At Returning Veterans of Diablo Valley, we envision a thriving military veteran community in the East Bay region of Northern California that reflects human values of belonging, friendship, social healing and psychological wholeness.
We who are alive, let’s pledge to daily remember and honor our fallen, as thoughts and/or prayers cross threshholds of time and place, life and death. Let’s dedicate our continuing search for peace of mind in our own skin to their memory. – RVDV’s first member, Michael Mark Anthony, Vietnam Veteran
So I smoked in college, after I graduated, and off an on when I entered professional life. I would quit because I felt ashamed, and then fire back up again. It became a vicious cycle. I realize now that this viciousness was a result of my unconscious desire to avoid difficult emotions - not to mention the fact that the...
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As Veterans, we know all to well what it means to suck it up. "Embrace the suck" has become so common place that we often live our lives from this place, and even tell our friends in one way or another, to do just that. But what actually are we embracing here? Are we embracing ourselves in a manner that...
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19
Jul
2019
As I sat up against the wall of the roof with my back towards the street where the car was, I was rocked by the most powerful explosion I've ever experienced. It shook my chest cavity. I passed out for a nanosecond. I then tried standing up as my head spun, and I instinctively strapped the buckle of my helmet's...
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18
Jul
2019
It was a bright and sunny morning in 2007 at the downtown Fallujah, Iraq, police station where a dozen or so Marines and I were tasked with providing security for a day of police recruiting. There seemed to be a over a hundred or more local Iraqi men lined up right outside of the front gate eagerly awaiting to get...
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18
Apr
2019
ON THE ROAD TO NABATIYA THEY COME TO ME AS IF I’VE CALLED THEM BACK FROM A PLACE I’VE LEFT BEHIND THEIR FACES, YOUNG...
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The first time we took enemy contact was on our first patrol. We had just arrived in country, and we had not yet gained enough experience to conduct a foot patrol that didn't leave us exhausted. Despite having trained for the past three months, the sweltering heat, and the weight of carrying a full combat load weighed on us. We...
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Connection after service among Marines can be tricky at times. Our relationships were fostered in an environment where feelings and emotions were mostly suppressed, or at least not acknowledged or talked about much. When we come together, it can feel like we are picking up right where we left off. And where did we leave off? We left off at...
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23
Sep
2016
I served 7 years in the Marine Corps Reserves, deploying twice to Iraq in some of the most dangerous areas, including the Triangle of Death. This is the same place that the modern day terror group, ISIS, was hiding out and trying to harm my friends and I. My experiences in country, and the training received to become a Marine,...
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