[*] - Whoa!

[bleep] - I suffered a TBI when I was in Afghanistan.

NARRATOR: TBI, or traumatic brain injury, often suffered from explosions in combat, can leave the victim dazed and completely disoriented.

And, the effects can be long-lasting.

- When I wasn't drinking, I was there, but I wasn't really all there.

NARRATOR: Whether the injuries are physical or psychological, the impact of war on returning Vets can be devastating.

But here in this peaceful rural setting, two hours outside of Pittsburgh, these Marines are healing.

GEN.

JONES: Regardless of how old or how long a guy has been a Marine or soldier, he likes to do things that are exciting and out of their comfort zone.

NARRATOR: They're also healing here, with ground-breaking research that's offering hope.

- Traumatic brain injury has proven to be one of the signature injuries of our recent military conflicts.

NARRATOR: In this Pittsburgh medical facility, and on this Western Pennsylvania mountain, wounded warriors have come from all over America... to experience a Semper Fi Odyssey .

What happens when Johnny is hurt in war and finally does come marching home?

A few warriors are lucky enough to come here for a week-long transition program called Semper Fi Odyssey .

- I got hit over there pretty good a few times.

I got a Purple Heart for my second deployment.

- I was injured in Iraq in 2009.

I was preparing for a convoy and slipped off the top of a water bull with full kit gear on, flak, Kevlar, weapons, over 180 rounds, landed flat-footed and ruptured two discs in my lower back.

- I've done four combat deployments, one to Iraq and three to Afghanistan.

I'm not a physically injured or wounded Marine.

I fall into the illness category primarily from diagnosis of PTSD and severe depressive disorder stemming from both military sexual trauma as well as my combat experiences.

- I suffered a TBI when I was in Afghanistan in 2011-2012.

I was struck by an IED, my vehicle, I was vehicle commander and also the navigator.

I was the lead vehc, and my vehicle struck a pressure plate which triggered an IED, set it off, and then I suffered a concussion.

NARRATOR: The injuries vary widely.

Sometimes you can see the wounds, but often they're not visible at first glance.

Nevertheless, all of these men and women need recovery assistance, and they come here to rural Boswell, Pennsylvania, past this quaint farmland where they can find healing and help for every wound.

- There's nothing, nothing better than being a Marine... ALL: Hoorah!

NARRATOR: That kind of Marine Bulldog attitude is exemplified by the man who is the Executive Director nd Founder of Outdoor Odyssey , retired Marine Corps Major General Tom Jones.

- Okay, welcome aboard.

My name is Jones, and I had the privilege of being a Marine for almost four decades.

Hoorah!

NARRATOR: General Jones says that a lot of his motivation to help fellow Marines comes from the fact that when he was a young man, he wasn't always on the straight and narrow path.

GEN.

JONES: I've been blessed.

When I was a kid, I was on probation twice.

And my second time on probation, I was fortunate that an individual confronted me and reminded me that the quota for punks had already been filled.

NARRATOR: Because of his misspent youth, General Jones started the Outdoor Odyssey camp to reach out to kids who might be on the wrong path.

EN.

JONES: My original mission, the foundational mission was a place we could embrace at-risk youth, and we prepare our high school mentors to engage them and go through a bonding period, and then follow-up with them through the course of the academic year, trying to prevent kids from failing school.

NARRATOR: General Jones established Outdoor Odyssey in 1998 to reach out to these youngsters, but soon, a larger mission called as wounded Marines began to return from battlefields around the world.

GEN.

JONES: I think anybody who leaves the military has a difficult time to a certain degree making a transition, some more so than others.

But a guy that has to leave because of an injury, or especially a wound and he can't stay in... he's been judged and now he's got to leave.

A lot of them have this feeling that I'm going to have a hard time now doing something I feel-- that feels important to me.

SGT.

BRIIC: At first, it was very difficult, and I had wanted to make the Marine Corps a career, 20 years plus.

And I still have problems with it from time to time.

I feel like I failed myself and my wife and my kids.

Recently, through the help of programs like this, and friends that I've met now, close friends with similar injuries, I feel a little better about it.

I've a different purpose now than what I did before.

- You've got some value!

If you are a grunt here, don't let me hear you say this week, "All I know how to do is kill people."

That's stupid!

