"When out there, I was in awe by not only the nature but by Jake’s genuine heart and love for taking care of veterans”

“In December of 2021, I was blessed to do a Mule Deer hunt with Jake. I was excited, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and Jake was taking care of everything all I had to do was get out there. How did I get so lucky?

When out there, I was in awe by not only the nature but by Jakes genuine heart and love for taking care of veterans. During my hunt, I found a part of me that had gone kind of numb. Being able to finally let my guard down with Jake and just enjoy the outdoors truly changed my life. I guess I got recommended for the hunt by friends because I’ve had a few hairy deployments. Little did I know my life was going to turn upside down a year later and my burdens were going to become much heavier then they ever were. I ended up losing my best friend and Scout Sniper teammate to suicide a year later while finding out my brother has stage 4 cancer just months apart. When I was in my deepest darkest depths of being overwhelmed, I remembered how I felt when Jake took me hunting. So I went in the woods.

I sobbed out there but after pulling myself together, I looked around and took it all in. I appreciated nature and thought about how I want to teach my son how to hunt and enjoy the same outdoors.

Jake will forever be a lifelong friend and the work he does is just as genuine as who he is as a person.”

- Anonymous

"One of the best lessons I have learned is that there are true men who care and have your back, both in the service and outside of it. ”

“So we have a saying here in marine special operations, “you join for the war, but you stay for the guys.”

I joined for the war.

Life doesn’t always go the way you figured it would. There have been some hard lessons learned growing up in this profession. One of the best lessons I have learned is that there are true men who care and have your back, both in the service and outside of it.

It may sound like a cliche country song, but we all know that our true friends are the ones who are there for you when there’s no spotlight on them for being there.

There are more than enough “veteran organizations” that are out there to “help the service members” but in all reality they just seem like fake politicians posing for the camera with a “victim” to show how much they “care.”

We are not victims, we are volunteers. We could have quit at anytime, but we didn’t and we don’t, because we want to be here with our brothers; the ones who are true and who always have our backs.

But reality has a way. Be that good or bad, it has its own way. It is easy for a guy like me to get wrapped up into this life in the military that I live. To isolate.

Jake has truly helped me in a way I didn’t even really think I needed help with. I met Jake in 2020, the year our politicians lost the war in Afghanistan. Coming back to the states that year was actually difficult for me. There was a feeling of betrayal from our commanders, politicians and the American people. Jake opened up his home during the holiday season to my buddy and me, strangers he had never met. He spent his time and money, brought us into his own home with his family and made us feel like family. There was no fake “for the gram” bull shit, just a true American acting on his own accord. Jake is a true friend and a true American. He has helped me learn that the guys that you stay for, means a lot more than just the team you deploy with, there are actually the same type of brothers, same Americans back home. It might not mean much in a paragraph, but the underlying meaning is that we aren’t isolated in our military service. We aren’t an oddity, we aren’t victims, we are Americans, just like the Americans who have our backs here at home. It means we belong. You don’t get the feeling of belonging in front of a camera, or on a social media post from some charity organization, you get the feeling of belong from being with your brothers.”

-Anonymous