This week’s Urban Valor episode features Navy veteran, Johnnie Garcia. Johnnie grew up in a gang-infested neighborhood in Los Angeles, CA. His brothers were part of the gang culture and killed far too early. Johnnie enlisted in the Navy to escape from the trouble he was getting into. While in the Navy he spent time on the USS Tripoli, which was struck by an underwater mine while Johnnie and several hundred other personnel were aboard. On a separate deployment, Johnnie thought he was going to die while on a helicopter that crashed on the beach in Somalia. He leaves us with the struggle of transitioning back into the civilian world and what he does to continue onward and upward.

Major thank you to Johnnie Garcia for sitting down for his veteran interview and sharing his story with us! We appreciate his service as well as his willingness to share and transparency about his military transition.

It's incredible what Johnnie faced and overcame, and we're honored he sat down with Urban Valor's Josh Gutierrez to share his veteran story on Urban Valor.