014 - Ryan Manion
“If not me, then who?” - 1stLt Travis Manion, USMC
The mission of the Travis Manion Foundation (TMF) is to unite and strengthen communities by training, developing, and highlighting the role models that lead them. Ryan Manion, TMF’s President, joins Emily and Jason on Episode 014 to tell the story of TMF - a non-profit her mother started after the passing of her brother Travis in Iraq on April 29, 2007.
Ryan co-wrote “The Knock at the Door” as a personal history as well as a roadmap for “those with the courage to love others” to navigate the loss of a loved someone too soon through any type of tragedy. In this episode she shares the impact of her parents and upbringing in a military family; her 9/11 story and how it altered the course of her life; her own “knock at the door” and her family’s response; what “character isn’t cancelled” means; how TMF as a grassroots, bottom-up organization empowers veterans to continue to serve especially now during a pandemic; and overall what it means to be vulnerable through tragedy and “struggle well.”
Links:
Ryan's book “The Knock at the Door”
Colonel Manion's book “Brothers Forever”
Ryan on CBS Sunday Morning