![]() “After showing that I had the diverse skill set to work in this type of industry, the director of facilities took me under his wing and introduced me to the facilities management world,” Tankersley says. It was at this stop where an FM career came into focus. He lasted two years in that position until he moved to a different facilities position as facilities specialist for a Washington credit union. “I eventually moved to Washington state and became a general contractor building commercial and residential facilities.” “I struggled to find a job, as every job I found seemed to have little meaning compared to leading the greatest warriors the U.S. Tankersley experienced some of these characteristics upon leaving the military. Many veterans struggle to adapt to such common events as reconnecting with family and friends, finding jobs or careers, continuing education or trying to access services such as healthcare. In many instances, troubles associated with PTSD often lead to life-long problems and unfortunately in too many cases, suicides.Įven soldiers who don’t suffer from PTSD and leave the military are commonly known to struggle when adapting to civilian life. ![]() The injury still affects him from a concentration standpoint, but Tankersley says he has “recovered about 99 percent from this issue.” Civilian lifeĪccording to the National Center for PTSD, 7 out of every 100 veterans will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. The condition required six months of recovery time and work with a speech cognitive therapist. When I was reading, I could read the words with no issues, but I couldn’t understand what I read.” “I found that I was unable to connect thoughts to paper and vice versa. ![]() “My brain injury reared its face in the form of reading and writing,” he says. While recovering, he realized an alarming effect of the injury. Tankersley spent a few weeks under supervision before he was sent to Hawaii as part of the Wounded Warrior Battalion for six months. Following the attack, he was MEDVAC’d out of the country to Germany, where he was diagnosed with a brain injury. During a 2011 Taliban attack, Tankersley was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED). War changes soldiers in various ways, and for Tankersley a second deployment was certainly life changing. The operation was chronicled in an HBO documentary. His first deployment was part of Operation Moshtarak, when 15,000 Marines fought with the Afghan soldiers to retake a major city during the Battle of Marjah. ![]() Tankersley found his way to Afghanistan through two deployments. His duty was to train Marines about machine guns and how to implement machine guns into infantry rifle squads as they prepared for combat in Afghanistan. ![]() Tankersley joined the Marine Corps in 2008 and worked his way up to becoming a non-commissioned officer, becoming a machine gun section leader in the Marine Corps infantry. “My brothers and me had military foot lockers at the ends of our beds until we were in our teen years,” Tankersley says. Despite having scholarship offers to play football at small colleges, Tankersley inevitably felt the pull to follow in his father’s footsteps. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |