Eversmann and his men found themselves outgunned and outmanned in a deadly raid that was depicted in the epic film Black Hawk Down. Portrayed by actor Josh Hartnett in the movie, Eversmann received the Bronze Star Medal with Valor for his inspiring act of bravery and survival, which elevated him to hero status in the military and beyond. Eversmann later deployed to Iraq where he spent fifteen months during the Surge of and remained on active duty until Eversmann currently works as a motivational speaker and, along with his wife Tori, founded Eversmann Advisory, which helps other veterans adjust to life after service.
Matt and Tori are longtime summer residents in Sconset and frequent visitors to the island with their daughter. Lets briefly talk about your high school and college experiences. How did failure or disappointment motivate you early on? I was born on Long Island but moved down south when my father got tired of taking the train into the city. I grew up in rural southwest Virginia. We had a little small farm in Natural Bridge, Virginia. I was the youngest of four: two engineers and a nurse above me.
I went to school with no idea at all of what I wanted to do. I did OK in high school. Not great, but OK. I got into Hampden-Sydney College and promptly started my implosion academically from day one. Mercifully, by the end of my junior year, they asked me to take a break. I mean, it was like five semesters of academic probation. The best thing I probably could have done was join the Army the day after high school.
I was home on my little academic sabbatical. My father and mother had a small lumberyard and hardware store, and so I was schlepping Sheetrock all around Rockbridge County. One day, in walked a high school classmate of mine. He came in standing a little straighter, a little taller. Going on missions on the Czechoslovakian border. To top it off, he was telling me they would go to Yugoslavia on leave [where there were] beautiful women and lots to drink.
Anyway, that put the hook in. I walked into the recruiting office and they had all these pictures of men and women soldiers in action. A tank and helicopters. There was this one picture on the wall. It was this very, very striking pose of an Army Ranger. It was an African American soldier. The perfect profile. His chin was like granite and perfectly shaved. At the time, the Rangers were the only ones that wore the black beret.
