August 15, 2025 • 53 mins
Two Marine Corps Veterans sitting down to discuss the transition, the process we experienced, and how we have made it through the traditional difficult times to become successful, functioning, and productive members of society.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
You ever wonder what is the truth?
Three things cannot be long headed, the sun, the moon and
the truth. All right, guys, welcome to
(00:34):
Point Blank Troop episode 56. Now this is a little bit
different, OK, we're going to start doing a segment that we're
going to call veterans talk. A lot of times when you hear
veterans on podcast, they talk about how much of A war fighter
than they were and all these crazy war stories.
And to be honest, most of us arejust regular guys who did go to
(00:57):
war and now we're out and we're trying to just deal with the
normal stressors of life. A lot of us aren't war heroes.
We don't have 8 combat action ribbons and three Purple Hearts.
So I think in the veteran community, I know for myself it
was very difficult, the transition from Marine to the
civilian world. And when you're in the military,
(01:18):
you're only getting advice from people who also have never been
out of the military, and they tell you all these nightmare
things. There's no work out there, Don't
get out. It's crazy.
So I want to provide content where I talk to military
veterans who got out, talk abouttheir transition and people who
are extremely successful today in whatever career path they
(01:40):
chose to go. So these segments we will get
once a month and it will be Veterans Talk.
So this is segment one of Veterans Talk.
And our guest that we have todayis a good friend of mine.
We go way back. Mr. Claude Cintron, how are you,
Sir? Doing good man, doing good.
Definitely happy to be here. Definitely happy and feel
(02:01):
blessed to be your first guest for this segment.
So I appreciate that. Thank you for the honors.
Yeah, of course there. You know, I thought that you
were the best person to have as the first guest just because of
the career path you chose after the Marine Corps.
I also know that you had a crazylife before the Marine Corps.
(02:24):
You joined the Marine Corps. You went from the air wing.
You went and then you went to infantry.
And you, you deployed as an infantryman, correct?
Yeah. So, yeah, I, I I feel like
you're the perfect guy. So let, let's start, man.
Talk to us about who you are, where you're from, and what it
is you do now. I like that.
(02:45):
I like that. I, I like to begin from the
beginning, like you said, right,Originally I'm from the South
Bronx of New York. You know, my story is very
similar to people that grew up, that I grew up around with, grew
up on Section 8 public housing and then join the Marine Corps
during the Marine Corps, really just to get an opportunity to
(03:08):
get out from where I came from, right?
I graduated, I graduated high school on a Thursday and I went
to boot camp that very Sunday. So there was no gaps.
Joined the Marine Corps and grewup in the Marine Corps.
Now I have eight years in the mental health field.
I'm a I'm a graduate student working on working on my masters
(03:28):
and doctorates and family therapy and Yup.
Hell, yeah, man. So talk to me a little bit about
brother. I want to know.
Let's talk about your time in the Marine Corps.
Let's focus on that a little bit, man.
How many years did you do? I did 8 years, you did 8.
Whenever, whenever someone asks me how do I describe my time in
(03:50):
the Marine Corps, I always say it was the best, the best and
worst times of my life, Right, 'cause growing up in the South
Bronx, I really didn't have any structure, didn't really have a
sense of family. I'm adopted and, and always knew
it and I kind of always felt that way.
So I didn't really have a sense of family, a sense of belonging.
(04:11):
And the Marine Corps gave me that, right.
As you know, the Marine Corps isvery big on commodity, having
one mentality, you know, one fight, one mission, all that
good stuff. So the Marine Corps gave me
that. So that's why I really
appreciate that from. But as you know, there's always
a lot of with it as well. Yeah.
So just managing both. Yeah, totally.
(04:34):
And by the way, we we're sippinga little bit on the podcast.
Cheers, bro. Cheers.
I asked you what your drink was.You said 805.
So I hope, I hope they're cold enough for you.
Oh. No, it's perfect, perfect,
perfect. All right, man.
So you know, you and I, we were in the air wing together when we
first came in basically like thefirst half of our time in the
(04:56):
Marine Corps, we were we well maybe not even maybe like the
first quarter, like the 1st 25% of our time we were together.
I never really even talked to you about like what it, what was
it that made you lap move? What was it that made you switch
from being AOS Aviation operations specialist to
(05:21):
infantrymen? Honestly, I never wanted to be.
I always wanted to be a grunt for the jump.
But if I'm being completely transparent, completely honest,
my mother didn't want to sign the contract for infantry.
My recruiter made me a deal. He was like, Hey, man, just
signed this. It was like legal admin, 'cause
my mother thought I was going tobe like a lawyer in the Marine
Corps or something like that. And he was like, hey, once you
(05:43):
get in there, try and lap move. I tried to lap move in boot
camp. They told me no.
I tried to lap move in MCT. They told me no.
I tried to fail out in MOS school.
I don't know if you remember that in MOS school.
And they told me, hey, if you fell out, you're going to get
kicked out. And I was like, oops.
So that that didn't work out. So once I hit that two year
(06:05):
mark, that 2, 2 1/2 year mark, I'll put in a real estate
package to lap move and I finally got my wish to be a
grunt. Yeah.
So what was that like? So when you when you you, you
went from the air wing to be an infantryman.
What did that transition look like?
Oh. It was a huge culture shock,
man. It was probably one of the
second biggest culture shocks inmy life.
(06:27):
The first one coming from New York, the first one coming from
New York into California. It was a huge culture shock.
It's just, you remember how the air wing was?
Yeah. Super laid back.
You talk to officers and NC OS like it's nothing.
Shit in the in the infantry, if you're a senior lounge Corp,
you're damn near a Sergeant in the air wing, you know?
(06:51):
So it was just a lot more discipline, a lot more
structure. But what?
Rank were you when you did that?I was a Lance.
I was, I was, I was a Lance, OK?I was Lance.
I had a just for transparency, Ihad a little bit too much fun in
the Marine Corps. So yeah, I was just, we're being
(07:14):
honest, man. You know how I was.
I was a wild dude. I did a lot of stupid shit.
I was very immature. I remember, Yeah.
I mean, we both were. We both were.
Yeah. Yeah.
But you were a lot more mature than I was.
Yeah, he was a lot more mature. I was a wild kid just.
Yeah. So I was, I was a Lance when I
reenlisted. And then, yeah.
(07:35):
And it was just it was a huge culture shock, but it was
everything that I wanted. But I honestly, I wish, I wish I
I wish I would have had the opportunity to do it from the
job, just cuz how vastly different the cultures was.
Yeah. And just cuz how my body was
during that time. I see, Yeah.
So yeah, it was much more difficult for you to go cuz you
(07:56):
cuz you had the lap move and then you had to go to to ITB
right? Had to go to infantry training.
I had to go to Soy. Yeah.
I had to go to, I had to go to SOY.
And I had to deal with, I had todeal with the stigma of being
the Pope to a grunt. Yeah.
And I had to prove myself all over again.
(08:17):
Right. And you Remember Me?
I was a hot head growing up. Yeah.
So just, you know what I'm saying, dealing with that,
dealing with my own identity, myidentity vastly changing, which
we'll talk about I'm sure later in the morning, later in the
podcast, how how important identity is when you're in and
when you get out. Yeah.
(08:37):
But yeah, just dealing with all of that, having to reprove
myself, show people that, you know, I do belong here.
I am worth it. Yeah, so here you are.
You're this young kid from the Bronx, you know, coming from
like the gutter, you know what Imean?
And struggling. And you join the Marine Corps
(08:58):
and you end up joining the air wing.
And then you want to get in the fight and you want to be an
infantryman. And as soon as you get the
opportunity to do that, you lap move, you go, you become an
infantryman. And now you're struggling with
being, you know, you're a Lance Corporal, but you're still a
Pogue and this and that. And then when you got to your
(09:19):
unit, from the time you got to your unit to your first
deployment, how long was that? It was I lap moved in 2000,
2011, 2012 and deployed 2013. So it was it was pretty quick.
It was a pretty quick turn around.
Yeah. So, yeah, yeah.
(09:39):
Well, and what was that like foryou man, being out there for?
The people that don't know what a MU is, is a Marine Exposition
unit. You're basically a contingency
force on the ship. Which MU did you go to?
The 13th. The 13th.
MU Yeah, yeah. What?
What countries did you guys? To all the way in the Middle
East, so Dubai, Kuwait, Singapore, Dukem, Oman and those
(10:03):
around the countries. Yeah, yeah, I see.
I see. Yeah.
So I was with for one Ford. Our nickname was 1 Ford, No War.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
'Cause we were the first, one ofthe first battalions to
transition from dirt deploymentsto to peacetime.
I see. So, yeah.
So. Yeah, we got.
So it's just the just by chance,but also man, thank God, 'cause
(10:24):
who knows, you know what the outcome would have been.
You know what I mean? Yeah.
I'm, I'm happy you bring that upbecause 'cause as eager as I was
to get into the fight, I know a lot of people that deployed and
they're not the same at all whatsoever.
And you just don't know how it'sgoing to affect you.
Yeah, you really, really don't know.
(10:46):
I remember people that I served in book that that I, that I was
with in boot camp, hard asses, same places that I came from,
you know what I'm saying? Went to deployed, had multiple
deployments over overseas Afghanistan and they're just not
the same man. They're still struggling to this
(11:07):
day. And it's like, and now me
working in the mental health field, my insight, it's a lot
greater into what that really does to you.
And it's so it's, it's like a, it's like a blessing in
disguise. As I call it right?
As eager as we want to deploy, Imean you got the opportunity.
Yeah, yeah. But.
As eager as I wanted to actuallydeploy and be in a fight, like I
(11:30):
said, it's a blessing in disguise because who knows how
it would have impacted. Me, yeah, yeah.
And I think that's the biggest thing, right?
It's like it's chance, dawg. It's, I mean, it's total chance,
you know, it depends what unit you go to, you know what job
you're doing. But like.
Especially during the time that we were in 'cause it was hit or
miss. It was either you were still
deploying or you were peacetime.Yeah.
(11:54):
You know, back right before us, it was no, you're getting pumped
out. Yeah, every, every time.
When we came in, if you didn't have a deployment, you were
almost like looked down on. Yes, exactly.
You know what I mean. It's like how, how, how are you
a, a even, how are you a corporal?
How are you an NCO with no deployment?
(12:15):
Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, 'cause 'cause we gotin during that, 'cause we, we
came in in 2008 and it was like our NC OS were old school
Marines, but technically we werelike the new Gen.
Marines. But our NC OS, our leaders were
the old school hard asses. Yeah, that had multiple
deployments, had seen stuff likethat.
(12:35):
So. You know, what's interesting is,
and I, I, I kind of talk about this a lot, I feel like we were
so blessed to receive the leadership that we did.
Like thinking about it, like ourdrill instructors, our
sergeants, all those guys were like in the invasion of
Fallujah, the first invasion of Iraq.
