June 3, 2025 • 32 mins
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time, time, time, time, luck and load.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The Michael Very Show is on the air. How long
you like to drop the light speed?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Take a few moments to get the courtens from the
National care.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
You need the right they're dating coming through hyperspacing like
dust and cross.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Boy to precise calculation.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
But its fly right through a star hound be closed
with super.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
And open and then it injured for real quick. I
took up publish, I paint the space stopping and he
was gone all the time to touch Brad get to fun.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Go.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Fucking.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Elon Musk is not a scientist. He is not an engineer.
He is a billionaire con man with a lot of money.
He does not have this kind of good background. And
in fact, while there's some disruption over that, I sincerely
ask you all, I sincerely ask you all to examine
what expertise he has.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Racket you're Jimmy right, this is your house? Sure is
how much the wolf?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I probs good? We got one, so I heard, I commend, yeah,
please do.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
We can see that recovery vessels slowly but surely closing
the distance there between dolphin can back again. We can
see that the dragon capsule and that is where our
crew nine team members will egress from the Dragon spacecraft.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Now Here on your screen.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
We can see dolphins. Actually, who wants to come and
play with Dragon?
Speaker 6 (02:13):
Elon Musk saved the US space program. If it wasn't
the Elon Musk, we would not be able to fly
US astronauts from US soil to the International Space Station.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Make no, that is no doubt about it.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
We stopped flying astronauts on Space Shuttle in twenty elevens.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Long time. If you put this next segment into the
burgeoning file you have in your mind of do it
today because tomorrow is not promised. Live your life with
(03:06):
purpose and intention, not just being bounced around like a pinball,
because it will be over before you know it. Hug
them tight while you got him. I received an email
from a fellow that said, years ago, your show assisted
us in the death of our Marine son, Corporal Joseph
(03:29):
Joey Logan. I recently released a book, Fishing with Joey,
which details our three month cross country fishing trip before
Joey was deployed to Afghanistan. During the trip, we covered
sixteen thousand miles together. It was every father's dream, and
(03:49):
little did I know that it would be our last.
Would your show be interested in featuring a brief interview
regarding the book and my experiences in becoming a gold
Star family member. Thank you for considering this, and of
course for your previous assistance with our family situation. Sincerely,
Tom Logan, Willis, Texas. Welcome to the program. Tom, Thank
(04:13):
you very much. It's been an honor. And you wouldn't
believe emotions right now, It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I would believe them.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I just can't understand them, and that is because I
haven't felt what you felt. I can only imagine, and
I suspect that what I imagine is one percent or less
is an exponential explosion of grief that you have to
have losing your son. We're not supposed to bury our children.
(04:42):
It's just not supposed to happen.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
No, it isn't, but it happens, you know war.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
The book is called Fishing with Joey, and let's take
it in a timeline slowly be used by piece. Let's
talk about your son Joey.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Tell me about him as a kid, when he was
a little fellow.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Joey was always that a personality he had, He had
an opinion about everything, just like his dad, and we
had to problem him back several times. He can imagine
he was a protector even when he was younger. If
he saw something not right or wrong, or somebody getting
picked on, he would step in and he got in
trouble for a few fights. But he was he was
(05:24):
the He was the person that people respected and they
didn't mess with, and that followed on through his whole life.
