(This article originally appeared in the July 2026 issue of Military Officer, a magazine available to all MOAA Premium and Life members who can log in to access our digital version and archive. Basic members can save on a membership upgrade and access the magazine.)

Lt. Col. Robert Hess, USA (Ret), has turned personal adversity into action by founding organizations to help others.

Hess served two tours in Vietnam as well as a tour at U.S. European Command’s headquarters, in intelligence at the Pentagon, and as a liaison officer at the State Department before retiring in 1992. He went on to work for an aerospace company and got his MBA before co-founding a software company.

Then in 2004, at age 58, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. After a blood test indicated elevated PSA levels, biopsies found Hess had two tumors.

Thankfully, it was early-stage, and today, he is cancer-free. But his experience led him to create in 2006 the nonprofit Prostate Cancer Awareness Project, a charity dedicated to reducing the annual prostate cancer death toll. He also created Prostate Tracker, a free online prostate cancer early detection system. The charity has since broadened to what is now the Cancer Journeys Foundation, providing knowledge, support, and community to cancer survivors.

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During this time, Hess received another diagnosis: PTSD. “This was in 2014,” Hess said, “years after my combat tours.” A psychologist at the VA asked him to write out every single combat action that he’d been in over both tours.

“This took me about three weeks, and I went back in and wound up with the diagnosis. But that process, for me, was like lifting this weight off my shoulders that I had been carrying, and my last tour was 1972.”

Hess, again, wanted to use his experience for good. He founded the Disabled Veteran Empowerment Network (DVEN).

“DVEN is an information center to connect veterans and their families to resources through the VA and vetted veterans’ charities,” Hess said.

One of the organization’s initiatives is the Rally4Vets motorsports program, which “provides a way for the motorsports enthusiast community to support the disabled veteran community and play an active role in reducing the annual veteran suicide toll.” The program brings together servicemembers for a racing competition each year at its Top Dog Motorsports Service Team Championships.

“The idea is for servicemembers to come together for fun competition, but it’s also an opportunity to bring together a community to talk about emotional issues,” Hess said.

He also is working to increase awareness of veterans’ issues by driving cross-country in a Rally4Vets car.

In summer 2025, Hess drove from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. This summer, he and his team reprised that trip with the 2026 Rally4Vets America Grand Tour, driving over 37 days and 6,500 miles, with stops in nearly two dozen cities in honor of America’s 250th. The event is scheduled to conclude in Washington, D.C., on July 17.

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For Hess, his many efforts are all about giving back.

“After serving two tours in Vietnam and then going through cancer, I looked at myself and said: ‘The universe is leaving me here for a reason.’ And at the end of the day, when somebody is writing your epitaph, wouldn’t you hope they would say that you gave something back to the community, to the world at large?”