On this episode of Behind the Mission, highlight an upcoming special event, The War Horse Symposium, presented by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and The War Horse News on April 6th 2023. Joining us for the conversation is Thomas Brennan, Founder of the War Horse News, and Valerie Suttee, a 35-Year Marine Corps Spouse and 2022 War Horse Fellow

Thomas Brennan is the founder of The War Horse, Thomas Brennan is the founder of The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit newsroom exploring the human impact of military service. He served as a Marine infantryman in Iraq and Afghanistan before studying investigative reporting at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. His reporting has appeared in Vanity Fair, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and on the front page of The New York Times.

 

Thomas has received two Fourth Estate Awards, three Edward R. Murrow Awards, and the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award.

 

Valerie Suttee is a librarian, writer, and 35-year Marine Corps spouse. She has experience as an enlisted and officer wife, where she navigated the complexities of 16 relocations and 5 deployments, the employment challenges as a military spouse, and the realities of raising children during 20 years of war. Suttee is passionate about sharing stories that help to bridge the military and civilian divide by showcasing the daily lives of military spouses and families. Suttee has a master's degree in library science from Texas Woman's University and was a 2022 War Horse Fellow. She is the author of the essay, Resilient Is a Label for Military Kids That Absolves a Nation of Further Reflection.

Valerie Suttee Essay: Resilient is a Label for Military Kid That Absolves a Nation of Further Reflection

This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the previous podcast episode with Thomas talking more about the need for military and veteran voices in the media, episode 46. In that episode, Thomas talks about his background and The War Horse, the award-winning nonprofit newsroom and that specializes as a source for impactful reporting on the human impact of military service.

 

You can see find this episode here: https://psycharmor.org/podcast/thomas-brennan

 

This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.

 

Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.