Voice of Veterans: New Jersey group 'Project Refit' builds sense of community

PITTSGROVE, N.J. (WPVI) -- Military members who leave the service often feel isolated or different when they return to civilian life.

A South Jersey based group is fighting that by giving veterans, active duty, and first responders a sense of community.

"I got blown up twice. I was on fire from the waist down for a minute," recalls U.S. Army veteran Daniel Lombard. "Had a dozen or so firefights."

Lombard didn't realize how much his time in Afghanistan affected him until after he left.

"The weight of everything happened at once. So I started having sleep issues, irritability that was uncontrollable," he says.

Army therapists helped him with the PTSD.

But he faced a new challenge leaving the Army.

"When I came home is really where the isolation started - felt alienated from everybody," he notes.

Lombard found James Corbett, a Columbia University graduate student who was reaching out to veterans to just let them talk.

Corbett started his outreach after finding that most veterans service organizations missed the mark.

"For some reason, we're telling a lot of our warriors that they're broken, they're hurt, and they're not capable of going forward and continuing forward. And I didn't like that narrative," Corbett says.

Before long, they founded Project Refit.

"Combat isolation, try to build that camaraderie back up," is Project Refit's goal, says Marine Corps and Afghan veteran Harrison Whitman.

Whitman has been working with the group in Delaware.

Project Refit uses numerous ways to connect to past or current service members including Buddy Checks, twice-weekly online chats, a mobile base for relaxing and talking.

"You have the TV, and you have the seats here, too," explains Corbett as he shows off the base's interior.

"We show up directly to military units. We show up directly to the homes of veterans. We show up to local community events," he says.

Project Refit also organizes healing retreats.

"We have fly fishing, horseback riding, whitewater rafting. We go to the range," Lombard says.

"And then at night, we have bonfires. We call them our fireside chats," he adds.

"We just have adult conversations about what's going on in our lives, the symptoms we feel," he continues.

The bonfires recreate the familiar experience of sharing life stories over a burn pit or 55-gallon drum.

"That's where like problems get solved. That's where all the intimate conversations happen," in military life, Lombard notes.

Project Refit leaders say the programs don't replace therapy, but do offer veterans a community.

Lombard says it did wonders for him.

"It reinvigorated my purpose. It makes me feel like I matter again," he says proudly.

For more information, visit Project Refit.

And don't forget to thank a veteran for his or her service.