Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Multiple people in my family clean my father, are veterans, troops.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
That have been to war and now they're back and
think and be grateful for their service, sacrifice, love for
their country, just unselfishness, all that they do for us.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
There are some people in this country who take extraordinary
steps to provide for the freedom and security.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
We forget that those people exist. We know them as
the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. They
call themselves soldiers, seals, rangers, airmen, sailors, devil.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Dogs, and so much more.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
We call them fathers, brothers, sons and husbands, mothers, daughters,
sisters and wives. We call them friend and neighbor. These
veterans answered the call, now we answer theirs. They are
the best our country has to offer.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
And we love them.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Today, we honor them and we serve them. David Malsby
is your host, and he welcomes you to this community
of veterans, as together we are building the road to hope.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
And indeed we are glad to have you along. On
a Sunday afternoon on the kPr C nine five oh
on the AM dial here in Houston, Texas. Thank you
for joining us as you drive endlessly around Luke six
' ten. Thank you for choosing to listen to Road
to Hope Radio wherever you listen to podcasts. If you'll
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(01:47):
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(02:08):
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(03:13):
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glad to have a couple events in the studio with us.
We got Kenneth's back. Who Kenneth likes to smile and
not talk. We're gonna see if we can get him
to talk to day. Kenneth. How are we doing?
Speaker 4 (04:41):
I'm doing good today.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You want to remind the world who you are, where
you're from, where you serve that kind of wonderful thing.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yes, sir, my name is Kenneth Matthews. I'm from dun
North Carolina. I served in the Army National Guard out
of North Carolina for eight years. Deployed twice, once to
i Rag in two thousand and the second employment was
to Kuwait, Kyrkistan and Afghanistan and that was in twenty eleven,
(05:13):
twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
All right, great to have you back. Thank you, appreciate
you actually speaking words. That was good. Well, we also
have one of the gentlemen that's in our program at
Camp Hope right now. We'll talk a little bit about
that in the course of the show. But Rico, you
want to tell the world who you are, where you're from.
That kind of good thing.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
Okay, thank you. My name is Jesse Rico. I'm from Belvidere, Illinois.
I deployed with the one seventy second Striker Gay Combat
Team with Bravo Company one seventeen out of Fort Waynwright,
Alaska to Mozoul for a year, and then was extended
to Baghdad for ale was like four more months, and
(05:56):
I was infantryman slash mortarman. But yeah, now I'm residing Texas.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
To me again, where you were originally from?
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Belvidere, Illinois, right side right outside from Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yep, no of fence. But Chicago is just not my
favorite town in the world.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
You like it not too much?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, okay, well, thank you. Yeah, Like I've been there
a few times and I keep thinking there's gotta be
a draw because you know something's.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Good, the food's good. Well, that's about it.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
You're in Houston, so I don't need to hear about that.
We got food running out our ears around here. Good food.
But yeah, yeah, yeah, and I guess that's what I've heard.
And there's this one. I guess this pier or something
that's like all the weird people from out of state
go to, like, eh, tourist trap sounds it's like it's
(06:49):
like San Antonio's the riverwalks, like it's the last place
you should go. If you go to San Antonio, stay
far away from that. Uh so yeah, no fence, but yeah,
I've been there a few times. I keep them, where's
the h I don't I don't get it. That's okay, Yeah,
some people love it.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Some people are right, some people are wrong. It's just
it's just how it is. But you're in Houston now,
yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
How long kids? My kids resided San Antonio?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Okay, very cool.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Yeah, but I'm in Houston.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
How long have you been in Houston?
Speaker 5 (07:20):
Uh? Two years?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Okay? All right? What brought you to Houston?
Speaker 5 (07:25):
I came to the program the first time.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Okay, so that was what brought you the first time. Okay, okay,
all right, got you, all right, We're gonna take a
quick break. We wanna give you our phone number eight
seven seven seven one, seven seventy eight seventy three. That
is our combat Trauma support line. Eight seven seven seven
one seven seventy eight seventy three. A combat veteran will
answer the phone. A combat veteran will answer the phone anytime,
(07:49):
day or night. All right, We're gonna take a quick break.
Right back with more a road to Hoe Radio, and
we welcome you back road to Hope Radio. Glad to
(08:09):
have you along. We've got Kenneth, graduate of the program,
currently a staff member at the PTSD Foundation of America's
Interim Housing program we call Camp Hope here on the
north side of Houston. And we've got Rico, who originally
from Illinois, moved down here thankfully to the great state
(08:31):
of Texas and as currently a participant in our program
at Camp Hope. All right, So grew up in Illinois
outside of Chicago. Eventually joined the Army. Yes correct, out
of high school or the time in between.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
I was trying to get out of a lifestyle, got you,
that was mixed with gangs and stuff to Mexico, stay
with my grandma. I met a girl, got got her pregnant,
then I got married. So once my daughter was born,
I realized, you know, I had to make a change.
(09:12):
So there was an opportunity and I and I took
it all right.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
See, join the army and you were in how long? Again?
Speaker 5 (09:21):
I have five years?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Five years the infantry. What year did you join?
Speaker 5 (09:27):
Yeah, it was two thousand and one.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
One, so before nine to eleven.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
No, it was right after right after?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, okay, join the army. How long was it before
you deployed?
Speaker 5 (09:40):
Right after basic training? I got so quick. Yeah, I
went right to a unit. I was in Anchorage, Alaska,
and then they moved me to Fairbanks, Alaska with the
Bravo Company one seventeen.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
How long were you in Fairbanks?
Speaker 5 (09:55):
Eight years?
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (09:58):
Eight years?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yai. So I've been there once, but it was in July.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
Training is very very cold.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yo, No, I can't do that. The summer's great summer
was fantastic, absolutely stunning. Went some did some salmon fishing. Uh,
we're coming home. We're coming home, coming back to the hotel.
They're in Anchorage and it's like dusk and it was
(10:32):
before everybody had a cell phone, so I had no
idea what time it was, but it was dusk and
I'm thinking something, it must be like nine or ten. Like, no,
it was three thirty in the morning still, which that's okay.
(10:54):
The flip side of that, the winter like no, thank you, no, oh,
thank you. Uh, I will pass on that. Yeah, how'd
you like that? Did you enjoy it up there?
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I mean some people love that. I just it's just
not for me.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Once I got out of the military, I stayed there
to work with General Dynamics. I did DoD work and
I worked for a support trained soldiers to go down
range and strike her net. And I don't know I
enjoyed it. But my kid's mother, she was already fed
up with the whole changing. Twenty four hour darkness, twenty
(11:30):
four hours sunlight, so too cold?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, what do you like the cold? Weakens say, I'm
gonna make him talk. I will find a way to
make him talk. I actually like the cold, do you?
