 Airstrikes in the former Yugoslavia, after peace talks, meant to restore order in Kosovo failed. These strikes came after a humanitarian crisis followed many years of fighting between ethnic Albanians and Serbs for control of that region. I'm joined today by DAV member and Army veteran, Adam Greathouse, who deployed to Kosovo in 2001 to assist with the NATO peacekeeping mission that happened after the NATO's airstrikes ended. Even though his role was as a part of a peacekeeping force, he nearly died in Kosovo. And his recovery hasn't been easy. He's walked down some dark paths. However, his story is ultimately a story of hope. He eventually found DAV and a community of veterans he now serves alongside. He now uses his experiences to help other veterans. So Adam, thank you so much for joining me today and thank you for being willing to share your story. Thank you for having me. Just to start off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you decided to join the Army? Yes, I'm a United States Army retired, medically retired. And one of the reasons I really joined the military, I wanted at one point in time in my life, my children's life, if someone asked and I wasn't around, I wanted them to stand tall and be proud and say, my dad was a soldier. So that was one of the main things that kind of pushed me. I'm from the small town, so I wanted to really look up to me. So I joined and I ended up with the Sigma Corps. That was my MOS. And I was stationed at Fort Steward, Georgia, Third Infantry Division. I was really ecstatic about that and it went from there. Okay. So, and this is right around 1999 and everything that's happening in Kosovo and the surrounding region had been coming to a boiling point for years. NATO's involvement with the airstrikes, to my understanding, had ended shortly before you joined the Army. So what do you remember from them? Was Kosovo even on your mind when you decided to join? I remember hearing a little about it here and there at the beginning. And then one of the main things was, I just wanted to join, period. Again, for the freedom and the peace that we not only keep in our land, up before and as well, I know what I signed up for. So hearing about it here and there, I didn't really have it on my mind, but where I was stationed at, and then the buzz and the news going around, hey, this is coming up. Prepped myself a little bit more. My leadership explained exactly why we were being deployed. And again, I was really ecstatic about that because that's exactly what I signed up for. We were so lucky. Some of us take for granted and I don't understand the definition of freedom when you're deployed, especially for a country and you go to Kosovo. And you can be part of keeping the peace and the freedom there. That's way bigger than you can even be part of, I feel. And when you were saying you're going over there, you're in the signal corps at that time. What were you like trained to do? What was your role when you got in country as a peacekeeping, as part of as a peacekeeping force? For my role, for the Third Infantry Division, we was one for one field artillery and I was with headquarter support. So my job was to do retrans at the moment. So we was going out doing certain missions through the villages and going to the ridghtops and we'd set up our retrans antennas. What we would do is do the communications. We'd retrans communications from like the British and Swedish, Ford observers, what have you through us down to the American Command Post. So communication is very crucial in any mission. So that's why you have to take it very serious. There are all details upon the mission prior and exactly what you need to do. And that was what I was taking part in at the moment. I went on a few different missions there and it was one of my last ones that I didn't know was gonna be my last one but through there when we traveled, I could see some of the destruction from the airstrikes. I mean, it was just, some of the structure was so massive that it just couldn't be cleaned up in time. So they're still functioning as best they could as a society amongst the rubble. And I've seen it firsthand and seeing that again, it made me really proud to be there and be part of something that would relinquish that and there wouldn't be any more of the hostile environment. And we're gonna get to your personal story here just in a second, but just to follow up on that. This is two years after the airstrikes, but I mean, this is also following many, many years of just civil unrest and humanitarian crisis when you're seeing them. But what were your impressions, just of the people and of Kosovo itself? I mean, as you're going out into these villages and these towns and doing your mission. Being on my first deployment as well, you hear horse tours no matter from left from some of the other guys that are seasoned. So you're going out and you're expecting the worst. Driving through in our convoy to the missions, absolutely the children absolutely, they'd stand there. Some would salute, some would wave. They were just so excited to see us all the way up into teenagers. I mean, like it was, it was really, that was really awesome to see that they were really encouraged, encouraged by further security by seeing our presence there. And it depends on where you went through. You can tell friendly from not, you knew exactly who appreciated us, our presence. Well, transitioning to your story, can you just talk a little bit, how were you injured? Where were you and what happened? Well, the best way I can kind of figure out cause it's still kind of been there. You know, I was exposed to some kind of chemical exposure is that I'm not sure how, you know, for you, Slavia fight with chemical warfare and it's still somehow a particle. At some point, a spore, I ingested what have you and I ended up burning my broccoliles, eating a hole in my left lung. It