Retired Sgt. Maj. Peter Smith’s entire adult life has been about service.He spent 26 years in the military with the 1st Ranger Battalion in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as with the elite 20th Special Forces group. He’s now a lieutenant with the Tewksbury Fire Department.“My mother was a therapist, and my father and mother were both always helping people out, so it just kind of became something that was important to our family and important to me,” Smith said. How you can help: Donate to Home BaseBut last year, Smith was the one getting help from others when he took part in Home Base’s Intensive Clinical Program. It provides two years of treatment in a two-week program, at no cost to veterans or their families. “Like the name says, it is pretty intense, but they made me feel comfortable right off the bat,” Smith said. “I was around retired soldiers and even current soldiers and sailors and Marines that had similar experiences, and we got comfortable with each other very quickly.” Smith has sent some of his soldiers to the program, which combines therapy with complementary and alternative medicine to help treat the invisible wounds of war. After Smith’s final deployment to Africa last year, the 45-year-old decided it was time for him to take part in the program himself.“Life can get stressful for everyone, but when you have a soldier that’s gone through some things and has seen things in combat that caused additional stress, but they couldn’t deal with it at the time because they were deployed, and then you get back and life comes at you fast and you’re trying to reintegrate with your family and catch up, and you just never deal with that stress,” Smith said. Smith is sharing his story about the power of the Intensive Clinical Program to encourage people to donate and keep this initiative free for veterans and their families, in hopes of saving more lives. “The problems that Home Base addresses, they haven’t been solved,” Smith said. “A lot of information has come out about and the problems that veterans are experiencing, but there many, many veterans, millions of veterans that are still out there suffering and they haven’t gotten the help that they deserve.” Are you a veteran or know a veteran who would benefit from the Intensive Clinical Program? Find out more and apply to the program here.

TEWKSBURY, Mass. —

Retired Sgt. Maj. Peter Smith’s entire adult life has been about service.

He spent 26 years in the military with the 1st Ranger Battalion in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as with the elite 20th Special Forces group. He’s now a lieutenant with the Tewksbury Fire Department.

“My mother was a therapist, and my father and mother were both always helping people out, so it just kind of became something that was important to our family and important to me,” Smith said.

How you can help: Donate to Home Base

But last year, Smith was the one getting help from others when he took part in Home Base’s Intensive Clinical Program. It provides two years of treatment in a two-week program, at no cost to veterans or their families.

“Like the name says, it is pretty intense, but they made me feel comfortable right off the bat,” Smith said. “I was around retired soldiers and even current soldiers and sailors and Marines that had similar experiences, and we got comfortable with each other very quickly.”

Smith has sent some of his soldiers to the program, which combines therapy with complementary and alternative medicine to help treat the invisible wounds of war.

After Smith’s final deployment to Africa last year, the 45-year-old decided it was time for him to take part in the program himself.

“Life can get stressful for everyone, but when you have a soldier that’s gone through some things and has seen things in combat that caused additional stress, but they couldn’t deal with it at the time because they were deployed, and then you get back and life comes at you fast and you’re trying to reintegrate with your family and catch up, and you just never deal with that stress,” Smith said.

Smith is sharing his story about the power of the Intensive Clinical Program to encourage people to donate and keep this initiative free for veterans and their families, in hopes of saving more lives.

“The problems that Home Base addresses, they haven’t been solved,” Smith said. “A lot of information has come out about [post-traumatic stress] and the problems that veterans are experiencing, but there [are] many, many veterans, millions of veterans that are still out there suffering and they haven’t gotten the help that they deserve.”

Are you a veteran or know a veteran who would benefit from the Intensive Clinical Program? Find out more and apply to the program here.