SFC Brendan Quisenberry, U.S. Army Special Forces, Afghanistan, Iraq

Brendan Quisenberry grew up with a deep appreciation for military service, as both his father and grandfather were veterans. As a sophomore in high school when terrorists struck the U.S. on 9/11, he knew he needed to serve. A couple of years later he joined the U.S. Army and by 2004 he was on his first deployment overseas - this one to Iraq. Following that deployment, Quisenberry successfully completed the training needed to become a U.S. Army Ranger. Soon he was off to the first of several assignments in Afghanistan.

In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Quisenberry walks us through the difficult days on those deployments and the major challenge of trying to avoid improvised explosive devices, or IED. He also details how those intense deployments led to record-level suicides when the men came home.

He also describes an elite parachuting opportunity with the 101st Airborne Division, pursuing and achieving his dream of becoming a Green Beret, and his important work now as executive director of the Transcend Foundation, helping service members and first responders heal from their physical and mental injuries.