Stronger Together

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
and think and be grateful for their service.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Sacrifice, love for their country, just unselfishness, all that they
do for us.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
There are some people in this country who take extraordinary
steps to provide for the freedom and security.

Speaker 2 (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.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
Devil 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, and they
are the best our country has to offer, and we

(01:03):
love them. 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, those of you listening, well, I'm not
on KPRC today. Somebody's playing a game somewhere. Some inflated
piece of pigskin is messing up our schedule on the radio,
but we are glad to have those of you listening
through the magic of podcasts. Again, wherever you listen to podcasts,

(01:43):
just look for Road to Hope Radio. When you get there,
please hit that little subscribe button and we truly do
appreciate it, especially when you share that friends, enemies, neighbors,
former neighbors, friends, former friends, whatever it may happen to be.
Everyone you know could possible lock eyes with today could
use a little bit of hope. So please share, and

(02:04):
we truly do appreciate it big Thanks to our sponsors
allow us a little time with you each and every week.
Our great fans, Billy and Connie Stagner at a Corey
Diamond and Design Acori a Corey Diamond Design Down are
friends with two eight one four eight two forty seven
fifty five. They do so much for so many. They

(02:25):
certainly do so much for our organization. For instance, this
last week we had a lot of events going on
with it being a Veteran's Day, but one of the
events happened to be a golf tournament that was not
too ofteny far from our old campus, and uh, Billy

(02:46):
and Connie A Cory Diamond Design stepped up sponsored a team.
So we ended up having I think twenty of our
guys out there playing golf on Veterans Day. But one
of those teams was sponsored by Billy and Connie Stagner.
Those just one of the small things that they do.
They do so many things throughout the year. But when

(03:06):
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(03:48):
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you go out there and take a look at it.
Even if you don't think you want to buy, you
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absolutely beautiful, great community, great people, a lot of veterans,
law enforcement first responders live out there. Republic Grand Ranch
dot Com. All right, we do have a show for

(04:09):
you today. Kind of a unique situation. We've had brothers
come through the program before Camp Hope, but never at
the same time, and we currently do have some brothers
that are here at the same time and deployed together.

(04:29):
How awesome is that. So we got a unique story
to share with you today, so I hope you will
stick around be a part of it. Let's do the
quick introductions. Pet It's good to have you back. I
want to reintroduce yourself to the world in here.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yes, I'm Christopher PD Peters and i am currently a
mentor at Camp Hope and I'm glad to be back.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Now you've been on staff how long now?

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Started the MIT program in June?

Speaker 2 (04:59):
All right, very cool, glad to have you back. And
now we've got a couple of brothers, Army brothers and
actual brothers. Who wants to go first the grand introduction?

Speaker 4 (05:11):
I'll go my name is Jason Tuckman, former sergeant and
Army National Guard. All right, hello, yeah, my name is
Brian Tugman, Army National Guard, former combat medic.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
And so you guys are from California, which you know,
I'm sorry you're in Texas now though it's so much better.

Speaker 4 (05:34):
Yeah, we've got smart California and what it.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Used to be beautiful place. Though it's beautiful Los Angeles,
are you right?

Speaker 4 (05:42):
Great place to visit, yeah right, yeah, and then come
right back and get out as fast as you can. Yep.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, I'm all in agreement with that.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
You might be in traffic half the time.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, like it doesn't have to be that far. And
it's similar to that at certain times and places in
Houston people talk about trap and even Los Angeles hear
people talk this is the worst ever said. Have you
ever been to Mexico City? No? Ever been to Bangkok?

Speaker 4 (06:08):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (06:08):
No, yes, we have, Yes, we travel, you know, you
guys maybe, but like people are just you know, got
the worst traffic. Yeah, you might want to travel something
before you throw that out there, because yeah, Bangkok was
something different.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
Yeah that was crazy. How long were you out there?

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (06:26):
We were there for ten days actually well, we were
there for probably about a week because we spent part
of it there and part of it in the Philippines
and Manila.