You know, even in high school. I remember one time
that the new kid came into school and the regular
thugs were picking on him and Joyce's come here, sit
with me at lunch, and they're not going to bother
you again. And they left him alone. So he hadn't
(05:45):
He had a presence all the time, which is great.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And how did you come to find out that he
was going to join the Marines?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Was this a surprise? Is something he'd talked about.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
No, it wasn't really surprised because just a brief story
of our family history, there were so many members in
our family that served in the military, probably on both
sides of the family. I mean, even going back to
the Civil War. My grandfather on the Italian side immigrated
from Italy prior to World War One. He wanted to
(06:18):
be a citizen so bad that he enlisted in the
army and went back to France and fought into battles
and the trenches. And then after that, dads, my dads
and uncles and his brothers and their brothers and everybody
else served in World War Two at uncles and relatives
in Korea. Debby and I are Vietnam era veterans, and
(06:42):
we had three children involved in the golf wurs when
Joey passed away. Was Joey, Tommy, my oldest son, who
was in the Navy, and Andy, my youngest daughter, was
in the Marine Corps. And plus my son in law
was in the army. And then my daughter Andy's husband
was also in the Marine. So we've been we've been
living up there on the front lines quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
And all of those entered the Marine Corps before Joey did.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
They were all about the same time. Tommy and Joey
were in a race to join the Marine flo Army. Yeah,
it was. It was the wars were going on. It
was it was active. Everything was going on in Iraq,
and againstand.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And what was going on. Sorry, I'm sorry, they knew
what was going on. They knew what was there, you know,
what was going on in his life personally. When he
makes the decision to join the Marines. Is he working,
is he home from school? Is he figuring it out?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
He had just graduated high school. And I guess you
don't realize that your children listen to you and emulate
you their whole life, but you don't think they're paying attention.
But he saw what my wife and I did. We
you know, we listed there to Vietnam War, and both
of us served in the Houston Police Department. I did
twenty one years, twenty eight years, twenty one years. So
(08:02):
he was he was he was looking at something to
serve if he wanted to help, and and all of
a sudden he starts going to the recruiters that he
he depends. He decided, I'm gonna go in the Rine corps.
All right.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Tom Logan is our guest. The book is called Fishing
with Joey.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Where I can't believe he just said that happens that
Michael Arry Show.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Tom Logan is our guest. His son, Green Corporal Joey Logan.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Was deployed to Afghanistan, where he died in a helicopter crash.
Prior to that, for three months, Tom Logan traveled across
the country, spending father sontime. He wrote a book about
what that time meant to him, called Fishing with Joey
(08:59):
and he is our guest. Tom ray Hunt tells me
that many years ago y'all rode together. Y'all were partners
at HPD.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Oh yeah, night shift on the West Side. We had
some rowdy timesdand man, wow.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I said, I said, tell me some interesting things about it,
And he said, he's just a calm transplant from some
Yankee state. I can't recall which one. I think we
rode T two O G eighties beat?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Is that right? G? Eighties? How do you say that?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Yep, yeah, yeah, twenty Georgia. Yea. But north end of
of this city up there? Yeah where west time a
area all the way out to the city limits back then?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah, how about that? Oh oh no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's a different He's told me about different areas that
he worked over the years. So you go on this
trip with your son three months, you know, nobody thinks
to do that. What most people would have said is
when you get back, you'll have some great stories to tell.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Me.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
So when you get back, let's let's take some time.
How did you have three months? Had you retired by
that time?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah? I had just retired in two thousand and eight.
I went into work one day and it looked around
had twenty eight years with HPD, and I'm like, I'm done.
You know, you get to the point, you know, when
you've had enough. And you know, at that many years,
we were settled. Debbie and I had a house up
here in Willis and she had retired already, and the
kids are getting older. I mean, you know, Joe was
not eighteen nineteen then, and I says, we lost a
(10:30):
lot of time with our kids because we worked so much.
So you know, you can't make it up, but you
could do with them, but you can't. And that's what
happened with the decision trip with Joe. He was the
only one out of five kids that really loved the
outdoors like I did, and we decided after he graduated
from high school, I was going to go fishing for
the first year. I told my wife. She said, well,
you're a fisher, Hollie, just go, but you're taking him
(10:51):
with you. I'm like, yeah, I know, But he had
heard heself pretty bad falling out a piece of glass
way prior to that, and he had severed his tendons,
nerves and everything in his hand. And he called me,
you know his dad, Dad, my wrist is cutting, blood
(11:13):
is squirting out my wrist. I said, Joe, get your
friends to put a tournique out there and rush you
to the emergency room. So that was the beginning.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Of his rehab and his journey.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Also because he was already pre enlisted in the Marine
Corps and he figured, I'm done. I'm going to be
a cripple my whole life. Because the wound was severe
or terrible, and the surgeon that put his hand back together.
How can there be a microsurgeon on call at four
o'clock in the morning, And so this poor kid's hand
(11:46):
back together, nerves, arteries, tendons, ligaments and everything. And there
was actually no record in the books of who the
surgeon was. So I look at it. I look at
it as an angel putting that kid's hand back together
and give them a chance of life. It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I would love to find out who that hand surgeon was.
When would this have been and where this was?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Graduated high school two thousand and eight, so it'd be
two thousand and eight, and it would be about six
months prior to us going fishing. We started fishing into
May June, so that would be uh, that be timeline.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Hold on, so that's made June of nine. Has he
graduated because he's graduated at that point.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
He graduated on eight. Okay, so you got to back up,
back up about six months, seven months prior to that,
so it would be the beginning of the beginning of eight.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And where was the surgeon? Where was the surgery performed?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
From my knowledge, they took them to Ben Tobin.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
From there, We're we're in a panic mode.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I didn't couldn't even tell you. I've got I got
the medical record.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
So okay, well there's your answer.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
You know, doctors have told me when you have a
severe trauma like that Ben Tob is because they're doing
that all night long. I mean, if you've I've been
down there in the middle of the night's gunshots, knifing's
it's it's it's rough.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah, I worked at ben Top night shift route there.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
You know better than I do.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Those guys are adrenalin junkies, and those guys, those triosh
guys are amazing. I mean to think, what a toll
that takes on you. But you know that's there. That's
kind of their super bowl. They're they're good at it.
They give a professional reward, all right, So y'all start
the fishing trip.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Well, prior to that, he had to go through rehab
because his hand was so messed up. So he had
to go to physical therapy and he had just a
wonderful nurse and I think he sort of fell in
love with her too, but that's a whole nother story.
And it got to the point that his hand was working,
but it wasn't working properly. So I decided I was
going to go fishing anyway, and Debbie and I decided
(13:57):
he's going to go. So I told him, get your
fishing rod, get your fly rod, get out in the backyard.
Let me see you cast it. You know, he was
whining about it. I'm like, I don't think I can't.
I'm gonna do it. You know, I don't play with
my kids. They get their hardcore. And he started doing it.
He started doing it. I said, okay, we're going load
the truck with everything we got and fishing camping gear,
(14:18):
Coleman stoves, you know, all the fly rods and spinning
rods and everything you could imagine to go on a
fishing trip. But he had no idea that we're going
to stay gone from god June too. We got back
mid October. It was almost four months by the time
we got back. And the first thing he says, where
were going to go? Arkansas? I'm like, we're going to
start there. So we used to fight fish the White
(14:39):
River in Arkansas for trout, and it was, you know,
an amazing place to fish because anybody can catch a
fish there. And that's how we started. And I had
the whole route planned out a year ahead of time
for myself with the trout magazines of Fishing magazine, so
I had got the all the you know it itinerary
to go and I highlighted every place we're going to go.
(15:01):
And then while we were on our way, below the
truck and left and Debbie waved goodbye to see you
guys later. And I don't think she knew how long
we're gonna stay gone.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So tell me about that trip.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Well, it's like I said, it started in Arkansas and
we fished nine states, most of them Western Mississippi. There
was Arkansas, naturally, Missouri, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Night, Arizona,
I'm not done yet, Arizona, Wyoming, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.
(15:35):
And we drove. I drove most of the time, sixteen
thousand miles. Are you familiar with the Lewis and Clark expedition?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Of course, yes, well.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
They only traveled eight thousand miles and we doubled there. Yeah,
we doubled their expedition.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
But they weren't doing it at eighty miles an hour.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I know.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
On just a second. The book is called Fishing with Joey.
We're talking to a gold star Dad, Tom Logan.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
We're coming on the most dangerous places between Sheila Jackson
Lee in the camp.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And the Triple Crown.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Weave is, you know, tilted to the side, the leaning
tower of Weaver, a retired HPD.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Officer, and on right now.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
But I spent three months with his son, Joey Logan
before Joey would go off to serve in Afghanistan, where
he was deployed as a marine.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
That trip would be the last. He wrote a book
about it after his.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Son Joey Logan died in Afghanistan and the book is
called Fishing with Joey. You can find it wherever you
buy your books online, bookstores, you name it. So Tom Logan,
tell me about the day and we'll come back to
the trip itself. But tell me about the day that
(16:59):
you get the off news about your son.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, it's it's it's riveting, that's all. Like I say,
we were at home the ten thirty at night, but
prior to that, in the morning, Joe had called us
from Afghanistan and he says, Hey, I'm coming home in
twenty eight days. I'm going to take a truck and
do all kinds of stuff. And the main thing he
(17:27):
said he was focused on, I'm going to go visit
every living relative I have, from grandparents to babies. And
I'm like, Joe, that's impossible. You can't do it in
thirty days. See, I'm going to do it. And the
ironic thing that happened is every living family member that
we had attend at his funeral.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
How does that happen?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I mean, it's impossible, But they came, came, he came home,
and they came home to send him, send him to heaven,
you know, and you know, you talked to him that
that morning. Hey, I'm i'ment home. I can't wait. You know,
we're going to go fishing again. We got all kinds
of stuff to do. I hope. I was planning on
as I got older, him taking me somewhere, you know,
(18:07):
and that was our plan and never nerricame truition. So
we get to knock on the door ten thirty at
night and Debbie's looking out the window. It's just there's
two marines out there, and one looks like Joey. I said, death.
There's no way that can be joe We just talked
to him in Afghanistan, and then the reality set him
and we opened the door and they, you know, they
(18:30):
presented themselves and they presented a paperwork and Joey had
been killed in the helicopter crash, and everything went spiraling
downhill from there. You're in disbelief. You have no clue
what your mind goes through and where your senses go.
It was just it was devastating. You know. At that time,
(18:51):
we had three kids deployed. Tommy was in the Persian golf,
Andy was marine course, she was flying drone somewhere, and
Joey was in combat find he find a helicopters. So
at first we didn't know what happened to any of them,
and then they told us about joe.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
What happened.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
As far as the helicopter crash. You're saying, well, there's
always controversy about that kind of stuff, you know. And
they're flying a resupply mission to a fob out in
the the on the desert out there, and the unit
that was out there was running around supplies they had,
didn't have hard to any food or water, and they
(19:34):
could not come back in by road because the i
DS and the Taliban were really intense out there. So
Joey and his crew it was a second second resupply
that night, flew out the second time to drop off
supplies to them, and it was just a random, random resupply.
They'd done it hundreds of times. And there were two
helicopters went out. They go on pairs, and I talked
(19:58):
to the other crew of the other helicopter and all
they said they saw a flash and then the helicopter
started coming out of the sky, hit the ground, exploded
and caught on fire. And that's that's that's the crash.
And we don't know if it was mechanical or enemy fire.
But Joey always talked about the golden bullet. This says,
(20:18):
all you need is the right bullet in the right place,
and you've got problems mechanically. And he said that as
soon as we left base, there a Camp Leather at
Camp Bastion. We're catching ground fire from the time we
flew out to the time and came back, So anything
could have happened. And the Marine Copan Department of Navy
sent us a redacted report of everything. And I have
(20:40):
not read the whole thing yet because it's too it's
too intense because you can imagine what happens when you
fall from four thousand feet and hit the ground and explode,
catching on fire, you know. So that memory is forever
in my mind. It's not going to go away, you know.
And six couldn't ring died that night, you know, And
there was it was not just oh, it was you know.
(21:03):
The pilot which is Daniel Bartle and Nathan McCone was
a co piloting of both captains. Master Sergeant Travis Riddick,
he was Master sergeant, had twenty years he could have retired.
He went back to Afghanistan. Jesse Sipes was a corporal,
Kevin Reinhardt was a corporal, and Joe was a corporal,
and they love what they're doing. Joey called me one
time from Afghanistan, da, I guess what I got the
(21:24):
greatest job in the world. I'm like, tell me what.
Come on? And he says, I get to fly around
helicopters all day and all night, shoot big guns and
get paid for it. I might say, Joe, just get home.
It's just cool. Enough is enough. You've fought enough wars
out there. In that last deployment, he was the most
flown observer aerial observer, which means he was on a
fifty cow machine gun with two other corporals giving ground
(21:48):
support to the troops on the ground. And he was
awarded two Arrowing Medals with Strike Flight, which means he
who in that deployment seven months over forty two combat missions.
So he was running a gun and that many times,
and god knows how many other missions. He flew resupplies
and they had special ops. I've talked to some Marines
(22:10):
and Marsac guys. Yeah, those guys were flying us all
over the place. So those men, those Marines were really intense,
dedicated individuals called Superman, they were heroes. So that's that's
what it was all about. They stepped forward. There were
(22:31):
the less than one percent of this country. They said,
I'm going to do this for our country, our flag,
our nation, people of population here, and I wish more
people would understand that, you know, and show these guys
in respect and honor they deserve.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
And that's what I's I think that's what the main
reason for writing this book was because there was a
divine intervention with me because I'm not that bright. I
might sound like I got to bring half the time
is a turn offer, but I started journaling from the
first day, writing notes and journaling and remembering stuff, and
(23:13):
you know, his military experiences, the fishing trip and everything else.
And to some of the wonderful people. Over the last
thirteen years, they have come into our lives and they
still are helping, which is amazing that there's so so
many great patriots, are so many great individuals in this
country that really care, and that that really makes me
feel good. Every day I wake up, I'm like, what's
(23:34):
the next email, who's the next phone call? I call
them miracles, hold.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
On just a moment, Hold on, just a moment. Ton
Logan is our guest. The book is called Fishing with Joey.
This is not a war story. This is his story
about grief and dealing with it and making the most
different memories and will take it to that level coming up.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
And the girls all get pretty close in time.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
When you're listening to the Michael Berry Show.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Make memories, folks, upon you still can You just don't know.
We're not promised tomorrow. HPD officer Tom Logan had retired
after twenty eight years on the department. His wife twenty one,
retired to Willis, Texas. His son, Joseph Joey Logan had
(24:23):
just graduated in Willis, Texas and signed up for the Marines.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
He's headed off his.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Dad and he go on a three month cross country
fishing trip across multiple states and countries, and they made memories.
His son would pass in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan,
and he began journaling about those what he called divine
(24:52):
coincidences to deal with his grief, and out of that
came the book Fishing with Joey. You can find it
on Amazon or at any bookstore or wherever else you
buy your books. Is there a website for this book, Tom, Yeah,
it's it's on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
You see, click on it and you just put in
fishing for Joey and it comes up, you know, for
sale there in Amazon. I like to say something about
Amazon too. The book is in the pretty much religious,
spiritual Christian book and death and grief category and right
now is sitting at number one as far as Amazon,
(25:32):
and it's rated at five stars. So I was, that's good, right,
That is amazing And nothing at the five star in
this world, buddy, it's always four and three eighths or
whatever else or a two.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
You are you are a five star gold star bad.
I think it's fantastic that out of this grief you
manage to channel that into something that can help other people.
And and that's a very selfless act art I think
for some people to realize that. But I know you
(26:04):
know that as a law enforcement officer from a family
of service. I read that you're that you created a
Montana Mountain retreat out of this. Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Oh that was That's that's another miracle. I mean, Joey
and I fished so many places and after we came
out of British Columbia. We dropped down into Montana and Libby, Montana,
and that's when I think he fell in love with
Montana and he just talked about it, talked about it.
