The Victory Era Is Here
BY GABE ERICKSON
CEO, WARRIOR TRANSITION OUTDOORS
A wave is coming. Will you ride or fight it?
I have 30+ hours of meetings every single week, and a growing number of people are waking up to the new era of how we communicate about Veterans and the military community.
Once upon a time, there was a need to shout to the world the troubles Veterans faced. The effects of combat and service had been hiding in the shadows, and the symptoms grew more pervasive. But people simply did not know about it. The "Support Our Troops" narrative was born after recent conflicts. Back then, it came from a place of truth and from a heart to say, "WAKE UP, AMERICA! Do you not know this is happening?" The message grew and things changed. With the awareness came the support - financial, manpower, services - all good things.
But when you look at the history of this for yourself, a toxic seed was planted - an enemy to the heart of the narrative and a dragon to the service members and their families. The "Broken Veteran" narrative was that seed, and it lay patient beneath the soil, growing roots and invading our psyche. It was a slow, pervasive fade, but the roots took hold.
Suddenly, people realized how much money was in this. They realized they could piggy back off the support for their own gain. People realized they could continue to speak about Veteran "issues" in such a way, whether true or not, that people would donate. Many convinced themselves that they were doing it for good, that the end justified the means. A legion of stigmas blinded us to the truth of the humans behind the barrage of 'statistics' and propaganda:
22-a-day (never the number)
PTS-D for disorder (when the response is completely normal to stressful situations)
Stratification of service ("Well, he didn't have it as bad as others.")
"Just" ('Well, I was just a cook.' 'I was just a military spouse; I didn't serve.' 'I was just a data analyst.')
Addiction (despite the fact that the VA gives 6-months worth of drugs out at a time, which would never happen in a civilian pharmacy)
$56 billion toward suicide prevention (yet there's no data to reflect an actual impact from this investment)
In media, stories only showcasing the heroism in combat followed by the post-service crash (which paints a picture in the minds of civilians and military members alike, and certainly hurts recruitment)
The Benefit Beast (the institutional incentivizing of brokenness, rather than solutions-based strategies to real healing)
The list goes on. This inundation of marketing, messaging, appropriations, politics, and so forth watered the seed and fed the dragon. It continued to the point that the general population believed and parroted these stigmas, creating fear between civilians and the military, only perpetuating the actual problem.
But this is a new time, and we cannot get where we want to go by doing what brought us here. We must stand up and recognize a new era for the military community, the service members, and the families, one that is based in strength, not fear. As I share this message one person at a time with those in my circle, people are getting it. And they agree, this is the future.
This is an uphill battle, but it is one more and more are willing to fight.
