Saturday, November 23, 2024 at 8:58 AM
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Troops First puts troops first

Troops First puts troops first
Boerne native and veteran Chris Schwope helps Matt Bradford, a blind, double-amputee veteran, line up his golf shot Oct. 14 during the annual Troops First Foundation invitational golf tournament. Star photo by Jeff B. Flinn

Locals Schwope, Sells benefactors of veteran organization’s outreach

This is Part 2 of a 2-part series on Dave Feherty’s Troops First Foundation, its mission and the soldiers they serve.

JEFF B. FLINN

Managing Editor

It’s hard to imagine the thoughts that ripped, pierced and tore through Chris Schwope’s mind as he sat in his kitchen, arms resting on the table — hand steadying the gun, its barrel in his mouth, and an index finger, twitching, just waiting for Schwope’s brain to “say the word.”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Schwope, a 1999 Boerne High School graduate, had completed 15 years of military duty and was now “safe and sound” back home, thousands of miles from the wars he fought.

But that’s not how it worked. Not even close.

Schwope spent one tour in Afghanistan, two in Iraq and several months in Pakistan. “I saw some stuff that was traumatic,” he said. “So, when I got out it was in 2015, it all started to catch up with me.”

Kendall County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Chad Sells and his girlfriend, Paula Hulsey, enjoy the Troops First Foundation live auction and gala Oct. 16 at Tapatio Springs Hill Country Resort. Courtesy photo

Schwope described it like being on a bullet train. “Everything’s fast. Fast, fast, fast. Train, train, train. Deploy, deploy, deploy. You’re not ever alone with your thoughts.”

When soldiers are done serving, they go home ... and that’s when those suppressed, ignored and deeply-twisted thoughts and memories can take over.

“When you get out and retire, everything slows down to a crawl,” Schwope said. “All you’re left alone with, at that point, are your thoughts and those experiences you’ve had throughout your life, and some of them are quite traumatic.”

Schwope admits he lacked the ability to deal with it. He said his conscience turned on him, “and started to tell me that I was ‘less than’ — that I didn’t deserve love, and why was I alive, and that you should kill yourself.”

Schwope turned to the one medicinal method readily available to him: alcohol and drugs. Both became addictions.

“Those thoughts became more and more prominent until suicide sounded like a pretty good option because I couldn’t see past my own pain and past my own trauma,” he said. “I was in a very very bad state, self-medicating with drugs and alcohol.

“I was spinning, circling the drain and was at the end, putting guns in my mouth and doing some crazy stuff.”

Schwope said a friend, aware of an organization called the Troops First Foundation, told its founder and CEO Rick Kell, “Rick, I got a buddy and he’s in some serious trouble; we don’t think he’s going to make it. Can you help him?”

Rick and the Troops First Foundation, being the organization it is, said, “Get this guy here, NOW.”

Schwope met with Kell and his crew and began to address his darkness, his hell-like spiral — and as he talked, he realized the people listening to him could relate.

Finally. “They got me,” he said, the Troops First members knowing all too well what he was going through.

That was in 2019, his intro to Dave Feherty’s Troops First Foundation.

“It wasn’t an overnight success. It took a lot of work. I had a lot of stuff, a lot of trauma I had to deal with,” he said.

But there’s little doubt now for Chris.

“They saved my life. It’s that simple,” Schwope said. “They saved my marriage, they saved my relationship with my children, they provided me with the information I needed to identify symptoms and kinda grasp what was going on with my PTSD, and how to deal with that stuff.”

It was 2021, Schwope said, when he finally made the decision to get sober, to free himself from the downward spiral into darkness that is alcoholism and drug addiction.

“April 15, 2021, was my last drink, my last drug use, everything. I’ve been clean and sober since,” he said. “The Foundation provided me the opportunity to save myself, and I took it.”

The Foundation worked with Schwope, seeing something in him that he himself couldn’t.

Kell “can see past the smoke and past the fog,” Schwope said. “He’s had an enormous impact on my family and myself, it’s been remarkable. I am just blessed to have met him and the people he’s surrounded himself with at the Foundation.”

Now, Schwope is part of Troops First’s Warrior Call outreach. Warrior Call sends veterans out to bases, airfields, military installations, to connect with that community and point their soldiers at the proper channels, whether that be mental health professionals, or chaplains.

“Over the past three years we’ve spoken to about 10,000 individuals each year,” Schwope said. “To be able to go out there, face to face, rub elbows, and laugh, and joke, and cry, and hug — to be able to reach upwards of 30,000 people at those installations over the last three years, is remarkable.”

Troops First was in Boerne last week, raising funds through its annual golf tournament and a live auction that raked in an astounding $1.22 million. More than 60 service dogs accompany veterans now as part of one of its more active programs.

But this year, Troops First thought it ought to come up with a more substantial outreach. With Boerne and Kendall County its destination, Troops First reached out and basically said, “Guys, find us a First Responder we can help out.”

All fingers pointed to one man — Kendall County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Chad Sells.

Sells, a 25-year veteran law enforcement officer, was chosen by Troops First as the recipient of its newest outreach. The organization met with Sells, his superiors and co-workers and came up with a dream package — pay his mortgage, pay his medical bills, refit his home to accommodate his wheelchair and eliminate those annoyances and hazards he faces daily, just living out his life.

“I am beyond grateful to Feherty’s Troops First Foundation for their incredible generosity in paying off my mortgage and medical debt, as well as assisting with the remodel of my home to make it ADA-compliant,” Sells said.

He and his girlfriend, Paula Hulsey, were guests of honor at Wednesday’s live auction in conjunction with Troops First’s annual Vaqueros del Mar Invitational Golf Tournament gala at Tapatio Springs Hill Country Resort.

“Their support has lifted a huge burden off my shoulders and has brought a renewed sense of peace and security to my family,” Sells said The changes they have helped make, he said, are not just physical adjustments. “They represent hope, relief and a brighter future.”

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you for making such a profound impact on our lives,” he said.

Sells started his career in Chambers County, where he served for a year. He then spent six years with the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office and five years with the Mansfield Police Department.

For the past 13 years, Sells has been a member of the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office, spending one year in patrol before transitioning to the investigations division, where he has served for 12 years.

His extensive experience and commitment to public service have made him an integral part of the law enforcement community.

“They saved my life. It’s that simple. They saved my marriage, they saved my relationship with my children.”

Chris Schwope Boerne veteran


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