Boone’s mission to save a life continues to grow

“Looking back two years ago is incredible, seeing where we are now,” Boone Taylor, director of Mind Body and Soul, said. “I didn’t do this on my own and it wouldn’t have happened if God weren’t involved.”

Operation Mind Body and Soul’s journey began with a vividly detailed dream that Boone believes was a vision. However, the true inspiration was rooted in tragedy: a fellow classmate’s brother took his own life, prompting Boone to return to his hometown to support his grieving friend.

It had a deep impact on his life.

“Since then, I’ve lost employees of mine, fellow veterans,” he said through tears.

The loss of his classmate, followed by the suicides of employees and fellow veterans, motivated Boone to deepen his involvement. He joined Locking Arms for Suicide Awareness, became a Question Persuade Refer (QPR) Instructor, and, upon learning about the high suicide rate among veterans, began considering more targeted support for those with whom he shared a bond through his own service.

He notes that this country faces 80 suicides a day. Twenty-two of them are veterans, and that number only reflects those officially labeled as suicides.

In the midst of this journey, Boone had that dream.

While he didn’t wake up with a specific plan, the dream gave him a clear vision of the help he wanted to provide. “I told my wife, Janelle, this is what we were going to do,” Boone said.

The organization’s name maps directly onto its three-part strategy. ‘Mind’ means education and mental health resources. ‘Body’ means physical fitness — the gym, the boxing ring, the strength equipment, and plans for yoga and Jiu-Jitsu training. ‘Soul’ means community: showing up, connecting, and doing what matters with others.

All of it, Boone insisted, will remain free for veterans.

“They’ve already paid the price,” he said.

His plan is to continue building Operation Mind Body and Soul Corporation from a Southern Indiana resource into a statewide and, eventually, a national resource.

Boone, supported by his wife and others, has grown Operation Mind Body and Soul. It started in a corner of the Electric Graffiti Tattoo Studio in downtown Jasper. Then it moved to an office in the River Center with a meeting space. Now, the program has a new gym in a former warehouse along the Riverwalk.

There sits a 16-foot boxing ring — red, white, and blue ropes stretched across a warehouse floor that Boone and his team have steadily been transforming into something far more than a gym.

Secured through a grant from Jasper Engines and assembled by Boone himself in a single evening, the ring represents the physical centerpiece of a space still very much taking shape. A medical room is being framed out on one side, a podcast room on the other, with OFS building a custom table for it. Upstairs, unfinished square footage waits for whatever comes next.

Most of the equipment filling the floor — from strength gear to DJ equipment — was donated or sold at a discount by community members who believed in the mission. The space, which some of the younger veterans have taken to calling “the ready room,” officially opened its doors in February, and already it carries the feel of something being built not just with materials, but with purpose.

It’s a space for any veteran to use. Simply reach out to Boone on Facebook or at his number, 812-630-7151.

Then there is another ambitious project still underway: a repurposed ambulance, currently being rebuilt by Boone and parked nearby. When finished, it will serve as a mobile crisis intervention unit, with a communication center, internet, and a small conference table inside—two seats on each side, close enough for a real conversation.

The idea is to bring the office to the veteran, not the other way around. Boone says when someone is in crisis, the last thing they need is a waiting room.

Calling upon the shared experiences of being a veteran, Boone sees the unit as an avenue to specifically assist veterans in crisis.

“We want to work with police officers,” he emphasized. “We’re not here to take their place. But we can open doors they sometimes can’t.”

Recently in Tell City, one of Operation’s volunteers helped police with a veteran. The police asked the volunteer, another veteran, to help remove guns from the individual’s home as a safety precaution. Through that shared trust, the volunteer was able to take the guns from the home.

This is why veterans show up at his office in the River Centre, at the Thursday morning Veterans Breakfasts at Cranberries, and in the gym. Each contact point builds community and helps another veteran.

“The more you sit around at home and you’re in your head, the more you struggle,” Boone said. “This gives them somewhere to go. Something to do. A way to let it out.”

Boone just wants to prevent another suicide or help another person in crisis.

“I’m not in it for me,” Boone said. “I’m here to save a life. A veteran’s life, or anybody’s life that I can.”

Last year, eight veterans reached out to Operation while suicidal. All eight are still here.

“It’s not rocket science,” he said. “We just want to be listened to when we need to talk.”

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Operation Mind, Body & Soul is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Dubois County, Indiana. For more information, contact the organization through their social media channels.