Retired Green Beret Ryan Hendrickson survived an IED in Afghanistan and founded a nonprofit supporting Ukraine’s mine-clearance teams in 2022. He has returned 13 times; “Safe Ground,” a documentary about his work, debuted Sept. 12 and is streaming on Prime Video.
Hendrickson served 22 years in uniform. He stepped on an IED in Afghanistan on Sept. 12, 2010, while trying to rescue an Afghan soldier, then recovered and deployed seven more times. He received the Silver Star in 2016 for leading an IED-clearing team through a Taliban ambush. He retired from the 7th Special Forces Group and left contractor work in July 2021.
After the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Hendrickson said he lost his sense of identity and struggled. In March 2022, he went to Ukraine, helped evacuate civilians, then trained, advised and equipped territorial defense units for mine clearance. He said the mission restored his purpose. He has said he once considered suicide and later underwent ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT treatment in Mexico; he said the inner fighting had stopped, though he was unsure whether he had reached lasting peace. The Tip of the Spear Veterans Humanitarian Corps, which he recently announced, is intended to add reconstruction, agriculture, teaching and medical work.
