Veteran Offers Alternate Look at Veteran’s Day

By Anna Scheglov and Becca Burns

Nathan Lewis was a senior in high school when he was recruited for the military.

He enlisted in 2001 when he turned 18, and said he joined so he could pay for college.

“They weren’t recruiting very heavily on the idea that our country’s at war,” he said. “They were really playing up the college angle.”

But September 11 happened during his first week of basic training and in less than two years, he was deployed to Iraq.

The ensuing experiences shaped Lewis into who he is now: Director of the Veteran Sanctuary in Tompkins County, NY.

 

The Veteran Sanctuary is an organization aimed at making the transition from war into civilian life easier for returning veterans.

“We want to try to make a different set of tools that veterans could utilize to heal themselves and return to civilian life and to move on with their life,” Lewis said.

Lewis said veterans are encouraged to participate in cathartic activities, like gardening or expressing their experiences through the combat paper project. This project creates sheets of paper from old combat uniforms and uses this type of art to help veterans reflect on their experiences.

After his return from Iraq in December, 2003 Lewis took a combative stance against war.

“I don’t believe in 2 trillion dollar wars. I don’t believe in a Pentagon that gives 800, 900 billion dollars a year plus,” he said. “I don’t believe in militarism; I don’t believe in imperialism, which means I don’t believe in having bases in 100-some countries around the world to protect America. It doesn’t make any sense… we’re trying our hand at imperialism.”

According to him, Veteran’s Day has been completely transformed from a remembrance day to a celebration day, where instead of remembering the pain and suffering war causes, victories are celebrated without a thought to the consequences. He said he wants to try to help some of that damage through the Veteran Sanctuary and also by trying to keep everyone he knows away from the military and from going through what he did.