Ep 140. Chris Marvin: A Veteran's View on Patriotism, Service and Guns

Ep 140. Chris Marvin: A Veteran’s View on Patriotism, Service, and Guns

“Patriotism is dissent. Patriotism is empathy. When we behave like Americans that’s when we’re patriotic.”

Chris Marvin

Chris Marvin is the principal for Marvin Strategies, a strategic communications firm that constructs narratives to change minds and solve social issues. He served for seven years as a U.S. Army officer and Black Hawk helicopter pilot and is a combat-wounded veteran of the war in Afghanistan. Chris relies on professional experience that combines military service, entrepreneurship, and social innovation. He has led multiple efforts to create large-scale cultural change through collaboration between nonprofits, government, foundations, media, and corporations.

Chris founded the Got Your 6 campaign to advocate for accurate portrayals of military veterans in film, television, and popular media. Check out the podcast he’s produced, Reclaiming Patriotism on Crooked Media; his PBS documentary short, Voices of Resilience; and his work with Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Based in Honolulu, Marvin Strategies is certified by the Small Business Association as a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business.

In this episode, Stew and Chris discuss the anniversary of 9/11, Chris’ military service, how veterans are civic assets, and how we can all become more engaged and better citizens. They talk about the meaning of patriotism, what it means to embody American values, why it makes sense for us to make service a new cultural norm in our society, and how the gun culture in American differs so drastically from the military’s values and beliefs about weapons.

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