Home Base Nation

Retired Army SSG Travis Mills is simply a leader. On the football or baseball field in his home town of Vassar, Michigan, on patrol with his squad in Afghanistan, or on the floors of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Travis is “that guy” no matter the situation. He’ll pull you up and show you what is possible, while at the same time will tell you the road is not without bumps and turns. He’s that guy who’ll make you laugh, and will also teach you to take yourself a little less seriously. And his “Never give up - Never quit” mantra isn’t just something he came up with after an IED took away his four limbs while on his combat mission overseas, it seems to have followed him around his whole life.

That day was April 10, 2012, on deployment for his third tour in Afghanistan when he was critically injured upon placing his back pack on the ground, triggering the blast. The Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient would become one of only five surviving quadruple amputees to date during the post-9/11 conflcts.

After reading his New York Times Bestseller Tough As They Come, and watching the award winning documentary Travis – A Soldier’s Story,you won’t give up and you won’t quit whatever you are doing or struggling with. Travis has a magnetism about him, and has recruited a staff for a thriving foundation that has become more like a family than an organization. The Travis Mills Foundation hosts all-inclusive and all-expenses paid veteran family retreats in Maine for servicemembers who have sustained injury on or off the battlefield. This is the place to bond with brothers, sisters and families, do some yoga, take out an adaptive kayak, navigate the ropes course, fish, cook, cross-country ski, cycle and hike. Visit up Maine in person or surf the Foundation’s site and you’ll see it is no surprise it’s been made possible through the leadership of SSG Mills, and the hard work and support from his wife Kelsey and family.

Glossary of terms and acronyms:

82nd Airborne Division - Airborne infantry division of the United States Army, specializing in parachute assault operations into denied areas with a U.S. Department of Defense requirement to "respond to crisis contingencies anywhere in the world within 18 hours.

E6 - U.S. Army Staff Sergeant: just above sergeant and below sergeant first class, and is a non-commissioned officer*. Staff sergeants are generally placed in charge of squads, but can also act as platoon sergeants in the absence of a sergeant first class.

*NCO - Non-Commissioned Officer

PSD - A protective team assigned to protect the security of an individual or group. PSD's are typically made up of military personnel, private security contractors, or law enforcement agents.

Pop smoke – this is a military term that, which means to leave or retract from an area quickly.

240 - The nickname for a medium machine gun- either an M240B or M240L depending on the configuration.

To learn more and connect with us:

www.homebase.org/homebasenation

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Home Base Nation Production Team:

Cassandra Falone, Charlotte Luckey, Steve Monaco, Armand Hunter, Bill Davidson

Home Base Media Lab Chairman:

Peter Smyth

Thank you Joe Wallace for photography on location, and Aaron Dowd at Simplecast for your support.

Bookend theme music from colleague and founder of Songwriting with: Soldiers, Darden Smith, with contributions from the David Shaw's Documentary Second Century Stewardship soundtrack co-written by Kevin Oates and Ron Hirschberg, finishing Warrior, but James House and Air Force Veteran Blair Morin

The views expressed by guests to the Home Base Nation podcast

are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by guests are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Home Base, the Red Sox Foundation or any of its officials.

After you listen to a new podcast or episode, do you look forward to discussing it with someone? Different people will reflect on, or remember different comments or concepts. And I imagine these conversations happening at a local diner. I can also see civilians and military folks having a cup of coffee across from one other at a booth, not talking to each, but with each other. And you never know when friend of Home Base Darden Smith’s song Love Will Win the War will come on the jukebox…. So, for this Bonus/companion episode to: From Injury to Inspiration - Featuring Lee and Bob Woodruff, pull up a chair with us for a… Diner Debrief.

- Dr. Ron Hirschberg / Host, Home Base Nation

Photography - Joe Wallace

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The views expressed by guests to the Home Base Nation podcast are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by guests are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Home Base, the Red Sox Foundation or any of its officials.

Giving back to servicemembers and families comes in many ways, and for Lee and Bob Woodruff the opportunity surfaced in early 2006. Just weeks after his new job as co-anchor of ABC World News Tonight, Bob was critically injured by a roadside bomb outside of Taji, Iraq.

