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Music icon John Mayer, famend for his soulful melodies and fascinating guitar riffs, is on a mission that is about greater than his music. When he isn’t making music, he is targeted on the psychological well being of veterans.
For over a decade, the seven-time Grammy winner has been quietly pursuing analysis into veterans’ psychological well being points. A number of years in the past, in 2019, he launched the non-profit Coronary heart and Armor Basis with $3 million of his personal cash, funding research that take a look at points just like the impact of trauma on ladies warriors, and the biology of PTSD.
“That is a burden that I believe we may help carry off of individuals,” Mayer mentioned. “Somebody saying that the scent of diesel gasoline on the gasoline station triggers a really anxious response as a result of it is a sense reminiscence from Iraq or Afghanistan. And that acquired me deeper and deeper into wanting to know it.”
Cash raised since then — together with half one million {dollars} from a latest intimate present with Ed Sheeran — has helped publish 25 peer-reviewed research.
Mayer’s reference to veterans started in 2008 with a go to to Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune and got here after years of success that left him questioning what else he may do for the world. The tales he heard — and the veterans he met — pushed his want to make a distinction.
“It was not arrange as a celeb go to. So, they did not know I used to be coming, however it was probably the most pure strategy to meet these veterans, and simply instantly begin speaking and listening to their tales,” he mentioned. “The humanness of it’s what struck me.”
Coronary heart and Armor’s work contains neighborhood outreach and supporting veterans like former Military Sgt. Aundray Rogers, who witnessed unthinkable horrors in Iraq in 2003. As soon as residence, he could not cope and mentioned he struggled with alcoholism, substance abuse and suicidal ideas. He mentioned he by no means thought he was affected by PTSD.
“After seeing simply plenty of our bodies, you realize, folks on hearth, vehicles burning with folks in them, in buses. A small-town boy from Mississippi, I would not have by no means thought I might see one thing like this,” mentioned Rogers.
With the assistance of Coronary heart and Armor, Rogers has moved from being homeless to therapeutic. He’s now a volunteer serving to others.
“It means a lot, that insurmountable help that they offer me to serve. You understand, service is my medication,” mentioned Rogers.
The essence of Coronary heart and Armor is probably greatest seen when Mayer meets with the group’s volunteers, like former Marine Spencer McGuire. McGuire mentioned Mayer’s album “Continuum,” notably the songs “Ready for the World to Change” and “Gravity,” offered consolation throughout his service in Afghanistan, the place he confronted fixed mortar hearth and developed PTSD.Â
Particular lyrics from “Gravity” — “maintain me the place the sunshine is” — resonated so deeply with McGuire that he acquired them tattooed on his arm.
“My mother at all times type of spoke to me about the way it’s actually vital to remain inside the gentle. You bought to struggle for it, generally the darkness may be overwhelming, however you realize, in case you persevere, then you will get there,” mentioned McGuire.
 At 46, Mayer’s definition of success has developed. He mentioned it is not about album gross sales or fame.Â
“It is simply right down to touching folks with music, getting folks by powerful nights along with your music,” Mayer mentioned. “From this level till my final breath, we do that as a calling.”
