My name is Joaquin Rivera, I served in the United States Army from 2000-2007. Fresh out of high school, from 18 years old to 25, I was able to travel the world and represent my country proudly everywhere I went. Air Defense was my MOS, was stationed in Germany and NTC CA. Both where I never did my job but learned the different types of military lifestyles there was. I was like a sponge wanting to learn everything and anything to improve my military career. During my deployments I was on both Humvee and Stryker and at times on helicopter. Ran over 350+ missions while deployed, was awarded both Purple Heart and Bronze Star for actions while deployed.
My deployments were always a lesson learned and improved my passion for the military. I felt like I had America’s back, almost like CPT America when fighting for our freedom. The training to real life events made me a stronger person to be able to lead, be the leader I was destined for. My eyes, my heart and passion were for the Special Forces. I had my eye on the prize as that was the path I wanted to take. Up until I was wounded. Not a major deal to my body but my body wasn’t suffering. My mind was going through weird changes, moods, attitudes, it was slowly killing me inside. I refused to admit that something was wrong with me and so my career slowly declined in passion. I didn’t want to show up to work, I’d hide, sleep, drink heavily, at one point I began taking pills for anxiety. I remember towards the end of my military career, I had an anxiety attack inside my room. I freaked out so bad that I called 911 (inside the base) spoke to paramedics, was given pills and that was it. Was never spoken of ever again.
Daily struggle to continue to have relationships with people was slowly decreasing. I was beginning to become a loner. Secluded from reality and the military, i decided to leave the Army. Not only did that decision kill my dream of becoming an elite fighting machine, it pushed me away from anything related to the military. I sometimes would think,
“why in the fuck do I feel this way”.
I honestly never thought anything was wrong with me until I began to think of suicide. I was introduced to the VA where I began the 6 year battle for benefits. As time went by, my appointments always seemed to end with a batch load of pills. When I would take them, I didn’t feel comfortable. My body, my mind, nightmares were insanely real. I’d sweat, get fat, headaches, it made me feel a way I’d hate to describe as a zombie but pretty much in a nut shell. Around this time frame, I got word that 2 buddies who I served with died. One from accidental OD (VA gave him 10+ pills), the other suicide by OD. It was as if they gave up. No help. Just pills. Feeling sedated, zombie like, depressed etc... That’s an awful feeling having kids and then wanting to play with you. I felt trapped. Suicide continued to come to mind, not sure why. I followed VA orders as again I’d get a bag full of pills. Getting in trouble with the law became a thing. Never would I thought that police would come to my home, arrest me all because the meds I was taking was turning me into a person I didn’t want to be. Ptsd, pills, alcohol, military trained, nightmares, pills and more pills was triggering that point of no return... Hulk!
It ruined my life.
This feeling inside of me grew bigger and bigger and knew something wasn’t right at all. Mentally, verbally and physically abusing someone proved that I wasn’t getting any better. I began my journey with cannabis, wow a very long time since I could remember lol. Smoked weed in Amsterdam while stationed in Germany. After our 6 month deployment to Saudi Arabia, I quickly took a trip to Amsterdam again to relax. But to be open about things, I have almost 4 years of not taking any pills. Walking into my 4th month of being sober or any alcohol. I thank CBD for that. I also thank the huge amount of weed I smoke daily. Can honestly say that my journey with cannabis began 3 years ago as I began to experiment with smoking a single joint within a week. Making tea to relax at night. I was only an Indica smoker at one point but at night, still smoke it to sleep. As time passed and my consumption grew, so did my tolerance. Started noticing different approaches in life, thinking more, creativeness grew, ideas expanded, my desire to live grew the more I smoked sativas. I knew then, Cannabis is the solution to my problems. I am more relaxed, wiser, humble, nicer, passion to live and help others has grown. I began to get educated on THC & CBD. Education was key. My experience has pushed me to support cannabis more and more because it has brought me out of a dark place that was slowly killing me into a sun bursting, excited & blessed, happy, helpful and thoughtful person that only wants to help others be in the same happy place. Cannabis is the cure to PTSD and many other service connected disabilities.
Fought on the front lines during war and I will continue to fight on the front lines to spread awareness and represent an alternative medicine that has proven to benefit our health. Call it coincidence or the universe aligning perfectly but when I was introduced to WFW, my life changed for the good even more. It opened a new door where more people like myself were also consuming cannabis to medicate. Continued to educate myself and watched YouTube videos seminars, followed activist, networked around the cannabis community. I began to sense that cannabis was my motive to live and be that leader that pushed our chapter in helping more veterans. That’s our main mission. Empowering Veterans, giving them a second chance at life because society kicked them to the curb and forget all about them. Veterans need help and we are there for them. Weed For Warriors means a lot to me because not only did it give me the opportunity to help other veterans, it’s inspired me to come closer to veterans who are cannabis enthusiasts like myself. SGT for military and Dank because it’s just Dank Weed, man. Hence the name I go by now, SGT Dank. What better way to relate with Veterans and provide a place where they can be themselves without being judged about enjoying cannabis to treat certain things. SGT Dank represents those Veterans who are going through a rough time in their life. Knowingly, those rough times will not last. SGT Dank is there to push you for when you’re feeling low, he gets you HIGH!!
My chips are all in with this chapter... I’m sober... no pills... no alcohol... no drugs... just WEED. All natural organic weed.
SGT Dank
Joaquin Rivera
Ch Secretary
WFWPLV
