Frequently Asked Questions About Talking Service

Talking Service is a national outreach program of the Great Books Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization based in Chicago. The program assists veterans of the armed forces in successfully making the transition back to civilian life by providing opportunities to reflect on past experiences, current concerns, and aspirations for the future. Talking Service is also for others—family members, friends, caretakers, and concerned civilians—who want to have a better understanding of the challenges veterans face. In small groups led by skilled facilitators, Talking Service participants read and discuss short, powerful writings concerning military service and war by some of the world’s best authors. The writings used in Talking Service are from the anthology Standing Down: From Warrior to Civilian, published by the Great Books Foundation and supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Anyone interested in using outstanding literature to discuss issues related to military service experience is welcome to join a Talking Service group. Some groups are primarily made up of people who have served in the armed forces. However, many Talking Service discussions include veterans and civilians, providing valuable opportunities for both groups to share a range of different perspectives on military service.

Each participant in a Talking Service group will have their own reasons for being there. For veterans and active duty personnel, it may be the desire to explore what writers through the years have had to say about experiences similar to their own and to do so with peers who will immediately understand these experiences because they, too, have been there. Working together and helping each other grapple with questions and issues that arise in the group discussions is a powerful way for veterans to re-experience some of the strongest bonds of their lives—those with their fellow soldiers and marines. In addition, the authors of the literature used in Talking Service—many of whom have personal experience with military service—have the ability to put into words what many struggle to express. By hearing what these writers have to say and thinking about what they mean, veterans can find their voices to tell their own stories to family, friends, and all those with whom they interact when reclaiming their place in the civilian world.

Family members, friends, and caretakers of veterans will find that Talking Service discussions provide them with opportunities to reflect together on many of the issues facing the veterans in their lives. And all civilians, whether or not they have close personal connections to veterans, will find Talking Service discussions to be a stimulating way to think deeply about the values behind how we deploy our fellow citizens in defense of the common good.

A Talking Service discussion group consists of about 12 to 15 members, along with a trained discussion leader. Groups typically meet for four to six sessions over a couple of months, according to a schedule that the host site thinks will work for those interested in participating. Each session is about 90 minutes long and focuses on a selection from Standing Down: From Warrior to Civilian. The selection could be a short story, essay, newspaper or magazine article, poem, or memoir. It could have been written hundreds of years ago or by a serviceman or woman involved in the recent OEF and OIF conflicts. The selections, regardless of when they were written, deal with perennial issues that still prompt lively discussion today.

At the beginning of each session, the discussion leader poses a question to the group about the selection. This could be about why the young veteran in Ernest Hemingway’s story “Soldier’s Home” cannot find a way to talk with his family and friends about his combat experiences when he returns to his small midwestern home after World War I. Or it could be about the difficulty of readjusting to married life after returning from deployment, as depicted in Siobhan Fallon’s story “The Last Stand.” As the conversation proceeds, the leader asks further follow-up questions and encourages group members to build on each other’s insights and ideas. Some of the conversation will be focused closely on what the author says; some of it will draw on personal experiences to evaluate how the author’s words relate to the participants’ own lives. The discussion leader’s job is to keep the conversation moving but focused and to make sure everyone who wants to contribute has the opportunity to do so. Unlike an academic class, the discussion leader’s role is not that of an instructor who has all the answers. He or she is there to help the group work together, have a rewarding experience, and come to deeper insights.

The Great Books Foundation and Humanities New York nationally administer Talking Service, including maintaining the Talking Service website, administering grants that support the program, and compiling program evaluation reports. Together, they assist state humanities councils and other organizations interested in sponsoring the program. These councils and organizations in turn find local host sites that are responsible for scheduling the discussions, identifying discussion leaders, and making sure the program runs smoothly at the community level. Inquiries about any aspect of Talking Service should be directed to the Great Books Foundation via email.

Currently, state humanities councils sponsor many Talking Service discussion groups. You can check the list of participating state humanities councils on this website, under the Partners tab. Please contact the Great Books Foundation directly for information about Talking Service activities in your region.

There should be no cost to participate in a Talking Service discussion. Generally, copies of Standing Down: From Warrior to Civilian, the anthology used in all Talking Service discussions, are made available to participants free of charge by the sponsoring organizations.

Talking Service is readily adaptable as a classroom program. For example, it would be a good fit for bridge programs such as Veterans Upward Bound, which works with veterans looking to enhance their academic skills as they make the transition into college. In addition, the selections in the anthology Standing Down: From Warrior to Civilian make the book a particularly suitable primary text for a class on military experience and war, especially if many of the students are veterans.