Having served two tours in Afghanistan, the abrupt withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country in August 2021 left veteran Sherman Hunt with something to say.
Hunt, of Rutland City, retired from the military in 2017 after a 35-year career with the Vermont Army National Guard and a three-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves.
He learned about the “Vets Town Halls” through an email the organization sent to him. Hunt said he’s active on several veterans websites and online forums, which is how the group found him.
Vets Town Halls is a nonprofit that annually hosts open forums for veterans. On Sunday, at 1 p.m., one will be held at the Godnick Center in Rutland.
The others are on Oct. 16 in the Moore Community Room at Northern Vermont University–Lyndon, and on Nov. 6 at the McCarthy Arts Center in Colchester. Both are set to begin at 1 p.m.
People can RSVP, if they wish, at vtvetstownhall.org online and email vermont@vetstownhall.org with any questions.
“It’s veterans and their families and friends. There’s no politics,” said Hunt. “We don’t discuss politics at all. It’s essentially experiences, good and bad. There’s a sharing of information on resources available. There’s some hugs; there’s certainly some tears, but like I said, the big plus is there’s no politics.”
The forums are for veterans to be around other veterans and say whatever is on their mind. Some sign up ahead of time to talk, but afterward the floor is open. Non-veterans are welcome to come and listen.
Hunt said he was invited to speak at a forum in last year, but opted not to because it was remote-only. He attended a Vets Town Hall event in Burlington instead.
“It was done in Rutland, but it was virtual, on Zoom, because of the pandemic, and I don’t do Zoom anything,” he said. “I’m in-person, whether it’s a meeting, doctors appointment; I want to be in-person.”
Kristen Eaton, of Vets Town Hall, said the Vets Town Hall held in August 2021 in Rutland was in-person. There may have been other veteran forum events that were not.
Hunt went to Burlington to speak about American citizens being left behind when the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan 20 years after invading it in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York City.
“I served two tours in Afghanistan so I was extremely upset, extremely angry and just needed to be in the company of some veterans,” he said. “It was very consoling for me, very relaxing. I just needed to be around some other veterans. I was just very upset with the leaving people behind, which, regardless of the branch of military, is something you just don’t do.”
His first tour in Afghanistan was with an embedded training team from July 2005 to July 2006. He and his team trained people for the Afghan military.
“When you feel they’re competent enough, then you go out and put it into practical applications. You actually go out and do road marches, et cetera,” he said.
His second tour was in 2010 and lasted throughout that year. By then, he was serving as a deputy inspector general.
“I don’t think a lot of the average citizens realize some of the stuff you endure and encounter, particularly when you’re in a combat zone,” he said.
The other veterans who spoke, he said, discussed some rather harrowing experiences. Some were amputees who talked about their time at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and subsequent care; others talked about being transported by medevac.
Hunt said he was in two firefights, one on each tour. One, he said, was on a march; the other was at a base. He said he doesn’t suffer from any trauma-related disorders from those events, but counts himself lucky in that regard, as many others dealt with, and continue to manage “invisible wounds.”
Many veterans are now talking about their exposure to toxic burn pits, he said.
According to Hunt, despite some property tax breaks and parades, Vermont, as a state, doesn’t do much for veterans.
“In this state, if you’re a druggie, if you’re a criminal, if you’re homeless, or whatever, they roll out the red carpet,” said Hunt. “If you’re a veteran who’s willing to put your life on the line for your country and your state, they do very little for you. To me, that’s just awful, but it is what it is.”
Hunt said he registered to attend the event in Rutland on Sunday but didn’t specifically sign up as a speaker.
According to a news release from Vets Town Halls, the Rutland event will be hosted by Kyle Aines, a native of Tinmouth, who served two tours in Iraq as a combat medic. He worked at Community College of Vermont as associate director of veterans and military services and now works as a general contractor. He’s also a mentor with “The Warrior Connection,” and plans to become a facilitator there in 2023.
“Support of our military does not start with a ‘support the troops’ bumper sticker and culminate with grilled chicken on Memorial Day weekend,” Aines stated in a release. “As military members struggle to reintegrate back into society, it is imperative that society have a clear understanding of what they are transitioning from. The Vets Town Hall is that bridge and connection.”
The town halls were started by author Sebastian Junger, with the intention of helping veterans and non-veterans understand each other better. The first Vermont event was held in Burlington in 2017, coordinated by Eaton and others.
keith.whitcomb
@rutlandherald.com
