Wingmen

Nate Self

Nate Self lives in Texas with his wife and three children. He is a principal with The Praevius Group, a firm dedicated to leadership advancement and development. As an Army Ranger Captain in 2002, Nate led a group of courageous soldiers atop Takur Ghar Mountain to rescue a missing-in-action Navy SEAL. What ensued was the highest-altitude battle ever fought by U.S. troops��and seven of the first 10 men to die in the War on Terror fell in this singular episode. The effort was dubbed ��Rescue on Roberts Ridge,�� and had it not been for Self��s quick-thinking and leadership, many more would have been killed. Upon returning home, Self was widely recognized as a national hero, awarded with a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart. He was invited by President Bush to be a guest at the 2003 State of the Union Address. But for him, the real battle was just beginning. ��I dream every night that I��ve always got a gun in my hands,�� Self told Dateline in June 2005, then in recovery from PTSD. ��There��s always something that has to be done, there��s always somebody shooting at me. And, you know��I kill people every night.�� Still experiencing severe behavioral symptoms, Self told Stone Phillips in the interview: ��It��s gotten to where it��s hard to really get myself to do anything. Once I start something I don��t want to finish.�� Three years later, Self has come a long way. Having survived the worst stages of PTSD, he has now committed himself to helping a new generation of war vets, both by sharing his own story, and by collecting theirs. To that end, Self is a guest speaker for Bridges to Healing, an outreach for soldiers returning home from war. In addition, he is leading a project funded by the Army Research Institute, collecting oral accounts of platoon leaders in the Iraq/Afghanistan War. Combined with the release of Two Wars, Self is using his platform as one of the most decorated war heroes to come out of the Iraq/Afghanistan War to help fellow vets get the help they need.