When he steps into the ring of his first MMA fight in over a year, we see the tattoo on Shane Krutchen’s back: 19 names and the days they died in Iraq. A Marine from age 17 onward, Shane returned from action asking for help with his horrific nightmares. He was immediately ostracized, discharged and sent to a VA that had very little understanding of PTSD. His spiral led to a suicide attempt in 2009, but his connection with a WWP outreach coordinator helped him get clean, and MMA turned out to be the medicine he needed. Now married and expecting a child, Shane puts his 10-2 professional record on the line. We follow his days before a fight that honors the friends he lost.
Angie Peacock swerves her car dangerously away from a piece of trash on the highway; in her mind, it was an IED. She sits with her back to the wall in restaurants to monitor who enters. In crowds, her heart races and she resists the urge to run. After returning from Iraq with severe PTSD, Angie spiraled into addiction to painkillers that had been her only way to sleep. She called the VA suicide hotline on a Saturday only to be told the crisis line was only open Monday to Friday. Hard drugs followed, and then 6 suicide attempts. With the help of a service dog, named G.I. Joe, Angie learns to brave crowds enough to attend community college in St. Louis, where she rediscovers her love of learning. She starts a student veterans organization on a campus lacking community and, gaining her own stability, she peer-mentors Dennis, who has a severe traumatic brain injury and is learning to walk again. We follow her as she faces down her fears in new and surprising ways.
On a half-pipe covered in mud, Bill “Big Sarge” Hansen throws his shoulder behind an exhausted brother; two others reach out and pull the man to the top. High above Lake Tahoe, another of Bill’s wounded warriors has finished a Tough Mudder competition. When the vehicle in which Big Sarge was riding in Iraq hit a brick wall at 55 mph, the other soldiers stumbled out and began “John Wayne-ing it”; despite doubts something more serious was wrong, Bill followed suit and was given painkillers to go back to work diffusing IEDs. Only when his tour ended was he diagnosed with the fractured back and traumatic brain injury he had suffered. Rendered sedentary and depressed by the narcotics he was prescribed, Bill gained 90 pounds. A WWP cycling event got him off the couch and a Tough Mudder competition reconnected him with a sense of purpose and a mind-over-matter mantra. At age 48, Bill becomes a peer mentor through the Wounded Warrior Project and begins training a group of 12 warriors for a Tough Mudder competition. Finding that many veterans are too injured or too depressed to leave their homes, Bill founds Phoenix, a mobile gym training business, supporting his four daughters in the process. We follow Big Sarge as he mentors two younger warriors, redefines himself and takes a squad of 12 men and women back into battle against extraordinary obstacle courses – both on the ground and in their minds.
Thrashing. That’s how Mike and Pam Estes had been told their son, Jason, might come out of his coma, if he did at all. They’d spent three months “wondering what we’d have if he woke up.” When they heard the sound of laughter, of Jason laughing himself awake, it infused them with the positivity they exude to this day. Jason had been thrown from his Humvee in an IED blast while monitoring an election in 2005, shattering both legs and left singing happy birthday to stay conscious until he was rescued. A cat scan revealed brain shearing and a severe traumatic brain injury. Like many parents, Mike and Pam had no idea where to start when he came back – and they didn’t get much help. They didn’t know he was entitled to aid, attendants and other benefits. There was no toolkit. After the early phase of his recovery and rehab, it was clear Jason was physically and mentally incapacitated and needed full-time care. He reached a crossroads: he would either be moved into a nursing home with people four times his age or Mike and Pam would take him home. For the last seven years, they have been providing him with 24-hour care. In 2010, Mike joined a group of other caregivers, organized with the Wounded Warrior Project, and successfully lobbied Congress to pass the Caregiver Act, which allows the VA to provide some payment to a veteran’s caregiver, even if that person is a family member. We follow this extraordinarily patient, loving, funny and determined couple as they advocate for new legislation for long term care. Because when they, and aging parents like them, become incapacitated themselves, who will care for Jason?
