IAVA
(Iraq - Afghanistan Veterans of America) hosted
their Third Annual Heroes Award Gala to honor
innovators in television on November 10 in the
seven-story gilded Ballroom of the majestic,
turn of the
century Gotham Hall in Midtown.
It
was an appropriately grand setting for this
gathering of over 400 guests - many of them veterans
of America’s wars – to honor America’s bravest and
the folks who work to insure their fair treatment
and to celebrate with IAVA founder and President
Paul Rieckhoff who has worked tirelessly in the
fight for such basic G.I. rights as education,
housing and healthcare. The message for the evening
was a very strong statement to returning military
“We’ve Got Your Back” the theme resonated
throughout the evening
This
year’s gala hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor
Brian Williams honored honor Iraq Veteran,
spokesperson and actor star of “All My Children” J.R.
Martinez and Van Toffler President of MTV
Networks Music and Logo Group, for their outstanding
contributions on behalf of and to the new veteran’s
community. Coinciding with Veterans Day and IAVA's
nationwide Veterans Week activities, this unique and
inspiring event brought together veterans of all
generations – from World War II, the Korean War, the
Viet Nam War, the Gulf War and the current wars on
two fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan. As well, there
were many distinguished members of the veterans’
community and high profile supporters.
During cocktails, numerous vets were sharing their
experiences. Meghan Meade said,” I was in
Iraq for eight months and it sure is great to be
stateside again”. Meghan is now serving with the
reserves and is based at Zabriskie Airport in
Westhampton. 27 year old Cpl. Aaron P. Mankin
horribly disfigured from an IED explosion shared “I
was part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in May 2005 when
a roadside IED exploded”. Yet despite the many
operations he has undergone, he remains resolutely
cheerful and proudly said,” I was the first patient
to participate in Operation Mend” where he had much
of his initial surgery to rebuild his face.
"Operation Mend," is a unique partnership between
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Brooke Army
Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and the V.A.-Greater
Los Angeles Healthcare System has been established
to help treat several U.S. military personnel
wounded during service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The
Katz Family Foundation funds all uncovered costs
associated with the project, including lodging
patients and family members at UCLA's Tiverton
House, a hotel on the hospital campus designed to
meet the needs of patients receiving treatment at
UCLA.
Throughout the cocktail hour, a massive four story
high screen carried the message, “We’ve Got Your
Back” while hundreds of twitter messages from friend
and supporters around the world were instantaneously
popped up on the screen -a clear testament that the
vets’ backs are indeed covered.
Brian Williams
introduced honoree Van Toffler as “the man
who gave us such towering programming as “Beavis &
Butthead’ and ‘Jackass’ and later added that he was
getting back at Van for having mocked him “for being
an admitted Nascar dad”. All said in jest, as under
Toffler’s stewardship MTV has broken new ground for
the network. MTV has produced several
ground-breaking shows featuring Iraq and Afghanistan
veterans, including profiling young veterans
struggling with readjustment on MTV's Emmy Award
winning "True Life" series, as well as celebrating
the service of our newest generation of veterans in
the television special, "A Night for Vets: An MTV
Concert for the BRAVE." MTV also worked with several
veterans organizations to mobilize youth in support
of veterans across the United States and created a
mobile petition entitled BRAVE, The Bill or Rights
for America's Veterans.
Another MTV initiative CMT One Country promotes
volunteerism, including supporting veterans and
military families as part of their outreach and in
partnership with the U.S.O. CMT has also featured
the U.S.O. in such series as "Gone Country" and
continues to highlight the organization throughout
the year. Additionally, the CMT series "American
Soldier" followed the real life story of a small
town National Guard battalion based out of Dublin,
Georgia as they deployed to Iraq.
The
Heroes Award Gala also offered guests and media in
attendance a sneak peak of the powerful, new
television Public Service Announcement (PSA) for
IAVA's National Veterans Support Campaign. Produced
in conjunction with the Ad Council, the PSA was
released on Veterans Day. The campaign's first ad,
featuring a new veteran coming home to an empty New
York City, gained national prominence last year.
This new ad, part of an inspired, innovative
strategy, shows veterans that IAVA "has their back"
as they transition home.
Leading the applause when the PSA ended were
Carol and John Bowers whose son Staff
Sgt Todd Bowers stars in the video but could not
be there for its debut as he is on another tour of
Afghanistan.
When
the evening’s host Paul Rieckhoff came to the
stage the applause was thunderous and with good
reason as he has fostered more significant
legislation for both serving soldiers and vets. In
2004, it was Rieckhoff who upon returning from Iraq
blew the whistle to the international media of the
lack of body armor for troops serving in Iraq and
other equipment issues for “his” soldiers chronicled
in his best selling 2007 book: “Chasing Ghosts”. He
uncovered the shocking unsanitary conditions at
Walter Reed Hospital, the nation’s flagship military
hospital that shook the Pentagon and brought about
change in the care and treatment of our vets.
For
Rieckhoff it is very simple. “We always take care of
our own – that is what inspires me everyday”, he
stated. He spoke eloquently about the new G.I. bill
the most comprehensive upgrading of the manner in
which veterans are treated and the robust
legislation that IAVA has on its agenda in the
coming months and years.
The
gala evening concluded with a performance by the
amazingly gifted young students of the P.S.22 of
Staten Island led by teacher and music director
Greg Breinberg for a roof raising finale in
song!
www.iava.org