Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Multiple people in my family, clean my father, are veterans.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The troops that have been to war and now they're back.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
And think and be grateful for their service.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
Sacrifice, love for their country, just unselfishness, all that.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
They do for us.
Speaker 5 (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, devil.
Speaker 3 (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, and we love them. Today,
(01:05):
we honor them and we serve them. David Maulsby 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
this Well. It's Memorial Day weekend, Sunday afternoon on the
KPRC the nine to five oh when the AM dial
those of you listening through radio, thank you for joining
us as you're on your way to do your things
for Memorial Day weekend. Those of you listening through the
Magic podcast, we sure do thank you for doing so.
(01:45):
Wherever you listen to podcasts, just look for Road to
Hope Radio. I would love it if you hit that
little subscribe button. It'll automatically download each week as the
new show drops. So we appreciate you doing that and
sharing that as frequently and as often as you possibly can.
Big things to all who listen. I'm gonna mention this
real quick. We will touch on Memorial Day. We've got
(02:05):
a couple of vets in here, as we usually do.
One of the guys on our staff that's a graduate
of the program at Camp Hope, the Interim Housing program
of the PTSD Foundation of America. And then we have
a current resident who is in the program at Camp Hope.
Will hear a little bit of his story. We to
say thank you to our sponsors allows this time and
(02:27):
spend with you each and every week. Are great friends
Billy and Connie Stagner at a Corey Diamond and Design.
That's Aco ri I. They're in friends Wood, but they
can help you, no matter where are you at, They're
going to take careat care of you, people that share
your values and support our veterans two eight one four
eight two forty seven fifty five two eight one four
(02:48):
eight two forty seven fifty five a Corey Diamond and designed.
Then well, because we all have those moments, oopsteam dot
Com clean up all the messes, uh, but they also
clean out the air vents, all those kinds of things.
It's more than just cleaning the carpet or the tile
or the wood whatever. Oops Steam dot Com two eight
(03:09):
one eight two two zero five sixty one. And then
when it's time to purchase that piece of Texas where
you're going to build your dream home, Republic Grand ranch
dot com. Because it's not just about the house, it's
about where the house is. There's not going to be
a better place. It's absolutely stunningly beautiful. You're going to
be surrounded by people with the right kind of values.
(03:31):
Republic Grand Ranch dot Com. Quick reminder as we go
through the show, sometimes some of the things we touch
on can be a bit triggering for some eight seven
seven seven one seven seventy eight seventy three is our
combat Trauma support line eight seven seven seven one seven
(03:51):
seventy eight seventy three, it will be answered by a
combat veteran eight seven seven seven one seven seventy eight
seventy three. Our website pts tousa dot org. All right,
so it is Memorial Day weekend, and reminding it's a
little different from Veterans Day, it's a little different from
Armed Forces Day. Memorial Day is set aside, originally known
(04:17):
as Decoration Day, but is set aside to honor and
mourn the US military personnel who died while serving in
the United States Military. It is observed the last Monday
of every May, and I guess, on the less formal
side kind of can considered to be the beginning of summer,
(04:41):
although summer has sit in Houston about three or four
weeks ago, and it's going to stay and visit us
for several months. Now. It's here and you just might
as well get used to it. But a quick reminder,
Memorial Day is a holiday. It should be enjoyed, but
(05:04):
it's not always and it's not all about or only
about the sale. Every department store in the world's got
Memorial Day sales, and I'd really like to think that
Memorial Day means a little bit more to us than
just we can go buy a new suit or new
shoes on sale. Because of this Memorial Day, we want
(05:27):
to set aside time. It may be a moment, it
may be a day, maybe half a day, It may
be a while, depending on how close you are to
somebody that was killed in action, someone who died while serving.
But take some time to remember. Takes some time to
reflect and appreciate the freedoms that we have today because
(05:52):
of those men and women who put on the uniform
and didn't make it home. So take a little time
to do that. We'd appreciate it immensely. All right, in
the studio with us, we got Adrian back with us. Adrian,
want to reintroduce yourself to the world.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Hello, Hello, Hello, So Adrian Jones are Colls me jonesy
so mentor alphabet being a mentor there in the year now,
served mostly in Iraq. I did two back to back
fourteen month tours and then I came home.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Where are you from?
Speaker 5 (06:28):
I am from Brady, Texas. Brady small town out west central.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Texas branch Marine Corps. Marine Corps. I'm surprised you didn't
say that Marines usually say that right off the bat,
like they're quick to say that. All right. Also in
the studio with us, we have guy that's in our
program right now. Jeremy, want to introduce yourself.
Speaker 6 (06:47):
Yeah, I'm Jeremy Burgers.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I'm originally from Lexington, North Carolina, but I live over
in Atlanta, Georgia. Now, I did ten years in the
Air Force as a combat search and rescue loadmaster.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Okay, and you deployed.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
I deployed twice, once to Afghanistan in twenty eleven and
once the Dabooty Africa in twenty twelve.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Okay, So we'll get into your story here in just
a moment. Just quick reminder, get your phone out. Put
the phone number in. You never know. It may not
be for you, but you may need to share it
with somebody who could really use our services. So please
put the number in your phone. Eight seven seven seven
one seven seventy eight seventy three. A combat veteran will
(07:30):
answer the phone. If you find someone struggling and on
the phone, hit that number and tell them a combat
BET's going to answer. Eight seven seven seven one seven
seventy eight seventy three will be right back.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Ten either of you guys like crawlfish.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Huh do you really?
Speaker 5 (08:16):
I've had one my whole life.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
One.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
I don't like crawl fish. Like wait a minute, I
don't understand either.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Uh. Maybe the one you had was not properly probably.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
I think that was it.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
If you like shrimp, I don't.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
I love frimp, Yeah I don't.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yeah. Oh, well more for me. Uh, lots of crawfish
this weekend. I had a great, great day on Saturday.
We have we have two sci fair school teachers, husband wife,
(09:04):
the husband United States Army vet. And eleven years ago,
I believe it was, they held their first crawfish boil
in the front yard with some friends and donated from
that to Camp Hope for the very first time. And
now they've donated over one hundred and twenty thousand dollars
(09:26):
from just having crawfish boil and inviting some friends over
in the front yard. It's the craziest thing in the world.
But I asked him a few years ago, so, well, man,
why do you do this, because it's a lot of work,
just the cooking the crawfish, just for that many people.
You got through four hundred people, that's a lot of work.
Just doing that. But he and his wife four months
(09:47):
leading up work really hard with their friends, their networks,
raising the money, getting donated items for you know, auction
items and that type of thing. But every year they
just pull off a great event and tremendously appreciate those
(10:08):
two of them for all that they do to support
our veterans at Camp Hope. And then today Sunday a
lot of crawfish on site. Oh yeah, that's.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Gonna be interesting.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Oh yeah, and I think they've got a couple of
surprises in addition to crawfish. So well, I don't know
exactly how that's working out. I know I talked to
him about a couple of months ago and he was
going to try to pull off a little something extra.
