Crystal Lake resident, businessman and Marine Corps veteran Kevin Byrnes enlisted when he was 20, inspired by love for his country and his older brother’s military service.
It was a time he “loved,” but one in which he also witnessed “terrible” atrocities.
In recent years, he fell back on his love of cooking to climb out of a tough time, left a career in law enforcement and started a business: Smash’D Burgers and Fries food truck.
In September, Smash’D came in second out of 64 small-business restaurants competing in WGN Radio 720’s inaugural Chicago Area’s Best Burgers Tournament.
Byrnes, 42, is a married father with a blended family of six children. When he was 20, he was working at a bank as a debt collector. He liked his co-workers, but he said “it was depressing work hounding people for car payments all day.”
One day after work, his older brother, David, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who also worked at the bank, set up an interview for Kevin with a recruiting officer. That night, after work, David drove Kevin there, and he enlisted.
David said Kevin, 10 years his junior, always looked up to him as a Marine. When David got out of boot camp, he said, Kevin even took him to school for show-and-tell.
Kevin wanted to join “but was afraid, like anyone else, to commit to it,” said David, of Lake in the Hills. “But once he did, it was the best thing for him. He has a great love for the Marine Corps.”
Like his brother, Kevin worked as a military police officer. He served as a Marine staff sergeant for nine years, three months and 19 days, from 2003 to 2013. His deployments included Macedonia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, working security for the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team.
“I loved my time in the Marine Corps, and I miss the guys tremendously,” Kevin said of the camaraderie and brotherhood he felt. “I still stay in touch with a bunch of them. When we talk, it’s like we haven’t missed a day.”
But he saw things he cannot forget, including a suicide bomber who blew himself up in a crowded area while children were going to school and people going to work.
On Dec. 11, 2006, Kevin’s best friend was killed, along with others from his team, when the vehicle they were in was struck by explosives.
When he returned home to Crystal Lake, Kevin worked as a police officer for Richmond for four years. Then, he was hired as a McHenry County Sheriff’s deputy, where he worked until 2023.
But in transitioning to civilian life, he struggled emotionally and mentally.
“I had a very difficult time,” Kevin said. “It took a long time [to overcome it].”
Then, about the time he left the sheriff’s office, Kevin said: “It started creeping back in – like bad. I was in a dark place for a while. I felt it coming back, and I knew I had to do something different.”
So, he turned to what he, as the baby of six children, watched his mother do daily: cooking. And he became excited about smashing burgers.
“I got so much excitement out of it, and I made it my mission, and I ran with it,” Kevin said.
He appreciates that his burgers won second of 64 restaurants in the recent contest and is “honored and humbled” by the outpouring of love and support from the community. But the accolade means more than making the best burgers.
“For me, on a personal level, the contest, it’s not just the burger and everything. … It’s overcoming all those obstacles and fighting out of a dark hole to get where we are today,” Kevin said.
And with his food truck, he gives back to others.
Mathius Carter of Cary is a U.S. Army veteran who is active in the veteran community.
“Anytime there is a veteran event and [Kevin] is available, he always supports it,” Carter said.
Kevin also helps with video-gaming meetups for vets, including a recent event at McHenry County College, where 80 veterans attended. Carter said Kevin “supplied the burgers.”
When the veterans community learned about the burger contest, everyone voted.
“It’s all about supporting each other,” Carter said.
Kevin also serves as president of the Crystal Lake Lions Club and hires other veterans to work with him, including Victor Levy. Also an ex-Marine, Levy is a junior commander at Crystal Lake Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Post 12014. Levy said he and Kevin “bonded” over being Marines.
“It was one of the things that made it easier to talk to him and him to talk to me,” Levy said.
Levy said veterans share a certain camaraderie. They truly live by the sentiment that “no one is left behind.” They interact differently with their surroundings than “civilians.” Working with someone who is a veteran, Levy said, is knowing there is someone there who has his back.
“He’s a really cool guy to work with, really chill, and he knows what he is doing,” Levy said.
Levy said Kevin gives back to the community, including by cooking and serving smashed burgers to veterans at dinners hosted by Veterans Path to Hope in Crystal Lake. He said although it’s “really nice to give back” to the veterans, Kevin doesn’t just give the veterans food – “he cooks it for them as well.”
Kevin said he’s always used cooking as an outlet and, especially during his dark days, “it was therapeutic.”
Even before leaving the sheriff’s office, Kevin started making smashed burgers, messing with recipes and seasonings.
“I kept going and going, made it my mission, made it my focus,” he said.
He had friends over to taste his recipes, including Tony Colatorti, owner of Cucina Bella in Algonquin, who Kevin described as a mentor.
He said Colatorti told him: “This is it. You need to sell these.”
That gave him “a kick in the butt to get out there.”
Kevin said using his love of cooking to create a new business, although not always easy, “has been the best change in my life.”
“It’s creating and building,” Kevin said. “When I cook, it’s time for me to be able to reflect on things and create something delicious for others to enjoy something positive. … It has given me a new mission and purpose.”
Dining and Cooking