DeKalb veteran uses music to help people struggling with PTSD

DeKALB – Marshall Boyle graduated early from DeKalb High School in 1980 because he wanted to be a rock star.

His rock star career never took off, but now Boyle, 58, uses his musical talent – and newfound skill of playing the guitar – to help others who are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Boyle, known to friends as “Muddy,” is an ambassador for Guitars 4 Vets, a nonprofit organization that uses guitars to help veterans cope with a variety of challenges. The organization, run by volunteers, provides free guitar instruction, a new acoustic guitar and a guitar accessory kit. There are about 100 Guitars 4 Vets programs throughout the country.

For information about Guitars 4 Vets, visit, www.guitars4vets.org.

Musical beginnings
before the military

Boyle was born in Aurora, grew up in Cortland and now lives in DeKalb. He has a daughter and three grandchildren who live in Kirkland.

“I sang my whole life, started by singing with my sister at the Cortland United Methodist Church and I had my first rock band in high school,” Boyle said. “We covered Cheap Trick songs because they’re from Rockford. At our first gig, we only knew nine Cheap Trick songs and ‘Train Kept A-Rollin’’ by Aerosmith.”

When his rock star career didn’t take off, he couldn’t get a job and he lived in a car. He took a friend’s advice and visited a military recruiter.

“My friend told me to join the Air Force, but that recruiter was never around and a Marine Gunny was always there,” Boyle said. “New Year’s Day 1981, with no money, no house and no nothing, I joined the Marines.”

Boyle served from 1981 to 1988. He attended boot camp in San Diego, trained at Naval Air Station Memphis in Tennessee and Naval Training Station Great Lakes near Chicago, was sent to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in California and then was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. While in the military, Boyle became the crew chief for the twin-engine turboprop aircraft UC-12B, leased by Beechcraft, and traveled to 39 countries.

“I don’t know where I’d be without the Marines – in prison, dead or living in a cornfield,” Boyle said. “The Marines taught me how to kill and to die nobly. It taught me that pain is weakness leaving the body. Once a Marine, always a Marine.”

Life after the military

After his discharge from the military, Boyle returned to Illinois and fixed medical equipment at Mercy Center Hospital in Aurora while finishing his college degree. After graduation, he worked a number of sales jobs, moved to Boston to help a friend’s widow, and then moved to Kirkland, where he managed a finance company in DeKalb and opened an insurance agency.

Boyle said he started having symptoms of PTSD around 9/11, but that living through the Fairdale tornado “was the beginning of the end.”

Boyle was struck by flying debris in the tornado and has undergone 17 surgeries since 2017, including five spine surgeries and surgeries to fix his broken neck and back. He also suffered from military injuries, including a stab wound in his leg from the Philippines and permanent damage from plastic explosives.

“My biggest symptom of PTSD was insomnia,” Boyle said. “I went for seven days without sleep. The nightmares were awful. I was scared to sleep and I was scared not to sleep. I’ve had insomnia for three decades. That’s when I began drinking. I drank because I was searching for sleep.”

Boyle’s drinking escalated, and soon he began bleeding internally and was coughing up blood. He also survived a suicide attempt.

“I was dead for three minutes because I had no blood pressure,” he said. “It took them two days to find the [source of internal bleeding] and staple it closed. I’ve become convinced that God kept me alive to help others live.”

Getting help and helping others

After his time in the hospital in 2017, Boyle began seeing a psychiatrist and a psychologist and was diagnosed with PTSD.

“It’s been four years [since] I admitted to myself that I needed help,” Boyle said. “I’ve realized that medication has its place, and I know what works and what doesn’t work. Peer support works.”

Boyle started Firewatch 22, a virtual network of peer support based on the statistic that 22 military veterans commit suicide a day. He also is a member of the Illinois Firefighters Peer Support Group and is the Illinois director of the Birdwell Foundation, which aims to decrease and eliminate veteran and first responder suicide.

While at Hines VA Hospital for an appointment, Boyle met a man wearing a Guitars 4 Vets T-shirt.

“I sang my whole life and wanted to play guitar,” Boyle said. “To join Guitars 4 Vets, you have to be referred by a psychologist for recreational therapy. Art therapy is statistically the No. 1 form of therapy. It includes drawing, painting, writing and music.”

Boyle joined Guitars 4 Vets at the end of 2018, completed the 10-week program and graduated.

“I’ve always loved being in front of the microphone, but I wanted to play guitar and write music,” Boyle said. “Now I write my own songs and am an ambassador for Guitars 4 Vets.”

Boyle hopes to form a local Guitars 4 Vets group in DeKalb with a licensed musical therapist.

“PTSD manifests in everyone differently, but with PTSD, you lose control, either for a millisecond or 17 years, and you want to regain control of your own life,” he said. “Once I left the military, I lost that sense of community and brotherhood. That’s why I love music. It brings people together. Music transcends, it connects and shares.”

Boyle also travels to speak at veteran organizations, churches, community centers and homes about PTSD with his service dog, a 5-year-old German Shepherd named Lucy.

“People who get PTSD are veterans, first responders, survivors of crimes and abuse,” Boyle said. “I want to get rid of the stigma that’s out there about it. … I want people to know that it’s OK to not be OK.”

Boyle now uses music as a way to connect with people and share his experiences and life story.

“Music has always been my escape,” he said. “If I can just help one person, if it resonates with them, it’s worth it.”