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Yes, sir?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
It didn't get real cold and done North Carolina. I
mean for long right.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Now, about thirty to forty threes doing the winter months.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, which that's okay. If the sun shine, yeah, well.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
I really expecien.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
The cold was when of I was deployed to Kirkizstan
and when it sounds cold, oh yes, between mountains, it's uh.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
When I landed, it was a negative twenty eight degrees.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Oh no, no, that's not fit for God nor beast
man beast, that's no.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I wasn't used to it at first, but it took about.
It took about a month and then you kind of
get used to it.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
No, m hmm, nope, no, I'll pass. What was the
best Millia had in Kirkistan?
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Well, I was on an air Force base.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Oh so you ate pretty good? Oh yes, I love
these stories. I was Air Force, so I had it easy.
I hear this all the time, Like I know, some
of you guys had some interesting moments. But that's what
I hear all the time. But it was great.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
I was at an army dupe, I know, but they
sent me sent me there because I didn't complain, did you?
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I got in trouble, so they sent you to the
Air Force base because it was cold. No, nobody wanted
to do.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
It to Okay, all right, but you had decent food.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Oh yes, sir, I'm my own room.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
That's more than you get at Camp Ho. Right, you
don't get your own room at Camp Hop on purpose,
you are not getting your own room. We do feed you.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Well though, Yes, sir, yeah, I need to lose some
weight right now.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
You've been working on that, which I think is cool.
I need to too, but it's just not near as
much fun as it is putting it on.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Oh yeah, putting it on is real easy.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, well yeah, and fun. Did I mention it was fun?
Eating is fun? It goes back to my thing, our ole.
Our official tagline at the PTSD Foundation is Hope and
Healing for the Unseen Wounds of War. But I always
follow that up with our unofficial tagline is we like
to eat, so you know, bring on the food, which
(13:55):
is why we love all of our restaurants around Houston
that take great care of our of our guys. We had,
by the way, last week we had it was the
Super Bowl, which wasn't all that super but we had
and I don't I had no dog in the fight.
As far as the game itself, it just it was
just not you all know, you don't need me to
(14:16):
tell you it was not a good game. But we
ate well, all right, so we had. We had the
Smokaholics bring in some They made nachos for us. Did
you get any of the nachos.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Yes, it was half chicken fijeta and the other half
was brisket.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yep, brisket and chicken fahetas. I didn't eat any well,
I did eat something while there. Uh so we had that.
Let me get through this. So we had that, and
then we had we had Big City Wings and they
provided four hundred boneless wings and like a small lake
(15:00):
of ranch dressing. It was dressing. Uh so I was
gonna reseit. I didn't eat anything while I was there,
but I did eat two celery sticks, so just you know,
to be honest, I did eat two cellary sticks. But
the the nachos looked and smelled amazing. Yeah, that looked great.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
Right after those, we had tacos.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And I I had left before the taco showed up,
but I'm told that was the best thing of the night.
Do you agree that? Yes, that looked legit, just pictures
of it. It looked like that looks legit. Yeah, So
we like to eat. Who cares if the game's any
good or not. We're gonna eat. Okay, So after the Army.
(15:45):
You go into basically some contractor type work. Yeah, yep h.
So you're in Anchorage for a years?
Speaker 5 (15:52):
Yeah, fair Banks?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
All right, Fairbanks. I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
So at some point, yes, I sent my family away
to Texas. I ended up going to a program called
the American Lake Dominicillary through the VA, and I was
there for two years.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Why did you go there?
Speaker 5 (16:11):
I started having PTSD episodes.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Did you know that's what it was? Or did you
as knew something was up you went to the VA.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
I had no idea what it was.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Like.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
It kind of freaked me out in a way, like
I was getting these flashbacks and and my kid's mother
was pregnant at the time with my youngest and I
don't know, just out of safetyes I called her dad
told her and they need to move and I need
to figure out what what's going on. And I noticed
(16:44):
different changes that were happening.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
So you mentioned the flashbacks, Yes, what else was going on?
Speaker 5 (16:51):
I started getting seizures and that was kind of had
because I had a TBI when I was over there.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I was gonna ask because when you throw the siege
in there.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Yeah, I was hit directly underneath my striker when I
was hanging out the hatch, I got hey, buy an
a V bid, not a V bid, but an I
d U and knock me out. And later on I
find out I had three slip disc in a dislocated
hereah and some other myths.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
All right again, we're gonna have to run to break
reminder our phone number eight seven seven seven one, seven
seventy eight seventy three. We do realize we'd like to
joke around show a lot because it just can get
really dark, really fast, So we like to bring a
little levity to the situation. But we do realize these
can be triggering eight seven seven seven one seven seventy
(17:43):
eight seventy three. It's not a doctor or a PA
that answers the phone, it's a combat vet, so they
will completely understand. Eight seven seven seven one seven seventy
eight seventy three. We'll be right back with more road
hope radio.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Job.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Can have you ever been blown up? That's me neither
thus to us. Yeah, I just I have obviously a
lot of friends who have been, and some of them
multiple times. Like what should not you know? Find another job?
(18:33):
So what year was that you got hit?
Speaker 5 (18:38):
It was like September twenty sixth two thousand and five
oh five.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
So we were talking off air, you mentioned you were
still in the Army when they diagnosed you with both
PTSD and TBI. Was that right after you got hit?
Speaker 5 (18:53):
Uh? No, I ended up coming back and I had
issues in the army. I started self medicating what alcohol
and drugs, and my brother pulled some strings in the
Navy to get me to a STARPS program in Point
Loma and he managed to get me a spot there.
(19:15):
So my SARPs lady from Army she told my command,
but my command said in order for me to go,
I had to say it was command order, no longer self.
So I said, yeah, I'll take it. And then when
they found out that my brother was they took me
from the program to his place to get fully evaluated.
