Catherine Rusoff
Actor Tom Skerritt understands firsthand how storytelling can help U.S. veterans return home after military service.
The 90-year-old Hollywood actor — whose appearance in 1962’s “War Hunt” led to roles in “M*A*S*H*,” “Top Gun” and others — served four years in the Air Force.
In 2012, Skerritt met Evan Baily, who had recently returned to the United States after serving in the Iraq and Afghanistan. Together they worked to launch the Red Badge Project, which helps veterans solve problems like post-traumatic stress disorder and re-assimilated into civilian life through storytelling.
“It all starts with wanting to help someone else, rather than talking about it,” Skerritt said. “I’m just done talking about it if I could do anything about it.”
CBS Saturday Morning
Skerritt and Bailey were the perfect match for this show: Bailey knew which doors to knock on, and Skerritt’s Hollywood resume helped them get their foot in the door.
“Tom is the most genuine,” Bailey said. “He’s not in this because he’s a celebrity, but because he cares. With these vets, you can’t fake it.”
A year after they met, the project became reality. Project Red Badge’s inaugural class was conducted in partnership with Veterans Affairs centers and hospitals throughout Washington state.
Howard Harrison, who served as a medic during the Vietnam War, is one of hundreds of veterans who have worked with the Red Badge Project to share their story.
“You share things that maybe you haven’t shared with anyone else, and you feel safe sharing that with other veterans, and you really get to know them, year after year,” Harrison said.
In classrooms, multimedia writer Warren Etheredge and author Suzanne Morrison teach the mechanics of storytelling. Morrison also teaches veterans like Crystal Lee Dandridge, a torpedo boat’s mate adapting to civilian life after 12 years. in the Navy. She said she felt “out of place” until she found the Red Badge Project.
Dandridge said the work she did in the classroom allowed her to open up about a traumatic experience on her first day back at work after having her son. A shipmate’s mother gave her a handmade doll as a gift, she wrote, but shortly after returning she found the doll “lynched by single rubber bands held together to form a bow, hanging from a thumbtack, piercing my baby’s photo.” straight to the forehead.” Dandridge was later informed that the person responsible had received disciplinary action but was allowed to remain in military service.
“Reading it for the first time, it was like I gained some awareness of it, like acceptance that this happened. This really happened. But I also gained some healing and perspective on the whole ordeal,” Dandridge said.
The Red Badge Project has now expanded to five cities across Washington state. More than a thousand veterans participated in the program.
“When they ask me what I did in the military, I tell my kids, ‘We looked out for each other,’” Bailey said. “That’s what I continue to do through Red Badge.”
Dana Jacobson
mae png
giga loterias
uol pro mail
pro brazilian
camisas growth
700 euro em reais
