SHAWANO, WI (WFRV) – You’d never know from outward appearances the challenges United States Army Veteran Mike Hagel has faced since a combat-related cut his military career short.
It was after falling into despair marred with drinking and troublesome behavior that he discovered relief in scuba diving.
“You are weightless, and a lot of that joint and muscle pain can disappear,” Hagel explained. “Mentally, it’s quiet. It’s a completely different world you get to explore.”
Hagel said he knew he could go overseas to war at the time he enlisted.
“I could have gone over there knocked out scratch and come home or I could have never come home. It’s something I accepted when I raised my right hand.”
He trained in Germany as a Cavalry Scout to provide intelligence to American commanders on enemy movements.
His first deployment was with the infantry. It was during what he described as a big push to get the Taliban out that his path changed dramatically. Hagel jumped in as a Mark 19 gunner with a “quick reaction force” to offer backup to fellow soldiers in trouble.
“We crossed over a little creek bed. Next thing I knew it was boom. I came to with smoke and dust all over. The people behind us were’ pulling my buddy out. My team leader was unconscious.”
Looking back now, Hagel mistakenly wrote off his shrapnel injuries as part of the job and was quickly re-deployed.
“They needed more bodies,” he recalled. “I just kind of felt I needed to go back there was more I needed to do in a sense.”
But towards the end of the second deployment, his body broke down. Unable to even do situps. Surgery and rehab didn’t do the trick. He was medically discharged.
“I wish I could have kept going with it. I had a lot of opportunities before I got injured. And once I got out, it was a downward spiral.”
Hagel admits that his inability to adjust to civilian life resulted in a drinking problem that cost him his relationship with the mother of his first child.
When he met Haley, who became his wife, the big turnaround started.
Fast forward, they are raising five children, including twins and a newborn.
Hagel says he began reaching out to fellow combat soldiers with his wife’s support.
He soon learned about traumatic brain injury and the benefits of scuba.
“I got the answers I needed. To get a weight off my chest. I was able to breathe. I was able to climb that rung on the ladder to take a breath, and it changed the course of my life.”
To find out more about the free scuba training program available to Mike and other Veterans like him, join Local 5 News for our next edition of Hometown Heroes on Friday, May 3rd.
