209. Sons of the Flag with Navy SEAL Ryan Parrott

Sons of the Flag Ryan "Birdman" Parrott, Founder, President & CEO served eight years as a U.S. Navy SEAL, attached to Team SEVEN, completing three combat tours to Iraq. In 2005, Ryan was riding atop a Humvee manning the turret gun in enemy territory, when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive devise (IED), causing a flash fire and throwing him from the vehicle. Ryan regained composure with his face and arms on fire, and witnessed his fellow team members suffer devastating burn and blast injuries. After completing his service, Ryan moved to Dallas. Meeting other Veterans in the area, some of whom suffered serious burn injuries, Ryan became discouraged that Veteran Burn Survivors were not benefitting form advancements in the area of burns in the same way that amputees benefit from incredible advancements in prosthetics. Searching for better answers, Ryan realized that traumatic burns significantly impact not only the military community, but fire fighters, first-responders and civilians as well. Feeling called to help, Ryan established Sons of the Flag. Sons of the Flag, a non-profit organization, founded in 2012, is vigilantly committed to supporting military and first responder survivors by providing funding for innovative research, Fellowships for doctors to further their training in treating burn survivors, and support for those impacted by a traumatic burn. To that end, Sons of the Flag brings together passionate community leaders, pioneering physicians, experienced military service members, dedicated first responders and purposeful civilians to complete the mission. To date, Sons of the Flag has funded Medical Fellowships at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston and UT Southwestern in Dallas, supported Burn Units and the staff who work there all over the country, financially supported Pediatric Burn Camps all over the country, established a Fire-Fighter led National Task Force, and funded many individual Burn Survivor requests for help. The need is immense, the injuries are life-long, and our commitment is unwavering.