(19:38):
He found everything. I kind of made my brass a little.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Mad trying to get help. Yeah, yeah, which is what
they tell you to do, and then you get in
trouble for asking for help. Okay, So that's when and
where you were diagnosed with PTSD INBI.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
But I never really I guess in my mind, I
said it's not gonna happen to me. And when it
started happening. I was kind of more worried for my
kids and family. Yeah, so I sent them sanutonium And
what year was that you got diagnosed? I was diagnosed,
It would have been in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yeah, so that makes sense to me because obviously through
time everything changes. But in two thousand and eight, there
was a lot of misunderstanding about PTSD. I maintained they
still don't know what's going on with TBI. I just
I don't think they've ever really figured out how to
treat that. Everybody I've ever talked to, including recently who's
(20:41):
been diagnosed with TBIs, like, they don't seem to have
a clue on that. But in two thousand and eight,
two thousand and nine, even up I'd say probably twenty
fourteen ish, there was an immense amount of misunderstanding of PTSD,
(21:03):
and they were always coming out with stories about vets
and you know shootings, you know, walking in store Fort hood,
you know, walking on the base and just shooting the
place up, and they always love to say he may
have PTSD. Well, they had no idea that PTSD. They
(21:24):
found some family member that lived four states away and
they said, well, you know, he's a vet. He may
have PTSD. Well okay, well he may be wearing a
brown leather belt. Both would have the same influence on
someone doing about something like that. That's not what PTSD does.
As in a general term, what we have seen and
(21:46):
have seen demonstrated over time is PTSD does not cause
the mass homicides it causes mass suicides. It turns inward
rather than outward. And just like your story, like you
don't want to hurt your family, so you detected your
family and you isolate You did it a little different
way than a lot a lot of veterans do, but
you still isolated from them to protect them because you
(22:09):
don't want to hurt them. You're not a mass murderer.
That's not what it is. But that was the stories
that were coming out. There was a story here in Houston,
and I don't remember the year, but I'm going to
say somewhere around fourteen or fifteen. It was a Memorial
Day shooter. It was actually a veteran flew in the
(22:33):
day before, not Veterans Day, Memorial Day, flew in the
day before Memorial Day from California Memorial Day. He gets
this high powered weapon. I'll remember what it was, but
starts walking down Memorial Drive here in Houston and just
starts shooting randomly, ended up shooting at an HPD helicopter
(22:59):
flying over, and of course eventually HPD took him out.
But the same thing. All the local newspeople run, try
to find anybody that knows this guy. Then sheally find
a family member. Well, he was a veteran, and you know,
he may have had PTSD. Okay, maybe he did, and
(23:25):
maybe he didn't. Come to find out, if I remember correctly,
that individual never deployed into a combat zone. I don't believe.
But that was the That was just the way people
thought about it at that time. These crazy vets PTSD
run around and then they turn around and say, hey,
if you're having trouble, go get help. Like, why would
(23:47):
I do that? If I'm going to get diagnosed with
something that everybody's going to assume that means I'm just
going to start walking up and down a particular road
in Houston just start shooting at the place. Who who
would want that tagged to them? Just a lot of
a lot of ignorance. And we've I think I'd like
to at least think that we've helped people understand a
(24:10):
little bit better about what PTSD does, but general terms,
it isolates. So you go into a program in and
out two and a half years set up, uh in Washington?
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Yeah, Wash, I see Dacoma, Washington.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Okay, another beautiful place but darker, light raining all the time.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
It seems like I was in the two high suicide.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Well and that was it's they had super high. Now,
the numbers were lower because there weren't as many veterans
there's like there are in southern California or Texas or Florida.
Those are the highest populated. But the percentage in the
suicide rate in Washington was crazy. Yeah. So you're in
(24:55):
that program two and a half years ish, Yes, and
then what'd you do?
Speaker 5 (25:00):
Why I was in the program. I got over medicated
by the VA program. Imagine that I ended up in
Fort Lewis hospital with my head. They tried to claim
it was me committed suicide. I was like, you guys,
give me the medication to take. I don't know how
I'm trying to do that, but.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Get it to the p V. Put you on a
bunch of medication when they diagnosed.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
You, Yes, sir, I think I was They had me
on like fourteen different pills initially when I first got donosed.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Okay, so when they put you on this cocktail of pills,
did that strike you as this seems like a lot?
Did it not cross your mind that this was a
lot at the time? And I'm talking about now, but
at the time, and maybe you're just you know, you
(25:53):
got PTSD, you got some you know, things aren't working right,
all right, So I would understan no matter what the
answer is. But did it kind of strike you as
odd that they give you that many pills?
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Initially?
Speaker 3 (26:08):
I was just like, you know what, it's a doctor
of prescribing this, So I mean, they know it's better
for me than I do.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
That's at least that's what I thought.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
And I've heard that many times too. So for instance,
the Vietnam vet that came through our program was really
the first graduate of our program way way back in
twenty twelve, and same thing, a bunch of medications, and like,
did you bother to ask anybody? And I came to
find and talking to some of these guys just like
(26:41):
it was the soldier mentality, This is an order, you
fulfill the order, whatever the whatever your command tells you.
To do wherever they tell you to go. However long
they tell you to go there, you do you just
you take the order, You do the order. And that's
kind of the way. His mindset was, Well, this is
what the VA told me to do, so I followed orders,
(27:04):
and you end up taking fourteen some of the guys.
One of the guys came in over thirty thirty prescribed medications.
He was taking every day, and it's like, do you
understand what that does to your vital organs, what that
does to your liver, what that does to your heart.
(27:26):
And that's why so many guys end up with congestive
heart failure taking so many pills. So they give you
how many.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
I was at eighteen?
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Eighteen?
Speaker 5 (27:37):
Yeah, very high doses.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
That was while you were in the in the program.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Oh, I wasn't taking as many as in the program.
The minute they sent me away. I was.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
So when they sent you away, they sent you away with.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Eighteen when I finally reunited with my kids mom, and.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
So you're trying to go home, yeah, and they've got
you on eight teen pills.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
So I end up going back to Alaska. I got
to figure out how to move from Alaska to where
they're at. I don't want them to come back. But
then now I'm like, this is a lot of pills. Yeah,
this is normal. So uh yeah it was. It was
a struggle.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Yeah's with the things that they did and continue to do. Really,
it's just it's just crazy to me. It's criminal what
they do to our guys. All right, we're going to
take one more break here eight seven seven seven one,
seven seventy eight seventy three, not only for Camp Hope,
but also for our warrior groups, family support groups that
(28:40):
take place in person and as well as online, so
you can be a little bit anywhere in the world,
jump online, be a part of one of our support
groups PTSDUSA dot org for all that information. All of
it is a zero cost to you your family. We'll
be right back with more Road to Hope Radio place.
It's that gets a man who's going, and we welcome
(29:13):
you back to Road to Hope Radio. Remember wherever you
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(29:37):
never know when they may know somebody who needs programs
that we provide all at zero cost. Warrior groups, family
support groups, the interim housing program at Camp Hope six
to nine months basically in design. And I know that
sounds like a long long time if you think of
it as just your next deployment. This time, you're not
(30:00):
getting shot at or blown up like Rico was. This time,
you're working on a go forward for the rest of
your life. So just look at it that way, an
investment in the rest of your life, not only for yourself,
but those that you love and those who love you
ptsd USA dot org. Okay, let's let's switch the gear.
