Jeff Rutherford is an Iraqi veteran, former Marine, and glass artist. He discovered torchworking through a SGS program with Pima Community College after returning from Iraq. After a rocky reintroduction to civilian life, he discovered new ways to express himself and life-changing opportunities through torchworking. Today, he hopes introducing fellow returning vets to glass art torchworking might help them the way it helped him.”When I first got back it was so intense I couldn’t work. I couldn’t be in public places without having panic attacks and flashbacks. I never talked about it. I just bottled it up inside. But then I started torching and blowing glass, and over years of hard work and lots of frustration my PTSD has gotten better. Glassblowing has saved my life.”And when people started recognizing and purchasing his work (enough sometimes to where he needed an assistant just to keep up) he experienced a renewed sense of calm and purpose. Jeff Rutherford now hopes torchworking does the same for some of his fellow vets