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Jon Bon Jovi's Incredible New Song 'Unbroken' Honors Veterans with PTSD: 'Where's My Brothers? Where's My Country?'

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Many of us used Monday to reflect on the benefits we enjoy because of the sacrifices of others, and Jon Bon Jovi was no different. Like many, the rock star has a personal link to the military, as both his parents served.

“My mom and dad met in the Marine Corps, which I think is pretty neat,” he said, according to CBS News. “My mom was a Marine, and she wasn’t afraid of boot camp.”

“Service was always important; my parents taught us that. And although I didn’t serve, my three best buddies — there were four of us in high school — we all got the call. I had a belief that I was going to be doing what I do; the other three guys joined the Navy. That’s where we come from.”

Bon Jovi recently joined forces with the creators of a new documentary that follows the lives of veterans and their service animals, writing a song that was a bit of a challenge for him.

“It was going to be a difficult task because I hadn’t served in the military,” he told CBS News. “You have to be honest if you’re going to take on this task, and be truthful in its delivery, so that men and women who did serve will feel a pride when they hear this song.”

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The song is called “Unbroken,” and it deals with PTSD and the sense of displacement that many servicemen and women experience when they come back “home” to a place that no longer feels like home:

It’s 18 months now, I’ve been stateside,
With this medal on my chest
But there are things I can’t remember
And there are things I won’t forget
I lie awake at night
With dreams the devil shouldn’t see.
I wanna scream, but I can’t breathe …
I’m sweatin’ through these sheets.

Where’s my brothers? Where’s my country?
Where’s my “how things used to be”?



Bon Jovi spoke with those who had more experience in an attempt to really transmit the right feeling through his lyrics.

Even though the song deals with some darker themes, ultimately he wanted the message to be one of understanding and hope, ending it with these lines:

Someday, you’ll ask me,

“Was it worth it to be of service in the end?”

Well, the blessing and the curses,

Yeah, I’d do it all again.

“I was trying to find hope at the end of the journey here,” he said. “And to think that each of these men and women said the one thing is, that I would do it all again, when you’re making a record, usually you end it with the chorus. In this case, it was such a powerful line that while we were recording it, we said, no, this is the end of the song. The journey ends here, with the positivity.”

The documentary deals with servicemen and women and their service dogs, so Bon Jovi decided to send all proceeds from the song to the nonprofit Patriotic Service Dog Foundation.



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“The Patriotic Service Dog Foundation was established to provide highly trained service dogs to our wounded veterans in need who can benefit from a service dog trained for their special needs that can give them confidence and independence in their daily lives,” the group’s About page reads.

The PSDF provides highly trained dogs to veterans at no charge, so this donation is incredibly helpful — especially for military personnel trying to adjust to civilian life.

“Life as you knew it is going to be different, and sometimes people need that extra help,” Bon Jovi told CNN.



To that end, he’s also been working on helping provide housing for homeless veterans and donated over $500,000 to help build a new complex in Washington, D.C., that’s been a decade in the making.

“Thank you to those who bravely served and continue to serve our country,” Bon Jovi’s foundation posted Monday on Facebook. “We are proud to support veterans through various initiatives, including our recent partnership with Help USA to bring permanent supportive housing to veterans at Walter Reed in Washington D.C.”

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