Silent Battles

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Multiple people in my family clean my father, are veterans.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Troops that have been to war and now they're back.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
And think and be grateful for their service.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Sacrifice, love for their country, just unselfishness, all that they
do for us.

Speaker 4 (00:18):
There are some people in this country who take extraordinary
steps to provide for the freedom and security.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
We forget that those people exist.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
We know them as the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines,
and Coast Guard. They call themselves soldiers, seals, rangers, airmen, sailors,
devil dogs.

Speaker 5 (00:39):
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 are the
best our country has to offer, and we love them. Today,

(01:05):
we honor them and we serve this. David Malsby is
your host, and he welcomes you to this community of veterans.
As together we are building the road to hope.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
And indeed we are glad to have you along. On
a Sunday afternoon, those of you listening on the kPr
C nine nine five O and the AM dial here
in Houston, Texas, thank you for joining us as you
drive endlessly around the loop or whichever big circle you
choose to drive around. He said, thank you for joining us.
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(01:45):
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(02:27):
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Glad to have a couple of a couple of combat

(03:55):
vets with us today, one from our staff, one that's
currently in the program. George, want to reintroduce yourself to
the world. It's been in a little bit since you've
been here.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Has probably been since Thanksgiving last tight?

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Oh really, it has been a while. That has been
a while.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah. I graduated from Campo about close to two years ago.
I went in back in August first of twenty twenty two.
My life basically came undone. Actually had a good friend
that was still his staff there that brought me in

(04:33):
and coming to Camp Hoe changed my life.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
And you were Army Marines, Marine Corps, Yes, sir, and
you deployed twice Iraq, two times direct because the first
time wasn't enough. You just wanted a little more something
like that.

Speaker 5 (04:48):
Something like that.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
That's where they sent you.

Speaker 5 (04:50):
Guess what you're doing. Yay, what years did you boy? Yeah?
What years did you deploy? Five and seven?

Speaker 3 (05:00):
Okay, so not atypical. Your second appoint was those seven,
So that means it was fifteen years after that, roughly
before you got the camp.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Hope just the math is correct.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, somewhere in there.

Speaker 5 (05:17):
I'm bad at math. Yeah, me too.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Uh yeah, numbers, they get in the way a thing
of that. I don't understand them. Uh, but yeah, I
took it a little while before you found your way
to us.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah. Good fifteen years like you said. But luckily one
of my good friends who was a staff or still
a staff member there, I heard of what was going
on with me and next day had me on the

(05:50):
phone with Camp Hope trying to get me into the program.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
Glad you did. I'm glad you're still with us. Grateful
for what you do. Thank you appreciated. I mentally all right, Derek,
I want to introduce yourself to the world.

Speaker 5 (06:04):
I'm Derek Jolly Army. Uh. I was born in love.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
It and uh basically raised in Houston here Spring Branch area.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
How old were you when you moved to Houston.

Speaker 5 (06:19):
I guess around three or four.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
Oh okay, so you don't remember at all. It's going
to say that it's been cold here this past week.

Speaker 5 (06:26):
Yeah and cold.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yeah, it's gonna say with the wind it was well.
I was not a fan leave It.

Speaker 4 (06:33):
I didn't meet too many people that were, but love
It can definitely do that on the regular.

Speaker 5 (06:40):
Oh yeah, there's nothing, no trees. Yeah, that's wind.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Blocked the wind, Yes, sir, reminds me of my childhood
Oklahoma City, like it would. It would get that way
a few times every winter. Like I didn't like it then,
I sure don't like it now.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
People that lived there, they got to act like they
like it, I believe.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, maybe I don't know. It's what you're used to,
whatever you know, grow up in. It's just normal. It's
whatever it is.

Speaker 5 (07:08):
It is.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
Yeah, I keep moving further south, Like I moved from
Oklahoma City to Dallas, which is about three and a
half four hours south of Oklahoma City, lived there ten years.
Then I moved to Houston, another four hours south. Like
I can't move any further south unless I buy a boat,
and I don't want to buy a boat. I sure
don't want to live in a boat in the middle
of the Gulf of America or whatever you choose to

(07:31):
call it. But uh hmm, yeah, too cold. All right,
we're gonna have to take a quick break. A reminder.
Eight seven seven seven to one seven seventy eight seventy
three is our combat trauma support line. Eight seven seven
seven one seven seventy eight seventy three. What you must
know about that number is this a combat that will
answer the phone twenty four seven three sixty five eight

(07:53):
seven seven seven one seven seventy eight seventy three, will
be right back and were welcome back Road to Hope Radio.
David Malsby here got Derek that State's Army currently in

(08:14):
our program at Camp Hope, Georgia, United States rings a
veteran and a graduate of Camp Hope, current staff member
at Camp Hope. All right, Derek, you mentioned you were
from originally from Lovegood, grew up in the Houston area, right, correct,
So what what caused you to join the army?

Speaker 4 (08:38):
Just be that I saw myself joining the military early
before I got out of high school.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
Did you join right out of high school?

Speaker 5 (08:50):
Shortly thereafter?

Speaker 4 (08:51):
I worked at a local gas station everywhere back when
you still pump gas.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah, just dated yourself a little, yeah, an idees, I
do remember those days. I remember anyway, go ahead.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
Yeah, And.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
Getting out of high school, I didn't really have any
plans for college, even though to me that was what
you're supposed to do. But that's not what I did.
I joint went to talk to the army. If I
had walked into the Marines, I probably would have been
the Marine, but I walked into the Army place there

(09:31):
and they took me in and I joined the Infantry
at my choice. What year was it, That was probably
eighty six, and went to basic training and Benning Fort Benning,
Georgia and stationed at Fort Ord, California, which was closed

(09:52):
now they've closed it down after some time after I left.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
Did you have any family in the military or just
you were the first one.

Speaker 4 (10:00):
I had an uncle on my mom's side there that
was Air Force, and I want to say he was
a lieutenant colonel or something like that, but he was
high ranking. He was in Vietnam, but he stayed off
the ground and in the air.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
Gotcha, which could be good and could be not so
good because the way you're flying.

Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yes, sir, he was in a big bird, big plane,
way high up there.

Speaker 3 (10:29):
Got you okay?

Speaker 4 (10:31):
So you joined eighty six ish, Yeah, and you deployed
where it went to Panama eighty eight eighty nine, Noriega.
If anybody remembers Daega, we were there trying to hunt
him down on get him huge news at the time.
He was huge news, it was, and we did back then.

(10:53):
You didn't have the cameras you got these days where
you got one on your helmet and everything. The only
camera I had was one of those throw away cardboard
Kodak cameras, and so there weren't many, no no media
with us, traveling with us or anything like that. But
they did catch some of it somehow. I didn't never

(11:16):
see how they did that. But yeah, it was short,
luckily short lived, and we we we nabbed him and
got the job done.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
It was huge news.

Speaker 5 (11:30):
That'll call that very vividly.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (11:34):
So that was eighty.

Speaker 4 (11:37):
Eight, eighty eighty eight, No, yeah, eighty eight, eighty nine.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yeah, somewhere in there. Yeah, okay, all right, what did
you do when you came.

Speaker 5 (11:46):
Home went back to training? How long did you.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
Stay in the army?

Speaker 4 (11:55):
Oh the eighty seven to ninety two.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
When I got out, I.

Speaker 4 (12:04):
Left out the gate and there was not much information,
you believing about what's gonna lapping out on the other side.
I couldn't believe I was driving out the gate. I
figured they were going to be sent, you know, holding
us back for Iraq and stuff. But luckily I got
out the gate.

Speaker 5 (12:22):
A lot of my.

Speaker 4 (12:24):
Battle buddies, I guess we call them, and did get
recalled and just basically went to Germany or Hawaii, which
would have been nice, but they held down the fort while.

Speaker 5 (12:34):
Everybody else was deployed to two Iraq. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
I never heard anybody complain about either in uh Hawaii
or Germany. I've never heard any comments about either one
of those stations.

Speaker 4 (12:49):
And there were people stationed in Panama too, you know, yeah,
yeah with the way, Yeah, but that's not a lot.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
Of smiling faces about that one.

Speaker 5 (12:58):
It's pretty down there.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Yeah, not been there, and I'm okay with that, completely
fine with not having been there, nor planning ongoing there.
It's not on my not on my bucket list right now.

Speaker 4 (13:14):
You want to go back, I wouldn't mind visiting a
lot safer place nowadays, absolutely, since we did what we did,
I know it's become a popular place for Americans business wise,
beach hotels and building their empire down there. Yeah, I

(13:36):
wouldn't mind going back and following them footsteps to see
how things have changed.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
I think a lot of guys I've heard that a lot,
and I know of some guys, for instance, a number
of Vietnam Vets that take trips back, yeah, of decades
literally decades later.

Speaker 4 (13:55):
And it helps a lot of things to see what
came out of something that was not typically very good
at the time.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
George, you ever have a desire to go back and
revisit that, Nope, you know, Iraq and Afghanistan or definitely
exceptions to that rule. I'm not sure anybody wants to
go back to either one of those places. Yeah, remind
me again where you said you were deployed those two times.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
I'll come and I saw it, Okay.

Speaker 3 (14:26):
Yeah, just the names enough for me, Like, Nope, not mine,
not my place.

Speaker 5 (14:31):
It does sound nice.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Yeah, when it's time to plan the family vacation, that
is not on uh, that is not on the list,
Like we're not going.

Speaker 5 (14:40):
To go there.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
Uh. Quick reminder for information about Camp Hope as well
as our support groups for both combat veteran support groups
as well as family support groups. And I'll also mention
and I'll get into a little bit of why. Also
Law Enforcement First Responders PTSDUSA dot org is our website

(15:04):
all the information about our programs, both the intern housing
at Camp Hope support groups that happened across the state
of Texas, a few different cities across the country, and
then virtually so from virtually anywhere you can join those,
but I do want to spend just a minute on
the law enforcement and first responders portion of that. The

(15:29):
issue of PTSD is just as prevalent, if not more so,
in law enforcement first responders in comparison to what's gone
on in our veteran community. The need is great. It's
pressed on my mind a little bit more this week.
This past week, we had.

Speaker 5 (15:51):
A number of.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
Local law enforcement officials, constables, sheriffs from the surrounding Houston
area out to Camp Hope and then we were able
to spend actually a great deal of time. We spend
about three hours together with them in total and talk

(16:15):
a lot about not only what we do at Camp
Hopes that they understand what happens there, but also our
outreach program and just how critically important is for us
to have a good relationship with law enforcement. And we
talked with them about a couple of issues that we've
had one particular local agency. But these folks were just fantastic.
They loved hearing what we were doing, very supportive of

(16:39):
what we're doing, looking forward to building on those relationships
because at the end of the day, we all want
the same thing, so they're encountering obviously a number of
mental health issues as they go about their job with
law enforcement first responders, for them to know that we're
here and our outreach teams already and able and equipped
to step in and help and go alongside them to

(17:00):
help in some of those issues. But we also one
of the gentlemen was there was an FBI agent who
had just the night before he'd been up. When he
got to our place, he'd been up for thirty straight hours,
and when he got to our place, he was one
of the FBI agents that took down I think it
was fourteen Bandido gang members and that he had just

(17:25):
come from doing that, and you could tell it was
it had been a rough, rough time after that's a
culmination of a six year investigation. So you know, those
guys are absolutely exhausted. But just for you to know
there is a place ptsdusa dot org. We will do
everything we can to support our law enforcement first responder community,

(17:47):
and everything we do is absolutely at zero cost to
the veteran of their family. PTSDUSA dot org be right
back with more Road to Hope Radio in just a moment,

(18:08):
and we welcome you back Road to Hope Radio. Glad
to have you along again the website for all things
that we do at the PTSD Foundation of America's PTSD
post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSDUSA dot org. On social media
also PTSD USA that's on X on Facebook, Instagram, it's
PTSD Foundation of America. For show information, and we'll also comment.

