Veteran's History Project

I learned a lot from this project. I got to hear straight from the veterans, and I got to hear their stories about their experiences in the war. My veteran's name was James Starkey. He was born in Buffalo, NY in 1977 and graduated from Orchard Park in 1996. After high school he went to college down in Florida for 3 years and played baseball while he was there. He also tried bar tending and serving at local bars but he was unable to find his place no matter what he did. Since Mr. Starkey was unable to find his place he decided to enlist at 29 years old. He chose the Army because when he walking into the recruiting place that was the first branch that approached him. After Mr. Starkey completed his basic training he was sent out for combat. He served in Afghanistan from 2011-2012. His unit was the last to completed a full year deployment, they have been moved to nine months now. Along with Mr. Starkey, twenty-six other guys decided to stay an extra 31 days with no extra pay. James Starkey was one of the men to serve on the front line and he gained many bad memories from that time. One of those memories include finding out that one of the soldiers stepped on an IUD and when his truck went to find out who their truck hit one as well and his Sergeant was killed right next to him because he decided not to wear his harness. Even five years after his service he still faces nightmares and goes to counseling because of his traumatic experiences. This project was definitely one of my favorites because it gave me an opportunity to hear what their experiences were like and I was able to hear straight from the source and not many people have that opportunity. I believe this project was very successful. Everyone has their own story and our entire class had the opportunity to capture and save those stories for future generations. Overall I learned that there are just somethings that people think they have to do for themselves. I also learned that everyone has their own story, but each and every story deserves to be heard around the world rather any story is great or even awful.