Ambassadors

I am a U.S. Army Veteran and served from 1988 to 1995, being enlisted, an ROTC cadet, and as an Officer. I was injured in a training accident and sustained a spinal cord injury.

Post injury, I have been a mortgage broker, general contractor, and now serve as the Executive Director for the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Northwest Chapter. I also enjoy taking Disabled Veterans hunting and fishing.

My mobility has been a manual wheelchair for the past 29 years. I utilize an iBot powerchair that the Soldier Strong Foundation acquired for me now. This amazing piece of equipment makes my life more fulfilling and gives me a higher level of independence!

I am a father to 22-year-old boy/girl twins and reside in Spokane, Washington.

I am a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served on active duty from 1982 to 1986. My last duty assignment was as an Infantry Squad Leader with Co. B, 1st Bn. 504th Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, NC. I was also stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington and Camp Kittyhawk in the Republic of Korea.

Following my military service I used my educational benefits to go to college where I earned degrees in Nursing and as a Physician Assistant. I worked as a Physician Assistant, mostly in primary care, for over two decades before having to retire due to complications of Multiple Sclerosis.

I am an active member of Keystone Chapter, Paralyzed Veterans of America, where I was recently elected to the Board of Directors. I also serve as a volunteer at the VA Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

I currently live in northeastern Pennsylvania with my wife, Lisa, who is also my caregiver.

Staff Sergeant Bryce Cherryholmes was born in 1988 in Fort Worth, Texas. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 2007 and served faithfully for eight years. Throughout his years of service, he was recognized as a leader receiving continual promotions and awards throughout his tenure. His actions and excellent support earned him three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medal. During his first deployment, SSgt Cherryholmes incurred an initial back injury that became much worse over time. Due to the back injury and subsequent surgery, he received a full medical retirement and was Retired from Active Duty in 2015. SSgt Cherrholmes lives in North Carolina with his wife of eleven years, Kalyn and their two children, Brylyn and Kace. He currently serves as an Ambassador for the national veteran-focused nonprofit SoldierStrong.

Christopher R. Merkle M.A. is an advocate for veterans, their loved ones, garnering community support for their transition and, reducing the stigma of mental health. A Marine combat veteran who openly challenges the stigma of mental health by sharing his own personal battle with Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) and the benefits gained through the use of technology like Strong Mind and virtual reality to treat PTS. He shares to raise awareness that mental health and the invisible wounds of war are just as deadly as the physical wounds veterans suffered and died from in combat. While he is proud of his service to the nation and community in the military, local law enforcement, and Departments of State and Defense he does not believe veterans or anyone should be defined by their past. “You fought for everyone’s Freedom to include our own, now fight to regain or maintain your own happiness and the American way of life”.

He recently co-founded the nonprofit Aging American Project to provide education, support, and eventually financial funding to assist our aging veteran population. As an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Readjustment Counseling Services (RCS) commonly known as the Vet Centers he provides referrals, information and outreach to the community. In his spare time he volunteers as the lead for veteran surf camps with Team RWB throughout Southern California. Through the benefit of virtual reality and psychotherapy he has found a new sense of meaning / purpose and is earning his Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology (PsyD) to personally meet the mental health needs of his fellow veterans.

His future plans include continued support of veterans that have experienced the trauma of war though government and nonprofit support.  The beyond the future plans after sailing the world are to open rural mental health clinics in underserved international communities managed and staffed by the local populace for the local populace to address, trauma, intrapersonal violence, depression and suicide. All clinics will be strategically located near natural healing centers (surf breaks and golf courses).

“You fought for everyone’s Freedom to include our own, now fight to regain or maintain your own happiness and the American way of life”.

Born in Hackettstown, NJ and raised in Bangor PA, Laura joined the Navy as a signalman shortly after graduating high school. She completed her training at Naval Station Great Lakes prior to being assigned to the USS Moosbrugger (DD-980) stationed in Jacksonville, Florida. She spent 2 years onboard, received a promotion to petty officer 3rd class, and completed a deployment as part of the Standing Naval Forces Atlantic NATO operations. Laura ultimately was part of the decommissioning crew of DD-980 up to January of 2000, when she moved on to a new challenge.

Assigned to Pre-commissioning Unit for DDG-83 the USS Howard, she traveled to Bath, Maine to finish the acceptance process. She was a plank owner of the USS Howard as part of the commissioning crew in Galveston, TX. During that time, she was advanced to petty officer 2nd class. The Howard was assigned to be homeported out of San Diego, California. Laura looked forward to deploying in the Pacific, but tragedy took this opportunity away. As she was traveling onto Coronado Island, a man ran a stop sign struck her, and then fled the scene. She was paralyzed and spent the next several months rehabbing and learning how to function as a paraplegic. She remembers the hard words that were spoken at one point during her rehab “It is unlikely you will ever walk again.”

She used those words as motivation from that point in 2002 to stay positive, keep active, and to keep her body in as best shape as possible.

Today this motivation and hard work had led her to have great success using the Indego exoskeleton device, donated by SoldierStrong.