India, Oct. 11 -- A 36-year-old American Air Force veteran from Maryland has found peace and purpose far from home in Vietnam. Markeiz Ryan's life took a dramatic turn after the 2008 financial crisis, which cost his mother her job and left his family struggling.

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"It wiped my mother's job away and it really made things tough for us around the time I graduated high school," Ryan told CNBC Make It. "I didn't have much of a financial security blanket to fall under. The best thing for me was to join the military so I wouldn't have to put my family into any more debt."

He joined the US Air Force in 2010, serving in countries including Korea, ...