Brian Thornsberry
Connected Warriors Operations
Boca Raton, Florida
My military story begins in May 2011 where I graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate (DMG) from The Citadel: The Military College of South Carolina (DMG- top 10% in the entire Nation for Army officers commissioning into service). I served in the Army from October 2011- November 2016 as a Medical Service Officer. I was a medical platoon leader for 3-187 IN BN, 3rd BCT, 101st Airborne Division (AASLT) where I deployed to east Afghanistan and received a Combat Medic Badge and two Army Accommodation Medals. I then was given the position as the 3rd Brigade Combat Team- Medical Operations Officer where I was in charge of six (6) of my peers, 212 medics and responsible for the medical readiness of over 4,500 Soldiers.
My transition back into society was one of the hardest things I have ever went through and still go through today. My story is filled with trauma and suicide (13 close friends/peers/Soldiers) because they could not find solutions to the mental health difficulties that combat veterans face. My own solution was to drink and use pharmaceutical drugs in order to escape the realities of mental torture that I was experiencing on a daily basis. The constant feeling of loneliness and depression (which would transition into stints of adrenaline fueled anxiety) was driving me crazy. Coming back from deployment I did not have my support system (my platoon) anymore. They were transferred to other bases or had their own lives and families to tend to. And by 2014, I started to think about suicide myself. I even attempted suicide on multiple occasions. After the last failed attempt (while in the military) I decided that I needed to get out of my current environment and start all over. I transferred to Ft. Knox, KY to become a medical recruiting officer. The geographical change did not make things better, it only made things worse. My loneliness and depression intensified, and my alcohol and drug use took off. I was drinking and using just to get through the day (not just to go to bed at night). This is where my “solution” soon became a bigger problem than my emotional distress. Luckily, I was admitted into a 30-day program at Ft. Knox- Lincoln Trail Behavioral Health facility. This is when I truly knew I needed help, but I also knew that mood stabilizers and sleep meds were just another short-term fix (just like my previous misuse of alcohol and drugs). I was discharged from the Army under Honorable conditions in November of 2016. And shortly after, I was back to using and abusing drugs and alcohol because by that time it was my solution to everything.
By December of 2016 I had overdosed three (3) times on car-fentanyl- I had lost all hope for the future and all my will to live. I was truly ready to die, and I welcomed it. Luckily a friend reached out and got me into a treatment facility located out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and this is when I first found yoga and meditation. I knew that I had found a new passion and a new solution. My new goal in life was to help other veterans who were struggling. After treatment, I was homeless / living in a halfway house, with no bank account and desperate for someone to take a chance on me! That is when I reached out to Judy Weaver and Connected Warriors. Judy and this program truly changed my life on every aspect. Without Judy, I know in my heart I would be dead today- through suicide or overdose. This program did not only give me a career purpose. It led me down a path of contentment, community and spiritual growth that most men/women never get to experience in their entire lives. Today, because of Connected Warriors, I am enjoying life drug, alcohol free and medication free (mood stabilizers & sleeping medications). I wake up every morning and make it my mission to help a veteran. I volunteer on my off time as a veteran liaison for the Amiri King Foundation and Save a Life: US. I volunteer to help veterans find affordable sober living housing through a company called “Sober Living by Tiffany” in Ft. Lauderdale. I truly have an understanding of myself and how I can be most useful to my community and the world around me and I owe it all to Judy Weaver and Connected Warriors.
https://connectedwarriors.org
