Turning The Page

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Multiple people in my family clean my father are veterans.

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

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

Speaker 4 (00:13):
Sacrifice, love for their country, just unselfishness, all that.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
They do for us.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
There are some people in this country who take extraordinary
steps to provide for the freedom and security.

Speaker 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 dogs, and so much more. We call them fathers, brothers,
sons and husbands, mothers, daughters, sisters and wives. We call

(00:49):
them friend and neighbor. These veterans answered the call. Now
we answer.

Speaker 5 (00:56):
Theirs, and they.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Are the best our country has to offer, and we
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

(01:20):
road to hope.

Speaker 6 (01:23):
And indeed we are glad to have you along. On
a Sunday afternoon, those of you listening through the KPRC
nine to five OO on the radio dial in Houston, Texas,
thank you so much for joining us. Those of you
listening through the Magic Podcast. We certainly do appreciate that.
Wherever you listen to podcasts, just look for Road to
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(01:44):
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Ranch dot com. All right, got a couple of guys
in the studio with us today. I want to introduce yourself.
You've been here before many times actually, so just reintroduce
yourself to the world.

Speaker 4 (03:25):
Ah. Yes, my name's Christopher P. D. Peters.

Speaker 6 (03:29):
I go buy p D and Branch and Reserve.

Speaker 4 (03:33):
I was in the Army. I served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I'm currently filling a position as a mentor in training
at Camp Hope.

Speaker 6 (03:41):
How's that going.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
That's going very well. A lot of knowledgeable people that
I'm working under, so I have a lot of resources
available to me. So it's really great.

Speaker 6 (03:52):
How far are you into the training program.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
I'm I basically have about a half a month left
and then I'll be assigned to Bay.

Speaker 6 (04:02):
All right, very cool, Well, congratulations. When did you graduate?
April April? Okay, April twenty five. How long did it
take you to get through the program in Camp Hope?

Speaker 4 (04:12):
I actually spent eight months into the program. So the
way it worked out, just the time of the month
in which I showed up at camp, I had to
wait an extra month to move on to Yellow Phase.
And then I took an extra month because I got
a new sponsor and I wanted to rework my steps

(04:34):
with my new sponsor. And I wasn't trying to rush anything.
I wanted to do everything the right way.

Speaker 6 (04:40):
Gotcha. Well, we're glad to have you as part of
the foundation. Thank you. It's awesome, grateful you're here. All right, Matthew,
you want to introduce yourself to the world.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah, my name's Matthew. Eaton was a combat engineer with
second Engineers Station in White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
It did one tour in Afghanistan Route Clearance twenty thirteen
for seven months. I was a little late deployed. My
unit had just deployed when I got to my unit.

(05:10):
So I got on a burden and went and caught him.

Speaker 6 (05:13):
Gotcha.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
So where'd you grow up again? I grew up in Tucson, Arizona.
I was born in Portland, but race in Arizona.

Speaker 6 (05:23):
All right, what was your claim to fame in high school?

Speaker 3 (05:28):
I was a basketball player. I played basketball four years,
basically all year round. When I wasn't playing basketball, I
was golfing. I wanted to be like Mike. I gotcha, Well,
Tucson and some nice courses in the area.

Speaker 6 (05:44):
Yeah. Are you any good of basketball?

Speaker 2 (05:46):
I was pretty good at it. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
I tried out community college. College wasn't for me, so
I didn't stick around for too long before. I just
continued working.

Speaker 6 (05:59):
Okay, all right, point guard, shooting guard.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
I was a shooting guard small forward. With my heights,
there's utility. I played everything. I just yeah, my comfortable Yeah,
my comfortable spot was shooting guard, small forward.

Speaker 6 (06:14):
All right. Nice, So you played all four years, yes, sir?

Speaker 2 (06:18):
All right?

Speaker 6 (06:18):
Very cool. How long were you in community.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
College the first time?