Although a, a lot of those guys,like, didn't join during a time
(12:59):
of war, but they were quickly forced into it, you know, And
yeah, they have a different level of experience.
I mean, it's, it's hard. It's hard to explain.
Their perspective is a lot different.
Yeah. Because a lot of them didn't
join to fight, right? Yeah.
Or not, nothing. Let me reframe that now that
(13:21):
they didn't fight, that they didn't know they were going to
fight. Yeah.
Whereas in like us, we knew thatwe're more likely going to or
have the opportunity. They were chilling, doing
whatever they were doing. And next you know it, 911
happens and then they're gettingpushed out.
And, and, and like to add to that, it's like they were
(13:41):
patrolling in regular Humvees. There were no up armored
vehicles. When they hit an IED, everybody
died. You know, I mean it, you know,
you're burning alive. You know, it's like it was just
that it was just a very intense different world.
So I always feel like I'm, I'm very blessed to have those men
and women as my leaders, especially when I was going into
(14:03):
Afghanistan. You know, that's something that
I think about a lot because. Because that's the generation
that molded us. Yeah.
That's the generation that made us the men we are today, in my
opinion. Yeah, and, and, and I love that
you say that because, oh, it's my telling in my career, it
changed drastically, right as you, I don't know if you ever
(14:25):
managed it became a lot PC became a lot more political.
Yeah. And we saw the climate change
drastically from when we first joined towards the tail end of
our career. And they're just like, it's a
whole different core. Yeah, the Marine, the Marine
Corps was cut in a lot of those war fighters that were respected
because they weren't the best, you know, civilian Marines, You
(14:49):
know, they were getting Duis andgetting in trouble, you know, so
it was. But, but also it was 'cause as
you, as you know, there's a popular quote for us, right?
We're not, we're not, we're not needed, we're wanted, right?
We're told that from the jump, right?
The Army does everything the Marine Corps can do and all the
branches and everything. But what makes it special is
(15:10):
that we're the efficiency in which we do things, in which we
accomplish our missions, how we go about it, right?
And then our public appearance. So when there's no, when we're
in peace time, it's a whole different mission, right?
So now you'll need a whole different perspective and
leadership. So it's they're no longer
(15:33):
congruent, right with the with the current climate.
So it changes drastically, Yeah.But I feel yeah.
So talk to me a little bit aboutwhen you decided it was time to
get out of the Marine Corps and like, what was your thought
process? What did that look like for you?
(15:53):
What were people telling you? Talk to me a little.
Bit about it, I'm being transparent.
I didn't want to get out right? I, I really, I, I wanted, I
wanted, I wanted to be a careerist, right?
But it just didn't happen that way, right.
So 2000, I got out in 2016 and not that I was scared, I just
(16:16):
didn't know. Could you go to tap for temps?
And for the casual listener thatdoesn't know what that's not
familiar with Murray military terms, tap for temps is a two
week period in which you have totransition, right?
You go to classes, but during those classes you all you're
doing is resume building, resumebuilding, learning how to
(16:38):
interview, all that good. Stuff and they bring people in
from companies, they tell you like we're hiring military
people and yeah, you know, man, I don't know, 'cause they send
all Marines for, for the listeners, they send all Marines
to this transitional school. It's like, it's like a week,
right? It's like a week or two.
Yeah, like, like it might be. I think it's two weeks, Two
(17:00):
weeks sounds. But it's a week.
Yeah, it's a week. Or. 2 And I'm sure it's
improved. I'm sure it's improved so I'm
not trying to bash it, but it did not prepare me dawg.
At all whatsoever. It did not prepare me.
And it was just like, you know, we got to do a better job at
preparing our, our, our, our warfighters to get out and be
(17:22):
civilians. Because you know that for me,
that was the biggest thing was like, you had a family when you
got out, right? And like, I had just started my
family and I didn't know what toexpect.
Dude, I don't know. I don't I don't know what I need
to do or what's going on. I don't know how insurance works
(17:42):
or how like everything was takencare of for me in the Marine
Corps. Like when I did my taxes, I just
did it on base at at Vita, You know what I mean?
Like I healthcare, like they told, they came and told me,
hey, you got to go to dental. You know what I mean?
Exactly. Yeah, You know, hey.
Lining up for shots, Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
You're like, I got to go. I got to go.
(18:02):
To we don't even know what the fuck we got, Yeah.
Yeah, we just lined. We literally lined up.
Yeah, I tell people all the time, I got the flu shot like 4
times in one year sometime. He's like, dude, you're on the
hit list for the flu shot. I did it last week.
You're like, you're still on thehit list.
Sorry. You're like, all right.
Once you turn 21, you got your wisdom teeth put out.
(18:25):
Yeah, no, they didn't touch mine.
They still got mine, Yeah. Yeah, no, I'll hold a whole.
Yeah, I'll hold once I turn 21. My whole company, every boom.
But immediately. But you know, The thing is like
when when I got out, it was a terrifying experience for me,
(18:47):
man. And like, it took me two years,
easily two years to really kind of like get used to what life
looked like, you know, and, and even then I was in college.
So then when I got out of college, now I got to look for
work. That was a, that was another
(19:07):
transition that I had to like adjust to.
And, you know, veterans strugglea lot, dude, you know, the
suicide raid is, is through the roof.
And, and I don't know what, what's your opinion on what is
it that you think needs to change to help our veterans
transition? Well, let's look at it.
(19:29):
Let's look at it from a macro level, right?
When you're in the Marine Corps,right?
Or in in the service, right? But when you're in the service,
you're given an identity, right?You're told, like we talked
about, you're told what to do, when to do it, how to do it,
right? You know who you are as an
individual and there's no wiggleroom, right?
And that's especially true in the Marine Corps, especially in
(19:50):
the infantry, because you have to have one mentality.
So everyone's on the same page. Everyone knows how to act right?
And the people around you, they become family, right?
What, what, what will happen if I just took your kids away from
you, your wife away from you, and then I moved you to
Arkansas? What would What would happen to
(20:12):
you? I would.
I would have to adapt to that. I mean, you would have to adapt,
but I'd be stressed. You'd be stressed, right?
And if no one taught you how, right, you, you would just you'd
be a you'd be, you'd be a, a fish on dry lat, right?
Just flapping around. Yeah, right.
So what happens is especially inthe Marine Corps, right.
(20:34):
That's it. I, I emphasize the Marine Corps
only because if you look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and
you look at the average age of aMarine, it's the, it's the
youngest compared to all right to.
Really. Service, yes, the average age is
like 20 to 21, right? And you're talking about active
duty Marine? Active duty.
Marine the average age is 20 to 21, and that's the youngest of
(20:56):
all the branches. Yep, it's early 20s, right?
And it's the, it's the youngest of all the branches, right?
You, as you may or may not know,your brain is not even fully
developed until you're 25, right?
Your prefrontal cortex, your prefrontal cortex is controlled
of the emotional regulation and your personality, right?
So that's not even fully developed, right.
(21:18):
So that gets the so let's say ifyou do four years, right,
192122, you're 22 years old, right?
And now you're stripped of your identity of who you are and in
the Marine. And then the military doesn't,
doesn't as much training as theyinvest into you to make you to
this warfire, to make you into this weapon, right?
(21:40):
Cuz we're taught our, our bodies, our mind is a weapon,
right? And for a lot of us, that's
especially true cuz in order to go forward, deploy and pull that
trigger, you have to have a certain mentality to pull that
trigger and then move on with your life, right?
The average person cannot do that unless they have the
training. So you invest all this time to,
(22:02):
to form a weapon and then you kick them out.
You don't teach them interpersonal skills.
You don't teach them communication skills.
You don't teach them about separation anxiety, anxiety,
PTSD, depression. Because, well, that's all
bullshit in the Marine Corps. Suck it up.
Exactly, Exactly right. Exactly.
All what? What?
What do they tell you? Change your socks, Drink water.
Yeah, right. You're sick.
(22:23):
Change your socks, Drink water. Yeah, right.
But that's it's it's not consistent when you get out.
Right. Yeah, and then I hope I'm not
hogging it. I want to tell this quick story.
No, no, no, dude. This is your episode, dude.
You're the guest. I wonder, I wonder, I'm not
going to say his name, but I know a young Marine, right?
(22:44):
A young Marine. He was a guy under me, right?
He gets out, he does his, he does 4 years, gets out and he
calls me and he's like, hey, Cintron, guess what?
I'm like, hey, what's up, dude? He's like, I just got out of
jail and I'm like, hey, what thefuck happened?
And he's like, oh, I went to a bar.
I got drunk, you know, he said, I drink a little bit too much,
(23:05):
put my car keys in my my backpack.
And I was just like, fuck it. I was just going to rock it
home. I was like, how, you know,
typical, like vet and stuff, right?
He said he goes outside the bar,see a bunch of group of three or
four guys arguing, just talking shit to each other, right?
So he jumps in, starts talking shit with them.
He's like, yeah, yeah, I just wanted to talk shit like we used
(23:26):
to do in the Marine Corps. They jumped him right, But he,
but he says he emphasized that he beat one of them up really
bad and he was the one that got arrested.
In his head. He really felt like he did
nothing wrong 'cause how do we play and interact in the in the
in the service? We all fuck around.
We all, you know what I'm saying?
(23:46):
We all joke around and stuff like that.
No one. Especially when you're drunk,
like, you know, like shit talking and getting a little
rough. You remember our barracks, You
remember our barracks, Bras. The whole barracks would be on
it. It it'll, it'll be like four or
five different rooms just. Fighting.
Yeah, just. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, we've got even. Into that shit sometimes.
(24:08):
Exactly. Right.
But it's how we interacted, right?
Yeah. No one teaches you.
That's consistent. No one teaches you that's not
appropriate as a civilian. So he's, he's stuck in that mind
state. Cause like I, like I said, we
emphasize so much on building this identity, this weapon, but
we don't do any, we don't even do 1/4 or 1/3 investment into
(24:34):
transition you back. So that's why you have these
veterans that get out and they struggle.
Yeah, right, 'cause they don't have the adequate skills to be a
civilian, right? Yeah.
And they don't have the resources.
A lot of resources also, as you,as you, as you know, if you
experience, it's the word of mouth.
We had a conversation earlier and I was like, hey, when you
(24:56):
get that 100%, your wife qualified your Diablo.
Yeah. And you were like, hey, what?
You know what I'm saying? Why is that exactly a lot of the
resources I know of word of mouth.
Why is this not advertised? Right, Right.
When I was going through what I was.
Going through 'cause it's not beneficial to, to the system
and, and, and what a lot of whatpeople don't know is that when
veterans get out and you try to do your disability claim is the
(25:18):
VA does everything they can to just give you the minimum.
Yeah, they lowball you yeah, 100.
And like, not to get on my soapbox for a second, but this
really fucking bothers me because like, you know, I'm, I'm
back in it where I'm where I'm pushing back on my, my rating.
And I'm working with an organization and they sent me
(25:38):
this questionnaire, dude. And like, he was like, just
answer it honestly. And I answered it honestly.