So I won't say it so nobody gets disappointed, but
it should be a whole lot of fun with big,
big things. You know, a lot of people throughout the
(10:43):
course of a year. Well, there's some like a Memorial
Drive Methodist Church. They come out once a month and
provide meal for everybody at Camp Hope. But there are
several who do something like that. Del Frisco Grill comes
out once a month and serves lunch to everybody, the
(11:05):
residents and the staff as well, and just a lot
of folks to do that, which one helps the obvious,
it helps keep our food bill down, but it also
provides provides our residence a little something different, little something extra,
and the opportunity to see that when people say thank
(11:27):
you or they have you know, I support the troops
bumper sticker. There are some people who actually mean it
and go above and beyond just saying some words, but
actually doing some things, giving of their time. And if
you ever have an interest in doing that, that can
be from everything from coming out and helping pulling weeds
to helping with events like the crawfish bull that we
(11:49):
had yesterday, different events that go on through a lot
of golf tournaments that go on through the course of
the year that require a lot of volunteers to help
make those things happen. And if you ever have an
interest in doing something like that or just learning more
about what those opportunities are. Our website is PTSD US
a dot org. PTSD post Traumatic stress Disorder PTSD us
(12:15):
a dot org. And there's a button when you get
there get help, or another button give help. Get the
give help and it'll take you to a drop down menu.
Can just click on volunteers and it'll show you some
different opportunities away for you to sign up and get
more information. So ptsd us a dot org. All right,
(12:39):
So raised in North Carolina? And where what was the
town again?
Speaker 6 (12:45):
Lexington?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Lexington? Okay, all right? Do they still make a lot
of furniture over there?
Speaker 1 (12:50):
They do.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
It's a big furniture Lexington and Salisbury.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
They're a big furniture.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I know it was at one time. I didn't know
if it was still going on, still going on? All right,
very cool. You went to high schooler?
Speaker 6 (13:04):
I did. I went to Davidson County.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
What was your claim to fame in high school?
Speaker 6 (13:10):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Well, my freshman and sophomore years, I was pretty much
the all star basketball and football player. Tore my rotator
cuff and that end of that. So then I was
pretty much banned the whole time.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Okay, Adrian, did you do sports in high school?
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Oh? Yeah, a lot of sports, so everything except for baseball.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I just seen baseball as my sport.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
But that was my dad's sport, baseball.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So what were you best at?
Speaker 5 (13:43):
My opinion? Track?
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Really?
Speaker 5 (13:46):
All four years I went to regionals. I qualified high jump,
long jump, and the quarter.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Really, so I believe running is a sin. That's my problem.
That's my problem.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
Tracking.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I got a couple of screwis in money because I
wanted to play football, and I thought that was the
greatest thing ever.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Yeah, that was pretty good at football.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah, I don't run. I don't run anymore.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
The chance to look it up. Nineteen ninety eight, I
was the number one quarterback cornerback in Texas?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Are you serious?
Speaker 5 (14:18):
Three A?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
What year?
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Nineteen ninety eight?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Really?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
My defense that year allowed nineteen points the whole season.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
We're worthy of what's school?
Speaker 6 (14:26):
Brady?
Speaker 5 (14:26):
Texas?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (14:27):
We were the number one defense in the state three
A And that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You didn't want to do that in college?
Speaker 5 (14:34):
No, I want to run?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Oh me? Nope, running is a sin?
Speaker 6 (14:44):
All right.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
So obviously at some point in time you joined the military.
Why'd you decide to join the military?
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, I grew up in a military family, so like
all the males to my entire immediate family, they were
all part of the military. And I was actually working
for NASCAR out of high school, and I got to
the point where like, if I'm going to join I
need to go ahead and join now. So it was
in two thousand and nine when I decided to join
(15:14):
because I was like, if I get too old, I
want to not be able to enjoy it as much.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
So how old were you when you join?
Speaker 6 (15:22):
I was twenty three.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Okay, it's not too long now. But you were the
old guy when you went into.
Speaker 6 (15:29):
Actually I wasn't. There was one that was forty five
in my boots.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Oh are you serious?
Speaker 6 (15:33):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Wow, all right, But other than that, I was the
old guy. Okay, nice? What why the Air Force?
Speaker 4 (15:44):
I always wanted to fly, and I was like, I
can knock out two birds in one stone. I can
join the military and fly at the same time.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
But you didn't fly.
Speaker 6 (15:54):
I did. I was.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
I flew on the back of the plane. Like I
wasn't a pilot, but I was on the back of
the plane.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, so you're in the plane.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Yeah the plane? Was?
Speaker 3 (16:01):
It a perfectly good airplane? Is air Force? So maybe
what I was, you know, airborne and all that stuff,
jumping out of planes. I used to say, jumping out
of a perfectly good airplane. They'd all shake their head. No,
it was not a perfectly good airplane.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
Yeah. No, it started off like some of the ones
I started off flying. They were sixty years old, so
they were like barely being held held on duct tape. Yeah,
super glue, duck tape and slue.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Scary, yeah, I know. Like, Okay, so we're sending our
young men and women to war on sixty year old airplanes. Hmmm,
but I think, yeah, I forget what the number was.
They just, you know, this big to do about the
seven forty seven that was being gifted to the United States,
(16:50):
and they were talking about how old the current Air
Force one is and it's it's old. I forget how
old they said it was, but it was. It shocked
me when I heard that's now I'm sure you know,
there's not much original left in that plane. Imagine it's
been yeah, about one hundred times. All right, And just
(17:11):
a moment, we're gonna be going to the bottom of
the hour news break for those of you listening on
the nine five oh, so you'll hear the news and
we'll come back. Those of you listening through the magic
of podcasts, just enjoy a little bit of music and'll
be back. But one or more reminder eight seven seven
seven one, seven seventy eight seventy three is the Combat
Trauma Support Line and PTSDUSA dot org is the website.
(17:33):
Also on social media, ptsd USA both on Facebook and
the X and YouTube ptsd USA. All right, we'll be
right back and we welcome you back Road to Hope Radio.
(18:16):
David Maulsby here, Glad to have you along. Reminder, wherever
you listen to podcasts, just look for Road to Hope
Radio and I hope you'll hit that subscribe button and
it'll drop each and every week when the new show hits.
And we appreciate when you not only listen but share
with your friends, enemies, neighbors, ex neighbors, whoever, everybody could
(18:37):
use a little bit of this information. We're gonna get
back to Jeremy's story here in just a minute, but
I want to add both of you guys to to
talk a little bit about what Memorial Day means to
you personally. And I know for many a Memorial Day
(18:58):
can be a really really rough weekend for a lot
of our a lot of our veterans, some not so much.
