April 3, 2025 • 50 mins
We have another outstanding episode to share with you today, as we welcome a tremendous patriot and friend of the Foundation to the program. Today, WWIA Founder and CEO, John McDaniel is honored to share some time talking with Purple Heart Hero, WWIA Guide, and WWIA Event Host, Mr. Roy Holland.
Roy is married to his beautiful wife Sasha and is a father to two sons, Russell and Braden. Having been born into a military family, Roy joined the Marine Corps after high school and would also serve in Vermont Army National Guard, where he was deployed multiple times in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also served as a police officer for 25 years, currently serving as the Chief of Police in Enfield, New Hampshire.
His biggest passions (other than family) are hunting and fishing. He has hunted and fished since childhood and has continued enjoying the great outdoors throughout his life, as he finds that immersing himself in nature is the best reset possible. Roy attended his first WWIA event in 2017 and came on as a certified WWIA Guide a few years later. In addition to being a Guide, he also proudly Hosts the New Hampshire Bear & Bass Event, now entering its seventh year.
This is a great conversation between friends, and we’re excited to share part of Roy’s journey with you.
Takeaways:
- The WWIA Podcast aims to honor, connect, and provide healing for America's combat wounded veterans.
- Roy Holland, a Purple Heart recipient, shares his journey and experiences in law enforcement and the military.
- The importance of nature and outdoor activities for veterans' mental health is emphasized during the podcast.
- Community support plays a crucial role in the success of events designed for combat wounded veterans, as highlighted by Roy's efforts.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign.
Hello and welcome to the WWIAPodcast. We're honored to have you
join us in our mission tobring honor, connection and healing
to America's combat woundedPurple Heart heroes. If this is your
first time listening to thispodcast, we welcome you if you're
(00:21):
a returning listener. Thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing. We haveanother out outstanding episode to
share with you today as wewelcome a tremendous patriot and
friend of the foundation tothe program. Today, WWIA founder
and CEO John McDaniel ishonored to share some time talking
(00:45):
with Purple Heart hero, WWIAguide and WWIA event host, Mr. Roy
Holland. Roy is married to hisbeautiful wife, Sasha, and is a father
to two sons, Russell andBrady. Having been born into a military
family, Roy joined the MarineCorps after high school and would
also serve in Vermont ArmyNational Guard, where he was deployed
(01:08):
multiple times in Iraq andAfghanistan. Roy has also served
as a police officer for 25years, currently serving as the Chief
of Police in Enfield, NewHampshire. His biggest passions other
than family are hunting andfishing. Roy has hunted and fished
since childhood and andcontinues enjoying the great outdoors
(01:29):
throughout his life as hefinds that immersing himself in nature
is the best reset possible.Roy attended his first WWIA event
in 2017 and came on as acertified WWIA guide a few years
later. In addition to being aguide, he also proudly hosts the
New Hampshire Bear and Bassevent, now entering its seventh year.
(01:53):
This is a great conversationbetween friends and we're excited
to share part of Roy's journeywith you without further delay. Let's
join John and Roy now.
Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded warriors in
(02:14):
Action foundation. And this isour podcast, Honor, Connect and Heal.
So today I have a greatAmerican with me, a man who I admire
and have been in the fieldwith several times and who I know
well and am getting to knowbetter. Welcome to the program, Roy
(02:36):
Holland. How are you?
Good, good. Thanks for havingme. It's honor to be here.
Yeah, it's an honor to haveyou. So let me set this up so everybody,
you know, gets a, has a, abrief, you know, snapshot word picture
of, of. Of who you are. Soyou, you're a Purple Heart recipient.
You have been through ourguide school, you're one of our valued
(02:58):
guides who's been trained andcertified through our program, and
you also are a host. You'vebeen hosting, I think we're on the
seven or eight years now.Something like that.
Yeah. This year will be yearnumber seven.
Seven. Seven years of hostinga Com. A combo hunt up in New Hampshire.
Bear and bass combo hunt. And.And up in New Hampshire. And. And
(03:24):
it's. The event is in Grafton,if I got that right. Grafton, New
Hampshire. Right in. InGrafton, New Hampshire. Correct.
Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. And you are also, youknow, everybody, he's wearing a uniform,
so I'm looking at him. You'renot. But I can see Roy because we're.
(03:45):
We're on a zoom call that'sbeing recorded for this podcast.
But Roy's wearing uniform andhe is the chief of police for the
town of Enfield, NewHampshire. Is that right?
It is, correct. Yeah.
You look great, man. I mean,he. If. Tell you what, if you ever
get out of a car, approachmine, I'm just gonna put my hands
on the steering wheel, rolldown the window, put my hands on
(04:07):
the steering. Whee. And justsay, yes, sir and no.
Sir, because I don't get tostop as many cars as I. As I used
to. That's for sure.
Probably. Yeah. Well, you lookgreat. And so here's a guy who's,
you know, a combat woundedveteran, Right. You got a purple
Heart. You were in the MarineCorps for something like four years
(04:27):
on active duty, is that right?
Yeah, I joined right out ofhigh school.
Excellent. And then. Was thatwhere you were wounded and. And.
And that's where you get thatfrom? Well, you were a Marine or
were you? I seen you when youhad the Army National Guard. You're
a double dipper. You've beenon both sides. Are you a jiu jitsu
dude?
Yeah. Correct. No, I was whenI was with the train. National Jiu
Jitsu about five days a week.So I also teach kids class and adult
(04:53):
classes with that as well.
So this is one dude that youjust don't want to mess with. He's
the chief of police and, andhe's a jiu jitsu competitive Jiu
jitsu dude who's got a purpleHeart. It was in the Marine Corps
and the army, so that's allI'm saying. That's just, that's get
back, Jack.
I. Well, you know, I do thathonestly, because I. I feel it's
a responsibility in lawenforcement that jiu jitsu. I mean,
(05:16):
obviously I got into it in theMarine Corps when I, you know, started
with the Marine Corps Martialarts program.
Yeah.
And then obviously when Ijoined the Army National Guard, they
saw that on my resume, youknow, I'd become a infantry guy towards
the end of my Marine Corpscareer once and I, so I became an
(05:37):
army combatives level one andlevel two instructor as well.
Awesome.
And so that kind of led intowhen I, I was still a police officer
during that. And so I thinkthat every police officer should
be a blue belt in Jiu jitsu.Not just for the self defense aspect
or the ability to controlpeople's movements, but by the time
(05:58):
you reach blue belt in Jiujitsu, which for the average person
takes about 18 months to twoyears, okay, you recognize a threat
for what it really is. Youknow, when you're, when you're a
young guy who, you know, noteverybody is a combat veteran, right.
And stuff like that, or beenin the military. Jiu jitsu helps
you recognize what's really athreat and what's not. And so therefore
(06:20):
you're less likely to useexcessive force.
That's great. I never heard itput that way, but as a, well, of
course, you know, I had alittle, little past there in the
military and one of the thingswe did is we got in, in one of my
units, we, we did thiscombination of, you know, lots of
training in the martial arts,you know, jiu jitsu and, and Gracie
(06:41):
and Muay Thai and lots ofdifferent things, you know, and as
a graph, as a wrestler, as a,as a former competitive wrestler,
you know, I always felt in mymind like, hey, most, and if you,
you can see this on the w, youknow, on the, you know, in the cage
matches with, you know, the,the, the, the, the fights that are
going on today, the mixedmartial arts fights, you know, all
(07:04):
that fancy kicking, you know,stuff, that's great. Okay. It's great
tools for your chest, youknow, your tool chest, your combatives
tool chest. But if you want towin a fight, unless you're going
to strike and knock somebodyout, which doesn't happen that often,
you know, you better get thisperson on the ground, you know, and
as a wrestler, you know,that's where those, those, that's
where fights end. Like I'mgoing to, this thing's going to stop,
(07:27):
I'm going to turn, terminatethis little thing we got going on.
When I get you on the groundand so the quicker I get you on the
ground as a wrestler, I'mgoing to disable you and then bring
this thing to a close. That'smy thinking. Has always, you know,
been that way. Is that kind ofin line with, with what you think
have been taught?
Oh, 100% and not, not justtaught in my 25 years a law enforcement
(07:50):
officer. That's. They all endup there.
Yeah. On the ground.
On the ground.
Y. On the ground. And you gotto dominate, you know, and that's
why, you know, you got todominate, you know, dominate the
threat. And. And. And becausehe. Or. Or she. And, you know, in
some cases, you know, they'remost dangerous when they're on their
feet and wielding whatever'sin their arms or hands or. Or, you
(08:12):
know, and they're able tostrike. And when you get them on
the ground, that negates a lotof it right there. So that's cool.
I'm glad to hear you say that.But I've seen some of your videos,
and, you know, you're quite anaccomplished man, and I appreciate
that. And you're a man ofservice. And so you're in the Marine
(08:34):
Corps for four years. What didyou do in the Marine Corps? Were
you infantry? Were you? What'dyou do?
So I started. I actuallystarted out as an admin guy, but
I didn't want to do that.
No.
And. And so I ended up in the infantry.
Awesome.
The Marine Corps was. Wasgracious enough to allow me to. To.
(08:57):
To seek out a different mos of infantry.
An infantryman. Yeah. I loveit. So what do they call that? I
remember, you know, that.That. That they have a. Like, in
the army, you know. 11 Bravois infantry.
Yeah.
03 11. Yeah. Yeah. Oh 03 11.Congratulations. Oh, 03 11. You made
(09:22):
it, you know?
Yes. Yeah. You know, it'sfunny, you know, looking back at
my young self now, I didn'trecognize the looks I was getting
from the people when I wascomplaining that I didn't want to,
you know, I wasn't. Didn'tjoin the Marine Corps to push paper.
Right.
And. And I had gotten in alittle trouble. I was a troublemaker
(09:43):
a little bit, you know, when Iwas younger, and so they were happy
to. I said, you know, I thinkI want to try this infantry thing.
And the looks I got were kindof, you know.
You're leaving this for that.
Yeah, exactly.
Right, Exactly. The coffeemachines right over there. And you
got that nice chair you'resitting in now. You want to hump
a rucksack.
Yeah.
And eat dirt for a living. Youknow, live like an Earth pig. That's
(10:06):
what you want to do. You'relike, yeah, that's exactly what I
want to do.
Yep. And it worked out great. So.
Yeah. Good for you. That'scharacter building. I love it. I
gravitate. That's All I wantedto do. I remember when I. Because
I was enlisted for a shortperiod of time, so I got to kind
of see, at least understandthe military a little bit better.
