September 20, 2025 • 65 mins
Kevin Martin's story is one of transformation, resilience, and the enduring search for purpose that defines the veteran experience. As a Navy Corpsman who served in Afghanistan's dangerous Helmand Province, Kevin offers listeners a candid glimpse into both the intensity of combat medicine and the profound challenges of returning home.
The conversation takes us from Kevin's early days working in his father's bicycle shop to his decision to join the Navy as a SEAL candidate. Though injury redirected his military path, Kevin found his calling as a Corpsman – becoming the "Doc" responsible for the lives of 40 Marines during deployment. His vivid descriptions of treating wounded comrades, navigating desert sandstorms, and even dealing with Marines who staged scorpion fights out of boredom paint a multidimensional picture of modern warfare.
Most revealing is Kevin's startling admission that he didn't want to return from Afghanistan. "Life was just easier over there," he explains. "You wake up every morning, you know exactly what you're doing, you know who the enemy is." This clarity of purpose stands in stark contrast to the ambiguity of civilian life, where Kevin struggled through various jobs – from Domino's assistant manager to insurance agent – before finding more stable footing in HVAC and building automation.
Throughout the episode, Kevin articulates what many veterans experience but few can express: military service as a "double-edged sword" that offers unmatched purpose but creates a void upon return. His ongoing educational pursuits and dedication to his family – particularly his reunion with his high school sweetheart who now helps him manage the invisible wounds of war – demonstrate how veterans forge new paths forward while carrying their experiences with them.
Whether you're a veteran, family member, or someone seeking to understand the military experience, this conversation offers profound insights into how war changes those who serve and the lifelong journey of finding peace with the person they've become.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (01:00):
Today is Friday, september 19th 2025.
We're talking with Kevin Martin, who served in the United
States Navy.
So good afternoon, kevin, howyou doing Great.
We're going to start off reallyeasy.
When and where were you born?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
September 19th 1988, detroit, michigan.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well, happy birthday Nice.
The same age as my son actually.
That's kind of funny, so didyou live?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
in Detroit then Kind of bounced around a little bit
when I was real young.
I remember being in Farmingtonfor a few years, Southfield for
between six and eight years, andthen we moved out to gregory in
the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
That's where I lived until I graduated high school
okay, so about what age were youwhen you moved out to gregory?
Seventh grade okay, thatwonderful time in life, yeah.
So what can you tell me aboutgrowing up as a kid?
Did you have brothers andsisters?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
The half sister is about a year older than me.
Um then, my baby sister is fouryears younger than me.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Okay, so you're the middle kid.
Yes, you fall into that uhcategory.
You think pretty well Um.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I mean, my half sister didn't live with us
except for maybe about a year,so really I was kind of just the
older brother, I see.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
And what was it like growing up for you what?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
do you remember South field?
A lot of riding my bike aroundthe neighborhood.
My grandparents lived fiveblocks from us, so every day
after school I was riding mybike over there hanging out with
grandpa.
He was army as well, so golfballs, model airplanes, model
(02:54):
trains.
As I got older, started gettinginto firearms.
That was more after I joinedthe service, though.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So did you always like working with your hands and
your and your mind.
It sounds like, did you?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
always like working with your hands.
In your mind it sounds likeyeah, I mean, my first job was
working for my dad.
He owned a bicycle shop.
So from the time I was 14, Iwas a mechanic.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Okay.
Did you enjoy working for yourdad or did you have to work for
your dad?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I always wonder.
I enjoyed it.
He kind of put a, he kind ofdesigned his own little um chain
of command for me that way Iwasn't reporting directly to him
.
So he made sure to put thatseparation in there.
So nobody thought that I wasgetting favoritism or anything,
(03:42):
so I didn't mind it.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Okay, and what was school like for you?
Not that good, huh.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah, I actually played hockey a lot growing up.
I think between eight and tenyears I played hockey, most of
which as a goaltender.
Parents actually pulled me andjust cause my grades kept
slipping.
I wasn't exactly a academic inhigh school.
Uh, I think my guidancecounselor from the high school I
(04:18):
graduated from still uses me asan example of what not to do in
my senior year Just to graduateon time.
I had to get 12 out of eightpossible credits to make sure I
graduated on time.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Okay, so you were a cautionary tale when you left.
Pretty much, yeah.
And do you have any favoritesubjects in school though?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Math science, computers probably computers
most of all.
I did vocational school, orcareer center, they called it.
My junior year I was in anelectronics program and then my
senior year I was in thecomputer repair program, so I
had computer certificationbefore I even graduated high
school oh, okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
What about friends?
Did you have a lot of friendsin school?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I wouldn't say a lot, but quality over quantity yeah,
that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And so you, uh, you go through school, you graduate.
It sounds like barely yeah sowhat?
So what happens next?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Signed my contract before I turned 18.
Got in a little trouble with mynow wife actually, because she
was underage at the time.
But yeah, really just kind ofslacked around, got into trouble
(05:44):
until I shipped off to bootcamp.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
How long were you in delayed entry?
Six months, long enough to getin trouble.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I was a SEAL candidate so I was real delayed
because I had to go through allthe pre-pipeline stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Now, even though you signed up for that, that's not
like guaranteed, is it?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, it was guaranteed in my contract.
I mean, I had to go throughboot camp, go through buds, the
whole nine yards, but I ended upgetting hurt so I had to drop
out of the seal program oh okay,all right.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Well, before we get there, though.
So uh, do you remember when youshipped out like when you went
to basic training?
February 6 2007 okay and talkto me a little about about what
it was like to arrive there.
First of all, where did you go?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
to basic, uh, great lakes, illinois, north of
chicago, about 40 minutes okayum was.
We were the first bus to showup for our class, and I guess
they weren't expecting us yet.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
So wow surprise, we're here yeah, pretty much and
much.
And what was that like for you?
Did you know what to expect orwere you taken by surprise by
anything?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I mean I had watched some videos on like Marine Corps
boot camp and stuff like that.
But I mean, obviously I didn'treally know what to expect, but
I knew it was going to be a lotof mind games, you know, a lot
of yelling at you, you doingopposite orders to see what
would happen, and as a SEALcandidate at the time I was
(07:33):
probably in the best shape of mylife anyway.
So you know, when they tried tobeat us and a couple of us who
were all special operations guys, we just made a game out of it
what do you remember most aboutbasic training?
We were one of the luckydivisions that had to do battle
(07:56):
stations twice.
Um, battle stations is like thefinal exercise.
It's similar to the, you know,the crucible for Marines and
things like that.
But yeah, we because us and ourbrother division were the first
group of our graduating classto finish running battle
(08:19):
stations for the old style.
The old style, you literallyhad to run around the whole base
doing the different exercisesat different points.
But because we were the firstones to finish, they decided, oh
well, you guys can try out thenew battle stations.
So we had to go into the new.
They basically had a mock shipbuilt up that we had to go in
(08:42):
there and test that one out, fora night too.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So we got to do battle stations twice so here's
a reward for a job well done.
Yeah, pretty much in the end.
So how was graduation for you?
Did your uh family show up?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
uh, yeah, uh, mom dad , sister, I think that was it.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Okay, all right.
Well, I'm pretty proud of youfor getting through.
Oh yeah, okay.
And so you must have graduatedwhat?
February, march, right aroundApril timeframe?
Yep, all right.
And then what happens next?
Yep, all right.
And then what?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
happens next?
I start going through thepipeline for SEAL got hurt,
switched over to EOD, found outI was claustrophobic underwater,
so I ended up crossing over toCorman.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Okay, that's quite a change.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yep.
So basically, when I left thepipeline for special operations
community, they basically toldme I could either go
undesignated, which is basicallyjobless you do all the random
crap that nobody else wants todo Right or I could go Corman.
I was like, well, corman, thoseguys, that's medical right that
nobody else wants to do Right.
Or I could go corpsman.
I was like, well, corpsman,those guys, that's medical right
(10:08):
.
Yeah, they go to combat, yeah,I'll do that.
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Not a tough choice then for you, no?
So where was your corpsman?
A school at Great Lakes, oh, oh.
So you got to see the world.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, oh, so you got to see the world.
Yeah, right, so yeah, Iliterally just went across the
street yeah, and how long wereyou there, do you remember?
I'm gonna say about core schoolwas about five months okay.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Is there anything about, um, about that school
that sticks out in your mindwhen you think back?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
man, I know it's a bunch of just another school.
You know they're trying toscrew with you mentally still
and, yeah, trying to get throughand get the.
At the time it was 13 tests.
I don't know what it is anymore, but you know, by test 13, you
know most of us are, you knowhighest stage of liberty so we
can go out all night or whatever.
But I know, studying for test13, a group of us would uh, go
(11:23):
out the gate across the streetto the bus, to the train station
, jump in a cab, go get whitecastle we'd each get a crave
case of you know 30 burgers andcome back and start studying
again pounding those yeah, youknow, a lot of people don't know
about white castle burgers, butyeah I still think they're the
(11:43):
best.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
oh, yeah're awesome.
I think they're made out of ratmeat, but they taste great.
I'm not going to lie, I went toGreat Lakes as well.
Not for basic but for my Aschool, Okay.
I remember that we had a dealLike if you scored 90 or above
on your test on Friday, you canleave at noon.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
And so I would study really hard, because then I
would hop the train and comeback to michigan every weekend.
Yeah, I came back a coupletimes on the train, but I you
know amtrak they're so reliable.
Yeah, I think the fastest Iever got back was four hours
later than I was supposed toyeah, good times, yeah, all
right.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
So you, uh, you get done with your a school and and,
uh, where do you go next?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
uh, us naval hospital yukosuka, japan okay, what was
japan like?
Speaker 1 (12:33):
tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I loved it I mean, when you first get there, you
got to go through a one weekindoctrination so that they can,
you know, show you the ins andouts of japan.
And the last day they give youa token for the train and they
basically tell you go get lost.
So you got a group of four ofus.
(12:54):
You know like, yeah, do we wantto go here?
Do we want to go check this out?
What do we want to do?
I think we decided to go seekamakura temple and the great
buddha.
They were within a couplekilometers of each other, only a
couple train stops away.
But we get off the train andthey give you this little dummy
(13:14):
card that says in English and inkanji hey, I'm an American,
help me, I'm lost.
Right, please don't take mymoney.
Yeah, I didn't really have toworry about that a lot over
there.
Yeah, but we're walking, we geta couple blocks and we're like
we have no idea where we'regoing.
And we pull out our dummy cardand show it to this nice old
(13:37):
Japanese lady that's walking byand she's like oh hi, we're like
great Buddha, oh Buddha, hi, hi.
Like oh, hi, we're like greatbuddha, oh buddha, hi, hi.
And she literally grabs one ofour arms and walks us like six
blocks to the great buddha,before turning around and
walking right back the directionshe was initially going.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
It's like that never would have happened in america
that's awesome though yeah, theculture over there is phenomenal
yeah, and did you find thatquite often while you were there
that people treated you reallywell?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yeah, I mean, they're very anti-confrontation over
there.
Yeah, a whole differentstandard of honor.
I know when I was over there wehad an issue with a guy on one
of the ships stabbed a cabdriver.
We had an issue with a guy onone of the ships stabbed a cab
driver and the admiral had toliterally go in front of the
(14:36):
family with the prime ministerand literally hold a bow until
they relieved him.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Just the amount of honor over there is.
I miss it.
Yeah, I can tell just by theway you're talking about it.
It must have been a greatexperience.
What kinds of things did you doat the Naval Hospital there?
What were some of your duties?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I was a EMT in the emergency department there.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Okay.
So that could be kind of busy,can't it?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Oh yeah, my first day there.
I'm in my dress blues and I godo a bunch of my check-in stuff
and my HM1 at the time he's likewell, I don't really have
anything else for you at thispoint, so why don't you go down
to the ER and introduce yourself?