(30:26):
You've you came to Camp Hope the first time a
couple of years.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
Ago, yes, two thousand and twenty three.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Twenty three. Okay, how did you originally hear about us?
Speaker 5 (30:38):
I was at Loyal Ridge in San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
It was rehab rehabcility. Yep.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
We'll see these guys with tattoos on their arms and
they would always go into the room and that you
cant it was. It was a mandatory. But one day
I walked it into the classes, see what what you know?
What was being pitched and they started talking about Camp
Hope and what kind of program it was. And I
guess the thing that kind of got me was faith based,
(31:09):
like something I didn't have really in my mindset at
the time. I was kind of at my lowest when
I was there, and I wanted to try. So I've
been to different programs. The one in uh Tacoma wasn't
the first program I've done. I've done several in San Antonio,
so I figured why not give it a try? And yeah,
(31:33):
that was about the first time.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
I had Did you have a faith system, some faith
that you were practicing prior to the military or no.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
I grew up as a Catholic and I followed my
cultural traditions. All my kids are baptized, first communions, confirmations
and stuff like that. Sure, it's just like seemed like
after combat, I kind of broke away from everything.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
A story. We're here all the time all the time
at camp, so you hear about that and that kind
of picture interests and need to try something different because
what I've been doing is not working. Yeah, so you
come into camp, you're there for how long?
Speaker 5 (32:10):
The first time I did he go was there for
ten months. Then I moved to tunnels of towers. But
by by that time, when I graduated, everything I didn't
take into, I was able to get the help I needed,
and I was able to get deep into what I
guess I had hidden that I stuffed down. And but
(32:30):
then by that time, I've already filed for divorce, so
I'm not used to not having my kids no more,
not being there, even though they were only two years,
two hours away. It was it was a different lifestyle.
I kind of went back into that rabbit.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Okay, so how long have you been back?
Speaker 5 (32:53):
Been back for two months.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
I choose to come back.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
It was like home, Like I I knew I would
have got. I knew the help that I got before,
and I knew the people I see him like family.
And uh So, in a way, I was kind of
embarrassed going back, because you know, I feel like I failed.
(33:21):
But that's not the way they made me feel. You know,
they were all happy to see me again. And uh,
you know, went back to the same Miller Bay and
uh you know, the same cooks you know they were,
they were nice, happy to see me. Uh, even Kennedy
through here when I got stung by a bee when
he helped me out when I was in the program.
(33:41):
I won't forget and uh, but it was, Uh, that's
where I feel home, like I don't have to isolate there,
I don't have to hide. Everyone else's seen combat. Uh,
kind of same walks aways. And it was, I guess,
the only place where I could bring my guard. Now
for a long time, they can't do that.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
And this story we hear a lot feel safe. Uh,
And of course we obviously love hearing that. And you're right,
we I know it's difficult for guys when they for
whatever reason, you know, they stop doing what they learned
to do while they're at camp, and things get can
(34:27):
get dark really quickly, and there's that there's always that
anxiety of what's going to be like if I go back,
and what's everybody gonna think? And I get that. I
can understand why people feel that way, but we we
don't view it as failure. We view it as, hey,
(34:50):
you did the right thing by not continuing down that
spiral and picking up the phone and making the call.
That's choosing their right thing. So at some point you
reverted back to what you knew you needed to do. Yeah,
and so to us, that's a success. And yes, we're
(35:11):
glad you're here.
Speaker 5 (35:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yeah, very glad you're here. Did you feel that like
like this is home when you were at camp it
felt safe?
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Yes, sir, to the fact, like once I graduated and
I started working on the foundation. I don't know if
you remember, but I had to go back to North
Carolina for like five months because of that court and probation.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
But once I got all that.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Completed and graduated from probation, that court, I mean, when
I came back to Camp Hope, it was like I
never left. Everybody welcomed me, gave me big old hugs,
Glad you're back, Kenetha. We knew you would make it,
And it was just like I had a sense of
gratitude about the whole situation because I know that Camp
Pope saved my life. And I mean, well, God in
(35:57):
Camp Hoope, that's I can't that's the only only people
I a thing for it the way how my life
is right now.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
What was that like for you to stand before the
judge when you went back with your you got your certificate,
you completed, you got your coin. I've done what I
set out to do. I've done what we agreed for
me to do. What was that like for you to
stand before that judge?
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Mh I'm not.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
Allowed to, y'all cried.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
It was it was like, just uh a feeling of accomplishment.
The judge, the DA and everybody in ventquart in North Carolina.
They actually, uh put Kenneth Tecks Matthews on my certificate
(36:49):
because I've talked about camp Hope every single time in
front of the court.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
And it was to the point that once I graduated
and came back down here, like I want to say,
it was not even.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
Thirty days day, all flew down here to see what
Camp Hope was about.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
They flew down, Yes, sir, who all did it was
a Hornett County Judge, Harnett County DA assistant DA in
a couple bitcourt.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
How about that? So you made you definitely made an
impression on them, because it's got to be that smile
right there. It has got to be that smile. Kenneth
Texas and Texas short for Texas. Is that what I'm hearing? Yes, sir,
so even they know Texas barbecue is better than North Carolina.
You know I had to throw that. You knew I
was not going to go showing you that. Throwing that
(37:42):
in there.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
I thought we've almost made it.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
No, did you tell them Texas barbecue is better than
North Carolina barbecue? After they said you're clear.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
I didn't say nothing about no barbecue.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Probably a good choice. I hope while they were in
town though, they enjoyed some Texas barbecue. I hope they
did that while they were here. But that's awesome though,
that they would go to the time and expense to
come out and see what what's this place that changed
your life so much? That's that's absolutely awesome. I love
that story.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
Yeah, it was definitely like a proud moment.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
All right, guys, we are out of time, Regal. Thank
you sharing sister. Keep doing the work that you need
to get done. You deserve it, Your family deserves the
best version of you that you can provide. Keep doing
what you're doing, don't quit, don't give up. And praying
for you and pray that they continue to get done
what needs to get done. Thank you, sir Kenneth, Thanks
(38:43):
for sharing your story. Thanks for what you're doing to
continue to serve your fellow vets at Camp Hope. It's
inspiring to get to see some of that, so thank
you for doing that. Thanks we again, thank you for
joining us Hope. You'll join us again next week. Wherever
you listen to podcasts, look for Road to Hope and
UH before we you with you again for more of
Road to Hope Radio
Multiple people in my family clean my father, are veterans, troops.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
That have been to war and now they're back and
think and be grateful for their service, sacrifice, love for
their country, just unselfishness, all that they do for us.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
There are some people in this country who take extraordinary
steps to provide for the freedom and security.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
We forget that those people exist. We know them as
the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. They
call themselves soldiers, seals, rangers, airmen, sailors, devil.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Dogs, and so much more.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
We call them fathers, brothers, sons and husbands, mothers, daughters,
sisters and wives. We call them friend and neighbor. These
veterans answered the call, now we answer theirs. They are
the best our country has to offer.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
And we love them.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Today, we honor them and we serve them. David Malsby
is your host, and he welcomes you to this community
of veterans, as together we are building the road to hope.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
And indeed we are glad to have you along. On
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' ten. Thank you for choosing to listen to Road
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(01:47):
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(04:21):
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glad to have a couple events in the studio with us.
