old and his lungs are slowly failing.

But with the help of High Peaks Hospice, he's been able to stay at home with his wife Tomi.

In order to better describe their experience, our reporter Brian Mann decided to first spend some time asking about Bill's long life before he got sick.  Go to full article

Evans Mills, NY, Dec 03, 2009 — As David Sommerstein reported today (see related story), the revolving door of deployments is taking its toll at Fort Drum. David joined Martha Foley during the Eight O'Clock Hour to talk more about how continuing deployments are affecting morale.  Go to full article

May 28, 2008 — New Pentagon figures show 40,000 U.S. troops have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder since 2003. But Army officials believe many more are keeping their illness secret. A study released last month by the Rand Corporation puts the number much higher. It found that 300,000 - one in five veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan -- suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or major depression. Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker says officials are encouraging troops to get help, military or civilian. Fort Drum in Watertown has begun expanding its mental health programs. The VA is also scrambling to create new therapy methods to treat PTSD. In the May 19 issue of The New Yorker magazine, North Country writer Sue Halpern profiled one experimental new treatment called "Virtual Iraq."

Halpern told Brian Mann the story of one Marine named Travis Boyd who used the "virtual reality" computer simulation to heal from his wartime experience.  Go to full article

May 08, 2008 — This week, soldiers from Fort Drum's 10th Mountain Division are heading back to Iraq for another 15-month deployment. We've been talking with First Sergeant Jennifer Rebecca Williams, who goes by "JR", about the growing demands on military families. Sgt. Williams is leaving behind her husband and her 3-year-old daughter Reilly. She told Brian Mann that balancing her military career and her role as a mom is tough. And Williams says the Army could do more to support military moms.  Go to full article

May 07, 2008 — This week, soldiers from Fort Drum's 10th Mountain Division are heading back to Iraq for another 15-month deployment. Their families face a tough and nerve-wracking year of separation. The challenge is especially tough for military women, some of them leaving behind very young children. Brian Mann sat down to talk about life as a military mom with Sergeant First Class Jennifer Rebecca Williams. Her own daughter, Reilly, is three years old. Sgt. Williams is deploying with the Headquarters Company of the 10th Mountain Division. She says balancing family with military duty is getting harder as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan stretch on.  Go to full article