I stood toe to toe with Chad Williams after he spoke during the Promise Banquet at Southwest Minnesota State University Thursday night.

The former U.S. Navy SEAL stood no taller than me. He spoke softly. Just moments earlier, he spoke powerfully to dozens of people who listened to his inspirational speech on becoming a U.S. Navy SEAL and his life after the military.

Like others before him, he came back home to the U.S. with the same type of mental issues that haunt other military veterans. Veterans are returning with serious mental issues. Of the 1.7 million veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, 300,000 (20 percent) suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression, according to the RAND Center for Military Health Policy Research.

Williams admitted during his presentation that he also did not come back home in a good frame of mind. He was drinking until he blacked out, often times with blood on his clothing. He spoke waking up realizing the knuckles on his hands needed stitches.

His mother and father told him not to come to back to their house. They feared him.

“My two biggest things, No. 1, people, just in life in general don’t have peace here on Earth,” Williams told me. “Things are really eating away at them. They don’t have peace with their creator.

“No. 2, things get bottled up sometimes. They see things they have done. When it bottles up, that’s when they are alone. So they need to talk about it. They need time to slowly expose themselves. That’s how they get back to a place to be able to maintain some of that stability.”

Williams spoke of the high suicide rate among veterans — 22 veterans a day.

“Not too many people are aware of that,” Williams said. “I think God can give you a peace that surpasses our understanding.”

Apparently, Williams has discovered that stability. He is now a sought after evangelist. His book, “SEAL of God,” is a best seller. He is also a frequent guest of CNN News Room, Anderson Cooper 360 and Fox News.

Like when he told his father he wanted to become a U.S. Navy SEAL, Williams can be full of surprises. Shortly after retiring as a SEAL in 2010 he proposed to his girlfriend, Aubrey O’Boyle on the red carpet to the world premiere of the movie “When in Rome” at El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.

Williams also told me he didn’t find that stability instantaneously. It was a process.

“I don’t think there is anything we can do, like push a button. I need to lean on God. It has helped me,” he said. “Seeing what happen to my mentor, a guy who was like a father to me.”

Helvenston trained Williams before boot camp.

Williams found out about Helvenston’s death while watching television before he was to leave for boot camp. Helevenston and three other Americans were brutally murdered in Fallujah, Iraq. Their bodies were mutilated by a crowd and dragged through the streets of Fallujah. Their bodies were hung upside-down from the Euphrates River Bridge. The mob chanting “Fallujah is the graveyard of Americans.” Helvenston’s body was set ablaze.

“I didn’t talk about that for a very long time. It just destroyed me inside. I didn’t realize how hard it would be until I decided (to talk).

Eventually, talking about Helvenston became therapeutic for Williams.

I also asked Williams about this notion Isis can be completely defeated.

“I would say almost entirely,” he said. “You can’t wipe it out completely. There is always going to be that propaganda floating around on the Web somewhere. And it starts up all over again. It’s almost like a cancer that will never go away, but you can treat it and keep it down. But it keeps coming up again. You can contain it. I don’t think you can completely wipe it out. But what are your choices? Do nothing?”

He has a point there. Maybe that’s why CNN, Fox News and Anderson Cooper 360 seek his insight.

You can follow Mike Lamb at Twitter@indymlamb