TRANSCRIPT:
“For those abroad to understand what we believe in, or what we’re fighting for, or what our stance is, or what our government intends to do, is really important.”
U.S. Army Captain Jason Church is a third-generation soldier who lost both of his legs to an IED in Afghanistan in 2012. The Purple Heart medal recipient says VOA was helpful to his mission, even when it brought bad news. Including in March 2012, when U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales killed 16 Afghan civilians.
“It really made our area a very difficult place to operate in. But at the same time that kind of reporting also, if we don’t have our side of the administration coming out and talking about it, if at the time the Obama administration is not able to put messages out in Pashto, in Farsi, in the various languages of the region, then the only message that’s going to get out is going to be one, at the time, of an angry Karzai and the Taliban’s message.”
As a soldier, Church believes that VOA represents the most powerful weapon the United States has – credibility.
“To be frank, [VOA] is one of the most cost-effective means of ensuring American national security. It’s kind of silly to hear the argument that it’s saving money when you look at the variety of other things we spend money on. I mean, we spend more money on a weapon system than we spend on VOA.”
“If we’re not there providing our story in the region, then we are leaving the narrative to others, and from a military background, I would tell you that that’s going to be filled by an adversarial interest.”
Published
Church is a retired U.S. Army captain. He was injured during a deployment to Afghanistan in 2012 and was awarded the Purple Heart. After medically retiring from the Army in 2014, Church earned a law degree and became active in politics, working for Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and running for a U.S. House of Representatives seat in Wisconsin in 2020. Church wrote an article about the value of VOA in RealClearDefense in May 2026.