Meet Carnadi Ford, Former US Navy Sailor

I was in the Navy for 10 years. I fell into something I never even heard of, and I enjoyed every bit about it.

At the time, I had three children, and I only saw one of them born. I’ve missed lots of birthdays, lots of holidays. I had almost no relationship with my wife, and when my time was up, I left.

When I got divorced from my first wife and she took the kids with her, I found out that they were living in some pretty bad situations. To me, it’s my fault because I didn’t fight hard enough to get them back. I didn’t protect them.

A friend of my second wife invited us to go to their Boulder Crest Gala. I had no idea what Boulder Crest was.

I was sat with some people that went through the program, and they talked about their experiences. I just really connected with one of the ladies at the table, and she said, “You really should give them a call.” And I was like, “Nothing wrong with me. I’m fine.” Um… I thought I was fine.

I don’t believe I deserve their help. I don’t think I need their help. But I’ll just fill out their application.

Talking about some of that stuff just broke me down. And I was like, where’s this coming from?

The shame of not being around with them growing up—just kills me.

It’s not like it’s a therapist running this program. It is veterans and first responders like us. We’re vulnerable amongst each other, and that’s what creates a strong bond.

I volunteer here as a strength coach and one of the football coaches here. One thing I try to teach these kids is: we’re not making mistakes if we can learn from them.

That element of service in Posttraumatic Growth is something at Boulder Crest we really focus on a lot. Their lives have already been about service. They get it. They understand that. One healthy Warrior PATHH graduate will affect 500 people in his life.

There’s no doubt in my mind that that’s what Carnati is doing.

One, two, three—family.