But regardless, whatever that is for you, I'd just like
for you to share a little bit about what it
means to you. If there's anything in particular, anyone in
particular that you remember on Memorial Day weekend, just share
(19:21):
with us a little bit.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
So for me, I guess Memorial Day weekend, it's roughly
twenty some years ago now, a long time actually lost
the marine under my charge, and so it means to
(19:48):
me it's just what it means to be free, you know,
the Ultimate Sacrifice parade and what we did over there
and to value what we have here. It's just remind
nder of, you know, what to be grateful for, you know,
coming home and what it was all about and those
(20:08):
that do do give ultimate sacrifice. So very it was
it was. It used to be sad for me, but
now as I've worked through a lot of it, it's
more of a you know, just being grateful, you know,
thankful for sacrifices and being able to come home to
(20:31):
you know, greatl America.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Before you worked through some of that, you can kind
of recall maybe first or second, first few Memorial Days,
how did you cope with those?
Speaker 5 (20:44):
So I would usually be with myself. I didn't want
to talk about it, you know, I didn't want to
be reminded of it, because you know, you get you
get people that want to know why you feel this
way that wasn't there. I just want to talk about it.
So I usually haunted by myself. You know, I'd go
(21:07):
either go fishing with some moves, or I would just
go to some random you know, holding the wall somewhere
where no one knew me and just kind of you know,
my have my day. That's how I used to deal
with it.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
And this year you'd be doing what on Memorial Day?
Speaker 5 (21:24):
This year, believe it or not, I'll be working, but
me too, but you know, I'll be with some fellow
brothers in arms, you know, enjoy the day festivities if
they're around, and things of that nature, some totally different
something I don't think I'll be able to do. Well,
I wouldn't be able to do, you know, some fifteen
(21:46):
twenty years ago.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
How important is it, though that the ones you're going
to be around have that shared experience of both combat
and of loss.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Well, I mean it helps with the you know, some
of those way in questions, you know, am I alone
in this?
Speaker 6 (22:08):
You know?
Speaker 5 (22:08):
Will I get through this? Will it ever change? You know,
does it get better? Things like that. It just helps
to be with that familiar, familiar state of mind and
know that there's a there is a light in the tunnelness.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Jeremy, what does Memorial Day mean to you personally today? Uh?
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Well, I've always remembered Memorial Day as is a time
to remember those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. So it's
one of those humbling moments to know that, yes, we
had all the people that went into the military, but
not everybody came home. So it's one of those like
somber moments just to remember friends and families that passed.
(22:52):
I luckily haven't had any of that passed inside the service,
but it's remember those that weren't so fortunate, that have
mothers or fathers that didn't come home, that it's the
time to remember their memories and sacrifices. When did you
(23:13):
get out of the Air Force, by the way, twenty
nineteen nineteen. Okay, did Memorial they change for you at all?
Post military?
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Well?
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Being in a military family like I was raised on
how Memorial meant to remember, so it was already there,
so it really didn't change any throughout my entire life,
pre military or post military.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Okay, So six years from the time you got out
of their time you got to Camp Hope. PTSD's part
of your life. Yes, when did you begin to notice
something's not right?
Speaker 6 (23:54):
Actually I wasn't the one to notice it.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Normal my wife was. She kept going, She's like, you
have PTSD, and I'm like, no, I don't have that.
I'm not one of those people. She's like, yes, you
have it. And then as my depression and anxiety started
getting really worse than the suicidal aviations and everything, She's like,
you need to go get help. And so I went
to a couple of different rehab facilities and didn't really
(24:22):
get the help that I needed. And then while I
was at my last one in Georgia, I was talking
with my counselor about needing some extra help for like PTSD,
and they found Camp Hope And as soon as I
graduated that program, I getting fit to Camp Hope.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
When did you kind of begin that journey of looking
for help those first couple of rehabs you mentioned.
Speaker 6 (24:42):
So that started in August of last year.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
Okay, so it still took a while. Yeah, so it
took five.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
Is years five is years to actually decide I needed help.
But the PTSD started while I was.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Still in the military too, so it had they took
almost what that look for you what was going on.
It was a lot of isolation and then not really
caring about the job that I did back home. It
was more or less I wanted to get back out
deployed to help those that we need it, because being
(25:18):
search and rescue, I felt like if I wasn't there,
who's going to save the people?
Speaker 6 (25:25):
Gotcha?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
How did you cope with that while we were Did
you talk to anybody about it?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
No?
Speaker 6 (25:31):
I never talked to anybody.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
I was always told if you go talk to somebody,
that's going to be the end of your military career.
And I wanted to make a twenty year career out
of it. So it's one of those things I just
bottled inside. And the longer you bottle it inside, the
harder it gets.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Which was an interesting thing that I think happened in
you know, the post nine to eleven Wars. I think
it was about twenty fourteen, twenty fifth Team the Pentagon
was really trying to push to change some of that,
(26:08):
and so they even had some remember vividly there's a
couple of generals that spoke openly about their PTSD and
the thought was we can kind of you know, guys
like that can talk about it you can too. The
problem was those who were, you know, overseeing the battle
(26:30):
in country had to have everybody there, and that seemed
to be the conflict that there was no way they
could just let you go see the psych or whatever
it was gonna whatever their course of action was going
to be, because they needed those bodies in the field.
Did you see any of that while you were in so.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Out of that. So, of course I was deployed over
there from two thousand and two to two thousand and four,
so I was in the initial push and all that
good stuff. So in about two thousand and late two
thousand and three, of course, after a few visits from
General you know, Maddis and all those guys coming over there.
Because I was a general driver, Uh, you saw a
(27:14):
lot of that. They would have these little meetings in
different areas throughout all the way up to Bagdad, and
they would ask us about things like that, and it
was always kind of like, well, they're not really here,
but you know.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
So it was, it was, it was, it was, it
was there.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
It was noticeable.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Okay, all right, we're gonna take our final break here.
PTSDUSA dot org eight seven seven seven one seven seventy eight,
seventy three, eight seven seven seven one seven seventy eight
seventy three. I should mention everything we do. Everything we
do for our combat veterans and their family is at
no charge to the vet or to the family. The
(27:59):
interim housing program that we call Camp Hope here in Houston, Texas,
we bring veterans in from every part of the country,
every era of war, every military branch. We haven't had
the space for us yet, but you know it's coming
in time. But we've had a little bit of everything
come through our doors. It's a program that's designed to
be sixty nine months in link that is on purpose,
(28:21):
and I know that scares some people off, but we're
looking for life change, like trajectory change, and I just
kind of encourage you to look at it as one
more deployments at this time getting shot at. You're rebuilding
your life PTSDUSA dot org. We'll be back in just
a moment. More of Road to Hope, Radio, stot.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
A Girl, the Friend Scene, find say have a thing.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
We've mentioned Campo, but also want to mention to you.
We have other support systems as well. We run what
we call warrior groups and family groups across the city
of Houston, a few places across Texas, and a few
places across the country, including the virtual one that you
(29:33):
can jump on anywhere where you have internet access. Those
are not as strictly limited to combat related PTSD. There'd
be veterans in there, not necessarily combat related trauma. We
have law enforcement, we have first responders, We've had contractors
(29:53):
in those groups, so a little bit more flexibility in those,
and it's those are designed to help mitigate the need
for Camp Hope and then also to support our veterans
returning back to those areas after completing the program at
Camp Hope. Again, those are all free in line or as.
(30:19):
As we do those warrior groups, we also do the
family support groups. They coincide with each other, and that
can be family members, it can be friends, it can
be just somebody who cares. I know you'd mentioned, Jeremy
that your wife was the one who's kind of pushing you.
You got to go do something about what's happening here.
(30:39):
Sometimes that happens. Sometimes they just leave and that's kind
of a final straw for a veteran and then they
really start to spiral. But those support groups, family members
can help them understand what happened to their loved one,
what actually is going on with PTSD, the rewiring of
the brain. Some of the actions, some of the words
(31:02):
that are said and done can feel very personal, but
it's not about that. So we have to help family
members understand that, how to help them support their loved
one rather than enable continued bad decisions. So those are
available again online and in person several places across the country.
(31:23):
You can find all that information on our website PTSDUSA
dot org. And again, all of that's free, all of
it's confidential, So check it out PTSDUSA dot org. Try
out one of those warrior groups, try out one of
those family groups. Many times it's a family member that
(31:44):
will first go seek help and they use that kind
of as a motivation to try to get their veteran,
their loved one to get the help that they need.
Sometimes it's the family member that makes the first step.
So that's that's not an unusual thing to happen in
our support groups. Please please check it out. So a
(32:06):
few rehab programs, the last one you completed, yes, but
you wanted something in addition, Yeah, because.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
All the other ones I went to didn't really deal
with any of the PTSD. It was mostly all depression,
anxiety or substance abuse. And I needed something a little
bit more to deal with my PTSD and the nightmares
and everything. And so that's when me and my accounselor
found Can't Hope and they're like, this may be a
(32:36):
good fit for you, and disgusted with my wife and.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
She was like, yeah, go were you self medicating?
Speaker 4 (32:42):
I was not self medicating because being Air Force, we
were always taught you can't take any medic medication unless
it's prescribed to you. So I've just been living on
that mindset and then luckily I didn't have any substance
abuse problems.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
So were you Were you diagnosed by the VA?
Speaker 1 (33:03):
I was?
Speaker 4 (33:03):
I was actually didn't get I got diagnosed at my
last rehib facility and then got diagnosed by the VA.
Speaker 6 (33:10):
Here of Camp Hope.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
All right, when you first when you first mentioned Camp Hope,
what do you recall about the conversation, your reaction to it.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Uh, When I first heard about it, it was it
was almost like a weight was going to get lifted off,
Like I felt like there was actually.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
The name Hope. I felt like there was.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Something I could look forward to to like get the
help I needed, and I wouldn't have to rely on
everybody else. I could go and get the help myself
and then let the family kind of do you other
thing while I'm getting myself worked out.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
That's to me, that's the beauty of the peer to peer.
And there's two aspects of the period of peer. There's
the period of peer amongst the guys who were actually
in the program at the time, and that can be
powerful as well. But all your mentors are graduates of
the program, and even just that in and of itself
(34:14):
should inspire some hope. Right. It may take it a
minute because you know, in the depths of the darkness
and sometimes you can't really process it to understand that.
But when that guy's sitting on the other side of
the desk, is that where you sat, whether it was
a year ago or four years ago or ten years ago,
there's a lot of power that like you're looking at hope.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
It took a little while from me to realize it,
but now it's full circle. You know, after going through
the program, graduating then you know, being there being like
a secutive with two years now and it's like I
see the full spectrum of it, and it is like,
I'm a lot more comfortable with opening up, being transparent
(34:59):
about things. I'm less likely to shut down and shut
them out, even with you know, still you know, program
directors and managers and lead mentors and stuff. It's a
lot different than sitting in the bay with the guys
just trying to you know, just talking about things versus
actually being honest about it. That makes sense. So it's
(35:21):
it is powerful. Definitely get that sense of you not alone.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
In this, you know.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
So that's one of the best feelings to have to support.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
So yeah, it can get very lonely, sir. How long
have you been to camp?
Speaker 6 (35:38):
I'm coming up on month five?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Okay, so are you into yelliot?
Speaker 6 (35:44):
I go to the yellow boards next week?
Speaker 3 (35:47):
All right?
Speaker 4 (35:47):
So then straight the yellow phase and then hopefully green
phase after that and until I get everything worked out
and feel safe going home.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
What's what's changed.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
It's one of the like I feel like I can
be more open about my emotions other than bottling them in.
I feel like there's like people that would actually listen
and care, and people that have gone through similar things
as me, so they can relate to it.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
So lets me open up more.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
And then just getting some of the education on some
of the depression and PTSD opens opens my eyes to
like how things actually can be beneficial.
Speaker 6 (36:30):
If you know what's going on, you can start to
work on it.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
It sounds like your family's been supportive. Yes, that's gotta
be a big plus because you've been there five months,
so you've seen plenty come through that don't have the
family support.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
Yeah, having that family support is kind of what's keeping
me here because knowing that I have somewhere safe to
come home to is something that keeps me there to
keep working on myself, being like, hey, I know you're there,
but I need a couple more months. Just just keep
it going while I'm working on myself, And they're like, hey,
(37:05):
the most important thing is take care of yourself.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Now. You mentioned stand for green yes, which for folks
listening that doesn't mean much as anything, but it means
you've completed the program and now you're staying to work
on some additional things, working on your go forward plan.
What are you looking forward to?
Speaker 4 (37:26):
Uh, Honestly, one of the things I'm most looking forward
to is seeing my kids again, because I have not
seen or spoke to my kids in eight months, So
that's one of the things I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, how old are they?
Speaker 6 (37:39):
Uh my daughter is seven and my son's fourteen.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Awesome, good, well, I know that'll be a great day
when that day comes around.
Speaker 6 (37:47):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
But in the meantime, keep doing the work, finish up strong,
complete what needs to be completed. Don't leave anything unchecked.
There's a lot of time guys end up coming back
because they wouldn't open up about one thing because they
were too embarrassed or too whatever and just wouldn't do it.
Get it all out there, man, while you're here, get
it all out Thanks for joining us. Thanks for sharing
(38:10):
a little bit of your story. I know that's the
favorite thing in the world to do, is here some
of those dark moments in our life. Adrian, Thank you
for what you do each and every day for our
veterans at Camp Hope. I'm forever grateful that you do
what you do. Appreciate it very much. And to each
and every one of you listening and those of you
who support the programs of the PTSD Foundation of America,
we thank you, whether you're volunteering or donating, Thank you
(38:32):
so very much. I do. Hope you have a meaningful
and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy the day, remember the
purpose of the day.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Well.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Look forward to being with you again next week for
more of Road to Hope Radio
Speaker 5 (39:01):
Mom
Multiple people in my family, clean my father, are veterans.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The troops that have been to war and now they're back.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
And think and be grateful for their service.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
Sacrifice, love for their country, just unselfishness, all that.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
They do for us.
