Ephraim Mattos graduated high school in 2010, joined the United States Navy, successfully graduated BUD/s (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) training, and became a member of a west coast SEAL Team.

After leaving the US Navy SEAL Teams in 2017, at the age of 24, he flew to Iraq and joined a small group of volunteer humanitarians known as the Free Burma Rangers. Until being shot by ISIS on a suicidal rescue mission, Mattos witnessed unexplainable acts of courage and sacrifice by the Free Burma Rangers, who, while under heavy machine gun and mortar fire, assaulted across ISIS minefields, used themselves as human shields, and sprinted down ISIS-infested streets-all to retrieve wounded civilians.

Ephraim founded Stronghold Rescue and Relief, a non-profit dedicated to sending highly trained former Special Operations personnel into the heart of violent conflicts around the world in order to find and help the families caught in the crossfire, as well as assist oppressed people in multiple countries facing genocide and human trafficking.

Today, Ephraim continues to conduct humanitarian rescue and relief operations around the world. 

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