Nate graduated from Lemoore High, class of 94. After graduation he decided to join the Army. A few years after joining the Army he met his wife, settled down and had a family.
In 1999 he had a baby girl, and in 2001 he had his boy. Life was good and in 2004 he was transfered to Hawaii with his family. While he was stationed in Hawaii he was sent to Afganistan.
In the end of 2004 while he was in Afganistan he was placing up fencing for a refugee training camp and was hit in the head with a steel pipe. The impact knocked him off his feet and he ended up getting 20 staples in the top of his head. After being stapled up he was sent back to action until it was time to deploy home.
Following his return he started to show signs if trauma from his injuries. After several years of still being on active duty and working on the diagnosis and treatment Nate was diagnosed with PTDS and TBI. He was finally was placed into a program for his issues called Project Victory in Texas during the time he was stationed in Fort Polk, LA. It was a 8 week program designed to help learn to cope with PTSD, memory issues, photophobia, among other issues.
While he was attending Project Victory his wife of 8 years cheated on him and left him. After completing the program and trying to fix his marriage to no success he proceeded to work on his process through the med board of determining whether he would stay in the Army or not.
In October of 2008 Nate made a visit back to Lemoore to see some old high school friends which is when he met up with me. He went back to Fort Polk and finished the process of being medically retired from the Army.
In March of 2009 Nate was officially medically retired from the Army and was processed into the Wounded Warrior Program as well as the VA. His wife at the time had determined the marriage was over and she moved with the kids to Texas while Nate moved back to California where his family was.
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