Matter of fact, Daniel Barrow, the pilot, was from Montana,
so I think they both had conversations about Montana while
(26:38):
they're flying and hanging out together. So Joey's last phone
call home that morning I was telling about earlier, was
all about buying property in Montana, building cabins for Marine
Corps buds that come back and just decompress and relax
and enjoy the enjoy the wilderness. And then, uh, you know,
(27:00):
that night we got the call and Debbie, my wife,
said we need to do this for Joey. That's his legacy.
I'm like, yeah, it's really hard for me to go
back and retrace all those places and all the memories
were well up, and she said, oh, we're doing it.
So we ended up getting into We went in a
Toyota Corolla and drove all the way back to Montana,
(27:21):
talked to a couple of real estate agents and we
finally found this beautiful piece of Montana wilderness. One hundred
and sixty five acres four miles up on a mountain
road in the middle of Lolo National Forest and Lolo
National Forest. Surrounding our property is three thousand, one hundred
and fifty square miles of Montana, Idaho wilderness. So's it's
(27:45):
it's unbelievable that that happened. You know, there's no there's
no possible way unless the hand of God just died
this right to the place. And from there we started
building six cabins and one in honor of each of
our fallen marines. And we've got five out of six
up and running. We've got one more to put up,
and our goal is to get our combat veterans and
(28:08):
disabled veterans up there and let them enjoy what Joey
and I enjoyed and what we love and beautifless off
the grid. A lot of times there's no cell phone
or internet reception, so you've got to enjoy your surroundings.
You can't be on the phone round the laptop, you know,
connecting with the real world. And that's what it's all about.
Disconnect and relax and look at the stars at night,
(28:30):
look at the wilderness, Goana Height, the Clark Fork, River
is right down the mountain below us and there's fishing there, kayaking, canoeing,
all kinds of outdoor activities. So if you love the outdoors,
it's a perfect place to bring yourself, your fellow Marines, soldiers, Navy,
and your families because we want to have a family
orient because when guys come back from the deployment, they're disconnected.
(28:51):
They never leave the war, and their families suffer, their
kids suffer, their wife suffer. People don't understand the PTSD
and everything else that is wrapped up in their minds,
plus the physical physical injuries. It's a really hard road
to tow. Matter of fact, I'm going to a PTSD
meeting every Tuesday at the Messodist Church in the Woodlands
(29:11):
strictly for combat PTSD veterans, and I guess I got grief.
Grief and PTSD demeter same things. Because all we do
is think about what happened. It's hard, it's hard to
hard to process. So that's why we're up there in
Montana and we do it seasonally from in May until
(29:33):
October before the snow starts hitting again. That we're back
to Texas working and stuff. Here.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
I'm involved with a group called the PTSD Foundation of
America and a residential facility called Camp Hope.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
And that's yeah, that's that's where these guys come from.
Camp Hope. Yeah. And I'm gonna I'm a good probably
hopefully this week or actually do a tour with them
and talk to their management up there and see if
they can figure out how to send a group of
guys up there to just to That's what I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
That's what I was thinking. What a neat deal.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
One hundred and sixty four acres next to the Lolo
National Forest in Montana and soon to be six cabins
five so far. That's uh, you know that that is
really that's incredible. That y'all have been able to pull
that off is incredible. Two police officers and able to
(30:31):
make this a reality is man, It's just it's uh,
it really is amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I have about a minute left.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Why don't you share with us how you deal with
what has to be crippling.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Grief?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Have you learned some things that you can share on that?
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yeah? And I think that's a basic is it for
the book? I want to share what I do and
with other gold Star families all over the country, all
over the world, and it's finding something positive every day,
something that makes you happy. Relive the good memories and
bad memories will always be there, but take it upon
(31:19):
yourself to enjoy every minute of your life. Enjoy your family,
your children, and the people that surround you that are
good people, and make it a celebration of their lives.
