A U.S. Navy SEAL Laces Up to Do Business
One of the greatest ways you can honor Veterans and their service to our country is by reading and sharing their stories.
Today we invite you to honor Retired U.S. Navy SEAL Karl “Gus” Gustavson. Gus recently retired after 22 years in service. His incredible journey included 11 deployments, being awarded a Purple Heart and many other accolades for combat valor.
Today we are highlighting his thoughts on serving our country, lacing up and transitioning from the military.
Why did you join the military?
I enlisted a few weeks after the events of 9/11. I was in college at the time, and when the towers went down, I felt like I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.
When I joined, I didn’t have plans on making it a career…but I loved the work and the people I was fortunate enough to work with in the SEAL teams. Those factors kept me reenlisting and eventually spending 22 years in the military.
What does service mean to you and your family?
My service means a lot of things to me. First and foremost, it was an honor to be able to serve our nation, and I was fortunate to be able to serve with some of our nation’s best in the SEAL Teams.
For my family I think there is a certain amount of pride in having a member of the family who served. There is a legacy of service in my family. Both of my grandfathers fought in WWII. I had a great uncle who fought in Korea and another who was killed in Vietnam. I had a cousin who fought in Desert Storm and another who served in the Army during the GWOT.
So, I definitely felt support and encouragement from my family, both immediate and extended, during my time in service.
You laced up your boots every day in service. Does that hold meaning for you and why?
It absolutely does. For me, lacing up my boots is symbolic of service. Before every training event and before every combat operation I would lace up my boots before I put on my kit and grabbed my equipment.
That act of lacing up my boots put me in the mindset of “it’s time to go do the business of our nation.”
When you put on combat boots, much like I imagine putting on cleats before you take the field in a sport, it reminds you that it’s about more than just you. It’s about the team and the country that stands behind you.
What about Boot Campaign’s mission is important to you?
Boot Campaign’s mission is important to me because I have personally experienced both the physical and the invisible wounds of war. I know most of my friends and teammates have as well. Boot Campaign provides help us and Veterans like us navigate the unique challenges that we face after our time in service.
For me, personally, it has been awesome to see Boot Campaign step up and help take care of Veterans who might have otherwise suffered in silence or struggled to find the care they need to manage whatever they are going through.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing Veterans today?
I think the two biggest things that I have seen Veterans struggle with after our time in service are finding purpose after leaving the military, and dealing with the mental, emotional, and physical baggage that comes from years of serving as a war fighter.
For some Veterans it can be disorienting to leave the military where we are so focused and purpose-driven to then find ourselves in a position where it may be hard to define what our purpose is now, or maybe struggling to find work that we see as “meaningful”.
Can you tell us more about that mental, emotional and physical baggage?
When I say that I see Veterans sometimes have a hard time dealing with the mental, physical and emotional baggage that comes from years as a war fighter, what I mean is that the demands of military service, particularly in combat roles, leave us Veterans with physical injuries, unpleasant memories, negative emotions, even depression or a sense of social isolation.
I call these negative emotions and physical injuries “baggage” because of an analogy I have heard used to describe them as “stones” that we pick up during the course of our careers and put into a sort of metaphorical “rucksack” that we carry with us throughout our lives. With each negative event or new physical injury, the weight of that emotional rucksack gets heavier, and oftentimes it can be difficult to figure out how to “put it down.”
In other words, how to alleviate ourselves of the burden of carrying those negative thoughts and emotions and how to deal with, treat and heal our physical injuries. There was, in the early years of my career, a sort of prevailing idea that those burdens are ours to bear, to suffer in silence, as part of the job that we signed up for when we joined the military. There have been great strides taken during my time in service to recognize that this is an issue for many servicemen and women and Veterans, and to destigmatize the idea of being open and communicative about those physical and mental/emotional injuries that we are suffering.
One of the reasons I am so grateful for organizations like Boot Campaign is that you guys are helping Veterans put down their metaphorical rucksacks, alleviate the burden of carrying that physical and emotional weight, and find some respite from suffering in silence and isolation.
What do the two words YOU MATTER mean to you?
Along with a loss of a sense of purpose, there is a sense of a loss of “community” as well. It can feel like leaving behind a family.
With that in mind, sometimes hearing something as simple as the phrase “You Matter” can serve as a reminder that even after time in service is over, we still do matter. We still have a mission and a purpose. And even though we may not be part of the “team” that we once were, we still matter and still have value to those people around us.
Want to hear more of Gus’ story? Join us at our 4th Annual Boots & Barrels Clay Shoot on March 7th in San Antonio Texas, where he will be our keynote speaker. Visit our events page here for more information.