If you're an Infantry NCO, if you're a Combat NCO, if you're an NCO of any MOS, the intangible qualities that you have for leadership are coming out of every pore of your body!

NARRATOR: This kind of pep talk on the first day of every Semper Fi Odyssey is designed to let every Marine here know that there is value in their service to the country.

- In life, what you want to be able to do, the most important thing we do up here is we try to surround you with people who really care about your future.

NARRATOR: It also reinforces the fact that their personal lives still have value.

That despite the horrors of combat that they have experienced, they still have a life before them.

Sgt.

Brandon Delflorentino was a Marine sniper who was wounded in Iraq.

He has been medically discharged from the Corps.

To add insult to injury, he was shot again when he came home to California for asking a speeding driver to slow down on a crowded city street .

SGT.

BRANDON: Since I got shot, I isolated myself a lot.

That's a natural reaction to anybody that gets injured, they pretty much just try to back off, get themselves together, gather themselves together.

NARRATOR: Semper Fi Odyssey is helping him overcome this double whammy.

- I'd say that this time is much better than the last time when I was in the Marine Corps when I got hurt just because I was drinking and everything, doing everything I could to self-medicate.

The combinations of medications and stuff like that obviously was negative.

Now that I'm here, you know, I'm around you guys... It's the best thing I could possibly do for myself.

NARRATOR: Semper Fi Odyssey works by putting these wounded warriors with seasoned Marines like Dan Pultz, a Marine Combat Infantry Officer from Vietnam.

Dan is the head team leader.

He works with all the other team leaders so that they can begin to assure these Marines about the week ahead.

- This is gonna be really worth it, your week up here, what you're gonna get when you leave, making that transition to the other side.

- We have a team of people that you know and trust and have a plan to go forward so that when you leave here, you can get something done in your life.

DAN: All the goals and all the things that you want to make happen this week, I'll have in here, so that when we talk down the road, I'll be able to follow-up and find out what you were able to do or what you were not able to do.

GEN.

JONES: We got a lot of people coming up here, bending over backwards, volunteering a whole week of their time to be with you.

NARRATOR: One of those people is Gail Lynn Helper who looks like a regular soldier assigned to KP cleaning the stove.

She is actually 1st.

Lt.

Gail Lynn Helper who just took command of her own company in the First Attack Reconnaissance Battalion in Johnstown, PA.

She is also an Apache gunship pilot, and it's a real surprise to these Marines when they find out who she really is.

GAIL: They don't have any idea until General Jones tells them, and then they're all like, why are you back there?

And I say, well, it's the least I can do.

You guys have done so much for us.

One... two... GEN.

JONES: If you come up here and you really meet the guys and you really meet the gals, and you really network and you really try to build these tools we're going to work with you on, you try to build a fire team of support around you, you're going to be successful, and you're going to have a good time!

What we really need to do, we really need to embrace a young guy or a young gal and invest yourself in the person.

Take an active interest in their life, and talk to them about their goals, talk to them about their objectives, and talk to them about the obstacles they know in their own mind that they're facing.

- The program is not only providing me with information, education, networking opportunities, it's providing me with a sense of confidence, it is providing me with a sense of support... not a sense, a lot of support, is what it is providing me with, and it's given me the tools I need, I think in order to succeed in the future by giving me that confidence and the people that I need to back me up.

- A few years back... We try to remind them if you can do something that your role in the preamble to the constitution, you're doing something for America.

You're doing something for somebody else, you're doing something pretty important.

You're not only going to be helping them, but you're going to be helping yourself at the same time.

NARRATOR: The Semper Fi classroom experiences are intense.

But the classroom is only part of the Semper Fi Odyssey .

- So my name is Annie... NARRATOR: Annie Okerlin is the Executive Director of the Exalted Warrior Foundation, a non-profit based in Tampa, Florida that supports traumatically injured vets through the use of yoga.

Annie spends the entire week at Semper Fi Odyssey teaching yoga.

- I am peace itself, or I am strength itself, whatever your heartfelt desire may be.

When they first come in and General Jones introduces me, they're like, "Oh lord, what do we have going on here!"

And I've heard everything that you can imagine, like crazy yoga lady, oh, this hippy drippy stuff, this airy fairy stuff.

But when they ultimately get in and they start sweating because I'm holding them in an upward push-up position for a while, and then they're like, "Oh, this lady means business".