The blast caused severe traumatic brain injury with need for craniectomy (emergent removal of the left side of his skull), and weeks in the intensive care unit. After 36 days in coma he awoke - and the re-learning process began – To move, speak and reintegrate back to life with his wife Lee and their four kids.

An author, media consultant and mother of four, Lee began writing. Her therapeutic journaling would transform into the NY Times Bestseller, In an Instant, which she coauthored with Bob to tell the story of resilience and reentry from the caregiver and the patient perspective.

While Bob emerged from the ICU to rehabilitation, Lee and Bob’s brothers immediately saw the need for helping not only the wounded servicemember, but the entire family – And thus the Bob Woodruff Foundation was born.

To date, their Foundation has raised and invested over $70M through more than 400 grants, serving more than 2.5 million servicemembers and families. This year marked the 13th year of Stand Up For Heroes, the annual comedy and entertainment event held at Madison Square Garden.

It’s been 10 years since Home Base was born, and it is fitting to sit with the Woodruffs on this milestone year, and it makes even more sense that Bob threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park that year (which you’ll hear was apparently a strike), and the start of a meaningful collaboration for years to come.

Over this period of time, Bob has continued to report and educate all of us from all over the world.Along with four Emmy's for his work in overseas conflict and cultural coverage, Bob has recieved both the Alfred I. duPont Award and the George Foster Peabody Award, the two highest honors in broadcast journalism. Lee has been a contributor for Good Morning America and CBS This Morning, and contiues to inspire, educate and entertain with her best selling work.

We would like to thank the Woodruffs for their hospitality and warm welcome to the Home Base Nation team.

To learn more and connect with us:

www.homebase.org/homebasenation

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

Home Base Nation Production Team:

Cassandra Falone, Charlotte Luckey, Steve Monaco, Armand Hunter, Bill Davidson

Home Base Media Lab Chairman:

Peter Smyth

Special thanks to Chuck Clough of Above The Basement for Engineering and assistance, and Joe Wallace for photography on location, and Aaron Dowd at Simplecast for your support.

Music selections Love Will Win The War, Home, from colleague and founder of Songwriting with: Soldiers, Darden Smith

The views expressed by guests to the Home Base Nation podcast are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by guests are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Home Base, the Red Sox Foundation or any of its officials.

Whether we find role models at home, in our schools, hospitals or on the big screen, they have a lasting effect on us all. SGT Kirstie Ennis inspires everyone in her path, ever since finding her own inspiration to help others who can’t help themselves. This dates back to her enlistment in the Marine Corps at age 17, growing up with not one, but two Marine parents.

During her second deployment to Afghanistan in June 2012, Kirstie sustained polytraumatic injuries from a helicopter crash including traumatic brain injury, facial and spine injuries, and leg trauma that eventually left her with an amputation above the knee.

After being hurt overseas, Kirstie went on to become a Paralympian snowboarder, a proud contestant at Prince Harry’s 2016 Invictus Games, and a member of a Veteran team on a 1000 mile trek across Great Britain with the organization Walking With The Wounded.

She continues to push herself every day while giving back to others through mountaineering and world travel. Since 2016, Kirstie set out to climb the Seven Summits (the highest peaks on every continent), having climbed Four of Seven so far. In May 2019 she was just 650 feet from the top of Mount Everest and had to turn back because her team was running out of oxygen, but without any surprise, she plans to return in 2021.

Upon taking the stage accepting the 2019 Pat Tilman Award for Service at the ESPYs, Kirstie said… “I am one of the lucky ones who came home. Broken, but I am still here and I still can. So I will continue every day for those who can’t....Let this be my message tonight: Rest a moment less, endure a fraction more and try to make peace with whatever your pain may be.”

Thank you Sgt Kirstie Ennis for your inspiration, and HBN wishes you the best as you complete the final three of the Seven Summits...For more information go to The Kirstie Ennis Foundation.

