Page 146 - Total War on PTSD

they were injured but we were all there to support them...and that their service wasn't for no reason...that we were, and are, all here behind them."
This became this very special thing, and even now to this day, there are at least two such events each year if not more. We put on a big Christmas Party and a big Super Bowl Party every year for service members and Veterans coming through Walter Reed each year. A lot of the men and women we have supported before come back and volunteer to help with these special events as well, making them even more special, and more like a family, in the process.
Fast forward a few years, I began opening up and doing shows with Gary Sinise & The Lieutenant Dan Band in South Carolina we played at: the Citidel; Beaufort, S. Carolina; North Charleston Coliseum. We did several shows together down there and at the Lieutenant Dan Weekends (LDW) One through Five we did four shows. One weekend was down at a place
called Palm Key, and it was just a special weekend where we had art, crafts, classes, camping, campfires, etc.
Around a campfire one night we realized that the guys were like hugging each other and telling these
stories...and their Caregivers were saying that they never heard them mention these stories before...or open up the way they were. And so, at that moment, it was like a lightbulb lit up. We thought what if we created a place where Veterans could come and sit around a campfire, in an organic non-sterile environment, and be able to just talk to each other and really relate their experiences? What if we get rid of the doctors and the white walls where they are all asked the same things as other Veterans? There is a time and place for everything, but we know that Veterans don't
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