Veteran Voices

Artists

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  Anthony Torres

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  Anthony Torres is a writer, performer and executive director of Combat Hippies, an ensemble of Puerto Rican military-veteran performing artists based in Miami. He was enlisted in the Army as a mental health specialist from 2002 to 2006. This included a 12-month combat tour to Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq, where he provided counseling to deployed troops. Led by renowned theater artist and director Teo Castellanos, Combat Hippies was founded in 2015 during a creative writing workshop for veterans that culminated with their inaugural theater piece, Conscience Under Fire. Their latest and most ambitious project, AMAL, premiered in 2019 and has toured nationally. He is a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Veteran Fellow, a National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) Leadership Fellow and a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow (CAF). He holds a master’s degree in social work from Barry University.

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  Hipólito Arriaga III

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  Hipólito Arriaga III was born and raised in the South Bronx in New York. In 2003, at age 19, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. Following four years of service, which included two deployments to Iraq, he separated from the military honorably. Post service, he began seeking healing for the various injuries he had sustained, both physical and invisible, leading him on a journey of self-discovery. Arriaga is trained in Baptiste Power Yoga and Trauma-Conscious Yoga. He also works with No Barriers Warriors as a wilderness expedition leader, guiding veterans on transformative, curriculum-based adventures in nature, and serves as a peer facilitator with Warrior Writers. Besides yoga and the outdoors, his passions include healing, reading, writing, community service and assisting and inspiring others in their journeys of growth. He is also a founding member of Combat Hippies.

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  A.S. Minor

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  A.S. Minor is a United States Army veteran, mental health-awareness advocate and spoken word poet. He draws on his experiences as a mortuary affairs specialist in the military, as well as civilian trauma, to bring that awareness to stages, classrooms, hospitals and his YouTube channel.

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  Jessica Coulter

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  Jessica Coulter is an Air Force veteran, poet, yoga therapist, creative holistic arts educator, women’s empowerment speaker and military sexual-trauma advocate. For over 20 years, she has been integrating mind-body medicine and therapeutic interventions to increase overall well-being for diverse populations.