Notice the whole front line of your torso.

And then, at the end of the class, when they lay there and we get very soothing and very calming, and then the next morning, I'll see them at breakfast and I'm like, "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Man, I actually slept."

Which ultimately none of these guys want to be on pain meds for the rest of their lives, and they don't want to be on sleep meds.

So we're just giving them the tools to manage themselves, and also the practice to do that, and everybody wants to feel good in their body, so it's nice to be able to do that.

NARRATOR: These techniques are needed to help soothe the jangled nerves of Marine combat veterans who know their battlefield enemy all too well, but sometimes don't recognize the enemy within once they return home.

- After I got out of the Marine Corps in November of 2013, I was medically retired, and uh, I stopped getting help for my PTSD and TBI.

And in March of the next year, I tried to commit suicide.

And if it wasn't for my roommate, I would be dead right now.

I wouldn't be here.

ANNIE: The statistics are that one person with PTSD affects 30 to 40 people.

Close quarters at home, it's a real challenge for the intimate relationship and even for non-intimate relationships, so something that they can use to balance themselves out is so important.

DOMINIC: After that, I started getting more and more help, and then wanted to do better for myself.

So, it took all of that for me to actually kick myself in my ass.

[APPLAUSE] - Glad you are here, man... Thanks for sharing that.

- I would dare say that the vast majority of these married individuals are struggling on the home front to a certain degree, and some of them mightily.

- I cut off my parents, I cut off my sister, I cut off my wife, I cut off my kids, and I stopped talking to everybody for about a month.

And now that I've got everybody back, I found out the reason why I cut them off was because I was too embarrassed to tell them that I was sick or that I was injured, and I would never be the same way again.

GEN.

JONES: I would say a good percentage of all married have struggles on the home front.

- Four months ago, on October 10th, when I got sober... The past two and a half years, I drank almost every day.

When I had my first son, I was in Afghanistan when he was born, so I missed out on the whole experience.

You would think once you get back and you get pregnant with your second one, you would want to be there for everything.

The fact was I was so wrapped on the actual drinking everyday that I missed out on everything.

For two and a half years straight, I would come home from work and I would drink outside, and I'd miss playing with my kids and you know... October 10th, I got really drunk one night, and I threw back a bunch of my medications and stuff, and I wrote a suicide letter to my wife and a bunch of stuff like that, and she is the one who actually saved my life and called my captain and let him know what was going on.

I got the help I needed.

I went to a substance abuse rehab program in Portsmouth, Virginia, and it saved my life.

GEN.

JONES: It breaks your heart!

But what you gotta do in life is you gotta strive... Always strive to do better.

And you can't ever surround yourself with this idea that I'm going to be a perfectionist because life is not perfect.

- Before I got help, I used to beat my wife, my kids, to the point that I used to hospitalize them.

I just shut them out with my anger-- GEN.

JONES: What I think this is... You've hit the word "healing" and I think this is very much a healing experience.

I'm dealing with America's finest, that sounds almost like a commercial.

But for a young man or a young woman to put their hand in the air and say that they're going to devote themselves, dedicate themselves, to the Constitution... That's not... That's not small stuff!

That's big stuff!

NARRATOR: General Jones admires these young men and women for their patriotism and dedication to country, but that doesn't mean he's not tough on them as they exit the Marine Corps and prepare for civilian life.

GEN.

JONES: You've got to be honest to yourself.

You've got to be honest to your commitments.

And so, the one caveat with the whole idea of the base of your triangle here is the whole idea that it takes a lot more than just knowing right from wrong and being a good person.

KELLY McCONNELL: I was facing transitioning out of the Marine Corps; fortunately now I'm able to stay in because I was able to go through the med-board process.

But it forced me to do a lot of introspection and take a look at what's really important and kind of re-focus my priorities.

It also gave me some really good tools to use to do that.

NARRATOR: Like any odyssey, the Marines present will experience an adventure beyond the classroom that will give them knowledge, understanding... and a few challenges.

[*] GEN.

JONES: We're hoping that they all embrace that because it gives them a chance to do physical fitness regardless of what their injury or wound is.

But up here is just kind of a bonding exercise where they can do it, feel like a warrior, and do things that normally the average person doesn't get a chance to do.

- It was fun, actually, teamwork, of course, and it worked out pretty well.

