Marshall Bahr is breaking the stigma, letting veterans know it's okay to ask for help after returning home from service. 

“You don't have to be someone that is under a bridge suffering. It can affect anyone, it doesn't matter what color, what race, what your socioeconomic status is,” Bahr said. 

The Salem, Ohio physician specializes in helping veterans get mental health and substance abuse help with his organization “Lead The Way Recovery.”

“It's a play on what I did in the rangers because the motto for the rangers is ‘rangers lead the way’ and so I wanted to lead the way in the field of addiction medicine,” he said. 

Prioritizing getting help after serving is close to Bahr’s heart. He suffered from PTSD and substance abuse after serving as an Army Ranger combat medic from 2004 to 2010.

“Having gone through it myself I felt like this was my opportunity to be a champion for the people who didn’t have the voice that wanted it but didn't know who to look up to or how to achieve it,” he said. 

But providing a place for help was only half of the issue.

“Where I came from it was a special operations unit, it was all men ... for some reason they had this inability to ask for help,” he explained. “You're trained to not ask for help, you're trained to kind of move on to the objective and complete the mission at all costs.”

That’s why he's spreading awareness and making it easy to connect former service members to his resources. 

His other program “Helping Hero’s” reaches veterans nationwide, making counseling for PTSD and substance abuse available in any area.

“We're all human and we all feel and we just need to figure out how to empower people to express those feelings,” Bahr said. 

Bahr has also started a program called “Xterra Health” to help veterans navigate the confusing VA disability claims process. 

For his work helping others, Bahr was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame. He and 19 others received medals and certificates from Governor Mike DeWine for exceptional professionalism and contributions to their communities.