Landnám Warrior's (LW) mission is to enable the successful reintegration of our warriors, assisting them in becoming integral to community renewal and revitalization. "Landnám" is the Icelandic word mythologist Joseph Campbell often spoke of in relation to creating one's own, or new, guiding mythology. Defined as "land taking," it was used to describe the process the first inhabitants/colonists of Iceland went through to sanctify their discovered home/land with new stories. "Warrior" denotes that the vector of this action is, for us, our Warrior class – servicemembers and veterans – and their attendant skill set. Through a process of purposeful engagement in their work, with each other, and on behalf of their communities, our warriors may add their voices to the development of meaningful narratives in service to its revitalization.
RESEARCH AND COHORT OPPORTUNITIES FOR VETERANS AND MILITARY MEMBERS
Dr. Jones will commence PhD studies in Classics at Durham University in the UK in 2026, with her research project Heroes and Healers in Praxis: Transformational Stories of the Classical World and Grail Romances.
The purpose of this project is to develop a meaningful path of dialogue and praxis between various fields – Classics, medieval studies, performing and visual arts, psychology and conflict studies – in service to the healing and reintegration of the veteran/military community. The vehicle for this research consists of mythic stories from the Classical world, along with those of the Grail romances, presented in a dramatic form by cohorts comprised of current and/or former military members. In doing so, it seeks to demonstrate the integral value of the humanities to these processes, and to the well-being of the wider society in which they are embedded.
We are actively seeking participants!
If you or a veteran/military group of which you are a member are interested in this research, please contact Dr. Jones at cherlyn@landnamwarrior.org.
If you or a veteran/military group of which you are a member are interested in this research, please contact Dr. Jones at cherlyn@landnamwarrior.org.
APRIL 2026
Dr. Jones will be presenting at this year’s International Center for Moral Injury’s Annual Conference at Durham University, UK. Please consider attending or joining the Substack livestream!
What Have We Learned?
Research Intersections in Moral Injury
An Interdisciplinary conference taking place in person in Durham, UK on 20-22APR.
With the 1994 publication of "Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character", Jonathan Shay’s reflections on the moral trauma that combatants experience focused attention on the phenomenon that he would eventually describe as ‘moral injury’. Since then, moral injury has been observed in contexts from military veterans and law enforcement personnel to veterinarians’ healthcare workers to refugees and survivors of abuse. It has also been conceptualized, studied, and researched in clinical, religious, anthropological, sociological and philosophical disciplines, among
What is clear in the decades of research that have followed Shay’s work is that these different contexts and disciplinary perspectives have illuminated different aspects of moral injury in ways that are critically helpful in understanding it and in exploring pathways to recovery. Moreover, the interdisciplinary research environment around moral injury is increasingly shaped by helpful collaborations between different types of researchers from different backgrounds, often using different conceptual languages to explore, define and describe the contours and contexts of moral injury.
SUMMER/FALL 2025
PILGRIMAGE TOUR RESEARCH
Thermopylae, Proussos Monastery & Epidauvros, Greece
Photos to come!
Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Photos to come!
Flueli-Ranft, Switzerland
Photos to come!
PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES, 2025
Please join us for the third talk in the series, Hero/Healers of the Ancient World,
Time and Date TBA, Fall 2026.
PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT
Servicemember interns supporting the establishment of robust local food networks
With the close support of our strategic partners in each region, pilot projects are being developed to support local organic food farms, utilizing internships for exiting military servicemembers through the DOD’s SkillBridge program. At the same time servicemember interns receive training and education in organic agriculture, they will also be introduced to a variety of jobs in related industries – soil restoration and composting services, plant nurseries, landscape design, and water quality restoration, to name a few.
Interns are recruited from military installations proximal to training sites, with temporary housing provided if necessary. Once these pilot programs are operational (GOAL: Summer 2024), and best practices established; additional sites, industry/nonprofit partners and billets for servicemember internships will become available.
Space coast, fl
Patrick Space Force Base
Development and installation of a permaculture food forest for ecotourism boutique resort in Grant, FL.
Strategic Partners: Unfurl Events, Mighty Plant Probiotic Plant Food, Back to Eden.