We would like to thank our two rehabilitation guests on this episode, Ms Anne Packard and Mr. Ben Cole, and best of luck with your next chapters at home. Thank you Dr. David Crandell at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital for your care and constant advocacy for not only your patients, but your ongoing support of adaptive sports.

www.homebase.org/homebasenation

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The views expressed by guests to the Home Base Nation podcast are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by guests are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Home Base, the Red Sox Foundation or any of its officials.

Our high school history books highlight patriots like Paul Revere and Samuel Adams during the time of the American Revolution. However, a foundation was being built just before this time through the actions of a small group in Boston on March 5th, 1770. The evening’s events were later known as the Boston Massacre, and we remember eleven people shot, including the death of five men who led a call to freedom from British control. One of these men was a former slave named Crispus Attucks, who was not only the first to take a bullet, he would be the first in our country to die for the American Revolution.

African Americans have served our country from its inception, and in all wars. As segregation had lifted during the time of the Vietnam War, progress was made. Yet to this day the brotherhood of soldiers in general shows more of a color-blind culture than the country itself.

Following our conversation, join us for a Diner Debrief, a time to meet at the local diner or coffee shop and chat. We are joined by Marine Veteran Leonard Montgomery who shares a perspective on personal experience as an African American both in and out of times of service. We would like to hear from you as well, so please contact us at www.homebase.org/homebasenation

Thank you for listening, and a very happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Home Base.

-HBN

Home Base Nation is a production of the Home Base Media Lab in Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston.

Special thanks to James House https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_House_(singer) for acoustic start of our Thanksgiving message from song “Warrior, Healer”

Introduction HBN theme music by Darden Smith, founder of Songwriting With: Soldiers

www.homebase.org/homebasenation

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

The views expressed by guests to the Home Base Nation podcast are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by guests are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Home Base, the Red Sox Foundation or any of its officials.

As our military brothers and sisters make the transition home to a nation that may genuinely support them, one’s sense of purpose is not always easy to find. As a country, we see that depression, post-traumatic stress or anxiety challenge many service members. At the same time, we see that barriers to thriving at home are not necessarily due to mental illness, rather to transitioning back to daily life. The irony is common: Community and connection can be found overseas within a unique culture of bonds, yet at times so hard to accomplish right in our own back yards.

To dial in and learn more on service and the human connection, we sat with acclaimed author and director Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm, War, A Death In Belmont). As a combat journalist and work at ABC News and Vanity Fair, Sebastian is a non-military anthropologist who has much to teach us through personal and extensive engagements with our service members overseas. If there is one book you should read before or after listening to this episode, it is Sebastian's Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, and while you are at it, see the documentary Restrepo.

We enjoyed our visit and conversation with Sebastian at his home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Greeted by Daisy, the docile Junger dog, we climbed to the second floor of an A-frame annex, with books dating back centuries lining the wall. Sebastian is genuine and easy going, and it was a true pleasure to talk with him, and take some notes...

Following the conversation, join us for our first Diner Debrief, a time to meet at the local diner or coffee shop and chat. We are joined by Army Warrant Officer 1, Armand K. Hunter who gives a personal perspective on our discussion, as we reflect on community, brotherhood, and coming home from war. We would like to hear from you too. Email us at Home Base Nation.

Thank you for listening,

HBN

Home Base Nation is a production of the Home Base Media Lab in Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston.

Introduction music by Darden Smith, founder of Songwriting With: Soldiers

Photography - Joe Wallace
Engineering and editing - Chuck Clough @Above The Basement

www.homebase.org/homebasenation

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

The views expressed by guests to the Home Base Nation podcast are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by guests are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Home Base, the Red Sox Foundation or any of its officials.

Season 1 features conversations with award winning author / combat journalist Sebastian Junger, Academy Award-winning director Spike Lee, ABC News journalist Bob Woodruff and acclaimed author Lee Woodruff, U.S. Army Afghanistan Veteran / author / quadruple amputee Travis Mills, U.S. Marine Afghanistan Veteran / Paralympian Kirstie Ennis, U.S. Marine Veteran / GRAMMY-Award Winning Reggae Artist Shaggy, and Air Force Veteran and Medic Blair Morin with Songwriting With: Soldiers.

www.homebase.org/homebasenation

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