We got Kenneth's back. Who Kenneth likes to smile and
not talk. We're gonna see if we can get him
to talk to day. Kenneth. How are we doing?
Speaker 4 (04:41):
I'm doing good today.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You want to remind the world who you are, where
you're from, where you serve that kind of wonderful thing.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yes, sir, my name is Kenneth Matthews. I'm from dun
North Carolina. I served in the Army National Guard out
of North Carolina for eight years. Deployed twice, once to
i Rag in two thousand and the second employment was
to Kuwait, Kyrkistan and Afghanistan and that was in twenty eleven,
(05:13):
twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
All right, great to have you back. Thank you, appreciate
you actually speaking words. That was good. Well, we also
have one of the gentlemen that's in our program at
Camp Hope right now. We'll talk a little bit about
that in the course of the show. But Rico, you
want to tell the world who you are, where you're from.
That kind of good thing.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
Okay, thank you. My name is Jesse Rico. I'm from Belvidere, Illinois.
I deployed with the one seventy second Striker Gay Combat
Team with Bravo Company one seventeen out of Fort Waynwright,
Alaska to Mozoul for a year, and then was extended
to Baghdad for ale was like four more months, and
(05:56):
I was infantryman slash mortarman. But yeah, now I'm residing Texas.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
To me again, where you were originally from?
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Belvidere, Illinois, right side right outside from Chicago.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yep, no of fence. But Chicago is just not my
favorite town in the world.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
You like it not too much?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, okay, well, thank you. Yeah, Like I've been there
a few times and I keep thinking there's gotta be
a draw because you know something's.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Good, the food's good. Well, that's about it.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
You're in Houston, so I don't need to hear about that.
We got food running out our ears around here. Good food.
But yeah, yeah, yeah, and I guess that's what I've heard.
And there's this one. I guess this pier or something
that's like all the weird people from out of state
go to, like, eh, tourist trap sounds it's like it's
(06:49):
like San Antonio's the riverwalks, like it's the last place
you should go. If you go to San Antonio, stay
far away from that. Uh so yeah, no fence, but yeah,
I've been there a few times. I keep them, where's
the h I don't I don't get it. That's okay, Yeah,
some people love it.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Some people are right, some people are wrong. It's just
it's just how it is. But you're in Houston now,
yeah yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
How long kids? My kids resided San Antonio?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Okay, very cool.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Yeah, but I'm in Houston.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
How long have you been in Houston?
Speaker 5 (07:20):
Uh? Two years?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Okay? All right? What brought you to Houston?
Speaker 5 (07:25):
I came to the program the first time.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Okay, so that was what brought you the first time. Okay, okay,
all right, got you, all right, We're gonna take a
quick break. We wanna give you our phone number eight
seven seven seven one, seven seventy eight seventy three. That
is our combat Trauma support line. Eight seven seven seven
one seven seventy eight seventy three. A combat veteran will
answer the phone. A combat veteran will answer the phone anytime,
(07:49):
day or night. All right, We're gonna take a quick break.
Right back with more a road to Hoe Radio, and
we welcome you back road to Hope Radio. Glad to
(08:09):
have you along. We've got Kenneth, graduate of the program,
currently a staff member at the PTSD Foundation of America's
Interim Housing program we call Camp Hope here on the
north side of Houston. And we've got Rico, who originally
from Illinois, moved down here thankfully to the great state
(08:31):
of Texas and as currently a participant in our program
at Camp Hope. All right, So grew up in Illinois
outside of Chicago. Eventually joined the Army. Yes correct, out
of high school or the time in between.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
I was trying to get out of a lifestyle, got you,
that was mixed with gangs and stuff to Mexico, stay
with my grandma. I met a girl, got got her pregnant,
then I got married. So once my daughter was born,
I realized, you know, I had to make a change.
(09:12):
So there was an opportunity and I and I took
it all right.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
See, join the army and you were in how long? Again?
Speaker 5 (09:21):
I have five years?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Five years the infantry. What year did you join?
Speaker 5 (09:27):
Yeah, it was two thousand and one.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
One, so before nine to eleven.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
No, it was right after right after?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, okay, join the army. How long was it before
you deployed?
Speaker 5 (09:40):
Right after basic training? I got so quick. Yeah, I
went right to a unit. I was in Anchorage, Alaska,
and then they moved me to Fairbanks, Alaska with the
Bravo Company one seventeen.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
How long were you in Fairbanks?
Speaker 5 (09:55):
Eight years?
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (09:58):
Eight years?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yai. So I've been there once, but it was in July.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
Training is very very cold.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yo, No, I can't do that. The summer's great summer
was fantastic, absolutely stunning. Went some did some salmon fishing. Uh,
we're coming home. We're coming home, coming back to the hotel.
They're in Anchorage and it's like dusk and it was
(10:32):
before everybody had a cell phone, so I had no
idea what time it was, but it was dusk and
I'm thinking something, it must be like nine or ten. Like, no,
it was three thirty in the morning still, which that's okay.
(10:54):
The flip side of that, the winter like no, thank you, no, oh,
thank you. Uh, I will pass on that. Yeah, how'd
you like that? Did you enjoy it up there?
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I mean some people love that. I just it's just
not for me.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Once I got out of the military, I stayed there
to work with General Dynamics. I did DoD work and
I worked for a support trained soldiers to go down
range and strike her net. And I don't know I
enjoyed it. But my kid's mother, she was already fed
up with the whole changing. Twenty four hour darkness, twenty
(11:30):
four hours sunlight, so too cold?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, what do you like the cold? Weakens say, I'm
gonna make him talk. I will find a way to
make him talk. I actually like the cold, do you?