I walk in, I'm in my dressblues, and there's people
running all over the place.
I'm like I am HA Martin.
(15:19):
At the time they're like you'rethe new guy.
I was like, yeah.
They're like take this pen,take this notebook.
I'm like what am I doing?
They're like write downeverything you see.
I'm like what are you talkingabout?
Code blue?
I'm like, oh crap.
So I literally walk into acardiac arrest as soon as I'm
walking in to check in.
So I'm like, well, talk aboutgetting thrown into the deep end
.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Welcome to your new job.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
And how long were you ?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
there I was in the ER from October 2007 through
February 2009.
And then I got transferred toan outlying clinic up in Nogishi
, japan.
Okay, like five or six of uswere on a base of one, two,
(16:07):
three like four buildings, oneof them being the barracks.
It was literally a housing base, so we just did all the uh
patient care for, you know, anyof the uh active duty members
that may be up there, or theirfamilies really but I got
transferred up there tobasically run their ambulance
(16:30):
department okay, and how about?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
how long were you?
Did you do that for?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
uh february 09 until I uh pcs'd in december of 09
okay, so you?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
So you PCS'd?
Where'd you go from Japan?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I went to Camp Pendleton, california, for field
med, field medical servicetraining.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So that I can do my training for the Marines.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
All right.
So for anyone listening to orwatching this right now, camp
Pendleton Marine Corps Base yeah, yeah.
So how long was that trainingwatching this right now, camp
Pendleton is a Marine Corps baseyeah, so how long was that
training?
Were they just trying toacclimate you to the Marine
Corps, or what was that allabout?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
So it's basically to teach you.
It's basically a mini boot campfor the Marine Corps that also
does some field medicinetraining.
You know above what they teachin core school and what you
would learn in a hospital.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Okay, and how long were you in that training?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
That was an eight-week course.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
So was there anything in there that sticks out in
your mind, anything that?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
you found surprising or different from what you had
been doing, definitely a totallydifferent animal than the
hospital being with the Marines.
Um, you know, you wake up onthe first day and all of a
sudden it's like you're back inbootcamp.
Everybody's screaming at you.
You can't do anything, right.
It's like um, e4, why are youscreaming at me right now?
You're nothing.
Okay, here we go again.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yep Very familiar.
Yep Was familiar.
Yep Was that?
Was that difficult for you, youknow, having been in Japan,
having had responsibilitiesthere, to come back and kind of
be treated that way?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
How'd you respond to that.
It was different, but it's partof the part of the game.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, it's true and then?
So what happens next?
Where do you go from there?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
uh camp lejeune, north carolina.
Uh second medical battalionokay, and what?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
what were some of your responsibilities there?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
none I absolutely that.
That was probably my leastfavorite duty station.
Um, as soon as you check in,really the only thing they care
about is you getting yourwarfare pin.
So it's really just study forthat, and I mean it's medical
battalion and garrison.
(18:55):
There's nothing to do.
So it's literally listen topeople yell at you to get
paperwork done when there's onlyyou know, five computers for
the entire company, but so youcan't do anything and they won't
let you do any specialassignments because you don't
have your pin yet.
(19:15):
So basically I had to sitaround for a couple months until
I got a deployment billet okay,and where'd you deploy to?
afghanistan, helmand province,camp leatherneck and was that a?
Speaker 1 (19:29):
so that's marine.
So was that a six or a ninemonth tour?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
uh, nine month okay so talk to me about what it was
like when you first got there um, I mean going through workups I
talked to a lot of, because Ididn't deploy with med,
battalion um, I deployed withcombat logistics, battalion
(19:54):
eight.
So you know, I had guys in myplatoon that had deployed before
.
So I was, you know, just tryingto get as much information from
them as to what to expect.
And going over there as a linecorpsman you've got 40 Marines
that you're in charge of theirlives, basically.
So it's definitely a wholedifferent sense of
(20:16):
responsibility at 22 years old.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, it's kind of young to have that sort of
responsibility.
Yeah, and you were there.
So what year is it that youwere in?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
2011 January through September Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
And, having deployed myself, there's no such thing as
a typical day ever, but can youkind of walk me through what it
was like on a daily basis there?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
um, I mean for the first couple months.
Um, I mean for the first monthreally, we were doing turnover
with the battalion we weretaking over for, so getting the
trucks ready, um, doing sometraining missions with them.
Uh, for me, making sureeverybody had their small Mojave
Viper.
I had to make sure everybodyhad their smallpox vaccines and
everything.
So making sure they were allmedically good to go when you
(21:52):
get over there.
It's making sure they're alltaking their malaria pills,
basically just getting ready togo to work, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yep, and then so you got.
You got there, uh, and nowyou're you're working um.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Talk to me about, uh, what you did with Marines uh,
with CLBA it was a lot of umpraying for convoys so we were
doing logistics across thedesert to different fobs.
Um, for a couple weeks I gottasked out with a ground pound
(22:33):
unit um to offer support whilethey got another corpsman to
fill in for somebody.
So I had to fill in until theygot another guy over there.
But yeah, two completelydifferent ballgames between the
ground pounders and thelogistics, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, was it pretty busy yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
I mean we were in a hot zone, so Helmand Province.
There's a lot of trainingfacilities there for the Taliban
.
So pretty much I won't sayevery, but most of our missions
there was some sort of actionRight.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Right Did you guys have a lot of injuries,
casualties?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
guys have a lot of injuries, casualties.
I mean, I can say I never lostanybody.
We definitely took our share ofinjuries, though I did.
I did lose one when I was withthe ground pounders.
Um, that's kind of a memorythat I pushed back in my head
and don't think about a lotanymore.
I can understand that, um, butyeah, I definitely did my,
(23:54):
definitely earned my paycheck.
We'll say it that way.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Right.
It took care of people, though,too yeah did you develop some
pretty close relationships withthe guys though oh yeah, I still
talk to a lot of them today.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, um, our platoon actually had the best ratings
going through mojave viper.
So we had a total of fiveplatoons within our company and
two and two were paired uptogether.
And then our platoon um, wewere actually paired up with
(24:25):
local national tankers so we hadto transport fuel all over the
ao, so definitely got some, uh,cultural experience as well.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Took Took a lot of chai while you were there?
No, actually, oh, okay, I wascurious because I was in
northern Iraq and we workedclosely with local leaders, and
so that was the thing you sataround and drank chai with them.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yeah, that didn't really happen in the South End
Lucky.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Chai and dirty glasses is not that much fun, oh
I bet well good.
So, um, is there anything?
When you think about thatdeployment?
Uh, is there anything thatsticks out in your mind?
Like, when you think about yourdeployment to afghanistan,
what's like the first thing thatpops into your head?
What do you remember the most?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
sandstorms are actually pretty freaking cool.
I mean the first one's a littletrippy when you see it, but uh,
once you realize what it is andyou know, you see them in the
movies and just see rushing in.
It's not how it happens at all.
Um, there was one mission wewere on.
My truck was always second orthird from the rear.
(25:40):
That way if somebody took acasualty we didn't have to turn
around, we could just fly up theside of the convoy.
And we're at a halt forsomething.
And I look behind me and I seetwo of my Marines crouched down
with some sort of stick orsomething poking at a bush.
I opened up my back door.
(26:01):
I'm like Hunter Snipper, whatthe hell are you guys doing?
It's a desert crocodile, doc.
What are you talking about?
I jump out, run over there.
They're messing with a littlelizard about six inches long.
I'm like really, leave thelizard alone.
Don't play with the wildlife,gentlemen, exactly when I was
(26:21):
with the uh ground pounders.
We, uh, we're doing a missionthrough a uh brain fart, you're
going through a town.
No, brain fart, you're goingthrough a town, nope green area
(26:43):
in the middle of the desertoasis oasis, thank you you're
welcome.
Uh, yeah, we're going through anoasis and we take a halt and
it's only my third or fourth daywith them.
So I sit down underneath thetree, I've got my arm on my med
bag and I'm just watching seeingwho are going to be my problem
(27:03):
children.
Who is going to be good athelping me out?
All of a sudden, two groups ofMarines just start walking in on
each other.
They create a circle and all ofa sudden they start cheering.
I'm like what is going on?
All of a sudden, one sidestarts cheering while the
other's all acting bummed andthen all of a sudden it just
(27:24):
goes dead quiet, like what'sgoing on?
And I see heads going like thisand they start pointing at me
like doc, like crap grab my bedbag run over there and there's a
guy kneeling down holding hisarm, like this.
I'm like what'd you do nothing?
What'd you freaking do?
Oh, he might have gotten stung.
(27:45):
What did you get?
Stung by?
Um, just scorpion, like what?
Where is it over there in a box?
I'm like open it.
Open it because I need to knowwhat kind of antivenom to give
them.
Opens it like give them theantivenom, call a bird.
(28:09):
And I'm like look you guys,what are you doing?
They're like oh, we thought itwould be cool to fight two
scorpions and see what happened.
You, you guys, are idiots.
Please stop playing with thewildlife Now we're down a man.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
There's nothing worse than bored Marines there's
really not.
Yeah, endless source ofentertainment?
That's for sure, absolutely so.
Were you single when you weredeployed?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
I was dating a girl.
I was never married my entiretime in.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Okay, all right, so you finish up your deployment in
Afghanistan and you come backto the States.
Yep, all right.
Talk to me a little bit aboutwhat it was like to leave
Afghanistan and come home.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I actually tried to stay.
Stay, I didn't want to comeback.
Yeah, um, life was just easierover there.
You wake up every morning, youknow exactly what you're doing,
you know who the enemy is.
Not like here, where you knowyou got people who go out and
shoot charlie kirk or something.
That Right, you know who theenemy is, you know who your
(29:19):
friends are.
That's that.
It's just easier over there.
So, yeah, I talked to my chiefa couple weeks before I came
back.
I was like chief, can I stay?
He's like no Little Filipinoguy.
No, I brought all yourmotherfuckers over here.
I'm taking all yourmotherfuckers home.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
God damn it, chief.
All right, right.
So you pack up your stuff andyou come back.
Yep, and what was it like foryou to kind of step off that
plane back in the states andafter I've been gone for for
that period of time,environmental?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
shock, yeah, um, I mean, when I got on the plane in
afghanistan to come home, itwas September, so it's 135, 140
degrees, and I got off the plane.
I mean we stopped in Kyrgyzstanand then Germany and then came
(30:12):
back to Cherry Point, northCarolina, but it's 2 in the
morning and it's only 80 degrees, but it's 95% humidity.
It was like walking into a wall, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
What are your thoughts on dry heat?
Like, like, it was 135 where Iwas at people.
Oh, it's a dry heat, it 135 is135 to me.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
It is, but I would.
I thought that one 35 waseasier to handle than that 80 at
90% humidity.
Yeah, 100%.
I totally agree with the wholedry heat, wet heat thing.
Yeah, it's still hot, but atleast your sweat's evaporating,
not just condensing on your body.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Right Take a shower you get out, you dry off, you're
wet again.
Exactly, yeah, I hear you.
Now what a shower you get out,you dry off, your wet again.
Exactly, yeah, I hear you.
So, uh, now what happens afteryou get back?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
uh well, we actually got delayed getting off the bus.
Um, my girlfriend and herparents came down for the
welcome home and you know it'sone in the morning, two in the
morning, whatever it is.
And then you know it's one inthe morning, two in the morning,
whatever it is.
One of my Marines actuallyfound out his wife was
unfaithful two weeks before wecame home and she showed up to
(31:33):
the welcome home with the guy.
Now, mind you, this Marine was140 pounds, soaking wet.
It took me and three corporalsto hold him down and the
commanding officer had tobasically call base security,
have them escorted off the base.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
So we're sitting there waving at our friends and
family for 45 minutes before wecan get off the bus.
I feel like that happens onevery deployment's that one guy
where that?
That happens too, it feels likeunfortunately.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I mean like it's one thing I can say about the girl I
was dating at the time I neverhad a doubt that she was
faithful.
Yeah, uh, yeah.
We finally get off the bus andcouldn't get a barracks room
that late at night.
So I went back to the hotelwith my girl and her parents and
they're like well, we'reexhausted, we're going to bed.
(32:25):
I'm like I'm on afghan time.
Uh, I'm gonna go out on thecatwalk and I actually called
her from, uh, kyrgyzstan.
It's like hey, let me talk toyour mom.
She's like okay, mom, I needyou to pick me up a six pack of
bud light.
She's like bud light, you don'tdrink that.
I was like I haven't drank innine months.
I'm easing back into it.
(32:46):
She's like all right, I canrespect that.
So she brought me a six pack ofbud light and, where you know,
I walk out on the catwalk, I'mlight a cigarette and I crack
open a beer and I look down andtwo of my marines are down there
.
They're like doc, come drinkwith us.
I'm like oh shit, here we go.
I walk down there and I'm justgonna stick with my six-pack
(33:11):
like doc, have some wine?
No, yes, okay, doc, have somescrewdrivers.
No, yes, okay, five, okay.
Five o'clock rolls around.
I'm just tanked and I climbback up to the barracks, the
hotel room lay down next to thegirlfriend.
I'm like, babe, are you awake?
She's like yeah, I was like Ineed you to do me a favor, go to
(33:35):
room 113, get Lance CorporalCollier and go to the car and
get my med bag.
She's like why?
I was like I need an iv.
She's like you're gonna let adrunk marine give you an iv.
It's like, um, yes, why don'tyou just teach me how to do it?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
no, whack oh my, that's quite a homecoming.
Oh yeah, I feel like there's alot of stories like that though.
Oh yes, yes, absolutely so.
You, uh, you get home, um,you're still down at, uh, in
cherry point.
Um, what happens after that?
(34:11):
What happens if you get back?
Speaker 2 (34:13):
I actually take my post-deployment leave came back
for my older half-sister'swedding.
I actually called my mom beforeI came back because my mom has
worked in health care for years.
She knew I was a corpsman andthe wedding was going to be the
first time I had seen her sinceleaving for Afghanistan, my
(34:38):
pre-deployment leave.
Uh, I was like mom, I need totell you something right now.
I don't want you causing ascene at the wedding.
She's like what I was, like Istarted smoking in Afghanistan.
You're in healthcare, you knowbetter than that, yeah, but
guess what?
When you're getting shot at andblown up, you really don't give
a fuck.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Right, yeah, I I.
You know I'm not a smokerreally, but I smoked when I was
in the army, for sure, yeah,yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
It does it to you.
Yep man, we were on a patrolwhen we were over there.
And I look left.
I was bored.
I took point.
I look left, everybody'ssmoking.
I look right, everybody'ssmoking.
I'm like, fuck it, give me acigarette.
You don't smoke, doc.
I could step on a fuckinglandmine right now.
Just give me a goddamncigarette.
Okay, hands me a cigarette.
(35:23):
And I didn't know what I wassmoking at the time.
So I light it up, hack a coupletimes, then get the hang of it
and all of a sudden, by the endof it, I'm walking like this.
Staff Sergeant, everybody halt.
Doc, what the fuck is wrongwith you?
Smoked a cigarette.
Staff Sergeant, the hell didyou smoke?
I don't know whatever.
He gave me Lucky strike.
(35:43):
Very first cigarette was anon-filter.
Yeah, staff Sergeant.
Doc, if you want to smoke fromnow on you're going to smoke
what we smoke.
What's that?
Lucky strikes or Newports?
Okay, whatever.
So all through afghanistan Iwas smoking.
New ports came back, switchedto reds and dropped from two
(36:04):
packs a day down to one pack aday.
Pretty much smoked the rest ofmy time in the service.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah no doubt so you, uh, you get back.
You survive your mom's wrath.
Yeah, and what's your next dutystation then?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Went back to Med Battalion, unfortunately,
because they basically send youTAD to go on deployment.
Oh, okay, so Med Battalion wasmy parent command, but by that
time I already had my warfarepin.
I got that while I was inAfghanistan.
I earned my, my warfare pin.
I got that while I was inAfghanistan.
I earned my fleet marine forcewhat's the technical term for it
(36:44):
?
Enlisted fleet marine forcewarfare specialist pin, also
re-enlisted while I was overthere.
So I came back, as you know, asenior, experienced corpsman
with the med battalion so did alittle bit of training and stuff
(37:05):
.
Within two weeks they werelooking for guys to go TAD again
.
I was like, sign me up.
Get me out of here.
So I went for six months out toBanger Washington for Marine
Corps Security Forces, so youwere support to the security
forces then.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
For six months out to Bangor, washington, for Marine
Corps Security Forces.
So you were support to thesecurity forces then, yeah,
medical support.
Okay, all right.
Now did you travel anywherewith them, or was this just out?
Speaker 2 (37:28):
No.
So the majority of the securityforces, a lot of those guys
it's their first command, eventhe officers.
And then you've got the seniorguys who you know we do training
ops and things like that.
But their main focus out therewas protecting the nuclear subs
and the nuclear weapons on thebase With.
(37:51):
You know, we had two corpsmengo out there for medical support
.
They had like three full-timeguys that staffed their clinic,
so a total of five corpsmen.
Really One of the guys thatwent TAD out there with me
didn't have a deployment oranything.
So a lot of my field ops werewith the fast company out there.
(38:12):
They're kind of the specialforces of the security forces.
They do a lot of the mounttraining and things like that.
So I did a lot with thembecause they wanted somebody
with combat experience.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
And how long were you with them?
Six months, okay, and then backto Back to Lejeune.
So how much longer were youstuck there at, stuck there at
lagoon?
Speaker 2 (38:41):
maybe about a year.
Um, I actually, when I got back, they were looking for people
to go work in s6 and they saidif you're going to work in s6
you have to have your a pluscertification.
Well, luckily I got my a plusbefore I had my high school
diploma.
So I was like like, hey, I'vealready got mine.
They're like all right, you'regoing to S6.
(39:01):
So I got to go work in the S6shop and actually, you know,
have something to do.
Um, I was there for the rest ofmy time there.
Uh, about two months into it,the ops chief she was a E6, went
(39:24):
on leave and I was the seniorE4, so I was in charge of the
shop while she was gone andended up doing a couple
inventories and taking them overto regiment, turning them in,
and Gunny comes out.
He's like who the fuck are you?
Agent 3 Martin Med Battalion'sS6 acting chief?
(39:44):
What do you want Turning inthese inventories?
I thought that's what I wassupposed to do.
He's like who's HL1V Tug?
That's the ops chief.
You're the acting ops chiefright now.
Yeah, Congratulations, you'rethe new ops chief.
You're the acting ops chiefright now.
Yeah, Congratulations, You'rethe new ops chief.
I'm like what the hell do youmean?
(40:08):
It's like I've been asking forthese inventories for six months
?
Crap, okay, oh no, I was justdoing what I thought I was
supposed to.
He said, no, you are supposedto be doing them, that's why
you're the new ops chief.
I'm like, okay, well, you mightwant to call somebody over
there and let them know.
Right, let's make this?
Official yeah, so that was alittle awkward when she got back
.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
But yeah, what'd they have her doing when she got
back?
Uh, they moved her to like Sone or something.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Okay, All right, and then so a sick shot then total
(40:54):
maybe about a year.
Okay, I guess I was therelonger than I thought I was.
Now that I think about it, yeah, and where'd you go from there?
My least favorite duty station?
Portsmouth, virginia.
Oh Naval Medical Center,portsmouth, virginia.
My son was born in.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Portsmouth.
I know that place well.
Yep, and what'd you do inPortsmouth?
Speaker 2 (41:12):
What didn't I do in Portsmouth?
I actually got relieved of dutyin the first clinic I was
managing.
Um, my marine mentality did notagree with hospital lifestyle
again.
Garrison's much different.
Yeah, it is.
Yeah, I uh had some retired e5tried chewing out my front desk
(41:36):
staff.
You know I had an e2 and an e3working the front desk and he
tried chewing them out while Iwas back there.
I put him in his place and hewent and complained and it was
civilians that were the officemanagers because of, you know,
contracting and stuff right.
So I got my butt chewed by acivilian for yelling at patients
(41:58):
.
So I had to bounce them betweentwo or three clinics before
they finally said all right, youcannot work in a clinic anymore
.
So if you're you're a newtraining officer, you are not a
fit yeah, absolutely okay,whatever I can do that, so I
became a.
Okay, whatever I can do that, soI became a.
I was like an E7 billet as anE4.
(42:19):
I was a directorate leveltraining officer in charge of
all the training for like 11different clinics.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Did that suit you?
Was that a little bit betterfit for?
Speaker 2 (42:32):
you than the?
Yeah, I mean I didn't have todeal with civilians, I didn't
have to deal with belligerentpatients.
I was a TCCC instructor as well, so it was a tactical combat
casualty care course for peoplethat were going from the
hospital TAD to combat units orthings like that.
(42:53):
We'd get them ready for goingdownrange and it was all combat
guys who did that, so it wasreally a hard way of taking out
aggression, right it works rightyeah exactly, yeah and um.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
So you were at portsmouth for how long then?
Speaker 2 (43:10):
that was my final duty station, the end of my
career.
I guess you would say um twoyears.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Okay, so you uh ets from there.
We don't call ets a navy,though, do we?
Speaker 2 (43:27):
uh, we just call I got higher tenured out.
Basically I couldn't pick uprank fast enough, so they gave
me the boot, yeah, but uh wentand ended up dealing with some
drama there as well, though Imean, I was a lead assistant on
our sexual assault forensicsteam.
That was about the only healthcare that I did actually enjoy
(43:48):
because I viewed it as important.
But uh, you know, I brushedelbows with a lot of nIS agents
doing that and stuff Ended up,uh, yeah, basically I couldn't
pick up rank cause my seniorchief you know I didn't have,
(44:12):
you know, the golden knee padsRight, so I never got.
You didn't play the game.
I did not play the game.
No, pads Right, so I never gotto play the game.
I did not play the game.
No, no, they only gave the bestemail remarks to people who
went and sold hot dogs anddonuts, and I thought my time
was better spent being a Ttriple C instructor or making
sure my training was good to gofor my.
All my guys and I had differentpriorities.
(44:34):
I didn't want to play thepolitics, I wanted to be a good
service member Want to do yourjob.
Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
So you get out and so you come back to Michigan right
away, or what did you do whenyou got out?
Speaker 2 (44:48):
So I was actually supposed to get out February
2015.
Mm-hmm, A girl that I wasfriends with down there.
(45:11):
I ended up moving in with herand her husband because I knew I
wasn't going to be able to pickup rank.
So I actually tried crossingover to crypto so that I could
have a better chance ofpromotion.
So that I could have a betterchance of promotion.
So I didn't renew my apartmentlease and I moved in with her
and her husband before I foundout that they didn't accept me
to the school.
So I was just going to ride itout there.
But when I moved in with her, Isaw that her and her husband
(45:39):
were fighting a lot and Iactually I don't even know how
it happened, but I startedtalking to this girl's mom and.
I think it was because one ofthe times I came on leave, I had
driven the girl's daughter toOhio for her so that she could
spend time with her grandma.
(45:59):
But yeah, while I was livingthere, I kind of realized she
was not a very good mother atall.
So I was kind of conspiringwith her mother to get custody
up to her.
Well, she found out.
She ended up accusing me ofsexual harassment.
So I ended up losing myposition on the sexual assault
(46:22):
forensics team, because if youhave a sexual charge against you
, you can't exactly be handlingevidence of other cases.
Ncis basically laughed at that.
They're like yeah, that's notgoing anywhere.
(46:47):
Well, I was supposed to bedischarged on February 6th 2015,
.
February 4th.
My LPO calls me.
He's like are you sitting downright now?
I was like I'm in my office.
What's up, you're on legal hold.
What the hell do you mean?
I'm on legal hold.
It's up, you're on legal hold.
What the hell do you mean?
I'm on legal hold.
It's like uh, remember thatgirl who filed charges for
sexual harassment?
Yeah, she opted to sexualassault.
You've got to be fuckingkidding me.
So I I went on a fricking rager.
(47:08):
I drove from Portsmouth over toNorfolk, walked right into NCIS
myself Not the smartest thing Ishould have done Right Walked
in Like I need a sexual assaultinvestigator.
Okay, walk into his office andI sit down, because I knew the
guy.
He's like hey, mark, what areyou doing here?
I was like apparently you wantto see me.
He's like what are you talkingabout?
Check your paperwork.
(47:29):
Looks down.
He's like no freaking way.
I'm like yep, he's like youwant a lawyer, I was like no, I
just want the shit to go away.
He's like you know I gotta readyou your rights right now, right
like well let's get this overwith.
But yeah, it ended up gettingcleared up pretty quick.
I was out of there in twomonths, but uh, interesting, two
(47:53):
months was pretty quick I meantwo months, it was a very long
time to me it was a very longtwo months but it definitely
could have been longer yeah,yeah, I can believe that.
But uh, yeah, what's actually?
During that two months, my highschool sweetheart now my wife
reached back out to me.
She was getting out of anabusive relationship.
(48:15):
We ended up finding that westill had very strong feelings
for each other.
We ended up getting backtogether when I got home.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
That's a great story.
Yeah, how long have you?
Speaker 2 (48:29):
been married.
We've been married six yearsnow, six and half years okay,
all right.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
So you, you got out and you came home um met up with
your high school sweetheartagain, yep and uh.
So what did you do like?
Speaker 2 (48:46):
oh, there's not too many job opportunities for a
unlicensed combat corpsman, so Iended up being a assistant
manager at domino's for a monthwell, that's kind of how this is
the word I'm looking for.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
That's kind of anti-climactic, after all the
stuff you've done with your lifeand your career.
Yeah, not that it's notimportant because they need
managers, but I mean, how'd thatfeel like for?
Speaker 2 (49:12):
you Kind of sucked, going from you know eight years
wearing the uniform to notreally having any opportunities
for any gainful employment RightFolding pizza boxes.
Yeah, pretty much.
Yeah, Actually.
No, I delegated that part, butWell, you were the manager.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
You need to have some leadership skills.
So yeah, I can see that.
So how long did you stay there?
Speaker 2 (49:34):
I was on there about a month, went from there to
Verizon selling cell phones.
While I was there I had agentleman come in, bought a
charger from me and then offeredme a job on the spot as an
insurance agent.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
So I kind of bounced it around a little bit, talked
to the girl for my wifegirlfriend at the time and she's
like, I don't know, insuranceagents are kind of sleazy
sometimes.
It's like, yeah, I know, that'skind of what I'm feeling.
I don't know if I want to dothis, and then we find out she's
pregnant time to sell phone ortime to time to sell insurance
(50:14):
yeah, pretty much.
So I went and interviewed withthem.
He was a marine corvette um.
Him and his brother ran thecompany and was honestly one of
the best employment decisions Imade going to work for them.
They were absolutely phenomenal.
We sold medicare insurance soit was all dealing with, you
(50:34):
know, the older population.
Um did that for a few yearsokay, and then?
Speaker 1 (50:44):
um, what made you decide to leave there cubicle?
Speaker 2 (50:50):
that's just not you, is it?
I can't stand sitting in acubicle.
So where'd you go from there?
Um, I actually got into uh,hvac at that time.
Um, my wife's grandpa, I mean.
I had been bouncing aroundthrough like five different
(51:12):
majors up until that point, notknowing exactly what the hell I
wanted to do.
Then I decided I wanted to getinto trades.
So I sat down with her.
I was like, well, I don't wantto be an electrician because I
don't want to play with highvoltage.
I don't want to be a plumberbecause I don't want to play
with poop.
I'll go into HVAC.
And later I find out.
(51:36):
Really, hvac, you play with allof it Electronics, poop, all of
it.
Yeah, pretty much.
But I was going to go toNorthwestern Tech out in
Southfield and my wife's grandpatold me to reach out to a
gentleman who owned a mechanicalcontracting company.
He's like no, no, no, no, no,no, drop out of that place, go
to LCC.
Get your associate's degree,I'll hire you after your first
semester.
Okay, get your associate'sdegree, I'll hire you after your
(51:58):
first semester, okay.
So I dropped out ofnorthwestern, went to lcc.
Uh, he hired me after the firstsemester.
I was with him for about fivemonths realized he didn't even
know how to spell ethics.
So oh, that could be a problemyeah, that didn't really align
with my viewpoints.
So I left him and bouncedaround between a couple
residential companies.
(52:19):
Uh, finished out my associatesright as covid was hitting
transferred to ferris state formy bachelor's.
Finished that out in 2023 yeah,late 2023, I believe.
(52:39):
Um ended up having to.
I had to do an internship tofinish my degree, so I got in
with my current company doingbuilding automation and controls
.
Uh, they hired me after myinternship and then, after I
finished my bachelor's, I waslike I'm bored.
Master's degree.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
Well, you know, at least you take that boredom and
do something constructive withit, Because a lot of people
don't, that's true.
So that's really good.
So, associates, bachelor's,master's, and now you're working
in your field.
Are you enjoying it?
Speaker 2 (53:17):
Yes and no.
I mean I'm still trying to findthat sense of purpose that I
had when I was in the service.
I mean, obviously my careersince I got out has constantly
been improving.
Like I told the wife, you know,I'll never just be a little
(53:38):
schmuck.
Like you know, your ex-husbandwas, um, I'm always going to be
better for you, but I'mconstantly searching for that
sense of employment purpose.
I guess you could say, yeah,that's why I'm looking at going
for another master's.
Speaker 1 (53:54):
Right.
Somebody once said the peoplethat go off to war, the people
that go to the military, aren'tthe same people that come back.
Do you feel that way?
100%.
What does that mean to you?
Speaker 2 (54:16):
I mean, I guess, going over there you lose a part
of who you were originally butat the same time, depending on
your experiences, it can moldyou into a different person.
Me personally, I believe abetter person.
(54:38):
I'm aware of my demons, I knowthey're there, but at the same
time I know I have a wife andchildren who depend on me and I
try to keep those demons hiddenbecause I know the evil that's
in this world and I don't wantthem to ever experience it.
(54:59):
Right?
Speaker 1 (55:01):
it's a constant battle inside every day.
That's how I feel, anyway.
That's yeah, yeah, 100.
Well, tell me so, speaking ofyour family, tell me about your
family, tell me about your wife.
And you have how many kids now?
Uh, three, okay, all right.
So, uh, boys, girls, a mix, allboys, all boys.
(55:23):
How's that going out?
How's that working for you?
Speaker 2 (55:27):
it's a freaking madhouse.
Um, my oldest is actually hersfrom her previous marriage, but
uh, that POS um hasn't seen himin nine years, I think now.
(55:47):
So you're his dad, yeah, I, hewants me to adopt him.
He literally tells everybodyI'm his dad, yeah, but the
jackass won't sign his rightsaway, won't just get out of the
picture, doesn't pay his childsupport, nothing.
But yeah, he sees me as his dad.
Speaker 1 (56:08):
Yeah, that's got to be a good feeling, though.
I mean, you're doing somethingright, yeah, something, I don't
know what.
But something.
Speaker 2 (56:16):
So how old are your kids?
Then he is 13, um, and thenwe've got nine and seven okay,
so active, busy boys yep, uh,the oldest is in orchestra, so
he's small for his age, aboutthis tall, but he plays the bass
(56:38):
and orchestra, so we're totingthat thing around all the time.
Yeah, the younger two are bothin scouts.
They bounce around soccer,basketball, um.
Yeah, they're all in archery,so they're always doing
something.
Speaker 1 (56:58):
That's great, keep busy.
Yeah, of course you know that.
Right, you got to keep thembusy.
Yeah, well, tell me about yourwife.
Speaker 2 (57:08):
I had that.
That could be a whole notherinterview.
Give me the small version of it.
Um, I mean like we were highschool sweethearts.
Um met her when I was 17 andshe was 14.
Um started dating when I was 18, she was 15.
(57:29):
Um, we were constantly gettinginto trouble back then.
Her parents didn't like thefact that I was a legal adult,
right um.
But her grandmother, her aunt,they all supported it.
They saw how happy she was.
They saw that I treated hergood and um.
(57:53):
But yeah, she ended up weseparate or split up.
When I was in Japan you knowjust the distance.
She ended up getting married toher first husband just before
Afghanistan.
I asked her to.
(58:13):
I straight up asked her toleave him for me, and she told
me, no, she can't do that.
She wants to be a good wife.
And so I think that was twodays before I left.
That was the last time I hadtalked to her, and a little over
four years.
(58:34):
During that years she ended updivorcing him, got remarried to
my oldest biological father.
She reached out to me justbefore I got out when she was
going through her separationwith him.
Both decided that we still hadfeelings for each other.
(59:01):
So I she ended up calling meafter I had discharged.
I was waiting for TMO to pickup my household goods and get
them back to Michigan and I wasdriving for Domino's as a
delivery driver.
And she calls me one night justin tears because he was being
abusive and I was like I'm on myway.
(59:24):
She's like what Don't you stillhave household goods and stuff
you have to get?
I was like I'll come back down,I'm on my way.
I made that 14-hour drive inabout nine hours, broke a few
laws.
Speaker 1 (59:34):
No.
Speaker 2 (59:35):
No.
Speaker 1 (59:37):
No speeding laws or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (59:38):
No, okay, I'm on camera.
I didn't break any laws.
Yeah, went, picked her up, gother and her son out of there.
We've definitely had our upsand downs but I mean, I've
opened up some of my stories toher and I there's nobody else
(01:00:03):
I'd rather be going through thiswith than her.
I know how miserable I am attimes, how miserable I can be at
times, and I don't ever wantthat for her.
I don't ever want that for theboys.
Um, during the whole thing thathappened with charlie kirk, I
(01:00:29):
had come across the video of itactually happening and I told my
wife I saw the video.
She's like I want to see it.
When I got, I was like no, youdon't.
Yeah, she's like what do youmean?
I was like I've seen thisinjury, I've treated this injury
.
It's a carotid dissection.
You do not want to see it.
She's like oh, never mind, likeI I honestly won't watch it.
(01:00:50):
I can't I yeah, for people thathave never seen that and don't
realize the kind of damage andhow much blood goes through that
area, it's disturbing, Perfect.
But yeah, those kind of evils Itry to keep from her, from the
kids.
I know how hard it is for me tobe happy, so I just want them
(01:01:18):
to be happy.
I'll feed off of theirhappiness.
Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
So we covered a lot in the last hour.
Is there anything we haven'ttalked about that you want to
talk about?
Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
You're the interviewer, I'm just answering
the questions all right.
Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Well, I always like to make sure, because sometimes
there's things that you want totalk about that we don't.
So, um, really, I just have onelast question to ask you, then
I ask everyone the same questionfor people listening to this
years from now, um, and even foryour family or for anyone else,
what would you like people totake away from this interview?
(01:01:59):
And also, what would you likepeople to take away from your
life and the way that you'velived it?
Essentially, what's yourmessage?
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
military service is a double-edged sword.
Um, you'll never find a greatersense of self-purpose or
self-worth, especially goingoverseas doing a combat tour,
gaining that brotherhood withpeople you're closest to.
(01:02:36):
But at the same time, when youget out, you're never going to
find that sense of self-purposeor self-worth again.
So it's the people who are ableto find happiness after it that
I truly admire, because I'm.
If I didn't have my wife, Idon't know where the hell I'd be
(01:02:57):
.
Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
Yeah, she gets you.
She really does.
I can see it in your eyes whenyou're talking to me right now.
We all need that person, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
She's that person for me.
Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
I'm glad that you found her.
I really am.
I'm glad that you found her.
I really am.
I'm glad she came back.
All right, well, you know, Ijust wanted to thank you for
coming out here, and I know thatwe had to work on scheduling
and we finally made it out here,but I'm really glad that I got
to talk to you today.
Thank you so much for sharingyour story with me.
Thank you.
Today is Friday, september 19th 2025.
We're talking with Kevin Martin, who served in the United
States Navy.
So good afternoon, kevin, howyou doing Great.
We're going to start off reallyeasy.
When and where were you born?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
September 19th 1988, detroit, michigan.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well, happy birthday Nice.
The same age as my son actually.
That's kind of funny, so didyou live?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
in Detroit then Kind of bounced around a little bit
when I was real young.
I remember being in Farmingtonfor a few years, Southfield for
between six and eight years, andthen we moved out to gregory in
the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
That's where I lived until I graduated high school
okay, so about what age were youwhen you moved out to gregory?
Seventh grade okay, thatwonderful time in life, yeah.
So what can you tell me aboutgrowing up as a kid?
Did you have brothers andsisters?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
The half sister is about a year older than me.
Um then, my baby sister is fouryears younger than me.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Okay, so you're the middle kid.
Yes, you fall into that uhcategory.
You think pretty well Um.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I mean, my half sister didn't live with us
except for maybe about a year,so really I was kind of just the
older brother, I see.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
And what was it like growing up for you what?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
do you remember South field?
A lot of riding my bike aroundthe neighborhood.
My grandparents lived fiveblocks from us, so every day
after school I was riding mybike over there hanging out with
grandpa.
He was army as well, so golfballs, model airplanes, model
(02:54):
trains.
As I got older, started gettinginto firearms.
That was more after I joinedthe service, though.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So did you always like working with your hands and
your and your mind.
It sounds like, did you?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
always like working with your hands.
In your mind it sounds likeyeah, I mean, my first job was
working for my dad.
He owned a bicycle shop.
So from the time I was 14, Iwas a mechanic.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Okay.
Did you enjoy working for yourdad or did you have to work for
your dad?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I always wonder.
I enjoyed it.
He kind of put a, he kind ofdesigned his own little um chain
of command for me that way Iwasn't reporting directly to him
.
So he made sure to put thatseparation in there.
So nobody thought that I wasgetting favoritism or anything,
(03:42):
so I didn't mind it.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Okay, and what was school like for you?
Not that good, huh.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah, I actually played hockey a lot growing up.
I think between eight and tenyears I played hockey, most of
which as a goaltender.
Parents actually pulled me andjust cause my grades kept
slipping.
I wasn't exactly a academic inhigh school.
Uh, I think my guidancecounselor from the high school I
(04:18):
graduated from still uses me asan example of what not to do in
my senior year Just to graduateon time.
I had to get 12 out of eightpossible credits to make sure I
graduated on time.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Okay, so you were a cautionary tale when you left.
Pretty much, yeah.
And do you have any favoritesubjects in school though?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Math science, computers probably computers
most of all.
I did vocational school, orcareer center, they called it.
My junior year I was in anelectronics program and then my
senior year I was in thecomputer repair program, so I
had computer certificationbefore I even graduated high
school oh, okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
What about friends?
Did you have a lot of friendsin school?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
I wouldn't say a lot, but quality over quantity yeah,
that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And so you, uh, you go through school, you graduate.
It sounds like barely yeah sowhat?
So what happens next?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Signed my contract before I turned 18.
Got in a little trouble with mynow wife actually, because she
was underage at the time.
But yeah, really just kind ofslacked around, got into trouble
(05:44):
until I shipped off to bootcamp.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
How long were you in delayed entry?
Six months, long enough to getin trouble.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I was a SEAL candidate so I was real delayed
because I had to go through allthe pre-pipeline stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Now, even though you signed up for that, that's not
like guaranteed, is it?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, it was guaranteed in my contract.
I mean, I had to go throughboot camp, go through buds, the
whole nine yards, but I ended upgetting hurt so I had to drop
out of the seal program oh okay,all right.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Well, before we get there, though.
So uh, do you remember when youshipped out like when you went
to basic training?
February 6 2007 okay and talkto me a little about about what
it was like to arrive there.
First of all, where did you go?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
to basic, uh, great lakes, illinois, north of
chicago, about 40 minutes okayum was.
We were the first bus to showup for our class, and I guess
they weren't expecting us yet.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
So wow surprise, we're here yeah, pretty much and
much.
And what was that like for you?
Did you know what to expect orwere you taken by surprise by
anything?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I mean I had watched some videos on like Marine Corps
boot camp and stuff like that.
But I mean, obviously I didn'treally know what to expect, but
I knew it was going to be a lotof mind games, you know, a lot
of yelling at you, you doingopposite orders to see what
would happen, and as a SEALcandidate at the time I was
(07:33):
probably in the best shape of mylife anyway.
So you know, when they tried tobeat us and a couple of us who
were all special operations guys, we just made a game out of it
what do you remember most aboutbasic training?
We were one of the luckydivisions that had to do battle
(07:56):
stations twice.
Um, battle stations is like thefinal exercise.
It's similar to the, you know,the crucible for Marines and
things like that.
But yeah, we because us and ourbrother division were the first
group of our graduating classto finish running battle
(08:19):
stations for the old style.
The old style, you literallyhad to run around the whole base
doing the different exercisesat different points.
But because we were the firstones to finish, they decided, oh
well, you guys can try out thenew battle stations.
So we had to go into the new.
They basically had a mock shipbuilt up that we had to go in
(08:42):
there and test that one out, fora night too.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So we got to do battle stations twice so here's
a reward for a job well done.
Yeah, pretty much in the end.
So how was graduation for you?
Did your uh family show up?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
uh, yeah, uh, mom dad , sister, I think that was it.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Okay, all right.
Well, I'm pretty proud of youfor getting through.
Oh yeah, okay.
And so you must have graduatedwhat?
February, march, right aroundApril timeframe?
Yep, all right.
And then what happens next?
Yep, all right.
And then what?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
happens next?
I start going through thepipeline for SEAL got hurt,
switched over to EOD, found outI was claustrophobic underwater,
so I ended up crossing over toCorman.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Okay, that's quite a change.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yep.
So basically, when I left thepipeline for special operations
community, they basically toldme I could either go
undesignated, which is basicallyjobless you do all the random
crap that nobody else wants todo Right or I could go Corman.
I was like, well, corman, thoseguys, that's medical right that
nobody else wants to do Right.
Or I could go corpsman.
I was like, well, corpsman,those guys, that's medical right
(10:08):
.
Yeah, they go to combat, yeah,I'll do that.
So there you go.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Not a tough choice then for you, no?
So where was your corpsman?
A school at Great Lakes, oh, oh.
So you got to see the world.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, oh, so you got to see the world.
Yeah, right, so yeah, Iliterally just went across the
street yeah, and how long wereyou there, do you remember?
I'm gonna say about core schoolwas about five months okay.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Is there anything about, um, about that school
that sticks out in your mindwhen you think back?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
man, I know it's a bunch of just another school.
You know they're trying toscrew with you mentally still
and, yeah, trying to get throughand get the.
At the time it was 13 tests.
I don't know what it is anymore, but you know, by test 13, you
know most of us are, you knowhighest stage of liberty so we
can go out all night or whatever.
But I know, studying for test13, a group of us would uh, go
(11:23):
out the gate across the streetto the bus, to the train station
, jump in a cab, go get whitecastle we'd each get a crave
case of you know 30 burgers andcome back and start studying
again pounding those yeah, youknow, a lot of people don't know
about white castle burgers, butyeah I still think they're the
(11:43):
best.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
oh, yeah're awesome.
I think they're made out of ratmeat, but they taste great.
I'm not going to lie, I went toGreat Lakes as well.
Not for basic but for my Aschool, Okay.
I remember that we had a dealLike if you scored 90 or above
on your test on Friday, you canleave at noon.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
And so I would study really hard, because then I
would hop the train and comeback to michigan every weekend.
Yeah, I came back a coupletimes on the train, but I you
know amtrak they're so reliable.
Yeah, I think the fastest Iever got back was four hours
later than I was supposed toyeah, good times, yeah, all
right.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
So you, uh, you get done with your a school and and,
uh, where do you go next?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
uh, us naval hospital yukosuka, japan okay, what was
japan like?
Speaker 1 (12:33):
tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I loved it I mean, when you first get there, you
got to go through a one weekindoctrination so that they can,
you know, show you the ins andouts of japan.
And the last day they give youa token for the train and they
basically tell you go get lost.
So you got a group of four ofus.
(12:54):
You know like, yeah, do we wantto go here?
Do we want to go check this out?
What do we want to do?
I think we decided to go seekamakura temple and the great
buddha.
They were within a couplekilometers of each other, only a
couple train stops away.
But we get off the train andthey give you this little dummy
(13:14):
card that says in English and inkanji hey, I'm an American,
help me, I'm lost.
Right, please don't take mymoney.
Yeah, I didn't really have toworry about that a lot over
there.
Yeah, but we're walking, we geta couple blocks and we're like
we have no idea where we'regoing.
And we pull out our dummy cardand show it to this nice old
(13:37):
Japanese lady that's walking byand she's like oh hi, we're like
great Buddha, oh Buddha, hi, hi.
Like oh, hi, we're like greatbuddha, oh buddha, hi, hi.
And she literally grabs one ofour arms and walks us like six
blocks to the great buddha,before turning around and
walking right back the directionshe was initially going.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
It's like that never would have happened in america
that's awesome though yeah, theculture over there is phenomenal
yeah, and did you find thatquite often while you were there
that people treated you reallywell?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yeah, I mean, they're very anti-confrontation over
there.
Yeah, a whole differentstandard of honor.
I know when I was over there wehad an issue with a guy on one
of the ships stabbed a cabdriver.
We had an issue with a guy onone of the ships stabbed a cab
driver and the admiral had toliterally go in front of the
(14:36):
family with the prime ministerand literally hold a bow until
they relieved him.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Just the amount of honor over there is.
I miss it.
Yeah, I can tell just by theway you're talking about it.
It must have been a greatexperience.
What kinds of things did you doat the Naval Hospital there?
What were some of your duties?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I was a EMT in the emergency department there.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Okay.
So that could be kind of busy,can't it?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Oh yeah, my first day there.
I'm in my dress blues and I godo a bunch of my check-in stuff
and my HM1 at the time he's likewell, I don't really have
anything else for you at thispoint, so why don't you go down
to the ER and introduce yourself?
I walk in, I'm in my dressblues, and there's people
running all over the place.
I'm like I am HA Martin.
(15:19):
At the time they're like you'rethe new guy.
I was like, yeah.
They're like take this pen,take this notebook.
I'm like what am I doing?
They're like write downeverything you see.
I'm like what are you talkingabout?
Code blue?
I'm like, oh crap.
So I literally walk into acardiac arrest as soon as I'm
walking in to check in.
So I'm like, well, talk aboutgetting thrown into the deep end
.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Welcome to your new job.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
And how long were you ?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
there I was in the ER from October 2007 through
February 2009.
And then I got transferred toan outlying clinic up in Nogishi
, japan.
Okay, like five or six of uswere on a base of one, two,
(16:07):
three like four buildings, oneof them being the barracks.
It was literally a housing base, so we just did all the uh
patient care for, you know, anyof the uh active duty members
that may be up there, or theirfamilies really but I got
transferred up there tobasically run their ambulance
(16:30):
department okay, and how about?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
how long were you?
Did you do that for?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
uh february 09 until I uh pcs'd in december of 09
okay, so you?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
So you PCS'd?
Where'd you go from Japan?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I went to Camp Pendleton, california, for field
med, field medical servicetraining.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So that I can do my training for the Marines.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
All right.
So for anyone listening to orwatching this right now, camp
Pendleton Marine Corps Base yeah, yeah.
So how long was that trainingwatching this right now, camp
Pendleton is a Marine Corps baseyeah, so how long was that
training?
Were they just trying toacclimate you to the Marine
Corps, or what was that allabout?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
So it's basically to teach you.
It's basically a mini boot campfor the Marine Corps that also
does some field medicinetraining.
You know above what they teachin core school and what you
would learn in a hospital.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Okay, and how long were you in that training?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
That was an eight-week course.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
So was there anything in there that sticks out in
your mind, anything that?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
you found surprising or different from what you had
been doing, definitely a totallydifferent animal than the
hospital being with the Marines.
Um, you know, you wake up onthe first day and all of a
sudden it's like you're back inbootcamp.
Everybody's screaming at you.
You can't do anything, right.
It's like um, e4, why are youscreaming at me right now?
You're nothing.
Okay, here we go again.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yep Very familiar.
Yep Was familiar.
Yep Was that?
Was that difficult for you, youknow, having been in Japan,
having had responsibilitiesthere, to come back and kind of
be treated that way?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
How'd you respond to that.
It was different, but it's partof the part of the game.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, it's true and then?
So what happens next?
Where do you go from there?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
uh camp lejeune, north carolina.
Uh second medical battalionokay, and what?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
what were some of your responsibilities there?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
none I absolutely that.
That was probably my leastfavorite duty station.
Um, as soon as you check in,really the only thing they care
about is you getting yourwarfare pin.
So it's really just study forthat, and I mean it's medical
battalion and garrison.
(18:55):
There's nothing to do.
So it's literally listen topeople yell at you to get
paperwork done when there's onlyyou know, five computers for
the entire company, but so youcan't do anything and they won't
let you do any specialassignments because you don't
have your pin yet.
(19:15):
So basically I had to sitaround for a couple months until
I got a deployment billet okay,and where'd you deploy to?
afghanistan, helmand province,camp leatherneck and was that a?
Speaker 1 (19:29):
so that's marine.
So was that a six or a ninemonth tour?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
uh, nine month okay so talk to me about what it was
like when you first got there um, I mean going through workups I
talked to a lot of, because Ididn't deploy with med,
battalion um, I deployed withcombat logistics, battalion
(19:54):
eight.
So you know, I had guys in myplatoon that had deployed before
.
So I was, you know, just tryingto get as much information from
them as to what to expect.
And going over there as a linecorpsman you've got 40 Marines
that you're in charge of theirlives, basically.
So it's definitely a wholedifferent sense of
(20:16):
responsibility at 22 years old.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, it's kind of young to have that sort of
responsibility.
Yeah, and you were there.
So what year is it that youwere in?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
2011 January through September Okay.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
And, having deployed myself, there's no such thing as
a typical day ever, but can youkind of walk me through what it
was like on a daily basis there?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
um, I mean for the first couple months.
Um, I mean for the first monthreally, we were doing turnover
with the battalion we weretaking over for, so getting the
trucks ready, um, doing sometraining missions with them.
Uh, for me, making sureeverybody had their small Mojave
Viper.
I had to make sure everybodyhad their smallpox vaccines and
everything.
So making sure they were allmedically good to go when you
(21:52):
get over there.
It's making sure they're alltaking their malaria pills,
basically just getting ready togo to work, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yep, and then so you got.
You got there, uh, and nowyou're you're working um.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Talk to me about, uh, what you did with Marines uh,
with CLBA it was a lot of umpraying for convoys so we were
doing logistics across thedesert to different fobs.
Um, for a couple weeks I gottasked out with a ground pound
(22:33):
unit um to offer support whilethey got another corpsman to
fill in for somebody.
So I had to fill in until theygot another guy over there.
But yeah, two completelydifferent ballgames between the
ground pounders and thelogistics, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, was it pretty busy yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
I mean we were in a hot zone, so Helmand Province.
There's a lot of trainingfacilities there for the Taliban
.
So pretty much I won't sayevery, but most of our missions
there was some sort of actionRight.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Right Did you guys have a lot of injuries,
casualties?
Speaker 2 (23:27):
guys have a lot of injuries, casualties.
I mean, I can say I never lostanybody.
We definitely took our share ofinjuries, though I did.
I did lose one when I was withthe ground pounders.
Um, that's kind of a memorythat I pushed back in my head
and don't think about a lotanymore.
I can understand that, um, butyeah, I definitely did my,
(23:54):
definitely earned my paycheck.
We'll say it that way.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Right.
It took care of people, though,too yeah did you develop some
pretty close relationships withthe guys though oh yeah, I still
talk to a lot of them today.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, um, our platoon actually had the best ratings
going through mojave viper.
So we had a total of fiveplatoons within our company and
two and two were paired uptogether.
And then our platoon um, wewere actually paired up with
(24:25):
local national tankers so we hadto transport fuel all over the
ao, so definitely got some, uh,cultural experience as well.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Took Took a lot of chai while you were there?
No, actually, oh, okay, I wascurious because I was in
northern Iraq and we workedclosely with local leaders, and
so that was the thing you sataround and drank chai with them.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yeah, that didn't really happen in the South End
Lucky.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Chai and dirty glasses is not that much fun, oh
I bet well good.
So, um, is there anything?
When you think about thatdeployment?
Uh, is there anything thatsticks out in your mind?
Like, when you think about yourdeployment to afghanistan,
what's like the first thing thatpops into your head?
What do you remember the most?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
sandstorms are actually pretty freaking cool.
I mean the first one's a littletrippy when you see it, but uh,
once you realize what it is andyou know, you see them in the
movies and just see rushing in.
It's not how it happens at all.
Um, there was one mission wewere on.
My truck was always second orthird from the rear.
(25:40):
That way if somebody took acasualty we didn't have to turn
around, we could just fly up theside of the convoy.
And we're at a halt forsomething.
And I look behind me and I seetwo of my Marines crouched down
with some sort of stick orsomething poking at a bush.
I opened up my back door.
(26:01):
I'm like Hunter Snipper, whatthe hell are you guys doing?
It's a desert crocodile, doc.
What are you talking about?
I jump out, run over there.
They're messing with a littlelizard about six inches long.
I'm like really, leave thelizard alone.
Don't play with the wildlife,gentlemen, exactly when I was
(26:21):
with the uh ground pounders.
We, uh, we're doing a missionthrough a uh brain fart, you're
going through a town.
No, brain fart, you're goingthrough a town, nope green area
(26:43):
in the middle of the desertoasis oasis, thank you you're
welcome.
Uh, yeah, we're going through anoasis and we take a halt and
it's only my third or fourth daywith them.
So I sit down underneath thetree, I've got my arm on my med
bag and I'm just watching seeingwho are going to be my problem
(27:03):
children.
Who is going to be good athelping me out?
All of a sudden, two groups ofMarines just start walking in on
each other.
They create a circle and all ofa sudden they start cheering.
I'm like what is going on?
All of a sudden, one sidestarts cheering while the
other's all acting bummed andthen all of a sudden it just
(27:24):
goes dead quiet, like what'sgoing on?
And I see heads going like thisand they start pointing at me
like doc, like crap grab my bedbag run over there and there's a
guy kneeling down holding hisarm, like this.
I'm like what'd you do nothing?
What'd you freaking do?
Oh, he might have gotten stung.
(27:45):
What did you get?
Stung by?
Um, just scorpion, like what?
Where is it over there in a box?
I'm like open it.
Open it because I need to knowwhat kind of antivenom to give
them.
Opens it like give them theantivenom, call a bird.
(28:09):
And I'm like look you guys,what are you doing?
They're like oh, we thought itwould be cool to fight two
scorpions and see what happened.
You, you guys, are idiots.
Please stop playing with thewildlife Now we're down a man.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
There's nothing worse than bored Marines there's
really not.
Yeah, endless source ofentertainment?
That's for sure, absolutely so.
Were you single when you weredeployed?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
I was dating a girl.
I was never married my entiretime in.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Okay, all right, so you finish up your deployment in
Afghanistan and you come backto the States.
Yep, all right.
Talk to me a little bit aboutwhat it was like to leave
Afghanistan and come home.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I actually tried to stay.
Stay, I didn't want to comeback.
Yeah, um, life was just easierover there.
You wake up every morning, youknow exactly what you're doing,
you know who the enemy is.
Not like here, where you knowyou got people who go out and
shoot charlie kirk or something.
That Right, you know who theenemy is, you know who your
(29:19):
friends are.
That's that.
It's just easier over there.
So, yeah, I talked to my chiefa couple weeks before I came
back.
I was like chief, can I stay?
He's like no Little Filipinoguy.
No, I brought all yourmotherfuckers over here.
I'm taking all yourmotherfuckers home.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
God damn it, chief.
All right, right.
So you pack up your stuff andyou come back.
Yep, and what was it like foryou to kind of step off that
plane back in the states andafter I've been gone for for
that period of time,environmental?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
shock, yeah, um, I mean, when I got on the plane in
afghanistan to come home, itwas September, so it's 135, 140
degrees, and I got off the plane.
I mean we stopped in Kyrgyzstanand then Germany and then came
(30:12):
back to Cherry Point, northCarolina, but it's 2 in the
morning and it's only 80 degrees, but it's 95% humidity.
It was like walking into a wall, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
What are your thoughts on dry heat?
Like, like, it was 135 where Iwas at people.
Oh, it's a dry heat, it 135 is135 to me.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
It is, but I would.
I thought that one 35 waseasier to handle than that 80 at
90% humidity.
Yeah, 100%.
I totally agree with the wholedry heat, wet heat thing.
Yeah, it's still hot, but atleast your sweat's evaporating,
not just condensing on your body.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Right Take a shower you get out, you dry off, you're
wet again.
Exactly, yeah, I hear you.
Now what a shower you get out,you dry off, your wet again.
Exactly, yeah, I hear you.
So, uh, now what happens afteryou get back?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
uh well, we actually got delayed getting off the bus.
Um, my girlfriend and herparents came down for the
welcome home and you know it'sone in the morning, two in the
morning, whatever it is.
And then you know it's one inthe morning, two in the morning,
whatever it is.
One of my Marines actuallyfound out his wife was
unfaithful two weeks before wecame home and she showed up to
(31:33):
the welcome home with the guy.
Now, mind you, this Marine was140 pounds, soaking wet.
It took me and three corporalsto hold him down and the
commanding officer had tobasically call base security,
have them escorted off the base.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
So we're sitting there waving at our friends and
family for 45 minutes before wecan get off the bus.
I feel like that happens onevery deployment's that one guy
where that?
That happens too, it feels likeunfortunately.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I mean like it's one thing I can say about the girl I
was dating at the time I neverhad a doubt that she was
faithful.
Yeah, uh, yeah.
We finally get off the bus andcouldn't get a barracks room
that late at night.
So I went back to the hotelwith my girl and her parents and
they're like well, we'reexhausted, we're going to bed.
(32:25):
I'm like I'm on afghan time.
Uh, I'm gonna go out on thecatwalk and I actually called
her from, uh, kyrgyzstan.
It's like hey, let me talk toyour mom.
She's like okay, mom, I needyou to pick me up a six pack of
bud light.
She's like bud light, you don'tdrink that.
I was like I haven't drank innine months.
I'm easing back into it.
(32:46):
She's like all right, I canrespect that.
So she brought me a six pack ofbud light and, where you know,
I walk out on the catwalk, I'mlight a cigarette and I crack
open a beer and I look down andtwo of my marines are down there
.
They're like doc, come drinkwith us.
I'm like oh shit, here we go.
I walk down there and I'm justgonna stick with my six-pack
(33:11):
like doc, have some wine?
No, yes, okay, doc, have somescrewdrivers.
No, yes, okay, five, okay.
Five o'clock rolls around.
I'm just tanked and I climbback up to the barracks, the
hotel room lay down next to thegirlfriend.
I'm like, babe, are you awake?
She's like yeah, I was like Ineed you to do me a favor, go to
(33:35):
room 113, get Lance CorporalCollier and go to the car and
get my med bag.
She's like why?
I was like I need an iv.
She's like you're gonna let adrunk marine give you an iv.
It's like, um, yes, why don'tyou just teach me how to do it?
Speaker 1 (33:51):
no, whack oh my, that's quite a homecoming.
Oh yeah, I feel like there's alot of stories like that though.
Oh yes, yes, absolutely so.
You, uh, you get home, um,you're still down at, uh, in
cherry point.
Um, what happens after that?
(34:11):
What happens if you get back?
Speaker 2 (34:13):
I actually take my post-deployment leave came back
for my older half-sister'swedding.
I actually called my mom beforeI came back because my mom has
worked in health care for years.
She knew I was a corpsman andthe wedding was going to be the
first time I had seen her sinceleaving for Afghanistan, my
(34:38):
pre-deployment leave.
Uh, I was like mom, I need totell you something right now.
I don't want you causing ascene at the wedding.
She's like what I was, like Istarted smoking in Afghanistan.
You're in healthcare, you knowbetter than that, yeah, but
guess what?
When you're getting shot at andblown up, you really don't give
a fuck.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Right, yeah, I I.
You know I'm not a smokerreally, but I smoked when I was
in the army, for sure, yeah,yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
It does it to you.
Yep man, we were on a patrolwhen we were over there.
And I look left.
I was bored.
I took point.
I look left, everybody'ssmoking.
I look right, everybody'ssmoking.
I'm like, fuck it, give me acigarette.
You don't smoke, doc.
I could step on a fuckinglandmine right now.
Just give me a goddamncigarette.
Okay, hands me a cigarette.
(35:23):
And I didn't know what I wassmoking at the time.
So I light it up, hack a coupletimes, then get the hang of it
and all of a sudden, by the endof it, I'm walking like this.
Staff Sergeant, everybody halt.
Doc, what the fuck is wrongwith you?
Smoked a cigarette.
Staff Sergeant, the hell didyou smoke?
I don't know whatever.
He gave me Lucky strike.
(35:43):
Very first cigarette was anon-filter.
Yeah, staff Sergeant.
Doc, if you want to smoke fromnow on you're going to smoke
what we smoke.
What's that?
Lucky strikes or Newports?
Okay, whatever.
So all through afghanistan Iwas smoking.
New ports came back, switchedto reds and dropped from two
(36:04):
packs a day down to one pack aday.
Pretty much smoked the rest ofmy time in the service.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah no doubt so you, uh, you get back.
You survive your mom's wrath.
Yeah, and what's your next dutystation then?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Went back to Med Battalion, unfortunately,
because they basically send youTAD to go on deployment.
Oh, okay, so Med Battalion wasmy parent command, but by that
time I already had my warfarepin.
I got that while I was inAfghanistan.
I earned my, my warfare pin.
I got that while I was inAfghanistan.
I earned my fleet marine forcewhat's the technical term for it
(36:44):
?
Enlisted fleet marine forcewarfare specialist pin, also
re-enlisted while I was overthere.
So I came back, as you know, asenior, experienced corpsman
with the med battalion so did alittle bit of training and stuff
(37:05):
.
Within two weeks they werelooking for guys to go TAD again
.
I was like, sign me up.
Get me out of here.
So I went for six months out toBanger Washington for Marine
Corps Security Forces, so youwere support to the security
forces then.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
For six months out to Bangor, washington, for Marine
Corps Security Forces.
So you were support to thesecurity forces then, yeah,
medical support.
Okay, all right.
Now did you travel anywherewith them, or was this just out?
Speaker 2 (37:28):
No.
So the majority of the securityforces, a lot of those guys
it's their first command, eventhe officers.
And then you've got the seniorguys who you know we do training
ops and things like that.
But their main focus out therewas protecting the nuclear subs
and the nuclear weapons on thebase With.
(37:51):
You know, we had two corpsmengo out there for medical support
.
They had like three full-timeguys that staffed their clinic,
so a total of five corpsmen.
Really One of the guys thatwent TAD out there with me
didn't have a deployment oranything.
So a lot of my field ops werewith the fast company out there.
(38:12):
They're kind of the specialforces of the security forces.
They do a lot of the mounttraining and things like that.
So I did a lot with thembecause they wanted somebody
with combat experience.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
And how long were you with them?
Six months, okay, and then backto Back to Lejeune.
So how much longer were youstuck there at, stuck there at
lagoon?
Speaker 2 (38:41):
maybe about a year.
Um, I actually, when I got back, they were looking for people
to go work in s6 and they saidif you're going to work in s6
you have to have your a pluscertification.
Well, luckily I got my a plusbefore I had my high school
diploma.
So I was like like, hey, I'vealready got mine.
They're like all right, you'regoing to S6.
(39:01):
So I got to go work in the S6shop and actually, you know,
have something to do.
Um, I was there for the rest ofmy time there.
Uh, about two months into it,the ops chief she was a E6, went
(39:24):
on leave and I was the seniorE4, so I was in charge of the
shop while she was gone andended up doing a couple
inventories and taking them overto regiment, turning them in,
and Gunny comes out.
He's like who the fuck are you?
Agent 3 Martin Med Battalion'sS6 acting chief?
(39:44):
What do you want Turning inthese inventories?
I thought that's what I wassupposed to do.
He's like who's HL1V Tug?
That's the ops chief.
You're the acting ops chiefright now.
Yeah, Congratulations, you'rethe new ops chief.
You're the acting ops chiefright now.
Yeah, Congratulations, You'rethe new ops chief.
I'm like what the hell do youmean?
(40:08):
It's like I've been asking forthese inventories for six months
?
Crap, okay, oh no, I was justdoing what I thought I was
supposed to.
He said, no, you are supposedto be doing them, that's why
you're the new ops chief.
I'm like, okay, well, you mightwant to call somebody over
there and let them know.
Right, let's make this?
Official yeah, so that was alittle awkward when she got back
.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
But yeah, what'd they have her doing when she got
back?
Uh, they moved her to like Sone or something.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Okay, All right, and then so a sick shot then total
(40:54):
maybe about a year.
Okay, I guess I was therelonger than I thought I was.
Now that I think about it, yeah, and where'd you go from there?
My least favorite duty station?
Portsmouth, virginia.
Oh Naval Medical Center,portsmouth, virginia.
My son was born in.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Portsmouth.
I know that place well.
Yep, and what'd you do inPortsmouth?
Speaker 2 (41:12):
What didn't I do in Portsmouth?
I actually got relieved of dutyin the first clinic I was
managing.
Um, my marine mentality did notagree with hospital lifestyle
again.
Garrison's much different.
Yeah, it is.
Yeah, I uh had some retired e5tried chewing out my front desk
(41:36):
staff.
You know I had an e2 and an e3working the front desk and he
tried chewing them out while Iwas back there.
I put him in his place and hewent and complained and it was
civilians that were the officemanagers because of, you know,
contracting and stuff right.
So I got my butt chewed by acivilian for yelling at patients
(41:58):
.
So I had to bounce them betweentwo or three clinics before
they finally said all right, youcannot work in a clinic anymore
.
So if you're you're a newtraining officer, you are not a
fit yeah, absolutely okay,whatever I can do that, so I
became a.
Okay, whatever I can do that, soI became a.
I was like an E7 billet as anE4.
(42:19):
I was a directorate leveltraining officer in charge of
all the training for like 11different clinics.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
Did that suit you?
Was that a little bit betterfit for?
Speaker 2 (42:32):
you than the?
Yeah, I mean I didn't have todeal with civilians, I didn't
have to deal with belligerentpatients.
I was a TCCC instructor as well, so it was a tactical combat
casualty care course for peoplethat were going from the
hospital TAD to combat units orthings like that.
(42:53):
We'd get them ready for goingdownrange and it was all combat
guys who did that, so it wasreally a hard way of taking out
aggression, right it works rightyeah exactly, yeah and um.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
So you were at portsmouth for how long then?
Speaker 2 (43:10):
that was my final duty station, the end of my
career.
I guess you would say um twoyears.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Okay, so you uh ets from there.
We don't call ets a navy,though, do we?
Speaker 2 (43:27):
uh, we just call I got higher tenured out.
Basically I couldn't pick uprank fast enough, so they gave
me the boot, yeah, but uh wentand ended up dealing with some
drama there as well, though Imean, I was a lead assistant on
our sexual assault forensicsteam.
That was about the only healthcare that I did actually enjoy
(43:48):
because I viewed it as important.
But uh, you know, I brushedelbows with a lot of nIS agents
doing that and stuff Ended up,uh, yeah, basically I couldn't
pick up rank cause my seniorchief you know I didn't have,
(44:12):
you know, the golden knee padsRight, so I never got.
You didn't play the game.
I did not play the game.
No, pads Right, so I never gotto play the game.
I did not play the game.
No, no, they only gave the bestemail remarks to people who
went and sold hot dogs anddonuts, and I thought my time
was better spent being a Ttriple C instructor or making
sure my training was good to gofor my.
All my guys and I had differentpriorities.
(44:34):
I didn't want to play thepolitics, I wanted to be a good
service member Want to do yourjob.
Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
So you get out and so you come back to Michigan right
away, or what did you do whenyou got out?
Speaker 2 (44:48):
So I was actually supposed to get out February
2015.
Mm-hmm, A girl that I wasfriends with down there.
(45:11):
I ended up moving in with herand her husband because I knew I
wasn't going to be able to pickup rank.
So I actually tried crossingover to crypto so that I could
have a better chance ofpromotion.
So that I could have a betterchance of promotion.
So I didn't renew my apartmentlease and I moved in with her
and her husband before I foundout that they didn't accept me
to the school.
So I was just going to ride itout there.
But when I moved in with her, Isaw that her and her husband
(45:39):
were fighting a lot and Iactually I don't even know how
it happened, but I startedtalking to this girl's mom and.
I think it was because one ofthe times I came on leave, I had
driven the girl's daughter toOhio for her so that she could
spend time with her grandma.
(45:59):
But yeah, while I was livingthere, I kind of realized she
was not a very good mother atall.
So I was kind of conspiringwith her mother to get custody
up to her.
Well, she found out.
She ended up accusing me ofsexual harassment.
So I ended up losing myposition on the sexual assault
(46:22):
forensics team, because if youhave a sexual charge against you
, you can't exactly be handlingevidence of other cases.
Ncis basically laughed at that.
They're like yeah, that's notgoing anywhere.
(46:47):
Well, I was supposed to bedischarged on February 6th 2015,
.
February 4th.
My LPO calls me.
He's like are you sitting downright now?
I was like I'm in my office.
What's up, you're on legal hold.
What the hell do you mean?
I'm on legal hold.
It's up, you're on legal hold.
What the hell do you mean?
I'm on legal hold.
It's like uh, remember thatgirl who filed charges for
sexual harassment?
Yeah, she opted to sexualassault.
You've got to be fuckingkidding me.
So I I went on a fricking rager.
(47:08):
I drove from Portsmouth over toNorfolk, walked right into NCIS
myself Not the smartest thing Ishould have done Right Walked
in Like I need a sexual assaultinvestigator.
