DANIELLE GREEN

Subject Matter Expert

Wounded Warriors

Warriors Speak Spokesperson

Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, Danielle Green’s grandmother always encouraged her to “get out and be somebody.” At first, it seemed like basketball would be the way she’d accomplish that mission.

After earning a basketball scholarship to the University of Notre Dame and becoming the 17th-leading scorer in program history, she had certainly gotten out and become somebody. But after graduating from Notre Dame, Danielle felt she could do more to serve others — so she joined the U.S. Army as a military police officer. In 2004, while on a 115-degree rooftop in Baghdad, Iraq, she was injured by a rocket-propelled grenade. She had to relearn how to do almost everything.

Thankfully, she wouldn’t have to do it alone. Shortly after she was injured, Danielle was visited in the hospital by Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) and given a backpack full of comfort items.

“As I laid in bed, I felt alone, bewildered, and scared about the unknown,” remembers Danielle. “That backpack meant the world to me. From that day on, I knew I was not alone, and that Wounded Warrior Project would provide comfort in my life.”

With WWP by her side, and her never-give-up attitude still firmly intact, Danielle embarked on her next calling, and the next group of people she felt she could “be somebody” for — her fellow veterans. After 12 years helping warriors with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), her path has led her to Wounded Warrior Project, where she will have the opportunity to continue saving and changing the lives of her fellow veterans.

“I’m excited to have the chance to connect with even more warriors by sharing my experience,” says Danielle. “There are still so many warriors out there suffering, and I believe the best way to reach them is to share stories like mine, so they realize the Wounded Warrior Project community is the place for them to heal and find acceptance.”