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VOL. 4/ISSUE 45
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016
Vet Centers helping combat veterans Patrick McCallister FOR VETERAN VOICE
pmccallister@veteranvoiceweekly.com
When America goes to war, Vet Centers go to healing. “The Vet Centers originated in 1979 as a means of helping Vietnam veterans adjust to coming home from the war,” Eayann Taffe, acting team leader of Palm Beach Vet Center, said. Yes, by ’79 it’d been a few years since the last of service members had returned from the Vietnam War. But many Vietnam veterans were not adjusting well. Complicating the matter was that many Vietnam veterans didn’t trust or even like what was then the Veterans Administration. The federal agency would later become of th “The Vet Centers were located in communities,” Taffe said. That, he said, dulled the intimidation and loathing many veterans felt about going to the then Veterans Administration. “It was working much better than the original approach — sending veterans to
See CENTER page 2
Photo by Alannah Don Air Force Master Sgt. Michael Dupertuis, the aircrew flight equipment superintendent for the 6th Operations Support Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., is part of a select group of athletes driven to compete in the sport of ultramarathon running. He has completed two ultramarathons and many shorter long-distance races.
Forget marathoner - meet airman ultra marathoner Allanah Don
FOR VETERAN VOICE
info@veteranvoiceweekly.com
Inspiration for the modern marathon, a 26.2-mile race, stems from military origins. Legend tells of a Greek soldier who ran from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of the defeated Persian army. More than two millennia later, one airman is writing his own story. Air Force Master Sgt. Michael Dupertuis, the aircrew flight equipment superintendent for the 6th Operations Support Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., is part of a select group of athletes driven to compete in the sport of ultra-
marathon running. He is the aircrew flight equipment superintendent for the 6th Operations Support Squadron here, part of a select group of athletes driven to compete in the sport of ultramarathon running. An ultramarathon is any race that is longer than the traditional marathon length of 26.2 miles; typically, they run between 30 to 100 miles. Though he tackles the distance now, Dupertuis never planned to become a serious runner, let alone an ultramarathon athlete. “The Big D Marathon in Dallas, Tex-
See ULTRA page 8