Alexis Nelson was so excited a few future within the army, she signed up for the Army Nationwide Guard the day she turned 17.
However her dream of serving the nation was quickly derailed when she suffered a service-related harm throughout fundamental coaching. She was compelled to go away the Nationwide Guard with a medical deferment.
What adopted had been years of melancholy and substance use challenges, together with emotions of failure, loss and isolation that threatened to derail Nelson for good. In the end, Nelson obtained a lifeline from the Division of Veterans Affairs (VA) that turned her life round.
Nelson’s story of battle and triumph was lately featured on the Michigan Veterans Affairs Company’s (MVAA) web site, as a part of its “I Am a Veteran” marketing campaign.
Service Runs Deep
From the time she was a small little one, Nelson aspired to affix the service.
Rising up in a small Higher Peninsula city, Nelson appeared as much as her grandfathers who served within the Army, Air Drive and Marine Corps. However she yearned to blaze her personal path, turning into the primary girl in her household to affix the army.
Enlisting within the Army Nationwide Guard was a birthday current to herself.
“I raised my hand once I was a junior in highschool,” Nelson stated. “I used to be doing one thing that none of my pals had been, and I felt like the best individual to stroll the face of the earth at that second.”
Like a whole lot of impressed 17-year-olds, Nelson had her future mapped out. She deliberate to complete fundamental coaching, come again to the U.P. to graduate highschool, and enterprise out of Michigan to finish Superior Particular person Coaching (AIT) and transition to lively responsibility.
Damage Modified Every little thing
In Could 2013 she arrived at Fort Leonard Wooden, Missouri, able to sort out fundamental coaching.
Nearly instantly, she impressed her drill sergeant by breezing via her sit-ups and push-ups. The drill sergeant questioned if she may do the identical on her operating drill, difficult her to max out.
However the satisfaction she felt rapidly turned to agony. Lower than a mile into her run, each hips locked up and a jolt of intense ache shot via her physique. Gritting her enamel via painful tears, Nelson accomplished her run however did not hit her max. Her drill sergeant knew one thing was mistaken and despatched her to the athletic coach.
“I used to be doing one thing that none of my pals had been.”
Exams and medical doctors’ diagnoses confirmed the worst: stress fractures in each hips.
“After they did the bone scan each hips simply lit up like spider webs,” Nelson stated. “I used to be placed on crutches and since I used to be nonetheless in highschool, I used to be despatched again house to complete my senior yr and heal.”
Nelson was optimistic that she may return totally wholesome and proceed pursuing her army goals. However when checks confirmed the fractures had not healed properly sufficient, the Nationwide Guard granted her a medical discharge. She was crestfallen.
The devastating information despatched her psychological well being right into a downward spiral.
“I got here house feeling like an entire failure, embarrassed to inform my story and would cringe when somebody would thank me for my service as a result of in my head I didn’t really feel as if I achieved something,” stated Nelson. “I fell into a significant melancholy with extreme anxiousness, always feeling misplaced and hopeless.”
Down a Darkish Street
Wrestling with what to do subsequent, Nelson enrolled in school and earned a legal justice diploma.
Nonetheless combating that vacant feeling, she by no means pursued a job in legal justice. She finally realized it wasn’t her true calling in life.
Once more, she grappled with questions on her future.
The following a number of years had been fraught with melancholy, alcohol and drug abuse. There was a suicide try.
Lastly, she turned eligible for VA advantages and was supplied restoration companies and psychological well being remedy.
Jan. 1, 2026, was a life milestone as she marked being three years sober.
“It was a really darkish time and once I was 18 years outdated, I felt like I went from having the entire world forward of me to having what felt like nothing,” Nelson stated. “This went on for a number of years. After which whereas I used to be bartending at my native VFW, I instructed myself I used to be going to get up on New 12 months’s Day sober and by no means look again.”
A Serving to Hand
One among Nelson’s grandfathers was a previous member of the native VFW, so she began a part-time bartending job there.
That’s when an opportunity assembly with Eric Martin, the MVAA veteran service officer, modified her life. She warmed as much as him and at last felt courageous sufficient to share her emotional story.
“Realizing what he did for work, I lastly opened as much as him about my story, why I by no means thought-about myself to be a veteran, and the way I used to be even embarrassed to inform him my story,” Nelson stated. “Eric was floored and instructed me that I have to work with him to get one thing, something resolved. That’s the place our journey started.”
Nelson was juggling a number of jobs and didn’t have additional time to seek for correct documentation. Martin met Nelson midway, working round her schedule to fulfill on the VFW submit. He stayed dedicated to her, acquiring all her paperwork and answering any lingering questions.
“I didn’t have to enter his workplace, schedule an appointment or wait round for solutions,” Nelson stated. “Anytime I wanted something, he was proper there.”
The Lifeline She Wanted
With Martin’s assist, Nelson was relieved when she obtained a 50% VA incapacity ranking. However along with her psychological and bodily well being nonetheless drifting into the abyss, Nelson confided in Martin about her struggles.
He advised scheduling a reevaluation of her psychological well being wants and earlier than lengthy, Nelson was again within the physician’s workplace.
One morning, whereas Nelson was working, Martin contacted her asking her to cease by his workplace. He sounded pressing. She arrived at Martin’s workplace anticipating dangerous information.
“All of those trials had been like aspect quests to guide me to precisely the place I wanted to be.”
As an alternative, Martin slid a letter throughout his desk with the information she had been hoping: a 100% incapacity ranking.
“Once I noticed the 100% it was one thing that I by no means thought in one million years would occur,” Nelson stated. “It not solely made me really feel like I used to be truly being taken critical for what had occurred, nevertheless it additionally opened up a whole lot of avenues for my life.”
Lately, Nelson is engaged on enhancing her physique and thoughts. Since September, she’s discovered wiggle room in a loaded work schedule to hit the gymnasium commonly and discover bodybuilding. She aspires to maneuver out of the Higher Peninsula and see different elements of the world.
“All of those trials had been like aspect quests to guide me to precisely the place I wanted to be,” Nelson stated. “You’re lastly in a position to be the individual you’ve at all times needed to be, and although you’re not excellent but, you’re so significantly better than what you had been.”
Nelson nonetheless finds it odd calling herself a veteran. However she’s getting there.
“I nonetheless stutter once I name myself a veteran,” she stated. “Nevertheless, I raised my hand and swore that oath and I would like folks to know that they’re not alone and their tales matter, too, as a result of I spent so lengthy considering that my story didn’t matter.”
