In April of 2004, Army Ranger Stephen Elliott was deployed with the second Ranger battalion to Afghanistan.

The objective of Operation Mountain Storm was to kill or capture Osama bin Laden.

On April 22nd Stephen Squad was attacked by enemy combatants which resulted in four casualties, one of whom was former NFL Safety Pat Tillman.

It was told very plainly by all of us what happened and it was concluded very clearly that it was from the fire.

That was the first time that the possibility that maybe I had fired on pad and maybe hit him in what was practically darkness had occurred.

That's when the real, for me the real survivor's guilt started kicking in, that's when the post-matic stress really started kicking in.

That's when the nightmare started kicking in. That's when I started self-medicating with alcohol.

It was the point when you're pulling a handgun out of your gun safe at home and just thinking about the fact that this could all be over really easily.

Not because I didn't have things I wanted to look for, but because I didn't know how to rest.

I didn't know how to make it stop. You know a lot of questions, a lot of questions like why?

Why did that happen? Why me? Whose fault is it? Is it my fault? Am I solely to blame? Is the chain of commands fault? Are they to blame? Are we both to blame?

How do I deal with the guilt that I feel for having done what I've done? How do I deal with the shame that I feel for not just having done something potentially that harmful?

But am I the thing that I did? We all have the same need to answer the same question of who am I and why am I and why am I here.

And in being here, what do I do with the fact that I hurt people sometimes unintentionally, sometimes on purpose, and they hurt me? What do I do with that?

This is part one of a conversation we had with our good friends, Stephen and Brooke Elliott.

There is a story of tragedy, depression, heartache, grace, and redemption. It's our prayer that by hearing their story, you can marvel with us at the goodness of God to repair and restore lives even when all hope seems lost.

Hey guys, welcome to the podcast. We're so happy to have you. Stephen and Brooke Elliott, welcome. How are you guys? Good.

Doing great. Thanks you guys. Awesome. Yeah, we're this is our second ever in person interview. Yes. And so it's awesome. We get to look into your eyes and make sure you're not lying to us.

I'm just kidding. It's going to be real treat today. So Brooke and Stephen, you guys have an incredible story. I think I probably alluded to it in past episodes.

But essentially, it's a story of hope and redemption. And we just want to get into kind of what that story is.

First of all, first of all, they are friends. Yes, they are. And they've been our friends for a very long time. Well, I know. But we knew them when we knew them when we knew them when we knew them.

Gosh, I feel like Stephen, I met you like in 2004. It was yeah, it would have been being in 2004. Yeah, because you we were at church. And I don't know you came in with the new crop of like Ranger guys or something.

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