Bands of brothers
How veterans groups build social connections among men and boys
For Veterans Day, I worked with the American Institute for Boys and Men on a piece about how veterans group forge a sense of tribe among men and boys. For the article, I interviewed The American Legion about its Boys State and Boys Nation programs and Team Red, White, and Blue about its community-building work. I include the introductory section here, with a link to the free, publicly-available post.
One line from the film Black Hawk Down, which tells the story of the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, captures an ethos core to the U.S. military: “No one gets left behind.” We hear it over and over. Even in the midst of battle, when Lieutenant Colonel Danny McKnight informs Major General William Garrison ,the overall commander for the operation, that it will take longer than anticipated to retrieve a fallen comrade. Garrison says, “Danny, no one gets left behind.” Those five words constitute a promise among service members, to come home together, alive, wounded, or dead.
Veterans groups carry this promise forward into civilian life. Going back to the earliest days of the republic, veterans have marched to the mantra of “leave no veteran behind.” In doing so, they have served as pioneers in building social connections. This is particularly true with respect to male social connection, given that approximately 89 percent of veterans are men.
Yet despite the outsized role they play in men’s social connections, veterans groups are rarely highlighted in conversations about the social and loneliness challenges confronting many men in America, especially those without college degrees. Twenty-eight percent of men under the age of 30 report having no close social connections.
This is an unfortunate blind spot. Not only because of their vital work for veterans themselves, but also because of the lessons they can offer to other groups and institutions. In order to better understand these lessons, I interviewed leaders and members of two different veterans organizations, Team Red, White, and Blue (Team RWB) and The American Legion (Legion), about how they build connections among men and boys. Here’s what I learned…
Read the full article at - https://aibm.org/commentary/how-veterans-groups-build-social-connections-among-men-and-boys/.
Great piece and great work, Dan.
This is such an important spotlight. We talk a lot about the loneliness crisis, but we rarely look at the groups that have already solved parts of it. Veterans organizations aren’t just support networks, they’re living blueprints for belonging, purpose, and accountability.
If we want to rebuild connection for the next generation, this is where we should be taking notes.