A nurse’s experience in Afghanistan

Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center continues its monthly speaker series. This month’s speaker is Nita Peterson. She will be coming to the center on Thursday, April 10th, at 6:30pm to share her story.

During her 5 years as an active-duty nurse, Nita was stationed at Nellis AFB, NV and Whiteman AFB, MO. She also served a 6-month deployment to Craig Joint Theater Hospital at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan in 2010. She will discuss being a nurse in Afghanistan and all that it entailed.

The historical center added her oral history to their database of over 800 oral histories and now welcome her in to share her experiences. “I love the fact that we could bridge the gap between the two,” said Briana Fiandt, Director of Collections & Exhibits. “We you know did her oral history and then now we get to share her story even beyond Just having her in our archives, but she’s going to share her story in person with the public.”

Nita’s unique experience working with young people in the military caught the attention of Clint Mattson, a volunteer at the historical center. Clint helps with the Oral History program and was also a nurse in Vietnam. “I was really pleased to be able to get to know Nita and hear her story about her time in the service,” he said. “Her story started when she was a student nurse under the Air Force ROTC program and ended up taking her to Afghanistan in a combat zone.”

The speaker series happens every second Thursday of the month. May’s speaker will be Brian Castellac. Who is coming to talk about infantry and its changes since the 1800s. Brain will be speaking on May 8th, 2025.