Lt. Col. Stephen "Slade" Mount for the past six months has commanded Wounded Warrior Battalion West's campus at Camp Pendleton in California, helping lift the spirits of sick and injured Marines during the holidays.
"Yeah, my dream was to be a pilot, and I was good at being a pilot," Mount told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "And then my dream was taken from me. I had that realization that I wasn’t going to be a pilot anymore. I could get out of the Marine Corps, or I could continue to serve. So, I continued to serve."
Mount, who suffered a severe eye injury in the 2004 during the Iraq War, has about 250 patients under his wing. According to the Union-Tribune, 90 percent of his company will never go to war.
"Everyone carries their own baggage from their experiences," he said. "I need to show empathy to guys who are here who never deployed, who possibly weren't even injured in a training accident."
The program at Camp Pendleton is just one of many around the country helping injured, retired and sick members of the armed forces.
In Pensacola, veterans get through tough times by helping each other.
The program at Camp Pendleton has changed lives.
"Master sergeant goes out of his way to make sure that I'm still getting up in the morning," said Sgt. Danielle Pothoof, whose left leg was amputated after a roadside bomb detonated while she was serving in Afghanistan. "And I check to see that even if he's at the lowest point in his life, he can wake up in the morning, too."
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