CALIFORNIA, USA — Every veteran has a story of their military past. The 9/11 terrorist attacks motivated Elk Grove native Jordan Stevenson to enlist in the armed forces after attending Sacramento State University as a decathlete.
He spent six years undergoing military training in preparation for his first tour in Afghanistan.
“I disarmed bombs,” Jordan Stevenson said. “I worked with special forces. I deployed with the Army Rangers, but I was the bomb guy. I did one tour in Afghanistan and was only there for eight days before I was injured.”
That injury changed the course of his life.
“An enemy target came out holding his wife as a shield in front of him and opened fire on me with an AK-47. Subsequently, the bullet went through my helmet right above my left eye. All the way through my head and out the back of my helmet,” Stevenson said.
The doctors told him he would never walk again and possibly never talk again, but Stevenson proved the experts wrong. Not only is he walking and talking today, but he’s also biking with a prosthetic leg and giving motivational speeches to other veterans with shared experiences.
“I’ve lost too many friends to suicide in the military that I feel like I have to use the voice that I do still have to reach out to those guys and be an example to them, so that the guys like me who are told in the hospital that your life is over, you’re never going to be the same again, I need to be an example of what life could be and what was still possible,” Stevenson said.
And it’s not just those in combat who make up large portions of the U.S. military. Many vets worked in intelligence or as reservists.
“My active duty was as an intelligence officer. I followed the Russians a lot, then the USSR,” Richard Nielsen, a Navy veteran living in Folsom, said. "The vast majority of people are not the warfighters. They’re behind the scenes.”
Nielsen first enlisted during the Vietnam War and lost friends along the way.
“I think of my best friend who was shot down and killed in Vietnam. That makes me very teary,” he said. “Serving your country is serving something bigger than yourself, so that’s the way I think about it.”
Nielsen said it’s the service and sacrifice of the people in uniform that keep our country safe and free.
"Time has taken us away from those emergencies, except during — 9/11 got people understanding what warfare is like, and how we can be attacked. There is a deterrent effect for having the strongest military in the world, Nielsen said.
This year on Veterans Day, Stevenson hopes that people will take the time to thank a vet.
“When people thank me for my service, people don’t think that it’s that big of a deal because they always say I wish there was more I could say than 'thank you' but people don’t understand that thank you means a lot to us,” Stevenson said. "A simple thank you goes a long way.”
Stevenson sends that gratitude right back to the people who sent him strength on his road to recovery.
“I’m where I am now because of the support I received from my community,” Stevenson said. "Elk Grove, Sacramento is why I am where I am now.”
Stevenson recently wrote a book called “Unstoppable.” It’s available wherever books are sold.
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