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“I think one of the most powerful parts of these town halls is actually how it brings in the whole community. Because there are so many Americans today who respect veterans, who want to help and support veterans, but just don’t even know how to relate to us…” says Seth Moulton.

“When you have the opportunity to find common ground and to sit and to listen to the other’s experience, and to do so without judgement, that’s really when you can build a community…”

Jon Turner, Vets Town Hall board member and emcee, spoke with WDEV host Brad Ferland about his transition from military to civilian life, and about building community through Vets Town Halls.

“War is one of the most unique experiences in the world, and it’s an experience that is incredibly hard to understand unless you’ve been there.” Vets Town Halls are intended to help bridge that gap. “It doesn’t matter if you’re liberal or conservative, gay or straight, rich or poor” in combat, Junger said. “And in…

“In this ‘dire time of polarisation’, Junger said, Vets Town Hall might provide ‘kind of a sacred space. I’m an atheist, but I use the word sacred all the time. It’s a sacred space in the sense that ordinary life is suspended and here we are in this place, and we’re honoring something, and we’re…

By starting Vets Town Hall, Junger said, he hopes to reinforce the connection between veterans and their communities. “We are of one nation and we’re doing this together, and the people that actually pulled the triggers were sent there by us.” …[Fellow board member Jon] Turner said storytelling plays a central role in veterans’ events…

Dan Vallone, a veteran who served in Afghanistan, writes, “We forge new narratives by challenging what we think we know about the war, not with facts, dates, and figures, but with stories: of hardship and lost friends; of triumphs small and profound; and of pride, confusion, anger, and alienation. We can begin by holding town…