Speaker 5 (06:34):
Yeah, the traffic's different out there, like everyone's trying to
crash into one another, but miraculously they never do. So
you see these like motorbikes just weaving in and out
of traffic and.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Motorcycle and that was absolutely nuts. Like you people are
looking for a way to die. It's got to happen
for this drive is over. Yeah, but this is different
because you know, you go to New York citybody complains
about the traffic, but it's so different. I don't think
anybody ever gets in an accident in New York City
because you drive so slow. There's nowhere to go, right.

Speaker 4 (07:06):
And they have the subway system out there. At least
they have public transportation. Yeah, that's one thing Los Angeles
does not have. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
Actually, being originally from Philadelphia, the way you do it
up there is especially if you live outside the city,
if you're visiting the city, you park your car at
a paid parking lot, so somebody watches your car and
you take public transportation and taxi. Right, you know, you
don't drive.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
All right, So we got a got a marine, got
a couple of army guys in here, so we're gonna
have have a lot of fun talk about some brothers
and deploying together. So stick around. We're going to take
a quick break. Reminder eight seven seven seven one seven
seventy eight seventy three. That's our combat Trauma Crisis line.
Eight seven seven seven seven seventy eight seventy three. All right,

(08:10):
welcoming back, got Pete, got Jason and Brian. Jason Brian
brothers deployed together to Iraq twenty ten, and we'll talk
a little bit about that. But let's let's talk about
this last week Veterans Day. And I've met some veterans

(08:34):
through the years that for whatever reason, they struggled a
little bit with that day. Sometimes it's since they lost
some struggle with their own service and finding pride in it,
which always hurts to hear that, but I understand it.
But being at Camp Hope, it's a different it's a
different vibe, and you guys are about to experience the

(08:58):
holidays at Camp Hope, and I will just tell you
there's a lot of disruptions to the program, a lot
of them, but just let's just talk about Veterans Day
and what was life for you guys, and whoever wants
to go first?

Speaker 4 (09:10):
And PDA, I would love for you to.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Chime in on this as well, but it just like
from your perspective, what it was like Veterans Day twenty
twenty five being at Camp Hope while it's happening. Whoever
wants to go first?

Speaker 5 (09:21):
Well, the golf outing that you mentioned earlier, I was there,
so it was the first time I'd ever gone golfing.
My only experience prior to that was like miniature golf,
So I was like, there's a difference. I was like putting.
I got putting, you know, like I could putch.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
You need a windmill?

Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yeah, yeah, I need a windmill and maybe a clown
chopping away at it. But yeah, it was It was
fun being out there in the grass. What do they
call it, the the rough? Well that's where most of
my balls.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Went, yes, but the woods, the water, just.

Speaker 5 (09:53):
Being out there in nature for a couple of hours,
that itself was therapeutic. So in previous Veterans Days I
ended up like really not doing anything. I might go
to Applebee's and get like a free hamburger, or something
like that. But that's that's pretty much. It so like
actually going on this big trip with another a lot
of other veterans and stuff like that, and kind of

(10:15):
stepping outside of my comfort zone doing an activity that
I wouldn't normally do.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
It was. It was fun. It was.

Speaker 5 (10:22):
It was a lot of support from like the other
sponsors that you mentioned that were there, uh, them providing
us food and stuff like that, us having the camaraderie, uh,
being with each other like peer to peer.

Speaker 4 (10:36):
It was.

Speaker 5 (10:36):
It was a really cool experience and it's way more
than I would have done if I hadn't been at camp.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Hope gotcha.

Speaker 4 (10:42):
Yeah, I was on camp all day and I don't
know if it's possible, but I think I gained ten
pounds on one day. Yeah. We had two donor mills.
One was from Rudy's Barbecue, the other was Texas Roadhouse
and we just we ate and it was it was,
it was. It was a good experience. On nine to eleven,
I was there for nine eleven. That was a little different.

