 There was an island in the Euphrates River. The intel was that there was enemy on this island, and they were shooting mortars from this island. You know, you have your M16 slung, your magazines, you have your grenades, so you're swimming with a full combat load. That morning, my swimming partner was Corporal Jeffrey Green. We were probably maybe 15 feet from the island, and I told Corporal Green I was going to try to touch the bottom, and I couldn't touch, so we started swimming again. By the time I got from that 15 feet, you know, I swam that 15 feet, where I tried to touch, I ended up getting to the island, and I turned around and Corporal Green was gone. I always wondered, why me? Why didn't I get hurt? Why didn't I get shot? Why didn't I get killed? You know, why did these guys have to die? And they remind me to get up and make the most of my day. Well, when he came home, he came home definitely changed. He was home, but he brought the war back with him, I think. And I didn't see the day-to-day thing, but I know later on he told us there was four or five times where he was thinking about suicide. And the hardest part is that we all loved him so much and we couldn't help him. I had a really hard time with the transition from military to civilian life. I had a hard time sleeping. If I wasn't blacked out drunk, I would have bad dreams. And, you know, that was my way of coping with the problem, was blacking out. So, I drank to try to solve my problems. The New Year's of 2007, I ended up meeting this girl named Lara. My name is Lara, and I've been dating Brandon for going on eight years on New Year's. The C8 appointment had come up, and I was unsure if I was going to go or not, but, you know, all I needed was, you know, that one person to tell me, yes, do it. And I went. I did encourage him to get help, but there's no way that I could tell him to get help and him actually do it and it be successful. It was something that had to come from within himself. I ended up going to the Minneapolis VA. I was diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety disorder. They have plenty of awesome doctors and all these programs. I used the Montgomery GI Bill. I went to school in Eau Claire, Wisconsin at Triple O Valley Technical College and got two associate degrees, one in business management and one in marketing. I think the GI Bill allowed Brandon. It prepared him for his entrepreneurship. He started his own P-Dub productions and looks to me like he's off to a roaring start. I graduated school and I started a production company and I traveled the United States and Canada recording Native American music. As an economist, I'd say we got a good return on our investment. A lot of the recordings that we do are live. So we, you know, we travel to from state to state, from province to province, going to these different powwows and then we actually set up the microphones around the drum the singers sing their songs. You know, I have a pretty easy job. I just hit record. Anything that you might have going on, that's what the VA is for. And there are plenty of people there to help you. So just, I think, ultimately supporting each other and loving each other come what may. I couldn't ask for anything more right now. I, you know, I'm really happy we're all about right now.