The Daily Signal - From IED Casualty to U.S. Olympic Athlete: USMC Sgt. Zach Stinson | Nov. 12, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Get no frills delivered. Shop the same in-store prices online and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass. Get your first year for $2.50 a month. Learn more at pceexpress.ca. Typically, I'd begin by listing two or three of the biggest news headlines from the previous day. But with yesterday being Veterans Day and yours truly about to travel for a defense summit, we wanted to share our interview with Marine Corps Sergeant Zach Stinson. and his journey from an IED casualty in Afghanistan to U.S. Olympic athlete and one of the leaders in the critically important veterans organization, Semperify and America's Fund.

Starting point is 00:00:43 It is Wednesday, November 12, 20, 25. This is the Daily Signals, Top News, in 10. It's a privilege this Veterans Day to be joined by the one and always Marine, Zach Stinson. Good to have you, by the way. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. If we can actually get the interview actually to run and work, you know, fingers crossed through the whole thing here. You've got an incredible story. Obviously, a lot of incredible stories have come out of the sandbox.

Starting point is 00:01:12 But coming home and dealing with life after a major rehabilitation process after the IED and then serving other service members is, really, really incredible story. Tell us a little bit about it if you could. You know, it's just been a wild ride. And I tell everybody the easiest way through, I mean, out is just to continue through. So we've just been pushing through constantly, kind of whenever things don't even make sense, honestly. But I think I gained a lot of that from the Marine Corps, adapt and overcome, and just figuring how to keep pushing and getting better. I've been very fortunate to have a good support system and yeah since injury they've been with me

Starting point is 00:02:07 I mean my family my wife and me are going to be celebrating 16 years at the end of this month congratulations thank you thank you so she's been there since day one I got two wonderful girls and you know it's just try to get through each day and then go into the next what's it like to wake up six days after just that again that really horrible moment with the IED and I got I just want to make sure this is this is clear here I know you were medevaced off the scene did you go through the 25 surgeries all in six days

Starting point is 00:02:41 or how many surgeries in those six days did you go through before you even woke up for the first time well so I'll go back to the to the original like the the day so November 9th 2010 is whenever I got blown up um my squad was tasked with doing uh QRF um I was the the squad leader. And so we had dropped some heavy ordinance. We had to go do a battle damage assessment on that ordinance. And so we walk across this field. There's a wall that runs north the south of the village. I take point from that position and jump the wall. And 10, 15 yards on the other side, I stepped down with my left leg and boom, I'm in the air. Couldn't move. My guys actually thought I was dead. Fortunately, they got to me quick enough that there wasn't.

Starting point is 00:03:29 really any issues or anything, and started rendering aid. We started getting shot at, so they pushed me on the other side of the wall. And eventually, 45 minutes, we got me on the bird and put me an induced coma. And so that was in Bogrom. I woke up in Bethesda six days later. And so the 25 surgeries, I say that as like a bench safety mark kind of thing. I have no idea how many surgeries. It's actually 25 is probably more on the low end. I would assume I've probably had 35 plus through the course of the entire the thing. But at one point, I was going in getting three surgeries a week.

Starting point is 00:04:16 Monday, Wednesday, Fridays were washouts, just cleaning everything out. The dirt over in Afghanistan is really how we actually had a lot of guys lose limbs or even pass away. that dust is it gets you man it's it gets in every single crevice and just infection rides on every single grain and it you're right i i i actually knew a guy who who was lost to infection just entirely in in um well that's another story for another time uh but uh what i wanted to focus on here and what the really incredible story that i wanted to spend a little bit of time with We've worked with several groups before bringing on the show and talking about support groups, support funds. Tell us a little bit about Semperfi and America's Fund or the Fund, as you call it.

Starting point is 00:05:08 So the fund is an organization that supports wounded, ill, and injured through whatever branch and really just gives support, whether it be adaptive equipment, whether it be a vehicle grant, golf, neurophithe, therapy and many more that I'm drawing a blank exactly on what all that covers. But emotional, physical, medical auxiliary supports that you maybe wouldn't even think of. That's why you have those guys to think of the things that men might need coming back from those injuries. And a lot of them, a lot of the staff are prior service or spouses of service members. And so they get it. I mean, that's, that's what, it was started by nurses, but, Marines husbands to help vets in Pendleton.

Starting point is 00:06:00 So I can't say enough good things about them. And truly, like, whenever I go back to having that good support system, having my wife and my kids and everything, the fund is right there with them. Like, I don't know exactly what number it was, like the third or the fourth person that came in and approached my wife after I had gotten to Bethesda. but I'd imagine it was probably in the close to the top 10. Like, hey, we're with Semperfying America's Fund. Here's my card.

Starting point is 00:06:33 Whatever you need. Like, we're going to help you walk through this process. And obviously, it was very overwhelming for my wife initially. And then you kind of fall into the groove. Like, what I say a lot is there's no how-to guide to getting blown up, right? Like, I didn't get blown up and my wife got a packet. Like, this is your life now. So we've learned a lot of things as we've gone through this process, and the fund has literally been there every step of the way.

