News stories tagged with "onepercent"

(01/12/10) Army officials say Fort Drum non-war funding could soon be reduced by up to 30%. Such cuts would likely affect a wide range of programs on the base, ranging from morale and recreation to basic upkeep. Jonathan Brown reports.

(12/15/09) The Veterans Affiars clinic at Elizabethtown Community Hospital is moving. But it's still unclear where the clinic will be located. As Chris Morris explains, federal officials now say they hope to open a second clinic in Saranac Lake.

(12/08/09) The speculation is over for soldiers and families at Fort Drum. The Pentagon announced yesterday the 1st Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division will help lead the troop surge in Afghanistan.

Post officials notified the families of the 3,400 soldiers in the brigade over the weekend. The troops will deploy in early spring, following several units of Marines. The brigade will spend twelve months training the Afghan army and police forces, something President Obama described as a key element in his strategy to stabilize the war-torn country.

Reporter Chris Morris spoke with one North Country soldier from Lake Placid who will be shipping out with the 1st Brigade.

(12/03/09) According to the Associated Press, thousands of soldiers from Fort Drum near Watertown will play a major role in President Obama's new strategy in Afghanistan. The 10th Mountain Division's 1st Brigade was called off a mission to Iraq last month and is believed to be heading to Afghanistan instead as a part of the 30,000 troop surge announced last night. Fort Drum's 10th Combat Aviation Brigade is already slated to go there next October. And the division's headquarters is scheduled to take command of part of the war effort in Afghanistan in 2011. But eight years of war are wearing on one of the most-deployed divisions in the Army. David Sommerstein reports. more

(12/03/09) 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.

(11/09/09) Secretary of the Army John McHugh called the shootings at Fort Hood "a terrible tragedy". In a statement, the longtime North Country Congressman said the Army will know more about what happened at the Army base in Texas in the coming days. He said the immediate response will focus on taking care of soldiers and their families. Martha Foley has more.

(11/02/09) The cycle of "train, deploy, return, repeat" has been steady at Fort Drum since 2001. Troops are regularly leaving for Iraq or Afghanistan, or coming home. A chain-link fence across Route 26 from Fort Drum's airfield has become a part of that routine. Soldiers lodge red and blue plastic cups in the fence to make homemade welcome home signs for their comrades. Sgt. Robert Hoosier of the 10th CAB on "cup duty" is today's Heard Up North.

(09/08/09) The National Guard has mostly solved its recruiting problem. Most units around the country are at full strength, after being hit hard by the pressures of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Guard units are still searching desperately for clergy willing to serve as military chaplains. As Brian Mann reports, more than 250 chaplain posts are unfilled nationwide.

(06/23/09) An Adirondack group that combines the arts and healing begins its eleventh season this summer. The annual gathering at Great Camp Sagamore for women with cancer and chronic illness uses music, visual arts, yoga, writing, storytelling and nature walks to help women deal with their disease. Women at the Arts and Healing retreat say the rural setting of Great Camp Sagamore helps them slow down and focus. There are two retreats this year at Camp Sagamore and Piseco Lake. Creative Healing Connections co-founder and storyteller Fran Yardley tells Todd Moe that this year also marks a new chapter; the group is offering a retreat for women veterans dealing with issues from active duty in the first Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam.

(05/21/09) Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is drafting legislation that she says will make it easier for veterans to get health benefits. Of the nearly 47,000 veterans in the North Country, the Senator says more than 35,000 aren't receiving the health care they've earned from the V.A. Jonathan Brown reports.