Last Sunday night, a warrior called and asked for help.
We came into the Warriors Heart sober living around the same time last year and formed a positive bond of friendship. He left several months before me with another warrior friend to move into a house his friend purchased.
His friend had relapsed, and he felt stuck living with someone in active addiction. Still, he did not get plugged into the local recovery community, and soon, he fell into that same trap that many do in post-rehab/sober living—lack of purpose, lack of connection, and isolation.
I looked at the local San Antonio AA website for meetings in his community and found an Alano club with several meetings a day, and I told him I would pick him up at his house and drive him to the noon meeting there.
He was on shaky legs, had scratched together ten days from his last relapse, and felt that he had no options left; his truck broke down at Audie Murphy VA when he went there several weeks ago to get help. The truck was still there hours away in a parking lot. He only had a bike and felt stranded on a suburban island hours away by bicycle from support or meetings.
We entered the AA club a few minutes early, shook hands with a few people, and met a fellow brother from the 82nd Airborne Division. We had served during the same years on active duty. He gave me his business card and told me to contact him; he’s got my six.
After the meeting, we met a man in the lobby who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He said he had never been to a meeting before and that his son had just entered rehab. He wanted to know more about how this worked and how his son might plug in when he got out of treatment, so we both shared our experience with the program.
On the drive back, I asked him, “What are you willing to do to stay sober?” He said, “Whatever it takes.” So we pulled over and contacted Warriors Heart to see about getting him back into treatment. No one answered, so we left a message. Soon, a message came back that there was availability, and he could get in.
I just spoke with him on the phone, and he has been approved to return to residential treatment. He said he could not be more grateful to me for the opportunity to rejoin the warrior recovery community.
By suiting up and showing up for another warrior who asked for help, I might have saved his life. At the least, we both understand that in Warrior Recovery, we never walk alone and when the call is made, I am there for my buddy.
Until my last breath,
Michael O’Connor
