(Times of Israel) Amanda Borschel-Dan - Seven U.S. military veterans - most of whom suffer from PTSD - recently completed two weeks at Israel's Beth She'arim archaeological excavation, working alongside a team of Israeli Arabs and Jews, mostly military vets themselves. According to the founder of the American Veterans Archaeological Recovery (AVAR) program, Stephen Humphreys, being in Israel was "a little eye-opening" for the former servicemen. "As American vets, we tend to segregate ourselves and think no one else understands. But then we come to a society where everyone does understand, and being a vet is not that big of a deal." In Israel, the U.S. vets were met with a proliferation of soldiers on the streets and a culture that embraces its military as family. With mandatory conscription of most Israeli men and women, servicemen are not the "other," but the "us."
2018-09-14 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive