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501(c)(3) Veteran Service Organization — Colorado Springs, CO

the Charlie Company
Cooperative

The VA door is open. We help you walk through it.

The VA has programs for you — healthcare, disability compensation, mental health care, education, housing. More than most veterans ever access. The barrier isn't the system. It's that service trained you not to raise your hand.

We're a small-unit, direct-action VSO — husband and wife — in Colorado Springs. We find veterans who haven't asked yet, walk through that door with them, and stay in formation through the whole process: claims, diagnoses, community, and growth.

Take a knee, face out, drink water. We've got your six.

What we know — and why it matters

By the time most veterans finally raise their hand and say I need help, they've already lived through years of broken relationships, housing instability, addiction — sometimes disappearing entirely. That's not weakness. That's training. Combat arms conditions you to absorb pain, stay mission-focused, and never show a crack in the armor. That instinct doesn't turn off when you ETS.

Multiple yearlong deployments produce Complex PTSD — chronic, layered, physiological. The prefrontal cortex runs at redline for a year at a time, multiple times. It doesn't break. It adapts — builds highways where they're needed and lets the neighborhood roads go dark. The neural pathway from "loud noise" to "I'm safe, this is a parking lot" no longer exists as a fast road. You need to walk it before it becomes one again.

There's also a brief every combat vet knows by heart: Shout. Show. Shove. Shoot. Shoot. In the military, raising your voice is the floor — the most restrained possible response. As a civilian, it's the ceiling. The other four are crimes. You're not out of control. You're running a program that kept people alive. It just hasn't been patched for the new mission.

You're not a former infantryman who can't function — you're one who hasn't had the right support yet. That's a very different problem, and a solvable one.

Ready to talk

No pitch, no forms. Call or text — a veteran who has been there picks up. Any branch, any era, any MOS.

(REP) CHARLEE →

Not ready yet

Start with The Brief — plain-language breakdown of what C-PTSD does to a brain, how to rebuild, and how to tell your story at your C&P exam.

Read The Brief →

Why we do this

My name is Ian, and I've been in your boots.

I enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves in 1996 as a 2311 ammo tech, then joined the Army in 2003 as an 11B Infantryman. Two tours in Iraq — Kirkuk and Baqubah in '06–'07, Samarra in '08–'09. Retrained as a 46Q combat journalist at DINFOS, then moved to Fort Carson with the Rough Riders for a third deployment — Kandahar, Afghanistan, '10–'11, where I made Staff Sergeant. ETSd in 2013.

When I walked out those gates, life didn't get simpler. I couldn't keep relationships. I fell into homelessness repeatedly, blamed myself, thought something was just wrong with me. I kept seeking help and kept getting dismissed as a "healthy" human. In 2017 I disappeared for 42 days and came to on a beach in Oregon. Three separate stays at the VA residential program in Hot Springs. Still rated at 30% PTSD while the whole thing was burning down around me.

I didn't know how to ask for what I needed — and I was good at looking like I had it together.

When I finally learned to communicate what service actually did to me, and found the right people to stand alongside me, everything changed. I married Hilary — who became C3's co-founder. We returned to the Church. We built this. In 2023 I was rated 100% P&T — and the resources were there the whole time.

I'm here so that doesn't happen to you.

How it works

Since 2023, C3 has helped more than a dozen veterans secure accurate diagnoses, correct VA ratings, and access the care they earned. Here's the process:

  1. 1

    We talk.

    No agenda. We want to understand your service history, what life looks like now, and what you've already tried.

  2. 2

    We assess.

    Together we build a picture of your claims, your current ratings, and what's missing.

  3. 3

    We translate.

    We help you tell your story in the clinical civilian language the VA needs to hear — so what you've carried finally gets recorded correctly.

  4. 4

    We stay.

    We follow up. We check in. We don't disappear when the paperwork does.

On the horizon

C3 is building toward programs that go beyond claims and diagnoses — into leadership, mentorship, and physical community:

All programs are in the planning and building phase. Get in touch to learn more or get involved.

Resources & C3 network

For veterans

The Brief C-PTSD, the Five S's, and telling your story at your C&P exam
zonk.vet Step-by-step VA disability claim guide — every vet, every MOS
VA Form 21-526EZ File your disability claim or request a rating increase
PACT Act Burn pit and toxic exposure benefits — expanded eligibility
Burn Pit Registry Register your burn pit and toxic exposure history

The C3 network

Connect with us

Call or Text (737) 242-7533 (REP) CHARLEE — stories, questions, help
Email c3@charlieco.co We read everything.
Location Colorado Springs, CO Serving Veterans nationwide.
EIN 93-3744013 Registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Support the mission