(11:02):
It was a little bit more somber. There's a lot
more you know, quiet around camp, and people were down
I would, including myself, but Veterans Day was more upbeat
and the donor mills killed it. It was just it
was beautiful, ate too much, but we had we had
a good day yesterday.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
Now the problem with that is those those yeast rolls
that come in with all that too much, my soul too.

Speaker 4 (11:26):
Much, just that that sweet butter in the rolls. It's
like whoa pastries everywhere it's taunting me.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah wait, wait, wait for the next four or five
six weeks, I guess Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be fun.
Lots of food. You need to stay away from, Petie.
What was it like for you?

Speaker 3 (11:43):
I cashed in on a lot of the studies for
for veterans, like uh so Grand Slam and Denny's.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
H got a free car washy quick quack you know.
Uh got a free coffee at Starbucks. I actually stopped
by Buffalo Wild Wings to get my ten free boneless wings,
and I came back to camp and let the guys
know in yellow face and uh they trucked it right out.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
There and bankrupted the local.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
To my knowledge, they hit multiple that's the way you
might need to edit that out.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
Yeah, they're going to stop offering free stuff.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
You could a free Yeah, that's funny.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
Good.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
Well, I'm glad you had a good day. And some
of the guys after that actually went and participated in
a pickleball tournament that evening. And I'm looking around saying,
I just saw you guys at a golf tournament. Now
here you are at the pickleball tournament. Yeah, yeah, this
has been a great day. It's a lot of fun. Okay,
yeah for you, let's go back a little bit. First
of all, I guess you're the older yes, kind of

(13:00):
assuming the way things were working on so far in
the show. Why joined the military? Why join the army?
What was all that about for you guys?

Speaker 4 (13:09):
Well, for me, initially, it was money for school. I
we just wanted to go to school.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
Nine to eleven really really hit. And I used to
be a real big guy, like I was over three
hundred and fifty pounds, so joining was not even in
my you know, it wasn't even an idea or a
realistic idea for me at the time.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
So that was but order eve nine to eleven halven.

Speaker 4 (13:35):
I was twenty one, okay, So I was. I was
in school. School is my priority. After school, I was
a probation officer for Los Angeles County Probation And yeah,
So that I left LA County Probation and then I
started having the itch. I met somebody while I was there.
He was a marine, and he said he there was

(13:56):
a saying he said, pain is nothing but uh and
it's leaving the body. I remember that, and I loved that,
and that that resparked my interest in wanting to join
the military again. And I have a funny story. So
I called the Air Force recruiter and he said, how
tall are you? I said six foot two? He said,
I'll tall are you six foot two? How much do

(14:18):
you weigh to eighty? He said, lose sixty pounds, then
call me back. I was like, okay. Then I called
the Army. I said the same thing, how tall are you?
Six foot two? How much you weigh to eighty? Okay,
we could work with that. We got you. So that
that was how I ended up getting in. But after
joining it became quite different. I found the camaraderie that

(14:39):
I once had playing football, and I just I loved
it and I've always been passionate about it.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
You played football in high school? Yes, all right?

Speaker 4 (14:47):
I had I actually had a football scholarship cal State
Northridge kid.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah, what position were we're playing?

Speaker 4 (14:51):
I played defensive tackle and I got recruited as a
defensive end.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
Nice, so you're going to rush the quarterback?

Speaker 4 (14:57):
All I loved it. That was that was my passion. Yeah,
I love it.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
That's awesome.

Speaker 4 (15:02):
What about you the army so well, my older brother
joined before.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
What's the age difference?

Speaker 4 (15:07):
So Jason six years older than I.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Gotcha.