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Yes, sir?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
It didn't get real cold and done North Carolina. I
mean for long right.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Now, about thirty to forty threes doing the winter months.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, which that's okay. If the sun shine, yeah, well.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
I really expecien.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
The cold was when of I was deployed to Kirkizstan
and when it sounds cold, oh yes, between mountains, it's uh.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
When I landed, it was a negative twenty eight degrees.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Oh no, no, that's not fit for God nor beast
man beast, that's no.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I wasn't used to it at first, but it took about.
It took about a month and then you kind of
get used to it.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
No, m hmm, nope, no, I'll pass. What was the
best Millia had in Kirkistan?
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Well, I was on an air Force base.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Oh so you ate pretty good? Oh yes, I love
these stories. I was Air Force, so I had it easy.
I hear this all the time, Like I know, some
of you guys had some interesting moments. But that's what
I hear all the time. But it was great.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
I was at an army dupe, I know, but they
sent me sent me there because I didn't complain, did you?
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I got in trouble, so they sent you to the
Air Force base because it was cold. No, nobody wanted
to do.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
It to Okay, all right, but you had decent food.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Oh yes, sir, I'm my own room.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
That's more than you get at Camp Ho. Right, you
don't get your own room at Camp Hop on purpose,
you are not getting your own room. We do feed you.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Well though, Yes, sir, yeah, I need to lose some
weight right now.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
You've been working on that, which I think is cool.
I need to too, but it's just not near as
much fun as it is putting it on.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Oh yeah, putting it on is real easy.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, well yeah, and fun. Did I mention it was fun?
Eating is fun? It goes back to my thing, our ole.
Our official tagline at the PTSD Foundation is Hope and
Healing for the Unseen Wounds of War. But I always
follow that up with our unofficial tagline is we like
to eat, so you know, bring on the food, which
(13:55):
is why we love all of our restaurants around Houston
that take great care of our of our guys. We had,
by the way, last week we had it was the
Super Bowl, which wasn't all that super but we had
and I don't I had no dog in the fight.
As far as the game itself, it just it was
just not you all know, you don't need me to
(14:16):
tell you it was not a good game. But we
ate well, all right, so we had. We had the
Smokaholics bring in some They made nachos for us. Did
you get any of the nachos.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
Yes, it was half chicken fijeta and the other half
was brisket.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yep, brisket and chicken fahetas. I didn't eat any well,
I did eat something while there. Uh so we had that.
Let me get through this. So we had that, and
then we had we had Big City Wings and they
provided four hundred boneless wings and like a small lake
(15:00):
of ranch dressing. It was dressing. Uh so I was
gonna reseit. I didn't eat anything while I was there,
but I did eat two celery sticks, so just you know,
to be honest, I did eat two cellary sticks. But
the the nachos looked and smelled amazing. Yeah, that looked great.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
Right after those, we had tacos.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And I I had left before the taco showed up,
but I'm told that was the best thing of the night.
Do you agree that? Yes, that looked legit, just pictures
of it. It looked like that looks legit. Yeah, So
we like to eat. Who cares if the game's any
good or not. We're gonna eat. Okay, So after the Army.
(15:45):
You go into basically some contractor type work. Yeah, yep h.
So you're in Anchorage for a years?
Speaker 5 (15:52):
Yeah, fair Banks?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
All right, Fairbanks. I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
So at some point, yes, I sent my family away
to Texas. I ended up going to a program called
the American Lake Dominicillary through the VA, and I was
there for two years.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Why did you go there?
Speaker 5 (16:11):
I started having PTSD episodes.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Did you know that's what it was? Or did you
as knew something was up you went to the VA.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
I had no idea what it was.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Like.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
It kind of freaked me out in a way, like
I was getting these flashbacks and and my kid's mother
was pregnant at the time with my youngest and I
don't know, just out of safetyes I called her dad
told her and they need to move and I need
to figure out what what's going on. And I noticed
(16:44):
different changes that were happening.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
So you mentioned the flashbacks, Yes, what else was going on?
Speaker 5 (16:51):
I started getting seizures and that was kind of had
because I had a TBI when I was over there.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I was gonna ask because when you throw the siege
in there.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Yeah, I was hit directly underneath my striker when I
was hanging out the hatch, I got hey, buy an
a V bid, not a V bid, but an I
d U and knock me out. And later on I
find out I had three slip disc in a dislocated
hereah and some other myths.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
All right again, we're gonna have to run to break
reminder our phone number eight seven seven seven one, seven
seventy eight seventy three. We do realize we'd like to
joke around show a lot because it just can get
really dark, really fast, So we like to bring a
little levity to the situation. But we do realize these
can be triggering eight seven seven seven one seven seventy
(17:43):
eight seventy three. It's not a doctor or a PA
that answers the phone, it's a combat vet, so they
will completely understand. Eight seven seven seven one seven seventy
eight seventy three. We'll be right back with more road
hope radio.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Job.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Can have you ever been blown up? That's me neither
thus to us. Yeah, I just I have obviously a
lot of friends who have been, and some of them
multiple times. Like what should not you know? Find another job?
(18:33):
So what year was that you got hit?
Speaker 5 (18:38):
It was like September twenty sixth two thousand and five
oh five.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
So we were talking off air, you mentioned you were
still in the Army when they diagnosed you with both
PTSD and TBI. Was that right after you got hit?
Speaker 5 (18:53):
Uh? No, I ended up coming back and I had
issues in the army. I started self medicating what alcohol
and drugs, and my brother pulled some strings in the
Navy to get me to a STARPS program in Point
Loma and he managed to get me a spot there.
(19:15):
So my SARPs lady from Army she told my command,
but my command said in order for me to go,
I had to say it was command order, no longer self.
So I said, yeah, I'll take it. And then when
they found out that my brother was they took me
from the program to his place to get fully evaluated.
(19:38):
He found everything. I kind of made my brass a little.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Mad trying to get help. Yeah, yeah, which is what
they tell you to do, and then you get in
trouble for asking for help. Okay, So that's when and
where you were diagnosed with PTSD INBI.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
But I never really I guess in my mind, I
said it's not gonna happen to me. And when it
started happening. I was kind of more worried for my
kids and family. Yeah, so I sent them sanutonium And
what year was that you got diagnosed? I was diagnosed,
It would have been in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yeah, so that makes sense to me because obviously through
time everything changes. But in two thousand and eight, there
was a lot of misunderstanding about PTSD. I maintained they
still don't know what's going on with TBI. I just
I don't think they've ever really figured out how to
treat that. Everybody I've ever talked to, including recently who's
(20:41):
been diagnosed with TBIs, like, they don't seem to have
a clue on that. But in two thousand and eight,
two thousand and nine, even up I'd say probably twenty
fourteen ish, there was an immense amount of misunderstanding of PTSD,
(21:03):
and they were always coming out with stories about vets
and you know shootings, you know, walking in store Fort hood,
you know, walking on the base and just shooting the
place up, and they always love to say he may
have PTSD. Well, they had no idea that PTSD. They
(21:24):
found some family member that lived four states away and
they said, well, you know, he's a vet. He may
have PTSD. Well okay, well he may be wearing a
brown leather belt. Both would have the same influence on
someone doing about something like that. That's not what PTSD does.
