>Times Correspondent to Address Ridgewood A.M. Rotary Club
on Military and Veterans Issues
James Dao, national correspondent for military and veterans affairs for The New York Times, will speak at a meeting of the Ridgewood A.M. Rotary Club from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., Thursday, February 23, at Osteria La Fiamma, 119 East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood.
Dao, who lives in Glen Rock, has traveled far and wide on his military beat. It has taken him from Fort Jackson to cover the first woman to become the Army’s top drill sergeant; to Fort Sill to write about aging Army recruits in basic training; and to Afghanistan to report on American troops in Operation Enduring Freedom. He has also profiled Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki and written extensively on post-traumatic stress disorder.
Dao was a Pentagon correspondent for The Times’ Washington bureau during 9/11 and later was embedded with Special Operations Forces during the Iraq invasion in 2003. He also has covered the State Department and Congress and was part of The Times’ national political team during the 2000 presidential election.
Prior to joining The Times in 1992, Dao was a reporter for the New York Daily News, where he was lead writer on a series about the people-smuggling industry in China. Earlier, he was a political reporter for The Record of Hackensack.
Guests are welcome to attend the meeting. A full buffet breakfast will be served at a cost of $11. Please contact the Ridgewood A.M. Rotary Club at 201-637-7335 so that extra breakfast settings can be arranged. Please leave a number where you can be reached that morning, in case major breaking news calls James Dao away from the meeting.