via Chef Rush
This story discusses the topic of suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Chef Andre Rush has gone viral many times over the last five years – usually for his iconic 22-inch biceps or 950,000 Instagram followers. A former U.S. Army Master Sergeant, Chef Rush served as a White House chef for Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump.
Sometimes he goes by the nickname “the world’s strongest chef,” for good reason. Since going viral in 2018, Chef Rush has repeatedly stated that he does 2,222 push-ups a day – an important and symbolic number.
Every day, 22 veterans tragically lose their battles with post-traumatic stress. Those 2,222 daily push-ups are how Chef Rush honors and remembers veterans who lost the fight with their mental health on the home front.
The Alarming Statistics on Veteran Suicides in the United States
Just look at the troubling statistics listed on the website of Face The Fight, based on data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
- The veteran suicide rate is 57% higher than the national average.
- Over 120,000 veterans have died by suicide since 2001.
- The veteran suicide rate is currently 1.5 times the rate of the general population.
- Over half of service members who die by suicide do not have a mental illness.
- Suicide is the second leading cause of death among post 9/11 veterans.
- Suicide rates for male veterans between 18-34 years old nearly doubled since 2006.
Face The Fight: A Coalition for Change
Face The Fight is a new coalition with a goal to cut the veteran suicide rate in half by 2030. The group was established by USAA and The USAA Foundation, with the Humana Foundation and Reach Resilience, an Endeavors Foundation as founding partners. All in, the group has raised over $41 million in philanthropic grants for the cause, working closely with the VA and the Department of Defense (DoD) on veteran suicide resources and initiatives.
“I have PTSD, and I have been open about it for a long time. I always emphasized that it was okay to have PTSD, but it wasn’t okay not to seek support,” Chef Andre Rush tells BroBible during an interview about the initiative.
“But I was also one of those guys who was stigmatized. I stigmatized myself because I was a big guy.” Rush continues. He tells me that, as a big guy in the military, he felt like there was a stigma associated with showing vulnerability.
“Just like you, we’re really big guys. And we understand that people look at us like we are just unbreakable. We’re planets, we’re rocks, we cannot be breaking. Sometimes we personally take on that persona, and we start thinking that internally for ourselves, knowing that we are messed up or something is going on with us, but we can never say it out loud. Sometimes we wait for our buddies to say it, but they won’t say it and come look at each other.”
“I’ll be very honest with you. I get emotional about this one because it is near and dear to my heart, not only as a veteran, but as a father, but as an American, as a soldier, and so many things,” Rush adds about working with Face The Fight as an advocate and spokesperson.
“So that’s what I love about this. Because when you get it together, we support each other. We come hand in hand and say, “Hey, are you okay?” We do buddy checks, are you okay? That’s what this initiative is about. It’s a totally new approach.”
Chef Rush’s Personal Journey With PTSD
I asked Chef Rush to talk about his mental health journey during, along with his advocacy work for veterans in their own battles with PTSD.
Below, we discuss Chef Rush’s experience with PTSD, how he sought help, and how he leaned into cooking as therapy.
With your own battle with PTSD, what was the thing that made you realize you needed to ask for help?
So, that’s a great question. No one’s ever asked me that question before. Mine started back on 9/11. I was there in the Pentagon.
I’ll be honest with you, PTSD was something that wasn’t talked about. Not in the military. It was also very stigmatized back then. When I say stigmatized, it was like ‘that’s a touchy subject, let’s not talk about that.’ It gets into your head.
When I initially sought help, it was because of a rather traumatic incident. I was a young soldier then, working with the Department of Defense police and some squad teams. We used to work out together. Tragically, we lost some of our comrades at the DOD gym. The entire experience was deeply traumatic. It was then when my older colleagues approached me and suggested, ‘Hey, there are professionals here who can help.’
So, I decided to reach out.
“Maybe you should go talk to somebody, Chef. I’m gonna talk to someone. I’m gonna talk to someone.” And I’m like, okay? Maybe I should. I didn’t know, but I’m just following suit because these big guys are telling me I should go talk to someone.
So when I asked for help. I got, ‘do you like your job?’ I knew what that meant. I didn’t know everything else, but I knew exactly what that meant. And so I said, ‘Roger, I got it. ‘ And so that happened.
It’s like an old bomb sitting around underground, and it’s just collecting dirt and dust and becoming rusty and more and more dangerous, more and more vital and more and more, more pungent of what it is. And that was me.
My last trip after Iraq was 2017 or so. I knew that was it. I knew that I was in a place I didn’t want to be. I had a lot more time to myself, and my mind was working against myself. My commanding general called me to his office and pointed it out.
I knew already that he would, because I was already feeling pretty destructive. I was always feeling, because in certain situations I will let things slide, but some people want to control you or remind you who you work for, or remind you that you’re in, they’re superior towards you.
But my mindset was just going, I wasn’t in the right place. I had a few things that already happen. I had lost a soldier from suicide. I’m was still doing the things that I’m doing – we do our job and we do our job diligently.
And that’s what he said to me. He said, ‘Andre, You’ve done your job. You’ve done your job diligently, and you’ve served your country. Now it’s time for your country to serve you.’
When he said that I got offended, I got mad. Literally, I got upset because I knew he had broken my little code, I would let my code show and I had never let it show.
This is two decades later (after joining the military), I had never let it show. Now I knew it was time for me to get help. Otherwise, it’s not only affects you, it affects your family or friends, relatives, even people you don’t know. You turn that energy to everyone.
