Veterans Connect to Other Veterans

Breakfast, camaraderie helping to heal local vets 
Sentinel and Enterprise
By Cliff Clark
04/03/2015

"For me, I like getting to hang out with other vets. It feels good to be around these guys, and I've made a lot of new friends,"

FITCHBURG -- As the group of veterans were sitting down for breakfast Friday morning at the Airport Diner, they exchanged handshakes, pleasant greetings and the warm, knowing smiles of men who shared the common bond of fighting for our country's freedom.

They were there to spend a few minutes having a hot meal and to quietly discuss the daily challenges they face coping with life after the military.

"They're here to talk about the serious issues they can all relate to," said John Churcher, a U.S. Army veteran and founder of Vet Together, a support group he created to provide an outlet for vets to get together and talk out their challenges.

The breakfast, sponsored by IC Federal Credit Union, was one of many events Churcher provides to veterans to give them a chance to blow off a little steam and have some fun while reconnecting with their comrades in arms.

For one veteran of the Iraqi War, Vet Together is a place for him re-experience the strong bonds created when a unit of soldiers work together to accomplish a mission.

"After I got out of the military one of the big things I missed was the camaraderie and the brotherhood. Putting these guys together gives them a piece of what they might be missing from their active duty," said Gabe Nutter, a U.S. Army veteran who saw combat in Iraq in 2005-06, and struggled with post traumatic stress disorder when he returned home.

Leominster Firefighter Ryan Young, a U.S. Army veteran, attends the Vet Together events to spend time with other veterans.

"For me, I like getting to hang out with other vets. It feels good to be around these guys, and I've made a lot of new friends," said Young.

Young, like all the veterans at Friday's event, thanked Churcher and Mike Cooley, who hosts the local cable talk show Cool Talk, for putting together the monthly breakfast at the Airport Diner, which is owned by Gene Collette and Steve Shank.
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