Our Founder's Story

Post retirement

After being medically retired in 2014, Jesse struggled with bad coping techniques and addiction. He spent the next 3 years using alcohol and abusing prescription drugs to cope with debilitating migraines, vertigo symptoms, seizures, anxiety, depression, PTSD, untold moral injuries, and the countless loss of many brothers in arms. Jesse had no idea how to adapt to civilian life after a decade of living as an elite warrior who was trained to completely ignore physical and emotional pain. His first year out of the military, Jesse experienced 5 significant losses: career, health, marriage, family, and friends. Post retirement, while working in the defense industry as a Project Manager in test and evaluations of small arms, he had 3 blackouts and 2 seizures. He was forced to take a medical leave of absence. He lost 50% of his income. Shortly after that he was divorced. He had no relationship with his two children. He no longer had the support and connection with his fellow Rangers, the only people that he felt understood what he had been through.

Focused on Health

In October 2016, Jesse quit drinking for almost a year, but it didn’t stick. In 2017 he realized he needed help with PTSD & substance abuse. He moved back to Iowa to be closer to friends and family. He started to regain trust, so he told a select few that he needed help and wanted an intervention. He checked himself into the VA for inpatient treatment and decided to be vulnerable and tell the providers what he was struggling with. That decision turned into a focused outpatient protocol of daily treatments and therapies. His health become his number one goal.

Hitting Rock Bottom

In 2018 Jesse hit rock bottom. He knew something needed to change. He spent two weeks assessing his life problems post military. There was one common denominator in all of his points of conflict – alcohol. He was powerless over it. He made the final decision to give up alcohol forever, along with anything else that was not helping in his recovery. AA and Celebrate Recovery were a huge part of his ability to quit drinking forever.

Adding to my Health Script

In 2018, Jesse doubled down on outpatient therapy and leaned into the sharp edges. He started volunteering, working out again, found a group of friends at the gym, and made the connection with the right therapist. This was key. And he found the right Functional Medicine Doctor to start healing his physiological issues from Operator Syndrome.

Adding Connections

Jesse learned in his therapies that connection is pivotal for all humans. He started to make new friends and practice vulnerability.  Jesse was introduced to Chuck Reed, the Founder and President of Kentucky Wounded Heroes (KyWH). Jesse joined KyWH for two fishing trips to Alaska and Lake Erie, to connect with other Veterans and First Responders. Chuck and Jesse started discussions around Jesse’s purpose post military, and Chuck encouraged Jesse to open a Wounded Heroes chapter in Iowa to continuing serving his brothers and country.

The start of Wounded Heroes

In 2019, Jesse was traveling to Chicago monthly to meet with the Kentucky Wounded Heroes board of directors, and he met a woman name Elisabeth Bradshaw. Elisabeth was a Chicago native, who had been on a similar journey of reinventing her life the past several years, and they instantly connected. He shared with her his plans for a future Wounded Heroes chapter in Iowa, and she shared her desire to give back, serve and help those that she could. 

Sharing my story

Elisabeth helped Jesse to write and share the story of being wounded in action in an IED explosion/his first TBI. The story was incredibly hard to share, but when Jesse opened the wound to the world, so much light poured in. A woman named Dr. Jenny Holtslander Owens reached out on the post. Jenny was Jesse’s favorite Occupational Therapist at the Fort Campbell TBI center. After reconnecting Jenny told Jesse about how she & her husband started REBOOT Recovery, a trauma healing course, to help Veterans heal the root cause of so many of their underlying issues, such as PTSD & service-related trauma.

Jesse took a look into the program and was impressed. He knew this was the missing piece in how he wanted to serve his country going forward. Throughout his recovery, Jesse spoke to many Veterans who refused to start therapy at the VA because of the stigma towards mental health, which is so prevalent in the military community. He believed that REBOOT, being a Veteran taught course, not held at the VA campus, could help so many Veterans take the first step towards healing. Jesse decided to pay for the first course out of his own pocket. With the help and encouragement of Elisabeth, Chuck, and Jesse’s therapist, Jesse decided to move forward and create Wounded Heroes to raise funds to provide REBOOT classes, mentoring, and connection events to Veterans and First Responders.