A Coast Guard veteran and native of Long Beach, California, Reagan Pettigrew found his love for reading and writing while in the military. After his discharge, he began a new life on the road that took him from America to Europe. Suicide In Slow Motion is his breakout novel.From Long Beach, California to the mountains of the Pyrenees in northern Spain, Suicide In Slow Motion takes the reader on a voyage of discovery through Tristan’s eyes, while confronting the horrors of PTSD and delving into the philosophy of self-destruction. It also seeks to answer the question that many veterans ask once they leave the military... what the hell do I do now.

Neville Johnson was born and raised in South Africa by a Mum who was a Nurse and a Dad who was a Police Officer. This early exposure to a life of service to country influenced his most significant life decisions. Before he started writing, this path took him to the United Kingdom, where he ended up in London as a member of her Majesty’s Royal Infantry.Neville currently resides in New Zealand with his wife and three children. He works at a high school as the Pathways Coordinator, assisting young people in developing essential life skills for their transition into the workforce. His first book, Sangin, Then and Now, is a stoic collection of poetry from a lifelong loyal subject of the Commonwealth. The verses within tell the story of a young man following in the footsteps of his father as we accompany him on a journey to war and back.It is a rationale for the dangers we face in staying in a toxic relationship with professions and landscapes trying to swallow us whole.

Charles McCaffrey is a Navy Veteran with over 35 years of military, government contracting and small business experience; and is a serial entrepreneur, instructor, mentor and ardent supporter of the military community. Charles serves as the Director of the Veterans Career Program (VCP) at Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) that provides FREE employment support and vocational counseling assistance to ALL veterans, transitioning service members, spouses, and caregivers. Prior to joining PVA in October 2021, he served as the Executive Director of Eastern Market Main Street (EMMS), a nonprofit, and designated DC Main Streets program, dedicated to fostering a collaborative, connected, and competitive business community in the heart of the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington, DC.He was on the staff at George Mason University’s Community Business Partnership; and served as Director of the Business Incubation Center (2012-2013) and Director of the South Fairfax Small Business Development Center (2013-2015) before founding and serving as the Director of the Veterans Business Outreach Center for the Mid-Atlantic region from 2015 to 2019. The Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC) program (a program of the Small Business Administration) is designed to provide entrepreneurial development services such as business training, counseling, and resource partner referrals to transitioning service members, veterans, National Guard & Reserve members, and military spouses interested in starting or growing a small business. In 2016, he was named Boots to Business Instructor of the Year; and in 2018, the VBOC at Community Business Partnership was named the Veteran Business Center of Excellence by the Small Business Administration.Charles is also active in the broader community; serving as a learning lab partner for the Dog Tag, Inc., Fellows program. He is also an avid storyteller, writer and artist; and has been a mentor with the Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP). Charles told his first story on stage in 2017 as a graduate of the Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP) Storytelling 101 class; and has since gone on to perform at ASAP’s Service to Stage performance (DC Improv in 2018), Story District’s annual OutSpoken show (9:30 Club in 2019), and Story District’s TopShelf performance (Lincoln Theater in 2020). His first short story (fiction), “Dancing in the Dark,” will be published in a special literary issue of the Journal of Veterans Studies in Spring 2023.

Kacy Tellesen was born in Spokane and raised in Spangle, Washington, a small farming community that clings to the edge of the Palouse. Kacy joined the Marine Corps infantry directly out of high school and deployed twice to Iraq as an Infantry machine gunner with Second Battalion, Third Marines from 2005-2009. He lives in Spangle, Washington with his wife and two children and is currently pursuing a Juris Doctor at Gonzaga University School of Law.Kacy's debut memoir, Freaks of a Feather, has been reviewed and excerpted by Task & Purpose, The War Horse, The Big Smoke, KHQ, and others. Previously, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Zero-Dark-Thirty literary journal, as well as the SOFLETE website.

Ben Cantwell is a USMC veteran, firefighter and artist from Northern California. His original work reflects his experience as an infantry veteran. Featuring an array of styles, moods and themes, Cantwell’s work is available on custom shirts, playing cards, patches and more. See it here.