And it's like, bro, I'm looking at my answers.
I'm like, damn, bro, I am fuckedup.
Exactly. This is crazy.
Like one of the questions is like, do you have like, do you
have visions or hallucinations? And like, yeah, bro, yeah.
And you know what? I went to the VA about it and I
(26:00):
went to therapy at the VA. And you know, instead of like
saying like, hey dude, we got toup your rating because you're
dealing with this. They basically made me download
like this app to help me walk through my like my thought
process, like, is this actually happening?
No, how realistic is this not realistic?
You know, And it's like they taught me how to cope while low
(26:23):
balling me my disability rating.And it just pisses me off 'cause
like you said something earlier about going out when you go to
war and you come back and you'renot the same dog.
My family will never get the truest, best version of me.
I can't go to Costco without being uncomfortable.
(26:43):
I can't be in crowded places without being And like, that's
just period. When I'm with my family amplify
that times 12, you know, when I'm with my four kids and my 4
kids, my 2 year old, my wife, like I am not, I am like on high
alert, dawg. I am in the orange or the red.
Like I, I'm not locked into what's going on.
I'm looking around, I'm scanningthe room, I'm looking at exits,
(27:06):
I'm watching people and like, and The thing is that the, the
crazy thing is, is like, you know, I have all my limbs, you
know what I mean? I, I wasn't in firefights every
day. I was on patrols.
Yeah. But like, so it's like there's
veterans who have been through really extreme crazy things.
(27:27):
And another thing you you talkedabout was like, you have to have
a certain mindset to pull the trigger and then just move on.
Like, yeah, bro, like the issue that I'm having now is that that
mindset's gone for me, dawg. You know, I'm not a war fighter
anymore. I'm a dad.
So like all those things still sit with me, the things I did
(27:49):
and the things I saw and the that like, you know, like dead
little kids. Like that fucks with me, bro.
Every day. There isn't a day that goes by
where like it doesn't impact me negatively.
And it just bothers me that the resources that we have, like you
said, things aren't advertised and it's word of mouth.
(28:13):
And whenever I meet a veteran orI see a veteran, I try to just
engage with them, talk to him. Now I see a dude with the like
Vietnam veteran have like, thankyou, Sir, thank you for your
service. I just talked to them because I
can't like, I don't know what they're going through and what
their experiences. And it just makes me really sad,
bro. And that's kind of why I wanted
to do these segments and talk about this shit because, you
(28:35):
know, like, I'm not a, I'm not awar fighter anymore, dawg.
I'm a dad. And the things that I did and
the things that I saw and the things that I experienced still
impact me today. And it makes me a, a weaker
version of a dad, a lesser version of a dad of a husband.
And, you know, and, and I struggle like every other vet,
you know, So I know that you arevery experienced in this world
(29:00):
because you went and you got your, your degree.
Talk to me a little because I don't think we, we spoke to the
listeners yet about, about, you know, the, the authority you
have to actually speak on these topics.
So when you got out of the Marine Corps, what is it that
you got your degree in and and what are you, what are you doing
now? So when I got out the Marine
Corps, I got my undergraduate inpsychology, right, basic
(29:23):
psychology. And now I have about 6 months
left and so I'm done with my done with my graduate, my
masters in marriage, family, couples and family therapy.
And then after that I'll be fulltime in my doctorate program for
marriage and family therapy, right.
So marriage and family therapy is not we in my program.
(29:47):
We not just so in my program, what we do is and what gives me
a lot of insight to understand what we've been through on a
higher and more deeper level is that MFTS, that's the acronym.
So that's what we're just calledit moving for M, it's MFTS.
We look at things at a systemic level.
(30:07):
What does that mean? So if you were to come into
therapy, right, Danny, Hey, where did we, we, we look at you
as an entire person, but also your surroundings, right?
Your environment, what's your relationship with your family,
your kids, your wife, your background, your culture.
We take every social aspect of you and we take that in
(30:28):
consideration to do therapy, right?
Does that make sense? So that's, that's what that's
how I look at therapy. That's how I perform therapy.
So, right, so I've worked in thefield for eight years at
different capacities. I've started my mental health
career working in the ER at Tri-City Hospital, worked at a,
(30:53):
it's called AIMD. It's like what you think of a
stereotypical psych ward is right?
I worked there, we moved to Florida, did a brief stint in
Florida in which I worked at a, it's a do a diagnosis substance
use treatment, so people struggling with addiction.
Did that for a year and then I worked in as a clinical case
(31:16):
manager doing therapy and case management with the homeless
population in the downtown San Diego.
I did that for four years. Yeah, I remember you talking
about that. I did that for four years, going
out into the communities work, you know, going out to the
homeless communities working, yeah, introducing them to
(31:36):
resources while doing individual, their counseling,
sorry, counseling with them. And now I'm actually doing
individual. I work at a outpace.
It's another county funding program and I'm doing individual
therapy with kids that with medical.
So I don't know how to be. It's like if you're a medical,
(32:01):
then you know, you know what I'msaying?
If you're a medical, low income families, yeah.
Doing individual therapy with kids.
So I see kids anywhere. My right now my case, so it's
about 10 and I see kids that have severe anxiety, depression,
PTSD actually, and spectrum, so autism and all the other
spectrum disorders. So I feel like I'm very well
(32:23):
versed, but I'm also very humblein my career.
I still know I have a lot to go to, a lot of growth to do and
I'm actually in the process of opening up a gym for for of
veterans, service members and 1st responders in which it's
going to be a gym. But at the gym, when you come to
(32:47):
the gym, part of your package isto get individual counseling and
group, individual therapy and group therapy.
So the goal is to build, to teach to like we've kind of been
talking about, right? Learning those soft skills,
learning those communication skills, learning those
interpersonal skills that you don't learn when you get out in
order to reduce the suicide rates and just help veterans,
(33:11):
first responders to manage theiremotions and all that other good
stuff. That's that's my spiel.
Where? Nah that Nah, that's dope bro.
So what? Where are you?
Looking at opening up this gym like for for veterans that.
North County. North North county, San.
Diego, North, North County, yeah, like the Oceanside caused
that area just cause Camp Huntington, the biggest base
(33:34):
that the Marine Corps has and just dish that area.
I just love North County. Yeah, we're looking at North
County, possibly San Diego as well, 'cause you.
Well, Southern California in general has I, I, I want to go
as far as to say, and please Fact Check me on this, it has
the biggest veteran population in the nation.
(33:54):
Yeah, it's just. Cause yeah, I think, I think
you're, I think California. California in general.
Largest veteran did. You think about California as a
landmass is so huge, Yeah, we have so many bases across the
different services. Yeah, right.
You shit, Look at Coronado. Yeah, Coronado was huge for the
Navy and stuff like that. So yeah.
(34:16):
That's dope, man. What, what was it that?
Well, that's a loaded question. Was it, was it your military
service and your experience? And like, 'cause like, for
example, everything, I just kindof like, I poured my Howard out
a little just now I got emotional.
But I've had this conversation with you in person over the
phone. I've talked to you about the
things that I, I kind of struggle with.
(34:39):
Was it that that made you want to do this, just knowing that
veterans are struggling and you want to help out where you can,
or was it your experience? Like what was it that was like?
I think this is what I want. To do, honestly, if I'm being
completely transparent, I didn'twant to work with veterans at
all whatsoever. I was like, no, I don't want to
do it. I was like, I don't want to do
it. I didn't want it.
I didn't want to do it. But it wasn't until I got into
(35:02):
my own mental health journey andI increased my insight into why.
Why does Claude not want to workwith veterans?
And when I sat down with myself and the therapy were recorded
counter transference. Have you?
Are you familiar? With Nah, Nah, Nah.
Counter transference is when let's say you and I are sitting
down in it in this session, right?
(35:24):
And let's say, let's say something that you do that
triggers an emotional response from me.
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's called countertransference, right?
So it wasn't until I did my own deep dive and was just like,
whoa, where is this coming from?Right.
And then, and then I was able tosit down, process it and work on
(35:46):
it. And I was able to overcome that,
right? And it was like we talked about
the, the, the sense of identity of fulfillment and stuff like
that. So once I worked on this and
then my perceptive change and I was like, who, who's, and I'm
not going to be bragdocious, butwho better to support veterans
(36:07):
than myself? I have a lot of personal lived
experience. I did 8 years in a Marine Corps.
I did my, I struggled when I first got out like you did, you
know what I'm saying? And I, I did everything that I
was supposed to be doing. I went to therapy, I did the
work and and then I felt I fell in love again with myself and my
(36:29):
community. Yeah, the veterans service
community. And that motivated me now to
provide back to my community andgive back.
So let me ask you, how long has it been since you got out?
I got it in 2016. I'm horrible at math, that's why
I'm a therapist. So nine years.
So you got. So you got out nine years ago.
OK, When you got out, did you see yourself where you are now
(36:55):
or or did you just say I'm goingto take this path and just see
where it takes me? I always know that I wanted to
work with. So initially when I got out and
it was, it became permanent right when I knew I wasn't going
to go back in. I, I initially wanted to be a
forensic psychologist. I'd tell everyone I love Laura,
(37:17):
know the SVU and I wanted to be the the the the Asian dude that
did the interviews and stuff like that.
Yeah, I know who you're talking about.
I don't remember his name though.
I wanted to be him. I wanted to do, I wanted to be a
forensic psychologist. And it wasn't until I moved back
from Florida to California untilI met other therapy and I
(37:42):
started working with the county and I started working with other
therapists that I was like, oh, I want to be a therapist now.
Right. So initially I wanted initially
my goal in life, my goal in lifeis still to help at risk
teenagers, but it it shifted to veterans and service members to
(38:05):
as my primary focus. Does that make sense?
Yeah, yeah. Tell me if I bounce.
Around no, no, no, it's fine. It's fine.
I'm just because, you know, the one thing that I, I, I would
like these veteran talk segmentsto do is to maybe a, a military
person, a service member who's considering getting out to hear
(38:27):
and understand. Like the path isn't, it's not
black and white. No, you know, it's, it's if you
have an idea like just just takeactions towards that and, and
things will evolve, you know? Life isn't linear.
Life is not a straight line, right?
It's, it's, you're going to bounce between, you're going to
(38:49):
take a couple steps back. I I another metaphor that I like
using is a mountain, right when you're hiking up a mountain or,
or let's say, oh, let's, let's do a little, let's, let's make
it more personable. If you're hiking on a trail, how
many trails have you hiked that were just easy?
Most of them. Most of them, yeah.
(39:09):
You never hiked on the trail. That was kind of like difficult
or. Something I mean, I have, but
most most of the hikes I've doneOK, yeah, but I have like only
like like mount motherfucker or the Reaper, you know, but I
don't I don't when I would go onhikes, I wouldn't choose to go,
you know, so. Sorry I forget who I'm talking
about. Daddy used to be a stud, used to
(39:32):
wake up and run a 300 PMT 1-3 miles in like 2 minutes just off
of 2 minutes of. Sleep, yeah.
