Why we started M2M

After returning from Afghanistan in November of 2008 , I began my readjustment to normal life. The process continued through my military service as well as my transition to civilian life. After years of trying to get back to the person I used to be, I started to realize the changes were permanent and I had to learn how to manage those changes. There are many resources to turn to for recovery assistance for the changes. However, the greatest resource is often overlooked...GOD. In 2012, I was truly saved by God's grace through prayer. I was completely changed and trusted that He could help me through every situation I would ever face.

In 2015 I was shocked to read the front page of the NYT newspaper that read “A unit stalked by suicide trying to save itself.” As I stood in the grocery store reading the article I was completely stunned to learn that it was the unit I fought with in Afghanistan. The article read of veterans that were lost and hopeless and mostly turning to alcohol as an escape and some eventually taking their own life. It also told a horrible statistic of veteran suicides and stated that the suicide rate for our battalion was 4 times the rate of young male veterans as a whole and 14 times that for all Americans.

I spoke with a close friend from the unit and realize how uninformed I had been about this problem. He also informed me that another had recently taken his life.

In the blink of an eye another year goes by and I learn that one of my closest friends, whom I served with, had begun to lose everything he had to drug addiction. His wife, daughter, friends etc. After 3 years of true struggle I finally get the call that I had been praying for. He had made a full recovery and gives all glory to God!

Just as I began to think things are looking up for the guys, again tragedy strikes. On July 4th 2018 we receive more devastating news. Yet another one of our brothers has taken his own life. There is no way we could continue to stand by and do nothing. My wife and I prayed for guidance and direction on how to help. The obvious answer was an outreach leading struggling veterans to Christ…

SGT Jeff Richbourg, USMC and M2M President and Founder