A couple of weeks ago in class, I stood before a room of college freshman and asked, “any of you listen to NPR?”
*crickets*
And one student replied with, “how old are you?”
My age doesn’t matter, but I can tell you that some of the material that comes through NPR does.
Recently I read a piece about the military transition. Service members who are near retirement, or trying to process life in the civilian world.
It’s not easy.
http://www.npr.org/2017/05/16/528142363/advice-from-a-vet-on-the-rude-awakening-of-transition-to-civilian-life
I encourage you to give this NPR piece a chance for a few reasons…
1. Those service members who are returning home, and those who are already home, they need support. We (society) need to step up and be there for our Veterans, service members, and their families.
2. Learn to listen. At times, we want to ask a lot of questions of our service members, veterans, and even their family members. Don’t ask the uneasy or unwelcome questions of “how many did you kill?” Or “how many did you lose over there?”
3. Life in the military was very regimented, the civilian world may be challenging. At times, we see folks out in our day to day life live carelessly–with no rhyme or reason those folks may or may not appreciate the “rules,” so to speak. Military culture is like another world for civilians to understand, and vice versa. Be patient. Give service members and Veterans a chance to process the change.
I’m so thankful for this guy. Every.single.day. He’s still adjusting to this wild and crazy civilian world at times, but I’m so proud of the journey he is on, and I’m happy to be by his side.