Speaker 3 (06:22):
I was there for about three months, close to three
months one semester, and then I dropped out. I was
going for psychology, but my psychology teacher and I had
different views of what I thought it should be like.
So I went full time working for my dad.

Speaker 6 (06:43):
What kind of work was that he.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
Was He owned a small business renting equipment anything from
a lawnmower to a full sized tractor. I started working
there when I was around sixteen years old. I would
do that on the weekend outside of basketball practice.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
I saw it off as like the.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
Janitor basically, sure, and I worked my way up to
then servicing all the equipment.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
And then.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
When I was eighteen years old and I stopped going
to school, community school, community college, I then became a
store manager.

Speaker 6 (07:20):
Nice.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
That was difficult a little bit because I was eighteen
years old and I everybody was older than me, right.

Speaker 6 (07:25):
Yeah, that can be a challenge, Yeah yeah, all right.
A reminder, you can find out all kinds of information
about our program at Camp Hope as well as our
outreach programs that we run across several cities across the country,
as well as one on the world Wide Web. Anyone
could join it ptsdusa dot org ptsdusa dot org for

(07:48):
all the information. We're gonna take a quick break. We'll
be right back with more of Road to Hope radio.

Speaker 5 (07:57):
See and we're welcoming back Roade to Hope. Ray, You're
glad to have you along. We've got PD.

Speaker 6 (08:14):
Mentor and training Camp Hope, which means he graduated the
program at Camp Hope, which everyone that's in our mentor
program they have to be a graduate with the Camp
Hope is the peer to peer model that we.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Perform.

Speaker 6 (08:28):
We also bring in a lot of other support systems
as well, professional licensed counselors on staff. Everyone in the
program sees a counselor at least once a week, some
multiple times in the course of the week. We have
equine therapy that takes place for some of our guys

(08:49):
and other forms as well. We've had art therapy, we
had all kinds of therapy that we try to introduce
the guys to why they are with us, because what
one person finds extremely helpful is not necessarily what somebody
else finds helpful. So we try to expose our vets
to a number of opportunities while they're with us. And

(09:11):
it's a lengthy program. Pet He mentioned he was in
the program for eight months and that's basically how designed.
Somewhere in the sixty nine month range, though, I will
say that we've had guys take up to two years
to go through the program. I had a couple of
those guys and now several who've taken a little over
a year. So it's a very intensive program. It is

(09:32):
all day, every day and peer to peer, faith based,
and then we bring in a lot of other support
systems do everything we can to help our veterans change
the trajectory of their life from the moment that they
walk onto our campus. So Matthew, when did you join
the Army?

Speaker 3 (09:49):
What year was at I joined the Army twenty twelve
August twenty twelve, after my twenty second birthday. I join
up Army, went to basic training and are in Fort Leanderwood, Missouri,
and then got my duty station of White Sands Missile Range.

Speaker 6 (10:10):
Gotcha, why did you choose the Army?

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Well, this is kind of funny.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
I tried the Air Force first, and uh, well, what
attract you do the Air Force? I had a lot
of friends that I grew up with that went Air
National Guard, and they were a year older than me,
played basketball, and they just lived a life that I
would see myself doing. But I went into the Air

(10:37):
Force recruiter and within five minutes he told me I
was too dumb.

Speaker 6 (10:41):
How nice of me?

Speaker 4 (10:42):
Yeah, so, uh yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
He offered to walk me over to the Navy, and
I had some not some kind words for him when
he said that, I.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
Don't know what happened.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
I took his card and I just walked out with
my dad. And the very next day at work, air
Force colonel comes into our work to rent a bacco
to level out the firing range that flooded out in
one of the storms. And I helped him out, I

(11:17):
you know, talked him up into everything, and he said, son,
have you ever thought about joining the forces? And I
looked at my dad and he's like, go ahead and
tell him. So I told him. I was like, actually,
I was at the Air Force recruiters yesterday and I
told him the story, handed him the card.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
He was not happy.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
So a few hours went by, a few hours went by,
and the Colonel's pulling back up and I'm scratching my head,
like we did all the paperwork, everything's done.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
What happened?

