Ex-Navy SEAL bonds with fellow veterans over coffee

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Cade Courtley loves coffee, but not for the caffeine buzz.

For nine years, Cade was a Navy SEAL sniper and says a cup of joe was his escape.

"People always ask me, 'Why'd you go from sniper to coffee,?'" he said. "And when I was in places like Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, my way of sort of turning things off for about 15 minutes was I'd go somewhere and enjoy a really good cup of coffee."

Back on U.S. soil, Cade says he couldn't just let that passion go, especially since there are so many veterans in need of a break.

That's how Victory Coffee was born. Great beans, a good buzz, but most of all it's a bond he shared with his fellow veterans. Now every month, Cade travels to different VA hospitals around the country sharing his story and his dark roast.

"I donate a couple hundred pounds of this coffee, so even though you're waiting to see your doctor, my fellow veterans can enjoy a really good cup of coffee," he said.

Cade says in life after the Navy, what he missed most was the comradere, and it's something he found again delivering coffee.

"Just to be able to say hello to my fellow veterans," he said. "It's so rewarding, it's that feeling again, these are my brothers and sisters."

But more than just coffee, Cade says he tries to bring something much more important to veterans... hope.

"I try to be an example for folks that are struggling that you can be an success after active duty," he said. "You can, just as hard as you worked in the military, work just that hard at that new mission."