Francisco is a product of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and serves as an editor and contributing writer to Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. He is an Into the Fire writing retreat scholarship recipient, and a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow. He is a product of the Writers Guild Foundation Veterans Writing Project, and the Veteran’s Summer Writing Intensive at Marlboro College sponsored by Words After War. He also participates in a Veterans Playwriting Workshop, created by the Theatre Communications Group as part of their Veterans & Theatre Institute, at the La Jolla Playhouse.  Francisco’s work has been featured in The Line Literary Review, Hippocampus Magazine, Iron & Air (Issue 41), Wrath-Bearing Tree, Consequence, BULL, Hobart, Construction Literary Magazine, Split Lip, The War Horse, River Teeth: Beautiful Things, Collateral Journal, and the Dominican Writer’s Association. He is also a contributing co-editor in the second volume of the Incoming series Sex, Drugs, and Copenhagen.

Denis Meadows has been plying the craft of playwriting for a long time, encouraged along the way by the likes of Lloyd Richards, Austin Pendleton, Zoe Caldwell, Audrey Wood, Bill Irwin and Robert Ganz. His play A BRUSH AGAINST THE INDIFFERENCE OF THE UNIVERSE placed second (out of over 200 submissions) in VetRep's latest 10-minute playwriting competition.

David M. Stamps has developed a play entitled, “The Black Bullet Dichotomy.” It placed as a Finalist in the Arts in the Armed Forces Competition. As well as, Finalist in The Writer’s Guild Foundation, a non-profit affiliated with The Writer’s Guild of America Veteran’s Writing Program.As a Writer/Producer, through his production company, SPOKEN WORLD ENTERTAINMENT, he wrote, produced, performed, and marketed his perennial Spoken Word Film, “The Deadly Ms. Susan Aside.” His latest Spoken Word song, “The Night-Mare” is available here.David has taken classes through (TRU) Theater Resources Unlimited. He has taken The Producer Development and Mentoring Program (PDMP and PDMP PLUS), developed to help self-producing artists to advance in the creative arts.As a teenager, David hosted, produced, and wrote for a segment on the legendary FRANKIE CROCKER RADIO SHOW on WBLS. His segment increased the show’s listenership by over 3 million, over the course of 18 months. An iconic voice during “The Golden Age of Hip-Hop” in 1982, he was a trailblazer and Master Storyteller. He was also one of the original producers for Def Poetry Jam.Stamps is the Artist-In-Residence, for Senator Leroy Comrie’s Veteran’s Advisory Board, in St. Albans, Queens. He performs his poetry at events for Homeless Veterans and fundraisers on the Senator’s behalf.

Arianna Rose is a professional Playwright, Musical Theatre Writer, Dramaturg, Visual Artist and Educator. She is the recipient of the MAC Song of the Year Award,  the York Theatre NEO Award,  and various best play/playwright awards from Theatre Odyssey, Tree City Playhouse, Mixing It Up Productions, the Know Theatre, Studio 1 Theatre, South Baldwin Theatre, Veterans Repertory Theatre and Clocktower Theatre Company.  Her plays and musicals have been presented to date in twenty-seven states and seven countries.  She was selected 4 years in a row for Theatre Lab at FAU’s New Works Festival readings, 3 years in a row for Theatre Three’s One-Act Play Festival, and selected twice for Theatre Odyssey’s Ten-Minute Play Festival, winning best play there for FAMILY BY NUMBERS. Arianna was a 2020 finalist for the Edward Kleban Lyric Writing Award. She was one of the three finalists for the 2020 Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing in the UK, which included a production of her one-act version of Touch The Moon at The Windsor Fringe Festival.   Arianna was one of four playwrights selected for the 2019-2021 Miami-Dade County Council of Cultural Affairs Playwright Development Program, moderated by Kia Corthron.   Two of her full-length plays developed in the program have gone on to have readings and workshops across the country and awarded finalist status in many playwriting competitions. She was a 2022 participant in the Kennedy Center Playwrights Intensive and the William Inge Theatre Festival Playlab. Edge Media Network  lauded Ms. Rose’s  play FAMILY BY NUMBERS, calling it “One of the best plays” with a “powerfully haunting conclusion”. The world premiere was at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson, NY in April 2019 with more than 20 productions across the country. It’s been selected twice for Columbia University’s Narrative Medicine Program.  It is published in the 2021 Smith & Kraus Anthology of Best 10-Minute Plays and Theatre Odyssey Best Plays Anthology, joining her other winning play SEX, LIES & STYROFOAM.  Arianna also has monologues published in Applause Books “Best New Monologue Anthologies “ 2019 and 2020.  Full-length plays: TOUCH THE MOON. Selected by HRC Showcase Theater New Works Festival and Fantasy Theatre Factory’s New Year, New Works Series for staged readings in 2021-2022.  Semi-finalist, Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival 2020; Honorable Mention, Panndora’s Box 2020 New Play Festival. A one-act version was produced at the 2020 Windsor Fringe Festival UK, The Know Theatre 2019, and selected for the William Inge Theatre Festival New Play Lab 2020.  THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION has been developed at the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council PLAYWRIGHT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.   It was one of five plays selected nationwide for the 2021 Finstrom Festival of New Plays at Zoetic Stage in Miami Florida. Readings followed at the Sandrell Rivers Theatre in Miami. The Playwrights Center in Minneapolis held a workshop and reading of the piece in June 2022, followed by a zoom reading by VS Theatre Company in Los Angeles. Full-length musicals:  THE LOST GIRL musical, written with  Jonathan Larson and Fred Ebb award winner Ben Bonnema, was selected for the Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival, Viterbo New Works Festival, NYU Steinhardt’s School of Music, the year-long CDP workshop, the 2021 Florida Festival of New Musicals, and JetFest 2022 in Michigan .  It is regularly featured on Musical Theatre Radio.   A musical version of  her play THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION  entitled A COLLECTIBLE SENSATION is in development with director Clayton Phillips and composer Amy Engelhardt.  A CHANGE OF HEART is currently in development with composer Tom...