Speaker 5 (15:10):
So my older brother joined before I did, and I
saw the positive things that I did for him. He
came back home, lost a lot of weight, had his
you know, discipline and life together and things like that.
So I saw all the positive stuff it did for him,
but also for me personally, Like it was a couple
of different reasons. I joined in two thousand and eight.
As we all remember, two thousand and eight was the

(15:31):
Great Recession, you know, so me coming out of high
school and entering the job market, there were no opportunities
for me, very little opportunities for me. So it felt
for me like the army. Joining the military was perhaps
the most straightforward thing for me to do with my
life and with my career. But then once I joined,

(15:52):
like Jason was saying, I felt that fellowship, that brotherhood,
that camaraderie that came with working with teams, working with
other men, and uh, just you know, finding my discipline
and finding purpose in my life. And I feel like
that's what the Army did for me and for us.

Speaker 4 (16:10):
Yeah, both brothers took quite some convincing. It wasn't it
wasn't an overnight thing. I had to I said, hey,
you guys, like this is this is the way. Like
mom and dad aren't gonna be able to put you
through school, so you got to think about life outside
of partying and whatnot. So it's time to start thinking
about the future. And they eventually made the right decision.

(16:32):
Shout out to our middle brother, Jonathan. Hey, Jonathan Man.
He went Navy. Our middle brother decided to go Navy,
but he actually went super high speed, decided to become
a Navy Seal, and he went through BUDS training in Coronado. Unfortunately,
because of an injury, he wasn't able to make it through,
but he still ended up doing six years in the Navy.

(16:53):
So we're pretty much an entire military family, all three
brothers along.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
After you'd signed up, did you sign up a year?
A year between Yeah, about a year later. How long
were you in by the way, seven years? Seven?

Speaker 4 (17:10):
Also like yeah, six years?

Speaker 2 (17:12):
Okay, m all right did you go Did you go
back to California after your don or somewhere else?

Speaker 4 (17:18):
Yes, back to California after the deployment. I went to
nursing school.

Speaker 5 (17:23):
Okay, yeah, yeah, after the deployment, I decided to go
back or I worked at a psych hospital for a
couple of years. That's what got me into psychology and
that's where my educational background is.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
H But we had toime. I'd love to I'm sure
there's some stories working this.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
Oh yeah, yeah hospital.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah, I talked about a Yeah, I talk all the time.
What's it like a camp Hope?

Speaker 1 (17:47):
Like?

Speaker 2 (17:48):
All I know to tell you is it's never boring.
That's about all I know to tell you. Hey, we've
got to take a quick break and we'll be back
with more of Road to Hope Radio in just a moment.
And we welcome you back to Road to Hope Radio.

(18:09):
Glad to have you along with us. Where if you
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We truly do appreciate it's free. It's a great way
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(18:29):
America's veterans from every era of war, every military brain.
We haven't had a Space Force guy yet, but I'm
sure it's coming.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
We have our first coast Guard.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
No, we've had coast guard before.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
Well, first coast guard since i've been Okay, got your
m Yeah, and he's in my bay.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
All right, there you go. Very cool. Yeah, everything we
do for our veterans or they're family members absolutely free,
costs them absolutely nothing. Serving America's combat vets dealing with
combat related post traumatic stress. All right, we're gonna switch
gears here just second because we're going to need to
move fast. But didn't find out so you played football,

(19:06):
you fallo in football?

Speaker 5 (19:07):
I played football a little bit, Pop Wonder, But then
when I got to high school, I transitioned to wrestling.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
So oh, I was a wrestler in high school.

Speaker 5 (19:16):
Well wait, true one seventy one Okay, yeah, I was
a big boy even back then.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
My youngest brother is seven years older than I am. Yeah,
and I was always the guinea pig when he was
working on some new move, like you know what am
I going to do? He's seventeen ten, all right, that
was fun. That was great. But he was always cutting
weight because I think I think his senior year he
probably wrestled like one thirteen something like that. I mean

(19:45):
it was crazy. He was boiled, a boiled hamburger and
maybe a few green beans.

Speaker 4 (19:53):
Yeah. I missed a couple of Thanksgivings. Yeah, it was terrible.