It was a good experience.

[LAUGHS] GEN.

JONES: They all get pretty motivated by doing it, you know.

It's regardless of how old or how long a guy has been a Marine or soldier, he likes to do things that are exciting and out of their comfort zone.

- You can't accomplish it by yourself, you gotta use somebody else.

It's all about teamwork.

You gotta make sure... He's got my back or my arm and I got his to make sure he's not gonna fall, and he's not gonna let me fall.

- Actually, working through with a partner actually gave me a lot more confidence in getting past this obstacle.

- Yeah, it definitely did.

- Hey, you got this, Paul.

Come on.

If I can do it, you can do it.

SGT.

TREVOR: I did the leap of faith, I'm not gonna lie... it was intimidating at first, it doesn't look that high from the ground, but when you're up there, it's pretty high.

I psyched myself up.

I did the jump and even just little things like that, the little accomplishments you make, it kinda builds the foundation for what lies in the future, and what can help you overcome things, it was a really great experience.

NARRATOR: These exercises do build confidence, but it takes a lot more than confidence building to heal the wounds of war.

Dominic Thieman has been medically retired from the Marine Corps .

- When I came back to the States, I noticed there was a lot more wrong with me than I thought there was.

I couldn't function unless I was drinking.

I'd wake up screaming, I'd wake up where I thought I was in an explosion.

I pretty much got to the point where I felt like I was going mentally crazy.

NARRATOR: Semper Fi Odyssey takes a holistic approach to the full rehabilitation of these wounded warriors, particularly those like Dominic who have suffered the concussive effects of TBI.

As it turns out, the University of Pittsburgh already had a defense department grant to study traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

Soon serendipity and proximity added another dimension to the Semper Fi Odyssey effort.

- I became an ISP, so I was putting in... Because we dealt with only wounded, injured and ill, as it turned out, almost 40% of our Marines had traumatic brain injuries, along with every other wound that you could think of.

NARRATOR: In addition to being the senior team leader with Semper Fi Odyssey , Dan Pultz became the military coordinator and coach of Team TBI.

DAN: Team TBI and the partnership with Semper Fi Odyssey was born because we were bringing all these Marines from all over the United States that were being medically retired from the Marine Corps to Semper Fi Odys ,y and that would be an ideal place to be able to identify military folks that had traumatic brain injuries that then could enter Team TBI.

NARRATOR: One such Marine is Michael Ditto who is now undergoing a battery of tests here at the University of Pittsburgh's Medical Center.

- Michael, Dr.

Okonkwo.

NARRATOR: He and his wife Theresa come to the center so that Michael can be examined.

Dr.

Mickey Collins is the Clinical and Executive Director of UPMC's Sports Concussion Program and Co-Principal Investigator of the Team TBI study.

DR.

COLLINS: To date, there's been upwards of 25 to 30 failed clinical trials studying mild traumatic brain injury or concussion.

We've been able to kind of identify six different clinical trajectories for this injury.

We happen to feel one of the reasons why these studies have failed is because the injury hasn't been looked at into there being distinct clinical trajectories for concussion.

If you're an anxious person and you have a hard time turning your thoughts off... We're starting to find out that there are different types of concussions.

If there's 30 different types of knee injuries, why do we think there's one kind of concussion, especially when it comes to the brain?

When you took the impact tests today, did the headache get worse?

- I got-- yes.

NARRATOR: Michael was injured in this very explosion in Iraq, filmed by the enemy and put on YouTube.

SGT.

MICHAEL: We were constantly getting mortared, and it sounded like one just hit the roof!

You know, honestly, at that moment, at the incident, I didn't feel like I was truly injured.

I didn't have a hole in my body, and I wasn't bleeding.

I denied it for many years, and it took a long time to kinda really recognize the issues that I was having.

Got that burn going!

NARRATOR: Michael is now being put through a rigorous series of physical tests to determine a plan of treatment for his specific type of concussion.

DR.

COLLINS: The work that we've done, we're starting to really understand there's different approaches for these different types of injuries.

And by doing that, I think we're going to be successful in proving that concussion's a treatable and manageable entity.

THERESA: I definitely noticed a difference over the years.

I mean, it just never got better.

It was always said, after I get more sleep, or after this class, or after this deployment, it will be better because I will be more relaxed, but it just never did.