Gulf Coast, fl
US Special Operations Command
McDill Air Force Base
Training and education in organic agriculture and related sustainable industries of ranching and water quality restoration, in collaboration with Shogun Farms.
Strategic partners: Chiles Group, Gamble Creek Farms, Bring Back Eden, Plant Place Nursery, Mighty Plant Probiotic Plant Food.
Southern Ca
Marine Corps Camp Pendleton
Installation and management of permaculture food forest for agricultural vocational training school; distribution of agricultural crops produced to local community via farmers’ markets and food banks.
Strategic Partners: Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum, Nomads Hotel, Pendleton Surf Club, Surfin’ Fire Surf School, Mighty Plant Probiotic Plant Food, 55 Acres Project, Winner Behring BJJ.
OAHU, HAWAI'I
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR - HICKAM
In collaboration with AmVets Hawai'i, Ewa Beach Chapter, the community garden on site will be renovated and planted with a goal of providing local, organic and affordable produce to the community.
PAST PROJECTS
Support of American Eagle Pilots in WWII
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Research and Advocacy in Support for Families of American Eagle Squadron Members in the UK Royal Air Force during WWII, Ongoing Before the U.S. joined the Allies in WWII, thousands of Americans volunteered with the UK’s Royal Air Force and became members of the famed “Eagle Squadrons.” Aside from the inherent dangers and massive casualty rates of aerial bombing and combat, at that time, enlisting in the military of a foreign country legally carried the high price of loss of citizenship. After the U.S. joined the conflict, most U.S. airmen were absorbed in the US Army Air Force and provided a knowledge base and skill set that gave America a significant strategic advantage. Unfortunately for the over 1,000 airmen who lost their lives during their foreign service, their sacrifices and those of their families are not acknowledged or officially memorialized by the U.S. government. Efforts are ongoing to garner support from family members, veteran groups, and military organizations to pressure congress to pass legislation finally recognizing the contribution of these Americans and their families to the war effort.
Fire Restoration | Seedling Planting
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Paradise, Montana // Veteran Volunteers
Strategic Partners: Montana Conservation Seedling Nursery, Office of Veteran Student Affairs, University of Montana.
After fires devastated over 20,000 acres of land in NW Montana last August, hundreds of seedlings were acquired for planting to begin the long process of restoration of the land. Rather than the limited number of fast-growing trees routinely planted after fires or logging, a diversity of trees and shrubs were acquired that more accurately reflect the native composition of the forest, ensuring greater resilience long term to fire and weather events, and providing a richer environment for wildlife. Volunteers gained experiential knowledge of fire restoration and tree planting during this day-long workshop on SAT20APR.
STRATEGIC PARTNERS
ABOUT
Founder Dr. Cherlyn H.T. Jones holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Rollins College, and a Ph.D. in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She has done fieldwork on sustainable communities in Bali, Indonesia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, and further social science fieldwork in Afghanistan, Switzerland, and the UK. Previously she was employed as a Department of the Army civilian (DAC) at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) and as a Social Scientist deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
During her tenure at Inpatient Psychiatry at WRAMC, which was responsible for the most acute psychiatric cases in the Army that required removal from theatre, she helped to stand up the first Procedural Psychiatric clinic in the Military Health System. As the clinic coordinator, she performed Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy (TMS) as a non-pharmaceutical treatment for Major Depressive Disorder, and served as Principal Investigator on an interdepartmental research project to use TMS experimentally for the treatment of neuropathic pain in upper extremity amputees. In 2011-2012 in Afghanistan, she served in RC-South (Kandahar Province) at FOB Spin Boldak on the Pakistan border as the Senior Social Scientist and civilian advisor to the Combatant Commander, conducting daily outside-the-wire meetings with local Afghan partners and key leaders.
Due to a knee injury during her deployment, she came to further understand the particular challenges facing our warriors and their reintegration into community. Combining her experience of and with sustainable communities, building and agriculture, in 2012, she began developing off-grid homesteads in Montana, continued her volunteer efforts and support of other Veteran Service Organizations, and finally in 2022, founded Landnám Warrior. Its broad mission endeavors to re-create the sense of well-being and purpose of living close to the land to our veterans and servicemembers in transition to civilian life, thereby assisting their reintegration that, at the same time, rejuvenates and restores our communities at the most basic level.
501(c)3