May 13, 2008 Larry Minear To Lecture on U.S. Citizen-Soldier and Global War on Terrorism

Press Contact: Jeffrey Lofton (202) 707-6432; Tom Wiener (202) 707-0977
Public Contact: Veterans History Project (202) 707-4916

Larry Minear, former director of the Humanitarianism and War Project at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University, will deliver the findings of the Tufts study on “The U.S. Citizen-Soldier and the Global War on Terror: The National Guard Experience” at noon on Tuesday, May 20, in the National Digital Library Learning Center, first floor of the Library’s James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave., S.E., Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Veterans History Project (VHP) of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center, this event is free and open to the public. No tickets or reservations are required. Minear used the Veterans History Project collections and interviewed dozens of National Guard personnel for this study. Bob Patrick, director of VHP, said, “VHP is very pleased to be able to highlight some of the nearly 700 veterans' interviews that we have collected from the current conflicts.” From the 50 VHP collections he consulted for his study, Minear recommended 16 for inclusion in “Experiencing War,” a regular feature on the VHP Web site, which highlights collections with similar themes. That feature, “The Global War on Terror,” debuts on May 15th at www.loc.gov/vets/. “The Global War on Terror has demanded much of the men and women serving in the National Guard—like no other conflict in American history,” said Minear. The lecture covers four aspects of the citizen-soldier experience: attitudes toward service and the war; dangers and dilemmas of combat; re-entry to civilian life; and impacts of the experience. Between September 2001 and June 2007, 1.5 million U.S. troops were deployed to either Afghanistan or Iraq, and of those, 240,000 were members of the National Guard. Minear captures the split in their lives between their civilian careers and their part-time Guard commitment, which, for their deployment overseas, became their full-time jobs. Minear has worked on humanitarian and development issues since 1972, serving as consultant to nongovernmental organizations,, governments and United Nations organizations. He has a bachelor’s degree from Yale and master’s degrees from Yale and Harvard. He has conducted research on many humanitarian emergencies and has written extensively for specialized and general audiences. The Veteran History Project was created in 2000 by Congress to record the first-hand accounts of American service personnel in major conflicts beginning with World War I, and actively collects veterans’ personal accounts of the Global War on Terror. Those interested in volunteering can download a VHP Field Kit from the Veterans History Project Web site at www.loc.gov/vets/, request a kit via email at vohp@loc.gov or call the toll-free message line at (888) 371-5848.

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PR 08-098
2008-05-13
ISSN 0731-3527