Robert Gully ain’t afraid of much.
He spent more than two decades in the Army special forces as a Green Beret. And if you wonder where he served, it might be easier to ask where he didn’t. “I’ve been involved in most everything we’ve done for the last three decades,” he said. Iraq. Afghanistan. Bosnia. Ukraine. Africa.
Gully “retired” in 2012 and yet was back in Afghanistan the next month. He enjoyed combat but also had a head for numbers and strategy. So he’d go into the heart of conflicts and send reports back to the top brass. “They called me when they wanted a college professor who could win a bar fight,” he said. The guy’s basically a mashup of Jack Reacher and Indiana Jones who crafts handmade guitars to boot.
Yet the confidence and capability others saw in him faded in the darkness of solitude when Gully was back home and his marriage started falling apart; when the battles raged inside his head.
That was when Gully realized he needed to do something that’s often hard for warriors — ask for help.
He found it at the Camaraderie Foundation, a small Orlando nonprofit with limited resources but an unlimited desire to help.
For 14 years, the foundation has had a simple yet complex mission: “Healing the invisible wounds of war.”
The group responds anywhere, any time to any need. To veterans struggling to find a career in a world that often lacks the structure of the military. To soldiers struggling with inner demons at 2 o’clock in the morning. To spouses and children who are often overlooked for the sacrifices they make.
Saturday is Veterans Day. But the needs of our servicemen and women are year-round.
I’ve followed the Camaraderie Foundation since it was created in 2009 and have always believed this group punches above its weight class. With a budget of around only $1 million and four full-time staffers, the group serves about 700 people a year.
It doesn’t matter where the veterans and their families are located (about 40% are from other states), how the service members were discharged or how severe their needs.
“We pride ourselves on not making any distinction,” said the foundation’s CEO, Maria Cherjovsky.
The services are primarily counseling for veterans struggling with issues like post-traumatic stress disorder. But the group also helps vets transition from military service to careers in the private sector. You might be surprised how tough that can be for some.
Some don’t appreciate their own self-worth in the job market. Or they aren’t great advocates for themselves when it comes to pushing for decent pay or addressing basic workplace issues that an HR department could help them navigate. “A lot of them are not used to challenging authority. So if they don’t like something, they just quit,” Cherjovsky said. “Unless someone helps them, it’s going to be a very lonely path.”
The foundation pairs newly returning vets with former service members who’ve been in the workforce for years. “Nothing replaces the buddy system,” she said. “There’s an instant credibility there.”
The foundation also organizes communal days at the zoo or a theme park for veterans and their families free of charge, Cherjovsky said, “just to remind them of happier times and the joy they can experience if they just allow themselves to feel that way again.”
Still, at its heart, the Camaraderie Foundation is about helping veterans who endured intense stress and trauma.
Gully, who lost a close friend in combat, says many service members don’t appreciate the emotional roller coaster they ride. “Combat can get more exciting than you’ve ever experienced,” he said. “But then it can get really scary, more scary than anything you’ve ever experienced.”
Plus, Gully said guys like him are often reluctant to ask for help. “Pride gets in the way of everything,” he said. “And if you’re the biggest and the strongest because that’s all you’re ever strived to be, you think you shouldn’t have your faults.”
Gully said his divorce was the catalyst for him to finally ask for help. But he’s convinced underlying issues led to that moment. “It was a really difficult time for me to deal with it. Honestly, I don’t think I was dealing with it,” he said. “Mentally, I was starting to free swim. And the counseling gave me something to grab onto, a life preserver. It reminded me that, just because I was suffering with things, I wasn’t lost.”
Gully, who now designs guitars that are basically functional works of art, says counseling transformed his life — which makes it a gut-punch to realize the overworked foundation has a waiting list for services.
There are many other state and local groups that serve local veterans, including the Heart of Florida United Way and the American Legion Department of Florida. The city of Orlando has a good list of dozens of groups that support veterans on its website.
But if you want to help the Camaraderie Foundation, there are many ways. You can volunteer. If you have a company, you can consider corporate support or organizing ways for your employees to help out. You can donate yourself: $1,500 covers the cost of providing complete counseling services for one vet. Or you can do something as simple as participate in the group’s 5K rucksack run and walk in Oviedo in two weeks on Nov. 23. More information is available at camaraderiefoundation.org
Regardless of what anyone else does, Gully said he will continue to try to help his fellow veterans, letting them know the foundation is always there. “I let them know they can call me anytime,” he said. “And they already know we understand, because we’ve lived it.”
smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com