(18:34):
Sometimes we don't do this with the Foundation. Sometimes with
the show's Facebook page, we'll sometimes share military related news,
veteran related news, items that don't necessarily really make the
major news. So follow us on Road to Hope Radio

(18:55):
on our Facebook page and you can keep up with
some of the those things. We'll also post some of
the events going on in support of the PTSD Foundation
of America this weekend as we air this show this Saturday.
There was a wonderful event in the Orlando, Florida area

(19:19):
in support of the foundation in our chapter in Florida
where we serve a little over two hundred veterans, just
through that one chapter, and it's really just I believe
four staff that are serving those two hundred plus veterans.
And that's that's the last number I heard. It may

(19:41):
be much more than that by now, but the last
number I heard it was a little over two hundred
vets that we do support work with their in the
Florida area. So big thanks to everybody who is a
part of that event in support of that chapter and
what we do in the Florida area. So thank you
very much. And again, if you're following us on so
social mediall seat those events coming up if you'd like

(20:04):
to participate coming up you are March April May. We
have ours. We have two we call event seasons. The
big one is from Labor Day through like the first
week of December. That time is just one big blur

(20:28):
in dealing with the fundraising events, speaking opportunities. That's number one.
But number two is like now, so March one through
about May the first, it's a very busy time. After
that you kind of get into the whole graduation season's

(20:50):
marriage or wedding ceremonies and all, you know, vacations. Everybody's
trying to get out of town. Kids at our school.
But this is are entering that busy time. So there's
a lot of events coming up in the Houston area
as well as Dallas area. Those in the Dallas Fort
Worth metroplex got a golf tournament coming on up up there.

(21:13):
We have I think three golf tournaments in the next
just a few weeks here in the Houston area. So
all those, all those events, information is shared with how
you can participate those, whether it's just being there, whether
it's volunteering to help thing running, or your business owner,

(21:36):
small business owner, you'd like to be a sponsor. Lots
of opportunities to be involved in fundraisers, and we don't
talk about that a lot, but I will just tell
you this is how we are able to do what
we do. So when a veteran calls that crisis line
eight seven seven seven one seven seventy eight seventy three,

(22:00):
we want to make sure that we are able to
support them and whatever way that is. For some it
is making their way to Camp Hope. So we will
buy the airline ticket, we will take care of all
those things. Won't cost them anything, won't cost their family anything.
We take care of all that. Well, we don't have
just you know, as my mom used to say, there's

(22:20):
no tree in the backyard that just grows cash. It
is people who care, people who learn about what's going
on in our veteran community and they care enough to
do something about it. So for some that's just they
don't have time, but they have money, so they'll just
write a check. Some can't write a big check, but
they can do something, and maybe it's participating in an

(22:43):
event like a five K or something like that that's
local to them. So there's multiple, multiple ways to get
involved in support what we do. But if you like
hearing these stories that we share each and every week,
there's always someone here from our interim housing program at
Camp Hope. Just see your understanding. Just a real big picture,

(23:05):
real fast. It's roughly one hundred and fifty dollars a
day to take care of our veteran at Camp Hope. Now,
if we have let's say the moment, I think it's
somewhere around seventy living on campus. Some of you are
better at math than I am, but that's seventy times
one hundred and fifty every single day. So you extrapolate

(23:29):
that across the course for a year, it's a fair
chunk of change. So the only way we're able to
do that. I heard a story this past week as
we were touring some folks through our campus. One of
the vets had come to us from being incarcerated. When

