BY: Adrian Castillo

FRESNO, Calif. — An elderly gentleman pulls a wagon with a speaker inside of it. He walks into your everyday looking business office. Behind him another gentleman wearing a Vietnam veteran hat walks in carrying a guitar case.

It looks like an electric guitar by the shape of the case. They walk right past the receptionist like they own the place and head down a long hallway full of closed doors.

As they walk, the low sound of music can be heard.

“Sounds like they started already,” said the gentleman pulling the wagon.

“Sounds god awful,” said the man wearing the hat. They both laugh at the remark.

The music is much louder now that they had reached their destination, a room with a plaque on the outside that says "group room 102."

Inside the group room are about 7 other elderly vets, and one young man jamming and singing to “Hey Baby Que Paso” by the Texas Tornados. The young gentleman is Raul Martinez.

“I’m actually the outreach worker here for the Fresno Vet Center,” Martinez said.

The Fresno Vet Center, a sub-department of the Veteran Affairs Health System, provides re-adjustment services to veterans that have been in hostile environment zones overseas or to any veteran who has experienced military sexual trauma.

Due to strict confidentiality policies, names or faces of any clients while inside their facilities were prohibited.

The Fresno Vet Center helps assess and counsel, free of charge, veterans who have experienced inappropriate sexual traumas or anything dealing with PTSD related issues.

“People come here because they like the environment here more than the VA hospital,” said Martinez. “As corny as it might sound, we’re like a big family, and we try to make this place feel like a home rather than a hospital or office.”

Besides counseling the Fresno Vet Center offers an array of programs, so that veterans have a place they can feel comfortable being in.

“My journey actually started here in 2014,” said Martinez. “I'm a Navy Veteran and I was looking for a job and I actually landed it here part-time, which was convenient because Fresno State was right around the corner which is my alma mater"

Some of the programs provided at the vet center include PTSD education courses, group therapy, billiards, tai-chi, and chess.

There is one more service they offer that holds an exceptional place in Martinez’ heart.

“When I got hired full-time there was this group that I wanted to start which was very special to me as means for re-adjusting back into civilian lifestyle and it was music,” Martinez said.

Martinez realized while deployed overseas in 2011 that music was therapeutic. Besides friends and family music helped Martinez get through his deployment with his sanity intact.

“The only thing that kept me sane besides looking and wanting to come back home to my friends and family, music was the only thing there for me that made me feel that I wasn't going to pass away,” said Martinez. “It was a way a means of coping where I was at.”

Soon after being hired full-time, Mr. Martinez got permission from the director of the vet center to start a group therapy using music.

“When this group started it started as a recreational group and it still currently is, but at some point, it's evolved into a band,” Martinez said.

They call themselves V.I.A., Veterans In Action. Initially, there were no plans to play outside the four walls of the vet center. When they were ready to share their art with people that wanted to listen Mr. Martinez encouraged the band to start booking gigs.

“That was 2 years ago,” said Martinez. “Fast forward to today and we're playing about a show per month."

The majority of the band are Vietnam veterans, but some members are from the Korean War, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

“A lot of people are actually now kind of branching off, the people that play in my group, and playing by themselves, which is great because a lot of them have PTSD and for them to be in the spotlight is a big deal,” Martinez said.

In October, they performed at a health convention in Clovis, California. The V.I.A. performs at different venues throughout the Central Valley. In November, The Fresno Vet Center and V.I.A performed on a float during the Fresno Veteran’s Parade in Fresno, California.

“Yeah, playing in the Fresno parade is actually very rewarding,” said Martinez. “Not only because we get to play in front of thousands of people because we're also on TV. "

According to Martinez, the V.I.A. has improved a lot of lives and he’s just glad to be a part of it.

“I’ve been there as far as those veterans that were lost right out of the military and I wanted to contribute to my fellow veterans,” said Martinez. “I was just one of those guys that wanted to do something good for the community.

Martinez and the team at the Fresno Vet Center have asked anyone who believes they are Struggling with PTSD or knows anyone who might be to please contact the office for information at (559) 487-5660 or contact the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255. Their office is located at 1320 E. Shaw Ave. suite 125, Fresno, CA 93710.