(10:27):
And then I went to the ROTCand all this. And, And I remember
when it came time to pick yourbranch assignments, they gave you
three back in the day. I don'tknow what they do today, but back
in the late. In the mid-80s,they would give you. They gave the
officers this sheet of paperand they said you need to pick three
(10:48):
branches of service. And theylisted all of them like you could.
I could have put medicalservice, corps, but I mean, let's
face it, I didn't go tomedical school, so I didn't want.
I don't want that. And, youknow, artillery, okay? So I know
what artillery is, you know,all the branches, you know, and I
knew what I wanted to bebecause I had already seen it. I
(11:09):
wanted to be an AirborneRanger. And I knew the first step
to that was becoming, youknow, being an infantryman. So I
wrote down in my sheet,infantry, infantry, infantry. I just
let three. I didn't give themany other choices. And I turned it
in and my, my, my, my, myinstructor looked at that and he's
like, he just shook his headlike any, any submitted it that way,
(11:30):
you know, so anyway, you gotto love it, man. The infantry is
where it's at. So if you'reout there listening to this and you
think, you know, you, you havea calling and you'd like to serve
your country and you're, youknow, a guy, you know, who, who loves
sports and, and the outdoorsand, and, you know, been on teams
(11:50):
before and likes to work hardand, you know, I think the infantry,
that, that's for you andthat's, that, that's what you want
to do because that's, that's,that's where the rubber meets the
road, isn't it?
Oh, absolutely. I mean, as a,as a chief of police who has to hire,
you know, police officers andstuff like that, when I get people
that apply, I always likeveterans to apply. Yeah. But a lot
(12:11):
of times I'll get kids thatare going to join the military or
they ask me, what should I do?I want to be a police officer. I
say join the military or go tocollege. And if you join the military,
do infantry or another skillbuilding, you know, because being
an MP in the military is notgoing to help you be a civilian police
officer. But every person thatI've, you know, pretty much every
(12:35):
person I've worked with as apolice officer that was in the infantry.
You build the life skills thathelp you become a better police officer
and a better person.
I might. You might, I mightadd. Right. I mean, life skills.
You learn, you learn in theinfantry. You learn, you know, a
lot of things. Practicingmisery might be one of them. But
(12:56):
that's character building, right?
Oh, absolutely.
Team building. And, and youunderstand chain of command. You
understand your peers, youunderstand, you know, there's, there's,
it's a, it is a lesson in lifeproblem solving with.
The least amount of support available.
That's right. That's right.Adapt, overcome, improvise, you know.
(13:18):
Hey, hey, Sarge, all I got isthis, you know, this toothpick and
this bailing wire and. Andthis piece of bubble gum. They' like
that'll work.
You know, to imagine what the.It's amazing what the E4 mafia can
build.
Oh my God.
With little. Little to nothing.
Yeah. Just get out of theirway, man.
That's right.
And marvel at what they comeup with. And just. I, I got a huge.
(13:39):
I had a huge grin in my facebecause I mean, the E4 mafia, for
those that don't know whatthat means, you know, that it goes,
you know, E1, E2, E3. Thoseare all privates. E4 is a corporal,
but he's still an E4. And he'smore of in a leadership position.
(13:59):
But by the time you get tospecialist in the army and I guess
in the Marine Corps is an E4,is that, is that a. A lance corporal
or corporal? What is an E4 inthe Marine Corps?
A bigger corporal. Corporal.
Okay. They don't have lance corp.
They don't have lance lancecorporal is an E3.
Okay. All right. So they'reprivate private first class. Okay.
I wasn't in the Marine Corps,so. Yeah. Anyway, the E4 mafia is
(14:23):
the, the, the, the guys thatare getting or you know, they haven't
made Sergeant E5 yet, but it'sa powerful lot because they're running
hurt on. On, on all theprivates. Right. And.
Absolutely.
And all the good ones arechomping at the bit to be a sergeant,
you know, so they gotta flystraight. And they're usually at
the end of their firstenlistment. Right.
(14:43):
Yes.
So they're at a criticaljuncture. They're either going to
re up for another three tofive years, whatever the contract
is, and become a sergeant,because that's part of the deal.
Get a little bonus. But thatthe E4 mafia is running the herd.
Right.
It's just hilarious, you know,And a good, a good leader learns
to, to get out of their wayand watch some of that ingenuity
(15:04):
and.
That's right. That's right.But they all, they also, they also.
Well, that's why you havesergeants, you know that. That's
why I love it. I got a biggrin on my face because it takes
me back to a time that Ifondly remember. So let's get, let's
get into this a little bithere. You know, you, you and I first
(15:27):
met at, at Camp Hackett. Isthat right? Is that right? Yeah,
we met at Camp Hackett up inthe northwoods of Wisconsin. You
were on event. And I rememberfirst, you know, when I put my eyeballs
on you and we first met, Ithought to myself that this guy's
this guy squared away, youknow, and I could just tell. And
(15:48):
then, you know, we got tochatting and by the end of that event,
I believe you had said to me,and that's got to be, you know, we're
on if that, if that was the10th annual hacket, we're on like
19. So that was eight or nineyears ago that that happened. But
I remember you saying to me,you know, John, I'm interested in
(16:10):
hosting an event or doingsomething with you. I don't know
what that is, but, you know, Iappreciate what you're doing here
and I'm going to go back toNew Hampshire and, and stand by,
you know, words to thateffect. And. And I'll be darned if
you didn't do it. I mean,you're out there now with a very
successful event in the greatstate of New Hampshire, hunting bear
(16:31):
and fishing for bass. Comingup on your seventh year in Grafton,
New Hampshire, and serving ourcombat wounded veterans on an event
that you started. I mean,that's pretty impressive, buddy.
And I want to thank you forthat and your entire community of
support up there because Iknow it's strong. But I want to thank
(16:55):
you and everybody up there forwhat you're doing to help our combat
wounded. And I would like youto tell us about your experience,
if you don't mind. Share withus, you know, what it's like to host
an event for the foundationwhen these combat wounded veterans
(17:17):
show up in your camp to do,you know, to do your thing. What's
that like?
So it's, it's, you know, thefirst year or two that you do it,
it's scary. You know, you wantto provide this great experience
that I had, you know, comingout to Camp Hackett and the other
events I went on and you'rehosting people that, you know, we've
(17:42):
talked on the phone a littlebit, we've, you know, maybe exchanged
a few emails, but they're fromall different kinds of walks of life.
And so, you know, I would lieif I didn't say the first couple
years it was stressful, that Iput a lot of stress on myself to
provide this great experience.And then once you've done it for
(18:02):
a couple years and you kind ofsettle into the, the rhythm, it's
one of the most fulfillingthings that I can say that I actually
do. It's made some great friends.
Yeah.
And even more important thanthat, I've connected some other people
that became great friends. Youknow, I don't have to become a great
(18:23):
friend with every hero thatcomes out, but I surround myself
with people that are reallygood people that, that are there
for the right purpose. And sothey, you know, some of them have
become really, really goodfriends as well.
Yeah.
And I, you know, it's just sofulfilling that, that I've never
(18:48):
had anybody that participatesthat, that helps me out after say
that they don't want to do itagain. You know what I mean? I have
a line of people, I have tobat people away.
Yeah.
To come out and help with theevent. And it's a lot of work, you
know, and it's a lot ofdedication from my team. Absolutely.
But just one. Just even togive back an experience of some bear
(19:14):
hunting and some fishing toother, you know, other purple hired
veterans from around thecountry, which is just great. It's
the connections that are madesitting around that campfire are
even more than the huntingexperience in a lot of aspects of
it.
Yeah. Well, I would imaginethat let's just say you're from Tupelo,
(19:40):
Mississippi, and you're acombat wounded veteran and you happen
to be a Marine and that's yourhometown. And now you're discharged
from the service and somehowyou stumble upon the WWIA and what
we're doing and you drop anapplication and you've never hunted
a bear in your life. And youindicate on your application that
(20:02):
you'd like to go bear hunting.And Corrina calls you a year later
and says, or six months later,whatever it is, and says, hey, how'd
you like to go hunt bear inNew Hampshire? I mean, you got, you
know, those kids are those,those men are lighting up like, like
light bulbs. Like that's a bigdeal. That is a huge deal. And of
course they're going to sayyes to that. And then they rock up
(20:24):
and there's you, you know, aformer Marine and, you know, opening
your arms and your camp is allfired up and they're going to get
a chance to, you know, to gotake a black bear in New Hampshire.
Now, they. They probably intheir wildest dreams, never imagined
that they would ever get thereand do that, but there you are, and
(20:45):
that's pretty cool.
A great story is my very firstyear doing it. You know, I picked
everybody up from the airport.We got back to camp, you know, as
quick as we could geteverybody into a stand. And one of
the Heroes, he said to me, hesaid, you know, he said, I've always
wanted to see a moose. And hesaid, you know, if I can get a chance
(21:05):
at a bear, that would begreat, but I've always wanted to
see a moose in person. I said,well, you know, if you, if you sit
quiet enough and you staystill enough, you just might. You
never know. He wasn't in thestand for 15 minutes, and a giant
bull moose walked within fivefeet of his stand, and he couldn't
believe that the bull moosewas almost as tall as his stand.
(21:25):
Right.
That experience alone, he. Hejust, he was already on cloud nine,
you know, and then the nextday, he got an opportunity to take
a bear, so.
Wow.
Yeah, those are theexperiences that are. You know, I
had a Marine that came out acouple years ago. You know, he came.
He was very nervous becausehe, he was brand new to hunting.
(21:46):
Yeah.
And, you know, so for thefirst day or two, me or one of my.
One of my teammates sat withhim, you know, to talk them through
hunting and this. And thatgave him a lot of our life lessons,
because I grew up hunting andfishing, and I still keep in contact
with him, and now he's, likean avid hunter. He's, He's. He's
(22:06):
hunting anything he can andeverything he can, and he's. When
he left, he had said that hehad found his new. His new hobby,
his new. His new life passion,and he sure did.
That's super cool. Yeah. Whenyou can turn, you know, past the
magic and turn. Turn otherpeople on to, To. To the outdoors
(22:26):
and, and, you know, I knowthere are people out there that,
you know, are against hunting.I. I'm sure of it. I've. I've heard
that before somewhere. But, Imean, for the most part, you know,
we're, We're. We're. We'repredators. We're hunters and gatherers.
We didn't get to where we areby eating leaves, you know, we got
(22:47):
to where we are because westarted consuming proteins from animals,
you know, and those proteinsmade our, our brains go get bigger.
But we had to figure out howto hunt, you know, and kill something
and harvest it, if you want touse that language, and then, you
know, cook it. That means youhad to have fire, you know, probably
ate it raw sometimes, I wouldimagine. But, you know, all these
(23:11):
things that it made us who weare today. You know, our eyes are
set forward in our head for areason. You know, we're eight apex
predators on the planet. Youcan't. Can't say it any other way.
And, and there's a reason forthat. And, and, and hunting and,
and gathering, you know, andfishing, of course, are, you know,
(23:31):
germane to who we are. And sowhen you're connecting people with
that and the ecosystem thatsurrounds them and communities who
care, you know, you're reallydoing something special, you know,
and that's, that's the programand, and you, and you're just knocking
out of the park. So, you know,we really, really appreciate that.
(23:51):
So tell us a little, a littlebit about the reaction that you get
from your community support.You know, anybody you say, you know,
you're, you're stiff arm andguys, you know, all hosts eventually
have that same problem that iswhat to do with all this help, you
know, and it's, it's a goodproblem, you know, because it just
means you're successful. Butthe more people that, you know, get
(24:12):
involved in this, you know,the better off you are normally,
you know, but your challengenow is. My challenge is, is what
are you going to do with allthis help? You know, you got to figure
out how to employ people in a,in a productive manner that adds
light and not heat to theequation, you know, and so you're
(24:32):
managing that as well. But I'msure you hear stories from them about
what this experience means tome or to them, right?
Oh, absolutely. I have guysthat are, that have been there since,
you know, year one and thatare just passionate, as passionate
(24:53):
as I am, and that are, youknow, they're, they're emotional
at the end of the, at the endof the weekend when, when the guy,
you know, guys or girls, youknow, head back home and, and, and
the minute we, the minute I,we wrap up camp, you know, I get
a text message or an email orsomething or a phone call that says,
(25:13):
hey, I, I definitely, youknow, better be part of this next
year, you know, and so, youknow, and it is A balance to it.
Just as you said, thecommunity support is just amazing.
But I try to keep camp kind oflow key so that other people that
come from a busy life can getthat opportunity to relax and not
(25:34):
feel overwhelmed.
Right, yeah. And you mentionedit earlier about getting in a rhythm.
And I think there's a naturalrhythm that eventually develops with
all missions. We like rhythmbecause it's somewhat predictable.
And then you get com. Morecomfortable because there's so much
(25:56):
dynamic, so much dynamicdynamics to the equation to begin
with, because you're bringingthree, four, maybe five people, heroes,
combat wounded, veterans thatyou've never met other than maybe
spoke on the phone a coupletimes with, exchanged an email maybe.
But you're bringing them fromthree or four different locations
(26:18):
from across the country to onecentral location. They don't like
to travel to begin with, sothey got that going on. Most of them
don't like it. And thenthey're going to a place that they've
never been to meet peoplethey. They've never been with, to
hunt a species, in this case,a dangerous game animal that they've
never hunted before. Sothere's a lot of, you know, newness,
(26:42):
you know, to this equationthat make it very dynamic. And then
you add the personalities inthere. Sure, there's commonality
and, you know, in ofexperience. In other words, they
all served their country, theywere all wounded, they were all given
the Purple Heart, but. But yetthere's all this anticipation, you
know, hey, I want to see amoose, man. You know, all these things,
(27:05):
hey, you know, I'm gonna gohunt bear for the first time. Yeah.
All these things that aregoing on in their minds, and then
now they're in your camp. Youcan't say the emotions aren't high.
Of course they are. You know,I mean, everybody's trying to act
cool and, you know, and beFonzie, but inside there's all this
stuff going on and. And theneventually it's sort of. Once everybody
(27:26):
gets to know each other,usually by the end of that first
day when the guys startcutting on each other, you know,
hacking on each other, if youwill, ribbing each other, then, you
know it's going to be just fine.
That's exactly it. Right.What's, what's the. What's the cracks
coming out, you know, that,you know, everybody's kind of settled
(27:46):
in, you know.
Exactly. Right. Yeah.
As a host, one of the. One ofmy favorite. One of my favorite things
to hear during, during theevent, outside of the. Of the personal
connection side Is, Is, iswhen you hear that first crack of
a rifle. Oh, yeah, you know,because most of our hunting sites
(28:10):
aren't very far from camp. Andso, yeah, you know, I'll. Quick story.
I don't want to get, you know,take too much time up. But the very
first year we did it, I wassitting with Carl Pellerin and Johnny
Pellerin. They're the ownersof the camp.
Okay, okay.
We've gotten. The first yearwe did it, we had three heroes. So
we had gotten all three heroesout into their, out into their stance,
(28:35):
and we were kind of justrelaxing. We all said to each other,
like, okay, now we just needthe bears to cooperate, you know,
because, you know, wildanimals don't exactly always follow.
They don't have the, theydidn't get the OP word, man.
Exactly. And it took about. Itwas only took about 45 minutes. And
you heard that first crack ofa rifle and, and then, you know,
(28:55):
we, we, we have a standingrule because like you said, you know,
bears can be dangerous game,you know, and, you know, stay in
your stand. We'll, we'll comehelp you track it and all that stuff.
And I got that crack on theradio that said, got a bear down.
I can see it. And, you know,I'm staying in my stand. And it just
like, for that very firstyear, that was that huge weight just
kind of.
Oh, yeah.
(29:15):
Oh, went away. And then about15 minutes later, we heard another
crack of a rifle from adifferent stand. So that was very
good first night.
Yeah, that's for sure. Well,you know, morale is going to be super
high in camp, too, that, thatnight. And morale's in, you know,
that's an important thing. I,I, I say to everybody, you know,
I guess I do. Everybody, evenmy kids, my boys, I say, you know,
(29:40):
how's your morale? You know, Idon't say it just to say it. I'm
actually interested, you know,and morale is something that you
can, you know, if you're aleader, you can gauge morale. If
you walk into a camp andmorale is low, you know, you're like,
something's going on here. Butif you walk into a camp and morale
is high, you know that aswell. And so leaders can do things
(30:03):
to and should do things tocreate a climate in an atmosphere
where morale can be high. Now,if you're in the infantry, you know,
sometimes morale's not alwayshigh because you got to do stuff
that sucks. But, but, youknow, you can also find ways of improving
(30:23):
morale. Like, for example, youknow, we've been eating MREs for
four days. And, and, and youknow, my, my, my first sergeant figures
out a way to skinny some hotchow, you know. Now that's going
to improve morale. You know,that's a big deal. Hot chow is a
big deal if you're aninfantryman, you know, and been living
in the bush for four days. So,yeah, I imagine morale was quite,
(30:45):
quite high in your camp onthat, that first night after having
harvested a couple of bear.That's great, man. So here's what
I'd like to shift gears on alittle bit before we close out our,
our wonderful chat here isyou. I want to talk about two things,
so I, I would like you to. Andyou can pick which order, but I'd
(31:07):
like you to tell us about yourfamily because I know you, you know,
you, you have a, a wife and,and two sons. I'd like to like to
hear about that. And then I'dlike, if you're willing to share
with us, you know, I'd like tohear about, you know, 2006, when
you were, when you werewounded in, in combat. If, if you're
(31:29):
willing to share that with us.I'm sure we'd love to hear that,
Roy. So those two things, ifyou don't mind.
Sure. So my family isabsolutely wonderful. They are the
heart and soul of, you know,who I am and what I do. My, my. I've
been married to my wife, Sashafor 26 years.
(31:51):
Congratulations.
Thank you. Thank you. We, youknow, so she's been, you know, I
always, when I talk about it,you know, I deployed to Iraq and
Afghanistan several times. AndI always say that we went through
deployments or we were in themilitary because, you know, she was.
Everything that I wasn't hereto do, she was doing, you know, and
so, and I've, I have two greatboys, Russell and Braden. They're,
(32:18):
we're in the, you know,obviously being married for 26 years
now, we're kind of in thealmost empty nester stages of life.
My older boy, he's 25 yearsold. You know, he's working, done
college and out working, and,and he's a great, great, great kid.
So your oldest boy is 25. Whatabout Braden?
(32:41):
Braden is 17. He's just aboutto turn 18.
All right.
He's a, a smart little whip.He, he graduated, he graduated high
school actually a little overa year early and decided to start
college. So he's actuallyalready done his, he's already in
his second semester of college.
Wow.
And he is My Russell is my, myfishing buddy and, and braiding is
(33:02):
Braden is my hunting buddy.Braden loves hunting and fishing
so much that he chose for hisgraduation gift. We're actually headed
to South Africa hunting inabout three weeks. And so we're doing
a father son trip to, to SouthAfrica to do a little bit of hunting.
That's so cool. Let me askyou, you know, I'm a dad with two
(33:25):
boys and they love to hunt andfish too. And, and you know, I, I
took Dylan, the oldest one. Heturned 10 and this year and, and
in November for the schoolbreak, I took him deer hunting. I
told him I was going to dothat. When you turn 10, we can deer
hunt. He'd been chomping atthe bit for two years. Seeing all,
(33:47):
you know, some of, some of hisbuddies hunting earlier. You know,
some of the guys we, we were,you know, in the foundation, they
have children and they'vebeen, you know, he's seen some of
the pictures of kids whenthey're eight and nine killing deer,
and he's like, you know, dad,and I'm like, I know you're ready,
buddy, but 10's the number. SoI took him hunting at 10 this, this
last fall. And it was hard toleave Luke, the 8 year old. But I
(34:11):
told Luke, I said, listen,Buddy, when you're 10, it's your
turn and your brother stayinghome. And then after that, we're
hunting together as a team.But how'd you manage that as a dad?
So it's, it's funny, I, I,there were some lessons learned there
for me because I startedBraden really young, at six.
Okay.
And he, the first coupleyears. So Braden shot his first deer.
(34:36):
It's, he got a deer at 6, 7and 8.
Wow.
But I did all the scouting. Iset up the blinds, I set up the,
you know, we used a tripod andyou know, I mean, so we went to the
range just about every day andhe practiced, he practiced, he practiced.
And he's a good little shot.
Yeah.
And he got a deer those firstthree years. And this is kind of
(34:59):
a funny story that I pick onhim about every now and then is then
I heard him telling a friendhow easy hunting was. You just show
up and shoot the deer. And sothat year I, I took that lesson learned
and, and I said, okay, youknow, you've shot your first three
deer, so now you're going todo all the scouting. You're going
to pick the spot that we, thatwe set up to stand and, or the blind
(35:23):
and, and so he went about twoyears without, without getting a
shot at a deer and stuff likethat. And the first year, he didn't
hardly scout at all. Everytime I offered, he didn't want to
go out and this and that. Soopening day, he didn't see anything.
And for a couple of days, youknow, he didn't see anything. And
now, you know, that bled intohim, asking questions, what am I
(35:46):
looking for? How do I, howcome I'm not seeing here? But, you
know, you always see deer. Andso now he's an avid hunter and he's,
you know, scouting and shedhunting and, and research. He's,
he's, Braden has highfunctioning autism, and so he's very
good at research and all thatstuff. And so it really put into
(36:14):
him that you actually have toput in the work if you want to be
successful.
And so that's a great storyand I appreciate you sharing it because
there's a lot of lessons inthere, and one of them is this idea
of the gift of failure. Andit's hard to put it that way, but
that's what it is. And so infailing, there is a gift, especially
(36:39):
when you're a parent and youallow and afford your children to
fail. Okay? Because too manyparents today are just paving that
road, bulldozing that road,and making sure everything is just
all perfect for them. Andguess what? When they get out there
on their own and they find outit ain't perfect, they fail. And
they have not failed before.And now the wheels come off their
(37:00):
wagon and, and it's just a,you know, there's a cascading effect
to it. And so the way toreally do that is allow them the
space to fail. And, you know,and you did that. You know, he went
out there and he failed and hefailed and he failed and he didn't
see any deer, and then hestarts asking questions, you know,
(37:20):
like, hey, dad, how'd you dothis? You know, and, and that's,
you know, that's great, man.That's a great, those are, those
are their great life lessons.Because what we're, is that Braden,
when he's out there on, in, onhis own in this great big difficult
world that he is, you know,prepared to, to fail and get, get
(37:41):
himself, dust himself off and,and re, you know, pivot, re, you
know, adjust something and getback on the horse and, and, or, or
start marching. You know,that's what we do. Right? So that's
good, man. I, I, I appreciateyou sharing that. That's a, that's
a good dad lesson right there.
I appreciate that. Yeah, It's.You know, and he's better for it,
(38:02):
you know. Now, you knowwhat's. What's the saying, right?
You give a man a fish, youfeed him for a day. Teach a man to
fish, feed him for life, you know?
That's right. Exactly right.That's very good. Wow, man, that.
That. This has been. It's beengreat. You got to tell us, though,
if you don't mind, if we can.If we can shift gears and talk about
(38:24):
the, you know, when you. Whenyou got wounded in action.
Sure. Yeah. So in 2006, I wasin Ramadi, Iraq, with. With the Vermont
Army National Guard, theMountain infantry unit. I had, actually.
So I left the Marine Corpsactive duty in 2000, got called back
(38:48):
off of IRR and after 9 11.
Yeah.
Had done a stint with them,and I got back, and then a couple
years later, the. I wasrecruited by the 3rd of the 172nd
Mountain Infantry Unit up inJericho, Vermont, where the Mountain
warehouse School is. They weredoing a heavy amount of deployments
(39:11):
and stuff like that. So hadthat conversation with. With the
boss, AKA the wife.
Exactly.
And said that, you know,obviously I had a skill set that
was unique to, you know, tothe war on terrorism and stuff like
that. And so I joined thatunit and almost immediately deployed
to Iraq, to Ramadi. And then.So In May of 2006, we were conducting
(39:40):
a mission, and we came acrossa sketchy. A sketchy vehicle. Taxi.
And it turned out to be asuicide car bomb. And so I was. I
was actually probably onlyabout 40ft away, and. And the guy
touched off the car bomb and.And myself and several other guys
(40:03):
were. Were injured from shrapnel.
Did you see the car before itblew up?
Oh, yeah. We were trying to.We didn't know it was a. A suicide
car bomb at the time. He wasjust. The driver was just acting
sketchy. So we were trying toget the driver out of the vehicle,
and he. You know, we weren't.The. The information that we got
after was, is that we weren'this intended target.
(40:26):
We just busted him. Yeah.
Yep. We stopped him fromgetting to his intended target, so.
Wow. Probably saved countlesslives in the process, buddy.
It was, you know, Ramadi.Ramadi in 06 was. Was kind of the.
The Wild West.
Oh, that's one of the worstplaces on the planet at that time.
That's one of the dangerous.Most dangerous places in the world.
(40:46):
Yeah. Every. They pushed. Wewere part of the. We were there before
and then we were. We were partof the. The push, you know, through
Ramadi. You know, they had.You know, they'd done Fallujah the
year before that, and.
Yeah, five and six were bad years.
Yeah. Everybody who fledFallujah went to Ramadi.
Right.
So, yeah, so I. I got injured,you know, from. I got p. I still
(41:09):
have. I got some shrapnel inmy. My. My legs and in my abs. I
still have some of theshrapnel in my abs.
Oh, man.
From it.
But do you remember thedetonation, or was it. Was it just
something that happened thatyou. Later. I mean, I'm just curious,
man. I mean, I don't mean topry, but I mean, I'm just trying
(41:32):
to visualize, you know,looking at a vehicle, a sketchy vehicle,
and trying to get somebody outof it, and the next thing you know,
it blows up. I mean, do. Doyou have recollection of it detonating
or were, you know, what. What happened?
Yeah, I was. So. I actuallywas standing next to my platoon sergeant
at the time. I was. I waspart. I was still part of the E4
(41:56):
mafia. I was standing next tohim, and we were trying to. You know,
we were. He was giving thecommands for the driver to get out
of the vehicle, and we had thevehicle pretty much, you know, in
a. In a horseshoe. And Iremember the door opening.
At what distance did you say?
Oh, we were only 40. Probably40 yards.
(42:19):
And you got your weaponstrained on this guy, trying to get
him out of the vehicle?
Yep, Yep. And then I. Heopened the. He opened the door. And
then I. I distinctly rememberhearing the. This charge the pew.
And. And then the vehicle blewup. I. It blew me back. I don't know,
probably 15 or 20 yards. Mostof the shrapnel hit my. Hit my helmet
(42:44):
and hit my plate carrier,which is what saved me, thank God.
Luckily, none of it hit me,obviously, in the neck and stuff.
You. You had it. But you had.You had a flak vest on with a ceramic
plate on your chest.
Yes.
And that saved your life?
That's what saved me. Absolutely.
Wow.
And then.
And your Kevlar helmet and my.
And my helmet, Yep. And thenthe. Of. Of you know, of all the
(43:11):
people that are injured, welost one. One guy, and then another
guy was really, really badlyinjured. His. Both his legs were,
you know, messed up prettybad, but they. We were able to, you
know, you know, recover fromthat. Obviously, it was a pretty
big blow to our platoon, but.So I actually end up staying in Country
(43:34):
Yeah. And finished out.
Yeah. Well, buddy, I gottatell you, man, thanks for sharing
that. I genuinely appreciateit. I'm always a little bit reticent
to ask guys about it, but youand I have known each other long
enough and I appreciate yousharing that with me. It's an important
(43:55):
story. People who arelistening to this, most of whom,
you know, never wore auniform, and, you know, they, they
just, I'm sure that theyappreciate you sharing that with
us. We would Otherwise, youknow, never known, you know, but
what great, brave men. And nowwhat testament to you, and many men
(44:21):
like you who, you know, had totake the uniform off, you know, went
and served their country in atime of need, got wounded and took
their uniform off, returned totheir hometown, became the chief
of police, and then started anevent to help other combat wounded
veterans. I mean, that rightthere, if that's not a story, if
(44:41):
that doesn't make you a hero,nothing does, man. I mean, I'm sure
you got a whole closet ofinvisible capes, you know, but to
me, you're like a superman.And I appreciate all that you've
done. You're doing phenomenalwork. And, you know, it's just an
honor to know you, buddy.
(45:01):
I, I, I appreciate that. I,I'm just glad that we met, you know,
that I, I, I can't thank youenough for the opportunity that you
give me to, to help, you know,to reach out and help, you know,
as as many people as I can.You know, this is, I, I know we're
probably short on time, but,you know, when we met at that event,
(45:25):
you know, it was, you know, mydeployment to Afghanistan, and my
last deployment was inAfghanistan in 2010, 2011. I lost
a good friend of mine inAfghanistan and another friend who
had been on the deploymentthat. I don't know if you ever met
him, but I know you knew him.Wesley Black.
Yeah, I know the name. Yeah,yeah, Wesley Black. Yeah.
(45:47):
Yeah, Me and Wesley werereally good friends, and we had been
to Iraq and Afghanistan bothtogether and stuff. And he had reached
out to me and said, hey, trythis organization. And I signed up
and, you know, I met you andWhip, you know, and actually, you
know, Dan Berryman, we'restill good friends, you know, talking
a lot.
(46:08):
And they just talked to Danthe other day.
Yeah, they're all greatpeople. And, you know, you kind of,
you know, I wasn't pushed todo an event by any means. I kind
of threw it out there. But yougave me every resource that I needed
to, to do it. You Know, andto, and to, and to do, you know,
and it's, and a lot of it wasjust the phone calls, the first conversations
(46:29):
that we had. Right. I was.Because I've been a police officer,
you know, in the community fora long time.
Yeah. And you got some helpthat you didn't expect. We didn't
mention them because I didn't,I didn't. I don't know that it's
appropriate. You know, somepeople that are true philanthropists,
you know, they don'tnecessarily, you know, want their,
who they are disclosed. But,you know, I'll, I'll give you in
(46:54):
closing an opportunity if youwant to mention, you know, and you
don't have to, that's yourrelationship with, you know, the
folks that primarily do the,provide the support for funding for
your mission. But I'm surethere are people that you'd like
to recognize and thank becauseyou've also, you know, I think the
(47:18):
guys on your mission, aren'tthey also getting a firearm or at
least they did at one point? Iremember you developing a relationship
with a fine firearmmanufacturer. Right.
Yes. Yeah. And I know that,you know, exactly what you mentioned
with them. They, we developeda partnership with, you know, one
of our finer American madefirearms companies and every year
(47:41):
they graciously gift a firearmto each of the heroes that come to
the event. That's justamazing. And then we have a local
foundation called the Burnfoundation that I've talked to the
head of that and he told me,don't worry about fundraising. We'll
(48:03):
make sure your event happens.
That's amazing. That's justamazing. God bless him. God bless
everybody. Man. That's, that,that's pulling for, for these Heroes.
You know, there's a roadahead, man. I mean, there just is.
We're not done. There's,there's a, you know, this, this work
is important work and youknow, it helps ground people, it
(48:25):
welcome, welcomes them back,it recognizes them for what they've
done for, for, you know, ourcountry and, and the, the def, you
know, fighting for freedomand, you know, connecting them with
people who care and connectingthem with each other and connecting
them with nature and all ofthat. You know, there's a healing
(48:48):
component and you're a bigpart of that. Roy, thanks for all
you do, buddy.
Thank you.
That was a great, greatpodcast. I look forward to hearing
this one again and sharing itwith many people. You have a great
day. Keep, keep doing whatyou're doing and thanks for your
(49:09):
time today.
Thank you, John. I lookforward to talking to you again.
All right, Roy. See ya.
Thank you for listening to theWWIA Podcast. To learn more about
the Wounded warriors in Actionfoundation and how you can get involved,
please visit our website atwww.or follow us on social media,
(49:32):
on Facebook, Instagram,Twitter and LinkedIn. If you'd like
to comment or offer feedbackabout our podcast, or if you have
a suggestion for a futureepisode, please email us at Podcast
thank you for your support andfor helping us honor, connect and
(49:53):
heal our combat wound woundedPurple Heart heroes through the power
of the great outdoors.
Foreign.
Hello and welcome to the WWIAPodcast. We're honored to have you
join us in our mission tobring honor, connection and healing
to America's combat woundedPurple Heart heroes. If this is your
first time listening to thispodcast, we welcome you if you're
(00:21):
a returning listener. Thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing. We haveanother out outstanding episode to
share with you today as wewelcome a tremendous patriot and
friend of the foundation tothe program. Today, WWIA founder
and CEO John McDaniel ishonored to share some time talking
(00:45):
with Purple Heart hero, WWIAguide and WWIA event host, Mr. Roy
Holland. Roy is married to hisbeautiful wife, Sasha, and is a father
to two sons, Russell andBrady. Having been born into a military
family, Roy joined the MarineCorps after high school and would
also serve in Vermont ArmyNational Guard, where he was deployed
(01:08):
multiple times in Iraq andAfghanistan. Roy has also served
as a police officer for 25years, currently serving as the Chief
of Police in Enfield, NewHampshire. His biggest passions other
than family are hunting andfishing. Roy has hunted and fished
since childhood and andcontinues enjoying the great outdoors
(01:29):
throughout his life as hefinds that immersing himself in nature
is the best reset possible.Roy attended his first WWIA event
in 2017 and came on as acertified WWIA guide a few years
later. In addition to being aguide, he also proudly hosts the
New Hampshire Bear and Bassevent, now entering its seventh year.
(01:53):
This is a great conversationbetween friends and we're excited
to share part of Roy's journeywith you without further delay. Let's
join John and Roy now.
Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded warriors in
(02:14):
Action foundation. And this isour podcast, Honor, Connect and Heal.
So today I have a greatAmerican with me, a man who I admire
and have been in the fieldwith several times and who I know
well and am getting to knowbetter. Welcome to the program, Roy
(02:36):
Holland. How are you?
Good, good. Thanks for havingme. It's honor to be here.
Yeah, it's an honor to haveyou. So let me set this up so everybody,
you know, gets a, has a, abrief, you know, snapshot word picture
of, of. Of who you are. Soyou, you're a Purple Heart recipient.
You have been through ourguide school, you're one of our valued
(02:58):
guides who's been trained andcertified through our program, and
you also are a host. You'vebeen hosting, I think we're on the
seven or eight years now.Something like that.
Yeah. This year will be yearnumber seven.
Seven. Seven years of hostinga Com. A combo hunt up in New Hampshire.
Bear and bass combo hunt. And.And up in New Hampshire. And. And
(03:24):
it's. The event is in Grafton,if I got that right. Grafton, New
Hampshire. Right in. InGrafton, New Hampshire. Correct.
Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. And you are also, youknow, everybody, he's wearing a uniform,
so I'm looking at him. You'renot. But I can see Roy because we're.
(03:45):
We're on a zoom call that'sbeing recorded for this podcast.
But Roy's wearing uniform andhe is the chief of police for the
town of Enfield, NewHampshire. Is that right?
It is, correct. Yeah.
You look great, man. I mean,he. If. Tell you what, if you ever
get out of a car, approachmine, I'm just gonna put my hands
on the steering wheel, rolldown the window, put my hands on
(04:07):
the steering. Whee. And justsay, yes, sir and no.
Sir, because I don't get tostop as many cars as I. As I used
to. That's for sure.
Probably. Yeah. Well, you lookgreat. And so here's a guy who's,
you know, a combat woundedveteran, Right. You got a purple
Heart. You were in the MarineCorps for something like four years
(04:27):
on active duty, is that right?
Yeah, I joined right out ofhigh school.
Excellent. And then. Was thatwhere you were wounded and. And.
And that's where you get thatfrom? Well, you were a Marine or
were you? I seen you when youhad the Army National Guard. You're
a double dipper. You've beenon both sides. Are you a jiu jitsu
dude?
Yeah. Correct. No, I was whenI was with the train. National Jiu
Jitsu about five days a week.So I also teach kids class and adult
(04:53):
classes with that as well.
So this is one dude that youjust don't want to mess with. He's
the chief of police and, andhe's a jiu jitsu competitive Jiu
jitsu dude who's got a purpleHeart. It was in the Marine Corps
and the army, so that's allI'm saying. That's just, that's get
back, Jack.
I. Well, you know, I do thathonestly, because I. I feel it's
a responsibility in lawenforcement that jiu jitsu. I mean,
(05:16):
obviously I got into it in theMarine Corps when I, you know, started
with the Marine Corps Martialarts program.
Yeah.
And then obviously when Ijoined the Army National Guard, they
saw that on my resume, youknow, I'd become a infantry guy towards
the end of my Marine Corpscareer once and I, so I became an
(05:37):
army combatives level one andlevel two instructor as well.
Awesome.
And so that kind of led intowhen I, I was still a police officer
during that. And so I thinkthat every police officer should
be a blue belt in Jiu jitsu.Not just for the self defense aspect
or the ability to controlpeople's movements, but by the time
(05:58):
you reach blue belt in Jiujitsu, which for the average person
takes about 18 months to twoyears, okay, you recognize a threat
for what it really is. Youknow, when you're, when you're a
young guy who, you know, noteverybody is a combat veteran, right.
And stuff like that, or beenin the military. Jiu jitsu helps
you recognize what's really athreat and what's not. And so therefore
(06:20):
you're less likely to useexcessive force.
That's great. I never heard itput that way, but as a, well, of
course, you know, I had alittle, little past there in the
military and one of the thingswe did is we got in, in one of my
units, we, we did thiscombination of, you know, lots of
training in the martial arts,you know, jiu jitsu and, and Gracie
(06:41):
and Muay Thai and lots ofdifferent things, you know, and as
a graph, as a wrestler, as a,as a former competitive wrestler,
you know, I always felt in mymind like, hey, most, and if you,
you can see this on the w, youknow, on the, you know, in the cage
matches with, you know, the,the, the, the, the fights that are
going on today, the mixedmartial arts fights, you know, all
(07:04):
that fancy kicking, you know,stuff, that's great. Okay. It's great
tools for your chest, youknow, your tool chest, your combatives
tool chest. But if you want towin a fight, unless you're going
to strike and knock somebodyout, which doesn't happen that often,
you know, you better get thisperson on the ground, you know, and
as a wrestler, you know,that's where those, those, that's
where fights end. Like I'mgoing to, this thing's going to stop,
(07:27):
I'm going to turn, terminatethis little thing we got going on.
When I get you on the groundand so the quicker I get you on the
ground as a wrestler, I'mgoing to disable you and then bring
this thing to a close. That'smy thinking. Has always, you know,
been that way. Is that kind ofin line with, with what you think
have been taught?
Oh, 100% and not, not justtaught in my 25 years a law enforcement
(07:50):
officer. That's. They all endup there.
Yeah. On the ground.
On the ground.
Y. On the ground. And you gotto dominate, you know, and that's
why, you know, you got todominate, you know, dominate the
threat. And. And. And becausehe. Or. Or she. And, you know, in
some cases, you know, they'remost dangerous when they're on their
feet and wielding whatever'sin their arms or hands or. Or, you
(08:12):
know, and they're able tostrike. And when you get them on
the ground, that negates a lotof it right there. So that's cool.
I'm glad to hear you say that.But I've seen some of your videos,
and, you know, you're quite anaccomplished man, and I appreciate
that. And you're a man ofservice. And so you're in the Marine
(08:34):
Corps for four years. What didyou do in the Marine Corps? Were
you infantry? Were you? What'dyou do?
So I started. I actuallystarted out as an admin guy, but
I didn't want to do that.
No.
And. And so I ended up in the infantry.
Awesome.
The Marine Corps was. Wasgracious enough to allow me to. To.
(08:57):
To seek out a different mos of infantry.
An infantryman. Yeah. I loveit. So what do they call that? I
remember, you know, that.That. That they have a. Like, in
the army, you know. 11 Bravois infantry.
Yeah.
03 11. Yeah. Yeah. Oh 03 11.Congratulations. Oh, 03 11. You made
(09:22):
it, you know?
Yes. Yeah. You know, it'sfunny, you know, looking back at
my young self now, I didn'trecognize the looks I was getting
from the people when I wascomplaining that I didn't want to,
you know, I wasn't. Didn'tjoin the Marine Corps to push paper.
Right.
And. And I had gotten in alittle trouble. I was a troublemaker
(09:43):
a little bit, you know, when Iwas younger, and so they were happy
to. I said, you know, I thinkI want to try this infantry thing.
And the looks I got were kindof, you know.
You're leaving this for that.
Yeah, exactly.
Right, Exactly. The coffeemachines right over there. And you
got that nice chair you'resitting in now. You want to hump
a rucksack.
Yeah.
And eat dirt for a living. Youknow, live like an Earth pig. That's
(10:06):
what you want to do. You'relike, yeah, that's exactly what I
want to do.
Yep. And it worked out great. So.
Yeah. Good for you. That'scharacter building. I love it. I
gravitate. That's All I wantedto do. I remember when I. Because
I was enlisted for a shortperiod of time, so I got to kind
of see, at least understandthe military a little bit better.
(10:27):
And then I went to the ROTCand all this. And, And I remember
when it came time to pick yourbranch assignments, they gave you
three back in the day. I don'tknow what they do today, but back
in the late. In the mid-80s,they would give you. They gave the
officers this sheet of paperand they said you need to pick three
(10:48):
branches of service. And theylisted all of them like you could.
I could have put medicalservice, corps, but I mean, let's
face it, I didn't go tomedical school, so I didn't want.
I don't want that. And, youknow, artillery, okay? So I know
what artillery is, you know,all the branches, you know, and I
knew what I wanted to bebecause I had already seen it. I
(11:09):
wanted to be an AirborneRanger. And I knew the first step
to that was becoming, youknow, being an infantryman. So I
wrote down in my sheet,infantry, infantry, infantry. I just
let three. I didn't give themany other choices. And I turned it
in and my, my, my, my, myinstructor looked at that and he's
like, he just shook his headlike any, any submitted it that way,
(11:30):
you know, so anyway, you gotto love it, man. The infantry is
where it's at. So if you'reout there listening to this and you
think, you know, you, you havea calling and you'd like to serve
your country and you're, youknow, a guy, you know, who, who loves
sports and, and the outdoorsand, and, you know, been on teams
(11:50):
before and likes to work hardand, you know, I think the infantry,
that, that's for you andthat's, that, that's what you want
to do because that's, that's,that's where the rubber meets the
road, isn't it?
Oh, absolutely. I mean, as a,as a chief of police who has to hire,
you know, police officers andstuff like that, when I get people
that apply, I always likeveterans to apply. Yeah. But a lot
(12:11):
of times I'll get kids thatare going to join the military or
they ask me, what should I do?I want to be a police officer. I
say join the military or go tocollege. And if you join the military,
do infantry or another skillbuilding, you know, because being
an MP in the military is notgoing to help you be a civilian police
officer. But every person thatI've, you know, pretty much every
(12:35):
person I've worked with as apolice officer that was in the infantry.
You build the life skills thathelp you become a better police officer
and a better person.
I might. You might, I mightadd. Right. I mean, life skills.
You learn, you learn in theinfantry. You learn, you know, a
lot of things. Practicingmisery might be one of them. But
(12:56):
that's character building, right?
Oh, absolutely.
Team building. And, and youunderstand chain of command. You
understand your peers, youunderstand, you know, there's, there's,
it's a, it is a lesson in lifeproblem solving with.
The least amount of support available.
That's right. That's right.Adapt, overcome, improvise, you know.
(13:18):
Hey, hey, Sarge, all I got isthis, you know, this toothpick and
this bailing wire and. Andthis piece of bubble gum. They' like
that'll work.
You know, to imagine what the.It's amazing what the E4 mafia can
build.
Oh my God.
With little. Little to nothing.
Yeah. Just get out of theirway, man.
That's right.
And marvel at what they comeup with. And just. I, I got a huge.
(13:39):
I had a huge grin in my facebecause I mean, the E4 mafia, for
those that don't know whatthat means, you know, that it goes,
you know, E1, E2, E3. Thoseare all privates. E4 is a corporal,
but he's still an E4. And he'smore of in a leadership position.
(13:59):
But by the time you get tospecialist in the army and I guess
in the Marine Corps is an E4,is that, is that a. A lance corporal
or corporal? What is an E4 inthe Marine Corps?
A bigger corporal. Corporal.
Okay. They don't have lance corp.
They don't have lance lancecorporal is an E3.
Okay. All right. So they'reprivate private first class. Okay.
I wasn't in the Marine Corps,so. Yeah. Anyway, the E4 mafia is
(14:23):
the, the, the, the guys thatare getting or you know, they haven't
made Sergeant E5 yet, but it'sa powerful lot because they're running
hurt on. On, on all theprivates. Right. And.
Absolutely.
And all the good ones arechomping at the bit to be a sergeant,
you know, so they gotta flystraight. And they're usually at
the end of their firstenlistment. Right.
(14:43):
Yes.
So they're at a criticaljuncture. They're either going to
re up for another three tofive years, whatever the contract
is, and become a sergeant,because that's part of the deal.
Get a little bonus. But thatthe E4 mafia is running the herd.
Right.
It's just hilarious, you know,And a good, a good leader learns
to, to get out of their wayand watch some of that ingenuity
(15:04):
and.
That's right. That's right.But they all, they also, they also.
Well, that's why you havesergeants, you know that. That's
why I love it. I got a biggrin on my face because it takes
me back to a time that Ifondly remember. So let's get, let's
get into this a little bithere. You know, you, you and I first
(15:27):
met at, at Camp Hackett. Isthat right? Is that right? Yeah,
we met at Camp Hackett up inthe northwoods of Wisconsin. You
were on event. And I rememberfirst, you know, when I put my eyeballs
on you and we first met, Ithought to myself that this guy's
this guy squared away, youknow, and I could just tell. And
(15:48):
then, you know, we got tochatting and by the end of that event,
I believe you had said to me,and that's got to be, you know, we're
on if that, if that was the10th annual hacket, we're on like
19. So that was eight or nineyears ago that that happened. But
I remember you saying to me,you know, John, I'm interested in
(16:10):
hosting an event or doingsomething with you. I don't know
what that is, but, you know, Iappreciate what you're doing here
and I'm going to go back toNew Hampshire and, and stand by,
you know, words to thateffect. And. And I'll be darned if
you didn't do it. I mean,you're out there now with a very
successful event in the greatstate of New Hampshire, hunting bear
(16:31):
and fishing for bass. Comingup on your seventh year in Grafton,
New Hampshire, and serving ourcombat wounded veterans on an event
that you started. I mean,that's pretty impressive, buddy.
And I want to thank you forthat and your entire community of
support up there because Iknow it's strong. But I want to thank
(16:55):
you and everybody up there forwhat you're doing to help our combat
wounded. And I would like youto tell us about your experience,
if you don't mind. Share withus, you know, what it's like to host
an event for the foundationwhen these combat wounded veterans
(17:17):
show up in your camp to do,you know, to do your thing. What's
that like?
So it's, it's, you know, thefirst year or two that you do it,
it's scary. You know, you wantto provide this great experience
that I had, you know, comingout to Camp Hackett and the other
events I went on and you'rehosting people that, you know, we've
(17:42):
talked on the phone a littlebit, we've, you know, maybe exchanged
a few emails, but they're fromall different kinds of walks of life.
And so, you know, I would lieif I didn't say the first couple
years it was stressful, that Iput a lot of stress on myself to
provide this great experience.And then once you've done it for
(18:02):
a couple years and you kind ofsettle into the, the rhythm, it's
one of the most fulfillingthings that I can say that I actually
do. It's made some great friends.
Yeah.
And even more important thanthat, I've connected some other people
that became great friends. Youknow, I don't have to become a great
(18:23):
friend with every hero thatcomes out, but I surround myself
with people that are reallygood people that, that are there
for the right purpose. And sothey, you know, some of them have
become really, really goodfriends as well.
Yeah.
And I, you know, it's just sofulfilling that, that I've never
(18:48):
had anybody that participatesthat, that helps me out after say
that they don't want to do itagain. You know what I mean? I have
a line of people, I have tobat people away.
Yeah.
To come out and help with theevent. And it's a lot of work, you
know, and it's a lot ofdedication from my team. Absolutely.
But just one. Just even togive back an experience of some bear
(19:14):
hunting and some fishing toother, you know, other purple hired
veterans from around thecountry, which is just great. It's
the connections that are madesitting around that campfire are
even more than the huntingexperience in a lot of aspects of
it.
Yeah. Well, I would imaginethat let's just say you're from Tupelo,
(19:40):
Mississippi, and you're acombat wounded veteran and you happen
to be a Marine and that's yourhometown. And now you're discharged
from the service and somehowyou stumble upon the WWIA and what
we're doing and you drop anapplication and you've never hunted
a bear in your life. And youindicate on your application that
(20:02):
you'd like to go bear hunting.And Corrina calls you a year later
and says, or six months later,whatever it is, and says, hey, how'd
you like to go hunt bear inNew Hampshire? I mean, you got, you
know, those kids are those,those men are lighting up like, like
light bulbs. Like that's a bigdeal. That is a huge deal. And of
course they're going to sayyes to that. And then they rock up
(20:24):
and there's you, you know, aformer Marine and, you know, opening
your arms and your camp is allfired up and they're going to get
a chance to, you know, to gotake a black bear in New Hampshire.
Now, they. They probably intheir wildest dreams, never imagined
that they would ever get thereand do that, but there you are, and
(20:45):
that's pretty cool.
A great story is my very firstyear doing it. You know, I picked
everybody up from the airport.We got back to camp, you know, as
quick as we could geteverybody into a stand. And one of
the Heroes, he said to me, hesaid, you know, he said, I've always
wanted to see a moose. And hesaid, you know, if I can get a chance
(21:05):
at a bear, that would begreat, but I've always wanted to
see a moose in person. I said,well, you know, if you, if you sit
quiet enough and you staystill enough, you just might. You
never know. He wasn't in thestand for 15 minutes, and a giant
bull moose walked within fivefeet of his stand, and he couldn't
believe that the bull moosewas almost as tall as his stand.
(21:25):
Right.
That experience alone, he. Hejust, he was already on cloud nine,
you know, and then the nextday, he got an opportunity to take
a bear, so.
Wow.
Yeah, those are theexperiences that are. You know, I
had a Marine that came out acouple years ago. You know, he came.
He was very nervous becausehe, he was brand new to hunting.
(21:46):
Yeah.
And, you know, so for thefirst day or two, me or one of my.
One of my teammates sat withhim, you know, to talk them through
hunting and this. And thatgave him a lot of our life lessons,
because I grew up hunting andfishing, and I still keep in contact
with him, and now he's, likean avid hunter. He's, He's. He's
(22:06):
hunting anything he can andeverything he can, and he's. When
he left, he had said that hehad found his new. His new hobby,
his new. His new life passion,and he sure did.
That's super cool. Yeah. Whenyou can turn, you know, past the
magic and turn. Turn otherpeople on to, To. To the outdoors
(22:26):
and, and, you know, I knowthere are people out there that,
you know, are against hunting.I. I'm sure of it. I've. I've heard
that before somewhere. But, Imean, for the most part, you know,
we're, We're. We're. We'repredators. We're hunters and gatherers.
We didn't get to where we areby eating leaves, you know, we got
(22:47):
to where we are because westarted consuming proteins from animals,
you know, and those proteinsmade our, our brains go get bigger.
But we had to figure out howto hunt, you know, and kill something
and harvest it, if you want touse that language, and then, you
know, cook it. That means youhad to have fire, you know, probably
ate it raw sometimes, I wouldimagine. But, you know, all these
(23:11):
things that it made us who weare today. You know, our eyes are
set forward in our head for areason. You know, we're eight apex
predators on the planet. Youcan't. Can't say it any other way.
And, and there's a reason forthat. And, and, and hunting and,
and gathering, you know, andfishing, of course, are, you know,
(23:31):
germane to who we are. And sowhen you're connecting people with
that and the ecosystem thatsurrounds them and communities who
care, you know, you're reallydoing something special, you know,
and that's, that's the programand, and you, and you're just knocking
out of the park. So, you know,we really, really appreciate that.
(23:51):
So tell us a little, a littlebit about the reaction that you get
from your community support.You know, anybody you say, you know,
you're, you're stiff arm andguys, you know, all hosts eventually
have that same problem that iswhat to do with all this help, you
know, and it's, it's a goodproblem, you know, because it just
means you're successful. Butthe more people that, you know, get
(24:12):
involved in this, you know,the better off you are normally,
you know, but your challengenow is. My challenge is, is what
are you going to do with allthis help? You know, you got to figure
out how to employ people in a,in a productive manner that adds
light and not heat to theequation, you know, and so you're
(24:32):
managing that as well. But I'msure you hear stories from them about
what this experience means tome or to them, right?
Oh, absolutely. I have guysthat are, that have been there since,
you know, year one and thatare just passionate, as passionate
(24:53):
as I am, and that are, youknow, they're, they're emotional
at the end of the, at the endof the weekend when, when the guy,
you know, guys or girls, youknow, head back home and, and, and
the minute we, the minute I,we wrap up camp, you know, I get
a text message or an email orsomething or a phone call that says,
(25:13):
hey, I, I definitely, youknow, better be part of this next
year, you know, and so, youknow, and it is A balance to it.
Just as you said, thecommunity support is just amazing.
But I try to keep camp kind oflow key so that other people that
come from a busy life can getthat opportunity to relax and not
(25:34):
feel overwhelmed.
Right, yeah. And you mentionedit earlier about getting in a rhythm.
And I think there's a naturalrhythm that eventually develops with
all missions. We like rhythmbecause it's somewhat predictable.
And then you get com. Morecomfortable because there's so much
(25:56):
dynamic, so much dynamicdynamics to the equation to begin
with, because you're bringingthree, four, maybe five people, heroes,
combat wounded, veterans thatyou've never met other than maybe
spoke on the phone a coupletimes with, exchanged an email maybe.
But you're bringing them fromthree or four different locations
(26:18):
from across the country to onecentral location. They don't like
to travel to begin with, sothey got that going on. Most of them
don't like it. And thenthey're going to a place that they've
never been to meet peoplethey. They've never been with, to
hunt a species, in this case,a dangerous game animal that they've
never hunted before. Sothere's a lot of, you know, newness,
(26:42):
you know, to this equationthat make it very dynamic. And then
you add the personalities inthere. Sure, there's commonality
and, you know, in ofexperience. In other words, they
all served their country, theywere all wounded, they were all given
the Purple Heart, but. But yetthere's all this anticipation, you
know, hey, I want to see amoose, man. You know, all these things,
(27:05):
hey, you know, I'm gonna gohunt bear for the first time. Yeah.
All these things that aregoing on in their minds, and then
now they're in your camp. Youcan't say the emotions aren't high.
Of course they are. You know,I mean, everybody's trying to act
cool and, you know, and beFonzie, but inside there's all this
stuff going on and. And theneventually it's sort of. Once everybody
(27:26):
gets to know each other,usually by the end of that first
day when the guys startcutting on each other, you know,
hacking on each other, if youwill, ribbing each other, then, you
know it's going to be just fine.
That's exactly it. Right.What's, what's the. What's the cracks
coming out, you know, that,you know, everybody's kind of settled
(27:46):
in, you know.
Exactly. Right. Yeah.
As a host, one of the. One ofmy favorite. One of my favorite things
to hear during, during theevent, outside of the. Of the personal
connection side Is, Is, iswhen you hear that first crack of
a rifle. Oh, yeah, you know,because most of our hunting sites
(28:10):
aren't very far from camp. Andso, yeah, you know, I'll. Quick story.
I don't want to get, you know,take too much time up. But the very
first year we did it, I wassitting with Carl Pellerin and Johnny
Pellerin. They're the ownersof the camp.
Okay, okay.
We've gotten. The first yearwe did it, we had three heroes. So
we had gotten all three heroesout into their, out into their stance,
(28:35):
and we were kind of justrelaxing. We all said to each other,
like, okay, now we just needthe bears to cooperate, you know,
because, you know, wildanimals don't exactly always follow.
They don't have the, theydidn't get the OP word, man.
Exactly. And it took about. Itwas only took about 45 minutes. And
you heard that first crack ofa rifle and, and then, you know,
(28:55):
we, we, we have a standingrule because like you said, you know,
bears can be dangerous game,you know, and, you know, stay in
your stand. We'll, we'll comehelp you track it and all that stuff.
And I got that crack on theradio that said, got a bear down.
I can see it. And, you know,I'm staying in my stand. And it just
like, for that very firstyear, that was that huge weight just
kind of.
Oh, yeah.
(29:15):
Oh, went away. And then about15 minutes later, we heard another
crack of a rifle from adifferent stand. So that was very
good first night.
Yeah, that's for sure. Well,you know, morale is going to be super
high in camp, too, that, thatnight. And morale's in, you know,
that's an important thing. I,I, I say to everybody, you know,
I guess I do. Everybody, evenmy kids, my boys, I say, you know,
(29:40):
how's your morale? You know, Idon't say it just to say it. I'm
actually interested, you know,and morale is something that you
can, you know, if you're aleader, you can gauge morale. If
you walk into a camp andmorale is low, you know, you're like,
something's going on here. Butif you walk into a camp and morale
is high, you know that aswell. And so leaders can do things
(30:03):
to and should do things tocreate a climate in an atmosphere
where morale can be high. Now,if you're in the infantry, you know,
sometimes morale's not alwayshigh because you got to do stuff
that sucks. But, but, youknow, you can also find ways of improving
(30:23):
morale. Like, for example, youknow, we've been eating MREs for
four days. And, and, and youknow, my, my, my first sergeant figures
out a way to skinny some hotchow, you know. Now that's going
to improve morale. You know,that's a big deal. Hot chow is a
big deal if you're aninfantryman, you know, and been living
in the bush for four days. So,yeah, I imagine morale was quite,
(30:45):
quite high in your camp onthat, that first night after having
harvested a couple of bear.That's great, man. So here's what
I'd like to shift gears on alittle bit before we close out our,
our wonderful chat here isyou. I want to talk about two things,
so I, I would like you to. Andyou can pick which order, but I'd
(31:07):
like you to tell us about yourfamily because I know you, you know,
you, you have a, a wife and,and two sons. I'd like to like to
hear about that. And then I'dlike, if you're willing to share
with us, you know, I'd like tohear about, you know, 2006, when
you were, when you werewounded in, in combat. If, if you're
(31:29):
willing to share that with us.I'm sure we'd love to hear that,
Roy. So those two things, ifyou don't mind.
Sure. So my family isabsolutely wonderful. They are the
heart and soul of, you know,who I am and what I do. My, my. I've
been married to my wife, Sashafor 26 years.
(31:51):
Congratulations.
Thank you. Thank you. We, youknow, so she's been, you know, I
always, when I talk about it,you know, I deployed to Iraq and
Afghanistan several times. AndI always say that we went through
deployments or we were in themilitary because, you know, she was.
Everything that I wasn't hereto do, she was doing, you know, and
so, and I've, I have two greatboys, Russell and Braden. They're,
(32:18):
we're in the, you know,obviously being married for 26 years
now, we're kind of in thealmost empty nester stages of life.
My older boy, he's 25 yearsold. You know, he's working, done
college and out working, and,and he's a great, great, great kid.
So your oldest boy is 25. Whatabout Braden?
(32:41):
Braden is 17. He's just aboutto turn 18.
All right.
He's a, a smart little whip.He, he graduated, he graduated high
school actually a little overa year early and decided to start
college. So he's actuallyalready done his, he's already in
his second semester of college.
Wow.
And he is My Russell is my, myfishing buddy and, and braiding is
(33:02):
Braden is my hunting buddy.Braden loves hunting and fishing
so much that he chose for hisgraduation gift. We're actually headed
to South Africa hunting inabout three weeks. And so we're doing
a father son trip to, to SouthAfrica to do a little bit of hunting.
That's so cool. Let me askyou, you know, I'm a dad with two
(33:25):
boys and they love to hunt andfish too. And, and you know, I, I
took Dylan, the oldest one. Heturned 10 and this year and, and
in November for the schoolbreak, I took him deer hunting. I
told him I was going to dothat. When you turn 10, we can deer
hunt. He'd been chomping atthe bit for two years. Seeing all,
(33:47):
you know, some of, some of hisbuddies hunting earlier. You know,
some of the guys we, we were,you know, in the foundation, they
have children and they'vebeen, you know, he's seen some of
the pictures of kids whenthey're eight and nine killing deer,
and he's like, you know, dad,and I'm like, I know you're ready,
buddy, but 10's the number. SoI took him hunting at 10 this, this
last fall. And it was hard toleave Luke, the 8 year old. But I
(34:11):
told Luke, I said, listen,Buddy, when you're 10, it's your
turn and your brother stayinghome. And then after that, we're
hunting together as a team.But how'd you manage that as a dad?
So it's, it's funny, I, I,there were some lessons learned there
for me because I startedBraden really young, at six.
Okay.
And he, the first coupleyears. So Braden shot his first deer.
(34:36):
It's, he got a deer at 6, 7and 8.
Wow.
But I did all the scouting. Iset up the blinds, I set up the,
you know, we used a tripod andyou know, I mean, so we went to the
range just about every day andhe practiced, he practiced, he practiced.
And he's a good little shot.
Yeah.
And he got a deer those firstthree years. And this is kind of
(34:59):
a funny story that I pick onhim about every now and then is then
I heard him telling a friendhow easy hunting was. You just show
up and shoot the deer. And sothat year I, I took that lesson learned
and, and I said, okay, youknow, you've shot your first three
deer, so now you're going todo all the scouting. You're going
to pick the spot that we, thatwe set up to stand and, or the blind
(35:23):
and, and so he went about twoyears without, without getting a
shot at a deer and stuff likethat. And the first year, he didn't
hardly scout at all. Everytime I offered, he didn't want to
go out and this and that. Soopening day, he didn't see anything.
And for a couple of days, youknow, he didn't see anything. And
now, you know, that bled intohim, asking questions, what am I
(35:46):
looking for? How do I, howcome I'm not seeing here? But, you
know, you always see deer. Andso now he's an avid hunter and he's,
you know, scouting and shedhunting and, and research. He's,
he's, Braden has highfunctioning autism, and so he's very
good at research and all thatstuff. And so it really put into
(36:14):
him that you actually have toput in the work if you want to be
successful.