Speaker 3 (11:49):
Then that recruiter gets out of the car with the colonel. Oh, man,
say it, I'll do whatever I can to get you
in the air Force. I was like, I'm okay going
to the Army.

Speaker 6 (12:01):
So why did you choose the Army? Then the Army.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
Just because my uncle had joined the Army maybe a
year before I did, and I've always looked up to him, gotcha,
and so I just thought that would have been the
perfect route for me as well. So then I took
my ASVAB and I actually got offered intelligence in the

(12:26):
very beginning. So I took that to the Air Force recruiter.

Speaker 6 (12:32):
You're gonna make that one hurt, aren't you?

Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yeah, just a little bit, you know, look at this.
But I turned it down because of the school for
intelligence was forty minutes from when I went to high school,
and I knew that I needed to get out of it.
I wanted to get out, so I chose combat engineer.
They sold me on it. They said it's it's like infantry,

(12:55):
but with explosives. I said, perfect, nice and get to
blow things up.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, so that's what I chose to go with.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
All right, So that was twenty twelve. Yep, when was
your deployment twenty thirteen? I actually got to Afghanistan on
April Fool's Day, which I thought was a sick joke
because it looked just like White Sands, New Mexico. Thought
that they spent twenty three hours to put me on
the other side of the mountain.

Speaker 6 (13:26):
It tricked me. Yeah, Pete, what year did you deploy
to Afghanistan?

Speaker 4 (13:30):
I deployed in two thousand and one, Yeah, very early.
But I was a combat engineer as well. Yeah, and
I eventually went to a leadership school for combat engineers
called Saffar School, And it's similar to ranger school that
the invantry has. It's leadership methods, small unit tactics. It's

(13:55):
explosive intensive, you know, like basically teaches more about explosives.
But yeah, So, like I've met a lot of combat
engineers on camp, and it seems like one shows up
like every other day that hey I was a saffer
two or hey I was a combat engineer. And it's

(14:17):
a very wide field, like because you have combat engineers
that are equipment operators, you have combat engineers that do
blueprints and design. So like that category of combat engineers
includes a lot of different types of jobs.

Speaker 6 (14:35):
Sure, whereabouts were you in Afghanistan? I know one.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
I was mostly in a place called Cowst Gardetz. It's
southwest in Afghanistan, close to the Pakistan border. Then I
spent a little bit of time in Kandahar, a little
bit of time in Bogram, but I spent the majority
of time in that couch guards area.

Speaker 6 (15:05):
What part of AGNI stand where you in?

Speaker 3 (15:07):
I was south near the Pakistan border. Also in Gosney,
I was doing Route Clarence and Gosney, just clearing routes
from fob to fob and helping.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Shut down some fobs as well.

Speaker 6 (15:23):
And how long were you there again?

Speaker 2 (15:25):
I did seven months?

Speaker 6 (15:26):
Seven months? Yeah, all right, yeah, Route Clarence sounds like
a lot of fun. When's the last time you do
something up legally? Twenty thirty? I want to ask you, though,
what you blew up after you came home? Just a
reminder we know as we go through some of these stories,

(15:47):
some of these things can be triggering. So I want
to give you our phone number eight seven seven seven
one seven seventy eight seventy three eight seven seven seven
one seven seventy eight seventy three. It will be answered
by a combat veteran. So if you come across someone
who is struggling and you know them to be a veteran,

(16:11):
don't just tell them to check us out. Dial that number.
Hand on the phone, say, look, the person who answers
this phone is a guy that has been to combat.
He's been through it, He's come home with the issues,
and he's learned how to cope with that, how to
overcome that and live a thriving life. Eight seven seven