Deborah Yarchun is a New Jersey-born, Air Force-raised, and Austin-rooted playwright; her plays are just as geographically discombobulated. She’s currently LA/NYC-based. Her plays have been produced and/or developed at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, The Civilians’ R&D Group, Capital Rep, The New Harmony Project, Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, Amphibian Stage Productions, The Great Plains Theater Conference, Jewish Ensemble Theater, The Playwrights’ Center, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, TheatreSquared’s Arkansas New Play Festival, the William Inge Center for the Arts, Jewish Plays Project, the Minnesota Fringe, Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, Northern Stage, the Philadelphia Fringe, The Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival, Playwrights Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theater by Young Playwrights Inc., Williams Street Rep, and at theaters and universities across the United States and in Canada.Deborah’s honors include two Jerome Fellowships at The Playwrights’ Center, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, an EST/Sloan Commission, Dartmouth’s Neukom Literary Arts Award for Playwriting, The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, the Kernodle New Play Award, the Richard Maibaum Playwriting Award, and Women in the Arts & Media Coalition’s Collaboration Award. Her play GREAT WHITE was an Honorable Mention for the Relentless Award and her play ATLAS, THE LONELY GIBBON was a finalist for the 2021 National Playwrights Conference. Deborah is a 2021-2024 Core Writer at The Playwrights’ Center and a New Georges Affiliated Artist. She earned her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow.Deborah is the winner of VetRep’s latest full-length playwriting competition for her play TECTONIC MELANGE. Her play THE CALM BEFORE is currently in development with VetRep.

Mike Reynolds is an active duty Marine and Marine Corps Combat Artist. With roots at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA while attending some very basic elective art classes; following the attacks of September 11th, 2001, he left college and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. As an Ammunition Technician he has been assigned to 10th Marine Regiment, 8th Marine Regiment, and Combat Logistics Regiment-35. As a Chief Warrant Officer, he has served with 3rd Supply Battalion, Marine Corps Systems Command, Marine Corps Base Quantico, and as an LDO he currently serves with Marine Forces Special Operations Command. A veteran of OIF, OEF, and OIR he has done his share of creating unit t-shirts and coins, but took a more focused approach to creating artwork in recent years.“A few years after transitioning to the Warrant Officer ranks, I volunteered to assist the annual Warrant Officer Basic Course at Quantico, Virginia. I was was teamed with Staff Platoon Commander and Marine Corps Combat Artist, Captain Charles “CJ” Baumann where I rediscovered my passion for art in working with him and studying his work.”Mike's passion for creating artwork stems from the idea that art should tell a story, and the stories of the GWOT demand to be told.Check out Mike’s work here.

