News stories tagged with "reserve"

(04/15/08) The New York Times called Russell Banks' new novel, The Reserve, "cheesy and histronic." Alan Cheuse of NPR says the book has "grandly romantic figures" and according to to the New York Review of Books is has a "curiously cold-blooded and stagy quality." But what is The Reserve like for those of us who live in the setting? Betsy Kepes has a review.

(02/14/08) Advocates for military families say a growing number of soldiers are losing custody of their children, not because they're bad parents but because they've been deployed overseas to Iraq and Afghanistan. A bill signed by President Bush last month strengthens protections for service-members and their families. But as Brian Mann reports, legal experts say some military moms and dads are still vulnerable.

(12/30/05) On January 2nd, 2005, six hundred and seventy soldiers with the 2nd of the 108th National Guard battalion celebrated their return from the war in Iraq with a ceremony at Fort Drum. They also remembered three of the unit's reservists who didn't make it home. Lt. Colonel Eric Olsen served as a chaplain at a base north of Bagdad and also volunteered for North Country Public Radio, keeping a series of audio diaries. Olsen has been home in Saranac Lake for a full year now, with his wife Susan and his sons Garth and Evan. Olsen sat down this week with Brian Mann to talk about returning to civilian life, a hard transition for many reservists.

(02/10/05) Senator Hillary Clinton and co-sponsor Senator Lindsay Graham (R-NC) introduced legislation yesterday that would allow Guard and Reserve members to buy into the military's health care plan.

(08/02/04) More than 150,000 National Guard and Reservists are on active duty, many of them stationed in Iraq. These civilian soldiers struggle to balance life in a war zone with the demands of family and businesses back home. Now, many reservists from New York have been given a chance to visit their families for two-week vacations. In his latest audio diary from Iraq, Major Eric Olsen, a chaplain from Saranac Lake, talks about the delights and the stresses of R&R.

(05/17/04) National guard troops from northern New York are helping to train Iraqi police and the country's new civil defence force. The process hasn't gone smoothly. The new force has been plagued by desertions and defections. This morning, as part of his Audio Diary series, Army Major Eric Olsen -- a chaplain from Saranac Lake -- talks with an officer from Syracuse who is charged with training Iraqi soldiers inside the Sunni Triangle.

(05/10/04) The situation in Iraq is tense these days for hundreds of National Guard and Reserve soldiers from northern New York. The armed uprising continues and temperatures have already soared to 110 degrees. Army Major Eric Olsen--a chaplain from Saranac Lake--has been sending audio diaries from the front lines. In this week's journal, he describes the precarious chemistry of nerves and fear and boredom that make a soldier's life so hard.

(04/21/04) Flags flew at half-mast yesterday in Glens Falls, as the community mourned the death of Nathan Brown. Brown, who was 21 years old, died on Easter Sunday, while serving in Iraq. He was a private with the National Guard. As Brian Mann reports, the ceremony was a time for remembrance and pride and pain and sorrow.

(04/19/04) More than seven hundred National Guard and Reserve soldiers from New York state have taken up positions inside Iraq. This morning, Army chaplain Eric Olsen continues his audio diary from the front lines. This dispatch was mailed home well before last week's firefight, which left one north country soldier dead. The sounds of combat you'll hear in Major Olsen's diary were all recorded during training exercises on the Kuwait-Iraq border.

The series continues next Monday, with an audio diary from Major Olsen's wife, Susan, on the home front in Saranac Lake.

(04/14/04) In recent weeks, opinion polls have shown that public support for the war in Iraq is eroding. President Bush spoke in an hour-long press conference last night about the latest spiral of violence and his vision for waging the war on terror. Republicans in Franklin County agreed to watch the press conference with our reporter Brian Mann. He gathered their reactions and sent this report.