Just like any train station, The Station Foundation is a crucial stop on your journey home. One of the grandest stations in the world is Grand Central Station (GCS). If you have ever entered GCS you know the overwhelming confusion that comes when navigating that space. You may try to blend into the crowd and go with the flow. There is, however, a beautiful iconic clock that draws thousands of passengers toward it daily. Under this clock is an information booth where staff answers a familiar question all day, every day: “Can you help me?”

Although it is not frequently discussed, these same feelings of being overwhelmed and confused can flood a Special Operations service member upon every re-entry into our country. There is an expectation for Special Operations Forces (SOF) to navigate the intensity of their travels back and forth between home, battlefield, and then home again. They are expected to blend back into their community and pick up where they left. They are thrust back into their norm that now feels foreign – one day a warrior on the battlefield and the next a coach at the Little League park.

Unlike Grand Central Station, there is no iconic clock for Special Operations Forces (SOF) to meet once they step foot back on American soil. The Station, however, serves as a place where SOF can gather and ask the important questions that help them navigate their way home from war. The Station is a sanctuary, a sacred space, where SOF Families come with a map in hand and say, “This is where I want to go. How do I get there?” We remove the state of confusion and make sure they get on the right track. We truly are a crucial stop on their journey home.