“We all have our own battle stories”

February 12, 2014

Larson, center, at the Alpha Class 2014 Orientation service project.

The Mission Continues welcomed 80 veterans to The Mission Continues Fellowship Program in February of 2014, including Army veteran Pam Larson. For many, the opportunity to spend a weekend alongside a room-full of other veterans opens doors to stories and conversations not normally shared. Larson shared one such example with the Orlando Sentinel:

At least one third had service-related injuries, but the camaraderie makes it easier to talk about says Pam Larson, a 27-year-old Army veteran and single mom from Columbia, S.C. Larson laughed with a group of other vets about getting shot in the leg in Iraq. Civilians think it’s “crazy,” Larson said, but the story is easily shared among fellow vets.

“We all have our own battle stories,” she said. “It was our daily life. It wasn’t, like, a shocker…I was just doing my job.”

Larson’s fellowship started with the Boy Scouts of America before taking her to the Department of Juvenile Justice, where she mentored 15 incarcerated youth as they prepared for release from the center. For Larson, doing her job was once again about more than just a paycheck. She had found a new mission.

Do you know a veteran looking for an opportunity to give back? Applications for the 2015 Charlie Class are now available through April 3rd.