Mars Hill University to present Veteran's Day program

Mars Hill University will host a program called "Veteran Experiences in War and at Home," in honor of Veteran's Day, November 11 at 7 pm, in Belk Auditorium, Wren Building.  The program will be led by Bob Kandra, a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation, and an adjunct professor of criminal justice at Mars Hill University. The public is welcome.

Kandra will share some of his own war-zone experiences, and he will focus in some detail on the experiences of Major Rusty Bradley, a 1993 Mars Hill University graduate and retired special forces team leader. Bradley was wounded during the strategic Battle of Sperwan Ghar in command of a Special Forces A-team, in the Kandahar Valley of Afghanistan. Bradley later authored Lions of Kandahar, an acclaimed book which details that battle and its results within the greater Afghanistan War.

"These stories will lay the foundation for a brief piece concerning the challenges faced by student veterans, as well as other veterans who are returning to civilian life," Kandra said. He emphasizes that it will be a positive program.

Current student and veteran Jordan Patterson will also speak during the program. Patterson, a veteran of the Air Force, did a seven-month tour in Afghanistan and is now pursuing his degree in criminal justice at Mars Hill University.

Other members of the Mars Hill Veterans of Foreign Wars will attend and may speak if time allows. The program will also include a question/answer time.

Copies of the book Lions of Kandahar have been donated by Kandra, and they will be available for distribution by lottery, free of charge, at the event.

This event is hosted by the MHU College Republicans.

More on Bob Kandra:

Kandra served 27 years as both a career CIA National Clandestine Service Operations Officer and as a Senior Executive with assignments involving counterintelligence, counterterrorism, counter-proliferation, and cyber threat challenges. His field command assignments included Damascus, Syria; Warsaw, Poland; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Tirana, Albania; Baghdad, Iraq (three tours), and most recently Vienna, Austria.

Before his retirement from government service, Kandra spent two years in the FBI, serving as the Associate Executive Assistant Director in the National Security Branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In this capacity, he was responsible for executive oversight of all foreign and domestic FBI programs for counterintelligence.