Stop, but for the for the. Don't remind me, maybe.
For the average person, hiking is not easy, right?
Hiking is not easy. I don't know whatsoever.
OK, that's right. You're right.
(39:52):
You threw a you threw a situation at me and I fucked up
your story. Fuck you good.
Operator here but but. Yeah.
So you're going to slip and fall.
You might have to take a couple breaks and that's and that's
fine. Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
I see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah. When it's difficult, it's like,
(40:13):
you know, just take your time, but just keep going and.
And if you need to stop and reset, that's perfectly fine,
right? And that's something that I had
to accept as a civilian is that I didn't, I, I, I didn't always
have to be perfect or be the best, right, 'cause that's
something that was instilled forin US, right?
(40:34):
We had to be the best. Yeah.
Everyone had to be the best. Yeah.
Right. Yeah.
You had to destroy everything, right?
Yeah, It was. When we do our physical fitness
test, it wasn't. We don't know what the minimum
requirements are. You know what that Max score is
that we all expired to get that 300 PM team right?
(40:55):
And isn't funny. I like, I think about this like
in the Marine Corps, like if someone isn't more physically
capable than you, then they can never really talk shit to you.
Yeah. You know what I mean?
That's something that I really struggled with.
That's really something I reallystruggled with, 'cause you have
some dumb ass motherfucker, but just 'cause they're a little bit
(41:15):
faster than me and a little bit stronger than me.
They're better than me. I'm like, yeah, but.
What? And that's how isn't it funny,
is that's how the Marine Corps worries?
Yeah. If you're physically fit and
you're loud and intense, you'll go.
Yeah, you'll go. You'll be a sorry major, don't
worry. You don't, but you don't even
know your fucking left. To your right.
I don't know what's you can't even fucking read a compass.
(41:38):
You know how many times you don't know like the minimum?
I don't know it now, but you don't know like your weapon
system or the bullet velocity orthe fire rage.
You don't know any of that. But you're a fucking PT son.
So now you're a meritorious corporate and like.
I've been in formation. I've been in formation and I'm
(41:59):
just like annoyed, you know, it's fucking 1700.
They got us in like the third formation of the day.
It's Friday. We just want to go home.
And then I'm like, who the fuck is breathing like that?
And I look behind me. All right, guys, sorry.
We had some technical difficulties there, but but we
were talking about being in formation and just seeing a
(42:22):
mouth breather and just thinkinglike, God, this guy's an idiot.
What, like what did I do in lifefor him and I to be equal in
this world? You know, so definitely I, I, I
agree. And so, you know, in, in the
civilian sector, it's just very different.
It's a, it's a different world when, when I think about my kids
(42:42):
and if any of them want to go tothe military, I'm gonna push the
Air Force and like, and again, just because, dude, it's the
same pay. You're still serving your
country. You know?
Yeah, it's not as like, hardcoreand intense, but I think that
the Air Force does a much betterjob at transitioning their
(43:04):
people into the civilian world. I I don't know.
Do you have any knowledge or experience?
I don't. Have any experience with the Air
Force out of whatsoever? Just just so I all I know is
that just their overall quality of life is just a lot.
Better. A lot better.
In our experiences, yeah. So, yeah.
But I'm right there with if any of my kids want, especially if
any of my girls want to join, then I'm going to push them to
(43:27):
join the Air Force. Yeah, definitely.
So dude, one thing that I was I was interested in hearing from
you is what would be your message to the active duty
military service man or woman who's trying to get out and is
extremely nervous about getting out?
(43:47):
What would be your message of encouragement today?
My message to them is to really accept, accept who they are,
right? What does that mean?
Accept who they are, be comfortable with who you
currently are and seek improvement, right?
Because as you said, as you juststated, when you get out, the
civilian world is vastly different, right?
(44:11):
We don't have all the support that we do have in the military,
right? We don't.
And you're all on your own. No one's going to go out their
way to look after you. You know, people are a lot more
selfish, right? So just be comfortable with
yourself. And that's going to take you a
very long way, 'cause when you get out, you're going to doubt
(44:33):
yourself. You just go to doubt.
Yourself. Yeah.
Imposter syndrome. I I still struggle with that
everyday. You got it.
You got to doubt yourself. You're going to, you know what
I'm saying? So just be kind to yourself,
accept who you are, and then just keep trucking, right?
Use all, use all the skills thatyou've learned in all the
(44:54):
tangibles, the worked after the resiliency.
You know what I'm saying? Use all of that and imply to
whatever career you're in. But be OK with failing 'cause
you're gonna fail. Yeah, right.
Whereas in the military, we're taught failure is not an option,
right? At all.
Whatsoever is completely different.
Yeah, that's true. You're gonna fall.
(45:14):
You're gonna stumble a couple times, but be kind to yourself.
Be OK with that, yeah. And then just keep moving.
Nah from it. I love that dude, 'cause I think
that I think that learning how to, yeah, in the civilian
sector, like learn how to acceptfailure, 'cause it's, it's a
reality that's OK. In this world, in the, in the
(45:38):
military, if you want to do anything, there's a route,
right? It's like you want to be a drill
instructor. Well, you got to be a Sergeant.
Then you feel, you know, you gotto get your approval from your
command, your finance. Like, it's like anything you
want to do when you're in the military, there are steps to
accomplish it in the civilian sector.
You could just do it. You could just do it.
(45:59):
You just go and get it done. You can make your own path, you
can start your own thing. You know what I mean?
Like, people do it all the time.And that was one thing that was
really enlightening for me when I realized, like, there really
is, I was asking for advice like, hey, like, if I want to
get into geotechnical engineering, like, how do I do
(46:21):
it? And like, I was just getting all
sorts of different advice. And I realized, like, there's no
one path here. I could just do it.
I could just do it, you know? So yeah, for for those of you
listening, if you're a military veteran or, you know, a military
veteran, don't be scared. Take the leap.
Listen, you have to get out eventually.
(46:43):
So you do 25 years and get out and retire or you do four years
and get out. It don't matter.
Eventually you have to get out. Don't let that stop you.
Another thing that that I believe, Centron, and I'd like
to get your take on this, is that the suicide rate is high
(47:04):
because veterans get out and they think they want to just do
nothing. I want to get a house in the
woods and just get a dog and just smoke weed and chill.
And I think that those are the first ones that end up dealing
with the suicidal thoughts. Those thoughts are going to
come. I think that especially as
Marines, if you stood on the yellow footprints, boot camp
(47:27):
does a good job at waking up that war fighter inside of us.
And I think that once you wake up that war fighter, there
really is no putting that personto sleep and you need to
constantly feed that thing a battle.
But you in the civilian sector. I found myself reoriented,
reorienting my mind of like, OK,I got an exam today.
I'm a I'm a destroy this test. That test is the enemy.
(47:49):
I, I, I constantly charge the hill, but it was a different
hill that I was charged. And that helped me really get
through it. And even through the dark times
where I think a lot of veterans don't have a purpose anymore and
they feel empty and they feel lost.
And I think that war fighter inside of us turns on us, dude.
(48:10):
And I think that, you know, it'sa, it's a real ugly world.
I don't know. What are your thoughts on that?
I, I I. Agree with the last thing you
said about the purpose, right, about not having a purpose
anymore and turning off that switch, right, 'cause when we're
in that switch is always on 24/7, 'cause it has to be,
right? As we, as you just stated, we
(48:31):
have a purpose, we have a mission.
It is go, go, go, go, go, go, right?
And a lot of veterans struggle with turning that off, right?
Or like you said, reframing. Not everyone's able to reframe
it and redirect it to another mission, right?
Whether it's school, transitioning, a new job,
etcetera. But I, I, I, I truly believe
(48:56):
that it has a lot to do with identity, right, 'cause it's,
it's what we are 24/7, right? Where we're served, where we're
served, right? Look at it from this point when
we're in, we're told we're in civilian that tie regular
clothing is a privilege. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying? And then when we're technically
(49:18):
speaking, right when we're wearing civilian clothes, we
even taught how to dress, what'sthe proper civilian wear for?
You have to wear a belt. A belt.
You can't wear any shorts unlessthey are like khaki.
Shorts. It has to be a collared.
It has to be a collared shirt, it has to be tucked in.
You have to shave every day exactly to have a haircut.
(49:39):
And that's a that's technically proper civilian wear.
And it's and it's a privilege to.
And it's a privilege. And that's a privilege, right?
All that's gone. Yeah.
Right. So I really feel that veterans
struggle with refining their purpose, and they're just not
taught how to find their purpose.
Yeah. At all.
(49:59):
What's. So they're just lost, right?
They're just lost. And they don't know what to do
at all whatsoever. And then they just go back to
what they whatever they were doing before or they try and
self medicate with substances and alcohol.
And you know what I'm saying? This is downhill for them and
(50:20):
the lack of resources that are advertised, you know, and a lot
of, and another thing that I want to mention is asking for
help when you get out. Do not.
It's OK to ask for help, right? It's it.
We have to be comfortable with asking for help, right?
Where? When we're in?
What are we told to do? Figure it out?
(50:42):
Yeah, right. Figure that shit out.
You know what I'm saying? What?
What's that one story that everybody references where that
Lance Corporal had to? Message to Garcia.
Yeah, message to Garcia, Marine message to.
Garcia exactly Uh huh. When when when a young Marine is
(51:03):
giving a message is like deliverthis some Garcia.
Yeah. Who the fuck is Garcia?
Yeah, right. Yeah.
And that's when you get out. Who the fuck is Garcia?
Yeah. What is the message?
Right. What is the new mission?
And they struggle with that 'cause like you said, we're
tired to figure shit out. Yeah, right.
Yeah. And it's just we're not giving
(51:23):
the resources initially, unfortunately, until it's too
late or until we hit a mental health, you know what I'm
saying? Yeah, uh huh.
So yeah. Well, anyways, dude, thank you
so much for coming on today, bro.
I think that that's, I think we're close to time where can
people find you if they want to reach out and and I mean any,
(51:44):
any last thing you want to talk about it all.
Oh yeah, So you can find me on social media.
My first name is Claude, last name St.
Charles, spell it, spell it. Claude, last name CINTRON.
That's my Facebook. My Facebook is public.
Public coming soon. I'm like I said, I'm starting my
(52:05):
own gym. It's called Body Mind Fitness.
It's what's it double conundra. A double.
Conundra. Yeah.
So it's called Body Mind FitnessAnd the goal?
Our new mission is to turn service members, veterans back
into the bad ass motherfuckers that we are.
Hell yeah. So yeah, BMF coming soon.
We'll be out there in Socal and then, yeah, that's about it.
(52:28):
I'd love to. I'd love to have you on one of
my interviews. So yeah, whenever the time
comes, bro, I'd love to do it. I'd love to do it.
Let's thank you so much, dude. Let's.
We're probably gonna hang out a little bit and drink some more
beer. So yeah, thanks a lot, guys.
Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next week.
(53:08):
Music.
You ever wonder what is the truth?
Three things cannot be long headed, the sun, the moon and
the truth. All right, guys, welcome to
(00:34):
Point Blank Troop episode 56. Now this is a little bit
different, OK, we're going to start doing a segment that we're
going to call veterans talk. A lot of times when you hear
veterans on podcast, they talk about how much of A war fighter
than they were and all these crazy war stories.
And to be honest, most of us arejust regular guys who did go to
(00:57):
war and now we're out and we're trying to just deal with the
normal stressors of life. A lot of us aren't war heroes.
We don't have 8 combat action ribbons and three Purple Hearts.
So I think in the veteran community, I know for myself it
was very difficult, the transition from Marine to the
civilian world. And when you're in the military,
(01:18):
you're only getting advice from people who also have never been
out of the military, and they tell you all these nightmare
things. There's no work out there, Don't
get out. It's crazy.
So I want to provide content where I talk to military
veterans who got out, talk abouttheir transition and people who
are extremely successful today in whatever career path they
(01:40):
chose to go. So these segments we will get
once a month and it will be Veterans Talk.
So this is segment one of Veterans Talk.
And our guest that we have todayis a good friend of mine.
We go way back. Mr. Claude Cintron, how are you,
Sir? Doing good man, doing good.
Definitely happy to be here. Definitely happy and feel
(02:01):
blessed to be your first guest for this segment.
So I appreciate that. Thank you for the honors.
Yeah, of course there. You know, I thought that you
were the best person to have as the first guest just because of
the career path you chose after the Marine Corps.
I also know that you had a crazylife before the Marine Corps.
(02:24):
You joined the Marine Corps. You went from the air wing.
You went and then you went to infantry.
And you, you deployed as an infantryman, correct?
Yeah. So, yeah, I, I I feel like
you're the perfect guy. So let, let's start, man.
Talk to us about who you are, where you're from, and what it
is you do now. I like that.
(02:45):
I like that. I, I like to begin from the
beginning, like you said, right,Originally I'm from the South
Bronx of New York. You know, my story is very
similar to people that grew up, that I grew up around with, grew
up on Section 8 public housing and then join the Marine Corps
during the Marine Corps, really just to get an opportunity to
(03:08):
get out from where I came from, right?
I graduated, I graduated high school on a Thursday and I went
to boot camp that very Sunday. So there was no gaps.
Joined the Marine Corps and grewup in the Marine Corps.
Now I have eight years in the mental health field.
I'm a I'm a graduate student working on working on my masters
(03:28):
and doctorates and family therapy and Yup.
Hell, yeah, man. So talk to me a little bit about
brother. I want to know.
Let's talk about your time in the Marine Corps.
Let's focus on that a little bit, man.
How many years did you do? I did 8 years, you did 8.
Whenever, whenever someone asks me how do I describe my time in
(03:50):
the Marine Corps, I always say it was the best, the best and
worst times of my life, Right, 'cause growing up in the South
Bronx, I really didn't have any structure, didn't really have a
sense of family. I'm adopted and, and always knew
it and I kind of always felt that way.
So I didn't really have a sense of family, a sense of belonging.
(04:11):
And the Marine Corps gave me that, right.
As you know, the Marine Corps isvery big on commodity, having
one mentality, you know, one fight, one mission, all that
good stuff. So the Marine Corps gave me
that. So that's why I really
appreciate that from. But as you know, there's always
a lot of with it as well. Yeah.
So just managing both. Yeah, totally.
(04:34):
And by the way, we we're sippinga little bit on the podcast.
Cheers, bro. Cheers.
I asked you what your drink was.You said 805.
So I hope, I hope they're cold enough for you.
Oh. No, it's perfect, perfect,
perfect. All right, man.
So you know, you and I, we were in the air wing together when we
first came in basically like thefirst half of our time in the
(04:56):
Marine Corps, we were we well maybe not even maybe like the
first quarter, like the 1st 25% of our time we were together.
I never really even talked to you about like what it, what was
it that made you lap move? What was it that made you switch
from being AOS Aviation operations specialist to
(05:21):
infantrymen? Honestly, I never wanted to be.
I always wanted to be a grunt for the jump.
But if I'm being completely transparent, completely honest,
my mother didn't want to sign the contract for infantry.
My recruiter made me a deal. He was like, Hey, man, just
signed this. It was like legal admin, 'cause
my mother thought I was going tobe like a lawyer in the Marine
Corps or something like that. And he was like, hey, once you
(05:43):
get in there, try and lap move. I tried to lap move in boot
camp. They told me no.
I tried to lap move in MCT. They told me no.
I tried to fail out in MOS school.
I don't know if you remember that in MOS school.
And they told me, hey, if you fell out, you're going to get
kicked out. And I was like, oops.
So that that didn't work out. So once I hit that two year
(06:05):
mark, that 2, 2 1/2 year mark, I'll put in a real estate
package to lap move and I finally got my wish to be a
grunt. Yeah.
So what was that like? So when you when you you, you
went from the air wing to be an infantryman.
What did that transition look like?
Oh. It was a huge culture shock,
man. It was probably one of the
second biggest culture shocks inmy life.
(06:27):
The first one coming from New York, the first one coming from
New York into California. It was a huge culture shock.
It's just, you remember how the air wing was?
Yeah. Super laid back.
You talk to officers and NC OS like it's nothing.
Shit in the in the infantry, if you're a senior lounge Corp,
you're damn near a Sergeant in the air wing, you know?
(06:51):
So it was just a lot more discipline, a lot more
structure. But what?
Rank were you when you did that?I was a Lance.
I was, I was, I was a Lance, OK?I was Lance.
I had a just for transparency, Ihad a little bit too much fun in
the Marine Corps. So yeah, I was just, we're being
(07:14):
honest, man. You know how I was.
I was a wild dude. I did a lot of stupid shit.
I was very immature. I remember, Yeah.
I mean, we both were. We both were.
Yeah. Yeah.
But you were a lot more mature than I was.
Yeah, he was a lot more mature. I was a wild kid just.
Yeah. So I was, I was a Lance when I
reenlisted. And then, yeah.
(07:35):
And it was just it was a huge culture shock, but it was
everything that I wanted. But I honestly, I wish, I wish I
I wish I would have had the opportunity to do it from the
job, just cuz how vastly different the cultures was.
Yeah. And just cuz how my body was
during that time. I see, Yeah.
So yeah, it was much more difficult for you to go cuz you
(07:56):
cuz you had the lap move and then you had to go to to ITB
right? Had to go to infantry training.
I had to go to Soy. Yeah.
I had to go to, I had to go to SOY.
And I had to deal with, I had todeal with the stigma of being
the Pope to a grunt. Yeah.
And I had to prove myself all over again.
(08:17):
Right. And you Remember Me?
I was a hot head growing up. Yeah.
So just, you know what I'm saying, dealing with that,
dealing with my own identity, myidentity vastly changing, which
we'll talk about I'm sure later in the morning, later in the
podcast, how how important identity is when you're in and
when you get out. Yeah.
(08:37):
But yeah, just dealing with all of that, having to reprove
myself, show people that, you know, I do belong here.
I am worth it. Yeah, so here you are.
You're this young kid from the Bronx, you know, coming from
like the gutter, you know what Imean?
And struggling. And you join the Marine Corps
(08:58):
and you end up joining the air wing.
And then you want to get in the fight and you want to be an
infantryman. And as soon as you get the
opportunity to do that, you lap move, you go, you become an
infantryman. And now you're struggling with
being, you know, you're a Lance Corporal, but you're still a
Pogue and this and that. And then when you got to your
(09:19):
unit, from the time you got to your unit to your first
deployment, how long was that? It was I lap moved in 2000,
2011, 2012 and deployed 2013. So it was it was pretty quick.
It was a pretty quick turn around.
Yeah. So, yeah, yeah.
(09:39):
Well, and what was that like foryou man, being out there for?
The people that don't know what a MU is, is a Marine Exposition
unit. You're basically a contingency
force on the ship. Which MU did you go to?
The 13th. The 13th.
MU Yeah, yeah. What?
What countries did you guys? To all the way in the Middle
East, so Dubai, Kuwait, Singapore, Dukem, Oman and those
(10:03):
around the countries. Yeah, yeah, I see.
I see. Yeah.
So I was with for one Ford. Our nickname was 1 Ford, No War.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
'Cause we were the first, one ofthe first battalions to
transition from dirt deploymentsto to peacetime.
I see. So, yeah.
So. Yeah, we got.
So it's just the just by chance,but also man, thank God, 'cause
(10:24):
who knows, you know what the outcome would have been.
You know what I mean? Yeah.
I'm, I'm happy you bring that upbecause 'cause as eager as I was
to get into the fight, I know a lot of people that deployed and
they're not the same at all whatsoever.
And you just don't know how it'sgoing to affect you.
Yeah, you really, really don't know.
(10:46):
I remember people that I served in book that that I, that I was
with in boot camp, hard asses, same places that I came from,
you know what I'm saying? Went to deployed, had multiple
deployments over overseas Afghanistan and they're just not
the same man. They're still struggling to this
(11:07):
day. And it's like, and now me
working in the mental health field, my insight, it's a lot
greater into what that really does to you.
And it's so it's, it's like a, it's like a blessing in
disguise. As I call it right?
As eager as we want to deploy, Imean you got the opportunity.
Yeah, yeah. But.
As eager as I wanted to actuallydeploy and be in a fight, like I
(11:30):
said, it's a blessing in disguise because who knows how
it would have impacted. Me, yeah, yeah.
And I think that's the biggest thing, right?
It's like it's chance, dawg. It's, I mean, it's total chance,
you know, it depends what unit you go to, you know what job
you're doing. But like.
Especially during the time that we were in 'cause it was hit or
miss. It was either you were still
deploying or you were peacetime.Yeah.
(11:54):
You know, back right before us, it was no, you're getting pumped
out. Yeah, every, every time.
When we came in, if you didn't have a deployment, you were
almost like looked down on. Yes, exactly.
You know what I mean. It's like how, how, how are you
a, a even, how are you a corporal?
How are you an NCO with no deployment?
(12:15):
Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, 'cause 'cause we gotin during that, 'cause we, we
came in in 2008 and it was like our NC OS were old school
Marines, but technically we werelike the new Gen.
Marines. But our NC OS, our leaders were
the old school hard asses. Yeah, that had multiple
deployments, had seen stuff likethat.
(12:35):
So. You know, what's interesting is,
and I, I, I kind of talk about this a lot, I feel like we were
so blessed to receive the leadership that we did.
Like thinking about it, like ourdrill instructors, our
sergeants, all those guys were like in the invasion of
Fallujah, the first invasion of Iraq.
Although a, a lot of those guys,like, didn't join during a time
(12:59):
of war, but they were quickly forced into it, you know, And
yeah, they have a different level of experience.
