Building a Dream Together

Heroes Remember

Building a Dream Together

Transcript

Back in 2015 that was when Arthur got formally diagnosed with PTSD and at the time we didn’t really know a whole lot about all of the amazing services and programs and everything that is available to Veterans to kind of help them out of their transition out of the military. At that point we knew I was leaving the military and we knew that was probably going to be the end state for Arthur. So we were kind of freaking out in the sense of like what are we going to do? What’s next for us and like we had no idea and you know at the time I had this thought that I was going to become a police officer but Arthur was still a big question mark and at the time his way of kind of coping with his PTSD symptoms was he would go to the gym and he would be there for eight hours a day. Any spare moment he had he was in the gym and I was totally cool with that because I knew he was somewhere healthy, he wasn’t somewhere like in a bar or in a basement. He was moving his body and getting his aggression and his anger and his frustration and his feelings out through fitness and I was like cool! And he was actually, originally he just kind of like sat up in bed one night in the middle of the night; kind of like something you would see out of a movie. And he’s like, “I know what we are going to do!” And I was like, “Okay, what?” And he’s like, “I want to start a clothing line so that like I can reach people that are kind of going through the same thing that I am going through.” And I was like, “That’s great, awesome, let’s do it!” And then that whole idea kind of spit-balled into like okay that’s great, the clothing line is awesome but we didn’t know anything about business, about anything really. And then the gym was just kind of like born out of his brain. He just was like we are going to open a gym and I was like, “Okay, cool, next step, alright let’s open a gym, cool!” And then I was like, “Okay so what’s the goal with the gym, are we going to be Goodlife, what are we trying to do here?” And he was like, “No let’s do this for people who are dealing with the same thing I am dealing with, let’s give them a place to go!” And I was like, “Okay, cool, let’s do it, awesome, I’ll help, great!” And in the beginning I wasn’t very involved. We had just had our youngest son. He was an infant so I was kind of tied up on that end but eventually I think about six months in to this place being opened I kind of took over the role as CEO, COO of the company. I did do three years in OPS at 2 PPCLI and I am very grateful for that experience because it has helped me a lot in trying to navigate the enormous learning curve it is to run a business so I am grateful for that experience. And then the gym was born and we really didn’t know how it was going to go. We were just kind of like well we’ll give it one hundred and fifty percent every single day and if it’s one of those days we have to close our doors at least we know that we tried really hard, like really hard and we would be okay with that and we promised each other that.

Description

Upon release from the military, Brittany speaks about the strong desire to help fellow comrades and through the inspiration of her husband they set out to create a place to do this, Iron King Gym is born!

Brittany Larimee

Mrs. Brittany Larimee was born December 23, 1990 in Mississauga, Ontario. Graduating from high school at 17 years of age, Brittany knew she wanted to join the military so quickly began her career path. Joining the infantry, Brittany joined with PPCLI and moved west after basic training then Shilo, Manitoba where she continued with battle school training. Being involved with domestic operations in Whistler, BC, Brittany had an injury and with insufficient support received made the decision to discharge from the military after four years of In-Canada service. With the inspiration of her husband, a fellow PPCLI Veteran, together they became entrepreneurs opening a clothing line and a gym known as The Iron King, providing a safe and comfortable space for fellow Veterans and first responders. They now reside in Kingston, Ontario with their two children and hold great pride for their accomplishment of their business, The Iron King.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Recorded:: October 26, 2018
Duration:: 3:35
Person Interviewed:: Brittany Larimee
War, Conflict or Mission:: Canadian Armed Forces
Location/Theatre:: Canada
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI)
Rank:: Private
Occupation:: Administration

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Building a Dream Together

Heroes Remember