A Soldier’s Story

MEDIA RELEASE
27 October 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
w w w . c o m m u n I t y r a d I o . c o . n z

A Soldier’s Story

Armistice Day will be especially poignant for Chris McMaster this year with the broadcast of his show ‘Eyes on America: A Soldier’s Story’ on Community Radio Hamilton. Created as a tribute to Chris’s nephew Sergeant John Sutherland following his tragic accidental death, the documentary features candid interviews with John’s U.S. military colleagues.

Medic Justin Brown, fellow sniper David Florez, and Sergeants Kyle Ron and Derrick Imbrunone served with John on deployments to Iraq between 2006 and 2010 with Charlie Company, 5th Battalion of the 20th U.S.

Infantry Division.

“He [John] was a true warrior,” says David, John’s best friend. “He took certain words to heart and that was loyalty, brother, honour – and you don’t really see that very much."

The conversations offer an insight into everyday realities for a soldier in Iraq “Living six months in a tent with two duffle bags and a rucksack.” Where, Justin continues to explain “We just want to do our job and go home."

They all share sobering reflections on the difficulty of adjusting to American society on their return home.

Justin says he’s “… always a little bit on edge. I don’t ever leave the house without a knife.” He is the only one of the four interviewed to have received his discharge papers, which Justin describes as “one of the best days of my life."

Kyle, who finishes his eight years service in April 2011, was most recently in Iraq just prior to the official end of combat duties for American troops but says “I just can’t do it anymore."

Chris McMaster, a U.S. citizen living in New Zealand, first broadcast his Eyes on America series in 2009. The programme, which was a finalist in the 2010 New Zealand Radio Awards, focused on the U.S.A. and its impact on the world, analysis which Chris says “has been sacrificed by the media”.

“After the US Navy shot down the civilian Iran Air flight 655 in 1988, killing 290 people, George H Bush said ‘I will never apologize for the United States. I don’t care what the facts are’. Well I will never be an apologist for the United States, and I very much care what the facts are."

Eyes on America: A Soldier’s Story first airs on Community Radio Hamilton on Armistice Day - Thursday, 11 November 2010 (9-11pm), with repeats on Saturday, 13 November (7.30am) and Monday, 15 November (2.30pm). Tune in live on 1206AM, 106.7FM or www.communityradio.co.nz, where a podcast is also available for download on-demand.

ENDS

Below are the links to the podcast of A Soldier’s Story:

Part 1: http://www.accessradio.org/media/ondemand/play.asx?_uid=1288062969-555-4
Part 2: http://www.accessradio.org/media/ondemand/play.asx?_uid=1288063360-933-4

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