I mean, it's, it's hard. It's hard to explain.
Their perspective is a lot different.
Yeah. Because a lot of them didn't
join to fight, right? Yeah.
Or not, nothing. Let me reframe that now that
(13:21):
they didn't fight, that they didn't know they were going to
fight. Yeah.
Whereas in like us, we knew thatwe're more likely going to or
have the opportunity. They were chilling, doing
whatever they were doing. And next you know it, 911
happens and then they're gettingpushed out.
And, and, and like to add to that, it's like they were
(13:41):
patrolling in regular Humvees. There were no up armored
vehicles. When they hit an IED, everybody
died. You know, I mean it, you know,
you're burning alive. You know, it's like it was just
that it was just a very intense different world.
So I always feel like I'm, I'm very blessed to have those men
and women as my leaders, especially when I was going into
(14:03):
Afghanistan. You know, that's something that
I think about a lot because. Because that's the generation
that molded us. Yeah.
That's the generation that made us the men we are today, in my
opinion. Yeah, and, and, and I love that
you say that because, oh, it's my telling in my career, it
changed drastically, right as you, I don't know if you ever
(14:25):
managed it became a lot PC became a lot more political.
Yeah. And we saw the climate change
drastically from when we first joined towards the tail end of
our career. And they're just like, it's a
whole different core. Yeah, the Marine, the Marine
Corps was cut in a lot of those war fighters that were respected
because they weren't the best, you know, civilian Marines, You
(14:49):
know, they were getting Duis andgetting in trouble, you know, so
it was. But, but also it was 'cause as
you, as you know, there's a popular quote for us, right?
We're not, we're not, we're not needed, we're wanted, right?
We're told that from the jump, right?
The Army does everything the Marine Corps can do and all the
branches and everything. But what makes it special is
(15:10):
that we're the efficiency in which we do things, in which we
accomplish our missions, how we go about it, right?
And then our public appearance. So when there's no, when we're
in peace time, it's a whole different mission, right?
So now you'll need a whole different perspective and
leadership. So it's they're no longer
(15:33):
congruent, right with the with the current climate.
So it changes drastically, Yeah.But I feel yeah.
So talk to me a little bit aboutwhen you decided it was time to
get out of the Marine Corps and like, what was your thought
process? What did that look like for you?
(15:53):
What were people telling you? Talk to me a little.
Bit about it, I'm being transparent.
I didn't want to get out right? I, I really, I, I wanted, I
wanted, I wanted to be a careerist, right?
But it just didn't happen that way, right.
So 2000, I got out in 2016 and not that I was scared, I just
(16:16):
didn't know. Could you go to tap for temps?
And for the casual listener thatdoesn't know what that's not
familiar with Murray military terms, tap for temps is a two
week period in which you have totransition, right?
You go to classes, but during those classes you all you're
doing is resume building, resumebuilding, learning how to
(16:38):
interview, all that good. Stuff and they bring people in
from companies, they tell you like we're hiring military
people and yeah, you know, man, I don't know, 'cause they send
all Marines for, for the listeners, they send all Marines
to this transitional school. It's like, it's like a week,
right? It's like a week or two.
Yeah, like, like it might be. I think it's two weeks, Two
(17:00):
weeks sounds. But it's a week.
Yeah, it's a week. Or. 2 And I'm sure it's
improved. I'm sure it's improved so I'm
not trying to bash it, but it did not prepare me dawg.
At all whatsoever. It did not prepare me.
And it was just like, you know, we got to do a better job at
preparing our, our, our, our warfighters to get out and be
(17:22):
civilians. Because you know that for me,
that was the biggest thing was like, you had a family when you
got out, right? And like, I had just started my
family and I didn't know what toexpect.
Dude, I don't know. I don't I don't know what I need
to do or what's going on. I don't know how insurance works
(17:42):
or how like everything was takencare of for me in the Marine
Corps. Like when I did my taxes, I just
did it on base at at Vita, You know what I mean?
Like I healthcare, like they told, they came and told me,
hey, you got to go to dental. You know what I mean?
Exactly. Yeah, You know, hey.
Lining up for shots, Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
You're like, I got to go. I got to go.
(18:02):
To we don't even know what the fuck we got, Yeah.
Yeah, we just lined. We literally lined up.
Yeah, I tell people all the time, I got the flu shot like 4
times in one year sometime. He's like, dude, you're on the
hit list for the flu shot. I did it last week.
You're like, you're still on thehit list.
Sorry. You're like, all right.
Once you turn 21, you got your wisdom teeth put out.
(18:25):
Yeah, no, they didn't touch mine.
They still got mine, Yeah. Yeah, no, I'll hold a whole.
Yeah, I'll hold once I turn 21. My whole company, every boom.
But immediately. But you know, The thing is like
when when I got out, it was a terrifying experience for me,
(18:47):
man. And like, it took me two years,
easily two years to really kind of like get used to what life
looked like, you know, and, and even then I was in college.
So then when I got out of college, now I got to look for
work. That was a, that was another
(19:07):
transition that I had to like adjust to.
And, you know, veterans strugglea lot, dude, you know, the
suicide raid is, is through the roof.
And, and I don't know what, what's your opinion on what is
it that you think needs to change to help our veterans
transition? Well, let's look at it.
(19:29):
Let's look at it from a macro level, right?
When you're in the Marine Corps,right?
Or in in the service, right? But when you're in the service,
you're given an identity, right?You're told, like we talked
about, you're told what to do, when to do it, how to do it,
right? You know who you are as an
individual and there's no wiggleroom, right?
And that's especially true in the Marine Corps, especially in
(19:50):
the infantry, because you have to have one mentality.
So everyone's on the same page. Everyone knows how to act right?
And the people around you, they become family, right?
What, what, what will happen if I just took your kids away from
you, your wife away from you, and then I moved you to
Arkansas? What would What would happen to
(20:12):
you? I would.
I would have to adapt to that. I mean, you would have to adapt,
but I'd be stressed. You'd be stressed, right?
And if no one taught you how, right, you, you would just you'd
be a you'd be, you'd be a, a fish on dry lat, right?
Just flapping around. Yeah, right.
So what happens is especially inthe Marine Corps, right.
(20:34):
That's it. I, I emphasize the Marine Corps
only because if you look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and
you look at the average age of aMarine, it's the, it's the
youngest compared to all right to.
Really. Service, yes, the average age is
like 20 to 21, right? And you're talking about active
duty Marine? Active duty.
Marine the average age is 20 to 21, and that's the youngest of
(20:56):
all the branches. Yep, it's early 20s, right?
And it's the, it's the youngest of all the branches, right?
You, as you may or may not know,your brain is not even fully
developed until you're 25, right?
Your prefrontal cortex, your prefrontal cortex is controlled
of the emotional regulation and your personality, right?
So that's not even fully developed, right.
(21:18):
So that gets the so let's say ifyou do four years, right,
192122, you're 22 years old, right?
And now you're stripped of your identity of who you are and in
the Marine. And then the military doesn't,
doesn't as much training as theyinvest into you to make you to
this warfire, to make you into this weapon, right?
(21:40):
Cuz we're taught our, our bodies, our mind is a weapon,
right? And for a lot of us, that's
especially true cuz in order to go forward, deploy and pull that
trigger, you have to have a certain mentality to pull that
trigger and then move on with your life, right?
The average person cannot do that unless they have the
training. So you invest all this time to,
(22:02):
to form a weapon and then you kick them out.
You don't teach them interpersonal skills.
You don't teach them communication skills.
You don't teach them about separation anxiety, anxiety,
PTSD, depression. Because, well, that's all
bullshit in the Marine Corps. Suck it up.
Exactly, Exactly right. Exactly.
All what? What?
What do they tell you? Change your socks, Drink water.
Yeah, right. You're sick.
(22:23):
Change your socks, Drink water. Yeah, right.
But that's it's it's not consistent when you get out.
Right. Yeah, and then I hope I'm not
hogging it. I want to tell this quick story.
No, no, no, dude. This is your episode, dude.
You're the guest. I wonder, I wonder, I'm not
going to say his name, but I know a young Marine, right?
(22:44):
A young Marine. He was a guy under me, right?
He gets out, he does his, he does 4 years, gets out and he
calls me and he's like, hey, Cintron, guess what?
I'm like, hey, what's up, dude? He's like, I just got out of
jail and I'm like, hey, what thefuck happened?
And he's like, oh, I went to a bar.
I got drunk, you know, he said, I drink a little bit too much,
(23:05):
put my car keys in my my backpack.
And I was just like, fuck it. I was just going to rock it
home. I was like, how, you know,
typical, like vet and stuff, right?
He said he goes outside the bar,see a bunch of group of three or
four guys arguing, just talking shit to each other, right?
So he jumps in, starts talking shit with them.
He's like, yeah, yeah, I just wanted to talk shit like we used
(23:26):
to do in the Marine Corps. They jumped him right, But he,
but he says he emphasized that he beat one of them up really
bad and he was the one that got arrested.
In his head. He really felt like he did
nothing wrong 'cause how do we play and interact in the in the
in the service? We all fuck around.
We all, you know what I'm saying?
(23:46):
We all joke around and stuff like that.
No one. Especially when you're drunk,
like, you know, like shit talking and getting a little
rough. You remember our barracks, You
remember our barracks, Bras. The whole barracks would be on
it. It it'll, it'll be like four or
five different rooms just. Fighting.
Yeah, just. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, we've got even. Into that shit sometimes.
(24:08):
Exactly. Right.
But it's how we interacted, right?
Yeah. No one teaches you.
That's consistent. No one teaches you that's not
appropriate as a civilian. So he's, he's stuck in that mind
state. Cause like I, like I said, we
emphasize so much on building this identity, this weapon, but
we don't do any, we don't even do 1/4 or 1/3 investment into
(24:34):
transition you back. So that's why you have these
veterans that get out and they struggle.
Yeah, right, 'cause they don't have the adequate skills to be a
civilian, right? Yeah.
And they don't have the resources.
A lot of resources also, as you,as you, as you know, if you
experience, it's the word of mouth.
We had a conversation earlier and I was like, hey, when you
(24:56):
get that 100%, your wife qualified your Diablo.
Yeah. And you were like, hey, what?
You know what I'm saying? Why is that exactly a lot of the
resources I know of word of mouth.
Why is this not advertised? Right, Right.
When I was going through what I was.
Going through 'cause it's not beneficial to, to the system
and, and, and what a lot of whatpeople don't know is that when
veterans get out and you try to do your disability claim is the
(25:18):
VA does everything they can to just give you the minimum.
Yeah, they lowball you yeah, 100.
And like, not to get on my soapbox for a second, but this
really fucking bothers me because like, you know, I'm, I'm
back in it where I'm where I'm pushing back on my, my rating.
And I'm working with an organization and they sent me
(25:38):
this questionnaire, dude. And like, he was like, just
answer it honestly. And I answered it honestly.
And it's like, bro, I'm looking at my answers.
I'm like, damn, bro, I am fuckedup.
Exactly. This is crazy.
Like one of the questions is like, do you have like, do you
have visions or hallucinations? And like, yeah, bro, yeah.
And you know what? I went to the VA about it and I
(26:00):
went to therapy at the VA. And you know, instead of like
saying like, hey dude, we got toup your rating because you're
dealing with this. They basically made me download
like this app to help me walk through my like my thought
process, like, is this actually happening?
No, how realistic is this not realistic?
You know, And it's like they taught me how to cope while low
(26:23):
balling me my disability rating.And it just pisses me off 'cause
like you said something earlier about going out when you go to
war and you come back and you'renot the same dog.
My family will never get the truest, best version of me.
I can't go to Costco without being uncomfortable.
(26:43):
I can't be in crowded places without being And like, that's
just period. When I'm with my family amplify
that times 12, you know, when I'm with my four kids and my 4
kids, my 2 year old, my wife, like I am not, I am like on high
alert, dawg. I am in the orange or the red.
Like I, I'm not locked into what's going on.
I'm looking around, I'm scanningthe room, I'm looking at exits,
(27:06):
I'm watching people and like, and The thing is that the, the
crazy thing is, is like, you know, I have all my limbs, you
know what I mean? I, I wasn't in firefights every
day. I was on patrols.
Yeah. But like, so it's like there's
veterans who have been through really extreme crazy things.
(27:27):
And another thing you you talkedabout was like, you have to have
a certain mindset to pull the trigger and then just move on.
Like, yeah, bro, like the issue that I'm having now is that that
mindset's gone for me, dawg. You know, I'm not a war fighter
anymore. I'm a dad.
So like all those things still sit with me, the things I did
(27:49):
and the things I saw and the that like, you know, like dead
little kids. Like that fucks with me, bro.
Every day. There isn't a day that goes by
where like it doesn't impact me negatively.
And it just bothers me that the resources that we have, like you
said, things aren't advertised and it's word of mouth.
(28:13):
And whenever I meet a veteran orI see a veteran, I try to just
engage with them, talk to him. Now I see a dude with the like
Vietnam veteran have like, thankyou, Sir, thank you for your
service. I just talked to them because I
can't like, I don't know what they're going through and what
their experiences. And it just makes me really sad,
bro. And that's kind of why I wanted
to do these segments and talk about this shit because, you
(28:35):
know, like, I'm not a, I'm not awar fighter anymore, dawg.
I'm a dad. And the things that I did and
the things that I saw and the things that I experienced still
impact me today. And it makes me a, a weaker
version of a dad, a lesser version of a dad of a husband.
And, you know, and, and I struggle like every other vet,
you know, So I know that you arevery experienced in this world
(29:00):
because you went and you got your, your degree.
Talk to me a little because I don't think we, we spoke to the
listeners yet about, about, you know, the, the authority you
have to actually speak on these topics.
So when you got out of the Marine Corps, what is it that
you got your degree in and and what are you, what are you doing
now? So when I got out the Marine
Corps, I got my undergraduate inpsychology, right, basic
(29:23):
psychology. And now I have about 6 months
left and so I'm done with my done with my graduate, my
masters in marriage, family, couples and family therapy.
And then after that I'll be fulltime in my doctorate program for
marriage and family therapy, right.
So marriage and family therapy is not we in my program.
(29:47):
We not just so in my program, what we do is and what gives me
a lot of insight to understand what we've been through on a
higher and more deeper level is that MFTS, that's the acronym.
So that's what we're just calledit moving for M, it's MFTS.
We look at things at a systemic level.
(30:07):
What does that mean? So if you were to come into
therapy, right, Danny, Hey, where did we, we, we look at you
as an entire person, but also your surroundings, right?
Your environment, what's your relationship with your family,
your kids, your wife, your background, your culture.
We take every social aspect of you and we take that in
(30:28):
consideration to do therapy, right?
Does that make sense? So that's, that's what that's
how I look at therapy. That's how I perform therapy.
So, right, so I've worked in thefield for eight years at
different capacities. I've started my mental health
career working in the ER at Tri-City Hospital, worked at a,
(30:53):
it's called AIMD. It's like what you think of a
stereotypical psych ward is right?
I worked there, we moved to Florida, did a brief stint in
Florida in which I worked at a, it's a do a diagnosis substance
use treatment, so people struggling with addiction.
Did that for a year and then I worked in as a clinical case
(31:16):
manager doing therapy and case management with the homeless
population in the downtown San Diego.
I did that for four years. Yeah, I remember you talking
about that. I did that for four years, going
out into the communities work, you know, going out to the
homeless communities working, yeah, introducing them to
(31:36):
resources while doing individual, their counseling,
sorry, counseling with them. And now I'm actually doing
individual. I work at a outpace.
It's another county funding program and I'm doing individual
therapy with kids that with medical.
So I don't know how to be. It's like if you're a medical,
(32:01):
then you know, you know what I'msaying?
If you're a medical, low income families, yeah.
Doing individual therapy with kids.
So I see kids anywhere. My right now my case, so it's
about 10 and I see kids that have severe anxiety, depression,
PTSD actually, and spectrum, so autism and all the other
spectrum disorders. So I feel like I'm very well
(32:23):
versed, but I'm also very humblein my career.
I still know I have a lot to go to, a lot of growth to do and
I'm actually in the process of opening up a gym for for of
veterans, service members and 1st responders in which it's
going to be a gym. But at the gym, when you come to
(32:47):
the gym, part of your package isto get individual counseling and
group, individual therapy and group therapy.
So the goal is to build, to teach to like we've kind of been
talking about, right? Learning those soft skills,
learning those communication skills, learning those
interpersonal skills that you don't learn when you get out in
order to reduce the suicide rates and just help veterans,
(33:11):
first responders to manage theiremotions and all that other good
stuff. That's that's my spiel.
Where? Nah that Nah, that's dope bro.
So what? Where are you?
Looking at opening up this gym like for for veterans that.
North County. North North county, San.
Diego, North, North County, yeah, like the Oceanside caused
that area just cause Camp Huntington, the biggest base
(33:34):
that the Marine Corps has and just dish that area.
I just love North County. Yeah, we're looking at North
County, possibly San Diego as well, 'cause you.
Well, Southern California in general has I, I, I want to go
as far as to say, and please Fact Check me on this, it has
the biggest veteran population in the nation.
(33:54):
Yeah, it's just. Cause yeah, I think, I think
you're, I think California. California in general.
Largest veteran did. You think about California as a
landmass is so huge, Yeah, we have so many bases across the
different services. Yeah, right.
You shit, Look at Coronado. Yeah, Coronado was huge for the
Navy and stuff like that. So yeah.
(34:16):
That's dope, man. What, what was it that?
Well, that's a loaded question. Was it, was it your military
service and your experience? And like, 'cause like, for
example, everything, I just kindof like, I poured my Howard out
a little just now I got emotional.
But I've had this conversation with you in person over the
phone. I've talked to you about the
things that I, I kind of struggle with.
(34:39):
Was it that that made you want to do this, just knowing that
veterans are struggling and you want to help out where you can,
or was it your experience? Like what was it that was like?
I think this is what I want. To do, honestly, if I'm being
completely transparent, I didn'twant to work with veterans at
all whatsoever. I was like, no, I don't want to
do it. I was like, I don't want to do
it. I didn't want it.
I didn't want to do it. But it wasn't until I got into
(35:02):
my own mental health journey andI increased my insight into why.
Why does Claude not want to workwith veterans?
And when I sat down with myself and the therapy were recorded
counter transference. Have you?
Are you familiar? With Nah, Nah, Nah.
Counter transference is when let's say you and I are sitting
down in it in this session, right?
(35:24):
And let's say, let's say something that you do that
triggers an emotional response from me.
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's called countertransference, right?
So it wasn't until I did my own deep dive and was just like,
whoa, where is this coming from?Right.
And then, and then I was able tosit down, process it and work on
(35:46):
it. And I was able to overcome that,
right? And it was like we talked about
the, the, the sense of identity of fulfillment and stuff like
that. So once I worked on this and
then my perceptive change and I was like, who, who's, and I'm
not going to be bragdocious, butwho better to support veterans
(36:07):
than myself? I have a lot of personal lived
experience. I did 8 years in a Marine Corps.
I did my, I struggled when I first got out like you did, you
know what I'm saying? And I, I did everything that I
was supposed to be doing. I went to therapy, I did the
work and and then I felt I fell in love again with myself and my
(36:29):
community. Yeah, the veterans service
community. And that motivated me now to
provide back to my community andgive back.
So let me ask you, how long has it been since you got out?
I got it in 2016. I'm horrible at math, that's why
I'm a therapist. So nine years.
So you got. So you got out nine years ago.
OK, When you got out, did you see yourself where you are now
(36:55):
or or did you just say I'm goingto take this path and just see
where it takes me? I always know that I wanted to
work with. So initially when I got out and
it was, it became permanent right when I knew I wasn't going
to go back in. I, I initially wanted to be a
forensic psychologist. I'd tell everyone I love Laura,
(37:17):
know the SVU and I wanted to be the the the the Asian dude that
did the interviews and stuff like that.
Yeah, I know who you're talking about.
I don't remember his name though.
I wanted to be him. I wanted to do, I wanted to be a
forensic psychologist. And it wasn't until I moved back
from Florida to California untilI met other therapy and I
(37:42):
started working with the county and I started working with other
therapists that I was like, oh, I want to be a therapist now.
Right. So initially I wanted initially
my goal in life, my goal in lifeis still to help at risk
teenagers, but it it shifted to veterans and service members to
(38:05):
as my primary focus. Does that make sense?
Yeah, yeah. Tell me if I bounce.
Around no, no, no, it's fine. It's fine.
I'm just because, you know, the one thing that I, I, I would
like these veteran talk segmentsto do is to maybe a, a military
person, a service member who's considering getting out to hear
(38:27):
and understand. Like the path isn't, it's not
black and white. No, you know, it's, it's if you
have an idea like just just takeactions towards that and, and
things will evolve, you know? Life isn't linear.
Life is not a straight line, right?
It's, it's, you're going to bounce between, you're going to
(38:49):
take a couple steps back. I I another metaphor that I like
using is a mountain, right when you're hiking up a mountain or,
or let's say, oh, let's, let's do a little, let's, let's make
it more personable. If you're hiking on a trail, how
many trails have you hiked that were just easy?
Most of them. Most of them, yeah.
(39:09):
You never hiked on the trail. That was kind of like difficult
or. Something I mean, I have, but
most most of the hikes I've doneOK, yeah, but I have like only
like like mount motherfucker or the Reaper, you know, but I
don't I don't when I would go onhikes, I wouldn't choose to go,
you know, so. Sorry I forget who I'm talking
about. Daddy used to be a stud, used to
(39:32):
wake up and run a 300 PMT 1-3 miles in like 2 minutes just off
of 2 minutes of. Sleep, yeah.
