'MVP' Brings Veterans and Players Together in the Gym and on Screen

"Ninety-nine percent of athletes' careers do not end on their own terms," says Nate Boyer, Army Special Forces veteran and former NFL player. "There's usually no Peyton Manning ending, where you win the Super Bowl and ride off into the sunset. It just ends with, 'Oh, damn, I'm cut.'"

Supporters of the military-veteran community who love football are probably familiar with the nonprofit Boyer co-founded, Merging Vets and Players, or MVP. The nonprofit brings military veterans and professional athletes together in their respective post-military and off-field careers.

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, founders and supporters of MVP made a feature film, Produced by Sylvester Stallone and made with a cast of real veterans and NFL players, "MVP" explains what the organization is, how it works and how it came to be. Most importantly, it shows how important the relationship between vets and players can really be.

At first glance, one might wonder what veterans and professional athletes really have in common. Boyer, who stars in "MVP," is a former Green Beret and former long snapper for the Seattle Seahawks and will tell you there's actually a lot.

"When I finished serving, I was struggling," Boyer says. "I got out in 2015. When I was with the Seahawks, I got cut in September 2015. I went from having two uniforms that I identify with, the locker room, the teams that I had to lean on -- to just floundering."

Suddenly, Boyer no longer had structure, purpose or identity. For the first time as an adult, he was no longer wearing a uniform. He had nothing to train for or prepare for. The people he relied on for so long were no longer with him. No more Special Forces, no more football.

"I considered going back into the military briefly; I just wasn't sure," Boyer recalls. "I felt I was 34 years old and I was starting all over. Like my greatest days were behind me."

He talked about his situation with a close friend, Fox Sports personality and athletic trainer Jay Glazer. It was something Glazer heard all the time from athletes who played in the NFL, NHL, UFC and others. They train their whole lives for their sport, and when they step off the field, or out of the rink or cage, they're lost and don't know what to do.

"I told Jay, 'You know, vets feel that way, too, especially guys that were combat arms who went overseas,'" Boyer says. "It's not that they're going over there with the intent of getting shot at, but there is no feeling that compares to that experience. It's hard to find things that make you feel that alive, as confusing as that may seem. Athletes and veterans both feel that."

Boyer and Glazer decided to bring the two groups together. They didn't know what it was going to be. They found both groups filled with pride and didn't really want to ask for help. They brought them to Glazer's Los Angeles gym, the Unbreakable Performance Center, in the spring of 2016.

With the help of Jim Zenner, who ran the Hollywood Veterans Center, Boyer offered time at the gym to the homeless vets living in the center. On Thursdays at 2 p.m., the veterans would work out with the likes of UFC legend (and Army veteran) Randy Couture and Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez.

They worked out together, then talked to each other afterward. They found a lot more common ground than one might expect. Both groups often came from similar backgrounds. Both started their extraordinary careers while young. They did incredible things and had a hard time coming back to normal lives.

"There are some creative liberties taken in the movie, but it's basically the genesis of Merging Vets and Players," Boyer says. "All the veterans portrayed on screen are, are played by vets, every single one."

Zenner's role is played by Dan Lauria, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam and best known for his role as Jack Arnold on "The Wonder Years." Both Couture and Gonzalez appear in the "MVP" film, which takes great care in explaining the relationship between veterans and pro athletes, even when those athletes are wealthy.

"I understand why people kind of hesitate to make any kind of comparison. Honestly, the members that struggle the most with it are the athletes," says Boyer. "But calling us veterans heroes all the time and putting us on a pedestal isn't going to help us reintegrate into society. We're all human beings on different paths, looking for something that makes us feel alive."

MVP workouts are more than just exercise. The groups coach each other in the gym and in life, and afterward, they have a "huddle," a real, frank discussion about their lives and the struggles they face. Today, there are eight MVP chapters across the country (including an online chapter), and welcome veterans and professional athletes from any sport and level.

"Most of our consistent members that are athletes, they're not famous; they come from all walks of life," says Boyer. "Maybe they are, but we have Olympians, WNBA, minor-league baseball, golf ... They're missing the camaraderie, the locker room, the pursuit of the goal -- a lot of the same things we veterans are missing."

"MVP" the movie also addresses the stakes of the Merging Vets and Players mission. Throughout the film, the real photos of Marines who were lost to veteran suicide appear onscreen. When the film was completed, 51 Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines had tragically killed themselves since 2008, a rate four times higher than the male veteran population. By the end of 2022, that number had risen to 56.

"For a long time, for the first five years of MVP, we didn't lose any to suicide, but we have lost two now," Boyer says. "Last year, we lost our first athlete member. As hard as that is, we try to honor them as best we can. The members look after each other, check up on each other: everything they can to pull them back. It's powerful."

To learn more about Merging Vets and Players, become a supporter or to find a way to take part, visit VetsAndPlayers.org.

The film "MVP" can be seen on iTunes Prime Video, Verizon, Google Play, DirecTV, Microsoft Movies, Showtime and more. It currently enjoys a 94% audience score on RottenTomatoes.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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