Last month I worked with my team at Mobilize.org to recruit young veterans to attend a summit in California titled "Beyond the Welcome Home."

I'm passionate about what I do, so when I found out we were bringing Millennial veterans together to discuss the challenges they face and to develop solutions that will help make their communities and our country better, I was excited. I'm always excited about things like that. Its what I live for. So, of course, I got to work.

What I didn't expect, however, was to have been led down a road that will change me forever.

As I talked to veterans of all ages, family members of combat soldiers or relatives of those who have lost their lives, and to individuals who dedicate time, money and energy to loving these soldiers while they are abroad and giving them the welcome home they deserve, I had a range of emotions.

Like everyone else, I see the news reports of "casualties," hear the stories of what these soldiers experience and watch them reclaim their lives after being on a battlefield. But beyond that, I don't know if I've ever taken time to really think about what these brave souls experience after they come home.

We all see war on TV, shake our heads and then move on to the next task in our daily regimen. But over the past few weeks, I've been given a chance to think much deeper about our soldiers and the experiences of those touched by their work. I've realized that their daily regimen includes doing all the things we do, but also managing the psychological, physical and spiritual damage caused by war and the experience of coming home and not being heard, feeling unappreciated and unloved.

My heart has been broken and it has been opened.

Please don't misunderstand me: This is not an anti-war message (that would require a post of its own), nor is it a rant to criticize anyone for what we may not be doing to take care of each other. It is simply a wake-up call that reminded me to think differently and a little deeper when I watch the news, or when I pass a soldier on the street, or see a mother, wife, sister or brother who has lost a loved one to war.

I am reminded that in absolutely no way are their lives a "casualty," or simply something that happened to happen. No, in fact, it is completely the opposite. These individuals were intentional about risking and sacrificing their lives to keep ours safe, or perhaps to pay for school, or because they believed it would secure a better future for them or their families.

To me, nothing about that is casual at all. It is a choice, and it’s a choice many of us, including myself, may never have the courage to make.

So while I continue to look forward to this summit in April, I have not and will not take this experience lightly. This is perhaps the most important project I've worked on yet. I will take the stories I've heard and thoughts of those I will never hear with me into every room and into every conversation I have. And if I feel like crying, I will, because if the least I can do is shed a tear for these soldiers, their friends and families who stood in the face of fear, worked through their suffering and kept moving forward, the very least I can do is let them and the world know I feel their pain.

Ayofemi Kirby is communications director of Mobilize.org. The group's mission is to improve the way Democracy works by investing in Millennial-led solutions.

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