Patt Morrison for Memorial Day, Monday May 30, 2011

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Monday, May 30, 2011

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

 

1:06 – 1:39

Military families and their private front lines

Can I earn enough to pay the bills?

How can I take care of the kids and work at the same time?

Can I keep the household running without my wife?

He always fixes the car, but now that he’s gone…

He’s so changed.

She needs help.

We miss him.

We miss her.

I feel so alone. 

 

Military families face so many challenges, many amplified by the unknown: finding and keeping a good job, caring for children, staying connected while separated by thousands of miles, helping a loved one who has returned from the war with wounds to the body or brain. Every family has a story; we would like to hear yours.

 

Guests:

Tom Tarantino, senior legislative associate of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America; retired Army Captain and veteran of tours in Iraq & Bosnia

CALL HIM:

• 27% veterans aged 20-24 are unemployed
• According to the National Institute of mental Health, suicide has surpassed combat death as a cause of mortality in the military.
• Per Pentagon statistics, 7.9% of women in the armed forces got a divorce in  2010 versus 3% of their male counterparts

 

Tim Kahlor (KAY-lor), father of Ryan Kahlor, an Army sergeant who served two deployments - 26 months, in Anbar province, Iraq, working with both the Army and the Marines. He left for basic training on March 18, 2003, the first day of the Iraqi invasion. He was 19 years old at the time. Ryan returned with traumatic brain injury, PTSD, hearing loss, nerve damage in both arms, a detached retina, and back and neck injuries. 

IN STUDIO

 

Ryan’s deployment:

• In Iraq, his Bradley (armored tank) was hit 6 or 7 times by IEDs. 
• Ryan also fell off a 2nd story building while on patrol.  
• When Tim and his wife learned of an attack in the same area where there son was deployed, they would often have to wait 24 to 48 hours to see if their son was among those killed. [This happened over and over.]
• Tim: “In April of 2004, eight men with the1st Armored Division based out of Germany were killed. My son was with this division and I didn't tell my wife; and I remember every time I heard a car coming down the street. I couldn't look, for fear it was the military coming to tell us Ryan was dead.  We got a call from Ryan telling us he was alright, and when I got off the phone I realized 8 families didn't get a call from their loved one.  I just started crying for those families.
• It was hell… and then when we got him home, we had to continue trying to keep him alive and from hurting himself

 

Ryan’s return home:

• Ryan returned with traumatic brain injury, PTSD, hearing loss, nerve damage in both arms, a detached retina, and back and neck injuries. 
• When Ryan came back, was sent to Fort Irwin (near Barstow), where there were no specialized medical facilities.  All care was contracted out to civilian doctors.
• Was violent and went into rages, isolated himself, abused alcohol (self-medicating).
• He was on 12 - 15 medications during this time and continues to be on all kinds of medications to control both physical and mental injuries. 
• Tim has been very pro-active and got Ryan into a Wounded Warrior program and also Ryan has been through two PTSD programs.
• Ryan is now 27 years old but like a 70 year old man – emotionally and physically.

Since coming home, Ryan has purchased his own home and takes in other veterans who need help.

 

 

 

1:41:30 – 1:58:30

Ah Memorial Day….surf, sand, sun and cholera bacteria?  Making SoCal beaches & water safer

 

Guest:

Molly Peterson, KPCC Environment reporter

IN STUDIO

 

 

 

 

2:06 – 2:58:30

Comedy Congress live from the Crawford Family Forum!

The only true medicine for the pain of politics is laughter—after all, if we weren’t laughing at the (mostly) unintentional humor emanating from Washington D.C. and state capitols, chances are we’d be crying. Budget pandemonium is in full effect as Republicans race to slash social services, leaving poor, sick & helpless grandmothers in their wake, while Democrats do a lot of hand wringing and crying and not much else. And it's always fun to laugh at a gloriously uninspiring field of GOP presidential candidates. Tomorrow we’ll probably cry about our lost jobs, but today join us in laughing at the madness of it all—the truth hurts far less when it’s told by comedians.

 

Guest:

Aisha Tyler, touring stand-up comic; staring in the new TV series “XIII”; voice actor on the FX series “Archer”; and star in former TV shows, “Friends,” “24,” “CSI,” and the “Ghost Whisperer”; and former host of the E! Channel “Talk Soup”

ON TAPE

 

Alonzo Bodden, winner of season 3 of NBC’s Last Comic Standing and regular performer and field correspondent for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; guest star on several TV shows and movies, and his new DVD “Who’s Paying Attention” is available at Amazon

ON TAPE

• Alonzo is performing at the Long Beach Laugh Factor at 10pm on Friday night and the Hollywood Laugh Factory at midnight Friday

 

Ben Gleib, touring stand up comic, regular panelist on the E! Network’s Chelsea Lately, regular performer on the CBS The Late Late Show and on NBC’s Last Call with Carson Daly; host of Yahoo.com’s “Behind Enemy Lines” and the face of MySpace News; named one of "Six Comedians who Could be Comedy’s Next Big Thing" in Esquire

ON TAPE

 

 

Jonathan Serviss
Senior Producer, Patt Morrison
Southern California Public Radio
NPR Affiliate for Los Angeles
89.3 KPCC-FM | 89.1 KUOR-FM | 90.3 KPCV-FM
626.583.5171, office
415.497.2131, mobile
jserviss@kpcc.org / jserviss@scpr.org
www.scpr.org