Marine veteran Todd Nicely credits the Joshua Chamberlain Society with saving his life after surviving an IED explosion.
ST. LOUIS — United States Marine Cpl. Todd Nicely survived an IED explosion that left him a quadruple amputee, but he credits the Joshua Chamberlain Society with saving his life.
Nicely was 26 years old when he lost all of his limbs while deployed in Afghanistan’s Helmand province in 2010. When he recalls the experience, he says he never would have made it had there not been one last “bird” or military plane in the area at the time quick enough to evacuate him to a nearby hospital. He spent the next nearly two years recovering in hospitals and rehabilitation centers.
The officer in charge of notifying Nicely’s family of his injuries was connected to the Joshua Chamberlain Society, which provides financial and emotional support to injured veterans. The leaders of the organization, Randy Soriano and Matt Cutler, along with a small army of volunteers regularly meet with the soldiers they serve and get together socially.
Not long after having one of those lunch check-ins with Soriano, Nicely attempted suicide with a gunshot to his chest.
“My life was just doctor’s visits and therapy appointments and medicines and constant pain,” Nicely recalled. “I just didn’t want to live anymore.”
Soriano and Cutler then sprang into action, and put Nicely in touch with Marine Focus, another nonprofit dedicated to helping veterans with mental health programs.
“Without them, I never would have known about Focus Marines,” he said. “JCS knew what I needed, and they made it happen.”
It’s soldiers like Nicely that motivate JCS Founders Soriano and Cutler., who founded the organization almost 20 years ago after hearing about soldiers coming back from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan with catastrophic injuries.
Soriano had read Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet, written by the son of the most decorated U.S. Marine in history. The author lost his legs while serving in Vietnam, but came home, completed law school and became a state senator. Ten years after he wrote the book, he died by suicide.
“When these guys lose limbs, it’s for the rest of their lives,” Soriano said. “We needed to come up with a way to adopt these young men and women and stay with them so they know the citizenry they sacrificed so much for cares about them.”
Soriano said the organization is currently supporting about 24 veterans and prefers to keep the number of service members smaller than some organizations due to the intensity of support the nonprofit provides.
“We’re not going to help 2,000 people, we have a much smaller number that comes with a lifetime commitment to them,” he said. “We help post-9/11 veterans who were injured or killed in action, and the good news is, there are less injured veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, so we don’t think we will get much bigger in St. Louis and we have a lifetime commitment to these heroes.”
The name of the organization is based on Joshua Chamberlain, a Civil War Union Officer who fought at the Battle of Little Round Top.
“Joshua Chamberlain embodies a lot of things heroes do, he was very well-respected, recognized for leadership and he had many combat awards including the Purple Heart,” Soriano said. “He had such a respected reputation on both sides of the fight. He was the last casualty to die from injuries he sustained in the Civil War many years later.”
The organization has now opened chapters in Nashville and Houston.
Locally, JCS has several fundraisers as well as social events for those it supports, including a Shoot for the Troops clay shooting event, a trivia night, the Price of Freedom Gala and the Bike for Heroes race. The group also takes veterans or the family members left behind to Notre Dame football games.
Most often though, it’s taking care of the smaller things, such as building a fence, replacing an HVAC unit, car repairs or sometimes finding outside resources for veterans who may be struggling – just like Soriano and Cutler did for Nicely.
“They saved my life,” Nicely said. “They really did.”
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