I graduated high school in May 1991, and found out that I was going to be a father in Sept 1991. I joined the Navy in October of 1991, but did not go to boot camp until April 1992, and I left Kentucky only 2 other times to go to Opryland in Tennessee. After boot camp, I spent 8 months in Washington DC in A school , then aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), stationed out of Norfolk, VA. Like Keith, I completed two Mediterranean cruises while onboard the Roosevelt in support of Operations Southern Watch and Provide Comfort. Unfortunately, at the very end of my amazing opportunity to serve my country, I experienced an extremely traumatic experience that would secretly alter every element of my life. This made my decision to leave the Navy very easy. However, my life was far from better when I got out. By this time, I had separated from my wife, got back together, and now had two small children.  I went home to Kentucky, and I was unemployed for over a year, as no one would proactively hire veterans or at least me, that resembled even a hint of wartime in fear of those experiences carrying into the workplace. Times are much different now, but did not help to battle the war within myself for years. While I never got the help that I had needed for years, didn’t mean that I tried, because I didn’t. I was too proud, and sharing my pain to heal me as a whole, was believed to be weak and less of a human. I carried all this anger, pain and suffering and my family felt the brunt of this for years. As the years went on, I was out of control, and had plans to take my own life on October 30, 2001; I had an amazing spiritual experience and my life changed that day. While I had stopped the drinking drugs, etc., I still had a war raging inside me. I put on 120 lbs., and one year later, I had a stroke and nearly died. At 30 years old, I had a stroke, had already been divorced, but never stopped working, most years two to three jobs at a time; all that did was cover up the fact that I needed help. I buried myself in work and unhealthy friends and relationships that eventually led to my divorce after 23 years. While 3 years later I found my amazing wife that I have now, I still had suppressed all those monsters that I neglected to deal with years ago. When triggers were activated, all those memories and emotions came roaring back, like a raging flood. I have been spiraling out of control off and on for the past few years and finally decided to get help, and wow , was that the best decision of my life! As I look back on my life, I see the signs all o er the place when I needed help, but I refused to get it. I lost a very dear childhood friend last year, a retired Marine, that felt just like me, he didn’t need help and he could deal with it. That same dear friend took his own life while writing a letter to his wife a few weeks later. To say that I embody the brotherhood that supports my brothers and sisters, in and out of uniform, and that I am living proof that people do love and care about you and me, is an understatement. To say that we cannot, you don’t have to, fight these battles alone. 30 years later from meeting one of my best friends Keith, and we know now, how much true friendship means and the value of it.