7:00-8:00 P.M. EST
by Sharon Rondeau
(Nov. 11, 2016) — WeActRadio.com will be hosting a special Veterans’ Day program from 7 to 8 PM EST on Friday evening featuring veterans who have suffered hardships both during and after their military service.
On October 7 and 21, The Post & Email’s editor and close family members of a soldier incarcerated at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center since September 29 were guests on the program. Following the second show dealing with the case, hosts Sharif and Jeanette conceived of the idea of a special edition during their regular Friday night broadcast on November 11, Veterans’ Day.
“A couple of weeks ago after you all came on the broadcast, it came to me to have a Veteran’s Day special, but not in the usual way. I thought it might be a good idea to gather all the solders/officers who are no longer in the military, to come together on the broadcast, and talk about the negative circumstances that led up to their discharges from the military,” Sharif and Jeanette wrote in an October 31 email. “When I was sharing with someone about the content of our broadcast re: XXXXXX, the person told me about a friend of hers who also experienced sexual assault at the hands of other soldiers in the Philippines and how he had to fight to get disability, etc. This would also be a good time for you to let others you might know to come on and share their stories about sexual assault and cover-up in the military or any other type of misconduct that goes on.”
The cases of LCDR Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III (Ret.) and the late civilian contractor Thomas J. Boyle, Jr., were both briefly discussed on October 21. A Navy whistleblower, Fitzpatrick was court-martialed in 1990 and his signature falsely applied to a “confession” document which the Navy holds to this day with the knowledge that it is fraudulent.
A decorated U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam, Mr. Boyle was killed on June 19, 2012 while supporting the U.S. Army’s 303rd Military Intelligence Battalion in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, with the Army refusing to relate to his widow exactly how he died. Pauline Boyle strongly suspects, and has presented compelling evidence to support, that her husband, like the former football player Pat Tillman, was killed by “friendly fire.”
The call-in number for the show is 202-889-9797. As the studio currently has a limited number of telephone lines available, callers are urged to initiate telephone conferencing prior to calling the station so as to leave more lines open for others. Mobile and desktop listeners can simply click the “Listen Live” button on the upper-right corner of the website.