CINCINNATI — Daniel Guidos enlisted in the U.S. Army at just 20, driven by a deep sense of duty and gratitude instilled by his immigrant parents. The events of 9/11, which had unfolded when he was just 11 years old, had solidified his resolve.
"I knew from that moment I was going to join the military," Guidos said.
Guidos' service as a medic allowed him to prove himself, eventually earning him the opportunity to attend nursing school and become an LPN. It was a transition that would prove invaluable in the years to come. But the road ahead was not an easy one.
When his time in the Army ended abruptly due to a traumatic brain injury sustained when a drunk driver crashed into him, the transition to civilian life proved to be a daunting task.
"I was not ready to get out," he admitted. "It was not planned."
He attempted suicide.
“I didn't want to ask for help, and I felt like I was failing my family. So that was a lot of it, the guilt,” Guidos said.
For the first two years, he struggled to find his footing, bouncing between six to 10 different jobs as he grappled with the sudden loss of the structure and purpose that had defined his life in the military. The TBI had left him with debilitating headaches and sensitivity to light, further complicating his efforts to adapt.
"It was almost like a rejection that the military was saying I wasn't good enough anymore, and then nothing else felt right," Guidos said.
With four children, he and his wife decided to move to Cincinnati, drawn by the promise of family support. But fate had other plans, as his uncle, the initial connection to the city, retired and moved away, leaving them without a safety net. The COVID-19 pandemic only added to the challenges, as Guidos navigated the uncertainty of the job market and the emotional toll of being unable to hug his children.
Faced with the prospect of falling into homelessness, Guidos made a decision that would ultimately change the trajectory of his life. Swallowing his pride, he reached out to Goodwill, an organization he had heard about but never imagined needing assistance from.
"I don't like to ask for help,” Guidos said. “We're very proud of figuring things out on our own, so asking for help from anybody was hard. Asking for help from an organization as large as Goodwill was incredibly difficult."
But for the sake of his family, Guidos knew he had to take that step.
“We were doing some outreach at Great American Ball Park, and Daniel took the incentive to come over and talk to our case managers, and we were immediately able to take him into our program and to provide assistance,” said Susie Skeens, Director for Shelter and Supportive Housing for Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries.
She said Guidos was a little hesitant to accept the help and guidance from a Goodwill case manager, however, they were able to work through the variety of ways the organization could help him and his family.
Goodwill has a dormitory for veterans who are experiencing homelessness. Fortunately, Guidos wasn’t at that stage, but he admits bills were coming due and work was still a challenge.
"Goodwill came in right on time," he said. "They helped me get back into nursing."
His case manager was able to help him transfer his nursing certification out of New York and into Ohio. This action opened the door for Guidos to become actively employed in a career field he enjoyed.
“They helped me get scrubs. They helped me get gas cards so that I could get to and from job interviews, get to and from work in the beginning, until I started making a paycheck,” Guidos said. “Just put me in the right direction.”
Susie Skeens said preventing someone like Guidos from becoming homeless and taking advantage of the variety of services offered is about a simple message that they genuinely care.
“Sometimes that barrier is just self-confidence, so that word of encouragement goes a long way to say, hey, we are here for you,” Skeens said.
As for Guidos, he tells me the one piece of advice he would pass on to any other veterans who see his story is that it’s okay to ask for help.
“Asking for help as a sign of strength, not as a sign of weakness,” he said. “That's why the programs are there. They're there so that we don't go through that kind of stuff alone.”
And those dark times and thoughts of suicide ... Guidos said those days are behind him.
"It's just maintaining gratitude at this point in my life, I would not be here if it wasn't for everybody that I met along the way, whether it's been positive or negative interactions with people. I'm here because of those interactions and those people, so I can look back on everything with gratitude," Guidos said.
The veteran services at Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries are directly funded by donations and partially through purchases at area thrift stores.
If you are a veteran or family member of a veteran looking for veteran-specific solutions to your specific situation you can visit their specialized services page of theirwebsite here.
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.
