Salute: Major General returns to roots with a mission

Retired Marine Corps Major General David Coffman has traveled the world throughout his 34-year career, but there’s no place like home. He has a mission to spread patriotism through the values he has established in his experiences, and desires to begin at his roots in Eustis.

“In starting the next chapter of my life, I want to start right here at home,” Coffman said. “I spent all that time in uniform and want to share my experiences to hopefully help others and help get our country back to what it was founded on.”

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Some of his experiences include piloting a CH46 Sea Knight helicopter for medical evacuation for his crew and wounded passengers to safety, minutes after being shot in the jaw in Central Iraq in 2004. He earned a Purple Heart.

He also received two Bronze Star Medals for leadership during combat, earned numerous awards as a Marine Expeditionary Unit commander and just prior to his retirement worked inside the Pentagon.

After retirement in 2019, Coffman spent much of his time traveling back to Eustis to see his mom. For a year, he was able to listen to her stories and gain valuable knowledge and perspective before she passed away last year at 95.

“I believe she held on to be able to share her years of wisdom,” Coffman said. “She’s one of the main inspirations behind wanting to continue in my mission. I had a spiritual epiphany.”

Coffman has begun speaking at local veterans organizations and churches to spread his message of how to thrive personally, in your family and in leadership. He described how our nation was built on foundations of small towns and individual people and that’s where change needs to start.

“The government is to work for the people, not the other way around,” Coffman said. “That is the magic of this country. We build from the bottom, up. We’ve got to get back to people being the most powerful influence. Only then will we have an American revival.”

Coffman also has plans to journal his experiences and life lessons in a series of books.

“We have to work on getting this country daily,” Coffman said. “What are you doing to contribute to the American family?”

Coffman graduated from Eustis High in 1981 and said he realized after he left how much your hometown shapes you and how much he was blessed. Now, he is excited to return and help give back to the community that made him part of who he is today.

To schedule a speaking engagement, reach out to Coffman on his page at linkedin.com.

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Major General returns to Eustis roots with a mission