It just kept... It was the same all the time.

MICHAEL: There's often a stigma associated with PTSD, the hidden injuries, especially in the community I come from.

You have to hold yourself that you're invincible, that nothing affects you.

And you learn over the years to kinda have a portrayal that nothing can faze you.

And the reality is that going through the things that we go through, you are all affected.

We're all affected by it.

THERESA: In a way, I had to push pretty hard, but, when it came down to it, it had to be his choice.

He had to be the one that decided to go get help.

I pushed and pushed and pushed, and until he said, "Yeah, you're right, I need help," it didn't matter what I said.

That's military training.

That's just what they do.

They learn that they're not supposed to be weak, and so they're not.

- You're gonna choose the speed where you're comfortable with jogging.

DR.

COLLINS: We really... patients get better here when it's managed the right way and treated the right way.

And that's what's very exciting about this project, is we're really starting to break the injury into its component parts, and treating it in a very specific prescriptive way.

- We are partnering that clinical evaluation-- NARRATOR: Part of that treatment includes meeting with neurosurgeon Dr.

David Okonkwo, the Clinical Director of the Brain Trauma Research Center.

Dr.

Okonkwo uses some advanced MRI pictures of Michael's brain in order to analyze them, and in cooperation with all of the other test results, develop a very specialized treatment plan specifically for Michael.

- We ultimately analyze the imaging of your brain in two ways.

We compare the left side of your brain to the right side of your brain, and then we compare the left side of your brain to the left side of healthy volunteers.

Traumatic brain injury has proven to be one of the signature injuries of our recent military conflicts.

And this is now a new age for our veterans and returning service members where injuries from their duty, injuries from their deployments, often involve blast exposure or other forms of traumatic brain injuries.

- Here I'm going to have you move back and forth as quickly as you can.

NARRATOR: Dr.

Okonkwo says that Team TBI is taking an individualized approach to patients suffering from Traumatic brain injury.

He says it sounds simple but in fact, it has never been done before.

DR.

OKONKWO: As a perfect example, if someone comes to us and says we have a fantastic way of improving the cognitive function of TBI survivors, we know how to make people's memory better; we can make their cognitive function better.

And you then prescribe that intervention to someone who, as it turns out, doesn't have a cognitive consequence of their brain injury, but instead they have a visual disturbance that impairs their capacity to read and concentrate and retain information, a cognitive therapy is never gonna work for that person.

You have to fix their visual problem.

- Look with your eyes over to the right... DR.

OKONKWO: If we get this right, we are going to create the opportunity for successful treatments to make their way into the clinical world.

- I think the goal for us is just to make it so that visual work and visual environments aren't a triggering stimulus for your headaches.

DR.

OKONKWO: If our military veterans are having a lasting consequence of their willingness to volunteer in the defense of our country and our principles, then anything that I can do that takes advantage of my expertise, to give back to these guys and to help these guys be more successful in what it is they're trying to do, I'll do that any day.

NARRATOR: Most of these men and women cite patriotism as the reason they joined the Marine Corps.

They have served faithfully, and in some cases, been wounded horribly.

Programs like Semper Fi Odyssey are helping these Marines make a full recovery.

- Knowing right and wrong, knowing what I should be doing, knowing I already found a noble path-- NARRATOR: And General Jones is doing everything in his power to complete the mission.

- Firstly, my idea of building this camp was all based on shared adversity.

I don't care how negative they are, you bond, you come together close.

That's how teams are built.

- I was at the verge of just quitting school and just doing nothing all over again.

And just coming here and hearing Major General Jones talk... It opens your eyes, and I haven't had that in over a year.

- I know we save lives.

I don't think I save lives, I know we save lives.

SGT.

BRIIC: I'd say the best thing I've actually learned is, through the work with my team at my table, my team leader, not to be so critical of myself.

And to know that there is more that I can do than just be a Marine.

- It's hard to say you save lives, but any time a guy is desperate, any time a guy has got so much stress built up, or so many stressors, and you're giving him or her the feeling that you care, and you're giving him the feeling that there's a way we can work to be better, it's got to be saving lives.

- It feels right to be a Marine.

Hoorah!

ALL: Hoorah!

[MARCHING BAND PLAYS "FROM THE HALLS OF MONTEZUMA"] [APPLAUSE]