military luncheon at a cinema?

That's partly what it was.

The promise of a free meal is always a draw, 'alays kadhalika?

Or perhaps I should have said "intor nist?" for part of the event?

Whether in Arabic or Persian, the meaning is the same: n'est-ce pas?

If I'm being honest, I came for the luncheon, the movie, and the promise of a blank journal.

Even though I blog, I keep an old-fashioned paper diary, too.

I liked the idea of getting one from the Gary Sinise Foundation, especially as I'd just seen (parts of) "Forrest Gump" recently.

(smile!)

"Brothers After War" was a follow-up to Jake Rademacher's 2009 documentary, "Brothers At War", and both had the director interacting with his two brothers, Isaac and Joe, during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to the information disbursed, the 4-hour film and workshop "offers a safe, engaging environment where participants explore themes of service, sacrifice, moral injury, and resilience through guided conversations, interactive sessions, and community support", all in the comfort of the NCG Cinema.

From my front-row seat, I found all of that to be very true.

Chase Millsap, a ten-year veteran of the Marines, was there to help field questions and and lend support during the 2-hour workshop following the film.

Yes, that's correct: a 2-hour workshop, using a workbook with some tough questions for us - the active duty military, the veterans, the first responders, and any of their family members who came - to answer, honestly.

I was surprised how many veteran women were there!

Some of them even spoke up and shared their answers during the discussion.

I was not one of those.

Still, I want to share the answers I wrote for the four questions - out of 13 in the workbook -that were selected for this session.

"What part of the film did you most relate to? Why?"

The woman who had served with them & been "one of the guys". I was a CTM in the Navy and was "one of the guys," too. I related to her getting ticked off when the new guy focused on her being female instead of her job capabilities. Totally related to that.

"Have you ever had a friend think about suicide? Have you thought about suicide? How did you navigate it?"

My cousin David committed suicide after the death of Gwen. She had breast cancer that returned & he stayed right beside her during all her treatments the first time around, then again 4 years later. That second time was especially hard for him. He had called me while I was on vacation with family to talk about it & trying to get her to eat. He knew I had tried to help my mother-in-law, his Aunt, when she had stage 4 cancer and was dying. I talked with him for about an hour, under the stars in TN, and he definitely felt some relief from our talk. Still, she died 2 months later. He was dead by his own hand withing 6 months. He had tried to set up a friend to find his gunshot body, but his son did instead. It's still heart-breaking.

"What's it like to live with a veteran? If you are a veteran, what's it like to live with you?"

I definitely have my own way of doing things. Now that I have been retired for 7 years, I notice that I have a schedule, though it isn't one that others can really see. I do try to keep weekends open for family interaction, but the rest of the time I'm doing only what I want to do. Some days I don't even get dressed, and that started during the pandemic. If I don't get dressed, then it was okay to stay at home.

"What is your most positive memory or experience from your service? Why?"

We made friends quickly!

We all knew from the moment we arrived at each duty station that we needed to "find our tribe" - in the current vernacular - because we were going to need friends for our time there.

Quickly!

And we were all in the same situation, mostly. We were all going to be there for 1 /2 to 2 years. That isn't much time to find bonds with others. That's okay, we were all in the same situation. We could spend our time stationed there alone, or we could live and get the most from that different cultural experience.

So we joined the local film club, we joined the squaredance club, we joined the theatre troupe - we joined - quickly! 

 

 - - - - -

I liked the order of the questions. 

Those were not sequential in the workbook.

Those were on pages 1, 19, 15, and 13.

Why those particular ones and in that order?

They were chosen to lead us from more serious matters to lighter ones, so that we would be leaving on a positive note.

I can relate to that.

After all, I have a 40+-year-old mixtape that does that same thing.

(smile!)

Now, time to shift gears before my first niece arrives!

(smile!)