Speaker 5 (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, devil.
Speaker 3 (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, and we love them. Today,
(01:05):
we honor them and we serve them. David Maulsby 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
this Well. It's Memorial Day weekend, Sunday afternoon on the
KPRC the nine to five oh when the AM dial
those of you listening through radio, thank you for joining
us as you're on your way to do your things
for Memorial Day weekend. Those of you listening through the
Magic podcast, we sure do thank you for doing so.
(01:45):
Wherever you listen to podcasts, just look for Road to
Hope Radio. I would love it if you hit that
little subscribe button. It'll automatically download each week as the
new show drops. So we appreciate you doing that and
sharing that as frequently and as often as you possibly can.
Big things to all who listen. I'm gonna mention this
real quick. We will touch on Memorial Day. We've got
(02:05):
a couple of vets in here, as we usually do.
One of the guys on our staff that's a graduate
of the program at Camp Hope, the Interim Housing program
of the PTSD Foundation of America. And then we have
a current resident who is in the program at Camp Hope.
Will hear a little bit of his story. We to
say thank you to our sponsors allows this time and
(02:27):
spend with you each and every week. Are great friends
Billy and Connie Stagner at a Corey Diamond and Design.
That's Aco ri I. They're in friends Wood, but they
can help you, no matter where are you at, They're
going to take careat care of you, people that share
your values and support our veterans two eight one four
eight two forty seven fifty five two eight one four
(02:48):
eight two forty seven fifty five a Corey Diamond and designed.
Then well, because we all have those moments, oopsteam dot
Com clean up all the messes, uh, but they also
clean out the air vents, all those kinds of things.
It's more than just cleaning the carpet or the tile
or the wood whatever. Oops Steam dot Com two eight
(03:09):
one eight two two zero five sixty one. And then
when it's time to purchase that piece of Texas where
you're going to build your dream home, Republic Grand ranch
dot com. Because it's not just about the house, it's
about where the house is. There's not going to be
a better place. It's absolutely stunningly beautiful. You're going to
be surrounded by people with the right kind of values.
(03:31):
Republic Grand Ranch dot Com. Quick reminder as we go
through the show, sometimes some of the things we touch
on can be a bit triggering for some eight seven
seven seven one seven seventy eight seventy three is our
combat Trauma support line eight seven seven seven one seven
(03:51):
seventy eight seventy three, it will be answered by a
combat veteran eight seven seven seven one seven seventy eight
seventy three. Our website pts tousa dot org. All right,
so it is Memorial Day weekend, and reminding it's a
little different from Veterans Day, it's a little different from
Armed Forces Day. Memorial Day is set aside, originally known
(04:17):
as Decoration Day, but is set aside to honor and
mourn the US military personnel who died while serving in
the United States Military. It is observed the last Monday
of every May, and I guess, on the less formal
side kind of can considered to be the beginning of summer,
(04:41):
although summer has sit in Houston about three or four
weeks ago, and it's going to stay and visit us
for several months. Now. It's here and you just might
as well get used to it. But a quick reminder,
Memorial Day is a holiday. It should be enjoyed, but
(05:04):
it's not always and it's not all about or only
about the sale. Every department store in the world's got
Memorial Day sales, and I'd really like to think that
Memorial Day means a little bit more to us than
just we can go buy a new suit or new
shoes on sale. Because of this Memorial Day, we want
(05:27):
to set aside time. It may be a moment, it
may be a day, maybe half a day, It may
be a while, depending on how close you are to
somebody that was killed in action, someone who died while serving.
But take some time to remember. Takes some time to
reflect and appreciate the freedoms that we have today because
(05:52):
of those men and women who put on the uniform
and didn't make it home. So take a little time
to do that. We'd appreciate it immensely. All right, in
the studio with us, we got Adrian back with us. Adrian,
want to reintroduce yourself to the world.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Hello, Hello, Hello, So Adrian Jones are Colls me jonesy
so mentor alphabet being a mentor there in the year now,
served mostly in Iraq. I did two back to back
fourteen month tours and then I came home.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Where are you from?
Speaker 5 (06:28):
I am from Brady, Texas. Brady small town out west central.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Texas branch Marine Corps. Marine Corps. I'm surprised you didn't
say that Marines usually say that right off the bat,
like they're quick to say that. All right. Also in
the studio with us, we have guy that's in our
program right now. Jeremy, want to introduce yourself.
Speaker 6 (06:47):
Yeah, I'm Jeremy Burgers.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I'm originally from Lexington, North Carolina, but I live over
in Atlanta, Georgia. Now, I did ten years in the
Air Force as a combat search and rescue loadmaster.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Okay, and you deployed.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
I deployed twice, once to Afghanistan in twenty eleven and
once the Dabooty Africa in twenty twelve.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Okay, So we'll get into your story here in just
a moment. Just quick reminder, get your phone out. Put
the phone number in. You never know. It may not
be for you, but you may need to share it
with somebody who could really use our services. So please
put the number in your phone. Eight seven seven seven
one seven seventy eight seventy three. A combat veteran will
(07:30):
answer the phone. If you find someone struggling and on
the phone, hit that number and tell them a combat
BET's going to answer. Eight seven seven seven one seven
seventy eight seventy three will be right back.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Ten either of you guys like crawlfish.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Huh do you really?
Speaker 5 (08:16):
I've had one my whole life.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
One.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
I don't like crawl fish. Like wait a minute, I
don't understand either.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Uh. Maybe the one you had was not properly probably.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
I think that was it.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
If you like shrimp, I don't.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
I love frimp, Yeah I don't.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yeah. Oh, well more for me. Uh, lots of crawfish
this weekend. I had a great, great day on Saturday.
We have we have two sci fair school teachers, husband wife,
(09:04):
the husband United States Army vet. And eleven years ago,
I believe it was, they held their first crawfish boil
in the front yard with some friends and donated from
that to Camp Hope for the very first time. And
now they've donated over one hundred and twenty thousand dollars
(09:26):
from just having crawfish boil and inviting some friends over
in the front yard. It's the craziest thing in the world.
But I asked him a few years ago, so, well, man,
why do you do this, because it's a lot of work,
just the cooking the crawfish, just for that many people.
You got through four hundred people, that's a lot of work.
Just doing that. But he and his wife four months
(09:47):
leading up work really hard with their friends, their networks,
raising the money, getting donated items for you know, auction
items and that type of thing. But every year they
just pull off a great event and tremendously appreciate those
(10:08):
two of them for all that they do to support
our veterans at Camp Hope. And then today Sunday a
lot of crawfish on site. Oh yeah, that's.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Gonna be interesting.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Oh yeah, and I think they've got a couple of
surprises in addition to crawfish. So well, I don't know
exactly how that's working out. I know I talked to
him about a couple of months ago and he was
going to try to pull off a little something extra.
