Craig Francis | Volunteer Spotlight
“It would be a damned shame to dishonor their effort by living any less than as fully free, fully proud and fully grateful as possible.”
Big Sky Bravery is shaped by the volunteers who show up with humility, integrity, and a heart of service. We want to share their stories so others can feel the meaning of this mission through the people who make it possible.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN a VOLUNTEer with BIG SKY BRAVERY?
Four years.
What made you want to get involved as a volunteer?
I believe in a mandate for all men to find a way to be useful to their God, their family and their Country. I found BSB at a time in my life when I didn't feel of much use to anyone; I was fresh off a bad divorce and I was simply looking for an avenue to be of service to others. I needed to get out of myself by being useful and the mission of BSB was the thing that drew me to act. I had no idea how meaningful my involvement with BSB would become to my life.
What is a moment of significant impact you have personally experienced since volunteering?
It would be difficult to condense my experience with BSB to choose a single most meaningful moment. The relationships I have formed through my Task Forces have been much more significant than I would have imagined when I first joined the organization. I credit BSB with introducing me to a guy who would become one of my best friends and a groomsman in my wedding. I had multiple recipients at my wedding as guests. They have traveled to my home and slept under my roof and I at their's. I have been to retirements and change of responsibility ceremonies to honor men that make me feel small and build in me a deep respect for brotherhood. The text threads in Signal are still lighting up every week, even years later with updates from guys around the globe just checking in and asking about life, family and work. I have made real and lasting friendships with a lot of good men through volunteering with BSB and I count myself blessed and a better man for knowing them.
How has Big Sky Bravery's motto Give More Than You Take influenced your mindset or actions?
I have come to realize that vulnerability is a superpower - everyone has a story and if you are willing to share the darker corners of your own, often you may find that it has much more power to help someone else than you ever thought possible. I have found common ground with men from all different backgrounds and life experiences by just being willing to share a lesson and being available to listen. I've carried this into my professional life with colleagues or friendships at church, being willing to go first and give of my own experience and then see where a conversation might go. I have often discovered very meaningful relationships on the other side of that moment.
Do you view anything in a different light - or is there anything you appreciate more deeply - since your time as a volunteer?
It sounds cliché, but I see everything differently now. The conversations and learnings from men who have become brothers to me through BSB have recalibrated much of how I think about the world and my own life. I appreciate seasons of peace because I know that peace is won by confronting conflict, not avoiding it. I try to love my wife harder and I appreciate being able to come home to her every day because I hear stories of how my friends miss their families when they are gone for work. It sets my life in a different perspective, which I think is good, when I get out of my own head and consider my friends who are training or working around in the world. They give our citizenry a capacity for freedom and liberty that is exceedingly rare and they do that by giving their years, their family time and sometimes their blood for the ideals that we too often forget. It would be a damned shame to dishonor their effort by living any less than as fully free, fully proud and fully grateful as possible.
Where did you grow up and what kind of work fills your days outside of volunteering?
I grew up in SC but I have lived all over the country. I currently live outside Atlanta, GA with my wife Maddie. I am the Vice President of Brand & Marketing at ULTRAVIEW Archery. We manufacture bowhunting equipment and my calendar year is driven by annual tag draws across the country and where I can get in the field to clear my head while hunting wild game.
What brings you the most joy and purpose in your life?
I try to be a student of life and enjoy learning in most any arena how to improve and be a better man, better husband, and soon to be better father. My wife is a blessing that I do not deserve and she has taught me more about being present and how to find joy in the small things than I ever knew possible.
What do you hope others will remember or carry forward from your contributions as a volunteer?
I know what living in the valley of the shadow of death is like. I've stood on the ledge and thought myself incapable of going on. I had a friend show up for me and that is the only reason I am still here and living a healthy and blessed life that I never thought could be mine. I hope that the guys I have met on all my TFs and any yet to come know and trust that I would show up for them. There is so much good to live for.
In closing, what quote or piece of wisdom can you leave us with that you return to when needed?
The world we see with our eyes and move through with our bodies contains only half of who we are. All the love and all the healing you need is on the other side of the curtain - and it is much more accessible than you might think. Don't fear going backstage.