Blog Post 1: Finding the Story

For our first project, Kristen Wolfe and I decided to do a story on post dramatic stress disorder, or PTSD with veteran soldiers. What we didn't realize was how difficult it could be to get someone to agree to interview with us on camera. Plenty of veteran soldiers have been diagnosed with PTSD, but for most of them it is a touchy subject that they'd rather only discuss with those they know and trust. Last week we went to the Irish Penny and the bartender there gave us the name of a retired soldier who would be more than happy to talk to us. She wasn't sure if he had PTSD but she gave us his name and we were able to find and message him via Facebook. He still has not responded. However, yesterday we finally made some progress. We went to the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and met 2 veterans who said they'd be willing to talk to us on camera. The one (Danny Stinson) seemed to be the more promising interview. We set up a meeting with him for later this week. He also told us that tonight there would be a troop of soldiers coming back to the Salisbury armory from Iraq. We went there yesterday in the afternoon and talked to Rob Clayton, John Black, and Major Keen who gave us permission to film the event. Rob Clayton and John Black also turned out to be diagnosed with PTSD and said they wouldn't mind doing on camera interviews with us later this week. We are also planning to meet with some counselors and nurses who deal with soldiers diagnosed with PTSD, and I will post more on the topic once those interviews have been completed.