Marine vet finds purpose in the cage

MMA: Marine vet finds purpose in the cage
UT San Diego
By Dennis Lin
DEC. 2, 2013

It might seem an unusual pairing: PTSD and MMA.

Yet both have become part of Shane Kruchten's reality, their indelible connection written in ink.

On the Marine Corps veteran's back are the names of 19 fallen soldiers. Fifteen of them died in 2004, during the battle for Fallujah, Iraq. Every time Kruchten steps into the cage, he is a walking, fighting memorial.

"I deal with a lot of survivor's guilt," Kruchten said, "so I wanted them to know, they had my back, I'll always have theirs. I never want people to forget the price of freedom."

Kruchten, 29, discovered the cost of war more than a decade ago. The Oshkosh, Wis., native graduated high school early and, acting on a lifelong sense of duty, enlisted in the Marines at 17. Stationed at Camp Pendleton, he dreamed of serving for 20 years.

That dream was cut short at three. In 2004, an IED blast left him with a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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