In the military, we’re taught and trained to be that working force, that unbreakable military force, whether in war or peace time. We are trained for it.
Your family is not trained for it. They didn’t ask for that. Your kids didn’t ask for that, your wife didn’t ask, your husband didn’t ask for that. Your friends didn’t ask for that. Now imagine that domino effect of what’s happening to them in their minds if it’s happening to you and you bringing that home every and each day, and they don’t know what to do or how to come combat it.
Power of Cooking and Fitness
I know that cooking and fitness have been important aspects of your life and have provided therapeutic benefits. Could you share more about how these endeavors have helped you?
You’re exactly right. Both parts. I did a deep dive into cooking more so to help with my mental health, because sometimes when I was going through my moments, even though fitness was part of my therapy, cooking would be like art.
I stopped working out. The thing about food is you gotta still eat. You gotta keep eating.
I started cooking more so after 9/11, I started cooking because it became my therapy. It was my coping to triggers. It was something that I went back to and honed in. But then I also started doing it for veterans, going through the same things I was going through. I called a sort of program called Cooking to Cope.
I would just go to stores and get food, with no remedies and no recipes. And I would just have all of us cook together. And of course, they didn’t know how to cook, especially men. And then they would start cooking and trying to make stuff and it would go wrong, go bad, and get frustrated. And then they would ask the questions, and then they would start laughing. And at the end of dessert, we would eat each other’s food.
Of course, their food taste like crap half the time. But it was fun.
You got guys laughing at each other, talking about each other in a way where it’s like it was normal and natural. But the end result was that they brought in their families, they brought in their spouses, they brought in their kids and all of that.
The kids would maybe say something like “He doesn’t talk to us, she doesn’t talk to us.” Now cooking becomes a communication. Now I did that with the kids. Now cooking is a bonding activity for families.’
I had also had the opportunity to teach them why my body looks the way it is. So I teach them how cooking is really for holistic medication. It’s love, it’s family, it’s connection. It’s all those different things. And then I showed them the health benefits of the cooking.
So now not only are they feeling their body, but they’re feeling their minds that go along with it – their souls, their spirit. And also the most important part is they’re reconnecting with their families again and themselves.
Did you have a particular cuisine or cooking style that you found yourself drawn to, where you could lose yourself in the process due to your passion for it?
I love culture. I love eating food from different places, but I do this thing where I want the culture from it.
I can go to a five star restaurant here in DC or a Michelin Star, it does nothing for me. I go, ‘Ooh and nah, I want to taste culture.’ I want to taste your grandmothers from that deep down south. Or I want to go to Texas and taste that barbecue, or I want to go to Brazil and eat that meat that they have. Or I want to go to Korea. I want to go to Africa and have the injera like I did last night, where I could eat with my hands and then have the traditional coffees that go along with it.
That stimulates me, that makes me, that makes my mind grow, that gives me that life and passion for it. Because it brings people to another world.
I want to understand why they cook the way they do. It’s like therapy for my mind, expanding my perspective beyond our stigmatic approach to food and life. By experiencing different culinary traditions, I find inspiration and passion that keeps me driving forward.
Chef Rush’s Career, Growth, and Advocacy Work
You’ve achieved so much as a chef. How did you feel your career aligned with your personal growth and the advocacy work you were doing?
That’s a great question. I’ll be very honest. I have many accolades and achievements, but I haven’t celebrated them yet. I haven’t had ceremonies for my promotions or displayed my awards. They’re all in boxes because I’m still growing. I know I have accomplished things internally, but I believe there’s so much more I can do. Right now, I am focused on the most impactful and powerful campaign I’ve ever been a part of: Facing the Fight. It’s on an astronomical scale, changing lives, mindsets, and organizations.
What are some key takeaways or actionable advice you can offer to veterans when it comes to their mental health and struggles, emphasizing that they are not alone?
First and foremost, accountability and self-reflection are crucial. Recognize that something is wrong and don’t ignore it. This applies not only to veterans but also to their family members. We often take for granted that someone seems fine based on their appearance or stature. Resources like the National Suicide Helpline (899 number) or wefacethefight.org can provide guidance and support. It’s essential to hold oneself accountable and take steps to address mental health, whether through professional help or reaching out to support organizations like Stop Soldier Suicide.
You have the, first realize that there’s something going on and not just ignore it. This applies not only to veterans but also to their family members. We often take for granted that someone seems fine based on their appearance or stature. Like I was saying – “Oh, you’re a big guy” and people assuming someone is okay.
You have to look at yourself, self-reflect and say, “Hey, something’s wrong with me. I need to talk to someone” and follow through.
The second step is to reach out and do one of those things, like I just said, whether it be talking to someone and they can verify it. It’s like a doctor’s note, get a second opinion and keep going with that part. Like I said, great resources is wefacethefight.org. They’ll give you a whole flow information that you need to do and how to do it.
There are a few of other things you’ll have to ask yourself, which is really hard. What am I doing in my life? Am I being inside? Am I doing this? What’s my change in my behaviors? No one knows yourself better than you.
But at the same time, talking with your loved ones and asking those same questions. Then you are actually being proactive.
All those mental things don’t come just from, you know, only wartime situations. They come from, you know, things like financial security too – that’s why USAA is here on that part of it. But it also comes from transitioning from the military to being a civilian, or just feeling your self worth and not feeling validated now that you’re out of the military.
There are so many things. I had to ask myself all those hard questions. Even if you try to deny yourself, you gotta ask again and say, “Hey, this is what I need for my life, this is what I need to go and move forward.”
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).