Life After War - Not Another Hero Story: Casey Jourdan at TEDxBillings

As a society we've built a sense of expectations and beliefs of what our veterans look like and what their life path is. But when we fail to take into account their motivations for serving and the outcomes of their service, we create a dichotomy between the societal expectations and the veterans' reality that often ends up hurting them. We need to stop telling veterans what defines them and listen to their stories and allow them to define themselves.

Casey Jourdan was a gunner in an Army convoy traveling Baghdad's "suicide ally" when a roadside explosive device rocked her world. She is a Montana-born woman who enlisted pre-9/11 to serve in the Army National Guard. The April 2004 explosion changed her identity forever. That moment in time transformed her from being an entrepreneurial, athletic, college coed with a nearly photographic memory into a disabled Iraq war veteran flunking out of college and afraid to leave her room. She lost jobs, family, and self-worth but 9 years later, she has fought her way back to a healed place with new and constantly evolving perspective on self-recovery and societal engagement. She finished her bachelors degree, went on to receive her Masters in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling from Montana State University -- Billing, and now lives in Billings married to an awesomely supportive, patient, and loving husband.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)