Starting point is 00:07:01 It started out as small as making sure, like, when I got blown up, my wife was four months pregnant with our daughter. So it made sure that my wife had a place to stay, like working on that she was comfortable. I shouldn't say that the government did make sure she had a place to say, but that she was comfortable. The big thing that sticks out in our mind, honestly, when we tell this story, is that, they gave us winter coats because I got blown up in November. We lived down in North Carolina. We're from Pennsylvania. We understand it gets cold. But we just didn't, like, we had a house down in North Carolina. It wasn't necessarily one of our first priorities to make sure that she packed all of her winter clothes coming up from North Carolina. And so that was just something that the fund was there and just

Starting point is 00:07:46 made sure that they did. And then throughout this whole process, I used to just joke and say that my original case manager, her name was Dawn. And I used to say that Dawn was a ghost, wasn't even real. Because everybody in my family, like through this whole two months I met Bethesda initially, would just talk about this lady, Dawn, Dawn, Dawn, Dawn. I had never met her. And in actuality I had, I was so medicated that what was happening was I would meet her or like talk to her and then I would fall asleep, and then it wouldn't come back to me.

Starting point is 00:08:24 We like to joke that I had Christmas that year like five different times because by the time, and literally my wife would play along with it, I think by the third, fourth time or whatever, because I'd wake up and be like, is it Christmas? And she's like, yes, look what I got you. And I was like, it's my favorite thing ever. But it was literally like any child's dream, because I got to live it literally five or six times that day.

Starting point is 00:08:47 It was great. you know i think that it just uh just to take a small side step here is an american there is an incredible amount of pride that i feel at the number of veterans assistance organizations that have gotten their hands dirty in the the nitty and the gritty of what it means to provide not just a couple of resources not just to go tell your wife hey we're here for you if you need anything whatever ambiguous thing that might be but whether it's veteran action whether it's Semperify in America's fund, whether it's any of these particular groups that have taken the time to reach out to veterans and their families, especially those who have been in serious

Starting point is 00:09:25 injuries, and step alongside them with something that could be is, well, someone I consider small. Someone might actually consider, well, a winner coat, you know, big deal, who cares. The little things like that aren't so little when it's in the middle of that. I mean, I wouldn't say crisis, but it's a marathon of continual pain and readjustment. And I think it's something that I'm, I'm, it's something that I can't really get enough of. You know how like around the 4th of July you can't get enough of like the NASCAR and the NFL montages with like, you know, battleships from the Navy and like, you know, the air assault team because, you know, the air assault team's really good for video promos. But that all said,

Starting point is 00:10:09 it is something that gives you pride that's long lasting as an American. to know that there are guys and gals that are devoting their lives to digging into the real psychological and physical trauma and making sure that vets and their families have what they need, including community. I believe they, did the fun get you into sports again, which, did I hear that right? Yeah, so I do head cycling. I'm actually on the U.S. parricycling team, at least until January. But yeah, so they've been.

Starting point is 00:10:40 So you're one of the bicyclists that don't annoy me. you can count those on like one hand man that's that's impressive yeah well i'm even worse i ride in the middle of the road so people say oh but uh but no i mean that that that really is it as well as uh therapy through sport or really it goes beyond that too because uh another thing that i like to tell people is so i got injured and i was probably walking around afghanistan at 170 165 whatever. Sure. I got blown up. I probably was down to 100, 110 pounds. Gracious. So I don't know exactly what I weighed because I really couldn't move, but I still remember the doctor came in and was like, we just need you to eat. But the thing was, no one ever told me

Starting point is 00:11:27 to stop eating. So like three months later, and I'm, I mean, excuse me, this, like months and months later and I look in the mirror and I'm huge. I probably, I would say at my heaviest, I was probably at like 220 pounds. And whenever I had legs, it was as easy as like, okay, well, I'm overweight, so we just need to go run. But now it was trying to find out something else that I could do to get that cardio in. And so you just kind of have to find something. And I think that goes for, I mean, really, anybody with an injury or even adults, really, you just got to find something that keeps you active and keeps you moving. And fortunately, I found mine in hand cycling.

Starting point is 00:12:08 I happened to be halfway decent at it. And yeah, so, yeah, they've been instrumental in a lot of my sports equipment stuff, and I would not be able to compete at half the competitions had it not been for them. Man, I tell you what, a sart that can't stay away from sports. I tell you what, man, I love it. I do. I knew, I got to say, by the way, just as a small aside, I know the Marine Corps has no problem with this at all

Starting point is 00:12:38 because it's the kind of guys that the Marines make into great NCOs. But when you were telling me the story of how you struck the IED, that you said, I was squad leader and so I took point. Dude, I'm telling you, after I was over in the Middle East a couple of weeks ago over in Israel and I had the mispleasure the displeasure of observing some UN troops in action. Oh, dude, it was just rough. It hurt every part of my body and soul.

