Kevin Blanchard was medically discharged with honorable service from the United States Marine Corps in 2006. Blanchard served as a combat engineer, one tour of duty in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, and 13 months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center recovering from injuries sustained during combat, including a leg amputation, 30 surgical procedures, and multiple other wounds from shrapnel. Blanchard received national volunteer service awards including: Marine of the Year, Purple Heart, Good Conduct Ribbon, Combat Action Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and President Barack Obama’s Volunteer Service Award in 2009.
After his medical discharge from the marines, Blanchard served as Vice President of Student Veterans of America in 2008, while earning a BBA in International Business from the George Washington University. He is a graduate of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities program in (at?) Syracuse, New York. Blanchard also earned a Master’s Degree in Business Management with a concentration in leadership and social entrepreneurship from Catholic University of America.
Blanchard has worked in Veterans Service Organizations, including the Wounded Warrior Project as a peer counselor for wounded service members, and as a Healthcare and Rehabilitation Consultant for the American Legion’s national headquarters. He developed and managed a program for veterans and their families interested in small business ownership for the International Franchise Association called VetFran. Blanchard is also co-founder of the Med-Tech & BioTech Veterans Program , a non-profit focused on veteran employment in the medical device industry.
Blanchard is authoring a book titled, One Less Traveled | The Art of Post-Traumatic Growth, about the lessons learned from overcoming severe trauma, and turning Post-Traumatic Stress into Post-Traumatic Growth. The story begins with an explosion that took his leg and nearly his life, and continues to an adventurous six month trek through South America, battling the pain of climbing mountains, venturing into the Amazon to find a tribal community, all in search of finding meaning from his life-altering combat experience. Blanchard’s book concept has led to the development of JourneyBeyondRecovery.com (JBR). JBR is a community web-platform to help survivors of all types of traumas tell their own stories and connect to relevant recourses during recovery and beyond.
Blanchard currently lives in Charlottesville, VA with his wife, Myra, their American Mastiff named Socrates, and has a baby on the way. In his spare time Blanchard likes working out, cycling, traveling, cooking and playing golf.