(16:34):
seven one seven seventy eight seventy three. Combat vet will
answer the phone. It changes everything for our veterans. So
please make sure you've got that. You may never need
it may not be for you, but again you may
come across somebody who does need our services. I got
a call just just earlier today from someone reaching out
wanting to hear about how do you get into Camp

(16:56):
Hope and how does that all work? So eight seven
seven seven one seven seventy eight seventy three and again
PTSDUSA dot org. On the Internet. Social media is also
a great way to keep in contact with us. Obviously,
it's a more fluid way of communicating. We are constantly
sharing upcoming events. If you'd like to get involved in supporting, volunteering,

(17:20):
whatever it is you would like to do to be
a part of the organization, there are numerous opportunities throughout
the course of the year. We've got like five or
six golf events still to take place in twenty twenty five,
so there's a lot of those. You don't have to
play golf. You can be a help with a volunteer.
You can help with setting things up, taking things down.

(17:40):
There's all kinds of opportunities. Again, PTSD USA on Facebook
and on the X as well as YouTube PTSD USA
PTSD USA, all right, we're going to take a quick break,
be right back with more of Road to Hope radio.

(18:11):
PET When did when did you get out of the Army?

Speaker 4 (18:15):
I got out in December of two thousand and nine nine.

Speaker 6 (18:18):
Okay, were you experiencing any of the PTSD symbols at
that time or was it later on?

Speaker 4 (18:24):
Yes, I actually started experiencing them before my last deployment.
My last deployment was to anbar province with a reserve
unit doing route clearance, and I would pretty much impress
upon my guys that if they needed to talk to somebody,

(18:45):
that it wasn't a sign of weakness, and that was
completely different than the message the Army was given people.
And you know, experiencing what I had up to that point,
I wanted to make sure the guys knew where they
could turn when they came home, because they wouldn't be
the same.

Speaker 6 (19:05):
So where did you turn when you came home?

Speaker 4 (19:08):
Originally the VA, but which one it was? The Huntington
VA in Huntington, West Virginia, And I was given a
different counselor every week. And what I eventually found out
was students use it as a stopover to get credential

(19:33):
to eventually move on. So that's why I would never
see the same therapist. I would have to constantly reshare
my story over and over again and eventually got frustrated
with it.

Speaker 6 (19:46):
Yeah, what did you do next? So I'm presuming at
some point you're stopping that.

Speaker 4 (19:52):
Oh yes, yes, I'm not going anywhere, so you just quit.
I started self medicating, very hot and heavy with self medication.
Eventually my marriage hit a rough spot and I self
medicated even more, and eventually we split up. And yeah,

(20:17):
I ended up experiencing all these different things and didn't
know where to turn. Camp Hope is the first place
that I had ever learned about or knew about that
would actually provide the help that you guys help with.
I mean, let alone the counseling, the peer to peer atmosphere,

(20:45):
but even a situation I was in where I was homeless,
I was without a vehicle, I was without a driver's license.
A plane ticket was purchased for me and I was
brought out and next thing I know, I had a
place to lay my head and I had food in
my stomach.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
So I.

Speaker 4 (21:09):
Got to reiterate, there's no place that I know of
that's like Camp Hope.

Speaker 6 (21:15):
Remind me how you heard about camp.

Speaker 4 (21:18):
My platoon leader from my first deployment to Iraq actually
came through the program in twenty seventeen, and after one
of the guys we deployed with committed suicide, we all
showed up to his funeral and he saw what kind
of state I was in, and he kind of let

(21:39):
me know about Camp Hope. But I wasn't ready yet.
I wanted to see if I could manage myself, you know,
and manage my alcoholism, managed my using. So eventually I
stayed with another friend. I was living basically on his couch,

(22:01):
and he saw that I wasn't getting any better, that
I wasn't handling my issues. He eventually came to me
and said, hey, I've done everything I can for you, you're
gonna have to find something else. And I remember my
pl telling me about Camp Hope and that's when I
got the information from him and contacted Camp Hope.