Steve Callahan is a writer, a poet and a former Marine infantryman. Bursting with creative efforts, Steve runs a poetry site, podcast, and is heavily involved in PB Abbate. As someone who separated from the Corps this past February, Steve’s writing about the Marines, his deployment to Helmand and the psychological peaks and valleys of an infantryman’s life feels very fresh and relevant. In fact, I find that Steve writes about the Marines in a very post-breakup sort of way – a kind of writing loaded with raw, tender-to-the-touch emotions. This is somewhat by design. Steve was a writer from an early age. Much like Jack Kerouac or George Orwell, Steve felt an innate compulsion to shuck the comfortable malaise of young writer for the constant discontent of an adventurer. In Steve’s case, that meant joining the Marine Corps. After a somewhat fulfilling, somewhat demoralizing six year stint, Steve now finds himself tackling his novel, his poetry and short stories with a renewed perspective and a greater understanding of humanity at the extremes. This was an incredibly enjoyable chat with a true artist whose stroll down a warrior’s path has left him a far more interesting writer and thinker.

Angelo T. Robinson is an interdisciplinary artist and photographer who lives and works out of Senoia, GA. A self-taught artist, he joined the US Navy in 1992, where he served ten years active duty and four years in the Naval Reserves as a Seabee. Traveling to locales such as Italy, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Africa, France, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Egypt, the Virgin Islands, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates greatly influenced Angelo’s approach to art. The vibrancy, diverse richness and simple beauty of the cultures he experienced are shown throughout his work.His work exudes a level of spirituality and an organic connection with the human condition. This reflects his experiences growing up as the son and grandson of preachers. Angelo’s creations invite the viewer to participate in a physical, mental or spiritual dialogue with what they experience. Deep vibrant abstracts, joyous colorful mixed-media portraits, and majestic sports pieces are brought to life using vivid colors and bold compositions.Yellowtub Creative

Don’t listen to this week’s episode. Seriously. We wanted to do a cool, year-end episode to talk about the highs and lows of VetRep’s first calendar year - and we did that. Star, Dex, and Lilla were great - funny, moving, poignant even - but, well, it just sucks to do a four-person Zoom podcast. Everyone’s muted when they’re not talking so you don’t hear the laughing or crosstalk that makes it seem like, well, four people talking. Instead it sounds like we’re each in our own little pods speaking in isolation. I was dangerously close to scrapping the whole thing. But I didn’t. There are some wonderful memories that are worth sharing and remembering. Hopefully those will outweigh the technical blahs. But if you haven’t listened before - don’t let this be your first episode. We’re so much better than this. Have I undersold the episode enough? Thanks to everyone who has listened this year, not to mention our outstanding guests. It’s been a privilege to bring you the stories of so many veteran artists. We can’t wait do it again next year. Happy New Year everyone!

The son of a WWII combat veteran, Fred Graver is an American television comedy writer, producer, and network executive.Fred was co-editor-in-chief of National Lampoon along with Sean Kelly, under the pseudonym L. Dennis Plunkett. He left the Lampoon in 1984 to join Late Night with David Letterman, where he worked as a writer until 1990. While at Letterman, he wrote several unproduced screenplays with Kevin Curran (who also edited National Lampoon).In 1990, Graver worked for Norman Lear's production company Tandem Productions. He left a year later to join the staff of In Living Color, where he worked until 1992, when he joined the staff of Cheers as a writer and eventual co-producer.In 1994, the Northridge earthquake convinced Graver and good friend Charlie Rubin to return to New York, where the two wrote for The Jon Stewart Show.In 1995, Graver leapt into the internet as executive producer of convergence programming Disney and ABC Cable. In 1999, he began work as an executive at MTV Networks and VH1, where he joined their MTV Networks Online division as head of VH1.com and Sonicnet.com. He then went into television programming as the head of VH1, and created the show Best Week Ever. In 2010, Fred was named SVP of Programming for the Travel Channel. In 2012, Graver joined Twitter as Creative Director of Media Partnerships.Most recently, Fred served as Chief Judge of VetRep’s playwrighting competition.Follow Fred here.

Army combat veteran Christopher Soucy is an actor, puppeteer, director, screenwriter, and playwright living in Savannah, Georgia. He has been writing for stage and screen for over 20 years.Read some of Chris' poetry on the Savage Wonder literary blog here.Chris tweets here.Follow Chris here.

