12/09/2025
HAPPY TUESDAY!!!
read this one. if you don’t read anything else that I write all year, still, read this one.
I served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps for four years. during that time I drank way too much, got into several fights, did two overseas tours for a total of eighteen months, sent rounds down range and got to blow some things up! I also was part of rescue mission, volunteered at a Japanese orphanage, qualified “Expert” on the rifle range every single time, held a Staff Sergeant’s billet as a newly minted Corporal, worked as a prisoner es**rt or “Chaser”, and… yeah, I like to think that I had the full experience. and while that might sound impressive to some, to many veterans I just scratched the surface of their time and service to our great nation.
it doesn’t help matters that when I left active duty I put the military behind me and focused on the rest of my life, that being my young family and getting through college. unlike a lot of veterans I didn’t seek out veteran organizations, or veteran watering holes, or even medical care and a disability rating from the VA. in my mind the Marine Corps was just something that I did to get from point A (a high school graduate working at a burger joint) to point B (literally anywhere else). and that was all well and fine with me.
fast forward a few years… okay, a few, few years… and I hear that twenty-two veterans are committing su***de in this country EVERY SINGLE DAY! this blows my mind, literally. I didn’t realize that twenty-two people committed su***de in America every day, let alone just veterans. for perspective, veterans make up just six to seven percent of the population, or about seventeen to nineteen million people. twenty-two per day turns out to be over eight thousand lives lost senselessly each year. this realization horrified me. in part because I have been struggling with depression and the effects of my years in service for some time.
this problem plagued my mind. as a natural born problem solver I couldn’t help but start to research and then dissect the issue over and over again. it got to the point where I had to start taking notes, because I needed to keep track of this mountain of intellectual data that I was accumulating. mind you, this went on for about seven years. and so yeah, I wrote A LOT of notes.
in the late summer of 2022 I launched the predecessor to BATTALION 22, my veterans nonprofit. that is a whole long story in and of itself. suffice to say that it failed. actually, I gave up. I felt inspired to launch this effort and then to watch it do so poorly was a bit heartbreaking. here I felt like I had cracked the code, that I could save dozens of veterans lives per year, and that the Holy Ghost had inspired… nay, insisted that I take on this challenge. but when nobody showed up I just felt stupid for thinking that I, a guy with a scant four years in service, zero training in mental healthcare, and no connection to veterans or veteran organizations, could help.
and then in 2023 my little brother commits su***de.
yes, he was a veteran. no, he didn’t present any signs of depression or PTSD. yes, I feel an awful guilt and shame that I wasn’t there for him.
if ever the Universe was trying to tell me something, I figured this was it. immediately I launched BATTALION 22. and it just so happened that just prior to this I was put in touch with a veterans organization that became the launching pad for this new, or revamped, initiative. everything that didn’t fall into place the first time around fell into place this time around. I met people that wanted to join and help me create this entity. I had people supporting me from the sidelines. and it just kinda… worked.
it was slow going at first. to be honest it has been tough to enlist and retain a group of veterans to be the base of this organization. let’s face it, I’m not everyone’s cup of poison. and there are some people that I’m just not equipped to help or serve. but two years in now and we have a solid group of veterans from wildly different backgrounds that show up every week. we also have a strong brand and a leader with a chip on his shoulder. and in case it’s not obvious, I’m talking about ME!
all that to say this: you might be surprised to learn that a guy that is trying to literally serve and save the lives of our great veterans would get pushback, undermined, and stabbed in the back. but it happens. and it happens enough that it’s worth writing about.
of the many categories of people that I interact with in an official BATTALION 22 capacity there are a few that stand out. most people are sympathetic to our efforts but we’re not big enough to be on their radar, so they largely ignore us. there are a lot of people that publicly say that they support us, but then do very little or nothing to back that up. a few people have tried to buy their way in to the group in an effort to sell services to my veterans. then there are a couple of people in the local veteran community that feel as if we’re competing with their organizations and are likely hoping that we fail. I’m sure that plenty of them look down their hash-marked sleeve at me with distain. and lastly, there are even a few that have been caught in the act of sabotaging our efforts.
crazy, right?
I guess that is what happens when you’re doing something right. people want a piece of you or they want to tear you down. here’s some examples: recently I saw an early version of our mission statement mildly reworded and used in another organizations presentation. I also heard that someone has started a group like ours, based on ours, and I’m pretty sure that the person behind that is a BATTALION 22 insider.
in November we received what felt like devastating news. the grant that we had applied for, in the amount of just a tick over half a million dollars for fiscal year 2026, was denied. it seemed for a moment that BATTALION 22 was doomed. but that’s not going to be our fate. I’m not giving up. I’m rethinking everything from where we meet to the makeup of the board to how we attract new members and get financing. 2026 is still going to be our best year yet. in spite of the funding loss, in spite of the haters, in spite of the challenges of launching a new and unfamiliar endeavor. we’re doing this. my veterans stand with me. as our tagline says, we are In The Fight Together!
if you’d like to donate to BATTALION 22 we are a 501(c)19 nonprofit and you can find our donation portal on the main page of our website: www.battalion22.org
thanks!
PEACE & LOVE