Okay, walk into his office andI sit down, because I knew the
guy.
He's like hey, mark, what areyou doing here?
I was like apparently you wantto see me.
He's like what are you talkingabout?
Check your paperwork.
(47:29):
Looks down.
He's like no freaking way.
I'm like yep, he's like youwant a lawyer, I was like no, I
just want the shit to go away.
He's like you know I gotta readyou your rights right now, right
like well let's get this overwith.
But yeah, it ended up gettingcleared up pretty quick.
I was out of there in twomonths, but uh, interesting, two
(47:53):
months was pretty quick I meantwo months, it was a very long
time to me it was a very longtwo months but it definitely
could have been longer yeah,yeah, I can believe that.
But uh, yeah, what's actually?
During that two months, my highschool sweetheart now my wife
reached back out to me.
She was getting out of anabusive relationship.
(48:15):
We ended up finding that westill had very strong feelings
for each other.
We ended up getting backtogether when I got home.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
That's a great story.
Yeah, how long have you?
Speaker 2 (48:29):
been married.
We've been married six yearsnow, six and half years okay,
all right.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
So you, you got out and you came home um met up with
your high school sweetheartagain, yep and uh.
So what did you do like?
Speaker 2 (48:46):
oh, there's not too many job opportunities for a
unlicensed combat corpsman, so Iended up being a assistant
manager at domino's for a monthwell, that's kind of how this is
the word I'm looking for.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
That's kind of anti-climactic, after all the
stuff you've done with your lifeand your career.
Yeah, not that it's notimportant because they need
managers, but I mean, how'd thatfeel like for?
Speaker 2 (49:12):
you Kind of sucked, going from you know eight years
wearing the uniform to notreally having any opportunities
for any gainful employment RightFolding pizza boxes.
Yeah, pretty much.
Yeah, Actually.
No, I delegated that part, butWell, you were the manager.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
You need to have some leadership skills.
So yeah, I can see that.
So how long did you stay there?
Speaker 2 (49:34):
I was on there about a month, went from there to
Verizon selling cell phones.
While I was there I had agentleman come in, bought a
charger from me and then offeredme a job on the spot as an
insurance agent.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
So I kind of bounced it around a little bit, talked
to the girl for my wifegirlfriend at the time and she's
like, I don't know, insuranceagents are kind of sleazy
sometimes.
It's like, yeah, I know, that'skind of what I'm feeling.
I don't know if I want to dothis, and then we find out she's
pregnant time to sell phone ortime to time to sell insurance
(50:14):
yeah, pretty much.
So I went and interviewed withthem.
He was a marine corvette um.
Him and his brother ran thecompany and was honestly one of
the best employment decisions Imade going to work for them.
They were absolutely phenomenal.
We sold medicare insurance soit was all dealing with, you
(50:34):
know, the older population.
Um did that for a few yearsokay, and then?
Speaker 1 (50:44):
um, what made you decide to leave there cubicle?
Speaker 2 (50:50):
that's just not you, is it?
I can't stand sitting in acubicle.
So where'd you go from there?
Um, I actually got into uh,hvac at that time.
Um, my wife's grandpa, I mean.
I had been bouncing aroundthrough like five different
(51:12):
majors up until that point, notknowing exactly what the hell I
wanted to do.
Then I decided I wanted to getinto trades.
So I sat down with her.
I was like, well, I don't wantto be an electrician because I
don't want to play with highvoltage.
I don't want to be a plumberbecause I don't want to play
with poop.
I'll go into HVAC.
And later I find out.
(51:36):
Really, hvac, you play with allof it Electronics, poop, all of
it.
Yeah, pretty much.
But I was going to go toNorthwestern Tech out in
Southfield and my wife's grandpatold me to reach out to a
gentleman who owned a mechanicalcontracting company.
He's like no, no, no, no, no,no, drop out of that place, go
to LCC.
Get your associate's degree,I'll hire you after your first
semester.
Okay, get your associate'sdegree, I'll hire you after your
(51:58):
first semester, okay.
So I dropped out ofnorthwestern, went to lcc.
Uh, he hired me after the firstsemester.
I was with him for about fivemonths realized he didn't even
know how to spell ethics.
So oh, that could be a problemyeah, that didn't really align
with my viewpoints.
So I left him and bouncedaround between a couple
residential companies.
(52:19):
Uh, finished out my associatesright as covid was hitting
transferred to ferris state formy bachelor's.
Finished that out in 2023 yeah,late 2023, I believe.
(52:39):
Um ended up having to.
I had to do an internship tofinish my degree, so I got in
with my current company doingbuilding automation and controls
.
Uh, they hired me after myinternship and then, after I
finished my bachelor's, I waslike I'm bored.
Master's degree.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
Well, you know, at least you take that boredom and
do something constructive withit, Because a lot of people
don't, that's true.
So that's really good.
So, associates, bachelor's,master's, and now you're working
in your field.
Are you enjoying it?
Speaker 2 (53:17):
Yes and no.
I mean I'm still trying to findthat sense of purpose that I
had when I was in the service.
I mean, obviously my careersince I got out has constantly
been improving.
Like I told the wife, you know,I'll never just be a little
(53:38):
schmuck.
Like you know, your ex-husbandwas, um, I'm always going to be
better for you, but I'mconstantly searching for that
sense of employment purpose.
I guess you could say, yeah,that's why I'm looking at going
for another master's.
Speaker 1 (53:54):
Right.
Somebody once said the peoplethat go off to war, the people
that go to the military, aren'tthe same people that come back.
Do you feel that way?
100%.
What does that mean to you?
Speaker 2 (54:16):
I mean, I guess, going over there you lose a part
of who you were originally butat the same time, depending on
your experiences, it can moldyou into a different person.
Me personally, I believe abetter person.
(54:38):
I'm aware of my demons, I knowthey're there, but at the same
time I know I have a wife andchildren who depend on me and I
try to keep those demons hiddenbecause I know the evil that's
in this world and I don't wantthem to ever experience it.
(54:59):
Right?
Speaker 1 (55:01):
it's a constant battle inside every day.
That's how I feel, anyway.
That's yeah, yeah, 100.
Well, tell me so, speaking ofyour family, tell me about your
family, tell me about your wife.
And you have how many kids now?
Uh, three, okay, all right.
So, uh, boys, girls, a mix, allboys, all boys.
(55:23):
How's that going out?
How's that working for you?
Speaker 2 (55:27):
it's a freaking madhouse.
Um, my oldest is actually hersfrom her previous marriage, but
uh, that POS um hasn't seen himin nine years, I think now.
(55:47):
So you're his dad, yeah, I, hewants me to adopt him.
He literally tells everybodyI'm his dad, yeah, but the
jackass won't sign his rightsaway, won't just get out of the
picture, doesn't pay his childsupport, nothing.
But yeah, he sees me as his dad.
Speaker 1 (56:08):
Yeah, that's got to be a good feeling, though.
I mean, you're doing somethingright, yeah, something, I don't
know what.
But something.
Speaker 2 (56:16):
So how old are your kids?
Then he is 13, um, and thenwe've got nine and seven okay,
so active, busy boys yep, uh,the oldest is in orchestra, so
he's small for his age, aboutthis tall, but he plays the bass
(56:38):
and orchestra, so we're totingthat thing around all the time.
Yeah, the younger two are bothin scouts.
They bounce around soccer,basketball, um.
Yeah, they're all in archery,so they're always doing
something.
Speaker 1 (56:58):
That's great, keep busy.
Yeah, of course you know that.
Right, you got to keep thembusy.
Yeah, well, tell me about yourwife.
Speaker 2 (57:08):
I had that.
That could be a whole notherinterview.
Give me the small version of it.
Um, I mean like we were highschool sweethearts.
Um met her when I was 17 andshe was 14.
Um started dating when I was 18, she was 15.
(57:29):
Um, we were constantly gettinginto trouble back then.
Her parents didn't like thefact that I was a legal adult,
right um.
But her grandmother, her aunt,they all supported it.
They saw how happy she was.
They saw that I treated hergood and um.
(57:53):
But yeah, she ended up weseparate or split up.
When I was in Japan you knowjust the distance.
She ended up getting married toher first husband just before
Afghanistan.
I asked her to.
(58:13):
I straight up asked her toleave him for me, and she told
me, no, she can't do that.
She wants to be a good wife.
And so I think that was twodays before I left.
That was the last time I hadtalked to her, and a little over
four years.
(58:34):
During that years she ended updivorcing him, got remarried to
my oldest biological father.
She reached out to me justbefore I got out when she was
going through her separationwith him.
Both decided that we still hadfeelings for each other.
(59:01):
So I she ended up calling meafter I had discharged.
I was waiting for TMO to pickup my household goods and get
them back to Michigan and I wasdriving for Domino's as a
delivery driver.
And she calls me one night justin tears because he was being
abusive and I was like I'm on myway.
(59:24):
She's like what Don't you stillhave household goods and stuff
you have to get?
I was like I'll come back down,I'm on my way.
I made that 14-hour drive inabout nine hours, broke a few
laws.
Speaker 1 (59:34):
No.
Speaker 2 (59:35):
No.
Speaker 1 (59:37):
No speeding laws or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (59:38):
No, okay, I'm on camera.
I didn't break any laws.
Yeah, went, picked her up, gother and her son out of there.
We've definitely had our upsand downs but I mean, I've
opened up some of my stories toher and I there's nobody else
(01:00:03):
I'd rather be going through thiswith than her.
I know how miserable I am attimes, how miserable I can be at
times, and I don't ever wantthat for her.
I don't ever want that for theboys.
Um, during the whole thing thathappened with charlie kirk, I
(01:00:29):
had come across the video of itactually happening and I told my
wife I saw the video.
She's like I want to see it.
When I got, I was like no, youdon't.
Yeah, she's like what do youmean?
I was like I've seen thisinjury, I've treated this injury
.
It's a carotid dissection.
You do not want to see it.
She's like oh, never mind, likeI I honestly won't watch it.
(01:00:50):
I can't I yeah, for people thathave never seen that and don't
realize the kind of damage andhow much blood goes through that
area, it's disturbing, Perfect.
But yeah, those kind of evils Itry to keep from her, from the
kids.
I know how hard it is for me tobe happy, so I just want them
(01:01:18):
to be happy.
I'll feed off of theirhappiness.
Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
So we covered a lot in the last hour.
Is there anything we haven'ttalked about that you want to
talk about?
Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
You're the interviewer, I'm just answering
the questions all right.
Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Well, I always like to make sure, because sometimes
there's things that you want totalk about that we don't.
So, um, really, I just have onelast question to ask you, then
I ask everyone the same questionfor people listening to this
years from now, um, and even foryour family or for anyone else,
what would you like people totake away from this interview?
(01:01:59):
And also, what would you likepeople to take away from your
life and the way that you'velived it?
Essentially, what's yourmessage?
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
military service is a double-edged sword.
Um, you'll never find a greatersense of self-purpose or
self-worth, especially goingoverseas doing a combat tour,
gaining that brotherhood withpeople you're closest to.
(01:02:36):
But at the same time, when youget out, you're never going to
find that sense of self-purposeor self-worth again.
So it's the people who are ableto find happiness after it that
I truly admire, because I'm.
If I didn't have my wife, Idon't know where the hell I'd be
(01:02:57):
.
Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
Yeah, she gets you.
She really does.
I can see it in your eyes whenyou're talking to me right now.
We all need that person, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
She's that person for me.
Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
I'm glad that you found her.
I really am.
I'm glad that you found her.
I really am.
I'm glad she came back.
All right, well, you know, Ijust wanted to thank you for
coming out here, and I know thatwe had to work on scheduling
and we finally made it out here,but I'm really glad that I got
to talk to you today.
Thank you so much for sharingyour story with me.
Thank you.
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