Specialist Kate Hoit

Kate has never been one to shy away from a new adventure, a trait perhaps engrained in her by her quest for knowledge and information.

She was just 17, still in high school, when she informed her parents she planned to join the Army Reserves. Even though it was just weeks after the attacks of 9/11, she didn’t seem to really pay attention to her mother’s warning that she could “go to war.” In 2004, her mother’s words became reality as Kate received a call that she was being deployed to Iraq. Six months later, as Kate snapped photographs of Iraqi kids and blood-stained hospital floors for her base newspaper, her mother called with news that her father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Her father moved to a nursing home and her family lost their home, but Kate says the Army taught her to “drive on.”

Kate’s original assignment as a contributor to her base’s newspaper stemmed from her desire to get out from behind a desk. Although she had no journalism experience, she volunteered for the job. Six years later, her future boss called and offered her a job writing for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Today, Kate works for the VA’s Office of Online Communications team where she engages with veterans and their loved ones across the country. She plans to continue to serve as a voice for veterans and is well on her way, having been published in outlets such as Time Magazine, the New York Times and The Huffington Post.