American Airman: A Memoir of a Wounded Veteran By: Jonathan Benjamin (US Air Force, retired) American Airman, is an unflinching look at one veteran’s life. Meet Ryan Cureton, a young African American man at the cusp of adulthood. His childhood was a tumultuous fight to stay afloat in a toxic home. When his academic scholarship to college runs out, he must choose: will he stay under the reigns of abusive parents, or strike out and forge a new path for himself in the military? Ryan ultimately joins the Air Force, where he serves with distinction, until he is seriously injured overseas. Now medically retired from service and dealing with the lingering overseas. Now medically retired from service and dealing with the lingering effects of a severe traumatic brain injury, Ryan finds his unlikely healing in the world of theatre, first as an usher, and later, as an award-winning playwright.