DENVER — When U.S. Marine David Pond returned from war, something was missing. After serving seven months in Afghanistan, Pond and his bomb-sniffing dog Pablo were split up. However, their recent reunion has helped him deal with his experiences post-deployment.
It’s also helped him to talk about those experiences with students and the public at Regis University in Denver.
Pond and fellow Afghanistan veteran U.S. Soldier Nathaniel Pryor are part of a series taking place at Regis University through April called “Stories From Wartime.”
The panels will also feature veterans from World War II, Vietnam, Korea and Iraq and are organized by Professor Nate Matlock, reported Colorado Public Radio.
Interview Highlights
David Pond on why the “Stories on Stage” panels are important:
“I hadn’t vocalized a lot of the things I had (happen) while I was deployed, outside of my family and a few friends. And being able to just go and talk about it and pour your guts out. It gives people a chance to try and fathom these things. That’s the thing with war, unless you’ve gone or have been in the military, you just don’t know. So by telling our stories, where we’ve been, what we’ve done — and giving it with a bit of an edge, exactly what happened, and not sugar coating it. People get more a firsthand account of what it’s actually like to be deployed.”
Nathaniel Pryor on how he responded to a tough question from a student:
