November 11, 2025 • 26 mins
To mark Veterans Day, host J.R. Martinez sits down with producer Ryan Sweikert to talk about what he’s learned from the stories of veterans who have received the Medal of Honor, how to talk to veterans about their service, and the moments that shaped his life, both in the service and afterward.
Medal of Honor Season 3 is coming on May 27th, 2026. In the meantime, we want to hear from you. We’ve put together a listener survey. Tell us what you love about the show. What we can improve on. Stories you think we've missed. To take the survey, follow this link: bit.ly/mohsurvey
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hey everyone, We've put together a survey for listeners of
Medal of Honor and we want to hear from you.
Tell us what you love about the show, what we
can improve on, or stories you think we've missed. We're
committed to making this show even better and you can
help to take the survey. Visit bit dot lee slash
h survey. That's bit dot l y slash mh survey.
(00:46):
The link is also in our show notes below. Today
we celebrate Veterans Day. It's a time for us to
reflect on the sacrifices made by the men and women
who have served and protected this country across generations.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I'm JR. Martinez.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
In the last season A Medal of Honor Stories of Courage,
I had the privilege of telling the heroic stories of
some of the bravest veterans to ever put on the uniform,
like sal Junta, who ran through a hell of bullets
to save his best friend from capture, or Carl Sitter,
the wounded marine captain who refused to be evacuated until
(01:31):
the job was done. Ordinary men who were thrust into
impossible situations, who didn't just meet the challenge of the day,
but plowed through it. If you've been listening to our show,
you know the value of that kind of courage. But
I'm here to tell you that everyone who has ever
put on the uniform has a story. So today I'd
(01:53):
like to encourage you to talk to the veterans in
your life and don't just thank them for their service.
Ask them about it. It shouldn't end with just the
thank you. We're hard at work on the next season,
a Medal of Honor, and it's coming in May of
next year. But in the meantime want to hear from
you about what you'd like to hear from us.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
We put together a listener survey.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Tell us what you love about the show, what we
can improve on, stories you think we've missed. As we
observe this Veterans Day, we're recommitting ourselves to not just
making the show, but making it better. And you can
help us to take the survey. Head to bit dot
lee slash m oh survey. That's bit dot l y
(02:36):
slash m o h survey. That link is also in
our show notes. For this episode, I sat down with
my producer Ryan Swikert to talk about what we owe
our veterans today and what we can expect in the
upcoming season of Medal of Honor.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Well, Jr. I am so happy to be sitting with
you here in Pushkin Industries in beautiful New York City.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yes, sir, it's nice, beautiful cool outside here. I am walking,
you know, in New York and I'm like, and a
lady sneeze.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I was like, bless you, and she just kind of
looked at me, you.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Know, and just kept it moving, and I was like, Oh,
I love New York right like, And it's.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I'm really excited to be talking to you about, you know,
the things that you learned making this show and what
the listeners can expect this upcoming season and today's Veterans Day.
It's interesting, Like I have veterans in my life, and
you know, as a civilian, sometimes it feels like maybe
you don't want to broach the subject with somebody to
get them to talk about bad things that happened to them. Yeah,
(03:40):
what would you say to that.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Let them tell you, let them dictate.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
You'll know immediately if this individual wants to talk, and
if they do, how much they want to share. Why
are we underestimating that they're capable of telling us a
lot of us don't want to infringe because they don't
want to pry because they're afraid, you know. But I
think a lot of people don't want to infringe because
(04:05):
they're they don't want that vet to be like, it's
none of your business. I don't want to talk about
it because how it's going to make us feel exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
You know, you do these.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Little events and you know, you get get around kids
and kids are like kids have no filter, man. I
mean as brutally, as raw as it may be at
times when a kid would come up to me and like.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
What happened to your face? I mean, straight up, man,
these kids are brutal.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
But at the end of the day, I mean it's
inspiring to see these kids that are doing that. And
that's I think as adults to some degree, like we
need to kind of like still carry a little bit
of that inner child in us because they're curious, fearless.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Just ask the questions, just go shoot.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
From the hip man and veterans day.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
You know, again, we're so used to going up to
a vat, you know, and say thank you for your service,
and what do they say? Thank you? And they're like,
all right, have a good day. Walk away, right, what
happened there? Yes, you allow someone to feel appreciated, and
then that is equally important. However, you just walked away
not knowing what that person did, not knowing what you
(05:12):
really thank them for. That person now doesn't really know you,
versus if you approached them and said, you know, yes,
if you want to lead with the hey, I just
want to say thank you for your service, really appreciated.
And they're like, thank you, and wou do you mind
telling me? Like, what what'd you do in the military?
You know, where'd you serve?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Just starting a conversation with the veterans in your life, right,
that's it.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, that's it man.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I just tell people like, don't make the decision for
that individual. Let that individual tell you if they're ready
to talk.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I want to back up just a little bit. Of course,
So a lot of listeners are familiar with your story,
but I think a lot of new listeners might not be.
And being that it's Veterans Day today, I was wondering
if you could just tell me the story of when
you became a veteran.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Absolutely not all right.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
That's okay. I just wanted to ask, there we.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Go, there it is put it in practice already. I
love it, man, understand that. Yeah, I wouldn't want to
talk about it yet. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
There you go see, and that's but that's that's the
way to do it. So essentially, I was a senior
in high school in nine to eleven. Took place, and
like everybody, of course, confused, afraid, but also I think
just felt this deep patriotism of what can I do?
(06:29):
I want to do something, and so the military now
became that opportunity for me.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
It was an opportunity for me to go serve.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
It was an opportunity for me to get more disciplined,
as opportunity for me to travel, get money for college.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
All the things. It was a one stop shop.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And so off I go to the army as an
Infertruman and six months after I enlisted, I found myself
in combat in Iraq.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
At first, I didn't really feel like I played a role.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I was like, what I mean, I'm not really doing
anything here, Like I mean, not helpful to anybody.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I don't know any of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And it took one of my leaders to give a
briefing to our unit, and in that briefing he talked
about the importance of service. He talked about the importance
of every single person in the role that they played
and accomplishing our mission. And he was giving this whole
speech Man, and I literally was like, oh my god,
all right, I get it. Now, I do play a role,
I do matter. I am part of this team. And
(07:28):
you know, I was only in country Man for three
and a half weeks, that's it. And then on the
fifth of April of two thousand and three, I'm driving
a humvey through a city called Carbala when the front
left tire runs over a roadside bomb.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
There were three other guys in the humvy.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
They were all thrown out, but I was trapped aside,
and within a matter of seconds, this humvy was now
in gulfed in flames, and you.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Know, I can't get out.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
For five minutes that I was trapped inside of this
burning humvey, I was in and out of consciousness because.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I had thirty degree burns.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
But the biggest thing that was threatening whether I was
going to survive or not was the fact that I
had inhalation damage. So I was inhaling all the smoke
from the fire. I had broken ribs. It was hard
for me to breathe, So this is what it sounded like.
It was like help, help, like that. And then there
would be these moments where my body would get really heavy,
(08:21):
like my eyes would get heavy, my body would start
to kind of get weak, and my eyes would be
on the verge of closing and they would close. But
when my eyes closed, there's two things that I vividly remember.
One is feeling my breath. I could feel myself breathing
or trying to. And the second thing is my thoughts.
(08:43):
And then I would tell myself, don't keep your eyes closed,
because if you do, that's it. You're giving up. Someone's
gonna pull you out. Open your eyes and I would
open my eyes and I would continue to screaming. Yet,
but what I learned from the fifth of Abel of
two thousand and three is that hopefully I and the
listener we won't find ourselves in a burning situation right
(09:04):
where we're trapped. Hopefully that's not the case. However, life
in itself, because it could be overwhelming and a lot
of pressures can feel like we're in a burning situation.
And so what I've learned from that five minutes that
I was trapped inside of that humvey is that when
things start to feel a little overwhelming, when things start
(09:27):
to feel a little out of control.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I just like to close my eyes.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I like to connect with my breath, and I like
to connect with my thoughts well and ask for help
right and ask for other things and trust that people
will show up for you. I had to trust in
those five minutes that somebody was going to show up.
I had this false sense of hope that someone was
going to come pull me out, and they did, and
(09:53):
I was pulled out of the humbee, started the metavac process,
put into a medical induce coma, ended up in San Antonio, Texas,
and then three weeks later, came out of my medical
induce coma to my new reality. You know, after my injury,
(10:19):
I was in a medical induce coma for three weeks.
And when I came out of my medical induce coma,
the first question, no different than any other service member
that I asked the medical team, was when can I
get out? And when can I get back with my
unit and finish my tour. And the first bombshell, if
you will, that they dropped on me was they told
me that I wasn't going to be allowed to stay
(10:41):
in the Army.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I was going to be medically discharged.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
That was really hard for me because I started to
create this identity of Okay, I love this military thing,
I love this uniform, I love this concept of service,
like I love being a part of this, and now
you're taking that away from me. Also, within the same
like week and a half, I saw my face and
(11:07):
my body for the first time understood this of my injury.
And so I always say to people, you know, two
weeks after I came out of my coma, I lost
both of my identities.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Like I didn't know who I was.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And I mean at that point, I was just kind
of going through the motions, just kind of surviving the day.
I had to really like go of the pressure of
what long term was going to look like, and I
started to really focus on just the short term, the now,
the today. And six months later, I'm asked to visit
a patient who was in the hospital essentially navigating the
(11:40):
same thing I was navigating six months prior, and I
was encouraged to go in and talk to him, and
you know, like a typical twenty year old, I was like, now, now, now,
And you know, the staff who had at that point
became more like my friends and family and this nurse,
Miss Walker, she was like, no, go in there, and
I was like, fine, I'll do it. Gosh, I mean
(12:01):
literally like a mother's son dynamic.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
And do you know why you were so reluctant to go?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Because I was like, I'm twenty, what am I going
to say say? I don't know what I'm going to
say to this individual, like nothing to offer. And that
was my first mistake because what I realized when I
walked into that room and he was definitely in a
bad place, I realized all I needed to do is
just show up. And I remember having a forty five
(12:26):
minute conversation with this patient and when I left, I.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Was like, hey, man, I'll come back tomorrow. He's like, yeah, man,
I'd appreciate that. Like it was a completely different vibe
in his room. And I started visiting patients every day.
And what that did is that gave me what part
of my identity back, the ability to serve. I realize
I can serve again in a different way, in a
different capacity, but I can serve.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I learned that I needed to be vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
The more that I've done that, I have found some
really incredible people that I call my family. Now I
have created deeper connections with people that I probably never
would have had. I continue to keep this sort of
shield in front of me, just trusting that you know,
not everybody, but there are a hell of a lot
(13:13):
of people out there that are equipped to show up
for you, but you also have to equally let them
know that you need that.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
It sounds like a Veteran's day message.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
That's it, man.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You know, as much as I'm putting you know, we're
talking to the listener that's potentially civilian, I'm also talking.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
To that vet.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
It's hard walking the streets of the world, even if
there's only five hundred people that live in your town,
or there's five million people in New York City, you know,
in the same borough as you right now. It's hard,
and it's easy to feel isolated, and it's probably feels
and the short term better to isolate yourself. But the
(13:54):
long term, in order for you to be what you
are destined to be, we have to be willing to
like just keep showing up. And the military they taught
us that, and just because we're not in it anymore
doesn't mean that goes away. Show up for others and
through that you start to kind of discover more about yourself.
(14:14):
And that was true for me as I started to
discover so much more about myself by just showing up
for others.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
You talk about showing up, and you know, working on
this podcast, you've seen that, Like, yes, a lot of
these guys are very heroic and a lot of the
things they did were amazing, but they got in those
positions in the first place by just showing up. Yeah,
do you want to talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, man, I mean working on season two of Medal
of Honor and listening to season one with Malcolm, it
just reminded me of how important it is to simply
just show up, to just be there, Like you don't
have to have all the answers. I mean, you listen
to some of these individuals in season two and they
(15:00):
didn't have extensive training, they didn't have combat training, they
didn't get the luxury to go to this school and
that school. I did it right, Like that's a common
and theme in some of these stories. Yet when a
moment asked somebody to show up, they just showed up
and they figured it out.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Like guys were able to just navigate it and do
some incredible things that I think they surprise themselves, which
is why I think many of them are like why
am I being awarded this incredible honor?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Like why do I deserve this right? I think anybody
would have done that. I think we all would have
tried to, you know, navigate it the same way. And
if there's anything you take away from this podcast, it's
simply being inspired by these stories that for some of us,
including myself, they feel like, no, these are fictional stories.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
There's I can't no, that's not real, that happened.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I mean, it's easy to look at the things that
these guys do. It's just sort of like these amazing heroics. Yeah,
but really it's just the confluence of like this training,
this ability, and the right moment.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah you're I mean, and a lot of them it's
just like what would I have done? What would I
have done if there was someone with a machine gun?
Like in a position, like what I have charged in?
What would I have done? And so you easily start
to kind of think these are like just superheroes and
they're not.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
They're human beings. We all have this, we really do.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
And I just love that I get to be part
of the team to help keep these legacies alive and
then help people that are listening realize that they too
can be like Carl Sitter, they can be like Jefferson
de Blanc, they can be like all these individuals that
we've covered in the first two seasons of Medal of Honor.
It's a reminder for all of us as human beings,
(16:57):
as Americans, as listeners of this podcast where we're listening
to these stories, to just keep showing up. We want
to run away, but showing up might actually allow you
to realize the true hero that is in you, that
is just waiting for that moment to come out.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Jare I actually recently learned that you were on Dancing
with the Stars. I did not know this about you.
You're a man of many talents, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Man, sometimes I forget that I was on Dancing with
the Stars.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Not only were you on Dancing with the Stars, my friend,
but you won.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
The winners and new champions of Dancing with the Stars
shut Out and cry.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Out, which makes you infinitely a better dancer than I
could ever be. How did this come about? And like,
I'm just curious about how and if you talked about
being a veteran on the show.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, I was on that show and it was veteran first.
It really was promoted like we have this veteran on
the show. And what was cool about it is, yes,
I went on to show the world that I have
a personality. Obviously I could dance, but it was just
like this character like I just I'm silly of goofy,
(18:22):
and but people were like, oh, that's cool. Here's a
guy that you know, some people will look at me
like scary to see, you know, like the scars and whatever.
But look at him, he's actually like clowning, laughing, silly,
like he's just a goofball. And so it was, it was,
it was awesome. And I remember week three, I did
(18:44):
a rumba. We danced to the song Tim McGraths song.
If you're reading.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
This, you did a rumba to a Tim McGraw song, Yeah, okay,
I gotta look at that reading.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
The lyrics are he's telling the story of a service member.
So he writes a letter to his wife. Essentially he's saying,
if you're reading this, I passed away while in the military.
I remember sitting in the rehearsal room with Karina spurnt Off,
my partner, and I was like, yeah, this is an
(19:16):
important story to tell. Before we danced, they showed up
the package again and it was about my recovery and
oh man, just thinking about it, like they showed all
these people, they interviewed them behind my back. I had
no clue they put this package together, which is the
worst thing to do to somebody. That's about the dance
(19:37):
in front of millions of people.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
You read to watch us before you.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I had to watch it, and so I'm standing there
watching it, waiting for this package to end, the announce
her to introduce us, and then the music starts playing
we go, and I tell you, by the time we started,
I had tears in my eyes, like and it wasn't
just about me. It was like, I'm telling the story
of so many men and women. I finished the routine, man,
(20:01):
and I'm crying. I only like ninety seconds, that's how
long we dance on the show, and probably the last
forty five seconds of that routine, I'm crying. In the
ballroom where they film Dance with the Stars, every single
person was standing out. The response that we got from that,
(20:24):
what people told us, what thank you?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Thank you for telling that story.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I think that's interesting because that's pretty much what you're
doing on this show too. You know, you are in
conversation with these interviews with these veterans who have done
these amazing things, and you're telling their stories.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
I think one theme we're circling here in this conversation
is storytelling. How important that is to the veteran experience, right.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And we need more vets to be willing to share
and to talk as much as they.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Feel comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Why is that important?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Because it is important for people to learn about who
we are one so again we can have a connection.
But you know, we'd like to say in the military,
we fought for your freedom, We fought for your right,
and I think some of us we lose sight of
that when we come home and we're struggling. And what
I like to remind them is like, Okay, it's easy
(21:24):
to say you fought for everyone else's right, but you
also fought for your own. You deserve to live, you
deserve to heal, you deserve to go through your process
to get the out. You deserve that you fought for yourself, man, like,
not just everybody else.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
But for you too.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I tell my story and I'm hoping that there's a
VET that's listening right now, or a loved one of
a vet, and they're like, you know what, all right,
maybe what I'm struggling with it's.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Okay, but I should reach out.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Maybe it encourages the listener right now to say, you
know what, oh man man, I need to have a
little bit more compassion and not just look at them
as like trained robots that just know they're human beings
that have lives, that have emotions, that have feelings, that
have the same desires that we do. They have aspirations,
right like they have those same things, but they also
still have those complications like we all do.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
One of the things I noticed you said earlier was
that you would developed this identity as a soldier, right,
And that was something that didn't come easy to you.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
At first.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You weren't really sure what you were doing there, and
then you got leadership that helped you find that identity, right.
But then you get injured and you have a new identity, right.
And for the past twenty years you've been a veteran,
and I just wonder you know what you've learned in
those twenty years with this identity of being a veteran.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I'm proud.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I'm proud of the initial decision to join the military,
not really understanding this fraternity that I was joining. I'm
grateful because it gave me the opportunity to discover myself.
(23:10):
It gave me a space, a platform to identify the
greatness that lied in me. It gave me the avenue
to discover that. And the military helped me find this
concept of service, helped me find this importance of teamwork
and how to show up and how to be a leader,
and how to get people, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
To buy in. And I'm grateful.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I have no regrets, man, absolutely none. I mean, it's
kind of hard to really encapsulate like what my life
has been over the last you know, two decades. I mean,
it's it's kind of wild, to be honest. I've kind
of like the Forest Gump in a sense of just
kind of like just yeah, sure, I'll try that.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Sure here.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I mean, I never hosted a podcast like this, you know,
And here I am doing that, this working with this
incredible team and telling these incredible stories. And I feel
the passion and love to tell these stories in such
a careful way that we do them justice. And it
makes me feel like I'm kind of back in the
(24:12):
military in a sense, like I'm part of this team.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
What are you looking forward to in this upcoming season?
The medal of honor?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Oh man, what you guys have up your sleeve, what
you guys do, and how you do all this research
and put all these stories together, and you know, I'm
the final piece that comes in and helps, you know,
try to tell them. It's unfortunate that it's May of
next year when episode one is going to be released,
you know, because I feel like I'm like, I want
(24:39):
this now.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Well. The good thing is you can go listen to
season one. It's easy two, right.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
But I'm just I'm excited to just learn and to
just be inspired because I know there's a lot of
stories in there that are just going to be incredibly
motivating and inspiring and a reminder of what humans are
capable of doing.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
And I can tell you just from having worked on
some of the stories coming up, that they're capable.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Of a lot. Yeah. I can't wait, man, I can't
I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
So I hope everyone that's listening now, I hope that
you put some sort of alert reminder May twenty twenty six,
Medal of Honor, season three. I hope you tune in
as well and we can go on this journey together.
But before that, as I said in the opening, click
on that link in the show notes, I mean truly
when we say this, we mean that we want to
(25:30):
hear from you. We want to understand what are some
things that you want to know. What are maybe some subjects,
maybe some individuals, whatever it is like, just this is
a community and we want our listeners to feel like
they're part of our community.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Because they are. They matter.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
We want these stories to continue to live, So reach
out to us, communicate with us. But set that alert
that reminder for May twenty twenty six, Season three, episode one.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
All right, jay R, thank you so much for doing this.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
It was a pleasure, my man, Thank you so much. Yeah,
same here, brother, But thank you again for listening to
this special episode of Metal of Honor. Once again, we'd
love to hear from you. If you have a couple
of minutes, please take our listener survey. Head to bid
(26:20):
dot lee slash m oh survey. That's bit dot l
y slash m oh survey. That link is also in
our show notes. This episode of Metal of Honor Stories
of Courage was produced by Ryan Schwiker.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Our editor is Lydia Jean Kott.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Sound design and additional music by Jake Gorsky. Our executive
producer is Gonstanza Gayadovio. Original music by Eric Phillips and
I'm your Host JR.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Martinez
Pushkin.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hey everyone, We've put together a survey for listeners of
Medal of Honor and we want to hear from you.
