JACKSONVILLE, Fla — So how surprised was he?
"Oh, my gosh!" are the first words from Corporal Adam Greathouse. He had no idea he'd be chosen to get a free trip to the Super Bowl in Phoenix.
The Travis Etienne, running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars, tweeted about honoring the veteran with the Super Bowl experience.
The two will meet in Phoenix after Greathouse arrives from his home in West Virginia.
Fans are fired up about Etienne's season with the Jaguars.
Even though the Jaguars did not make the Super Bowl this year, optimism is high next year is a real possibility.
USAA, an insurance and banking company for the military and their families, and DAV, disabled American veterans, teamed up to offer the trip to him.
Why? His story easily explains.
Greathouse served in the army in Kosovo. Some sort of chemical agent got into his system, and he almost died. "It ate holes in my left lung," he says. "When I woke up, I had lots of tubes everywhere. I weighed 110 pounds."
He was given a medical discharge from the army. But that made him feel like a failure, he explained. He felt as if he had become a burden.
He developed PTSD and thoughts of suicide.
"Everyone picks their poison," he says. "I'd drink a fifth every day for 10 years."
Finally, he broke free from the tequila and the darkness. He joined veterans groups and found his faith was strong. God, he says, 'spared my life for a reason.'
Now Greathouse pours his life into helping other veterans go to sports events, and even tackle surfing. He speaks at church and at veterans' gatherings.
He and his wife are big football fans, although his Cincinnati Bengals, just like the Jaguars, fell just short of making the Super Bowl.
He says he's trying to hold in his excitement, but then he grins and lets out a "Woo hoo!!!"
