About Sean Davis

Sean Davis was raised in McKenzie Bridge, Oregon, a small frontier rural town. He joined the US Army as an infantryman in 1993. During his first six years he went to Air Assault school, received in Expert Infantry Badge, and was deployed to Haiti. He was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; Fort Drum, New York; and Bad Aibling Germany after reclassing as a military police officer. He left the service in January of 1999, but reenlisted the day after September 11th, 2001. He was deployed to Iraq with B co. 2/162 infantry battalion of the Oregon National Guard. During this deployment Sean was critically injured in a violent ambush in Taji, Iraq and awarded the Purple Heart.

After returning to Oregon, Sean struggled with PTSD and other injuries from the war, but chose to put his life together by using his VA benefits and by the support of his wife Kelly Davis. Within five years of starting, Sean successfully received his Associates from Mt. Hood Community College, Bachelors in English from Portland State University, and a Masters degree in Writing from Pacific University. While going to school he worked full time as a account manager for a global security company where he wrote and negotiated contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. After graduating with his masters he left the security world to teach writing and critical thinking as a college instructor.

Sean worked at different colleges around the Pacific Northwest and the University of Massachusetts Boston. He also served on several boards, he was voted as the post commander of Post 134 American Legion, and set up food closets, clothing drives, and helped homeless veterans. And every summer, Sean would go out and fight wildland fires all over the Pacific Northwest.

For his work Sean was awarded the Emily Gottfried Emerging Leader award by the city of Portland, he was knighted by the Royal Rosarians, and he was the American Legionaire for 2016.

During this time Sean volunteered in his community on different boards such as The Returning Veterans Project and as post commander for the American Legion Post 134. Sean also lobbied in Salem and Washington DC to stop the Forever Wars, pass the Oregon Wildlands Act and many for many other causes.

In 2017, Sean moved to the town he grew up, McKenzie Bridge, Oregon, at the foot of the Sisters Mountains in the Cascades. There he served on multiple boards including the school board, the library board, the track board, the budget committee for the school district, and more. He worked as a community organizer for a retired Eugene city councilor and wrote grants for a new roof for the rural clinic, a new city septic system, to maintain the local rural library, and much more. But in 2020, the Holiday Farm Fire struck the community.

Sean helped lead the effort to rebuild the community. Two days after the fire, Sean was wearing his greens and yellows and grabbed his chainsaw to clear fallen trees to allow for traffic. He fed and cared for livestock left behind, he helped organize the temporary medical clinic his wife Kelly worked at. Since the town was unincorporated there were no elected officials, so Sean helped coordinate with FEMA, Congressman DeFazio, State Representative Cedric Hayden, County Commissioner Heather Buch, and other government agencies.

Sean and his family moved to Astoria in 2021 where he co-founded the non profit Rogue Cell with a mission to reduce veteran suicide and build community.

Telling stories and saving lives: Local veterans document inner battles of combat vets