shut down my organs to have an enlarged heart. I quit breathing so long later on. I found this out that, you know, I have a brain injury. So don't have a TBI from a blast. It's from a Noxic brain injury from lack of oxygen. So all this took place. Everything was going great until my last mission. I came off that and it was a pretty long one. And it was just me and another American soldier hook linked up to two other UN military forces. And when I came back, that's just started felt like the next day that I had the flu kind of, I guess if you could say, I've never been that sick. And then that evening I ended up being in a mass tent. And then I remember that morning they rushed me out and said that we need to get him out of here. And they ended up going to the airport. And from that point, I had a colonel checking on me. We landed. I ended up at Launstool, Germany. And I remember, tell me, you know, you need to come back from 10. I had a mask on and I remember like seven. And then I remember waking up and hearing voices that wasn't really like English and what we'll say. And I was in Germany. So I was in Aachen, Germany University Hospital for like, I was in a coma for two months and then woke up there about 110, 115 pounds. And I was 215 pounds prior to this. I would call it going to sleep. And I woke up in that condition and I had muscle atrophy so I couldn't move. I had dropped feet and my hands were drawn. And just I had a lot of stuff kind of going on with that situation. And then from that point on, it was a mental health issue, I feel with not on top of the physical cause I remember the nurse saying, you know, you're very ill, you was very ill. So he explained about the burn and when I woke up, I had staples on my left side all the way around to like my spine where they moved my left lung there. And then I had scar tissue on my right. And she's trying to explain all this and I'm not retaining it until later. But yeah, that was a, I woke up and everyone says it, but like I was Rambo, you know, and I was bull proof 10 foot tall. And then here I am, I woke up and I can't move. And, you know, so that was a huge blow at first, but I needed to get better. So I'm just laying there looking at the wind and it kind of went to like, you know, I'm not going, I'm not going home. And then I failed my country and I failed my unit and I failed my family. So I was my own worst enemy, which we all are with certain issues. And so I almost gave up. I just didn't want to take my last breath in Germany. So I fought hard enough as much as I could to I could get able to be flown back and they pushed it, but they flew me back as early as possible. And I woke up and let me see how I was working at Water Read. And when I was in Water Read, I was there for a while with the physical therapy and that kind of the rehab and stuff. And I was there for a while and then realized when the, it was the case managers came in and thank God for them. At the moment with the brain injury, I didn't really understand cause, you know, I need to get better cause I have a PT test coming up. I'm getting ready to make my sergeant. That's all in my head. I'm not thinking of anything else. And they, they reached down and ripped my heart out right there in the bed when they told me, you know, we need you to listen to this and understand this and sign this. You're medically retired. These are your benefits. This and that. And from that point on I put earmuffs on and I didn't understand anything from that point on. I went at that moment, I was pretty cracked and I just climbed up. So, so you're, I mean, you, like you said, you go from 10 feet tall, Rambo, you know, like take on the world to a point where, yeah, your career, what you thought was a career was over. You felt like you failed, which you certainly obviously didn't, but I understand like you're processing this and going through this and, you know, out of things out of your control. So once you were, you left Walter Reed, went back home, like what happened? Like what made, what was life like? And then I guess what changed? Life, when I got back, I know even if you come out just as a service member to veteran and your transitioning is super hard. That's why we have, you know, our DAV advocating for stuff like that transition programs and stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't know about that. I felt it a cracks, as they would say in the VA, told me myself, it was about 10 years before I received any physical help, any mental help, any physical therapy, physical, what have you help at all, and didn't even know about a VA. So 30 seconds of what I've just told you of any part of this story, I would have self-medicated heavily until I forgot it. So every single day, you know, I self-medicated, again, you know, never sugarcoat, nothing, it can't help anybody. I was drinking a fifth a day, that was, you know, everyone picks their own poison and just to function and stay numb and not think about this because it's ingrained in my brain, I wanted to drink it away. And that's what I did. And then my life was already as shambles and I hit rock bottom and I was trying and then, you know, doing all that and they can't think straight and try to live on your own. My mother's helping raise my children making and that made me feel even worse. I was a burden and I'm a failure. So, you know, it was kind of just, you know, spiraling down the rabbit hole. I tried to live on my own. I couldn't, I'd pay the bills when they'd show up for the check and didn't even know if I had it. And then I came homeless and I lived in a little Chevy S10, I'm at a dam or CalCert to every once in a while. And then I sucked up my pride and all I had left and moved back in with my parents and then I just didn't like how I sit and I contemplated so many times, but whatever I do, I give 150%. So, I contemplated really hard and it took a long time