Local Marine Veteran Uses Music to Find Hope

Beau Young is the lead singer of the Beau Young Band.  Beau Young grew up in Abbeville. After high school, he attended LSU in Baton Rouge and studied Broadcasting. He admits he did not spend much time in the books and spent more time having fun. It was during this time, the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center happened, changing his focus. Two weeks later, Beau joined the US Marines and was sent off to boot camp. Soon, this Abbeville native was sent off to Iraq to fight in the battle of Fallujah.  Beau Young returned home with a handful of metals and memories of war. Since arriving back home, he has been dealing with sleepless nights and depression. His diagnosis was PDST (Post-traumatic stress disorder).

Although it has been a long road, with the help of his family and music, Beau has managed to find peace. He discovered that it helps to channel his anxiety through music and songwriting. Beau said he was up one night and couldn’t sleep. He decided to try and write music. The words just kept flowing from his mind and within five minutes, he had written an entire song.

Besides being a dad, husband, and performer, Beau Young works part-time with the Outreach Center in Lafayette. Beau hopes to be able to help other veterans who might feel alone and could be struggling with PDST. He says if you see or meet a veteran who seems to be struggling, please refer them to the Outreach Center Lafayette.