Charlie Mike
A True Story of Heroes Who Brought Their Mission Home

In the opening of his new book, Charlie Mike, Time magazine journalist and author Joe Klein notes that, “in the U.S. Military, ‘Charlie Mike’ is shorthand for ‘continue the mission.’”
Our guest on Veterans Radio this week is Joe Klein who tells the dramatic story of Eric Greitens and Jake Wood, larger-than-life war heroes who come home and use their military discipline and values to help others. This is a story that hasn’t been told before, one of the most hopeful to emerge from Iraq and Afghanistan—a saga of lives saved, not wasted.

This is the true story of two decorated combat veterans linked by tragedy, who come home from the Middle East and find a new way to save their comrades and heal their country.

Greitens, a Navy SEAL and Rhodes Scholar, spends years working in refugee camps before he joins the military. Wounded in Iraq, Greitens returns home and finds that his fellow veterans at Bethesda Naval Hospital all want the same thing: they want to continue to serve their country in some way, no matter the extent of their injuries. He founds The Mission Continues to provide paid public service fellowships for wounded veterans.

One of the first Mission Continues fellows is charismatic former Marine sergeant Jake Wood, a natural leader who began Team Rubicon, organizing 9/11 veterans for dangerous disaster relief projects around the world. “We do chaos,” he says.

The chaos they face isn’t only in natural disasters—it’s also in the lives of their fellow veterans, who’ve come home from the wars traumatized and looking for a sense of purpose. Greitens and Wood believe that invigorated veterans can lead, by personal example, to stronger communities—and they prove it in Charlie Mike. Their personal saga is compelling and inspirational: they demonstrate how the skills of war can also provide a path to peace, personal satisfaction, and a more vigorous nation.

Joining us is Ken Harbaugh, COO of Team Rubicon and co-founder of The Mission Continues.

You don’t want to miss hearing this amazing  and powerful story about today’s generation of veterans.

Listen to this program

All Gave Some. Some Gave All.
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