Veterans for the Purple Heart

08/08/2026

Should President Trump be honored with the Purple Heart? Vote yes if you think so.

Purple Heart for President Trump

08/08/2026

27/07/2026

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19/07/2026

10 THINGS MANY COMBAT VETERANS WISH THEIR FAMILIES UNDERSTOOD

Every veteran is different.
Every war story is different.
Every family carries the weight in its own way.

But after years of working with combat veterans and their families, there are a few things we believe are worth saying out loud.

1. They may miss parts of war, even if they hated it.

That does not mean they miss the loss, the fear, or the trauma. But combat can create a level of intensity, purpose, brotherhood, and clarity that is hard to explain and almost impossible to recreate in civilian life.

For some veterans, coming home means losing not only the battlefield, but also the mission, the structure, and the people who understood them without explanation.

2. Coming home alive does not always mean the war is over.

Many veterans return physically present but still mentally and emotionally carrying what happened. Their body may be home, but their nervous system may still be scanning for danger.

That can affect sleep, patience, trust, relationships, crowds, noise, anger, memory, and the ability to feel safe.

3. Love does not automatically make healing easy.

A veteran can love their spouse, children, family, and friends deeply and still struggle to be fully present.

Sometimes the people they love most are also the people who see the hardest parts of what war left behind. That does not make the pain their fault. It means the family often ends up living close to wounds they did not cause.

4. The reactions that kept them alive may not fit civilian life.

In combat, fast reactions can save lives. Hypervigilance, aggression, emotional control, suspicion, and immediate response to threat may all serve a purpose in a war zone.

At home, those same survival skills can create distance, conflict, or confusion.

Healing often means learning that not every loud noise, argument, crowd, or stressful moment is a battlefield.

5. Anger is often easier to access than fear, grief, or guilt.

Many veterans are not simply “angry people.” Sometimes anger becomes the emotion that shows up first because it feels safer than sadness, fear, shame, or helplessness.

That does not excuse harmful behavior.

But it can help families understand that what they are seeing on the surface may not be the whole story.

6. They may not know how to explain what they carry.

Some experiences are hard to put into words. Some veterans do not want to talk because they do not want to relive it. Others stay quiet because they do not want the people they love to picture what they saw, did, lost, or survived.

Silence does not always mean they do not care.

Sometimes it means they do not know where to begin.

7. They may feel guilt for surviving.

Survivor’s guilt is real. Some veterans carry the names, faces, and memories of those who did not come home.

Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, certain roads, smells, sounds, or dates can bring that weight back without warning.

To the outside world, it may look like a bad mood.

Inside, it may be grief.

8. They still need purpose.

Many veterans were trained to serve, protect, lead, endure, and accomplish the mission. When the uniform comes off, that need for purpose does not simply disappear.

Purpose can become a lifeline.

For some, that purpose comes through family. For others, it comes through service, faith, work, mentorship, advocacy, or helping another veteran find their way forward.

9. Families need support too.

The invisible wounds of war do not only affect the veteran. Spouses, children, parents, and loved ones often carry fear, confusion, frustration, grief, and exhaustion of their own.

Supporting a veteran does not mean losing yourself.

Compassion matters. Boundaries matter. Help matters. Families deserve care too.

10. They do not want their loved ones to become casualties of their war.

Most veterans struggling with PTSD, traumatic brain injury, anxiety, depression, pain, or moral injury do not want to hurt the people around them.

They want to be understood.

They want to feel useful.

They want to feel safe.

They want to find a way to live beyond what happened.

At The Battle Buddy Foundation, our mission is to create long-term, tangible change for veterans and their families. Highly trained service dogs are one way we help veterans reconnect with stability, purpose, and life after service.

A service dog does not erase the past.

But the right dog can help a veteran stay grounded in the present.

And sometimes, that is where healing begins.

14/07/2026

My next book coming soon!

12/07/2026

“Gunny, are we going home?”
the young Marine asked low.
“The orders say we’re leaving, son.
It’s finally time to go.”

“Then why doesn’t it seem finished?
Why don’t I feel free?
Why does the stench of Iraq
still seem to cling to me?”