Tell us what you love about the show, what we
can improve on, or stories you think we've missed. We're
committed to making this show even better and you can
help to take the survey. Visit bit dot lee slash
h survey. That's bit dot l y slash mh survey.
(00:46):
The link is also in our show notes below. Today
we celebrate Veterans Day. It's a time for us to
reflect on the sacrifices made by the men and women
who have served and protected this country across generations.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I'm JR. Martinez.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
In the last season A Medal of Honor Stories of Courage,
I had the privilege of telling the heroic stories of
some of the bravest veterans to ever put on the uniform,
like sal Junta, who ran through a hell of bullets
to save his best friend from capture, or Carl Sitter,
the wounded marine captain who refused to be evacuated until
(01:31):
the job was done. Ordinary men who were thrust into
impossible situations, who didn't just meet the challenge of the day,
but plowed through it. If you've been listening to our show,
you know the value of that kind of courage. But
I'm here to tell you that everyone who has ever
put on the uniform has a story. So today I'd
(01:53):
like to encourage you to talk to the veterans in
your life and don't just thank them for their service.
Ask them about it. It shouldn't end with just the
thank you. We're hard at work on the next season,
a Medal of Honor, and it's coming in May of
next year. But in the meantime want to hear from
you about what you'd like to hear from us.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
We put together a listener survey.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Tell us what you love about the show, what we
can improve on, stories you think we've missed. As we
observe this Veterans Day, we're recommitting ourselves to not just
making the show, but making it better. And you can
help us to take the survey. Head to bit dot
lee slash m oh survey. That's bit dot l y
(02:36):
slash m o h survey. That link is also in
our show notes. For this episode, I sat down with
my producer Ryan Swikert to talk about what we owe
our veterans today and what we can expect in the
upcoming season of Medal of Honor.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Well, Jr. I am so happy to be sitting with
you here in Pushkin Industries in beautiful New York City.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yes, sir, it's nice, beautiful cool outside here. I am walking,
you know, in New York and I'm like, and a
lady sneeze.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I was like, bless you, and she just kind of
looked at me, you.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Know, and just kept it moving, and I was like, Oh,
I love New York right like, And it's.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I'm really excited to be talking to you about, you know,
the things that you learned making this show and what
the listeners can expect this upcoming season and today's Veterans Day.
It's interesting, Like I have veterans in my life, and
you know, as a civilian, sometimes it feels like maybe
you don't want to broach the subject with somebody to
get them to talk about bad things that happened to them. Yeah,
(03:40):
what would you say to that.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Let them tell you, let them dictate.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
You'll know immediately if this individual wants to talk, and
if they do, how much they want to share. Why
are we underestimating that they're capable of telling us a
lot of us don't want to infringe because they don't
want to pry because they're afraid, you know. But I
think a lot of people don't want to infringe because
(04:05):
they're they don't want that vet to be like, it's
none of your business. I don't want to talk about
it because how it's going to make us feel exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
You know, you do these.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Little events and you know, you get get around kids
and kids are like kids have no filter, man. I
mean as brutally, as raw as it may be at
times when a kid would come up to me and like.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
What happened to your face? I mean, straight up, man,
these kids are brutal.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
But at the end of the day, I mean it's
inspiring to see these kids that are doing that. And
that's I think as adults to some degree, like we
need to kind of like still carry a little bit
of that inner child in us because they're curious, fearless.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Just ask the questions, just go shoot.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
From the hip man and veterans day.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
You know, again, we're so used to going up to
a vat, you know, and say thank you for your service,
and what do they say? Thank you? And they're like,
all right, have a good day. Walk away, right, what
happened there? Yes, you allow someone to feel appreciated, and
then that is equally important. However, you just walked away
not knowing what that person did, not knowing what you
(05:12):
really thank them for. That person now doesn't really know you,
versus if you approached them and said, you know, yes,
if you want to lead with the hey, I just
want to say thank you for your service, really appreciated.
And they're like, thank you, and wou do you mind
telling me? Like, what what'd you do in the military?
You know, where'd you serve?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Just starting a conversation with the veterans in your life, right,
that's it.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, that's it man.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I just tell people like, don't make the decision for
that individual. Let that individual tell you if they're ready
to talk.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I want to back up just a little bit. Of course,
So a lot of listeners are familiar with your story,
but I think a lot of new listeners might not be.
And being that it's Veterans Day today, I was wondering
if you could just tell me the story of when
you became a veteran.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Absolutely not all right.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
That's okay. I just wanted to ask, there we.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Go, there it is put it in practice already. I
love it, man, understand that. Yeah, I wouldn't want to
talk about it yet. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
There you go see, and that's but that's that's the
way to do it. So essentially, I was a senior
in high school in nine to eleven. Took place, and
like everybody, of course, confused, afraid, but also I think
just felt this deep patriotism of what can I do?
(06:29):
I want to do something, and so the military now
became that opportunity for me.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
It was an opportunity for me to go serve.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
It was an opportunity for me to get more disciplined,
as opportunity for me to travel, get money for college.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
All the things. It was a one stop shop.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And so off I go to the army as an
Infertruman and six months after I enlisted, I found myself
in combat in Iraq.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
At first, I didn't really feel like I played a role.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I was like, what I mean, I'm not really doing
anything here, Like I mean, not helpful to anybody.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I don't know any of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And it took one of my leaders to give a
briefing to our unit, and in that briefing he talked
about the importance of service. He talked about the importance
of every single person in the role that they played
and accomplishing our mission. And he was giving this whole
speech Man, and I literally was like, oh my god,
all right, I get it. Now, I do play a role,
I do matter. I am part of this team. And
(07:28):
you know, I was only in country Man for three
and a half weeks, that's it. And then on the
fifth of April of two thousand and three, I'm driving
a humvey through a city called Carbala when the front
left tire runs over a roadside bomb.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
There were three other guys in the humvy.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
They were all thrown out, but I was trapped aside,
and within a matter of seconds, this humvy was now
in gulfed in flames, and you.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Know, I can't get out.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
For five minutes that I was trapped inside of this
burning humvey, I was in and out of consciousness because.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I had thirty degree burns.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
But the biggest thing that was threatening whether I was
going to survive or not was the fact that I
had inhalation damage. So I was inhaling all the smoke
from the fire. I had broken ribs. It was hard
for me to breathe, So this is what it sounded like.
It was like help, help, like that. And then there
would be these moments where my body would get really heavy,
(08:21):
like my eyes would get heavy, my body would start
to kind of get weak, and my eyes would be
on the verge of closing and they would close. But
when my eyes closed, there's two things that I vividly remember.
One is feeling my breath. I could feel myself breathing
or trying to. And the second thing is my thoughts.
(08:43):
And then I would tell myself, don't keep your eyes closed,
because if you do, that's it. You're giving up. Someone's
gonna pull you out. Open your eyes and I would
open my eyes and I would continue to screaming. Yet,
but what I learned from the fifth of Abel of
two thousand and three is that hopefully I and the
listener we won't find ourselves in a burning situation right
(09:04):
where we're trapped. Hopefully that's not the case. However, life
in itself, because it could be overwhelming and a lot
of pressures can feel like we're in a burning situation.
And so what I've learned from that five minutes that
I was trapped inside of that humvey is that when
things start to feel a little overwhelming, when things start
(09:27):
to feel a little out of control.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I just like to close my eyes.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I like to connect with my breath, and I like
to connect with my thoughts well and ask for help
right and ask for other things and trust that people
will show up for you. I had to trust in
those five minutes that somebody was going to show up.
I had this false sense of hope that someone was
going to come pull me out, and they did, and
(09:53):
I was pulled out of the humbee, started the metavac process,
put into a medical induce coma, ended up in San Antonio, Texas,
and then three weeks later, came out of my medical
induce coma to my new reality. You know, after my injury,
(10:19):
I was in a medical induce coma for three weeks.
And when I came out of my medical induce coma,
the first question, no different than any other service member
that I asked the medical team, was when can I
get out? And when can I get back with my
unit and finish my tour. And the first bombshell, if
you will, that they dropped on me was they told
me that I wasn't going to be allowed to stay
(10:41):
in the Army.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I was going to be medically discharged.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
That was really hard for me because I started to
create this identity of Okay, I love this military thing,
I love this uniform, I love this concept of service,
like I love being a part of this, and now
you're taking that away from me. Also, within the same
like week and a half, I saw my face and
(11:07):
my body for the first time understood this of my injury.
And so I always say to people, you know, two
weeks after I came out of my coma, I lost
both of my identities.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Like I didn't know who I was.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And I mean at that point, I was just kind
of going through the motions, just kind of surviving the day.
I had to really like go of the pressure of
what long term was going to look like, and I
started to really focus on just the short term, the now,
the today. And six months later, I'm asked to visit
a patient who was in the hospital essentially navigating the
(11:40):
same thing I was navigating six months prior, and I
was encouraged to go in and talk to him, and
you know, like a typical twenty year old, I was like, now, now, now,
And you know, the staff who had at that point
became more like my friends and family and this nurse,
Miss Walker, she was like, no, go in there, and
I was like, fine, I'll do it. Gosh, I mean
(12:01):
literally like a mother's son dynamic.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
And do you know why you were so reluctant to go?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Because I was like, I'm twenty, what am I going
to say say? I don't know what I'm going to
say to this individual, like nothing to offer. And that
was my first mistake because what I realized when I
walked into that room and he was definitely in a
bad place, I realized all I needed to do is
just show up. And I remember having a forty five
(12:26):
minute conversation with this patient and when I left, I.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Was like, hey, man, I'll come back tomorrow. He's like, yeah, man,
I'd appreciate that. Like it was a completely different vibe
in his room. And I started visiting patients every day.
