'You Saved His Life': How Veterans Are Finding a Second Life as Referees

Mike Pereira is fighting a two-front war: Providing a critical service to the country’s youth sports leagues, while helping veterans return to civilian life from sometimes traumatizing experiences in the service of their country.
And as a former high-level executive for officiating in the National Football League, he’s using his group Battlefields to Ballfields, to do both.
According to an ESPN report Friday, Pereira started Battlefields to Ballfields, also known as B2B, in 2016 with