Speaker 5 (19:57):
It was one of those things where like all the
spread and the food would be everywhere, and I'll be like,
don't show me. I don't want to see it. That's
why I couldn't wrestle.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Yeah, I like food.

Speaker 4 (20:06):
Put the sweats too much. I put the sweats on
and start running circles around the house. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
You mentioned all the sweets and the all the donor
meals that we had during this past week, and again
it's gonna get far worse between on Christmas. But I
always remind folks. Our our official tagline was Hope and
Healing for the Unseen Wounds of War. Our unofficial tagline
is we like to eat. Oh it just there's a

(20:31):
lot of food. Uh, nothing boost morale like a good meal. Right. Well,
and you've been around, both of you. How long have
you been at camp? Uh?

Speaker 4 (20:38):
Let me see two months?

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Okay, and you got.

Speaker 4 (20:40):
There about three months.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Change been there long enough. You've seen guys come in
that are, you know, coming on off very severe addiction.
So they come in they look rough, make shad exactly,
looks like some very ragged skills draped over some bones.
And we can't put weight on fairly quickly around there,
hope forty and that's what we call it.

Speaker 5 (21:04):
One of my buddies he gained like thirty pounds since
he's been there, but he needed it.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah, right, yeah, all right, we're gonna switch gears because
time will run out and we won't have gotten to
the meat of this. Both medics deployed twenty ten to
to Iraq. Uh, you come home. I don't know how
long it was for each of you between coming home
and getting out of the army. But symptoms of PTSD,

(21:31):
whether you realize them at the time or not, when
did those start to arise in you guys lives?

Speaker 4 (21:37):
So you want to go first?

Speaker 5 (21:38):
Yeah, So we got back in twenty eleven and I
got my first DWI in twenty twelve, and my mentality
when I first came home was that I just got
done serving this country. If I want to drink myself
to oblivion every night, I've earned that, you know, so

(21:59):
I have.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
The first feel that way.

Speaker 4 (22:00):
Yeah, I had a little bit of money saved up.
I told myself I was partying, you know, after being
in a war zone for twelve months and being under
you know, mortar attacks and things like that. Like, I
just was like, I need to socialize again. I need
to spend that time with my friends. I need to
party and get it out of my system because I've

(22:21):
been such a good soldier for so long. And that
partying soon turned into compulsive drinking, you know, like once
the party was over, I was still drinking, and it
just I didn't think of it as a problem at
the time because I was still going to work and

(22:42):
I was still you know, a good student and things
like that. So I know there's a myth behind like
being a functional alcoholic. But I thought I was a
functional alcoholic for a long time. But then I came
to realize now I'm just I'm just an alcoholic. I'm
I had bug.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
But then I came to also, you were drinking because
you just felt like that was something you deserve. You
weren't trying to necessarily, yeah, push something away.

Speaker 5 (23:09):
I wasn't at first, but then later on I realized
I couldn't fall asleep without it, you know, I'd have nightmares,
I couldn't hold like a healthy relationship and things like that.
So I started seeing the signs of PTSD through my drinking,
and after going through therapy and stuff like that, working
that out with my counselors, I've realized that, like my

(23:31):
drinking behavior was a symptom of my PTSD. Sure, you know,
I had these mental health issues going on, and I
didn't quite know how to identify it. That's why when
I went to school, I studied psychology. At first, I
told myself, I want to understand why I'm so crazy,
you know, and that's why I chose psychology. But in reality,

(23:52):
I really wanted to understand the nature of my affliction.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
What about you?

Speaker 4 (23:57):
So for me it was a little different. I started
noticing seeing my issues when I started trying to get
back into the workforce. When I first came back from
the deployment, I was going to school for several years
I was taking my prerequisites to get into nursing school,
got into nursing school, finished that, But when I tried
to when I got my first nursing job and started

(24:19):
having issues with my coworkers, issues with my patients, then
I started realizing, like, hey, maybe I'm the issue. So yeah,
that's when I started noticing. I think that I probably
had those issues the whole time, but it wasn't evident
to me until until I started trying to reintegrate into
the workforce. How did you handle it of self medicating?

