Tara Fields and Morgan Zipf-Meister
Recorded
July 14, 2023
Archived
July 14, 2023
41:40 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id:
ddv002608
Description
Tara Fields (40) speaks with StoryCorps Facilitator, Morgan Zipf-Meister (40), about her upbringing, time in the US military, and her ongoing work in suicide prevention and mental health advocacy for military service members.Subject Log / Time Code
Tara Fields (T) recalls growing up in Kansas as a military brat on military bases.
T speaks about her decision to join the military.
T describes the beginning of her OCS training and meeting her husband.
T talks about service member suicide and the lack of preparedness young people have for the military experience.
T describes her movement up ranks, reduction in rank, and the refusal to promote her.
T recalls the devastation she felt at not being able to be promoted.
T talks about the beginnings of her suicide prevention and mental health advocacy work.
T recounts a cluster of six suicides in six months; three from her brigade. She describes how this led to her needing to go for treatment in the psychiatric ward.
T advocates for the creation of a Mental Health Corps in the military.
T explains how she misses being in the service.
T talks about what she wishes to achieve with her book.
Participants
- Tara Fields
- Morgan Zipf-Meister