Brian Mast

For many veterans who return home from battlefields, they often find themselves in another battle - a battle with their own mental health.

As a career Army bomb technician, I have seen real heroism in the Ranger warfighters I stalked Afghanistan with each night and in the injured combatants whom I healed alongside in Walter Reed Army Medical Center after losing the two legs God gave me.

I became a bomb technician because I wanted to save lives. I nearly gave my own life for that - I lost both my legs and a finger when a roadside bomb detonated beneath me - and have known more heroes than I can count who died defending others.