The Turner Family

U.S. Army Sgt. Chad Turner grew up in in Gainesville, Georgia. He was raised by his grandparents, who taught him to be the kind of man who would always put family first. Turner joined the U.S. Army in February 2002 to defend his country and underwent basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. In 2003, he met his wife, Jennifer, and they married in 2004 before Turner deployed for his first tour in Iraq.

During his time in service, Turner served in four deployments back-to-back between 2005 and 2011, in both Iraq and Afghanistan. During his first deployment from 2005 to 2006, his son Jason was born. Turner was able to return for the birth of his son, but had to fly back a week after to return to duty. The separation from his family was hard on Turner, but he continued his duty as a soldier in order to support his family and defend his country.

On his last tour to Afghanistan in December 2011, Turner and his fellow soldiers were attacked while on an air assault mission. During the attack, four rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) simultaneously landed thirty meters from them. Turner doesn’t remember anything about the attack other than being thrown into the air from the blast. Due to this attack, Turner was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI), cognitive learning disorder, degenerative disc disease, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among other injuries. He suffers from short-term memory loss, has trouble with his hearing and struggles with paranoia in public settings.

During his years of service, Turner received a number of accolades, including the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, the NATO Afghanistan Service Medal, two Army Commendation Medals, Army Achievement Megan, Iraq Campaign Medal with Campaign Star and many more. Since being honorably discharged from the military, Turner has devoted his time to both his family and fellow veterans. With his son having special needs, Turner is committed to getting him the special care and schooling he needs. Turner is a member of the Veteran of Foreign Wars (VFW) 7720 chapter in Cornelia, Georgia. His mission is to help veterans in the healing process through hunting, which he believes is a therapeutic activity.

The Turner family will receive a home to call their own in Tifton, Georgia, by Operation FINALLY HOME and local builder Structures by Chris Brooks in 2016!