SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Scott Brown taught himself to play guitar while stationed at Camp Pendleton.
Now, the Marine veteran is touring the country with his group, Scooter Brown Band.
Brown wrote the song "Valor" with heart, and he sings it with passion.
The song "Make it Out Alive" is about a promise he made to himself in Iraq.
"I said if I make it out of here I'm going to pursue happiness the best way I possibly can because, our brothers and sisters that didn't come home, they don't get that opportunity," he explained.
He knows those who survive war often face a bigger battle on home soil.
"I think one of things veterans feel when we get out is that can't serve anymore," Brown said. "We've lost more coming back home to suicide than I think we've lost over in Iraq fighting in combat."
In some songs, he uses the stage to shed light on mental health issues.
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America's deadliest sniper, Chris Kyle, was a good friend of his.
Kyle was helping a troubled veteran when he was killed. Brown will not forget something Kyle said.
"He said, 'No matter if you got a medal for it or not we all fought with valor'," Brown explained. "I was like, 'Hey man, I think that's a song',"
Brown said the two worked on writing it together.
"It wasn't finished when he died," he explained. "And so, the last verse I actually wrote the week before his funeral… the part that goes: Heroes and legends, will never die, stories of Valor keep them alive."
It seems, Brown is now serving with a guitar instead of a gun. He hopes those silently suffering will hear him.
"If I could lend some words onto an ear that might hear it," he said. "The troubles and the demons; it's not worth taking your life over."
He said he has heard from vets who have said they have been suicidal, but the music changed their outlook on things.