(23:50):
he arrived at camp, which George, this is your job.
Right when they arrive at camp, you're one of, if
not the first person that they see.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah, first person that day come in and see.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
So you're handling what we call the intake process. Yes, sir, Yeah,
So this particular guy was telling us when he came in,
and I forget where he had been incarcerat. I think
it was somewhere in Georgia. When he came in, he
had a bag like a think of a grocery bag
when you go grocery, and this is what he had.
He had two pair of jail issued underwear and I

(24:26):
think two pair of socks and what he was wearing,
that's what he had when he walked into our campus.
So obviously you think of well, we do PTSD, So
there's counseling, there's the peer to peer, but there's everything
else in the world that we have to help take
care of. Yes, sir, when these guys come in, we

(24:48):
want to make sure. He talked about how how comfortable,
how safe it made him feel when he walked in.
Nobody was laughing, nobody was joking like, hey man, what
do you need? Goes into supply gets jeans, shoes, shirts,
the basics. They need toiletries, you know, toothbrush, toothpastey, odor

(25:10):
and all those things. Just how welcoming it felt. And
I think that's one of the key things about what
you do, is just helping those guys, because they've got
most of them. I would think it would have to
be kind of scared out of their mind.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Usually they're pretty like, uh, in a shock and all
that they're there. And like that case where the certain
resident didn't have anything, just basically like, hey, man, don't
really worry about possessions or anything. We'll get you taken
care of. You don't have shoes, We'll get your shoes.

(25:46):
If you need underwear, we got you. If you need hygiene,
of course, we're not gonna let you run around here
being smelly. We're gonna we're a big family here. We
take care of our own.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
We definitely do that. When they come in the.

Speaker 4 (26:04):
In the bay, we take care.

Speaker 5 (26:07):
We're welcoming to them. They're not alone.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
They're in a place where other people have been in
that same position or somewhere close to that, or even
worse than that. But whenever they come into bay, everyone's
saying welcome home. And a lot of times you don't
know what kind of condition they're in, but they're in

(26:32):
a good place where people know it already. They've been
there and done it and have seen it.

Speaker 3 (26:40):
And we feed them pretty well.

Speaker 5 (26:43):
I'm getting I'm gaining weight.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
We often call it the Camp Hope forty. Some of
these guys have been have not been, you know, obviously
taking care of themselves mental health and addictions, so whatever
they're self medicating. Yeah, sometimes that's about all they're doing
and can come in pretty rough shape. And can I

(27:07):
remember one guy had been living out near the y
off of two forty nine and Tomball, and I think
he put on literally put on fifteen pounds in two weeks.
I mean he was eating everything in sight because it
is the first time he'd eaten. And who knows how.

(27:27):
I mean, he was still skinny as real. I mean,
you wouldn't notice it except if you hadn't seen him
come in. He was in such bad shape.

Speaker 5 (27:36):
Yes, they're in a lot of them. Come in.

Speaker 4 (27:38):
You're not gonna see him for a couple of days
because there's yeah, they're worn out. Yeah, absolutely, come in,
got to sleep. And everybody in the bay knows knows that.
And crack the door open and see if they're doing okay,
and there's always somebody the staff coming in and checking
on them make sure they are not having any trouble

(28:02):
in there.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
But you referred to it, and to me, that's one
of the beautiful things that happens when they walk into
that bay for the first time. Not only have they
received whatever, you know, we can supply them from our supply,
but everybody in the bay is like, hey man.

Speaker 5 (28:17):
Welcome home.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah, we got you. Just relax, need something, tell us
I got an extra pair of shoes.

Speaker 5 (28:24):
You need some shoes. If you need help with something,
let us know.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Yeah, and again all at zero costs to the veteran
of their family and grateful for a wonderful community that
helps make that happen. All right, we're gonna have to
take a break again. Ptsd usa dot org for all
of the information ptsd usa dot org and we're gonna
take a quick break and be right back with more

(28:48):
of Road to Hope radio.