As in a general term, what we have seen and
(21:46):
have seen demonstrated over time is PTSD does not cause
the mass homicides it causes mass suicides. It turns inward
rather than outward. And just like your story, like you
don't want to hurt your family, so you detected your
family and you isolate You did it a little different
way than a lot a lot of veterans do, but
you still isolated from them to protect them because you
(22:09):
don't want to hurt them. You're not a mass murderer.
That's not what it is. But that was the stories
that were coming out. There was a story here in Houston,
and I don't remember the year, but I'm going to
say somewhere around fourteen or fifteen. It was a Memorial
Day shooter. It was actually a veteran flew in the
(22:33):
day before, not Veterans Day, Memorial Day, flew in the
day before Memorial Day from California Memorial Day. He gets
this high powered weapon. I'll remember what it was, but
starts walking down Memorial Drive here in Houston and just
starts shooting randomly, ended up shooting at an HPD helicopter
(22:59):
flying over, and of course eventually HPD took him out.
But the same thing. All the local newspeople run, try
to find anybody that knows this guy. Then sheally find
a family member. Well, he was a veteran, and you know,
he may have had PTSD. Okay, maybe he did, and
(23:25):
maybe he didn't. Come to find out, if I remember correctly,
that individual never deployed into a combat zone. I don't believe.
But that was the That was just the way people
thought about it at that time. These crazy vets PTSD
run around and then they turn around and say, hey,
if you're having trouble, go get help. Like, why would
(23:47):
I do that? If I'm going to get diagnosed with
something that everybody's going to assume that means I'm just
going to start walking up and down a particular road
in Houston just start shooting at the place. Who who
would want that tagged to them? Just a lot of
a lot of ignorance. And we've I think I'd like
to at least think that we've helped people understand a
(24:10):
little bit better about what PTSD does, but general terms,
it isolates. So you go into a program in and
out two and a half years set up, uh in Washington?
Speaker 5 (24:23):
Yeah, Wash, I see Dacoma, Washington.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Okay, another beautiful place but darker, light raining all the time.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
It seems like I was in the two high suicide.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Well and that was it's they had super high. Now,
the numbers were lower because there weren't as many veterans
there's like there are in southern California or Texas or Florida.
Those are the highest populated. But the percentage in the
suicide rate in Washington was crazy. Yeah. So you're in
(24:55):
that program two and a half years ish, Yes, and
then what'd you do?
Speaker 5 (25:00):
Why I was in the program. I got over medicated
by the VA program. Imagine that I ended up in
Fort Lewis hospital with my head. They tried to claim
it was me committed suicide. I was like, you guys,
give me the medication to take. I don't know how
I'm trying to do that, but.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Get it to the p V. Put you on a
bunch of medication when they diagnosed.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
You, Yes, sir, I think I was They had me
on like fourteen different pills initially when I first got donosed.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Okay, so when they put you on this cocktail of pills,
did that strike you as this seems like a lot?
Did it not cross your mind that this was a
lot at the time? And I'm talking about now, but
at the time, and maybe you're just you know, you
(25:53):
got PTSD, you got some you know, things aren't working right,
all right, So I would understan no matter what the
answer is. But did it kind of strike you as
odd that they give you that many pills?
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Initially?
Speaker 3 (26:08):
I was just like, you know what, it's a doctor
of prescribing this, So I mean, they know it's better
for me than I do.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
That's at least that's what I thought.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
And I've heard that many times too. So for instance,
the Vietnam vet that came through our program was really
the first graduate of our program way way back in
twenty twelve, and same thing, a bunch of medications, and like,
did you bother to ask anybody? And I came to
find and talking to some of these guys just like
(26:41):
it was the soldier mentality, This is an order, you
fulfill the order, whatever the whatever your command tells you.
To do wherever they tell you to go. However long
they tell you to go there, you do you just
you take the order, You do the order. And that's
kind of the way. His mindset was, Well, this is
what the VA told me to do, so I followed orders,
(27:04):
and you end up taking fourteen some of the guys.
One of the guys came in over thirty thirty prescribed medications.
He was taking every day, and it's like, do you
understand what that does to your vital organs, what that
does to your liver, what that does to your heart.
(27:26):
And that's why so many guys end up with congestive
heart failure taking so many pills. So they give you
how many.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
I was at eighteen?
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Eighteen?
Speaker 5 (27:37):
Yeah, very high doses.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
That was while you were in the in the program.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Oh, I wasn't taking as many as in the program.
The minute they sent me away. I was.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
So when they sent you away, they sent you away with.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Eighteen when I finally reunited with my kids mom, and.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
So you're trying to go home, yeah, and they've got
you on eight teen pills.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
So I end up going back to Alaska. I got
to figure out how to move from Alaska to where
they're at. I don't want them to come back. But
then now I'm like, this is a lot of pills. Yeah,
this is normal. So uh yeah it was. It was
a struggle.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Yeah's with the things that they did and continue to do. Really,
it's just it's just crazy to me. It's criminal what
they do to our guys. All right, we're going to
take one more break here eight seven seven seven one,
seven seventy eight seventy three, not only for Camp Hope,
but also for our warrior groups, family support groups that
(28:40):
take place in person and as well as online, so
you can be a little bit anywhere in the world,
jump online, be a part of one of our support
groups PTSDUSA dot org for all that information. All of
it is a zero cost to you your family. We'll
be right back with more Road to Hope Radio place.
It's that gets a man who's going, and we welcome
(29:13):
you back to Road to Hope Radio. Remember wherever you
listen to podcasts, just look for Road to Hope Radio.
We truly appreciate you hitting that subscribe button. It'll automatically
download once the show is loaded up. Each and every week.
We appreciate you doing that. It's at zero cost to you.
After you listen to it, we beg you to share
it with your friends, your network, your neighbors, coworkers. You
(29:37):
never know when they may know somebody who needs programs
that we provide all at zero cost. Warrior groups, family
support groups, the interim housing program at Camp Hope six
to nine months basically in design. And I know that
sounds like a long long time if you think of
it as just your next deployment. This time, you're not
(30:00):
getting shot at or blown up like Rico was. This time,
you're working on a go forward for the rest of
your life. So just look at it that way, an
investment in the rest of your life, not only for yourself,
but those that you love and those who love you
ptsd USA dot org. Okay, let's let's switch the gear.
