Ken Falke: The Relentless Pursuit of Better (Part I)Ken Falke: The Relentless Pursuit of Better (Part I)
Struggle Well Podcast
Ken Falke shares how a youth spent in a military community, a failed hockey dream, and a near-fatal parachute accident led him into Navy EOD and later into supporting wounded warriors and their families. The conversation traces the early roots of Boulder Crest Foundation and hints at how struggle can become a source of growth.
25:51•4 Nov 2026
Ken Falke’s Journey From Broken Dreams to Building Strength
Episode Overview
- Early exposure to veterans and military families shaped Ken Falke’s sense of service and leadership.
- Leaving high school for hockey led to heavy drinking and a sense that life was on a downward slope.
- A failed SEAL contract and random encounters redirected Ken into ceremonial guard duty and later EOD bomb disposal.
- Ken survived a serious parachute accident that initially left his wife believing he had died, pushing him into a determined recovery.
- Visits to Walter Reed showed major gaps in support for wounded warriors’ families and sparked focused help through what became the EOD Warrior Foundation.
“You can do this job and be healthy in it. People can actually grow as a result of their struggle.”
What are the common struggles and victories in addiction recovery? Here, those themes show up inside a much bigger story of service, trauma, and growth. This conversation follows Ken Falke, founder and chairman of Boulder Crest Foundation, as he looks back on the moments that shaped him. Growing up in a tight-knit military community near Washington, D.C., surrounded by veterans and Green Berets, Ken absorbed the idea that service and leadership were simply part of life.
Yet his path wasn’t straightforward. As a talented young hockey player in Texas, he left school chasing a professional dream, only to hit a harsh reality: he wasn’t heading to the NHL, and his life was slipping into "drinking way too much" and the chaos that follows when things aren’t going your way. A chance encounter with a Navy recruiter in a shiny white uniform set him on a new course.
Plans to become a Navy SEAL collapsed with a failed eye test, but another twist came in the form of a poster over a urinal and a familiar face in the gym, leading Ken into the ceremonial guard and then into the high-pressure world of Navy EOD bomb disposal. "You can do this job and be healthy in it.
People can actually grow as a result of their struggle," he notes, hinting at the idea of posttraumatic growth that runs beneath his story. Britt Myers guides the chat with easy humour and curiosity, drawing out vivid memories: a brutal parachute accident in Puerto Rico where Ken was mistakenly reported dead, a gruelling recovery fuelled by sheer stubbornness, and later visits to Walter Reed to support severely wounded service members and their families when support systems were thin.
Part I sets the stage for Boulder Crest’s mission and shows how one man’s setbacks, from broken dreams to broken bones, became fuel for helping others carry their own burdens. Could Ken’s relentless pursuit of “better” be the nudge you need to look at your own struggles in a new light?
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