He went from holding a gun to his face on the verge of committing suicide to giving life lessons about failure and resilience. Retired Command Sergeant Major Tom Satterly of Delta Force spoke about his life experiences and how he likes to help others on April 19 in the SURC Theater.

Talking briefly about his life, Satterly let people know that he grew up being bullied every day by girls smaller than him and by two bigger boys. Satterly let these people bully him for years until he finally got the confidence to stand up to his bullies.

Satterly’s experiences with bullies at a young age taught him both how to treat people and how not to treat people. He learned the importance of treating people with respect and dignity.  

Satterly wanted students to realize that everything they do is for themselves.

“Our greatest failure is the failure to try,” Satterly said.  “My hope is that you will surpass the standards your parents have set for you, make your own and then blow those out of the water as well.”

Wanting to be realistic, Satterly let CWU students know that “You’re not going to get rich overnight, you’re not going to get rich in a year.” He said that some people get lucky and they do get rich, but the odds aren’t likely for everyone. So, people have to work hard for it.

“If you enter into whatever you’re doing in life, for the money or for the benefit, people can smell it, they know what you’re doing and you’re not going to succeed,” Satterly said. “If you do it because it’s in your heart, and you do it because it’s what you want to do, you want to make a difference, you will succeed, and the money will follow.”

“Life is what you make of it, life is a sum of everything you put into it, you’ll get it back,” Satterly said.

“Mentorship is a two-way street, never forget that,” Satterly said, when he talked about becoming a leader. To be a good leader, you have to be willing to learn from others to get a better handle on things and improve.

“Learn something different than what you’re used to,” Satterly said.

On the topic of friendship, Satterly stressed the importance of surrounding yourself with positive people.

“You become like the five people you hang around the most”, Satterly said. There was a time in his life where he hung around the wrong people. At the time, he thought those people were friends “he couldn’t live without.”

He was later exposed to another world filled with different types of people like his wife, Jen Satterly.

Jen said Tom “is a totally different man than he was when I met him.” She saw deeper into Satterly and she knew that the man he was before his trauma was still in him somewhere.

“My love for him really took over and I felt like he was worth saving,” Jen said.

Jen and Tom take phone calls from people who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Jen alone said she has taken calls from 160 veterans going through PTSD, and has worked with 20 spouses in the last year and a half. She said that there would be days where she would be on the phone for 11 hours talking with vets.

The man who coordinated the event for Satterly and Jen to come to CWU, Master Sergeant Thomas Pickerel, said, “You understand that there’s no golden ticket, or there’s no one answer and just coming from someone like [Tom Satterly] it’s just working hard and being honest and being a real person.”

Pickerel said he hopes that there will be more public speakers that come to the school to talk about life, depression, and getting through it all.

“Anybody that has been in highs and lows and is able to actually see that has a great story to give out,” Pickerel said.