Service-disabled small business owner
Although there are no shortages of challenges facing those who have served their country, the story of Rutherford is not about homelessness or suicide or the inability to reintegrate with society.
Rutherford, 47, who served in Africa and Iraq and Afghanistan, is on the roof because he is installing residential solar panel systems for Tampa Energy Solutions, a company he started for the second chapter of his life.
With a personal post-service success story shared by many, Rutherford does not fit the oft-portrayed narrative of what happens when men and women exchange their uniforms for civilian attire.
A decorated combat veteran, and minority and service-disabled small business owner, he is a passionate believer in renewable energy, a passion he developed during his time as a SEAL as it dawned on him how much blood and treasure is spent in the pursuit of earth-wrecking fossil fuels.
Rutherford said he understands the focus on the struggle of veterans, especially around Veterans Day.
After all, the Veterans Administration says that 22 veterans a day take their own lives and that as many as 250,000 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. About 50,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, according to the department of Housing and Urban Development.