(30:26):
You've you came to Camp Hope the first time a
couple of years.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
Ago, yes, two thousand and twenty three.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Twenty three. Okay, how did you originally hear about us?
Speaker 5 (30:38):
I was at Loyal Ridge in San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
It was rehab rehabcility. Yep.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
We'll see these guys with tattoos on their arms and
they would always go into the room and that you
cant it was. It was a mandatory. But one day
I walked it into the classes, see what what you know?
What was being pitched and they started talking about Camp
Hope and what kind of program it was. And I
guess the thing that kind of got me was faith based,
(31:09):
like something I didn't have really in my mindset at
the time. I was kind of at my lowest when
I was there, and I wanted to try. So I've
been to different programs. The one in uh Tacoma wasn't
the first program I've done. I've done several in San Antonio,
so I figured why not give it a try? And yeah,
(31:33):
that was about the first time.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
I had Did you have a faith system, some faith
that you were practicing prior to the military or no.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
I grew up as a Catholic and I followed my
cultural traditions. All my kids are baptized, first communions, confirmations
and stuff like that. Sure, it's just like seemed like
after combat, I kind of broke away from everything.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
A story. We're here all the time all the time
at camp, so you hear about that and that kind
of picture interests and need to try something different because
what I've been doing is not working. Yeah, so you
come into camp, you're there for how long?
Speaker 5 (32:10):
The first time I did he go was there for
ten months. Then I moved to tunnels of towers. But
by by that time, when I graduated, everything I didn't
take into, I was able to get the help I needed,
and I was able to get deep into what I
guess I had hidden that I stuffed down. And but
(32:30):
then by that time, I've already filed for divorce, so
I'm not used to not having my kids no more,
not being there, even though they were only two years,
two hours away. It was it was a different lifestyle.
I kind of went back into that rabbit.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Okay, so how long have you been back?
Speaker 5 (32:53):
Been back for two months.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
I choose to come back.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
It was like home, Like I I knew I would
have got. I knew the help that I got before,
and I knew the people I see him like family.
And uh So, in a way, I was kind of
embarrassed going back, because you know, I feel like I failed.
(33:21):
But that's not the way they made me feel. You know,
they were all happy to see me again. And uh,
you know, went back to the same Miller Bay and
uh you know, the same cooks you know they were,
they were nice, happy to see me. Uh, even Kennedy
through here when I got stung by a bee when
he helped me out when I was in the program.
(33:41):
I won't forget and uh, but it was, Uh, that's
where I feel home, like I don't have to isolate there,
I don't have to hide. Everyone else's seen combat. Uh,
kind of same walks aways. And it was, I guess,
the only place where I could bring my guard. Now
for a long time, they can't do that.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
And this story we hear a lot feel safe. Uh,
And of course we obviously love hearing that. And you're right,
we I know it's difficult for guys when they for
whatever reason, you know, they stop doing what they learned
to do while they're at camp, and things get can
(34:27):
get dark really quickly, and there's that there's always that
anxiety of what's going to be like if I go back,
and what's everybody gonna think? And I get that. I
can understand why people feel that way, but we we
don't view it as failure. We view it as, hey,
(34:50):
you did the right thing by not continuing down that
spiral and picking up the phone and making the call.
That's choosing their right thing. So at some point you
reverted back to what you knew you needed to do. Yeah,
and so to us, that's a success. And yes, we're
(35:11):
glad you're here.
Speaker 5 (35:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yeah, very glad you're here. Did you feel that like
like this is home when you were at camp it
felt safe?
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Yes, sir, to the fact, like once I graduated and
I started working on the foundation. I don't know if
you remember, but I had to go back to North
Carolina for like five months because of that court and probation.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
But once I got all that.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Completed and graduated from probation, that court, I mean, when
I came back to Camp Hope, it was like I
never left. Everybody welcomed me, gave me big old hugs,
Glad you're back, Kenetha. We knew you would make it,
And it was just like I had a sense of
gratitude about the whole situation because I know that Camp
Pope saved my life. And I mean, well, God in
(35:57):
Camp Hoope, that's I can't that's the only only people
I a thing for it the way how my life
is right now.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
What was that like for you to stand before the
judge when you went back with your you got your certificate,
you completed, you got your coin. I've done what I
set out to do. I've done what we agreed for
me to do. What was that like for you to
stand before that judge?
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Mh I'm not.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
Allowed to, y'all cried.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
It was it was like, just uh a feeling of accomplishment.
The judge, the DA and everybody in ventquart in North Carolina.
They actually, uh put Kenneth Tecks Matthews on my certificate
(36:49):
because I've talked about camp Hope every single time in
front of the court.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
And it was to the point that once I graduated
and came back down here, like I want to say,
it was not even.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
Thirty days day, all flew down here to see what
Camp Hope was about.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
They flew down, Yes, sir, who all did it was
a Hornett County Judge, Harnett County DA assistant DA in
a couple bitcourt.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
How about that? So you made you definitely made an
impression on them, because it's got to be that smile
right there. It has got to be that smile. Kenneth
Texas and Texas short for Texas. Is that what I'm hearing? Yes, sir,
so even they know Texas barbecue is better than North Carolina.
You know I had to throw that. You knew I
was not going to go showing you that. Throwing that
(37:42):
in there.
Speaker 4 (37:43):
I thought we've almost made it.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
No, did you tell them Texas barbecue is better than
North Carolina barbecue? After they said you're clear.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
I didn't say nothing about no barbecue.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Probably a good choice. I hope while they were in
town though, they enjoyed some Texas barbecue. I hope they
did that while they were here. But that's awesome though,
that they would go to the time and expense to
come out and see what what's this place that changed
your life so much? That's that's absolutely awesome. I love
that story.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
Yeah, it was definitely like a proud moment.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
All right, guys, we are out of time, Regal. Thank
you sharing sister. Keep doing the work that you need
to get done. You deserve it, Your family deserves the
best version of you that you can provide. Keep doing
what you're doing, don't quit, don't give up. And praying
for you and pray that they continue to get done
what needs to get done. Thank you, sir Kenneth, Thanks
(38:43):
for sharing your story. Thanks for what you're doing to
continue to serve your fellow vets at Camp Hope. It's
inspiring to get to see some of that, so thank
you for doing that. Thanks we again, thank you for
joining us Hope. You'll join us again next week. Wherever
you listen to podcasts, look for Road to Hope and
UH before we you with you again for more of
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