Meet Adaptive Athlete: Gustavo Gutierrez

 

Sergeant (Ret.) Gustavo Gutierrez grew up in a Spanish speaking community in San Diego. In 5th grade, he switched to an English speaking school and had to learn while he was also mastering a new language. In high school, he got to witness his cousin’s graduation from Marine Corp boot camp which inspired him to follow in his footsteps. 

 

Gustavo enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1995 and became an infantry machine gunner. He had a deployment in Japan and then a Marine Expeditionary Unity (MEU) to the Mediterranean Sea. In 2004, Gustavo had a deployment that shook him to his core - eight months in Ramadi, Iraq, facing constant gunfire and heated battles with no days off. 

 

His next deployment was in Afghanistan in 2008, where he encountered an explosion. Although he has no memory of it, he finished his patrol and later got sent to Germany for medical observation. The first instance he remembers is waking up in the hospital in Germany, but had been conscious and functioning the entire time. Because he had no diagnosed injuries, he continued to serve, departing on another deployment in 2010. Undiagnosed effects led him down a path to alcoholism. It wasn’t until he got out of the military that he started addressing it and began to realize his symptoms were real, not just a result of drinking.

 

Once out of the military, Gustavo worked and tried to address the complications from his military injuries including stomach issues, lack of balance, and other problems. Within the past year, Gustavo has experienced loss in multiple ways, but he is not giving up hope. In his time at ATF, he wants to find his way again and push himself both physically and mentally - continuing to practice breath work and other techniques to ground himself.