Subsequent week Tampa Bay is about to host a large conference devoted to the U.S. Special Forces.
As business leaders and veterans make their method to city for the Particular Operations Forces Trade Convention, one former Inexperienced Beret is taking the chance to share his story of therapeutic by storytelling.
What You Want To Know
- Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Scott Mann served as a Inexperienced Beret for 15 years
- After his service, he says storytelling helped him work by his psychological struggles
- A film primarily based on his play “Final Out: The Elegy of a Inexperienced Beret” might be screened for the general public for the primary time on Might 17 at 5:30 p.m. on the Tampa Theatre
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Scott Mann stays fairly busy today.
“That is Rooftop Management headquarters,” he mentioned whereas strolling by his workplace. “We’re a management coaching firm.”
After serving 23 years in U.S. Special Forces and 15 years as a Inexperienced Beret, he and his spouse began a nonprofit known as The Heroes Journey.
The group helps veteran inform their tales and discover their voice.
Down the corridor in his workplace, there’s a room he calls “The Final Out Room” with a “Wall of Honor.”
It happened from his personal psychological well being struggles after leaving the service.
“A few of them died doing what I requested them to do,” Mann mentioned. “It took me to a very darkish place to the place I used to be standing in my closet holding a .45 pistol.”
He mentioned he discovered therapeutic by storytelling and used his newfound voice to wrote the play “Final Out: The Elegy of a Inexperienced Beret.”
His play options the “Wall of Honor” in his workplace.
The play was was a movie, and with the top of the battle in Afghanistan, extra recollections have been added to the wall.
“I wouldn’t say that my character Danny Patton is me, as a result of he’s not,” Mann mentioned. “He’s a composite character primarily based on three Inexperienced Beret staff sergeants that didn’t make it residence.”
Nevertheless, there may be lots within the play and on the wall which are his tales.
“He’s mainly my guardian angel within the play,” Mann mentioned as he pointed to an previous {photograph} of himself and a fellow service member. “Cliff was killed 10 years later within the Pentagon.”
By telling his story and searching on the wall, Mann pays tribute to his fellow troopers.
“I bear in mind him and consider his smile and optimism,” he mentioned. “He’s not right here anymore. I consider Romy Camargo who’s a Tampa Bay resident. Shot by the neck with a Taliban bullet.
“Now that the weapons have gone silent, who’s going to inform his story? Who’s going to inform Tom’s story? Who’s going to inform Mark Delgado’s story, a younger PFC from Tampa who was killed in Iraq. That’s our job.”
Mann mentioned he hopes that by encouraging veterans and households to inform their tales, others can have an emotional connection to the challenges of battle.
“Sure, a few of it’s onerous,” he mentioned. “Nevertheless it’s the stuff we lived and people experiences have to be shared with the nation so we will be taught from them and hopefully our children don’t go down the identical path we did.”
“Final Out: Elegy of a Inexperienced Beret,” is being screened for the general public for the primary time on Might 17 at 5:30 p.m. on the Tampa Theatre.
Admission is $25 and all proceeds go to assist organizations supporting veterans and their households after service.
