We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Steven Nisbet a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Steven, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Shields & Stripes was founded out of tragedy.

I served as a USAF Pararescueman for 16 years and over those years, I deployed 10 times to various different combat zones.

After my 7th or 8th deployment I began to forget people I knew for years. I began to have the same recurring dream over and over again. I would become extremely paranoid about losing my family members to some tragic accident having been surrounded by death or escaping death in my job. Lastly, my patience was incredibly low, especially for my children. One evening as the boys were bickering and fighting with eachother, one of them got hurt which sent me into a “rage”. After yelling at being physical with the boys, I came downstairs and was overwhelmed with shame and guilt.

As I tried to justify my own actions in my brain, my wife sat next to me and said she loves me, but the boys are scared of me. This was my wake up call. I approached our embedded psychologists at my duty assignment and asked what was going on with me.

Within the Special Operations units are embedded specialists; from Physical Therapists, Psychologists, Strength and Conditioning Coaches, Dietitians and more, all working to keep us elite warriors operating at our peak levels.

Leveraging the Psychologist, I took a cognitive screening and a brain MRI to find out if there were any significant TBI’s causing my behavior. What they discovered was for the most part my brain was physically fine and my problem solving was above average, but, there was one area that was significantly lower than all other tested subjects; Attentiveness.

A low score in this field is often related to PTSD and after being approached with the thought of PTSD, I entered into therapy. As reluctant as I was, I discovered symptoms that I was presenting that I considered to be normal. After several therapy sessions, I began to enjoy my job again, become a better communicator and control my reactions.

As the Team Leader of a group of rescue specialists, my job was to organize training to facilitate the team being the most highly qualified rescuers in the DOD. Part of that includes mountain rescue and rock climbing. We set up a team trip to Boise ID, to do some simple single pitch climbs and mountain rescue techniques.

On the second day of climbing, tragedy struck. On the last climb of the day, our team was rappelling off of an anchor that was placed using artificial protection. This means a metal device was wedged into the rock and the friction and activation of a camming device was used to keep the rope in place and allow us to rappel over the 70′ cliff.

After the first team member rappelled down safely, the next started his descent. As he got about half way down, there was a loud crack and the sound of rope running along the ground. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of my team members and friends being pulled by the rope closer and closer to the edge, until he was eventually launched over the edge.

The anchor failed. As the second team member rappelled the anchor failed causing him to fall half way down the cliff. His weight pulled our other team member off the top of the cliff, in which he impacted the ground on his back.

As we quickly rushed to our team mate, we treated him for 25min or so. Most of us were combat medics and registered paramedics, conducting advanced level care on him, but ultimately he passed away on the mountain that day.

I pulled myself off of team as the safety and accident investigation began, leveraging those same resources I used to combat my PTSD. Left with shame, guilt, blame, depression, anger and hopelessness, I saw my therapist nearly everyday to avoid becoming a statistic.

After 2-3 months of treatment, I came back to the team and within 24hrs deployed on a short notice deployment to conduct a High Value Target operation. After a couple months overseas, we completed our objective and returned home safely. With only 1 month until our next deployment the investigations closed out. They found that nothing we did could have prevented what happened or changed the outcome, however the military must hold someone accountable for the loss of life, and I was removed from my position and unit.

A unit that requires a whole nother selection course AND year long training course to operate at the highest levels, it is the only place I wanted to be.

I was given 30days to PCS (Permanent Change of Station) and told to clean out my cages on the weekend so the rest of the team can’t see me do it.. I was devastated and worse off than I had ever been.

I leaned back into my therapy team and with their guidance, pursued a Medical Retirement with a diagnosis of PTSD.

As I approached my retirement date, I began to realize the standard of care that had quite literally saved my life 3 times, was going away. Even more alarming is that 97% of the rest of the DOD does not even know it exists. There are so many others out there that faced the same symptoms as I did and I had to do something about it.

Thus, I searched for organizations doing the same as what I was used to and found none. Only one was similar and that was 5 by 5 Performance Therapy by Dr. Jennifer Byrne. I connected with her on social media and as we began to converse I shared my story with her and my plan for the future. As she gave me advice on how to start it, I told her I didn’t need another coach, I needed a partner in this plan.

She joined me in Co-Founding Shields & Stripes, where we bring professional / elite level care to our nations heroes. ALL veterans, Active Military AND First Responders.

Partnering with Pro Performance facilities we are able to replicate every specialty skill embedded in SOF units as well as bringing in our own selected Mental Health Providers and Occupational Therapists.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Shields & Stripes provides professional / elite level care to our nations heroes. This is a standard of care embedded within every Professional Sports team AND Special Operations unit within the DOD.

It’s a proven model that needs to be provided for the masses.

By partnering with Professional Sports facilities we provide a 3 Month program that hosts Veterans and First Responders inside of the pro sports facility for 3 weeks where they will receive Strength and Conditioning Programming, Dietitian Consult, Food Made for them onsite, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Yoga, Psych Therapy and other modalities of treatment like hot and cold therapy.

All travel and costs are covered for the individual attending the program through Grants, Sponsorships and Generous Donations.

I am incredibly proud of the dedication to all of our team members who volunteer most of their time to ensure our heroes get the treatment that they have Earned by protecting us.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Our market is two fold. There is the individual who needs or wants the help. And then there is the individual or organization that wants to help others and has an affinity to our nations heroes.

Authenticity has been the best tool to build our reputation within the market. Additionally, I have lived and experienced what we are “preaching”. Furthermore, it’s not just me, but ALL of our team members are associated with the military as either being a veteran themselves or military spouse that truly understands and has also experienced the challenges our served demographic has.

Our reputation is a reflection of our transparency, we showcase everything that we do and encourage our sponsors to come out and see exactly what it is we do in action, live.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Shifting from being a Special Operators conducting high level operations overseas, and being used to carrying a weapon and med bag to now running a business has been an uncomfortable experience.

Everything I do is trial and error.

I have no business background, I did not go to school to acquire an MBA, but I did have a lot of mentors who were very well versed in the business world.

I leaned on them heavily and asked for a lot of Help.

But there is a realization of the skills that I had while on the teams that transferred to civilian life.

As an outsider attached to a Direct Action force, there were many times I had to “Sell” to the Ground Force Commander on why I needed to be closer to the fight. Yes this would scratch my own personal itch to get into the action, but it was also to the team’s benefit.

Thus I discovered the power of Value Proposition and negotiation. I could walk the Commander down pathways of what would happen if things went wrong and I was not there, versus if I was. This would always work, a slam dunk so to speak on justifying my position because if I spoke in terms that the Commander leans toward “Risk Mitigation” then I would always win.

Now, if I am going to sell myself to be in a critical position, I better be able to back it up and if things go wrong I had better not mess it up. In this world, “You fake it til you make it” only gets people killed and doesn’t last long.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shieldsandstripes.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shieldsandstripes/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Shields-and-Stripes/100077454291342/
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/steven-nisbet-89b5891a9
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIURlCXE1XZdFKcrXfbrQCA/videos

Image Credits

Luke Trexler