The team of Frontlines of Freedom is made up of military, academic and production professionals, who work together in making the show unique, informative and polished.
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Denny Gillem, HostWhile serving as an Army Advisor to the Michigan Army National Guard, Denny and wife Marilyn fell in love with Western Michigan. Denny concluded his 22 year career as an infantryman and the family settled here. Since then he has worked in sales, leadership, and academic positions in Michigan, where he still teaches today. Denny’s vision for Frontlines of Freedom is to focus on the brave Americans who have and are defending our freedom. He brings home the fact, in every show, that freedom is not free, rather, the price is paid by the soldier’s who serve in harm’s way. |
Specialist:
Frank Anderson, Independence Caucus, Our Political Guru
Frank is one of the founders of the Independence Caucus, a group committed to eliminate corruption in Washington and to elect representatives who will help create a smaller and less intrusive government. Check out Icaucus.org.
Sheryl Carter, Military Family Specialist
Sheryl Carter is a military wife and mother of four children. Her husband, David, has been in the US Navy since he graduated from high school. Sheryl has been part of the reserves since 1990. Sheryl joined Frontlines of Freedom in 2007 and has helped us keep track of the opportunities for military families.
Michael D. Edwards, Military Christian Outreach Specialist
Michael Edwards is the director of Communications and Publisher for Officers’ Christian Fellowship of the USA, in Englewood, Colorado. In 1999 he moved to Denver from Dallas, Texas, where he had been editor and public relations director for Dallas Theological Seminary since 1987. As a sergeant in the United States Air Force, Michael served as an editor at the National Security Agency, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, and as an electronic emissions specialist at Shemya Air Force Base, Alaska. Upon completion of his military duty, he moved to Houston, Texas, where he worked as a technical writer for Pennzoil Company from 1975 to 1980. He moved from Houston to Tyler, Texas, to become the public relations director for Pine Cove Conference Center.
With an avid interest in publishing, Michael led the OCF editorial team to produce Out of the Valley, the biography of Lieutenant Jonathan C. Shine, an OCF member who was killed in action in Vietnam. The amazing life story of Lieutenant Shine continues to help cadets and midshipmen.
Craig Gray, Self Defense Expert
Craig Gray is a businessman, consultant, speaker, instructor, and Subject Matter Expert (SME) for numerous law enforcement agencies as well as Frontlines of Freedom Military / Veteran Talk Radio Show. Craig is responsible for creating the MCOLES (Michigan Commission of Law Enforcement Standards) approved Krav Maga Self Defense for Law Enforcement Training Program. He is an adjunct instructor for hand to hand combatives and warrior ethics at the Homeland Security and Protective Services Academy within the Gerald R. Ford Job Corps. Craig is also the head instructor at Ronin Martial Arts Academy and serves as education director for Her Survival Guide an organization that teaches empowerment skills, risk management and conflict resolution skills to college bound girls and their mothers. Craig is also a certified Krav Maga instructor with Israeli Krav International. As one of the leading (IKI) Krav Maga tactical instructors in the country he is one of only three teachers in the United States able to award rank in the system. Krav Maga is the official hand to hand / hand to weapon close quarter defensive tactics taught to Israeli military and law enforcement agencies.
Pete Hegseth, Veterans for Freedom
Pete graduated from Princeton and was commissioned in the US Army. He served a number of tours, including one in Iraq. He returned home to join the recently formed Veterans for Freedom, a group committed to telling the truth about what is going on in the region—in contrast to the reports from the main-stream media. Check out www.vetsforfreedom.org.
Craig Larson, Department of Veterans Affairs Contact
Craig served in the US Marine Corps and then went to work for the VA; he now works in the Chicago office. He keeps us posted on the great things that the VA is doing for veterans.
Dr. James Smither, Library of Congress Veteran’s History Project
Dr. James Smither, Director of the Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project, has been teaching history at Grand Valley since 1990. He studied medieval and early modern European history at the University of Chicago and at Brown University, and wrote a dissertation at Brown on the use of political propaganda in the French Wars of Religion in the Sixteenth Century. He has had an active interest in military history in general for as far back as he can remember, and designed and teaches a popular course on the History of Warfare at Grand Valley that attracts students from across campus.
Dr. Smither first became involved with the Library of Congress Veterans History Project in 2003. Together with documentary filmmaker Frank Boring, he produced a documentary entitled Nightmare in New Guinea, which was based on oral history interviews with men from West Michigan who served in the 32nd “Red Arrow” Division in the Pacific during World War II. Much of the work on the documentary was done by Grand Valley students, and the documentary was first aired on WGVU television (the PBS affiliate in Grand Rapids) in 2006. After the completion of the documentary, and of his six-year sentence as department chair, Dr. Smither established the GVSU Veterans History Project. He works with a growing network of GVSU students and faculty, museums, libraries, historical societies, schools and veterans’ organizations to conduct and archive oral history interviews to be archived on their project website (www.gvsu.edu/vethistory) and with the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Behind the Scenes:
Audrey Stout
Audrey Stout is the Publisher of Frontlines of Freedom’s e-newsletter. She is the young military widow of SPC Brandon Stout who was killed in action January 22, 2007. Shortly after the death of her husband, Audrey was introduced to Col. Denny Gillem at an awards ceremony through the ESGR. Denny recruited her to take part in one of the radio shows after which, she asked to stay involved with the FOF. When the e-newsletter was created Audrey became the editor of our bi-monthly newsletter.
Currently a student at Grand Valley State University, Audrey is studying Therapeutic Recreation and upon graduation in 2010 hopes to use her degree to help and work with the veterans of our amazing country.
Jim Zoetewey
Jim Zoetewey works on the Frontlines of Freedom web site.
Jim grew up in Michigan, and graduated from Hope College with a B.A. majoring in religion and sociology. He received an M.A. in Sociology from Western Michigan University, and has attended Grand Valley State University, taking classes in their masters in information systems program. He hopes to finish it soon.
Currently he runs a small business, doing computer consulting and web development.