The Gunny looked out past him,
where the desert met the sky.
“Some wars end on paper, son.
Some wars just learn to hide.

“But living is not the same as whole.
Breathing is not proof.
Some wounds do not announce themselves.
Some wars come home with you.”

“One road rose up in fire.
One blast split the day in two.
I came home alive, they told me.
That part, at least, was true.”

The years went by like road dust.
The uniforms were stored.
The medals found their drawers and shelves.
The country found new wars.

And somewhere in the silence,
the Gunny’s voice stayed near—
part old Marine who taught him,
part the man who made it here.

“Gunny, are you still there?”
the older Marine said low.
“I’ve made it home a hundred times,
but still can’t seem to go.”

“I’m here,” the Gunny answered.
“Still breathing. Still around.
Still learning how a man can stand
when peace can knock him down.”

“I filed the forms and waited.
I sat beneath their lights.
I tried to name the thing in me
that wakes me up at night.

“I tried to tell the doctors
what no picture ever showed.
I tried to carry silence
like it wasn’t still a load.

“The pills could quiet anger.
They could dull the worst inside.
But more than once I wondered
who’d be freer if I died.

“Some days I miss the war, Gunny.
At least I knew the rules.
At least I knew who needed me.
At least I had the tools.”

“Don’t make the war clean, son.”
The Gunny’s eyes went cold.
“War burns off the story
that the movies always sold.

“It is not all flags and thunder,
not all brave and not all bold.
It is dust and wire and waiting.
It is gray too big to hold.

“Peace is its own battlefield.
It doesn’t wear a face.
It hides in empty kitchens,
in appointments, bills, and shame.

“It waits inside the parking lot.
It follows you through town.
It finds the strongest men alive
and slowly sits them down.”

“So what do we do, Gunny,
when the plan has come apart?”

“What Marines have always done, son.
You start with what you’ve got.”

“Improvise?”

The Gunny nodded.

“Adapt?”

“That’s what we do.”

“And overcome?”

“Not all at once.
Sometimes that means getting through.

“Sometimes it was one good dog
pressed hard against my knee.
For me, his name was Atlas.
He brought the world back to me.

“Not a cure. Not salvation.
Not some easy way to heal.
Just his weight beside my body
reminding me what’s real.

“And sometimes it’s reaching back
for the man about to fall.
Sometimes the bravest thing you do
is answer when they call.”

“Does that count as victory?”

The Gunny looked away.

“Son, some wars are only won
by living one more day.

“And some are won by staying
when disappearing would seem fair.
And some are won by proving
that another man is there.”

“What about the ones we lost, Gunny?”

“We carry every name.”

“What about the ones who came back home
but never were the same?”

“We carry them too, son.”

“And if the world forgets?”

The Gunny’s eyes grew steady.

“Then we make damn sure we don’t.”

So yes, the war was over.
At least, that’s what they said.
But some men fight in silence
long after names are read.

The battle changed its uniform.
The front line changed its place.
It moved from roads in Iraq
to the mirror, mind, and face.

Surviving is not all of it.
Coming home is not the end.
And maybe final victory
is more than saving friends.

And sometimes it’s small feet
in the hallway by your door.
Sometimes it’s staying long enough
to be their father one day more.

We do not call the wound a gift.
We do not bless the flame.
But if something must remain from it,
we get a say in its name.

And if the world forgets the cost,
then let the answer stand:

We remember.
We rebuild.
And we reach back for the next man.

***
Some things are not written all at once.
They are carried for years.

The After War is an original piece by Marine Corps combat veteran Kenny Bass, written from the space between coming home and actually being home.

It is not a literal conversation.
But it is a true one.

09/07/2026

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09/07/2026

Blessed to have my Revolutionary War cannon “Providence” in the news:

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03/07/2026

Would love to go to Mt. Rushmore, but I have no ticket.

I’d beg for one in person, but I don’t want to dishonor my God or my uniform.

I need 3 minutes to talk to the president about the Purple Heart.

I’d get in my uniform and drive all the way to Rushmore tonight if I could get an audience.

I must remember God doesn’t need my help. It must happen in His time.

Honor the Purple Heart for ALL Combat Wounds