Long before Vaughn Badenhorst put on the Marine Corps dress blues, gleaming buttons and scarlet stripes, he planned to move to Alaska.
Joining him? His pets, a wolf named Greystoke and a cougar named Hunter.
A South African native, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1976 when he was 6 and moved with his family to Texas. After graduating from Cleburne High School, he waited tables while figuring out his future. Greystoke and Hunter kept him busy.
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His love for exotic animals ran deep. While visiting family in South Africa after high school, he worked for a stint at the world-renowned wildlife sanctuary Kruger National Park, and his grandmother served in the mission fields in Congo. Life looked unconventional, but it was his life.
Plans to move to the 49th state changed when his future wife, Lesli, walked back into his life. They dated briefly in high school, but lost touch.
When she returned from a yearslong visit to Alaska, he asked her about life. It was their first encounter in four years. They started dating again, then marriage followed.
Joining the service crossed his mind, but he wasn’t sold. Then he watched “Heartbreak Ridge,” a Korean War-inspired film starring Clint Eastwood as a Marine.
Now Badenhorst was sold. The next day, he enlisted.
“Lesli was not happy at all,” he said. “But it was meant to be.”
Badenhorst rose through the ranks, becoming a noncommissioned officer and serving as platoon sergeant in the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines.
Deployments took him overseas, so he missed milestones. He wasn’t there for the birth of his first son. Injuries followed — back surgeries, fusions and a spinal stimulator became daily reminders of service.
Marine veteran Dwight Phillips met Badenhorst in 2003 at church, where Phillips was teaching a young couples class.
“He’s a true patriot for sure and hardcore Marine,” Phillips said. “He’s proud of his service.”
Life after the Marines didn’t get easier.
Hunter is the pet cougar of U.S. Marine Corps veteran Vaughn Badenhorst. (Courtesy photo | Vaughn Badenhorst)
In the early 2000s, Badenhorst seemed to have everything: marriage, four children, a home on 6 acres with a mini farm in Vilonia, Arkansas, and ownership of two Cicis Pizza franchises.
“In my mind, I had reached the pinnacle of success,” he said.
But the 2008 financial crisis hit, crushing his business. He owed over $100,000 in taxes, lost his house, and creditors circled. During that span, his daughter was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and he underwent another back surgery.
One morning, he walked through the living room and made sure to kiss his children and tell them he loved them before leaving for work, convinced he might not return.
His plan: speed into a concrete bridge post, making his death look accidental in hope his life insurance policy would save his family.
“I thought the only way out was to take my life,” he said.
But fate intervened.
At Cicis, a cook failed to show up. Minutes until opening, Badenhorst jumped in and started cooking. The plan was still on his mind. Lesli, though, sensed something was wrong with her husband that morning.
She called his brother, who told Badenhorst: “Close the restaurants and come home.”
Badenhorst listened and moved his family back to Texas.
“He’s an overcomer,” Phillips said. “Losing everything, the back surgeries. It didn’t keep him down.”
Vaughn Badenhorst in Fort Worth Aug. 12, 2025. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
Badenhorst became a role model for Phillips’ sons. All three joined the Marines.
“They respected him and saw how the Marine Corps had impacted him,” Phillips said.
Vaughn Badenhorst
Age: 55
Military service: U.S. Marine Corps
Occupation: Financial manager and retreat manager
Education: Graduated from Cleburne High School
Family: Married to Lesli Badenhorst. They have one daughter, Jocelyn Echeverry, and three boys, Corbin, Luke and Brian. They have two grandchildren, 8-year-old Aubrey and 4-year-old Alan, and two step-grandchildren, 12-year-old Olivia and 11-year-old Carly.
Most important lesson learned in the military: “You can do anything you set your mindset to.”
In 2009, Badenhorst started over. He joined First Command, a firm offering financial services for military families, as a financial adviser.
Christine Goates, district adviser for First Command, said Badenhorst’s work ethic stands out.
Helping families use VA benefits to avoid hardships like his own gives him purpose.
“He would give you the shirt off his back, and if he didn’t have one, he’d go find one,” Goates said.
Through First Command, he connected with Project Sanctuary, a nonprofit that provides retreats and ongoing support to military families.
“If I would’ve had the tools that Project Sanctuary provides back in 2008, I would not have looked at the bridge as a way out,” he said.
At retreats, he has seen families on the brink of divorce holding hands, and children who arrive withdrawn leave with friends.
“Connecting with the families and letting them know they’re not alone is empowering,” Badenhorst said.
Lesli has been by his side through the highs and lows.
“She experienced rock bottom in 2008, and she stuck with me,” he said.
His mission now? Making life easier for families living through struggles.
As for that trip to the Last Frontier, Badenhorst’s plan never materialized.
Fate, once again, had other plans.
Alaska came to him through Lesli, who spent four years there. A long conversation about the state thawed their connection and ignited a 32-year relationship.
Goates attributes it all to Badenhorst’s unwavering faith.
“He puts God first, his family, then others,” Goates said. “Everything he has in life, he’ll tell you God is responsible for it.”
Orlando Torres is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report.
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