And what that did is that gave me what part
of my identity back, the ability to serve. I realize
I can serve again in a different way, in a
different capacity, but I can serve.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I learned that I needed to be vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
The more that I've done that, I have found some
really incredible people that I call my family. Now I
have created deeper connections with people that I probably never
would have had. I continue to keep this sort of
shield in front of me, just trusting that you know,
not everybody, but there are a hell of a lot
(13:13):
of people out there that are equipped to show up
for you, but you also have to equally let them
know that you need that.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
It sounds like a Veteran's day message.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
That's it, man.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You know, as much as I'm putting you know, we're
talking to the listener that's potentially civilian, I'm also talking.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
To that vet.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
It's hard walking the streets of the world, even if
there's only five hundred people that live in your town,
or there's five million people in New York City, you know,
in the same borough as you right now. It's hard,
and it's easy to feel isolated, and it's probably feels
and the short term better to isolate yourself. But the
(13:54):
long term, in order for you to be what you
are destined to be, we have to be willing to
like just keep showing up. And the military they taught
us that, and just because we're not in it anymore
doesn't mean that goes away. Show up for others and
through that you start to kind of discover more about yourself.
(14:14):
And that was true for me as I started to
discover so much more about myself by just showing up
for others.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
You talk about showing up, and you know, working on
this podcast, you've seen that, Like, yes, a lot of
these guys are very heroic and a lot of the
things they did were amazing, but they got in those
positions in the first place by just showing up. Yeah,
do you want to talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, man, I mean working on season two of Medal
of Honor and listening to season one with Malcolm, it
just reminded me of how important it is to simply
just show up, to just be there, Like you don't
have to have all the answers. I mean, you listen
to some of these individuals in season two and they
(15:00):
didn't have extensive training, they didn't have combat training, they
didn't get the luxury to go to this school and
that school. I did it right, Like that's a common
and theme in some of these stories. Yet when a
moment asked somebody to show up, they just showed up
and they figured it out.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Like guys were able to just navigate it and do
some incredible things that I think they surprise themselves, which
is why I think many of them are like why
am I being awarded this incredible honor?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Like why do I deserve this right? I think anybody
would have done that. I think we all would have
tried to, you know, navigate it the same way. And
if there's anything you take away from this podcast, it's
simply being inspired by these stories that for some of us,
including myself, they feel like, no, these are fictional stories.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
There's I can't no, that's not real, that happened.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I mean, it's easy to look at the things that
these guys do. It's just sort of like these amazing heroics. Yeah,
but really it's just the confluence of like this training,
this ability, and the right moment.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah you're I mean, and a lot of them it's
just like what would I have done? What would I
have done if there was someone with a machine gun?
Like in a position, like what I have charged in?
What would I have done? And so you easily start
to kind of think these are like just superheroes and
they're not.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
They're human beings. We all have this, we really do.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
And I just love that I get to be part
of the team to help keep these legacies alive and
then help people that are listening realize that they too
can be like Carl Sitter, they can be like Jefferson
de Blanc, they can be like all these individuals that
we've covered in the first two seasons of Medal of Honor.
It's a reminder for all of us as human beings,
(16:57):
as Americans, as listeners of this podcast where we're listening
to these stories, to just keep showing up. We want
to run away, but showing up might actually allow you
to realize the true hero that is in you, that
is just waiting for that moment to come out.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Jare I actually recently learned that you were on Dancing
with the Stars. I did not know this about you.
You're a man of many talents, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Man, sometimes I forget that I was on Dancing with
the Stars.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Not only were you on Dancing with the Stars, my friend,
but you won.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
The winners and new champions of Dancing with the Stars
shut Out and cry.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Out, which makes you infinitely a better dancer than I
could ever be. How did this come about? And like,
I'm just curious about how and if you talked about
being a veteran on the show.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, I was on that show and it was veteran first.
It really was promoted like we have this veteran on
the show. And what was cool about it is, yes,
I went on to show the world that I have
a personality. Obviously I could dance, but it was just
like this character like I just I'm silly of goofy,
(18:22):
and but people were like, oh, that's cool. Here's a
guy that you know, some people will look at me
like scary to see, you know, like the scars and whatever.
But look at him, he's actually like clowning, laughing, silly,
like he's just a goofball. And so it was, it was,
it was awesome. And I remember week three, I did
(18:44):
a rumba. We danced to the song Tim McGraths song.
If you're reading.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
This, you did a rumba to a Tim McGraw song, Yeah, okay,
I gotta look at that reading.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
The lyrics are he's telling the story of a service member.
So he writes a letter to his wife. Essentially he's saying,
if you're reading this, I passed away while in the military.
I remember sitting in the rehearsal room with Karina spurnt Off,
my partner, and I was like, yeah, this is an
(19:16):
important story to tell. Before we danced, they showed up
the package again and it was about my recovery and
oh man, just thinking about it, like they showed all
these people, they interviewed them behind my back. I had
no clue they put this package together, which is the
worst thing to do to somebody. That's about the dance
(19:37):
in front of millions of people.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
You read to watch us before you.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I had to watch it, and so I'm standing there
watching it, waiting for this package to end, the announce
her to introduce us, and then the music starts playing
we go, and I tell you, by the time we started,
I had tears in my eyes, like and it wasn't
just about me. It was like, I'm telling the story
of so many men and women. I finished the routine, man,
(20:01):
and I'm crying. I only like ninety seconds, that's how
long we dance on the show, and probably the last
forty five seconds of that routine, I'm crying. In the
ballroom where they film Dance with the Stars, every single
person was standing out. The response that we got from that,
(20:24):
what people told us, what thank you?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Thank you for telling that story.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I think that's interesting because that's pretty much what you're
doing on this show too. You know, you are in
conversation with these interviews with these veterans who have done
these amazing things, and you're telling their stories.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
I think one theme we're circling here in this conversation
is storytelling. How important that is to the veteran experience, right.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And we need more vets to be willing to share
and to talk as much as they.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Feel comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Why is that important?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Because it is important for people to learn about who
we are one so again we can have a connection.
