Army vet who overcame homelessness, drug addiction, will be presidential guest at the SOTU
There were days when Army veteran Tony Rankins was living out of his car and jobless. "I felt humiliated, embarrassed... I couldn't face my family, my children, my wife was gone... I felt I had nothing else to live for," Rankins said.
After he returned from a tour in Afghanistan, Rankins felt the collapsing weight of PTSD. His wife left him, and he became consumed by drug addiction - a way to escape his flashbacks. But after being in and out of jail and locked up for 18 months at one point, he found a lifeline - a construction project being carried out by R Investments. That was two years ago.
The Denver based company has trained Rankins in construction trades including carpentry, framing, brick work and painting.