Resources to learn about military veteran culture / reintegration

jkleiber · May 5, 2016, 5:02pm

This topic is a place for us to post resources for civilians to learn more about the veteran reintegration experience. In an email exchange today with a colleague, she pointed me to many and I’ll share them with you below. I receive so many links to so many things that I find it easier to have one place to post them all, instead of posting them on Twitter, Facebook, and all of those platforms. I find that they get lost and here they can be more easily found.

Wes Moore: How to talk to veterans about the war – a TED talk by Wes Moore
Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes
What It Is Like To Go To War by Karl Marlantes as well
My Life as a Foreign Country: A Memoir by Brian Turner, the author of the poem, The Hurt Locker

I’ll add more as I think of them, and please, if you have any links, please add them as well!

jkleiber · May 5, 2016, 8:42pm

At the end of last year, I went to events of two organizations related to veteran reintegration.

The first was the VetsInTech gala. VetsInTech helps veterans transition into technology careers, acting as bridge between vets and tech companies. I met some really cool folks here and felt very welcomed, even as a civilian with no direct connection to the military.

The other was Battle Tested. It was an event similar to TEDx, but for veterans to share their stories of reintegration. I felt deeply impacted by this event, and you can watch the videos that were shared online and I recommend that you do. The depth and breadth of the humanity that they have seen continues to astonish me.

That’s all for now