Page 19 - The Military Reunion Network Sept Oct 2017 Issue

Military Reunion Network | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 | #militaryreunionsmatter

THE LIFE CHANGING IMPACT

OF MILITARY REUNIONS

Sitting around the banquet because of the opportunity to talk they come home, the memories
table in 2012, a veteran told to someone that understood. are still there but the community
me the story of his son-in- law. is gone. This combined with
It seems he had a bit of trouble My veteran friend shared his son- reacclimating to civilian life can
adjusting to civilian life. A call from in-law’s struggle and contended lead to some pretty serious
his daughter described a frustrated it was not in only dealing with issues.” Veteran and Warfighter
man, who had become distant his experiences while in the Boone Cutler said it best. “The first
and withdrawn. It was not the man military, but the compounded couple of years after discharge
she married. Father and husband loss of the military community are critical. You assimilate, isolate,
met over a beer sharing stories he had long been a part of years. or die.” His intimate knowledge of
of military life that had remained “Enlisted men and women are veteran suicide led him to write
private until that evening. They trained from the beginning to be the Spartan Pledge which is a call
shared tales of combat, chow, a part of something larger than to veterans to reach out to their
and what it was like to miss home. themselves. They protect their battle buddies before taking their
Although twenty years separated own, and have their six. Their own life. His statements were
their time served, the stories were world is filled with structure, and a wakeup call to me. Why are
close to identical. As the evening protocol. Their lives are literally in veterans dying after they return
wore on, they both felt better each other’s hands. They have a home? What can we do to stop it?
mission, and a purpose.” “When
Continued on page 23

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