Sponsored Veteran Spotlight: David Callahan
Provided by Citizen Watch.
First-Time Jumper Finds His Tribe
David Callahan’s experience with Jump for Valor was his first time skydiving, but he eased into the idea thanks to support from his fellow veterans and the Jump for Valor instructors.
“I wish every single time I jumped it was always with the Jump for Valor team,” David said. “They made me feel like I was part of the family, and each one was an amazing person with an incredible story.”
Jumping alongside other veterans, however, did more for David than just soothe his nerves.
“Being around so many other veterans helped me cope with a lot of the things that I've been dealing with after coming back from Afghanistan,” he shared. “It was difficult to be alone for fear that my thoughts were going to take me to a place that I didn't necessarily want to be in. Being able to interact with people who have been through the same thing, if not worse, and hearing their methods to cope was an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
In the years preceding his Jump for Valor experience, David served nine years in the U.S. Marine Corps and was deployed to Mosul, Iraq, for Operation Inherent Resolve and Kabul, Afghanistan, as part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
His experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan made David particularly responsive to the stories of the other veterans sharing his Jump for Valor experience.
“Jumping out of the plane was an important part of this experience, but the real benefit for me was meeting everybody, listening to their stories, feeling their emotions and seeing where they've come from,” he said. “Facing the fear of the jump with brothers and sisters who have been there and battled those same demons built a sense of solidarity between us and helped remind me that it always gets better.”
About Jump for Valor x Citizen Watch
David was able to experience his tandem jump with Jump for Valor thanks to sponsorship from Citizen Watch. He, along with other veterans, participated in the Jump for Valor Boogie at Skydive Suffolk in Suffolk, Virginia, over Veterans Day Weekend 2021. As part of the program, ten veteran participants received free tandem skydives and complementary Citizen Watch timepieces courtesy of Citizen Watch.