2023 Nomination Window Open - Closes March 31 2023

We at Veteran Solar SC & the Veteran Solar Foundation have a solar system we are ready to donate to a local upstate SC Veteran who could use a donated solar system, We are currently accepting nominations of individuals. After the 31st of March our board will review the nominated individuals and make our determination on April 7th 2023 and notify the nominee.

If you have someone in mind or you yourself would like to nominate yourself please fill out the form.

Thank you & Always at your Service

2022 Veteran Recipient

LCpl Graham Dorsey’s Journey

Help us donate a full solar system to him and his family! Watch the video, get a shirt & share! Thank you!

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I joined the service two weeks after I graduated high school in 2002. I decided to join the Marine Corps and fulfill a dream of serving the greatest country in the world. Starting my new journey, I went to Parris Island for basic training. After my MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) school, I was sent to Camp Pendleton, California. This is where I was assigned to 3rd Battalion 5th Marines India Co. A month after arriving at Camp Pendleton, in 2003, I was sent to Kuwait where we staged before we launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. My brothers and I were the tip of the spear in the initial invasion. We went all the way through Baghdad and back down to Al Diwaniyah. Throughout the invasions, we received fire and we returned fire, we cleared out fields and buildings both, and we conducted numerous raids. At only 18 years old, I saw and caused enough death to last 100 lifetimes. I’ve seen my brothers gunned down and wounded. The tour lasted 10 harrowing months. 

We came back stateside for additional training for our return to Iraq. Looking back now and writing my story, I realize what a huge impact that first tour had on my life. It was the first time I had ever seen combat. Back then, and sometimes to this day, I have the tendency to skim right over the experience as if it were no big deal. I don’t know if this is because my second tour was that much more intense, or if it is because I never was able to sit down to reflect and process what I’ve been through and saw. But speaking more into my second tour, which was in the 2004 to 2005 timeframe, I was sent to Fallujah, in an undertaking known as Operation Phantom Fury. Fallujah was, and still is, hell on earth. When my brothers and I got there, the unit we were replacing had been taking mass casualties. This was because they were doing patrols into the city every day which made them vulnerable to being ambushed. However, our unit firmly decided that we were going to take the city of Fallujah. For about a week prior to heading in, we began announcing through a big PA system, warning the civilians that if they didn’t evacuate, that we would consider them hostile forces. The civilians emptied out with cars lining up for miles, leaving behind those individuals who wanted to fight. 

When we finally invaded, we were met with a vicious and punishing fight: the Iraqis were hanging out of windows, doors, walking down the street, and were ready for war. For a little over a month straight, every single day we received fire, encountered IED’s, and were recipients of unending mortar attacks. My brothers and I went building to building, door to door, cleaning the whole city. We lost some of the best Marines during this operation. I lost one of my best friends during this time. He was killed the same day that he received the news of his son being born. I witnessed with my own eyes him going down. We were under so much fire that we couldn’t stop for even a moment to grieve. We had to fight for our lives. The same day my squad was split into two groups. We were across the street from the other fire team. We heard a gunshot that led into an explosion. My team ran to the rooftop to give them cover fire. I will NEVER forget the sounds I heard next. I remember hearing a brother screaming in pain for his mom. Over and over and over again until I heard another smaller explosion - this time from a grenade. After that, I no longer heard my brother screaming for help and calling to his mother. My fire team came off the roof and ran over to help clear the building. We found him lying in the doorway.  He must have been shot over thirty times. When he got hit and fell, they kept shooting him in the legs to draw us closer. When the Iraqi’s threw the grenade, he was hit with a piece of a shrapnel in the head. One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was help carry my fellow warrior to the Humvee. I remember at the end of this gruesome day when all the emotions finally hit me. I just broke down. Even after we cleared the city and let the civilians come back in. It was still crazy. The Iraqis continued to set up many more IED’s.

I love every one of the men I served with. They are my brothers and truly are my family. My heart still aches for the lost ones every single day. After deployment, the woman I was seeing at the time got pregnant. I decided to get out of the Corps and move back to New Jersey, where she had my beautiful son. Unfortunately, when I first got back, I didn’t realize how my trauma and PTSD effected my everyday life. We ended up separating. My only blessing and pride I had at the time was my son. After the service, I jumped from job to job trying to find my new normal. I did not understand what I was going through. I’ve tried to attend college but was not able to due to my head injury. That’s when I decided to move to Arizona. 

I met the love of my life. We got married. She had two perfect daughters and I couldn’t have asked for more in a family. We definitely struggled, though. I was still working on my injuries and I was committed to an inpatient hospital for PTSD in Palo Alto, California for three months. I had anger issues and I self-medicated with drugs and alcohol. I finally got sober.  Being in the hospital and not receiving all my benefits at the time put a strain on my wife and family. We lost the house we were renting, and we were on the street. My wife went to stay with a friend, and I was staying on the streets. We became homeless. There were nights I would find a random building somewhere and sleep in the bushes or couch surf. Once we were able to save some money, we rented an apartment. Our family stayed there for about a year. My family and I had to move because I was having a very hard time with my PTSD. I heard everyone else around the apartment complex and I would never sleep. We did this for some time before securing the house we live in now.

I had many up’s and down’s after I got out of the service. It took me years to find my new “normal”. Sometimes I still find myself struggling but I am now able to recognize when I’m going into a slump mood. Thankfully, after all the moving and hardship, my wife and I are closer than ever, I got my benefits, and she just got promoted to a managerial position. 

I dedicate my time to helping and peer mentoring my fellow brothers/sisters, so they know all their options when seeking any help, or need a shoulder to lean on. In return, it helps me with my own PTSD and stressors. Which also in return, helps my family life. I love my family so much and I want to give them the world. In the last year, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). It’s definitely a new chapter and a struggle but I can overcome this as I overcame so much already. 

Thank you for reading my story.

Graham Dorsey

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