#davesdailychallenge (123): The Influencer Series – Sebastian Junger. Sebastian Junger has slowly, yet inexorably, become one of my favorite authors. He is an author, journalist, and filmmaker among other roles. One of the things I always struggle with during my writing within the “Influencer Series” is to pick just one thing about why the person in question influences me. After much thought, I would have to say that Sebastian’s views on the role of returning combat veterans in our modern society is what I want to discuss. Sebastian is not a combatant but he has seen more war than even the vast majority of America’s combat forces. His documentary film “Restrepo” about a small, isolated Army unit in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. This experience, as well as his deep education and understanding of anthropology, human history, and primal human nature has led him to believe what I have come to believe. The veterans of America’s wars have an important role to play once they return home. Societies of the past treated their returning warriors as teachers and elders and expected them to continue to serve the tribe in a variety of other roles such as statesmen, businessmen, and political leaders. We are still more tribal than we want to believe and the ancient forces that once shaped our lives are only just beneath the surface. The American nation does an extraordinary job preparing our warriors to fight and a dismal job preparing them to come home. Sebastian has a way of crafting a narrative that so accurately and clearly communicates what so many of my peers feel. I encourage everyone to look at his content. He is a true believer that a writer shouldn’t use five words when three will do so I’ll just finish by saying…thank you Sir.