So I won't say it so nobody gets disappointed, but
it should be a whole lot of fun with big,
big things. You know, a lot of people throughout the
(10:43):
course of a year. Well, there's some like a Memorial
Drive Methodist Church. They come out once a month and
provide meal for everybody at Camp Hope. But there are
several who do something like that. Del Frisco Grill comes
out once a month and serves lunch to everybody, the
(11:05):
residents and the staff as well, and just a lot
of folks to do that, which one helps the obvious,
it helps keep our food bill down, but it also
provides provides our residence a little something different, little something extra,
and the opportunity to see that when people say thank
(11:27):
you or they have you know, I support the troops
bumper sticker. There are some people who actually mean it
and go above and beyond just saying some words, but
actually doing some things, giving of their time. And if
you ever have an interest in doing that, that can
be from everything from coming out and helping pulling weeds
to helping with events like the crawfish bull that we
(11:49):
had yesterday, different events that go on through a lot
of golf tournaments that go on through the course of
the year that require a lot of volunteers to help
make those things happen. And if you ever have an
interest in doing something like that or just learning more
about what those opportunities are. Our website is PTSD US
a dot org. PTSD post Traumatic stress Disorder PTSD us
(12:15):
a dot org. And there's a button when you get
there get help, or another button give help. Get the
give help and it'll take you to a drop down menu.
Can just click on volunteers and it'll show you some
different opportunities away for you to sign up and get
more information. So ptsd us a dot org. All right,
(12:39):
So raised in North Carolina? And where what was the
town again?
Speaker 6 (12:45):
Lexington?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Lexington? Okay, all right? Do they still make a lot
of furniture over there?
Speaker 1 (12:50):
They do.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
It's a big furniture Lexington and Salisbury.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
They're a big furniture.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I know it was at one time. I didn't know
if it was still going on, still going on? All right,
very cool. You went to high schooler?
Speaker 6 (13:04):
I did. I went to Davidson County.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
What was your claim to fame in high school?
Speaker 6 (13:10):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Well, my freshman and sophomore years, I was pretty much
the all star basketball and football player. Tore my rotator
cuff and that end of that. So then I was
pretty much banned the whole time.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Okay, Adrian, did you do sports in high school?
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Oh? Yeah, a lot of sports, so everything except for baseball.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I just seen baseball as my sport.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
But that was my dad's sport, baseball.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So what were you best at?
Speaker 5 (13:43):
My opinion? Track?
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Really?
Speaker 5 (13:46):
All four years I went to regionals. I qualified high jump,
long jump, and the quarter.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Really, so I believe running is a sin. That's my problem.
That's my problem.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
Tracking.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I got a couple of screwis in money because I
wanted to play football, and I thought that was the
greatest thing ever.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Yeah, that was pretty good at football.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah, I don't run. I don't run anymore.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
The chance to look it up. Nineteen ninety eight, I
was the number one quarterback cornerback in Texas?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Are you serious?
Speaker 5 (14:18):
Three A?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
What year?
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Nineteen ninety eight?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Really?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
My defense that year allowed nineteen points the whole season.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
We're worthy of what's school?
Speaker 6 (14:26):
Brady?
Speaker 5 (14:26):
Texas?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (14:27):
We were the number one defense in the state three
A And that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
You didn't want to do that in college?
Speaker 5 (14:34):
No, I want to run?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Oh me? Nope, running is a sin?
Speaker 6 (14:44):
All right.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
So obviously at some point in time you joined the military.
Why'd you decide to join the military?
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, I grew up in a military family, so like
all the males to my entire immediate family, they were
all part of the military. And I was actually working
for NASCAR out of high school, and I got to
the point where like, if I'm going to join I
need to go ahead and join now. So it was
in two thousand and nine when I decided to join
(15:14):
because I was like, if I get too old, I
want to not be able to enjoy it as much.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
So how old were you when you join?
Speaker 6 (15:22):
I was twenty three.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Okay, it's not too long now. But you were the
old guy when you went into.
Speaker 6 (15:29):
Actually I wasn't. There was one that was forty five
in my boots.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Oh are you serious?
Speaker 6 (15:33):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Wow, all right, But other than that, I was the
old guy. Okay, nice? What why the Air Force?
Speaker 4 (15:44):
I always wanted to fly, and I was like, I
can knock out two birds in one stone. I can
join the military and fly at the same time.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
But you didn't fly.
Speaker 6 (15:54):
I did. I was.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
I flew on the back of the plane. Like I
wasn't a pilot, but I was on the back of
the plane.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Yeah, so you're in the plane.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Yeah the plane? Was?
Speaker 3 (16:01):
It a perfectly good airplane? Is air Force? So maybe
what I was, you know, airborne and all that stuff,
jumping out of planes. I used to say, jumping out
of a perfectly good airplane. They'd all shake their head. No,
it was not a perfectly good airplane.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
Yeah. No, it started off like some of the ones
I started off flying. They were sixty years old, so
they were like barely being held held on duct tape. Yeah,
super glue, duck tape and slue.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Scary, yeah, I know. Like, Okay, so we're sending our
young men and women to war on sixty year old airplanes. Hmmm,
but I think, yeah, I forget what the number was.
They just, you know, this big to do about the
seven forty seven that was being gifted to the United States,
(16:50):
and they were talking about how old the current Air
Force one is and it's it's old. I forget how
old they said it was, but it was. It shocked
me when I heard that's now I'm sure you know,
there's not much original left in that plane. Imagine it's
been yeah, about one hundred times. All right, And just
(17:11):
a moment, we're gonna be going to the bottom of
the hour news break for those of you listening on
the nine five oh, so you'll hear the news and
we'll come back. Those of you listening through the magic
of podcasts, just enjoy a little bit of music and'll
be back. But one or more reminder eight seven seven
seven one, seven seventy eight seventy three is the Combat
Trauma Support Line and PTSDUSA dot org is the website.
(17:33):
Also on social media, ptsd USA both on Facebook and
the X and YouTube ptsd USA. All right, we'll be
right back and we welcome you back Road to Hope Radio.
(18:16):
David Maulsby here, Glad to have you along. Reminder, wherever
you listen to podcasts, just look for Road to Hope
Radio and I hope you'll hit that subscribe button and
it'll drop each and every week when the new show hits.
And we appreciate when you not only listen but share
with your friends, enemies, neighbors, ex neighbors, whoever, everybody could
(18:37):
use a little bit of this information. We're gonna get
back to Jeremy's story here in just a minute, but
I want to add both of you guys to to
talk a little bit about what Memorial Day means to
you personally. And I know for many a Memorial Day
(18:58):
can be a really really rough weekend for a lot
of our a lot of our veterans, some not so much.