But you know, we'd like to say in the military,
we fought for your freedom, We fought for your right,
and I think some of us we lose sight of
that when we come home and we're struggling. And what
I like to remind them is like, Okay, it's easy
(21:24):
to say you fought for everyone else's right, but you
also fought for your own. You deserve to live, you
deserve to heal, you deserve to go through your process
to get the out. You deserve that you fought for yourself, man, like,
not just everybody else.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
But for you too.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I tell my story and I'm hoping that there's a
VET that's listening right now, or a loved one of
a vet, and they're like, you know what, all right,
maybe what I'm struggling with it's.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Okay, but I should reach out.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Maybe it encourages the listener right now to say, you
know what, oh man man, I need to have a
little bit more compassion and not just look at them
as like trained robots that just know they're human beings
that have lives, that have emotions, that have feelings, that
have the same desires that we do. They have aspirations,
right like they have those same things, but they also
still have those complications like we all do.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
One of the things I noticed you said earlier was
that you would developed this identity as a soldier, right,
And that was something that didn't come easy to you.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
At first.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You weren't really sure what you were doing there, and
then you got leadership that helped you find that identity, right.
But then you get injured and you have a new identity, right.
And for the past twenty years you've been a veteran,
and I just wonder you know what you've learned in
those twenty years with this identity of being a veteran.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I'm proud.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I'm proud of the initial decision to join the military,
not really understanding this fraternity that I was joining. I'm
grateful because it gave me the opportunity to discover myself.
(23:10):
It gave me a space, a platform to identify the
greatness that lied in me. It gave me the avenue
to discover that. And the military helped me find this
concept of service, helped me find this importance of teamwork
and how to show up and how to be a leader,
and how to get people, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
To buy in. And I'm grateful.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I have no regrets, man, absolutely none. I mean, it's
kind of hard to really encapsulate like what my life
has been over the last you know, two decades. I mean,
it's it's kind of wild, to be honest. I've kind
of like the Forest Gump in a sense of just
kind of like just yeah, sure, I'll try that.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Sure here.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I mean, I never hosted a podcast like this, you know,
And here I am doing that, this working with this
incredible team and telling these incredible stories. And I feel
the passion and love to tell these stories in such
a careful way that we do them justice. And it
makes me feel like I'm kind of back in the
(24:12):
military in a sense, like I'm part of this team.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
What are you looking forward to in this upcoming season?
The medal of honor?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Oh man, what you guys have up your sleeve, what
you guys do, and how you do all this research
and put all these stories together, and you know, I'm
the final piece that comes in and helps, you know,
try to tell them. It's unfortunate that it's May of
next year when episode one is going to be released,
you know, because I feel like I'm like, I want
(24:39):
this now.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Well. The good thing is you can go listen to
season one. It's easy two, right.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
But I'm just I'm excited to just learn and to
just be inspired because I know there's a lot of
stories in there that are just going to be incredibly
motivating and inspiring and a reminder of what humans are
capable of doing.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
And I can tell you just from having worked on
some of the stories coming up, that they're capable.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Of a lot. Yeah. I can't wait, man, I can't
I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
So I hope everyone that's listening now, I hope that
you put some sort of alert reminder May twenty twenty six,
Medal of Honor, season three. I hope you tune in
as well and we can go on this journey together.
But before that, as I said in the opening, click
on that link in the show notes, I mean truly
when we say this, we mean that we want to
(25:30):
hear from you. We want to understand what are some
things that you want to know. What are maybe some subjects,
maybe some individuals, whatever it is like, just this is
a community and we want our listeners to feel like
they're part of our community.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Because they are. They matter.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
We want these stories to continue to live, So reach
out to us, communicate with us. But set that alert
that reminder for May twenty twenty six, Season three, episode one.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
All right, jay R, thank you so much for doing this.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
It was a pleasure, my man, Thank you so much. Yeah,
same here, brother, But thank you again for listening to
this special episode of Metal of Honor. Once again, we'd
love to hear from you. If you have a couple
of minutes, please take our listener survey. Head to bid
(26:20):
dot lee slash m oh survey. That's bit dot l
y slash m oh survey. That link is also in
our show notes. This episode of Metal of Honor Stories
of Courage was produced by Ryan Schwiker.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Our editor is Lydia Jean Kott.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Sound design and additional music by Jake Gorsky. Our executive
producer is Gonstanza Gayadovio. Original music by Eric Phillips and
I'm your Host JR.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Martinez
Host
Malcolm Gladwell
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