Speaker 6 (22:21):
Gotcha, you brought something up that the story. I hear
a lot guys would say, you know, we lost one
or three or whatever the number is while they were deployed,
and almost every time it was a multiple that guys

(22:42):
that have lost after coming back home. I hear that
all the time, which is one of the reasons why
you know, we have this show. And that may sound
a little weird, but we want to get the word out.
Camp Hope cannot be the best kept secret in town.
We have got to get the word out that it's here.
It's at zero cost to you. Like you mentioned, we

(23:04):
pick up the airline ticket, We take care of everything.
You're not getting a bill while you're with us. And
it's not, you know, the five star hotel, but it's nice,
it's comfortable, it's clean, it's air condition to thank goodness.
But we bring about everything we can, all the networking
that we have built over the last thirteen years to

(23:29):
bear to do everything we can to help our veteran population.
So that's one of the reasons again why we do
the show was again we ask you to hit that
subscribe button wherever you listen to podcasts for Road to
Hope Radio and share that because you never know who
might hear about us that needs us or knows someone
that needs us. So we truly do appreciate you sharing that. Matthew,

(23:51):
you joined in twelve, you deployed in thirteen. When'd you
get out?

Speaker 3 (23:56):
I was out at October fourteen, Okay, I when I
got back from Afghanistan, I was struggling a little bit,
and I was given our unit was disbanding, but I
had got myself into a little bit of trouble and

(24:17):
I got a seventy two hour notice to turn my
stuff in and call it a day.

Speaker 6 (24:25):
So I don't need to get into that. But what
were some of the things that were affecting you from
your time in combat?

Speaker 2 (24:34):
I was loosing sleep.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
I was having you know, night terrors and things of
that nature.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
And I at.

Speaker 3 (24:43):
The time, I didn't want to talk to anybody about
it because you know, I didn't want to be seen differently,
because I didn't want to move from my platoon. I
didn't want any of that, and so I just shoved
it down deep and started drinking a lot, not really
talking about it. I really haven't talked about it until

(25:05):
I got to Camp Hope. And I'm so blessed to
be here, Like it's the most beautiful place I've been.
It's the only time I've ever really truly asked for help.
Took me eleven twelve years to ask. But I am very,
very thankful, and I can't thank Camp Hope enough for
what they've done for me.

Speaker 6 (25:25):
How did you hear about us?

Speaker 3 (25:29):
It came across my algorithm on Instagram. My grandma had
sent me a Bible because I was struggling. She knew
I was struggling. I had just lost my car. I
was about to be evicted from my apartment. Well I
did get evicted from my apartment, but I was reading

(25:50):
the Bible here and there, and one day Camp Hope
was on my phone and I decided i'd click on it,
and I did, and I felt out the information on it,
thinking I was just going to add to their statistics,
you know what PTSD is. And within eight hours I

(26:10):
got a phone call from an outreach and they explained
to me what Camp Hope was, and I thought about
it for a couple hours, and I called him right
back and said, I'm in.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
I surrender.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, you know.
So I went to court on my eviction. I had
to be out on a certain date, but I wasn't
able to get to Camp Hope till certain days, so
they let me stay in my apartment, thankfully, until I
got to Camp Hope at the end of May.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
No p that.

Speaker 6 (26:46):
I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've heard that
a guy actually finding it on his own.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (26:57):
I don't know if I've ever heard that story. Over
twenty three hundred guys coming into our program, it's almost
always a family member or somebody that served with like
you and your story. It may be a judge or whatever,
social worker at one of the VA hospitals. I don't
know if I've ever found it that I have they

(27:20):
found it on their own.

Speaker 4 (27:21):
I absolutely believe that God gives you the messages you
need when you need to hear them.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah, that's how I took it.

