Danny Farrar

"What is one thing that you and your team have in common?

We've all experienced some form of trauma and will experience it again. Your team brings their life experiences to work. It affects not only themselves but your team members. It changes how they face current and future challenges within your business.

The most important resource you can give your team is the tools to push through challenges so that your company can reap the rewards on the other side.

Look, I was given away by my parents, molested, and graduated at rock bottom from high school. I took the first team into the Pentagon on 9-11. I did a combat tour in Iraq, then transitioned horribly from service. I got fired, divorced, evicted, became homeless, ultimately attempted suicide, and got locked up in a psych ward.

I know trauma.

I also know how to charge the storms of life and win.

I own Soldierfit, a successful franchise company, and direct the Platoon Veterans Service Center, the first of its kind to provide best-in-class transitional support. I am also a proud dad of two daughters. 

I want to help you and your team learn how to charge life's storms and win, personally and professionally.

Head down.

Horns up.

Into the storm.

My name is Danny Farrar, and I have lived the lows and highs common to many veterans following their tours of duty. I founded Platoon 22 in 2014 to help stem the tragic lows that have overwhelmed too many of our military heroes. The nonprofit organization works to reduce incidents of veteran suicides by empowering them and our nation’s first responders through a variety of programs and services, and it partnered in 2019 with Goodwill Industries of Monocacy Valley on a two million capital campaign for a Veterans Services Center in Frederick, Md.

I joined the Army as an infantryman shortly after graduating high school, and I served on the first unit that went into the Pentagon during the terrorist attacks of 9/11. I then completed a combat tour in Iraq in 2005-06 as part of an eight-year career in the military, which took its toll upon returning home in the form of a period of homeless and, worse, an attempted suicide.

Through a connection in the Mixed Martial Arts community, I started Soldierfit in 2007. As its CEO, I have expanded the workout facility franchise from its single home to 12 locations in several states that employ more than 100 people. Soldierfit trainers combine principles of Army boot camp with modern exercise best practices, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce named Soldierfit its 2016 Eastern Region Small Business of the Year.

I previously served on the VetFran Committee, which helps to connect franchise owners with military veterans and captained Maryland’s chapter of the International Franchise Association’s Franchise Action Network. The Maryland Daily Record in 2013 named me to its Top 40 Under 40 VIP list for my professional accomplishments and commitment to inspiring change in my community. Other awards include  The Military Do-gooder award, named one of the top 50 CEOs in Frederick, MD, and was most recently awarded the Baltimore Raven's community quarterback award in 2021 and their Hometown Hero in 2022 for my work with Platoon 22 and Soldierfit.

I reside in Frederick, Md., with my two daughters.