Stop, but for the for the. Don't remind me, maybe.
For the average person, hiking is not easy, right?
Hiking is not easy. I don't know whatsoever.
OK, that's right. You're right.
(39:52):
You threw a you threw a situation at me and I fucked up
your story. Fuck you good.
Operator here but but. Yeah.
So you're going to slip and fall.
You might have to take a couple breaks and that's and that's
fine. Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
I see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah. When it's difficult, it's like,
(40:13):
you know, just take your time, but just keep going and.
And if you need to stop and reset, that's perfectly fine,
right? And that's something that I had
to accept as a civilian is that I didn't, I, I, I didn't always
have to be perfect or be the best, right, 'cause that's
something that was instilled forin US, right?
(40:34):
We had to be the best. Yeah.
Everyone had to be the best. Yeah.
Right. Yeah.
You had to destroy everything, right?
Yeah, It was. When we do our physical fitness
test, it wasn't. We don't know what the minimum
requirements are. You know what that Max score is
that we all expired to get that 300 PM team right?
(40:55):
And isn't funny. I like, I think about this like
in the Marine Corps, like if someone isn't more physically
capable than you, then they can never really talk shit to you.
Yeah. You know what I mean?
That's something that I really struggled with.
That's really something I reallystruggled with, 'cause you have
some dumb ass motherfucker, but just 'cause they're a little bit
(41:15):
faster than me and a little bit stronger than me.
They're better than me. I'm like, yeah, but.
What? And that's how isn't it funny,
is that's how the Marine Corps worries?
Yeah. If you're physically fit and
you're loud and intense, you'll go.
Yeah, you'll go. You'll be a sorry major, don't
worry. You don't, but you don't even
know your fucking left. To your right.
I don't know what's you can't even fucking read a compass.
(41:38):
You know how many times you don't know like the minimum?
I don't know it now, but you don't know like your weapon
system or the bullet velocity orthe fire rage.
You don't know any of that. But you're a fucking PT son.
So now you're a meritorious corporate and like.
I've been in formation. I've been in formation and I'm
(41:59):
just like annoyed, you know, it's fucking 1700.
They got us in like the third formation of the day.
It's Friday. We just want to go home.
And then I'm like, who the fuck is breathing like that?
And I look behind me. All right, guys, sorry.
We had some technical difficulties there, but but we
were talking about being in formation and just seeing a
(42:22):
mouth breather and just thinkinglike, God, this guy's an idiot.
What, like what did I do in lifefor him and I to be equal in
this world? You know, so definitely I, I, I
agree. And so, you know, in, in the
civilian sector, it's just very different.
It's a, it's a different world when, when I think about my kids
(42:42):
and if any of them want to go tothe military, I'm gonna push the
Air Force and like, and again, just because, dude, it's the
same pay. You're still serving your
country. You know?
Yeah, it's not as like, hardcoreand intense, but I think that
the Air Force does a much betterjob at transitioning their
(43:04):
people into the civilian world. I I don't know.
Do you have any knowledge or experience?
I don't. Have any experience with the Air
Force out of whatsoever? Just just so I all I know is
that just their overall quality of life is just a lot.
Better. A lot better.
In our experiences, yeah. So, yeah.
But I'm right there with if any of my kids want, especially if
any of my girls want to join, then I'm going to push them to
(43:27):
join the Air Force. Yeah, definitely.
So dude, one thing that I was I was interested in hearing from
you is what would be your message to the active duty
military service man or woman who's trying to get out and is
extremely nervous about getting out?
(43:47):
What would be your message of encouragement today?
My message to them is to really accept, accept who they are,
right? What does that mean?
Accept who they are, be comfortable with who you
currently are and seek improvement, right?
Because as you said, as you juststated, when you get out, the
civilian world is vastly different, right?
(44:11):
We don't have all the support that we do have in the military,
right? We don't.
And you're all on your own. No one's going to go out their
way to look after you. You know, people are a lot more
selfish, right? So just be comfortable with
yourself. And that's going to take you a
very long way, 'cause when you get out, you're going to doubt
(44:33):
yourself. You just go to doubt.
Yourself. Yeah.
Imposter syndrome. I I still struggle with that
everyday. You got it.
You got to doubt yourself. You're going to, you know what
I'm saying? So just be kind to yourself,
accept who you are, and then just keep trucking, right?
Use all, use all the skills thatyou've learned in all the
(44:54):
tangibles, the worked after the resiliency.
You know what I'm saying? Use all of that and imply to
whatever career you're in. But be OK with failing 'cause
you're gonna fail. Yeah, right.
Whereas in the military, we're taught failure is not an option,
right? At all.
Whatsoever is completely different.
Yeah, that's true. You're gonna fall.
(45:14):
You're gonna stumble a couple times, but be kind to yourself.
Be OK with that, yeah. And then just keep moving.
Nah from it. I love that dude, 'cause I think
that I think that learning how to, yeah, in the civilian
sector, like learn how to acceptfailure, 'cause it's, it's a
reality that's OK. In this world, in the, in the
(45:38):
military, if you want to do anything, there's a route,
right? It's like you want to be a drill
instructor. Well, you got to be a Sergeant.
Then you feel, you know, you gotto get your approval from your
command, your finance. Like, it's like anything you
want to do when you're in the military, there are steps to
accomplish it in the civilian sector.
You could just do it. You could just do it.
(45:59):
You just go and get it done. You can make your own path, you
can start your own thing. You know what I mean?
Like, people do it all the time.And that was one thing that was
really enlightening for me when I realized, like, there really
is, I was asking for advice like, hey, like, if I want to
get into geotechnical engineering, like, how do I do
(46:21):
it? And like, I was just getting all
sorts of different advice. And I realized, like, there's no
one path here. I could just do it.
I could just do it, you know? So yeah, for for those of you
listening, if you're a military veteran or, you know, a military
veteran, don't be scared. Take the leap.
Listen, you have to get out eventually.
(46:43):
So you do 25 years and get out and retire or you do four years
and get out. It don't matter.
Eventually you have to get out. Don't let that stop you.
Another thing that that I believe, Centron, and I'd like
to get your take on this, is that the suicide rate is high
(47:04):
because veterans get out and they think they want to just do
nothing. I want to get a house in the
woods and just get a dog and just smoke weed and chill.
And I think that those are the first ones that end up dealing
with the suicidal thoughts. Those thoughts are going to
come. I think that especially as
Marines, if you stood on the yellow footprints, boot camp
(47:27):
does a good job at waking up that war fighter inside of us.
And I think that once you wake up that war fighter, there
really is no putting that personto sleep and you need to
constantly feed that thing a battle.
But you in the civilian sector. I found myself reoriented,
reorienting my mind of like, OK,I got an exam today.
I'm a I'm a destroy this test. That test is the enemy.
(47:49):
I, I, I constantly charge the hill, but it was a different
hill that I was charged. And that helped me really get
through it. And even through the dark times
where I think a lot of veterans don't have a purpose anymore and
they feel empty and they feel lost.
And I think that war fighter inside of us turns on us, dude.
(48:10):
And I think that, you know, it'sa, it's a real ugly world.
I don't know. What are your thoughts on that?
I, I I. Agree with the last thing you
said about the purpose, right, about not having a purpose
anymore and turning off that switch, right, 'cause when we're
in that switch is always on 24/7, 'cause it has to be,
right? As we, as you just stated, we
(48:31):
have a purpose, we have a mission.
It is go, go, go, go, go, go, right?
And a lot of veterans struggle with turning that off, right?
Or like you said, reframing. Not everyone's able to reframe
it and redirect it to another mission, right?
Whether it's school, transitioning, a new job,
etcetera. But I, I, I, I truly believe
(48:56):
that it has a lot to do with identity, right, 'cause it's,
it's what we are 24/7, right? Where we're served, where we're
served, right? Look at it from this point when
we're in, we're told we're in civilian that tie regular
clothing is a privilege. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying? And then when we're technically
(49:18):
speaking, right when we're wearing civilian clothes, we
even taught how to dress, what'sthe proper civilian wear for?
You have to wear a belt. A belt.
You can't wear any shorts unlessthey are like khaki.
Shorts. It has to be a collared.
It has to be a collared shirt, it has to be tucked in.
You have to shave every day exactly to have a haircut.
(49:39):
And that's a that's technically proper civilian wear.
And it's and it's a privilege to.
And it's a privilege. And that's a privilege, right?
All that's gone. Yeah.
Right. So I really feel that veterans
struggle with refining their purpose, and they're just not
taught how to find their purpose.
Yeah. At all.
(49:59):
What's. So they're just lost, right?
They're just lost. And they don't know what to do
at all whatsoever. And then they just go back to
what they whatever they were doing before or they try and
self medicate with substances and alcohol.
And you know what I'm saying? This is downhill for them and
(50:20):
the lack of resources that are advertised, you know, and a lot
of, and another thing that I want to mention is asking for
help when you get out. Do not.
It's OK to ask for help, right? It's it.
We have to be comfortable with asking for help, right?
Where? When we're in?
What are we told to do? Figure it out?
(50:42):
Yeah, right. Figure that shit out.
You know what I'm saying? What?
What's that one story that everybody references where that
Lance Corporal had to? Message to Garcia.
Yeah, message to Garcia, Marine message to.
Garcia exactly Uh huh. When when when a young Marine is
(51:03):
giving a message is like deliverthis some Garcia.
Yeah. Who the fuck is Garcia?
Yeah, right. Yeah.
And that's when you get out. Who the fuck is Garcia?
Yeah. What is the message?
Right. What is the new mission?
And they struggle with that 'cause like you said, we're
tired to figure shit out. Yeah, right.
Yeah. And it's just we're not giving
(51:23):
the resources initially, unfortunately, until it's too
late or until we hit a mental health, you know what I'm
saying? Yeah, uh huh.
So yeah. Well, anyways, dude, thank you
so much for coming on today, bro.
I think that that's, I think we're close to time where can
people find you if they want to reach out and and I mean any,
(51:44):
any last thing you want to talk about it all.
Oh yeah, So you can find me on social media.
My first name is Claude, last name St.
Charles, spell it, spell it. Claude, last name CINTRON.
That's my Facebook. My Facebook is public.
Public coming soon. I'm like I said, I'm starting my
(52:05):
own gym. It's called Body Mind Fitness.
It's what's it double conundra. A double.
Conundra. Yeah.
So it's called Body Mind FitnessAnd the goal?
Our new mission is to turn service members, veterans back
into the bad ass motherfuckers that we are.
Hell yeah. So yeah, BMF coming soon.
We'll be out there in Socal and then, yeah, that's about it.
(52:28):
I'd love to. I'd love to have you on one of
my interviews. So yeah, whenever the time
comes, bro, I'd love to do it. I'd love to do it.
Let's thank you so much, dude. Let's.
We're probably gonna hang out a little bit and drink some more
beer. So yeah, thanks a lot, guys.
Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next week.
(53:08):
Music.
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