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Veterans launch Hug Ambassadors in West Michigan

 

I will not play at tug o’ war.

I’d rather play at hug o’war,

Where everyone hugs

Instead of tugs,

Where everyone giggles

And rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses,

And everyone grins,

And everyone cuddles,

And everyone wins.

This Shel Silverstein poem contrasts hugs and war almost as antithetical. But the story that Marine veterans Ian Michael, Gino Greganti and Gino’s wife Erin tell is one where war results in hugs. Ian is charismatic. He has an infectious laugh and smile. His buddy Gino is lanky which makes him look like a teenager when he stretches his arms out to embrace perfect strangers. Gino’s wife Erin is tall and approaches hugging with a patient warmth that puts embattled men and women at ease. I caught up with them at the Wyoming VA Health Center just south of Grand Rapids on a morning where their hugs became a veteran institution.  

[Ian Michael]

Our mission is to raise awareness to PTSD but also to give love back to humanity one hug at a time. We hug because we have PTSD and for many years we were ashamed to admit we had PTSD and therefore we were ashamed to admit that we had served our country. We look around here and all I see is heroes, I see survivors. And if you have PTSD you have a story. You have survived something traumatic and you’re here to talk about it. But many of our veterans aren’t talking about it. They’re sitting in closets. They’re sitting at gun point. And they’re willing to take their life because no one is listening. So what Human Hug project does, we go into VA hospitals and we unlock those stories with a warm, welcoming embrace, because that’s what unlocked our story. We had an opportunity to either take that hug and hide it or take that hug and share it. We’ve been to 36 VA Hospitals and we’re not stopping until we’ve hugged veterans at every VA hospital in the country. We’ve given about 20,000 of those one hugs so we’re definitely on our way. The Battle Creek VA system is the first in the country to launch a Hug Ambassador program in conjunction with the Human Hug Project.

[Mariano Avila]

Getting from what Ian calls drowning in PTSD to launching this national hug campaign for veterans is a story that starts nearly 20 years ago. 

[Erin Greganti]

I met Gino in 1998, long time ago. We were good friends before we started dating, and we started dating just a couple of months before he deployed. He was deployed August 11, 2001. 

[Gino Greganti]

I was deployed with the 15th MEU, Marine Expeditionary Unite, when 9-11 happened. I went to Afghanistan and did my tour and that's where I met Ian. And I got out shortly after that, and I battled PTSD for about 10 years. I was battling with black-out rage and depression and anxiety.

[Erin Greganti] 

Black-out rage is a strange thing. It's like if you've ever experienced when you get so mad where your face gets hot or you kind of vibrate a little bit. It normally lasts maybe a minute in a normal person, but this is days. It just gets flipped on and it stays stuck like that. And you don't know how to calm it down. We were driving in the car and he was freaking out and he's like, I don't know what to do. And it was the first time in my life that I looked up at the sky and said, whoever is up there, I need help real bad, right now.

[Gino Greganti]

I went into the VA to get treatment and they had dismantled the mental health clinic. So, I just was about to explode on the inside with rage. I mean, I was like 'how could you not have this for me.' And they gave me two options, I could check myself into a psychiatric ward or I could take medication they were going to give me. So I said, give me the meds. I don't want to go in the psychiatric ward--it's not what I need. I need to talk to somebody and they sent in a social worker. She looked at me and said, you know I'm not supposed to do this, I don't normally do this, but you look like you could use a hug. Can I give you a hug? And I jumped in her arms for a hug. And I was in a lot of pain and she looked at me and said that I wasn't okay but I was going to be okay. She had experienced this in the Gulf War and she made it through it. She kind of lit a fire inside of me and kind of restored my hope. 

[Mariano Avila]

Across the country, in California, Ian Michael hadn't talked to Gino and Erin in a decade, but was also struggling to find a way to deal with his symptoms. 

[Ian Michael]

In the depth of my PTSD, suicidal thoughts started coming in and I had a dream that I was biking across the country giving hugs. And I told my mom about this dream and she asked me if I was happy in the dream. And I was like, well yeah. And she said, well you better go buy a bike. 

[Mariano Avila]

Ian set out on his bike, on a national tour to hug people wherever he could find them. 

[Gino Greganti]

We're making dinner, me and my wife one night, and she saw on Facebook, this guy was traveling the country and he was an ex-marine and he was giving hugs to people to help with his PTSD symptoms.  And I was like 'that's amazing!' That's what I experienced and that's what this guy is doing it. He's seeking it out. And we get to the bottom of the article and she's like 'Oh, my God that's Ian, we know him, that's our friend." And I was like, 'we have to see him, he's got to come here and hug me. He's got to come hug us and we have to tell him this story.' 

[Mariano Avila]

Gino and Erin got in touch with Ian through Facebook and invited him to their home in Nashville. 

[Ian Michael]

Will you come to Nashville, and give us a hug. Gino needs a hug. I was like, oh you said Gino. Marines have to go hug Marines--apparently. So I spend a month driving from Texas to Nashville to give them a hug. I'm on a four-day trip to see Erin and Gino. A year later I'm still there. 

I was like, this is why I've been traveling around the country to get ready to go into a VA hospital. And it took us three days of working up the courage to go ask someone if we could hug veterans at a VA hospital. And the answer was yes. 

[Erin Greganti]

It was very interesting because it was like Ian was putting himself in this rapid-fire PTSD situation where he would show the sign 'Free Hugs'. And you could see it all over his body language and everything like Ahhh! and then it was ok. 

[Mariano Avila]

That was the beginning of the Human Hugs Project. Once again, here's Ian Michael at the Wyoming VA Center. I'm Mariano Avila WGVU News. 

[Ian Michael]

So what Human Hug project does, we go into VA hospitals and we unlock those stories with a warm, welcoming embrace, because that’s what unlocked our story. We had an opportunity to either take that hug and hide it or take that hug and share it. We’ve been to 36 VA Hospitals and we’re not stopping until we’ve hugged veterans at every VA hospital in the country.

Mariano Avila is WGVU's inclusion reporter. He has made a career of bringing voices from the margins to those who need to hear them. Over the course of his career, Mariano has written for major papers in English and Spanish, published in magazines, worked in broadcast, and produced short films, commercials, and nonprofit campaigns. He also briefly served at a foreign consulate, organized for international human rights efforts and has done considerable work connecting marginalized people to religious, educational, and nonprofit institutions through the power of story.
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