Speaker 3 (27:30):
And I think because my grandma, you know, my grandma
sent me that Bible meant like I had nothing in
my life going for me except for that Bible, and
I would read it. I'm not saying I read it
every day, but I would open it up and something
popped and I was starting to get help with the
VET Center. But when I brought Camp Hope to his attention,

(27:51):
he didn't even know what Camp Hope was. So he's like,
I'm going to look into it and see what I
can do. And he's like, I'm gonna look into other
pro for you also, and he came back to me
and he's like, I love this Camp Hope.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
I did that you have.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
So I went for it, and like I said, I
couldn't be more thankful and blessed that.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
I am where I'm at today.

Speaker 6 (28:16):
Well, we're glad you're here. And again ptsd usa dot
org has all of the information forms to simple forms
you can fill out to get someone to reach out
to you and answer any questions you might have about
Camp Hope. And again, not everybody needs or is willing
to do a Camp Hope program something that's as lengthy

(28:37):
as our program is. But there are weekly support groups
that we run again across the country and online that
you can join in from anywhere. PTSDUSA dot org. Put
the bottle down, pick up the phone, be the best
thing you ever do. PTSDUSA dot org. All right, we'll
be right back with more of Roade.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Hope Radio.

Speaker 6 (29:14):
Talk with Matthew United States Army that currently in our
program at Camp Hope. You mentioned you're almost homeless and
you're going to be removed from your apartment. Before you
got here, h was what was your situation with your
family at that time.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
I had just recently moved to Austin, Texas from Florida
to work for a company that my mom works.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
For, and.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
I had put her in a position to have to
fire me, unfortunately because of my alcoholism.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
So it was strained.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
You know, They've all always been asking me to seek
out help, and it wasn't until I had to have
her fire me. Basically, did I finally go to the
VA for the first time since I've been out or
to the vet center? You know, when I went to
the Vet Center and it was very helpful for the time.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
I was there.

Speaker 3 (30:19):
For a couple of months before I decided Camp Hope
was where I needed to go. Did the VA diagnose you, Yeah,
they've diagnosed me with chronic PTSD and amongst depression, anxiety,
substance abuse.

Speaker 6 (30:39):
So in response to the multiple diagnosis, which is very common,
or at least in our in our place, is very common,
what did they what was the response? Will they do.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Well?

Speaker 3 (30:56):
I mean, I just recently have gotten all this diagnosis
in the last month or two, but I have. I'm
on a little bit of medication now to help me
with the night terrors and things of that nature. Which
are you know, it's working. I'm sleeping like a kid again.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
You know.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
Before I came, I was living in a one bedroom apartment,
but terrified to sleep in my own bed. I felt
safer on my couch. So now I yeah, I sleep
through the whole night.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
You know.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
I wake up here and there with like little pains,
but I can fall right back asleep.

Speaker 6 (31:40):
Did you struggle with any like the night terrors or
anything like that?

Speaker 4 (31:45):
Yes, I did. And what was really difficult about it
was while I was married, my wife at the time
was exposed to it, and I think I inadvertently inflicted
secondary PTSD upon her. And it's just an outcome that happens.

(32:08):
When you suffer from PTSD. You expose your significant other
and your children and they develop, you know, certain triggers
and things of that sort in response to you having PTSD.
And yeah, the night terrors for me really affected my wife.

(32:33):
And there was situations where you know, I would wake
up from a dead sleep and next thing you know,
I'd be looking for my weapon and she'd have to
calm me down and explain to me that I wasn't
overseas anymore.

Speaker 6 (32:49):
And so.

Speaker 4 (32:54):
Having healthy sleeping habits has helped also finally processing my emotions.
So doing that in my waking hours, processing my emotions
really has an effect on what I dream about.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
How long have you been at camp now, Matthew up
towards the I'm towards the end of my third month. Okay,
today is my fourth day or fourth month sober today.