Chris Sparks is an Army veteran who could speak Arabic, a former police officer and current stand-up comic. More than that, he's an incredibly affable, humble, intelligent and ambitious guy. His documentary Thank Me for My Service: A Veteran’s Cry for Help is a tough watch. It is tough technically – intentionally – and it is tough because of its subject matter – which is Chris himself. The film captures a two-day period this past August when Chris finds himself in a manic state due to the meddling and persistent worrying of his family. Their worry is not without cause – Chris has a TBI and is bi-polar. But Chris’ focus is on developing his one-man live show (of Thank Me For My Service) and he needs a few days of isolation to develop it, but instead has to navigate psychiatrist appointments and arguments. It should be the stuff of comedy – especially since Chris is a stand-up comic. It screams for the irreverence of Jack Nicholson or the fevered outbursts of a young Michael Keaton. Chris opts to take it all at face value and seriously – which seems very reasonable considering that the events of the film are still so fresh and raw in his mind. If comedy is tragedy plus time, the film needs time. That said, it is undoubtably raw, poignant and memorable, a worthy addition to the conversation about PTS, suicide prevention and the treatment of veterans in the healthcare system. With time and distance from these events, I think there is comedic gold in Chris' life and experiences. But Chris is just getting started. I think his next steps will be ones to watch, and I, for one, can't wait to see what they are.

Nicholas Efstathiou is a US Army veteran. He writes horror, paranormal, and strange fiction. He has worked as a bookmobile driver, a librarian, a trashman, a bookseller, and now as a teacher. He has also ghostwritten dozens of popular books. His writing @crossmassachusetts is not for the faint of heart.

Kristopher Battles is a contemporary fine artist creating artworks in a variety of media which honor the highest traditions of representational art.Battles graduated with a BFA in Painting from Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) in December 1991, and earned his MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford in September 2013.Originally serving as a Marine Reservist from 1986 until 1996, Battles became a Marine combat artist after reenlisting in 2006, and deployed to Overseas Contingency Operations several times to create art for the United States Marine Corps, serving in that billet until 2014. From 2014 until 2019, Battles served as a civilian combat artist for the Naval History and Heritage Command at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC. Battles is currently the Marine Corps Artist in Residence, on staff at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA.His work has been featured in publications and art venues across the country, including the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. as a part of the art show “Fly Marines! The Centennial of Marine Corps Aviation 1912-2012” from January 2012 through January 2013.Battles’ work was featured on the cover of Leatherneck magazine, March 2008, December 2009, and August 2020. His illustrations for the “Sharing the Courage” series were featured in Marines magazine, Oct/Nov/Dec 2009, and in a Marine Corps Times article “Heroics illustrated, comic-book style” by James K Sanborn, March 22nd, 2010.Battles was featured in the New York Times Arts & Leisure section on July 18th, 2010, in an article by Carol Kino entitled, “With Sketchpads and Guns, Semper Fi”. Battles has been invited to be a guest speaker and artist for many events and organizations.  He was featured at USS Constitution Museum, Boston, MA during Marine Week in May, 2010, and his work was also on display May 5th 2010 in the John F. Kennedy School of Government for Harvard University. Battles was also guest speaker at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, January 28th 2011, and was forum speaker at The Army and The Navy Club in Washington, DC March 2nd, 2011.Battles was featured in ABC ‘s “Persons of the Week: Combat Artists” with Charlie Gibson, September 2007, along with fellow combat artist and Hartford MFA alumnus Michael Fay, and combat artists Charles Grow and Col Charles Waterhouse.Battles is a 2008 and 2010 recipient of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s John W. Thomason Award for excellence in combat art, and the 2010 and 2011 recipient of the Marine Corps Combat Correspondence Association’s Merit Award for Combat Art.Follow the Marine Corps Combat Art Program hereFollow Kris here

Stephen Camelio is a screenwriter and son of a Vietnam veteran who died from complications due to Agent Orange. Stephen's first film is Mending the Line, the story of a Marine returning from Afghanistan who finds mental health through fly fishing. Previously, Stephen was a freelance writer and former editor at In Style magazine. His work has appeared in books and countless publications including ESPN The Magazine, Field & Stream, Entertainment Weekly and Men's Journal. Having been a long-time contributor of reviews to Publisher's Weekly, he's adapting books about the Vietnam War and the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone into TV/film projects. He's also developing a script about being a founding member of the Scorpions, the world's manliest book club. A graduate of Villanova University with masters degrees from NYU and Queens University in Belfast, he lives in Montana, where he fishes, hunts and plays princesses with his two young daughters.Follow Stephen here