Welcome to supportyourvet.org

My name is Baldwin Yen, I served as a sergeant in the US Army reserves, and was deployed to Iraq in November 2003 until November 2004.
I served as a broadcast operations NCO, and got to travel the country interviewing my fellow service members and making stories for tv. Think of Full Metal Jacket or Good Morning Vietnam and you sort of get the idea.

I consider myself extremely lucky as I never encountered any open violence, and I never had to fire my weapon my entire time over there.
At the same time, I did manage to participate in a few raids, searched houses for weapons, and experienced the daily mortar barrages just like everyone else.
I consider myself a pretty happy person, laid back, a joker, so when I came home it didn't take me long to get back into the swing of things, even though I came home unemployed and was basically unceremoniously dumped right back into the civilian world as a reservist.

When I first joined the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America, a non-profit veterans advocacy group, it was out of a sense of anger and duty. Anger at how my fellow troops had been treated, and a sense of duty to get the truth out there and let America know what was being done to its' service members.
At the same time, I got to hang around other veterans, and that's when I learned how much that was worth and what it means.

When I joined the military, one of the reasons was out of a sense of awe and respect for service members. These were the people willing to put the greater good, the good of their country and their fellow citizens ahead of their own personal safety. The people who would put themselves into the face of danger so that others wouldn't have to. (Yes, I have a romanticized view of things.)

So even after serving, it was just great to see other vets, hear their view of things, and hang around these people who I still have a child like sense of respect for. No matter what you did or what you saw, you didn't see and do everything. Every veteran brings his own ideas, thoughts, and even area of operations to a story. New lessons to be learned, new stories to be heard, things that may even help you understand what you went through a little better.

And even if they just went through the exact same thing you did, or maybe even especially if they did, then you have someone who understands your experience in a way that no civilian will ever be able to exactly understand. They know what it's like to wear that armor, carry that weapon and ammo, face that fear. From talking with a few Vietnam vets, you realize that even vets from other conflicts share that common understanding, and talking things over becomes that much easier.

All in all, I think every veteran can benefit from hanging out and talking with other veterans. It's an experience I recommend and enjoy every time."