DONLEIGH O. GAUNKY completed basic training on September 13, 2001. Assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, he was later reassigned to the 205th Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Shafter, Hawaii. Gaunky served two tours of duty in Iraq between 2003 and 2006. After leaving the service, he earned a BS in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse. He remains and advocate for veterans and survivor issues, with a particular emphasis on addressing veteran suicides, for which he gave a TEDx presentation in 2014.