by SWS | Feb 4, 2024 | Reflections on Strengths
Tyler Magerkurth, West Point Class of 2010 Graduate, Division 1 College Tennis Varsity Letter Winner, High School State Champion, social club leader, and my son, came back from his US Army deployment in Afghanistan in 2013, a changed man. Why? Why would one of the...
by SWS | Jan 28, 2024 | Reflections on our Journey
On August 1, 2019, many of our songwriters gathered on stage at Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium to sing “I Am a Soldier,” a song written at one of the first SongwritingWith:Soldiers retreats. The song was one of 18 performed at a concert filmed...
by SWS | Jan 21, 2024 | Reflections on Strengths
Nikki Shaw landed at the first SW:S retreat on her Harley, just days after returning from a long deployment in Iraq. No idea what she was in for, just agreeing to go with a friend. She could have backed out when he canceled, but she believed in honoring her word. Jay...
by SWS | Jan 15, 2024 | Reflections on Strengths
At retreats, past participants join the team as peer support to welcome new SW:S participants to their first retreat and after, into our community. These peers let them know that they were once there as a first-time participant as well and they understand. Going back...
by SWS | Jan 8, 2024 | Reflections on Creativity
“I don’t think these pieces are lost on those who haven’t served in the military… Writing and expressing these things has a whole lot more to do with getting through things, using good tools that are there. Expressing is so helpful.”-...
by SWS | Dec 18, 2023 | Reflections on Strengths
As a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer with a long history with SW:S, Rick Loomis had always dreamed of bringing together a group of fellow photojournalists who had served alongside veterans. Those men and women who embedded themselves with soldiers, sharing the...
by SWS | Dec 11, 2023 | Reflections on our Journey
This is a picture taken at a recent SW:S retreat. I had just written with a father who carried so much pain. My job was to collaborate with him and get that pain down on paper so he could get it out of his body and be able to look at it from a distance. Something...
by SWS | Dec 4, 2023 | Reflections on Strengths
Celebrating 10 years of serving veterans had to be a momentous occasion! So, in October 2022, SongwritingWith:Soldiers headed back to the site that started it all – Cedarbrake Retreat Center in Belton, TX. Celebrating 10 years of service around the country, with...
by SWS | Nov 27, 2023 | Reflections on our Journey
“Just wanted to let you and the team know that one of the participants from the retreat, Jeff Dawson, was injured in combat about four weeks ago. He is currently at Walter Reed recovering and his wife Trish is by his side, along with other family members. He is...
by SWS | Nov 20, 2023 | Reflections on our Journey
“Before coming to the retreat, I had the date, the time and the way I was going to end my life,” Joshua Geartz told SW:S Co-Founder, Mary Judd in 2015. “Writing my song with Mary Gauthier gave me hope—something I had lost.” He had arrived a...
