Best-selling author Sebastian Junger registers nonprofit for Vermont veterans

Sebastian Junger, best-selling author and co-director of the Afghanistan War documentary “Restrepostarted a nonprofit — registered in Vermont — that aims to connect veterans and non-veterans through community events.

The organization, called Town hall of veterinarianswill provide resources to any person or organization that wants to host a gathering where attendees can listen to military veterans talk about their experiences, according to a press release announcing the new organization.

One such event will take place this Sunday at St. Michael’s College in Colchester.

The few rules for these events: anyone in the community can attend, only veterans can speak for up to 10 minutes each, and politics has no place at City Hall.

Junger, president and founder of the nonprofit, said he based the concept of the town hall events on the ceremonies held by many Native American tribes in the southern Great Plains. The events were a way to bring the warriors back to the community after the war, he said, and the warriors had the opportunity to play or tell their stories from the war.

“It’s kind of a cathartic experience,” Junger said. “But it also requires the community to participate morally in the violence, doesn’t it? They are part of it. »

One of Junger’s criticisms of modern society is that everything is disconnected – for example, an environmentalist driving an SUV with a sticker on the bumper that reads “No blood for oil”.

“There is simply no connection between the life we ​​lead and the values ​​we embrace,” he said.

By starting Vets Town Hall, Junger said, he hopes to strengthen the connection between veterans and their communities. “We are one nation and we do it together, and the people who actually pulled the trigger were sent there by us,” he said.

He registered the nonprofit in Vermont because two of the three board members live in the state.

One of them, Jon Turner, from Bristol, has been organizing town hall events since 2018. He served as a Navy infantryman from 2003 to 2007, according to the Vets Town Hall press release.

Before hosting town halls, Turner said, he joined and led many other activities to help veterans, such as making paper out of uniforms, writing poetry, farming and farming. , and outdoor recreational activities.

“It’s been a wide range of things, but in all of those modalities, storytelling is always a big part of it,” he said.

Turner said storytelling plays a central role in veterans’ events because many veterans are isolated after leaving the service. Many communities don’t have many people with military experience, and veterans may struggle to find an outlet to process what they’ve been through.

In a town hall of vets, “you’re with your brother again, and so telling stories and being able to continue to process the experience, whether it’s good or bad, mild or tragic, is something that keeps happening” , said Turner. events.

Junger began hosting events at City Hall on Veterans Day in 2015 and has now hosted dozens of events across the country, according to the press release. But until the nonprofit was founded, there was no “one-stop way for people to find out more about how to organize or find the nearest event,” according to the press release.

On the Town hall of veterinarians website, people who want to host their own event can find resources on how to set it up and guidelines for running it. People who want to find a municipal event near them can also find the schedule on the website.

“Anyone can do it, and it hardly costs any money,” Junger said of the town hall events. “That’s kind of the wonderful promise of this is that it could really be nationwide.”

The organization’s goal, according to the press release, is “to establish annual veterinarian town halls in every state — and eventually every community — in the United States.”

Turner, who will host Sunday’s event, said he had no particular expectations about it, but had the same hopes for every event he hosts.

“I just make sure people leave feeling better,” he said. “Maybe a little weight is lifted, or maybe there’s a little more understanding about their own lives or the lives of their family members.”

Sunday’s event begins at 1 p.m. at the McCarthy Arts Center at St. Michael’s College in Colchester. Those interested in attending are encouraged but not required to confirm their attendance on the Vermont Veterinary Town Halls Web page.