Local veteran uses cross-stitch, volunteerism to fight new battle

When U.S. Army veteran David Jurado served in Iraq, he and his comrades made sure their vests had everything they needed to fulfill their mission.

Today, Jurado likes to say he wears an "invisible vest" that helps him with fight a new battle — post traumatic stress disorder.

That vest includes a journal, tools to cross-stitch, the Wounded Warrior Project, and Companions for Heroes.

"I basically made my own kit for daily missions," said Jurado, who, with his wife, Christiana, has two young sons. "Those are my outlets."

They're also the outlets he shares with other veterans who are battling to re-adjust to civilian life.

Jurado is a certified peer mentor with the Wounded Warrior Project Support Program which connects warriors and family support members who are struggling in their recovery process with peers who are trained on how to provide support and guidance.

Jurado, a Greenville County resident, is also the executive director of Companions for Heroes, a Virginia-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that matches shelter and rescue animals with veterans nationwide.

Before Jurado started his current positions with the two organizations, to help others he re-acquainted himself with the hobby that helped him to cope.

Cross-stitching was a skill his mother taught him when he was 8. This summer, he gave it a purpose.

"My wife gave me a pattern, and I jumped right back into it for a reason. It's something that keeps my mind from wandering into places I don't want to go or remember," he said. "Life is pretty simple when all you've got to worry about is needle and thread."

A native of Oxnard, California, Jurado moved to Greenville in 1999.

His dream then had been to follow in his father's footsteps by becoming a police officer.

"When I got here, I realized there weren't a lot of Spanish-speaking police officers. I was a shoo-in," he said. "When I turned 21, I worked with the Greenville city department for almost three years. It ended up being not for me."

Jurado worked other jobs and then moved to Charlotte for a while.

It got to a point when financially, things were getting bad, he said.

And, "when I was wearing a Size 54 in pants, I knew it was time to get something on track," Jurado said.

His father-in-law, a Vietnam War veteran, recommended that he lose some weight and pursue becoming a military police officer.

He lost the weight, but he never quite embraced the idea of becoming a military police officer.

Still, he served in the military from 2005 to 2009 and was in the reserves from 2009 to 2011.

As member of the 25th Infantry Division based in Hawaii, Jurado was deployed to Iraq for 15 months.

"We definitely saw our fair share of battles," he said. "I lost really good friends through IED (improvised explosive device) explosions."

He returned from Iraq in early 2009 and reached out to Companions for Heroes in 2012 for help. He found his service dog — a black Lab mix named in memory of one of his battle buddies who died in Iraq, Sgt. Gary Willett — at the Greenville Humane Society.

"With the resources that Companions for Heroes had to offer, I was able to able to raise my own service dog in about a year's time," Jurado said. "The service dog really broke my anti-social shell. I was ready to take on whatever the world had to throw at me."

In late 2012, Jurado also contacted the Wounded Warrior Project — a military/veterans charity organization that empowers injured veterans and their families by providing support and camaraderie — for help to continue his healing.

He attended a Wounded Warrior event called "Project Odyssey" in Charlotte, during which veterans like himself participated in sky diving, high ropes courses, zip lining, and other activities that created "great memories to use instead of bad memories," he said.

It was after that adventure, that Jurado said he was selected to be a peer mentor.

He is assigned two "mentees" in the Greenville area. "I'm very fortunate to be able to be here if they need me," he said.

In his job with Companions for Heroes, he helps the organization work with volunteers to stretch the program nationwide.

The program, like the other tools he carries in his invisible vest, enables Jurado to stay focused.

"Knowing I am helping other warriors, I don't feel like dead weight," he said. "Helping other people with their challenges helps me better handle mine."