Speaker 6 (28:52):
Spek and we welcome you back a little to Hope.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
Rado got Georgian and Estates Army that current staff member
at Camp Hope, graduate of Camp Hope at Derek and
in States Army. So you served five years, so eighty
seven to ninety two, right, so that's been a while
before you got to Camp Hope.

Speaker 5 (29:30):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
When did you begin to realize something was going on?

Speaker 4 (29:33):
I worked offshore, Okay, it was my saving grace because
I worked a month on, month off. I could go
detox basically Onrick and I had to you.

Speaker 5 (29:45):
Yeah, you you.

Speaker 4 (29:47):
I felt it when I got back to work, you know,
two or three days, and then got laid off during
COVID and I was on.

Speaker 5 (29:58):
It was too readily of aailable for me. So I
ended up coming to Camp Hope. I mean I was.

Speaker 4 (30:05):
Let you hear about camp my ex wife actually really
she did all the work. She did all the research,
and she brought me the papers thinking I was going
to be mad about it.

Speaker 5 (30:16):
I wasn't.

Speaker 4 (30:17):
I saw where I was going and filled out the paperwork, well,
signed everything. And luckily I have a good ex wife
that we still get along great even though we're divorced.
She still does a lot for me, and so, you know,
it's it's been a short time period since the divorce.

(30:38):
But yeah, usually when I talk to guys at Camp Hope,
it's not a good you know.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
So you've been at camp long enough, you know that's
that's a blessing in your life.

Speaker 5 (30:50):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (30:51):
Yes, most guys there's some few choice words, yes, when
they go to talking about their ex wife.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yeah, it can definitely be one of the stressors that
leads to their need of a place like Camp Hope,
which is one of the reasons why when you first
come into the program. And I know, you know, some
guys come and kicking and screaming over this, but the
first thirty days you're blocked out from the world. I mean,
there's just no communication. But that's one of the reasons why.

(31:21):
It's not the only reason, but it's one of the
reasons why.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (31:25):
And when I first came to Camp Hope, the first day,
I drank something before I got there, and the first
thing I did was.

Speaker 5 (31:37):
Sit here blow.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
I was going to say, did you own up to
that or did you try to hide it?

Speaker 4 (31:41):
I know, I blew in the and I ended up
going to West for thirty days.

Speaker 5 (31:47):
Yeah, which was all right. Yeah, it wasn't bad.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
And and uh, that's why we have that relationship with it.

Speaker 4 (31:54):
Yeah, it prepared me for Camp Hope a little bit too.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yeah, because you gotta be your mind that they deal
with Camp Hope. Yes, sir, it's an intensive program.

Speaker 5 (32:04):
Yeah and lengthy. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (32:07):
That's why I feel for some of those guys that
come in. I know they're hurting and they're getting stuff
that you know, they're something they may not be able
to do because they've been out of it for so long.
But they quickly turn around and everything starts coming back
to them, you know, reading and writing about yourself and

(32:32):
the talent that comes through there too. I'm surprised to
hear people talk and the things they've been through and
did in the army or even after after military service.

Speaker 5 (32:47):
A lot of musicians, you know.

Speaker 3 (32:51):
Sure, we've had guys work for Fortune five hundred companies
coming to our program.

Speaker 5 (32:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
I mean there's a little bit of everything.

Speaker 5 (32:59):
Yeah, there's some people that are scary smart.

Speaker 4 (33:02):
Yes, I keep my mouth shut sometimes when I'm around them.

Speaker 5 (33:06):
Like, how you doing. I'll just sit here and listen
to you speak.

Speaker 4 (33:11):
You got a brain that I've never I wish I
had half that talent, But they too fall fall.

Speaker 5 (33:22):
Down and have to get back up. Of course, Camp
Hope is a.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
Great place to uh heal and uh and learn about
the Bible and.

Speaker 5 (33:35):
Uh it's a faith based system.

Speaker 4 (33:38):
And you don't have to I mean, you can talk
to whatever higher power you have, and y'all make it
very comfortable and nobody's going to be left out.