Speaker 6 (33:25):
It's very cool, that's awesome. So in that time frame,
obviously four months, you still got some waste to go
in the program, but it's in then that time time frame.
What are you learning? What's changing for you? How's your attitude?
How's your your drive when you wake up in the

(33:46):
morning for the for the day to come.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
I mean as night and day compared to where it was.
I get up every morning now and I go to
the gym. I to get my days started. You know,
I have like a little checklist and I you know,
when I first got here, I was very quiet. I

(34:11):
never shared in class. I sat in the corner, you know,
like in the back of the classroom, like the kid
that did not want to talk, did not want to
be picked on.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
Nothing.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
But now, you know, listening to all the guys that
are there and not being afraid to share my story
or afraid to share what I'm going through has helped
me out immensely. Just getting that those those weights off
my shoulders crazy.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
It feels so good.

Speaker 3 (34:43):
You know, it's difficult at times, but at the end
of it, it feels great. And then at the end
of the day, getting to check that last thing off
my checklist of saying sober.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Did I stay sober today? Yes? I did?

Speaker 3 (34:55):
That's the best part.

Speaker 6 (34:59):
There a moment, maybe it's in a group on the
sport groups, maybe it's in a class, maybe sitting around
the fire with other guys that are in the program.
At the times there's been something that really kind of
stood out to you that and that click that really
helped me understand or that might help me better.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Cope.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
Yeah, understanding what these Warrior groups are that we do
twice a week has helped me out tremendously.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
Just the peer to peer sharing.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
You know our troubles and it's like being with a
small squat, like a small squat or your platoon again
and everybody's got everybody's back, and just the family bond
you build with these guys again, like I said, it's
like being back in the platoon. It's it feels amazing.

Speaker 6 (36:01):
And Pet, you mentioned some the struggles you had and
it involved your wife and passing on some what's called
secondary PTSD, which is an actual diagnosis. A lot of
I think a lot of Vietnam VET children deal with
that and they don't know it, but that's what they're

(36:22):
dealing with. But it's an important point just to simply
bring up. We not only serve veterans combat veterans, we
also serve their families. So there's a We've got a
great group of folks who that's their jobs to help families. Understand,
and when I say family, it can be spouse, be parents, siblings,

(36:43):
it gonna be friends, just somebody that actually cares as
is involved in the person's life and is not going
to walk away. We want to help them understand what
happened to their loved one, what PTSD is doing, and
how it looks. And sometimes yes, it can feel very personal,
sometimes can feel very much uh directed at leat at

(37:03):
directly at you, and that's not necessarily the point. So
if you are a family member, a friend, someone that's
struggling and you just you're not sure what to do,
You're not sure how to help you. You don't want
to hurt or add to the struggle again, go to
our website PTSD USA dot org. Reach out to us

(37:26):
eight three two nine one two four four two nine.
Is our office number eight three two nine one two
four four two nine, and our family support team will
be very happy to help you. And as with everything
in our organization, it's all at zero cost. But we
want to help you who want to help you, help
your veteran, your hero. So again PTSD USA dot org

(37:49):
and the office numbers eight three two nine one two
four four two nine. We're out of time, but now
ifew what do you just real quickly, what are you
looking forward to when you get done? Do you know yet?
You may not know yet, And that's fine too.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
Right now, yeah, right now, I just take it day
by day, sometimes hour by hour if I have to,
But I have no timeline on myself at the moment.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
I do have.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
A job lined up, I believe when I finish Camp Hope,
but I don't. I'm not putting any rush on leaving camp.

Speaker 6 (38:33):
Yeap, do the work while you have the opportunity. Yeah,
well you can. Yeah, get everything out of this you
possibly can. Thanks for sharing some of your story. Thanks
for joining us today, Pet, Thank you for joining us
today and for what you do every single day to
help help your brothers. Extremely grateful, PTSD USA dot org.
Road to Hope Radio wherever you listen to podcasts, thanks

(38:55):
for joining us. Look forward to being with you again
next week for more of Road to Hope Radio.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
Female of the mamm