After suffering a traumatic brain injury in an IED blast that threw his vehicle fifty feet in the air, Paul de la Cerda returned home with anxiety, depression, guilt, anger, dizziness, memory loss and the realization that “I wasn’t the same person anymore.” One thing kept him from giving up: “without music I would have put a bullet through my brain.” With the support of his angelic caretaker and girlfriend Dianne, and veterans of an older generation, Paul founds the Warrior Spirit Band, putting tens of thousands of his own dollars into the project. The band leads him back into a life of purpose on stage – and more importantly into meaningful connections with countless veterans through music therapy. As we follow Paul in the days leading-up to a big show at his Rock 4 Recovery studios, we learn his searing backstory, fall for his quirky, driven personality and see the direct impact he has on other struggling combat veterans.
Keith and Chris met at a camp for adaptive sports and have been pushing each other to break barriers ever since. Watch as they battle their physical and emotional wounds through activities they never thought they'd be able to do again. Together, these two friends help each other learn to keep moving forward, hold fast to their families, taking one day at a time, and having fun along the way.
Army Veteran Robert "Nico" Gil rediscovers his life's meaning and focus after connecting to fly fishing - a peaceful space in time where "the fish don't shoot back" - and with other vets suffering from PTSD,he learns that he's not alone. From the depths of despair, to a suicide attempt, to meeting his mentor and rediscovering a life with purpose, Nico graciously lets all of us experience his inspirational journey.
This episode follows Texas native John Usener as he recounts the combat events that led to his PTSD and TBI. In 2010, John returned home without the sense of purpose the military had instilled in him since the age of 17. John eventually found training through Wounded Warrior Project and discovered a passion for snakes and zoology, which he pursues with zeal.
In November 2006, Army Sergeant Dennis Cabanting, who we meet in Episode 2, came under insurgent attack from an IED. The shockwaves from the explosion caused a life-altering traumatic brain injury. With failing health, Dennis was medically discharged and eventually ended up in an old folks home at age 36. His mother intervened, brought him to St. Louis and turned to Wounded Warrior Project for help. The poetic, charismatic Hawaiian is now living life on his own terms and striving to walk again.
In 2007, after a horrific night spent screaming “no,” this Air Force servicewoman was determined to confide to her commanding officer that she had been raped. When she walked into his office, he opened by asking her if the rumors he’d heard about her “slutty behavior” were true. She swallowed the pain. Three years later, when the Air Force was insisting on deploying her just six weeks after giving birth, she decided to leave the military. Broke, troubled, raising two boys with her ex-husband, Jessica began to confront the demons from her sexual assault and filed a claim with the VA. It took eleven months for the claim to come back: denied. Her problems, the rejection said, were from the stress related to her divorce. Feeling a panic attack coming, she turned to the breathing she had begun in yoga and re-read the spoken word poetry she had been working on. Low on cash and feeling suicidal, Jessica attended yoga training “If this doesn’t work, I have nothing left,” she said. “Yoga saved my life” isn’t a bumper sticker for Jessica; she means it. And now she’s teaching it to other veterans. Demystifying some of yoga’s complexities and removing a perceived stigma, Jessica has begun to connect wounded warriors to the practical tool of their breath for the real-life situations in which they may panic. She sees adrenaline sports as another way to avoid the pain; this is a way of addressing it and working through it, as she continues to do. We follow Jessica and her two boys as she celebrates the CD release of her spoken word album, guides veterans on their mats through physical and mental pain, and continues to breathe her way through the frustrating second appeal for her sexual assault claim – one of thousands like it. .
Jesse Bergeron, a United States Marine Corps veteran, witnessed the death of a fellow Marine who was struck by an IED while deployed in Iraq. Two weeks later, he was summoned home to be with his critically ill, prematurely born son. Overcome with grief and guilt, Jesse began to show signs of PTSD. Thankfully, Jesse connected with his family and other veterans to gather strength. Now, he brings the recruiting chops he learned in the military to bear while recruiting veterans to seek help and connect with one another.
Jamel Danies was moved to enlist in the United States Marine Corps after witnessing the events of 9/11 in New York City. In the final days of his tour of duty in Iraq, Jamel's unit encountered an improvised explosive devise, killing three of his fellow Marines and resulting in the loss of one of his legs. As a result, Jamel struggled with depression, alcoholism, and PTSD. He sought help from Wounded Warrior Project and threw himself into the organization. Jamel now lives every day to the fullest, cherishing the support system that helped him along his journey to recovery.