But regardless, whatever that is for you, I'd just like
for you to share a little bit about what it
means to you. If there's anything in particular, anyone in
particular that you remember on Memorial Day weekend, just share
(19:21):
with us a little bit.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
So for me, I guess Memorial Day weekend, it's roughly
twenty some years ago now, a long time actually lost
the marine under my charge, and so it means to
(19:48):
me it's just what it means to be free, you know,
the Ultimate Sacrifice parade and what we did over there
and to value what we have here. It's just remind
nder of, you know, what to be grateful for, you know,
coming home and what it was all about and those
(20:08):
that do do give ultimate sacrifice. So very it was
it was. It used to be sad for me, but
now as I've worked through a lot of it, it's
more of a you know, just being grateful, you know,
thankful for sacrifices and being able to come home to
(20:31):
you know, greatl America.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Before you worked through some of that, you can kind
of recall maybe first or second, first few Memorial Days,
how did you cope with those?
Speaker 5 (20:44):
So I would usually be with myself. I didn't want
to talk about it, you know, I didn't want to
be reminded of it, because you know, you get you
get people that want to know why you feel this
way that wasn't there. I just want to talk about it.
So I usually haunted by myself. You know, I'd go
(21:07):
either go fishing with some moves, or I would just
go to some random you know, holding the wall somewhere
where no one knew me and just kind of you know,
my have my day. That's how I used to deal
with it.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
And this year you'd be doing what on Memorial Day?
Speaker 5 (21:24):
This year, believe it or not, I'll be working, but
me too, but you know, I'll be with some fellow
brothers in arms, you know, enjoy the day festivities if
they're around, and things of that nature, some totally different
something I don't think I'll be able to do. Well,
I wouldn't be able to do, you know, some fifteen
(21:46):
twenty years ago.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
How important is it, though that the ones you're going
to be around have that shared experience of both combat
and of loss.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
Well, I mean it helps with the you know, some
of those way in questions, you know, am I alone
in this?
Speaker 6 (22:08):
You know?
Speaker 5 (22:08):
Will I get through this? Will it ever change? You know,
does it get better? Things like that. It just helps
to be with that familiar, familiar state of mind and
know that there's a there is a light in the tunnelness.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Jeremy, what does Memorial Day mean to you personally today? Uh?
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Well, I've always remembered Memorial Day as is a time
to remember those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. So it's
one of those humbling moments to know that, yes, we
had all the people that went into the military, but
not everybody came home. So it's one of those like
somber moments just to remember friends and families that passed.
(22:52):
I luckily haven't had any of that passed inside the service,
but it's remember those that weren't so fortunate, that have
mothers or fathers that didn't come home, that it's the
time to remember their memories and sacrifices. When did you
(23:13):
get out of the Air Force, by the way, twenty
nineteen nineteen. Okay, did Memorial they change for you at all?
Post military?
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Well?
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Being in a military family like I was raised on
how Memorial meant to remember, so it was already there,
so it really didn't change any throughout my entire life,
pre military or post military.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Okay, So six years from the time you got out
of their time you got to Camp Hope. PTSD's part
of your life. Yes, when did you begin to notice
something's not right?
Speaker 6 (23:54):
Actually I wasn't the one to notice it.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Normal my wife was. She kept going, She's like, you
have PTSD, and I'm like, no, I don't have that.
I'm not one of those people. She's like, yes, you
have it. And then as my depression and anxiety started
getting really worse than the suicidal aviations and everything, She's like,
you need to go get help. And so I went
to a couple of different rehab facilities and didn't really
(24:22):
get the help that I needed. And then while I
was at my last one in Georgia, I was talking
with my counselor about needing some extra help for like PTSD,
and they found Camp Hope And as soon as I
graduated that program, I getting fit to Camp Hope.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
When did you kind of begin that journey of looking
for help those first couple of rehabs you mentioned.
Speaker 6 (24:42):
So that started in August of last year.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
Okay, so it still took a while. Yeah, so it
took five.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
Is years five is years to actually decide I needed help.
But the PTSD started while I was.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Still in the military too, so it had they took
almost what that look for you what was going on.
It was a lot of isolation and then not really
caring about the job that I did back home. It
was more or less I wanted to get back out
deployed to help those that we need it, because being
(25:18):
search and rescue, I felt like if I wasn't there,
who's going to save the people?
Speaker 6 (25:25):
Gotcha?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
How did you cope with that while we were Did
you talk to anybody about it?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
No?
Speaker 6 (25:31):
I never talked to anybody.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
I was always told if you go talk to somebody,
that's going to be the end of your military career.
And I wanted to make a twenty year career out
of it. So it's one of those things I just
bottled inside. And the longer you bottle it inside, the
harder it gets.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Which was an interesting thing that I think happened in
you know, the post nine to eleven Wars. I think
it was about twenty fourteen, twenty fifth Team the Pentagon
was really trying to push to change some of that,
(26:08):
and so they even had some remember vividly there's a
couple of generals that spoke openly about their PTSD and
the thought was we can kind of you know, guys
like that can talk about it you can too. The
problem was those who were, you know, overseeing the battle
(26:30):
in country had to have everybody there, and that seemed
to be the conflict that there was no way they
could just let you go see the psych or whatever
it was gonna whatever their course of action was going
to be, because they needed those bodies in the field.
Did you see any of that while you were in so.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Out of that. So, of course I was deployed over
there from two thousand and two to two thousand and four,
so I was in the initial push and all that
good stuff. So in about two thousand and late two
thousand and three, of course, after a few visits from
General you know, Maddis and all those guys coming over there.
Because I was a general driver, Uh, you saw a
(27:14):
lot of that. They would have these little meetings in
different areas throughout all the way up to Bagdad, and
they would ask us about things like that, and it
was always kind of like, well, they're not really here,
but you know.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
So it was, it was, it was, it was, it
was there.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
It was noticeable.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Okay, all right, we're gonna take our final break here.
PTSDUSA dot org eight seven seven seven one seven seventy eight,
seventy three, eight seven seven seven one seven seventy eight
seventy three. I should mention everything we do. Everything we
do for our combat veterans and their family is at
no charge to the vet or to the family. The
(27:59):
interim housing program that we call Camp Hope here in Houston, Texas,
we bring veterans in from every part of the country,
every era of war, every military branch. We haven't had
the space for us yet, but you know it's coming
in time. But we've had a little bit of everything
come through our doors. It's a program that's designed to
be sixty nine months in link that is on purpose,
(28:21):
and I know that scares some people off, but we're
looking for life change, like trajectory change, and I just
kind of encourage you to look at it as one
more deployments at this time getting shot at. You're rebuilding
your life PTSDUSA dot org. We'll be back in just
a moment. More of Road to Hope, Radio, stot.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
A Girl, the Friend Scene, find say have a thing.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
We've mentioned Campo, but also want to mention to you.
We have other support systems as well. We run what
we call warrior groups and family groups across the city
of Houston, a few places across Texas, and a few
places across the country, including the virtual one that you
(29:33):
can jump on anywhere where you have internet access. Those
are not as strictly limited to combat related PTSD. There'd
be veterans in there, not necessarily combat related trauma. We
have law enforcement, we have first responders, We've had contractors
(29:53):
in those groups, so a little bit more flexibility in those,
and it's those are designed to help mitigate the need
for Camp Hope and then also to support our veterans
returning back to those areas after completing the program at
Camp Hope. Again, those are all free in line or as.
