A Veterans Call to Action

Anthony
February 8, 2018

 When I left the Army in 2007, I had been away from combat for one year and was  in the process of transitioning to life as a student. As ridiculous as this  sounds, I was more afraid of going to class than receiving a 0300 Dustoff  mission. I was afraid because I didn't know how to act as a civilian, I was  zoning out in class thinking about Iraq, I was surrounded by people who had  never experienced combat, and I believed I had lost my identity.

Warriors and the Village

 Hundreds of years ago, warriors left their villages to fight wars. Sometimes  they were away from home for years. Villages knew their warriors, the same as  small towns like Bandera, TX, and Elmira, NY know their warriors today. When  warriors in the past returned to their villages, they were welcomed back with  open arms. Every person in the village understood what their warrior had been  through. Warriors were not held on pedestals but were respected because  villagers knew they were fighting and defending the community. This  understanding helped make the transition from warrior to the farmer a  relatively smooth one. This understanding eliminated misconceptions about  combat and what it meant to be a warrior transitioning to a new profession.  Older generations of warriors in a village were the norm, which reinforced the  re-assimilation of younger warriors returning home. Our community understood  us.

 Fast forward to the first half of the 20th century. Many communities were  smaller than they are today. There were still generations of warriors in these  communities. Organizations like  The American Legion and the  VFW provided a common place where warriors  could come together. Service was mandatory and generations of warriors were  still abundant.

 It's different today in the early 21st century. Technology and  industrialization have grown our communities and formed our great cities. Our  military is vastly improved. We have superior combat technology and our  warriors are better trained and educated. We do more with fewer warriors,  resulting in only 1 percent of our population serving at any given time.  Generations of warriors are widening. Today, a warrior comes back from years  of fighting, separates from service, and is thrown into a society that does  not understand what he has been through.

Who can help Warriors?

 So how do we do a better job of veteran assimilation? I could make the  argument that our government and local municipalities should solve the  homeless veteran battle, veteran unemployment, and the lack of healthcare  resources. I could also make a case for joining the local VFW or American  Legion post. I believe it's our duty, as fellow veterans, to welcome back our  brother and sister warriors. It's our duty, as veterans, to be the community  that assists with the transition from warrior to a farmer, so to speak. No one  can do this better than veterans. And every veteran can make an individual  difference. With social media, technology, and cell phone, we're all connected  and closer than we were 10 years ago. A couple of months ago I discovered that  a flight medic I served with was retiring. I got this from his Facebook  timeline. The village is not dead, it's just changed a bit.

 Here are some examples of how veterans can help veterans:

 The days of the village welcoming the warrior back home are still possible.  The village is now virtual and comprised of veterans. This past year I changed  my profile picture on FB to a photo of me in my dress blues. I later noticed  my newsfeed filled with dozens of profile picture updates. Fellow warriors  were changing their profile pictures to high-speed photos of them kitted up,  wearing their dress uniform, or busting a pose in front of a Black Hawk. We do  this because we're proud of our service. We do this because other veterans are  proud of our service. And we do this to show solidarity with our brothers and  sisters to cope with. We may be hard to find in the real world, but we're all  discoverable and accessible in the virtual world.

 I challenge all warriors to reflect on how they can welcome a warrior back to  our village. We've been fighting for over a decade. We all have suffered, lost  brothers and sisters, many have physical wounds, and we all have emotional  wounds. We understand each other. We can't sit around and wait for the  government to do something for us and we can't count on an organization to  solve our problems. We all have the power to have a direct impact on a  warrior. That's something worth living for.

Anthony