Peter Chiarelli

Chiarelli, the former Army vice chief of staff, is the nation’s most outspoken and high-profile champion for soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury, and though others in uniform have picked up his push to curb suicides in the ranks, he remains relentless on that front, even in retirement. While most retiring four-stars take high-paying corporate and consulting gigs, Chiarelli pursued a passion, becoming CEO of One Mind for Research, a Seattle-based nonprofit. There, he teams health care providers, researchers, scholars and the health-care industry in the search for better understanding of — and cures for — traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress, depression and other neurological conditions afflicting active duty troops and veterans. Though more than 280,000 soldiers received treatment or counseling from behavioral-health specialists in 2011, no one stepped up to fill Chiarelli’s shoes when he retired in early 2012 — perhaps no one could.