One Battle Buddy At A Time

The concept of one battle buddy at a time is based on the value for quality over quantity. We can't be everything to everyone, but sometimes our support is everything to one person. When we focus our efforts in a person-centered way, we open up the possibilty for true and lasting relationships, and that comaradarie is what One Battle is founded upon.

Mike Wood

I was born in Barron Wi, lived in a small town, Weyerhaeuser WI, until shortly after my parents divorced when I was around 8 years old. My mother was abusive physically mentally and emotionally and my father was absent at that time, due to work. I graduated high school in Cameron. At this point I never expected I would ever have an issue with mental health or substance abuse. I also did not know which direction to go in life so I joined the military, which is what men in my family have always done.

When I joined, I had never smoked a cigarette or drank a beer. I excelled at my job in the service. I was chosen for many schools and leadership roles. I deployed to Iraq right after basic when I was 18 years of age. I was only 19 when I returned home, but I had multiple lifetimes of traumatic experiences on that deployment.

I could not drink enough to forgot things that I had saw and done. The depression had consumed my life and my anxiety was debilitating. I did many things to try to heal myself, but it didn't work, and it was not looked on favorably to ask for help with things like mental health. I did so well at my job that when I did ask for help I was told I was fine, and to just focus on other things. By the time I returned home, I couldn’t figure out life any longer, so I volunteered to go back to war. At least there was no alcohol and I could be myself around other people dealing with the same issues.

I came home after that tour, and that’s when real problems began. I started having black outs when I would drink, that wouldn’t stop me. Even the humiliation of having to call round and find out what I had done the previous night would only make me want to forget it, and drink again in a vicious cycle.

I went back for my third deployment. I asked for help from my leadership many times and they just said I was in the dumps and I’d be fine. I was very near suicide. I had been busted down in rank and put on extra duty when it should have been obvious that I needed help. I was finally honorably discharged from the military, in my mid 20s with not a skill to my name except infantry tactics.

Reintegrating into society was challenging for me. The structure of service gave me imposed guardrails to prevent me from going off the tracks. Then leaving that for freedom was insanely difficult. I couldn’t do it. I was hospitalized at a mental hospital for 5 months. I was homeless and a construction company that I started was failing. After a long period of sobriety, I decided to have some drinks and finally end my life, but a car accident intervened.

I found the ability to pull together all of the recovery experience I had gained over the years and acheived stability in my life. I got married, adopted a son, had another son, and they are both turning into fine young men.

After a long period of sobriety, I relapsed, and was arrested for my fourth felony owi. I've been through this cycle enough in my life to know I had to do something immediately to prevent me from going back down a destructive path again. My decision was to attend a One Battle excursion to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area north of Minnesota with a couple other veterans and two community members. That trip rekindled my desire to focus on my progress in recovery so that I could help other veterans find stability in their lives as well. While a mistake brought me back a few steps, it also has provided me the opportunity to use my experience as a tool to benefit others.

As a former participant with One Battle, and now as the Executive Director, I can honestly say that this organization is purely about veterans supporting veterans.