Story co-produced with Daniel Reid Marsha Lee Baker’s story reflects the side of the military community that supports from behind the scenes. The families of service members endures alongside them and their own unseen scars. When service members are battling their demons, their families battle alongside them. Marsha Lee grew up as what the military […]
Tom Baker: A wanna-be warrior
December 8, 2023 by
Story co-produced with Daniel Reid Tom Baker has suffered from PTSD for over 50 years. He enlisted in the Army and was overseas fighting in Vietnam at 19 years old. “Nineteen years old and you think you’re God’s gift to the war,” Tom said. “I wanted to jump out of airplanes. I wanted to get […]
Austin Summers: Overcoming Afghanistan and finding community
December 7, 2023 by
Story co-produced with Daniel Reid When people think of veterans, they think of people like Tom Baker. Yet combat trauma does not discriminate based on age. Austin Summers is a 25-year-old combat veteran. He served in Afghanistan for roughly six months and lost three of his friends. Austin enlisted in October 2016 and shipped out […]
The unseen scars of veterans
December 17, 2022 by
Originally published in the Western Carolinian Unseen Scars, an event to break the stigma of what veterans go through and to raise awareness of the mental health resources that veterans need, was hosted on Nov. 9 in the UC Theater. Student Veterans Association (SVA), the WCU Military Services and DegreePlus hosted this event where a panel of veterans […]
Local veteran programs make their mark on WNC
March 27, 2015 by
Western Carolina University was recently designated a “top school” in the Military Advanced Education 2015 Guide to Colleges & Universities. It’s no wonder why the university grabbed that distinction with people like Tom Baker from the Vet to Vet program. Baker, a chief organizer of the Vet to Vet program, has been interviewing with local […]
Unseen Scars
November 7, 2014 by
Local veterans will host their first round table discussion on Veteran’s Day at 7 p.m. featuring members from the Vet to Vet program. The program aids local veterans of all ages and genders to talk about traumatic experiences they may have encountered while in combat. Founders Darwin Thomas and Tom Baker started the program together when […]