(24:42):
Self medicating? I had issues going to sleep. I had
issues with anxiety and depression, so self medicating.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
Okay, So you had your first UI twenty twelve, got out,
you got home in eleven Yeah, okay.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
So it was like shortly after we had gotten a.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
Few months probably, yeah, okay, and a little longer for
you before you at least realize what was going on. Yes, sir,
about what year was that? Do you remember when you
started recognizing this might be me as you described it?

Speaker 4 (25:15):
Yes, I got I started. I got my first nursing
job in twenty sixteen, and then I started having issues
right away.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Okay, all right, So deployed twenty ten Home twenty eleven
issues for you beginning twelve, you notice some four years later, ish, uh,
I'm presuming, Well, I don't really need to I don't
know your stories, although most of these stories ended up

(25:43):
bringing along a pretty similar line, I'm sure, even noticing
in twenty sixteen with some of your employee fellow employees
employer employees, it didn't get better by itself. No, and
you mentioned the self medicating that usually goes from whatever

(26:05):
level to a completely different level over time. Same for
you with the alcohol or not.

Speaker 5 (26:11):
Yeah, Like I would say that d UI was perhaps
the eye opener, but even then I was just like
I was more upset that I didn't get away with it,
and I didn't have that sense of accountability, I guess
at the time, and I started seeing my drinking behavior
becoming a problem. I guess when I went to college.

(26:33):
I went to college in Humboldt State University. That's where
I got my undergraduate degree at least. And it's a
small town, and reputation goes quickly in a small town.
So I was there, thought I was partying, and before
long I was labeled the town drunk, you know, and
I got away from Los Angeles thinking I'm getting away

(26:54):
from all the bad influences that were down there. But
as I went up to northern California, yeah, I realized
I brought me with me, you know. And I was
there trying to impress people, trying to be funny, trying
to like I don't know, but I was really making
a full of myself. I humiliated myself countless time.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Were you guys talking to each other about what was
going on? I don't know.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
Well, he was several hundred miles away, and we kept
in contact via the phone for the most part. But
he was busy. I knew he was busy. I was
busy too. I had a wife ex wife now at
the time, so we had a full plate. But when
it comes to recognizing the issues that come with PTSD,

(27:39):
I think my ex my ex wife, she knew immediately,
like yeah, something something ain't right.

Speaker 5 (27:46):
Yeah, our relationships, like they probably noticed those PTSD symptoms.
But it's not like Jason and I called each other like, hey,
are you having PTSD symptoms? Me too, Like we we
don't in our upbringing, in our household, we don't really talk.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
About yeah, yeah, yeah, not unusual there. Yeah, No one
wants to talk about that.

Speaker 5 (28:06):
Yeah, yeah, especially with your brother, Like, hey, are you
feeling right now?

Speaker 2 (28:12):
You want to talk about the worst moments of your life?

Speaker 5 (28:14):
Are you experiencing resentments too? No, we don't have those
conversations now that we're at Camp Hope together. I could
honestly say, now we're beginning to have those kind of
like vulnerable moments and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
But well, the shared experiences, which is the whole peer
to peer model of everything we do with the Foundation.
It's all about shared experiences. Whether you're at Vietnam or
we're in an Afghanistan, doesn't matter. It's that shared combat trauma.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Man, you guys got your whole lives and then you
deployed together. Like what are the odds of that? So
it takes it to a much deeper level. All Right,
we got to take a final break and we'll come
back with more of Road to Hope Radio, and we

(29:08):
walk you back Road to Hope Radio. You got Pete
who's currently on staff, fairly quiet most of the show.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
Oh well, you know there's.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
A lot going on in here, isn't There are going
to be so much left that we don't get to
and we got a couple of brothers, Jason and Bryan
United States Army served together, deployed together Iraq in twenty ten,
and how they are at Camp Hope together. Didn't come
in at the same time. But what what brought you up?

