In this episode, you’ll be meeting Derek Thompson – a veteran of the US Marine Corps where he served two tours in Afghanistan and committing himself to defending his country and comrades, and often coming face to face with unimaginable danger throughout his service. After fulfilling his commitment, Derek went on to pursue firefighting where he fought fires and saved lives. With over ten years of service, Derek later sustained a devastating injury resulting from a fall while fighting a fire which forced him into retirement. He’s since pursued other interests that demonstrated his resilience, versatility and work ethic including coal mining, mixed martial arts then on to parenting where he seems at his happiest sharing stories about his children. These days, Derek looks back at those experiences and writes about them in song lyrics using music to tell these stories. It’s also worth noting that Derek graduated from the Guitars for Vets program last year. In this interview, Thompson shares many of his personal experiences from his youth, through his career in the US Marines, transition into a civilian world, parenting, music, songwriting, performing, and much more. You’ll also hear him perform some of his original music and songs he’s inspired by.
Since 2007, our organization has refined a guitar instruction program aimed at providing Veterans struggling with physical injuries, PTSD, and other emotional distress a unique therapeutic alternative. G4V pursues its mission to share the healing power of music by providing free guitar instruction, a new acoustic guitar and a guitar accessory kit in a structured program run by volunteers, primarily through the Department of Veterans Affairs facilities and community-based medical centers.
Guitars For Vets Processing Center
13400 Bishops Ln Suite 120,
Brookfield, WI 53005
