Warriors of Camp Southern Ground

josh sheldon

Josh is a Warrior Week alum from Michigan. He joined the Marines at 21. This is his story.

My four years in the Marines included a tour in Iraq. Both of my tours were voluntary. My first unit was asked for volunteers, and I was part of a team right after Operation Phantom Fury wrapped up in Fallujah. My next unit did not want me to deploy again as I had just returned. Eventually giving in and letting me go.

My transition out of the military was hard. I self-medicated and blamed everything and anything without really understanding what was going on with me. After many years of dodging the truth, I was diagnosed with PTSD and started to get real about my path.

It’s an ever growing, ever evolving, and very much ever learning process. I had done an expedition with another organization and somewhere out in the wilderness I dropped an emotional pack I had been carrying around for almost 20 years. Fast forward, I attended Warrior Week. I met some amazing staff and participants while in awe of the accommodations and program provided. It peeled back another layer as I learned a lot about my character and the way my body and mind has always operated. I mentioned while in attendance that it was like I was a city in blackout. Hour by hour, day by day with my fellow warriors, it was as if power was being restored to different districts as things really started to click.

During one exercise, I noticed a signal my body had given me infinite times, but I now understood what was occurring and took pause to recenter. Later, a moment occurred, and I verbally reacted to it. A fellow Warrior called out, “where’s that fall in your life?” I had never halted or been stunned like that, because I never thought of scenarios that way. She was apologetic, as she worried it offended me. Instead, I had gratitude. I was in an environment where I felt open minded and with like-minded individuals that I accepted and really pondered it. I don’t name the experiences, as I feel it needs to be surprising and mind blowing for others as well.

I am filled with gratitude for the opportunity given by Camp Southern Ground, and the amazing staff and donors that make it possible. My professional and personal life continues to grow. My relationship with my wife and son has grown as well. I can better articulate what I feel, or why I am thinking or approaching something the way I am.