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Warrior Vodka, Now in Morgan Park, Supports Injured Veterans

 Mick Cozzie (l.) has teamed with Jonathan Jans to sell Warrior Vodka. All of the proceeds from the sale of the vodka are used to help injured veterans. Jans is a veteran himself, having served in Iraq.
Mick Cozzie (l.) has teamed with Jonathan Jans to sell Warrior Vodka. All of the proceeds from the sale of the vodka are used to help injured veterans. Jans is a veteran himself, having served in Iraq.
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DNAinfo/Howard A. Ludwig

MORGAN PARK — Jonathan Jans always has a dull headache.

You might think a shot of vodka would help his condition, but Jans doesn't drink. And yet he rarely leaves home without a bottle of Warrior Vodka.

Jans is the proprietor of the specially branded vodka that's been popping up throughout Morgan Park, Beverly and the surrounding suburbs. Warrior Vodka costs $20 per bottle — $7 of which goes to help injured veterans.

Jans, a resident of southwest suburban Oak Forest, is an injured veteran himself. He teamed with Mick Cozzie, of Morgan Park, in November, and the pair have been steadily distributing Warrior Vodka on the Southwest Side and beyond ever since.

"I know a lot of guys who can do a lot of drinking," Cozzie said.

 Jonathan Jans is pictured here leaving Iraq. He drove Humvees as a Marine in Operation Iraqi Freedom. His last tour ended with his vehicle being destroyed by a bomb.
Jonathan Jans is pictured here leaving Iraq. He drove Humvees as a Marine in Operation Iraqi Freedom. His last tour ended with his vehicle being destroyed by a bomb.
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DNAinfo/Supplied Photo

Jans served in Iraq in 2005. He was an infantryman in the Marines, or what he describes as "a basic door kicker."

During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Jans worked nine-day rotations. Three days would be spent on patrol in Ramadi, a city 68 miles west of Baghdad. He'd spend another three days training the Iraqi army, and he was stationed inside the American military compound for three days.

His group would go out on patrol four times a day when it was their turn to "clear the city." He drove the Humvee.

Jans said explosives were often hidden beneath manhole covers or buried under fresh pavement on the road. Jans learned to avoid these potential land mines — a habit he still finds himself unknowingly doing to this day.

Jans was on patrol on March 9, 2006, when an explosive detonated near his vehicle. He was immediately knocked unconscious in the explosion.

Jans' head hurt after the accident. He couldn't wear a helmet or even a hat without getting an instant migraine. Still, he stayed on to finish the final month of his seven-month deployment.

"With the amount of causalities we took, I wasn't going to let a little bump on the head send me home," he said.

About a year after returning from Iraq, Jans was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. He was also determined to have a mild-traumatic brain injury as a result of the explosion.

His symptoms include mild to severe headaches that never go away. Jans also passes out on occasion and has some memory loss as a result of the accident.

In 2010, a doctor from a Veterans Affairs hospital told him he had five years to live as a result of his brain injury. That same year, he married his high school sweetheart, Jill. Their daughter, Juinevere, was born on March 28, 2011.

Jans' foreboding diagnosis and symptoms of his injuries left him listless and nearly broke. It was then that he was put in contact with the owners of Mid Oak Distillery in suburban Midlothian.

The makers of CD Vodka wanted to do something for disabled veterans but weren't sure how to go about it. So they simply handed the reins for Warrior Vodka to Jans in early November.

This vote of confidence gave Jans direction. He's since sold 1,200 bottles of the vodka.

Shortly after Jans took over the brand, Cozzie asked to buy a case of Warrior Vodka for the wheelchair basketball team at Fort Benning, Ga.

Cozzie's son, Bill, is a lieutenant in the Army there and helps wounded soldiers transition in and out of the military. To celebrate Warrior Care Month in November, Bill Cozzie organized a wheelchair basketball game between the Fort Benning squad and the team at Auburn University.

Mick Cozzie wanted to send a case of the vodka to his son for the post-game party. He contacted Jans and told him his idea. Jans decided to donate a case of Warrior Vodka to the group — a gesture that instantly turned Cozzie into an advocate for the brand.

"I said I am going to help you sell as much as I can," Cozzie said.

So far, Cozzie said he's been responsible for about 20 percent of the sales of Warrior Vodka. Besides his friends and neighbors in Beverly and Morgan Park, Cozzie also supplies the vodka to County Fair Foods at 10800 S. Western Ave. in Morgan Park.

Cozzie and Jans have become friends as a result of the upstart vodka. And as for Jans' diagnosis, he's managed to outlive the doctor's predictions and plans to continue doing so.

"I see six neurologists. Three of them agree. Three of them disagree," Jans said.

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