# Veterans — Service Continues

**Semantic kernel:** Military service continues after separation through bodies, identity, families, work, disability, care, benefits, community, grief, humor, and memory.

## Grounded anchor

“Veteran” is a status and a family of situated experiences, not one archetype. Service branch, era, role, combat exposure, injury, identity, family, culture, discharge, health, work, housing, community, and relationship to military institutions differ.

## Moving toward

Recognition, participant agency, useful continuity, peer and family connection, current care and benefits pathways, renewed purpose, and authority over what is shared.

## Moving away

Abandonment, identity capture, compulsory heroism, compulsory damage, invisible institutional cost, isolation, or one Veteran's memory made to speak for everyone.

## Sense → Choose → Act → Learn

- **Sense:** Ask what continues, what changed, what support exists, what remains private, and which institution has actual authority.
- **Choose:** Include passing, joking, staying literal, asking for current information, contacting a peer, or seeking qualified help.
- **Act:** Use explicit, participant-authorized handoffs. Do not store private health, benefits, or family details in the shared graph.
- **Learn:** Let participant correction and dissent remain attributable. A story may deepen the System without becoming a universal Veteran truth.

## Questions

- What did the institution end on paper that continued in life?
- Which discipline still supports you, and which no longer fits?
- Who carries the handoff between military, civilian, family, health, work, and memory systems?

## Smallest practice

Choose an object, route, phrase, task, meal, form, or institutional absurdity. Follow its path from service into present life without requiring a trauma account.

## Limits

This is optional reflection, not therapy, diagnosis, treatment, crisis response, or an official benefits determination.
