Here is Sean's Story:
When Richard Casper, founder of Creativets, told me about
his program I thought it was a great idea. I know first hand how art can help
combat-injured vets heal. I credit art with saving my life. Painting and
writing my book got me through the hardest times. Richard and I were speaking at a college
event in Michigan when he told me that I should go down to Nashville and write
a country song, and like so many other veterans I thought there had to be a
couple dozen other veterans more deserving, but Richard kept at it and sent me
the tickets.
I was hit
in an ambush outside Taji, Iraq, in 2004. A good friend of mine was killed
instantly and the explosion broke the right side of my body. The physical
injuries healed but for a long time the survivor’s guilt ate at me, along with
the guilt of being in charge and losing a man. Ten years have gone by and I
feel I’ve been able to put most of the difficult times behind me, but during my
writing session with the kick-ass writers Richard lined up I learned there was
still a lot unsaid, unfelt, and unrealized.
I had no
idea what to expect. I wasn’t apprehensive because I was able to spend a week
with Richard before heading south and as two former infantrymen we hit it off,
but music was an avenue I never tried before. So, I may not have been
apprehensive but truthfully I may have been cynical. I just didn’t think I had
the ability to write a song, but after sitting through the session and having a
blast with Lance Carpenter, Matt Mason, and Richard, I found that making the
music was just as much about the experience than the song itself. At the end of
my trip CreatiVets surprised me with a guitar of my own, and I might just be
beginning my road as a song writer, but for now just sitting in my writing
office and plucking on the strings the way the YouTube video tells me does more
to relax me than I would have ever imagined.
The
unexpected benefits of the program keep happening. Now that I’ve gone through
the program, I get to refer the most deserving soldiers I know, so they can have
the amazing experience I did. Not only that but the song I wrote just poured
out of me and it was about Eric, my soldier who died, and how he was a great
human being, and how after ten years I’m afraid people are starting to forget
his sacrifice. I played the demo recording Matt Mason sent me to my wife and
shared the lyrics with Eric’s mother. They had tears in their eyes and with the
song I know that even the people who never heard of Eric will understand his
life, his death, and how his story is worth reminding our society about.
I want to
thank Richard, the Gibson Guitar Company, the songwriters, and everyone else
who made this experience a reality. It was an amazing once in a lifetime
experience that will help other veterans heal as well as help our culture
remember the sacrifices our men and women in uniform have
given to this country.
