“Our story is that we made it through that experience together. You use our story as an example. So, when you face life’s challenges, don’t make it difficult by thinking you can handle it yourself. You can’t,” said Everett Alvarez. He was the first American service member to become a POW in Vietnam. He credits the relationships with his fellow POWs for helping him survive captivity. “You have to have friends. You have to have a team with the same goal. In our case, our goal was to come home but we were going to come home with our honor.”