Starting point is 00:13:08 And so just even that small story reminding me that, yes, we do in fact have NCOs that not only while they're in service, they're taking point. Now you're taking point with Tessa, again, with Semperify and the Fund. Dude, I just love it. I don't care if the interviews over time. I never get to hear good stories like these. It's always someone coming on and they're all bummed and it's some congressional political something and it's exhausting.

Starting point is 00:13:34 This is awesome, man. I'm thrilled. No, man. It's life's too short, man. There's joy in everything. And honestly, I went through that as well. There's plenty of times whenever it was just like, woe is me. But there were the time also, I still remember it. And I believe I was in the Malone House in D.C. But I was like, the world is going to just keep spinning. like I can move with it or I can stay back and just feel sorry for myself and get all upset but it really doesn't care so my attitude is either going to attract people to me or it's going to push them away and I mean 15 years later I might be pushing more people away at this point but but I have I have a work ethic behind it I'm sorry sarned I hate to push back on you like

Starting point is 00:14:20 this but I will uh but no it's it's crucial that we have guys like you who've been in the bottom of that valley where you thought the world's just going to keep spinning and it sucks and I don't know my way out of it. You guys have to be leading the charge in a way that I never could. I can do, what I can do on this is I can point people to you and those who are tuning into the Tony Kennett cast, either podcast streaming or whatever we're on, they have access to you and God willing, if there's someone in their life that is in the middle of this crisis, whether it's a physical or a psychological injury, whether it's getting home. And we talked about this with the veterans action guys who are working on getting guys

Starting point is 00:14:57 reattached to a community to lean on and to be needed from instead of just being this weird floating cell out by their lonesome that to know what is going on inside the guy's head like you truly do I mean that's not just crucial if anyone else other than a guy like you takes the program I'm walking away I'm not pointing the magnifying glass at it because it's going to be as effective. Yeah, there's true to that for sure. And that's, that goes back to what I would say with the fund in any adaptive sports programs. Like, I get, I do marathons.

Starting point is 00:15:35 I do these competitions with other vets. And whether they're just starting out or they've been doing it for a couple of years, it's, it's really hard being in the military. You know, your next year brothers and sisters every day for an umph amount of years. And one day you retire, you go home, and then that's all just gone. You know what I mean? So it was a little bit of a shell shock, especially being at the hospital for two years and having guys with injuries.

Starting point is 00:16:03 And then I came back and guess what? No one has injuries. And I still have these organizations and Marine Corps League and other things like that. But not everybody is going through the same things I end. And honestly, a big thing that I ran into initially was not everybody was my age. You had a lot of these Vietnam, even more. more so back then, but World War II veterans, and it was hard to find people that I could relate to. So through the years and being with the fund at, like, Marine Corps Marathon, I'm back together

Starting point is 00:16:38 with all my brothers, and we're all looking at this common goal 26 miles that's put in front of us, and we all have this same ambition of, you know, we're going to cross the finish line, and we're going to freaking walk, crawl, or do fly, whatever way we're. we can get across it. So it's just a great thing. It really is. Again, you know, not just limited to the O-E-F vets, but I tell you what, the kids are going to be all right with the OEF NCOs, man. I love it. I really do. Well, that said, Sergeant Zach Stinson, I'm sorry to keep you, again, like double what I normally do for an interview. Thefund.org. That is t-H-E-F-U-N-D.org. go donate if you're listening to the show that's what i'm going to do i'm going to hop off this

Starting point is 00:17:24 interview before producer nick even gets to edit it i'm going to go donate because this is crucial if we can send our vets somewhere we should be willing and may i say excited about making sure their families are whole and those vets are put together when they come back home sergeant thanks for joining us can i also just point out real quick yes you can semperifying america's fund uh is getting the matches on with the Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation and PXG. So until the end of the year, Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation and PXG will match $7.5 million given to the fund. Dude, that's incredible.

Starting point is 00:18:03 They legally don't let me near golf courses. They just don't. I mean, I'm a menace, and I don't mean in a good way. So I doubt that I would ever, but, dude, I tell you what, we'll support it either way. And that's excellent. We'll keep up. We'll have to have you back on when they do that. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:18:17 I'll tell you what I have to come out and, interview you when you're getting into the hand cycling, man. I'm telling you, that's good stuff. All about it, man. I really appreciate you having me. It was been a good time. Before you go, head down to the description and consider donating at thefund.org and helping some of our wounded vets and their families. And join us tonight on the Tony Kinnett cast at 7 p.m. Eastern for a wrap-up from that defense summit and the day's news and nonsense. I'm Tony Kinnett, and this has been The Daily Signals, Top News in 10. Take care.

The Daily Signal - From IED Casualty to U.S. Olympic Athlete: USMC Sgt. Zach Stinson | Nov. 12, 2025

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