Chameleon First Response: Helping soldiers mentally return from the war zone

For nearly two decades, Sean P. has devoted his life to Israel’s security.

He joined the military at 18 and, following years of rigorous military service, joined an elite undercover counterterrorism unit that has played a key role in the war against Hamas.

Having spent a substantial part of his life dedicated to military service, Sean has experienced firsthand the mental toll of frontline operations.

After years of serving the State of Israel, Sean has now turned his focus to those he once served alongside – especially elite soldiers who are often the least likely to ask for help, even when they need it most.

With his colleagues, he founded Chameleon First Response, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting soldiers with PTSD and their families.

Sean recognized the gap when soldiers in specialized units weren’t receiving enough support, despite clear indicators of psychological distress. Asked why they wouldn’t request support, Sean responded simply: “Ego.”

He shared that many in the elite units had the perspective that they were “superman,” and being in a “special unit” meant they were “not supposed to have those kinds of things, those kinds of triggers.”

For the soldiers, mostly men who have been trained to uphold strength and discipline in high-stakes operations, and who have built a reputation and identity on being the “best of the best,” admitting to things like bed-wetting and nightmares is difficult at best, and so many suppressed the problem, Sean explained.

Choosing to lead by example, Sean admitted that those were the particular symptoms of PTSD that he had struggled with.

Seeing others battle the same symptoms during service gave Sean the strength to face his own – an experience he now draws on to help others.

“Since October 7, I’ve been sleeping among my friends and I could tell that they were suffering from similar stuff,” he shared. “They scream in the middle of the night. They wet the bed. They have many triggers; there are so many things that can trigger them – for example, a particular noise or smell.”

Living with untreated PTSD is difficult enough, but for Sean, it was a tragic incident that pushed him to take more urgent action.

One of his closest friends, a fellow soldier, is now serving time in prison for a killing committed during a PTSD episode.

The man, who had a documented diagnosis before the event, was stabbed during a traffic dispute and responded by firing more than 10 times at his attacker.

Sean said his friend, severely wounded and disoriented, believed in that moment that he was eliminating a terrorist threat.

“Now this is a guy that I know that there is no way for him to harm someone for no reason. So the only thing that caused him to do that – it was a trigger for him. Once he got stabbed, that was a trigger for him, and he saw a terrorist. It doesn’t matter that it was in the middle of Israel, that it was in his own city, in his own hometown,” Sean explained.

“Obviously, it was not a terrorist; it was a criminal. But he saw in his eyes an Arab guy who stabbed him. He just saw a terrorist. Since then, he’s [been] in jail.”

Sean also shared that the story of a Golani soldier self-immolating as a form of attempted suicide had deeply distressed him. “He’s still alive, but he’s only bones. That’s what he has, the soul and bone,” Sean shared, speaking on his meeting with the soldier.

SEAN FOUNDED Chameleon First Response in the hope that no other soldier would lose his freedom or life over a situation that is avoidable.

The nonprofit, because of the familiarity it provides, may have had more success in coaxing soldiers to seek help, Sean explained.

People know his name, his unit, and that familiarity can do a lot to break down boundaries. Chameleon First Response has also worked to bring in whole teams for sessions, relying on the fraternal nature and bonds formed in combat.

“Our main issue, main focus, is not to have any situation like this, [where] soldiers are committing suicide, losing their jobs, losing their family,” he said.

“So many soldiers are losing their family, their wife, and their kids. The kids try not to get close to their father, because the father is not the same person that he used to be, and this is something that is disturbing us a lot. So what the organization is doing is helping, first of all, the soldier himself, the fighter, and also the family.”

Chameleon First Response has set up base at Danny’s Farm, a rehabilitation center offering holistic treatments such as equine, music and art therapy south of Tel Aviv.

They are now offering therapy and support to nearly 300 soldiers and their families.

Beyond therapy, soldiers and their families, through challenging overnight journeys through the wilderness, journeys to the Diaspora to speak to Jewish communities about the reality of the conflict, and joint experiences that aim to create a sense of community and routine, can enjoy the same fraternal bonds built in the military.

Soldiers in the field can also receive clothing, protective equipment, and medical supplies from the organization.

Sean shared that many organizations have begun referring families to Chameleon First Response, as there are few, if any, organizations that support the family as a whole and not just the soldier suffering from PTSD.

Chameleon First Response has also touched El Al, where Sean works, he explained.

El Al “understands the situation.... They have so many employees who get called to reserve [duty]” – pilots, technicians. So the need to support soldiers in the reserves is “very obvious to El Al,” Sean said, adding that the company allowed him to take some of its employees to Danny’s Farm during work hours.

“I realized that for myself and so many of my colleagues, [we] are not in a mood to go back to work. Their brain and their mind is still in Gaza, and they prefer to stay in service instead of going back to work,” Sean said, speaking of the difficulty of readjusting to civilian life.

“When I saw that it’s not only me, I approached my manager at El Al, and I told him that this is what I’ve been doing, and I want to take like 20 guys to Danny’s Farm and have sessions over there... once a week, for three hours each time.

Beyond creating time for their serving employees to travel to Danny’s Farm, the airline also donated several tickets so Sean and a few others could travel to the United States, where they appeared on an episode of Dr. Phil to discuss their work and the realities of life in Israel.

The famed TV therapist was set to visit Chameleon First Response in July, Sean said. It is unclear whether the visit will go ahead, given the current security situation.

Speaking on how the country needs to prepare for a postwar Israel, Sean passionately shared: “The entire country... is in trauma. The Defense Ministry, the Health Ministry, the IDF, and the entire government need to understand that we are dealing with something huge over here. There are people who are in a bad situation, [who] need to [treat] the issues they are walking [around] with in their minds, in their souls.”

The soldiers “have done what they were supposed to do, to protect our country. Yet, we’ve been seeing things that the human being is not supposed to see. Our souls are very fragile, and there are many scars that can be on our souls.