Veteran reintegration starts well before discharge. This chapter places post-service outcomes within a biopsychosocial framework that begins in childhood, where Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) influence stress response, attachment, and trust in institutions. Protective figures serve as buffers through co-regulation and moral modeling. The narrative traces a path from early loss to service as a Fleet Marine Force (FMF) Corpsman, highlighting the dual role of healer and combatant, ongoing threat processing, and emotional regulation under sustained stress. Failures in elite training become a turning point, viewed through concepts like posttraumatic growth and stress inoculation. Homecoming reveals gaps in decompression and clashes with care systems, including institutional betrayal and discontinuity. Throughout these phases, identity strain, meaning-making, and social integration are key factors for recovery. By integrating empirical research with lived experience, the chapter emphasizes the BRAVE framework’s premise: reintegration involves cumulative, system-wide effects of pre-service adversities, in-service exposures, and post-service environments, forming the foundation for developing BRAVE Theory.