And so that's a great storyand I appreciate you sharing it because
there's a lot of lessons inthere, and one of them is this idea
of the gift of failure. Andit's hard to put it that way, but
that's what it is. And so infailing, there is a gift, especially
(36:39):
when you're a parent and youallow and afford your children to
fail. Okay? Because too manyparents today are just paving that
road, bulldozing that road,and making sure everything is just
all perfect for them. Andguess what? When they get out there
on their own and they find outit ain't perfect, they fail. And
they have not failed before.And now the wheels come off their
(37:00):
wagon and, and it's just a,you know, there's a cascading effect
to it. And so the way toreally do that is allow them the
space to fail. And, you know,and you did that. You know, he went
out there and he failed and hefailed and he failed and he didn't
see any deer, and then hestarts asking questions, you know,
(37:20):
like, hey, dad, how'd you dothis? You know, and, and that's,
you know, that's great, man.That's a great, those are, those
are their great life lessons.Because what we're, is that Braden,
when he's out there on, in, onhis own in this great big difficult
world that he is, you know,prepared to, to fail and get, get
(37:41):
himself, dust himself off and,and re, you know, pivot, re, you
know, adjust something and getback on the horse and, and, or, or
start marching. You know,that's what we do. Right? So that's
good, man. I, I, I appreciateyou sharing that. That's a, that's
a good dad lesson right there.
I appreciate that. Yeah, It's.You know, and he's better for it,
(38:02):
you know. Now, you knowwhat's. What's the saying, right?
You give a man a fish, youfeed him for a day. Teach a man to
fish, feed him for life, you know?
That's right. Exactly right.That's very good. Wow, man, that.
That. This has been. It's beengreat. You got to tell us, though,
if you don't mind, if we can.If we can shift gears and talk about
(38:24):
the, you know, when you. Whenyou got wounded in action.
Sure. Yeah. So in 2006, I wasin Ramadi, Iraq, with. With the Vermont
Army National Guard, theMountain infantry unit. I had, actually.
So I left the Marine Corpsactive duty in 2000, got called back
(38:48):
off of IRR and after 9 11.
Yeah.
Had done a stint with them,and I got back, and then a couple
years later, the. I wasrecruited by the 3rd of the 172nd
Mountain Infantry Unit up inJericho, Vermont, where the Mountain
warehouse School is. They weredoing a heavy amount of deployments
(39:11):
and stuff like that. So hadthat conversation with. With the
boss, AKA the wife.
Exactly.
And said that, you know,obviously I had a skill set that
was unique to, you know, tothe war on terrorism and stuff like
that. And so I joined thatunit and almost immediately deployed
to Iraq, to Ramadi. And then.So In May of 2006, we were conducting
(39:40):
a mission, and we came acrossa sketchy. A sketchy vehicle. Taxi.
And it turned out to be asuicide car bomb. And so I was. I
was actually probably onlyabout 40ft away, and. And the guy
touched off the car bomb and.And myself and several other guys
(40:03):
were. Were injured from shrapnel.
Did you see the car before itblew up?
Oh, yeah. We were trying to.We didn't know it was a. A suicide
car bomb at the time. He wasjust. The driver was just acting
sketchy. So we were trying toget the driver out of the vehicle,
and he. You know, we weren't.The. The information that we got
after was, is that we weren'this intended target.
(40:26):
We just busted him. Yeah.
Yep. We stopped him fromgetting to his intended target, so.
Wow. Probably saved countlesslives in the process, buddy.
It was, you know, Ramadi.Ramadi in 06 was. Was kind of the.
The Wild West.
Oh, that's one of the worstplaces on the planet at that time.
That's one of the dangerous.Most dangerous places in the world.
(40:46):
Yeah. Every. They pushed. Wewere part of the. We were there before
and then we were. We were partof the. The push, you know, through
Ramadi. You know, they had.You know, they'd done Fallujah the
year before that, and.
Yeah, five and six were bad years.
Yeah. Everybody who fledFallujah went to Ramadi.
Right.
So, yeah, so I. I got injured,you know, from. I got p. I still
(41:09):
have. I got some shrapnel inmy. My. My legs and in my abs. I
still have some of theshrapnel in my abs.
Oh, man.
From it.
But do you remember thedetonation, or was it. Was it just
something that happened thatyou. Later. I mean, I'm just curious,
man. I mean, I don't mean topry, but I mean, I'm just trying
(41:32):
to visualize, you know,looking at a vehicle, a sketchy vehicle,
and trying to get somebody outof it, and the next thing you know,
it blows up. I mean, do. Doyou have recollection of it detonating
or were, you know, what. What happened?
Yeah, I was. So. I actuallywas standing next to my platoon sergeant
at the time. I was. I waspart. I was still part of the E4
(41:56):
mafia. I was standing next tohim, and we were trying to. You know,
we were. He was giving thecommands for the driver to get out
of the vehicle, and we had thevehicle pretty much, you know, in
a. In a horseshoe. And Iremember the door opening.
At what distance did you say?
Oh, we were only 40. Probably40 yards.
(42:19):
And you got your weaponstrained on this guy, trying to get
him out of the vehicle?
Yep, Yep. And then I. Heopened the. He opened the door. And
then I. I distinctly rememberhearing the. This charge the pew.
And. And then the vehicle blewup. I. It blew me back. I don't know,
probably 15 or 20 yards. Mostof the shrapnel hit my. Hit my helmet
(42:44):
and hit my plate carrier,which is what saved me, thank God.
Luckily, none of it hit me,obviously, in the neck and stuff.
You. You had it. But you had.You had a flak vest on with a ceramic
plate on your chest.
Yes.
And that saved your life?
That's what saved me. Absolutely.
Wow.
And then.
And your Kevlar helmet and my.
And my helmet, Yep. And thenthe. Of. Of you know, of all the
(43:11):
people that are injured, welost one. One guy, and then another
guy was really, really badlyinjured. His. Both his legs were,
you know, messed up prettybad, but they. We were able to, you
know, you know, recover fromthat. Obviously, it was a pretty
big blow to our platoon, but.So I actually end up staying in Country
(43:34):
Yeah. And finished out.
Yeah. Well, buddy, I gottatell you, man, thanks for sharing
that. I genuinely appreciateit. I'm always a little bit reticent
to ask guys about it, but youand I have known each other long
enough and I appreciate yousharing that with me. It's an important
(43:55):
story. People who arelistening to this, most of whom,
you know, never wore auniform, and, you know, they, they
just, I'm sure that theyappreciate you sharing that with
us. We would Otherwise, youknow, never known, you know, but
what great, brave men. And nowwhat testament to you, and many men
(44:21):
like you who, you know, had totake the uniform off, you know, went
and served their country in atime of need, got wounded and took
their uniform off, returned totheir hometown, became the chief
of police, and then started anevent to help other combat wounded
veterans. I mean, that rightthere, if that's not a story, if
(44:41):
that doesn't make you a hero,nothing does, man. I mean, I'm sure
you got a whole closet ofinvisible capes, you know, but to
me, you're like a superman.And I appreciate all that you've
done. You're doing phenomenalwork. And, you know, it's just an
honor to know you, buddy.
(45:01):
I, I, I appreciate that. I,I'm just glad that we met, you know,
that I, I, I can't thank youenough for the opportunity that you
give me to, to help, you know,to reach out and help, you know,
as as many people as I can.You know, this is, I, I know we're
probably short on time, but,you know, when we met at that event,
(45:25):
you know, it was, you know, mydeployment to Afghanistan, and my
last deployment was inAfghanistan in 2010, 2011. I lost
a good friend of mine inAfghanistan and another friend who
had been on the deploymentthat. I don't know if you ever met
him, but I know you knew him.Wesley Black.
Yeah, I know the name. Yeah,yeah, Wesley Black. Yeah.
(45:47):
Yeah, Me and Wesley werereally good friends, and we had been
to Iraq and Afghanistan bothtogether and stuff. And he had reached
out to me and said, hey, trythis organization. And I signed up
and, you know, I met you andWhip, you know, and actually, you
know, Dan Berryman, we'restill good friends, you know, talking
a lot.
(46:08):
And they just talked to Danthe other day.
Yeah, they're all greatpeople. And, you know, you kind of,
you know, I wasn't pushed todo an event by any means. I kind
of threw it out there. But yougave me every resource that I needed
to, to do it. You Know, andto, and to, and to do, you know,
and it's, and a lot of it wasjust the phone calls, the first conversations
(46:29):
that we had. Right. I was.Because I've been a police officer,
you know, in the community fora long time.
Yeah. And you got some helpthat you didn't expect. We didn't
mention them because I didn't,I didn't. I don't know that it's
appropriate. You know, somepeople that are true philanthropists,
you know, they don'tnecessarily, you know, want their,
who they are disclosed. But,you know, I'll, I'll give you in
(46:54):
closing an opportunity if youwant to mention, you know, and you
don't have to, that's yourrelationship with, you know, the
folks that primarily do the,provide the support for funding for
your mission. But I'm surethere are people that you'd like
to recognize and thank becauseyou've also, you know, I think the
(47:18):
guys on your mission, aren'tthey also getting a firearm or at
least they did at one point? Iremember you developing a relationship
with a fine firearmmanufacturer. Right.
Yes. Yeah. And I know that,you know, exactly what you mentioned
with them. They, we developeda partnership with, you know, one
of our finer American madefirearms companies and every year
(47:41):
they graciously gift a firearmto each of the heroes that come to
the event. That's justamazing. And then we have a local
foundation called the Burnfoundation that I've talked to the
head of that and he told me,don't worry about fundraising. We'll
(48:03):
make sure your event happens.
That's amazing. That's justamazing. God bless him. God bless
everybody. Man. That's, that,that's pulling for, for these Heroes.
You know, there's a roadahead, man. I mean, there just is.
We're not done. There's,there's a, you know, this, this work
is important work and youknow, it helps ground people, it
(48:25):
welcome, welcomes them back,it recognizes them for what they've
done for, for, you know, ourcountry and, and the, the def, you
know, fighting for freedomand, you know, connecting them with
people who care and connectingthem with each other and connecting
them with nature and all ofthat. You know, there's a healing
(48:48):
component and you're a bigpart of that. Roy, thanks for all
you do, buddy.
Thank you.
That was a great, greatpodcast. I look forward to hearing
this one again and sharing itwith many people. You have a great
day. Keep, keep doing whatyou're doing and thanks for your
(49:09):
time today.
Thank you, John. I lookforward to talking to you again.
All right, Roy. See ya.
Thank you for listening to theWWIA Podcast. To learn more about
the Wounded warriors in Actionfoundation and how you can get involved,
please visit our website atwww.or follow us on social media,
(49:32):
on Facebook, Instagram,Twitter and LinkedIn. If you'd like
to comment or offer feedbackabout our podcast, or if you have
a suggestion for a futureepisode, please email us at Podcast
thank you for your support andfor helping us honor, connect and
(49:53):
heal our combat wound woundedPurple Heart heroes through the power
of the great outdoors.
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