22-05-2025
Local Army Veteran wins gold in National Veterans Creative Arts Competition
SALEM, Va. (WFXR) – Richard Kiser, a U.S. Army Veteran from Salem and talented guitar player, returned home this week from the National Veterans Creative Arts festival, where he won gold in the inspirational music division for his rendition of The Wayfaring Stranger.
This was his second trip to the national festival, which was held in Indianapolis this year, and Kiser called the experience 'life-changing.'
He spent the week meeting hundreds of fellow veterans and jamming out with other musicians.
'Everybody left their egos at home,' said Kiser. 'Everybody was there on the same plateau. And everybody was there just to draw from everyone else.'
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Kiser started teaching himself to play the guitar when he was 13 and began playing with a gospel group at age 18.
'I had an unstable home life and the guitar was my refuge and my best friend,' he said. 'I would find that I would get lost in just trying to learn.'
When he joined the United States Army, he took his music with him.
'A lot of times, being homesick and being 12,000 miles away from home, my guitar was my sanctuary,' he said. 'And it was the place where I would sit on my bunk and just kind of lose myself.'
After a hunting accident left Kiser suffering from PTSD, music became a healing method.
'I knew about PTSD firsthand,' he said. 'I also knew what great therapy music was, and the guitar was for me.'
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Now, he travels the country, performing alongside his wife to help other people discover the same therapy he found.
He also helps fellow Veterans suffering from PTSD and other service-related trauma by offering guitar instruction through a local nonprofit called 'Guitars for Vets.'
'I'm teaching them to play and teaching them the importance of music as an alternative to drugs or alcohol even,' he said. 'That it's still a great and a safe refuge.'
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