BTM47-Army Week Association and Afghan Ally Support
Show Summary
On this episode of Behind the Mission, we have a conversation with Jen Wilson, Co-Founder of the Army Week Association, a New York City-based Nonprofit that provides support to returning service members and their communities. In this episode, we discuss AWA’s mission and how their network was engaged to respond to the need to support US and Coalition Force Allies during the Fall of Kabul
About Today’s Guest
Jen Wilson was born and raised in Louisiana, the product of a National Guard town and the proud granddaughter of a D-Day & Battle of the Bulge survivor. Like many Americans, Jen's worldview shifted dramatically after September 11, 2001. While sitting in her dorm room at LSU on that fateful day, even though she'd never been to New York and knew no one there, she made the decision to move to NYC. She quickly earned a position at NBC's corporate fitness facility as their Senior Fitness Specialist. While training and rehabilitating their employees and their on-air talent, she also began concurrently learning the art and logistics of television production. Arguably, her favorite production experience came while traveling the nation and the world with Al Roker and his show, "Wake Up with Al", affording her the opportunity to be on the Vancouver and London Olympics production teams. She went on to be a freelance producer for NBC News, MSNBC, The Weather Channel, The TODAY Show, NBCSN, CBS, CBS Sports, ITN Productions, Keystone Productions, The Triumph Games, and SNY.
It was her grandfather’s legacy that instilled in her an appreciation for service members and their sacrifices. Then came 9/11. And it was the men and women she and her brother grew up with that went to Iraq and Afghanistan. They reignited the fire in her to serve those who answered our Nation’s call to arms. She was a co-founder of the NBC Veterans Network at 30 Rock during her tenure at NBC, and it was in that role that she met Chris Page. Soon thereafter, together, they founded Army Week Association.
As the Army Week Association Chief Operating Officer, she maintains close working relationships with local, state, federal, and international governments, and military contacts to ensure an effective and efficient bridge of the civil-military divide. It is in this role that Jen has been working tirelessly for months on the evacuations of Americans and our allies out of Afghanistan from her living room in Manhattan.
She is an accomplished producer, a published author, a successful entrepreneur, and an American Patriot.
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
The PsychArmor Resource of the Week is the course Why Veterans are an Invaluable Resource in the community. The military and veteran communities are rich with qualities unique to their character and military experience. In this course, community leaders will learn about why taking the time to embark on a collaboration journey can ensure that veterans and their families unlock their full potential and apply their invaluable skills back into their communities. You can find a link to this resource by following this link https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/why-veterans-are-an-invaluable-resource-in-the-community
Links Mentioned In This Episode
The Army Week Association
Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
This Episode Sponsored By:
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com