to say this, but you know, I was going to commit suicide because words have power and people need to hear that word. And if you know me and you see me, you know, I'm just, I feel like I have an aura and I just glow and I'm just full life and I'm experiencing life to the fullest now. And it wasn't that at that then. And I know what that dark spot's like. So, my plan was to commit suicide and ease everyone's pain of the burden and the failure of my family. And so I didn't have to feel like a failure to my country anymore. And then one day, I got a call from a TBI unit from out of the Herschel Woody Williams VAMC. I'll never forget that phone call. Hey, I need you to come and see a REC therapist. See a REC therapist. I heard the word therapist and I said no. But the thing is that lady built so much trust with me, I drove two and a half hours because she asked me to meet him. And I met him and from that point on, I looked at him once. I was only rude one time to anybody at the VA, it was him. I said, you know, when it's don't work, don't ask me again. And he said, great, I need you to sign this paper, we're gonna do this. So I ended up going to the winter sports clinic in 2012. And I was on very thin dental floss hanging on to life. My plan was to go there, prove to everybody that it don't work, my mom, myself, everyone who root me on. And then I could be justified on taking my life. And then I went there and the big man had different plans cause I've seen exactly what that DAV, the VA together and how that's set up and what their mission is and the miracles on the mountain side. That had not been disrespectful as a complete understatement, it is in that place. It changed my life. I got off that plane, you know, I just, I didn't know where I was at. I didn't know, I knew I wanted to hurry up and go home and commit suicide and be done with this. But I gave it a week and that changed my life. And I felt, I had an epiphany I feel. I feel I felt at that moment, like this whole injury was a blessing in the skies. I'm really proud to say that, you know, I almost gave my life for the freedom and the peace in Kosovo as a United States Army soldier. And to make me who I am today to go through that hard dark road and find DAV and that Winter Sports Clinic, man, because then I found my purpose in life and it fell right in my lap. And now that's all I do is I wake up every single day. You know, I work on myself every single day but what makes, I smile, I feel it. I wake up and put my feet on the ground. I'm ready. I'm ready to start looking at emails and looking at notes. Here's a food pantry drive. We have a clothing drive for a homeless vendor to stand down. I mean, look at the people we can help. And it all started with, you know, the DAV, you know, believing in me and that's how come I continue my mission to give to the DAV. Well, Adam, I mean, this is just, I mean, first off, thank you for being so open and willing to share such, it's a difficult subject. Like you said, it's words that have to be talked about but it is hard and it's hard but to be at a place now where we see you, you're right. You do have an aura. When you walk into a room, we've spent time together. We've seen each other around and it's clear. It's evident that something changed. Something changed on that mountain. We're getting ready to go back. We're gonna bring out about 300 more service members out to the miracles on the mountain side here coming up on April 1st. It's gonna be great. I didn't understand until I witnessed the two but it is absolutely what you say. You hear that story. I don't wanna diminish yours at all but I mean, I think that's the great part about it. It's saving lives. But as we wrap up here, obviously DAV gave you that purpose like being involved, helping out like you're talking about these clothing drives and all these other volunteer opportunities. What would you say? As someone who I think can speak on this better than most like obviously you've come from a place where you thought it might have been the end and it was very real possibility. You came from coming back off the streets after having a career stripped away from you but you've walked through and you look at you now and doing great things for veterans. You're doing great things for, I mean, in a way you're still serving your country but what would you say as we wrap up here to other veterans who may be currently experiencing some of their own difficulties in their own lives? Well, I tell you what, I like to, I heard this phrase and I just love it because there's so many ways I could say, hey look, please trust me, the DAV has this, this, this, I can give them the flyers, I can give them paperwork but I've never heard it put this way and it's amazing. Dave Riley put it in the dark. It is very, very dark and then the lighthouse. You see that little beacon and it's a light, it's a very small but if you follow that, like that light equals the DAV and that's where our safety and that's where the harbor, if we follow it and we find it and that's where we get everything that our benefits were fighting for, that's our safety net, that's our brothers and sisters waiting with open arms and saying, hey, how can we help you? Excellent, yeah, for those who don't know, Dave Riley is a former national commander, he's a quadruple amputee, former Coast Guard rescue swimmer that it just, like you said, has some really good words to share. Adam, so do you. Really, again, thank you so much for sharing your story. As we reflect on the 25 year anniversary of NATO's involvement with Kosovo, if anyone needs any help or more information about DAV, we, you can certainly message us on our social media platforms, you can also reach out to us at DAV.org. We're ready there to help all veterans, you know, who have served their country just live, lead full and fulfilling lives. So again, thank you for your time, Adam.