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Why Mission43 Is Reading Tribe
Mission43’s Big Read brings veterans and military spouses together to reflect on service, belonging, and community through Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging.
Military service creates a powerful sense of connection, a shared mission, a common purpose, and the knowledge that the people beside you understand what it means to serve. When that chapter ends, the search for belonging and purpose often continues.
That experience is at the heart of Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger and the reason Mission43 selected it for this year’s Big Read.
In Tribe, Junger explores the deep human need to belong and considers why people often feel most connected during times of shared challenge. His ideas invite us to think about what strengthens a community, what we owe one another, and how the bonds created through service can continue long after military life.
These themes closely reflect Mission43’s work over the past decade. Created by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation in 2016, Mission43 was built on the belief that service does not end when someone leaves the military. It evolves. Veterans and military spouses bring leadership, experience, resilience, and a commitment to something larger than themselves to their families, workplaces, and communities. When those strengths are connected, they make Idaho stronger.
This year’s Big Read also comes as we prepare to recognize the 25th anniversary of September 11. For an entire generation, that day shaped decisions to serve, strengthened a sense of shared responsibility, and demonstrated the importance of standing together. Reading Tribe allows us to reflect on those connections while creating space for honest conversations about belonging, purpose, and life after military service.
Mission43 members throughout Idaho are reading the book at their own pace ahead of 43INC with Sebastian Junger on October 7. The event will bring the Mission43 community together to hear directly from Junger and explore the ideas and themes of Tribe more deeply.
"The Big Read is more than a book discussion. It is an invitation to reconnect with the meaning of service, with the communities we call home, and with one another."