(30:19):
As we do those warrior groups, we also do the
family support groups. They coincide with each other, and that
can be family members, it can be friends, it can
be just somebody who cares. I know you'd mentioned, Jeremy
that your wife was the one who's kind of pushing you.
You got to go do something about what's happening here.
(30:39):
Sometimes that happens. Sometimes they just leave and that's kind
of a final straw for a veteran and then they
really start to spiral. But those support groups, family members
can help them understand what happened to their loved one,
what actually is going on with PTSD, the rewiring of
the brain. Some of the actions, some of the words
(31:02):
that are said and done can feel very personal, but
it's not about that. So we have to help family
members understand that, how to help them support their loved
one rather than enable continued bad decisions. So those are
available again online and in person several places across the country.
(31:23):
You can find all that information on our website PTSDUSA
dot org. And again, all of that's free, all of
it's confidential, So check it out PTSDUSA dot org. Try
out one of those warrior groups, try out one of
those family groups. Many times it's a family member that
(31:44):
will first go seek help and they use that kind
of as a motivation to try to get their veteran,
their loved one to get the help that they need.
Sometimes it's the family member that makes the first step.
So that's that's not an unusual thing to happen in
our support groups. Please please check it out. So a
(32:06):
few rehab programs, the last one you completed, yes, but
you wanted something in addition, Yeah, because.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
All the other ones I went to didn't really deal
with any of the PTSD. It was mostly all depression,
anxiety or substance abuse. And I needed something a little
bit more to deal with my PTSD and the nightmares
and everything. And so that's when me and my accounselor
found Can't Hope and they're like, this may be a
(32:36):
good fit for you, and disgusted with my wife and.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
She was like, yeah, go were you self medicating?
Speaker 4 (32:42):
I was not self medicating because being Air Force, we
were always taught you can't take any medic medication unless
it's prescribed to you. So I've just been living on
that mindset and then luckily I didn't have any substance
abuse problems.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
So were you Were you diagnosed by the VA?
Speaker 1 (33:03):
I was?
Speaker 4 (33:03):
I was actually didn't get I got diagnosed at my
last rehib facility and then got diagnosed by the VA.
Speaker 6 (33:10):
Here of Camp Hope.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
All right, when you first when you first mentioned Camp Hope,
what do you recall about the conversation, your reaction to it.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Uh, When I first heard about it, it was it
was almost like a weight was going to get lifted off,
Like I felt like there was actually.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
The name Hope. I felt like there was.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Something I could look forward to to like get the
help I needed, and I wouldn't have to rely on
everybody else. I could go and get the help myself
and then let the family kind of do you other
thing while I'm getting myself worked out.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
That's to me, that's the beauty of the peer to peer.
And there's two aspects of the period of peer. There's
the period of peer amongst the guys who were actually
in the program at the time, and that can be
powerful as well. But all your mentors are graduates of
the program, and even just that in and of itself
(34:14):
should inspire some hope. Right. It may take it a
minute because you know, in the depths of the darkness
and sometimes you can't really process it to understand that.
But when that guy's sitting on the other side of
the desk, is that where you sat, whether it was
a year ago or four years ago or ten years ago,
there's a lot of power that like you're looking at hope.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
It took a little while from me to realize it,
but now it's full circle. You know, after going through
the program, graduating then you know, being there being like
a secutive with two years now and it's like I
see the full spectrum of it, and it is like,
I'm a lot more comfortable with opening up, being transparent
(34:59):
about things. I'm less likely to shut down and shut
them out, even with you know, still you know, program
directors and managers and lead mentors and stuff. It's a
lot different than sitting in the bay with the guys
just trying to you know, just talking about things versus
actually being honest about it. That makes sense. So it's
(35:21):
it is powerful. Definitely get that sense of you not alone.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
In this, you know.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
So that's one of the best feelings to have to support.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
So yeah, it can get very lonely, sir. How long
have you been to camp?
Speaker 6 (35:38):
I'm coming up on month five?
Speaker 3 (35:42):
Okay, so are you into yelliot?
Speaker 6 (35:44):
I go to the yellow boards next week?
Speaker 3 (35:47):
All right?
Speaker 4 (35:47):
So then straight the yellow phase and then hopefully green
phase after that and until I get everything worked out
and feel safe going home.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
What's what's changed.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
It's one of the like I feel like I can
be more open about my emotions other than bottling them in.
I feel like there's like people that would actually listen
and care, and people that have gone through similar things
as me, so they can relate to it.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
So lets me open up more.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
And then just getting some of the education on some
of the depression and PTSD opens opens my eyes to
like how things actually can be beneficial.
Speaker 6 (36:30):
If you know what's going on, you can start to
work on it.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
It sounds like your family's been supportive. Yes, that's gotta
be a big plus because you've been there five months,
so you've seen plenty come through that don't have the
family support.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
Yeah, having that family support is kind of what's keeping
me here because knowing that I have somewhere safe to
come home to is something that keeps me there to
keep working on myself, being like, hey, I know you're there,
but I need a couple more months. Just just keep
it going while I'm working on myself, And they're like, hey,
(37:05):
the most important thing is take care of yourself.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Now. You mentioned stand for green yes, which for folks
listening that doesn't mean much as anything, but it means
you've completed the program and now you're staying to work
on some additional things, working on your go forward plan.
What are you looking forward to?
Speaker 4 (37:26):
Uh, Honestly, one of the things I'm most looking forward
to is seeing my kids again, because I have not
seen or spoke to my kids in eight months, So
that's one of the things I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, how old are they?
Speaker 6 (37:39):
Uh my daughter is seven and my son's fourteen.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Awesome, good, well, I know that'll be a great day
when that day comes around.
Speaker 6 (37:47):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
But in the meantime, keep doing the work, finish up strong,
complete what needs to be completed. Don't leave anything unchecked.
There's a lot of time guys end up coming back
because they wouldn't open up about one thing because they
were too embarrassed or too whatever and just wouldn't do it.
Get it all out there, man, while you're here, get
it all out Thanks for joining us. Thanks for sharing
(38:10):
a little bit of your story. I know that's the
favorite thing in the world to do, is here some
of those dark moments in our life. Adrian, Thank you
for what you do each and every day for our
veterans at Camp Hope. I'm forever grateful that you do
what you do. Appreciate it very much. And to each
and every one of you listening and those of you
who support the programs of the PTSD Foundation of America,
we thank you, whether you're volunteering or donating, Thank you
(38:32):
so very much. I do. Hope you have a meaningful
and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy the day, remember the
purpose of the day.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Well.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Look forward to being with you again next week for
more of Road to Hope Radio
Speaker 5 (39:01):
Mom
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.