SEEKING WISDOM FROM WAR'S MORAL INJURIES

Tony Archer

​

Tony Archer "Sergeant Major, USA, Retired" who dedicated over 24 years of active-duty service as a Combat Engineer. During his career, he deployed with the 82nd Airborne Division, 20th Engineer Brigade (Airborne), and the 4th Engineer Battalion culminating as the Command Sergeant Major of the 4th Engineer Battalion. His deployments include Operation Just Cause (Panama), Operation Desert Shield/Storm (Iraq), Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2009 (Iraq), and Operation Enduring Freedom 2009-2010 (Afghanistan). During his Army career, Tony earned the Legion of Merit, 3 Bronze Stars, 3 Meritorious Medals, 2 Army Commendation medals, the Navy Commendation medal, the Bronze De Fleury Medal, the Master Parachutist Badge, and the French Parachutist Badge. 

​

Since retiring from active duty in 2011, Tony has remained a passionate, committed advocate for veterans and their families. His engagements with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) have been Tony’s primary focus, serving as VFW Colorado Veteran Service Officer(VSO);  Commander, VFW District 5; Chief of Staff, VFW Colorado; and three terms as Commander, VFW Post 101. 

 

In addition to his VFW engagements, Tony served as Congressman Doug Lamborn's Senior military and veteran's liaison and as VSO with the Wounded Warrior Project.

 

Joe Ford

​

Joe is a retired librarian and technology consultant. He worked in corporate technology positions before founding a library technology consulting firm which provided high-quality technology consultation to libraries across the nation for nearly 30 years. Joe and his wife Mary were partners in the firm and retired in 2015.

​

Joe was drafted into the US Army in March 1968, and served as an Army Medical Corpsman. He served one tour in Vietnam in 1968-69 with several units of the Americal Division. He saw action as an Artillery Battery medic and was wounded during a rocket and mortar attack when his unit came under enemy fire. Joe served also with the 312th Evac Hospital in Chu Lai where he unloaded the wounded from Dustoffs (helicopter ambulances) and Slicks (general purpose helicopters) and performed ER duties caring for the severely wounded.

​

Joe’s experiences with seemingly endless catastrophic injuries haunt him to this day. Coming Home Haunted is the product of many conversations between him and Jay Maloney. Joe has undergraduate degrees from Washington State University (one from before the Army, and one from after, when he got serious). He has graduate degrees in English from Western Washington University and Library and Information Science from the University of Washington. He also holds a “Diplom” from Lund University in Lund, Sweden. He and Mary met in college in the 1970s.  They reside in Washington State most of the year and in Palm Springs during the winter months.

​

Tony Keating

 

Tom is a Viet Nam era veteran who served in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (“The Old Guard”), Ft. Myer VA.  In addition to the Old Guard’s “sacred duty” of honoring America’s fallen heroes at Arlington National Cemetery, Tony served as lead for Race Relations classes at the Guard and the Pentagon. Tony’s time in the Guard produced a life-long devotion to God, Country, and America’s military.

    
Following his time in the army, Tony had a long career in information systems, and manufacturing technology sales & implementation. Prior to retirement, he worked for The Society of Manufacturing Engineers training manufactures in the Northeast on advanced manufacturing technologies such as robotics and computerized machining.

In parallel with his professional career, Tony volunteers with numerous religious and charitable organizations.  For 10 years he was an elder at the Stamford CT Church of Christ. He served as a project leader for Habitat for Humanity and currently is a full-time volunteer with the Portsmouth Salvation Army.

Tony and his wife Karen reside in the Portsmouth, NH area.  
 

Bob Manning

​

Bob has held a long, distinguished career in financial sector, including private equity investing, corporate finance and commercial banking. He was partner of Thoma Cressey Equity Partners; founder and managing director of M2P Capital, LLC; and president of Lafayette Enterprises, LLC, a family investment company.

​

Bob has served on boards of directors of various public and private companies in financial services, healthcare, energy, logistics, education and training industries. He served as director of FirstBank and Cheyenne Capital Fund, and as a director or trustee of various organizations in the nonprofit sector including his alma mater Colorado College, El Pomar Foundation, Greater Colorado Council of Boy Scouts and Hundred Club of Denver, an organization which provides immediate financial assistance to the dependent families of law enforcement officers and firefighters who are killed or seriously injured in the line of duty. 

 

Bob was director of the Culver Educational Foundation, and the Air Force Academy Foundation and past director and chair of the Economic Club of Colorado, and the National Council of Boy Scouts.

​

Bob and his wife Janet reside in Denver and live part of the year in Wyoming hiking and fly fishing in Denver, and have two children and five grandchildren

 

Donald M. Spano

 

Don Spano "Major, USAF, Retired" who served on active duty for 20 years, five years enlisted and 15 as a commissioned officer.  Don earned and received honors to include Meritorious Service Medal w/4 oak leaf, Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Army Occupation Medal (Germany). Prior to retirement Don served as an associate professor of geography at the USAF Academy. 

 

Currently, Don serves as a chaplain for several organizations.  As the post chaplain for VFW Post #7829, he ministers the needs of post members and family, conducts hospital and in home wellness and visits, provides information on veterans’ death benefits, and serves as the acting post Service Officer.  As the staff chaplain for Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center, Don provides spiritual counseling in support of the behavioral health division and serves as Mt. Carmel’s interface with local ministries and organizations such as First Presbyterian Church, Capitol Makers, Gideons, REMOUNT, Salvation Army Homeless Shelter, and One Simple Voice.

 

Craig Werner, PhD

 

Craig Werner "Professor Emeritus, Univ. Wisconsin-Madison" is widely known for his books on the relationship between music and history, with an emphasis on the Vietnam War era.

 

Most notably, Craig’s best-selling 2015 book, We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War, co-authored with Vietnam veteran Doug Bradley, captured wide and diverse attention across the nation.

 

He and Bradley have been invited to make presentations based on the book at more than a hundred venues, including The Big Red One Museum; the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago; the Newseum in Washington DC; the World War II Museum in New Orleans; the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland; and VFW posts and veterans groups across the nation, from Seattle and Los Angeles to Memphis, Colorado Springs, North Carolina, Omaha, Tulsa, and Minneapolis. Rolling Stone Magazine chose it as their “Best Book of the Year.”  

 

In addition to winning teaching awards at the campus and national levels, Craig served as co-editor of The Deadly Writers Patrol, a veteran-centered writing group and literary magazine, and served on the Nominating Committee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for twenty years. A native of Colorado Springs, Craig was the keyboard player back in the late 60s with a rock band that frequently played at Fort Carson and for GIs in area clubs.