“The Broken Board”

The poem that started everything.

Before there was a nonprofit. Before there were programs, documents, or a 501(c)(3). Before any of it — there was this.

Written during a quiet moment of honest reflection, this poem captures what it feels like to come home from service carrying invisible weight. To feel worn down, scarred, and uncertain of your value. And to slowly realize that none of those things make you useless.

A broken board still has grain. Still has strength. Still has purpose.

That realization became a mission. And that mission became The GRIT & IRON Network.

Read it slowly. If you've served — you might recognize yourself in it.

The Broken Board

A seed is planted by fate or hand,

That seed is nurtured by God and by man

When then hence a tree’s grown forth
One comes along who sees it’s worth

As a block of wood is how we started

When from our trunks we once had parted

To serve our country regardless of name
And nothing could e’er be the same

Nails were driven to bind us together

Creating a barrier the storms to weather

Protecting the sheep that rest within

Our burden to bear, yet… joy within

Wolves came knocking, we kept them at bay

So that within our safety the sheep might lay

Strong winds came and loosened the nails

But our bond remained through night’s wales

When tattered and torn the nails no longer hold

Its time to be replaced by boards less old

The scars, the holes, the burns remain

And that’s why I’ll never be the same

But I still have value if not a prize

Even if only through my own eyes

My burns don’t make me ugly

And I don’t care about your opinion

They have strengthened my grain

From the outside to deep within

My scars are reminders, a price I GLADLY bear

As a badge of HONOR, my scars I’ll proudly wear

My holes don’t make me weak

Because I do not leave them empty

I’ve chosen strength. I do not need your pity

I am a warrior and I freely chose to fight

So the ones I love could sleep in peace each night

A Broken Board should ne’er be rendered useless

But prized and cherished for its endless uses