Benjamin Maenza was born August 2nd, 1988, in Nashville, Tennessee. Ben decided to work for several years out of high school until he stepped on the yellow footprints at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island in January 2010. Ben enlisted to become a combat engineer and received his orders for First combat engineer battalion. In September of 2010 his unit and 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines deployed to Sangin, Afghanistan, Helmand providence.

On October 21, 2010, Ben was involved in an IED explosion while on a dismounted patrol resulting in several catastrophic injuries. On the field he sustained a shrapnel wound to his face that left the corpsman unable to administer pain relief until medical evacuation. Aside from the wound to his face and nose, Ben suffered serious injuries to both his legs which would end in them both being amputated, and then later revised due to infections. His right hand was burned, and his left hand had to be reconstructed, along with his left forearm.

After 16 months in the hospital at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, he returned home to begin the next chapter and enrolled in college at Lipscomb University for the fall semester and at the time was planning a trek across the country to raise money for wounded Marines and Sailors for the summer. That May, he began in St. Augustine Florida and hand cycled to Oceanside, California raising $92,000. He donated 100% of the funds to the Semper Fi fund.

After the trek, Ben worked diligently towards a degree in business management, and graduated in the spring of 2015. At that time, he had also just met his future wife, Kohl. They were married in the fall, September 10, 2016, in the mountains near Pigeon forge Tennessee.

Ben now has two children Hank and Jack and is currently beginning a new career in business development.