Speaker 5 (33:50):
Just because you know. But yeah, I'm I'm definitely a
believer in God and uh and.

Speaker 4 (33:59):
I do need to learn more. I need to get
more familiar with the phrases. The people can sit there
and repeats, yeah whatever I'm trying to say. Scripture, and
I definitely have not got that far yet, but I'm
still I'm reading the Bible and it's not something that's

(34:22):
easily understood. It slowly comes to you reading those uh
those uh, the scriptures, and I find myself I got
to read them several times sure before I get get
the meaning of it and what I think it means.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
What's when did you get diagnosed with PTSD.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
Well, I'm in the process of getting diagnosed. This is
the first program I've been through. And wonderful counselor that
I'm seeing and uh, yeah, she's and it's been a while,
I mean sure, and.

Speaker 5 (35:04):
It's something I've lived with.

Speaker 4 (35:08):
For well, it's been thirty exactly thirty years since I
was in the military and that's like I said, working
offshore was a saving grace because you're with a group
of guys out there that you depend on.

Speaker 5 (35:22):
You get hurt out there very quickly, and it was.

Speaker 4 (35:27):
Good comp comp camaraderie is not the right word, but yeah,
and a place to heal, just to get off the
rig and come back home and start it all over again,
right until I lost the job. And there it was
in my face, and like I said, the wife that
understood that has unfortunate, unfortunate fortunately you know, found me

(35:54):
laying somewhere and telling me to just get get your
bud in the bed because I got a seventeen.

Speaker 5 (36:02):
Year old son.

Speaker 4 (36:03):
Yeah too, And it was embarrassing to me. Of course,
I was humiliated with myself and she she handled it well.
She gave me a chance. So it was really all
my fault. She gave me the chance, and I kept
on messing up.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
What's something you're learning or have learned in your time
here that's helping you.

Speaker 4 (36:29):
Self, compassion, I'm learning how to take care of myself
instead of trying to take care of everybody else around me.
I need to be able to take care of myself
really before I can take care of somebody else and

(36:50):
learned that I'm holding there's a more than just PTSD.
It's it's always is something from child childhood. Did that
you know they're with the counselor. I have that they
get it out of me and they're very.

Speaker 5 (37:05):
Good counselors, all of them.

Speaker 4 (37:07):
And uh, yeah, I got there and the first time
I talked to the counselor, there's things that I have
never told anybody, not my wife, not my immediately there
was nobody. I've been holding it inside, and uh, I
felt very comfortable telling her what it was. And then

(37:29):
I talked to after her, I talked to my mentor,
which is a Jonesy.

Speaker 3 (37:35):
And uh very nice. Yep, you got a good one.

Speaker 4 (37:38):
And I talked to him and told him what had
happened to me.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
And uh, there's that safety that happened the camp Hope. Yeah,
you can open up and be vulnerable and share. So
he's one of the great things you get to see.

Speaker 5 (37:50):
Yeah, even with a bunch of X out right.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
Yeah, Well, because you know a lot of shared experience,
there's a lot of that childhood trauma that is uh,
you know comes to light. Well, guys are Camp Hope man.
Thank you for sharing some of your story. Keep doing
what you're doing at camp, keep learning and keep working.
Your son deserves it, You deserve it. Take full advantage

(38:15):
of what's going on there. George. Great to see you
again again. Thank you very very much for what you're
doing to welcome these guys in. Often that very first
impression is so critically important for the rest of what
happens at Camp Hope. So thanks for doing what you do.
Appreciate it, and thanks again to our sponsors A Corey
Diamond in Design, a c O ri I two eight

(38:36):
one four eight, two forty seven fifty five Oopsteam dot
com and a great Friends Republic Grand Ranch dot com.
We appreciate you. Wherever you listen to a podcasts, look
for Road to Hope Radio, hits the subscriber button and share.
We thank you very much look forward to being with
you again next week for more of Road to Hope

(38:56):
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