Speaker 4 (29:39):
What?

Speaker 2 (29:40):
What? What brought you to the point where you realized
I need to do something significant? Because Camp Hope, and
you're talking about it's going to be told to you
it's a six to nine month program, so you can
know right out of the box, this isn't a week
in retreat. It's not a two week program. This is
this is this is serious. There's got to be something
going on prettyhill you. I would assume that would cause

(30:01):
you to I need to look into this.

Speaker 5 (30:04):
Yeah, well I heard of Camp Hope from a friend
of mine, fellow peer. I've been in and out of
treatment unfortunately for the last couple.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
Of years or another.

Speaker 4 (30:17):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (30:18):
The last treatment facility I went to was a VIA facility,
and I had a pretty negative experience. I felt like
it was overly bureaucratic and that there wasn't really a
whole lot of like internal spiritual healing that was going on.
And I don't mean to bite the hand feeds or
anything like that. But it was just like, here's some medication,

(30:40):
now go on your merry way. And you know, I
just I didn't get the tangible I guess help that
I needed there, and I noticed that my problems continued,
so I guess when it comes to like higher power stuff.
The buddy that I met that told me about Camp Hope,
I met him at the previous facility, So I feel

(31:01):
for myself that that was meant to happen. Like I was, like,
it was some direction that helped me find out about
Camp Hope, and I just put it in my back
pocket for several months. I was just like, Okay, if
things continue getting worse and I just can't maintain a job,
I can't maintain relationships, I continue to isolate, and you
know the medications aren't helping, then I'm going to reach

(31:24):
out to Camp Hope. I'm also dealing with some legal
issues and things like that, so I just figured, Okay,
while I'm waiting for my legal issues to you know,
get taken care of, I might as well be at
Camp Hope while I'm waiting.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
So when you heard of Camp Hope, were you aware
he had already looked into it.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
So Brian is the is the person who told me
about Camp Hope. My brother and I had no idea
what it was, where it was, or anything about that.
I was living in Thailand and some pertinent business.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
We don't have any billboards in Thailand, no.

Speaker 4 (31:57):
No, not yet, but I some pertinent business brought me
back to the States. I had nowhere to go, no
place to live or anything like that. Brian said, hey, man,
you need to check this place out. And I'm glad
I did. I. Yeah, I've, I've I'm having overwhelmingly positive
experience so far, learning a lot about myself, learning a
lot about PTSD. So I thank my brother for letting

(32:21):
me know about the place.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
And you've been here how long, Jason?

Speaker 4 (32:25):
I I came back in August to being in August August?

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Learning what's changing in your in your mindset? Well, you
wake up in the morning today versus four months ago.
What's what's different? If anything?

Speaker 4 (32:38):
That's a good question. I'm learning a lot about myself.
I'm learning a lot about myself. I'm learning a lot
about PTSD, and and more importantly, in my opinion, I'm
getting closer to the Bible and too uh to a
religion Christianity that that's really important to me. Uh. And
I was not really too religious, never picked up a

(32:59):
Bible to start reading it before. Now I'm into it
and it's it's I'm learning a lot from it and
I'm trying to apply it to my life. Now.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Just real quick, When you heard about Camp Hope and Wherever, however,
you heard it was a faith based program, how did
you respond to that?

Speaker 4 (33:16):
Did that?

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Did that mean anything to you or just like, Okay,
well that's that's that.

