This Is My Brave - Stories from the Veteran Community

THE
CAST
ERNIE MARISCAL
Ernie Mariscal is an inspirational speaker who endured abuse as a child,
experienced homelessness as a teen, and eventually dropped out of
high school. After facing a near-death experience that changed his life
for the better, he went back to school, graduated, and joined the United
States Army when he was 19 years old. Ernie proudly served his country
for 21 years with two deployments to Iraq. His first deployment was
from 2004 to 2005 with the 1st Cavalry Division; and his second from
2009 to 2010 with the 1st Infantry Division, as a combat advisor to Iraqi
forces. However grueling his life and military career had been up until
that point, Ernie was yet to face his most difficult task after retiring
from the Army in 2012—figuring out how to adjust to civilian life. Ernie
went through five different jobs within one year in his attempt to adjust
to normalcy, but severe depression slowly crept into his life. Ernie began
drinking heavily to cope with suicidal thoughts while his mental illness
consumed him, until fate stepped into his life one day in the form of
a phone call: A local high school administrator who had heard Ernie’s
story invited him to speak to a classroom about his military career.
The instant Ernie stood and spoke in front of those students, he felt
something he had never felt before—his calling. Ernie realized that day
that he was born to motivate and inspire others to do better in life.
Today, Ernie has spoken to staff at many corporations about Veteran
transitions and overcoming PTSD, workplace leadership, healing from
abuse, maximizing your opportunities in life. His motto is “ I am addicted
to inspiring the world!”
12