Meet the Veterans on a New Mission to Make You Laugh

Henline also runs the Forging Forward Bobby Henline Foundation together with his wife, Jamie, hosting retreats for veterans and first responders.

“Getting things off your chest in a comedic way is definitely way better than anger,” Henline says. “Find your local open mic and go for it.”

That’s what former USMC officer Demi Chang did. After leaving the service, she says she wandered aimlessly. “Eventually, when I felt like I had nothing to lose, I decided to look for an open-mic comedy night. At a time when I felt completely helpless and invisible, there was something intriguing about speaking into a microphone to a crowd of strangers,” she told told AARP Experience Counts.

“I found an open mic opportunity online at a restaurant called Rock Bottom and took it as a sign since that’s where I felt I was,” she says. “The anxiety I felt waiting for my turn made me empathize with runaway brides. But the moment I stepped onto the stage and into the spotlight, I felt a sense of calm.”

“Comedy is extremely therapeutic for me and is, regrettably, my primary form of therapy,” says Chang, who lives in Austin, Texas. “Most of my comedy is drawn from real life experiences or things that are weighing on my mind. So, all of these aspects of my lived experience can become fodder for material—gender, race, relationships, socioeconomic status, mental health struggles, life changes, insecurities, daily absurdities.”

Like Chang, Army veteran Dewayne White is a graduate of the Armed Services Arts Partnership boot camp. White joined the Army at age 17, served two tours in Iraq, and worked as a Russian interpreter.

One day, he was in a Washington D.C. coffee shop before a meeting and saw a flyer for a standup comedy class for veterans. “I remember thinking that this was a sign and that I'd be the world's biggest hypocrite if I didn't at least give it a try,” he says. “So, I signed up. I took the class, fell in love with comedy, and never looked back.”

“It's definitely therapeutic for me, but also for the audience,” White says. “I can't tell you the number of times I've had vets come up and tell me stories after a show. It's also nice because comedians and veterans have dark senses of humor. It's a defense mechanism we've all developed. 

“It allows us to process hard topics like war, family separations, veteran suicides, PTSD, that aren't funny. But, if we add some humor in there, maybe we can get the ball rolling on healing.”