Speaker 4 (33:21):
But so it didn't bother me at all. But I
figured like, oh, okay, I'll just I'll go through the
motions and do do what they require of me. But
it's more too, It's more more than that. Now, it's
it's rubbing off on me in a in a positive way,
and I'm really, I'm really that's one of the biggest
things that I'm getting appreciation or fulfillment out of right now.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
M what's changing for you? You've only been here two months? Then, yeah,
two months. I knew it was a faith based program.
I knew it was a long term program, and I
came here ready for both. And for me, the things
that are changing is like here. It's for it's I
don't want to say forcing, it's encouraging me to tell
my story. I'm in a safe place around veterans who

(34:07):
have very similar issues going on. So having that peer
to peer experience and being surrounded by other people who
have either gone through what I'm going through or you know,
are going through it simultaneously, it makes me realize that
I'm not alone in this, in the suffering and the
pain and the stuff that comes with PTSD, the relational issues. Like,

(34:29):
I'm finally in an atmosphere of healing, and I really
love the fact I get the biggest benefit when we're
outside of class and I'm talking face to face with
another veteran. That's the true peer to peer right there.

Speaker 4 (34:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
I talk about that a lot, because you hear a
lot in classes, right, a lot of information around the
fire pit. There's stupid conversation too, but around the fire
pit when there's just the man, what do you think
about this that was said? Or what do you think
about that? And just kind of working through some of
those things.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
Yeah, that's for like a half an hour we were
at the fire pitch, just telling Chuck Norris jokes back
and forth. You know, and it was just the most exhilaratos.

Speaker 5 (35:09):
Yeah, it's so therapy, Tod and I was just staring
at the fire laughing.

Speaker 4 (35:14):
It was great. A lot of us have similar stories
and when we balance each other's issues off of one
another and say, yes, sir, I've been through that. Yes, sir,
I've been through that too. So it's it's a relief
thinking that you're not alone.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
You know, I was scriptural principle.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Laughter does good for the heart.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
If I may. One of the things I've noticed, you know,
being a new mentor is a lot of guys struggle
with the idea of purpose and what having a purpose
and what they're going to do after after their time
at camp is done. And more times than none, I'm

(35:56):
encouraging guys to look into peer support. Uh, merely because
they're getting such a good foundation in it at camp.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, and they're.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Learning to talk to each other, and that's all the
peer to peer mental health peer support is. It's sharing
your life experience and you know, being there for somebody
else and you're not telling them what to do, You're
you're encouraging them to find their own way.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Yeah, and we're almost a time boy give both of
you guys a chance. Let's talk about that so and
talk about purpose in life and joining the army. Then
you're both medics, like, that's some serious purpose in your life.
And you go on into nursing school and become a nurse,
that's some serious purpose when you're done, which don't don't

(36:47):
quit until you're done. What are you looking forward to?

Speaker 4 (36:52):
So, Unfortunately, the field of nursing for me is a
trigger for my PTSD. It doesn't work well with the
issues that I have. So I'm thinking about utilizing VOKE rehab,
the vocal vocational rehab, and and employment and and maybe

(37:14):
possibly going back to school after after camp.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
Hope, all right, cool?

Speaker 4 (37:18):
But you yeah, it's for me. I it really depends.
If my legal stuff ends up getting resolved, then my sovereignty,
my options are open. So I'm on one hand.

Speaker 5 (37:33):
If my legal issues are resolved, I could see myself
going back to school, getting my PhD, you know, doing
some high speed things with my career, and get ultimately
getting back into my child's life. If my if my stuff,
he's four years old. Yeah, I love my buddy and
I miss him.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
Uh, parental alienation. I realized I'm not the only father
going through that.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
We've seen some pretty amazing reunions around Camp Hope that
no one ever would have thought would have happened. And
we can't guarantee that's going to happen for you, but
we sure do. Hey, do the work and let the
results happen. But because none of us get to push that.
But thank you guys both for sharing a little bit
of your time. This is always the fastest hour of
every single week on how we already done. But thank

(38:20):
you so much. And uh, just be prepared, be ready
to look away because the sweets are coming in large portions.

Speaker 4 (38:29):
I'm gonna put exactly yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
But what I see running around the track and I
see a cupcake in both hands, I'm gonna know what's up.

Speaker 4 (38:39):
All right.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Thank you guys, Thank you for joining us. Look forward
to being with you guys next week for more of
Road to Hope Radio