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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Afghan War, 2001-
  • Branch of Service: Navy
  • Unit of Service: Combat Logistics Battalion 15; National Naval Medical Center; Walter Reed Army Medical Center
  • Location of Service: Rhode Island; Bethesda, Maryland; Washington, DC; Camp Pendleton, California; Afghanistan
  • Highest Rank: Commander

View full service history

"We may or may not have gotten along, but when a trauma or crisis was occurring, everyone just clicked right in and did their job, and it was possibly the best moments of my life, and my medical career." (Video interview, 1:14:23)

Commander Rupa Dainer was born in Washington, DC to parents from India who wanted her to have the opportunities associated with being a United States citizen. She had talents for music and dance, but her determination to become a doctor drove her to overcome obstacles--and her own doubts -- and earn an officer’s commission as a Navy anesthesiologist. She deployed to southern Helmand Province, Afghanistan with the Marines in 2009, where she faced adverse conditions and the stress of caring for gravely wounded personnel. Despite the strain and tension of her deployment, she remembers it as the most rewarding experience of her medical career.

Transcript: XML

About this Item

Title

  • Rupa Dainer Collection

Names

  • Library of Congress
  • Mohindra, Monica
  • Dainer, Rupa

State of Birth

  • DC

Home State

  • MD

Headings

  • -  Dainer, Rupa
  • -  Afghan War, 2001- -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Navy.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Female

Race

  • Asian

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Afghan War, 2001-

    • Branch of Service: Navy
    • Unit of Service: Combat Logistics Battalion 15; National Naval Medical Center; Walter Reed Army Medical Center
    • Location of Service: Rhode Island; Bethesda, Maryland; Washington, DC; Camp Pendleton, California; Afghanistan
    • Highest Rank: Commander
    • Dates of Service: 1998-2015
    • Entrance into Service: Commissioned
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Audio: CD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 02/27/2018)
  • Video: Blu-ray [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 02/27/2018)
  • Video: Digital File [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 02/27/2018)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/111714

Cite as

  • Rupa Dainer Collection (AFC/2001/001/111714), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • online text
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Library Of Congress, Monica Mohindra, and Rupa Dainer. Rupa Dainer Collection. 1998. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.111714/.

APA citation style:

Library Of Congress, Mohindra, M. & Dainer, R. (1998) Rupa Dainer Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.111714/.

MLA citation style:

Library Of Congress, Monica Mohindra, and Rupa Dainer. Rupa Dainer Collection. 1998. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.111714/>.