About - What is Veteran Mettle

My name is Jake Walsh, I was a medic in the Army for 6 1/2 years.

The mission of Veteran Mettle is:

1) to provide veterans with positive insight, experiences, education, inspiration, knowledge and products that can improve our lives

and

2) to showcase veterans who have transitioned away from the military and gone on to achieve new goals.

The goal of Veteran Mettle is to affect change within the veteran community, from the bottom up. I aspire to change the veteran narrative, to focus again on strength, mettle, power, grit, happiness, and success.

Captain Miller (played by Tom Hanks) in Saving Private Ryan, said to Pvt. James Ryan "Earn it", meaning live a life that warranted being saved. Live every day honorably, honestly and as fully as possible. Keep moving forward. Earn it.

The logo

- 13 stars represent the 13 stripes on the American flag/ the original 13 colonies.

- Entrenching tool (e-tool or spade) has been documented in writings which go all the way back to the Roman Empire. They're typically used for entrenching or fortifying a position. Anyone who has served knows how versatile, durable and important the e-tool really is. Veterans are similar to the e-tool; each generation is slightly evolved (arguably improved), created with one primary intent but used for everything, always handy, resilient, unlimited potential, modest and reliable.

Comments

My safe space (perception of vulnerability)

I was a medic in the 5/20th Infantry battalion, I was with Bravo Company, and we were in a Stryker brigade. I was on the line the whole time I was in the battalion, and most of that time was spent in the stryker, either driving or sometimes as the vehicle commander. I recently recorded a podcast with a buddy, Craig Hysell who is the owner of Conviction Training Facility, and co-host of the Conviction Strong Radio podcast. This particular episode we were discussing vulnerability, how vulnerability can be a tool, and how it can allow us to grow beyond our current situation. For me, the situation of speaking about vulnerability is an onion of sorts; it's multi-layered. In order to have an honest conversation about vulnerability, it is necessary to speak from personal experience, to be vulnerable. As I was talking about vulnerability on the podcast, and relating it to my service as a medic in an infantry battalion, I was pretty uncomfortable giving details about my service; I was ...

Strange thought

I'm taking college classes these days, full time. It's good for me, it gets my head focused on things I'd naturally avoid. The kids on this campus are something else, alien-like. I was walking from my car to the library this morning when I passed a kid who was leaving the library. He was a small kid, maybe 17-19. He didn't look to weigh much, maybe 120, he was wearing his baseball hat like an asshole with a flat brim. He seemed innocent enough. I was walking and enjoying the crisp air in my nose and lungs. Without prompting or warning, my brain went to a time when we were back in Baqubah, Iraq. The short story is that we were one vehicle in a cordon made up of our own trucks and some trucks from another unit. That unit had Bradley's for vehicles, one Bradley took a catastrophic hit and the guys inside were severely injured. They needed to be pulled out and evacuated back to the nearest Combat Support Hospital (CSH or cash). We moved our vehicle up, the casualties we...

Naivety, confusion, anger

Anger makes you sharp/tight/focuses the senses. Use anger as fuel, to the next level, to kill or to do extraordinary. Anger beats the drum when tired, morale has vaporized & it's raining. Anger fills the moat between you, your brothers & everything else. Anger feeds the fire to keep getting better. Anger makes you strong, tempers you like forged steel. Anger suppresses fear to do unimaginable tasks. Anger allows you to turn around & roll right back out. TRANSITION TO: STATESIDE - CIVILIAN - THE MALL - RHETORIC How/where/when do you constructively/sustainably let go of anger? How do you allow vulnerability/honesty/compassion in? How do you let it in and maintain balance? How do you let go of tried & true tools to pick up new & adapt to them? How do you learn to trust again; where do you start? (Just some drivel from my brain one afternoon)

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