Johnston Now Honors: Veteran Service Award winner works to bring purpose to fellow veterans

By Randy Capps

As a young man, T.J. Blake stood in an unemployment line in early 1994 in Smithfield. He didn’t know it at the time, but he was about to find his purpose in the United States Navy.

After two decades in the service, and a few twists and turns along the way, he’s now helping fellow veterans find theirs.

It’s those efforts that have earned him the 2024 Johnston Now Honors Veteran Service Award.

“So, I actually didn't graduate,” he said of his time at South Johnston. “I was that guy. I quit high school one month into my senior year. I got into the Navy in January of ‘94. Luckily, I was literally standing in the unemployment line in Smithfield and a recruiter said he could get me in the Navy. … So I went into the Navy.”

He joined up, with one of the conditions being that he earn a GED diploma within six months.

“I may have been in the Navy, but I've never spent time on a boat,” he said. “I was a jet engine mechanic and a P3 flight engineer. And the P3 is too big to land on a boat. So,

I did, I think, five tours out in Hawaii and a few tours in Jacksonville.”

After 21 years, Blake retired from the Navy and he and his wife, Malia, settled in Hawaii. But the finances didn’t quite add up.

An accident shortened his naval career, so he wasn’t ready to get too far away from it.

“After retiring from the Navy, I ended up getting a job in curriculum development and training,” he said. “We developed some courses specific to naval aviation and the naval maritime community.”

That contract ended, and he ended up becoming a bartender, which turned out to be a key part of his new purpose.

“I was kind of searching for something to do,” he said. “I decided to bartend, and ended up doing it for about a year and a half. Great gig. Loved it. If you really want to get to know your community, be a bartender.”

That led to the decision to start his own company, Anchored Elevation Services, in 2020 which conducts the same sort of training he did right after his naval career wound down.

That scheduling flexibility allows him to spend more time volunteering and helping his fellow veterans.

He started with Stop Soldier Suicide out of Durham, fundraising and doing YouTube videos to promote that cause.

He then got involved with the Combat Vets Motorcycle Association, currently serving as the organization’s state representative.

That led to other organizations that met the boots-on-the-ground, veteran-focused ethos that he was seeking.

Military Missions in Action’s Homes for Healing program helps to furnish homes for veterans, and it checks all of those boxes.

“We'll drive around and we'll collect donated furniture from the community,” Blake said. “We have a list of formerly homeless vets, and we'll furnish their house with what we have.

“It's an excellent program, and it's very rewarding. Going along the lines of vets helping vets. How I ended up on that path is very personal. I got home and I guess I'd say if it wasn't for a couple of vets that I'd never met, I probably wouldn't be where I'm at today. It was actually a couple of conversations with other veterans as a bartender. We started talking about the whys, and, it crossed my mind that the best way to be there for another veteran is to be a vet yourself.”

The numbers vary from year to year, but according to a recent study by American Addiction Centers, 16.8 veterans commit suicide in the United States every day — a rate that is 1.5 times higher than the general population.

“(That) is very important to me because I've almost been there,” Blake said. “There's a lot of organizations out there that are reactive. There's a lot of help out there. But by the time you get to that help, you've already gone too far, right? The stressors in life have already gotten you to that point. So, I try to participate in nonprofits that are more proactive.

“I do my best to participate in programs that help arrest the suicide rate for veterans.”

Blake and his wife are heading back to Hawaii this month for a vow renewal for their son, Tyler, symbolically bringing things full circle for the family.

“As a veteran for 21 years, I had a mission,” he said. “I knew what my purpose was. When you get sent home, and you’re sitting around twiddling your thumbs, you don’t have that mindset or those stresses. So you start creating them, and creating a bad environment. Doing all of this stuff with actual boots-on-the-ground nonprofits actually gives me that sense of purpose.”

Thank you to Father & Son Contracting for sponsoring this award.