Veteran Critical Theory as a Lens to Understand Veterans' Needs and Support on Social Media

Veterans are a unique marginalized group facing multiple vulnerabilities. Current assessments of veteran needs and support largely come from first-person accounts guided by researchers' prompts. Social media platforms not only enable veterans to connect with each other, but also self-disclose experiences seek support. This paper addresses the gap in our understanding their own dynamics examining self-initiated ecologically-valid self-expressions. In particular, we adopt Veteran Critical Theory (VCT) conduct computational study on Reddit community veterans. Using topic modeling, find veteran-friendly gestures good intentions might be appreciated subreddit. By employing transfer learning methodologies, this has more informational emotional behaviors than general online communities higher prevalence Lastly, an examination reveals some contrasts previous scholarship military culture social media. We discover that positive language author platform tenure have negative relations posts receiving replies getting votes, reflecting personal disclosures tend get votes. Through lens VCT, discuss how can help uncover veterans' provide effective