And that's what it's all about, as far as I'm concerned,
And every every day I get up, I've got so
many hobbies with the outdoors and hunting and fishing and
(31:40):
stuff like that. And I was working with Healing Water
for a while, helping them build fly rods or disabled
vets and fishing and stuff like that. So I always
get involved with a like minded group and people that
they love their kids as much as we love ours.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Thank you telling your story. Thank you for your family service.
The book is called Fishing with Joey
It's that time, time, time, time, luck and load.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The Michael Very Show is on the air. How long
you like to drop the light speed?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Take a few moments to get the courtens from the
National care.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
You need the right they're dating coming through hyperspacing like
dust and cross.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Boy to precise calculation.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
But its fly right through a star hound be closed
with super.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
And open and then it injured for real quick. I
took up publish, I paint the space stopping and he
was gone all the time to touch Brad get to fun.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Go.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Fucking.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Elon Musk is not a scientist. He is not an engineer.
He is a billionaire con man with a lot of money.
He does not have this kind of good background. And
in fact, while there's some disruption over that, I sincerely
ask you all, I sincerely ask you all to examine
what expertise he has.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Racket you're Jimmy right, this is your house? Sure is
how much the wolf?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I probs good? We got one, so I heard, I commend, yeah,
please do.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
We can see that recovery vessels slowly but surely closing
the distance there between dolphin can back again. We can
see that the dragon capsule and that is where our
crew nine team members will egress from the Dragon spacecraft.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Now Here on your screen.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
We can see dolphins. Actually, who wants to come and
play with Dragon?
Speaker 6 (02:13):
Elon Musk saved the US space program. If it wasn't
the Elon Musk, we would not be able to fly
US astronauts from US soil to the International Space Station.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Make no, that is no doubt about it.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
We stopped flying astronauts on Space Shuttle in twenty elevens.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Long time. If you put this next segment into the
burgeoning file you have in your mind of do it
today because tomorrow is not promised. Live your life with
(03:06):
purpose and intention, not just being bounced around like a pinball,
because it will be over before you know it. Hug
them tight while you got him. I received an email
from a fellow that said, years ago, your show assisted
us in the death of our Marine son, Corporal Joseph
(03:29):
Joey Logan. I recently released a book, Fishing with Joey,
which details our three month cross country fishing trip before
Joey was deployed to Afghanistan. During the trip, we covered
sixteen thousand miles together. It was every father's dream, and
(03:49):
little did I know that it would be our last.
Would your show be interested in featuring a brief interview
regarding the book and my experiences in becoming a gold
Star family member. Thank you for considering this, and of
course for your previous assistance with our family situation. Sincerely,
Tom Logan, Willis, Texas. Welcome to the program. Tom, Thank
(04:13):
you very much. It's been an honor. And you wouldn't
believe emotions right now, It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I would believe them.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I just can't understand them, and that is because I
haven't felt what you felt. I can only imagine, and
I suspect that what I imagine is one percent or less
is an exponential explosion of grief that you have to
have losing your son. We're not supposed to bury our children.
(04:42):
It's just not supposed to happen.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
No, it isn't, but it happens, you know war.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
The book is called Fishing with Joey, and let's take
it in a timeline slowly be used by piece. Let's
talk about your son Joey.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Tell me about him as a kid, when he was
a little fellow.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Joey was always that a personality he had, He had
an opinion about everything, just like his dad, and we
had to problem him back several times. He can imagine
he was a protector even when he was younger. If
he saw something not right or wrong, or somebody getting
picked on, he would step in and he got in
trouble for a few fights. But he was he was
(05:24):
the He was the person that people respected and they
didn't mess with, and that followed on through his whole life.
You know, even in high school. I remember one time
that the new kid came into school and the regular
thugs were picking on him and Joyce's come here, sit
with me at lunch, and they're not going to bother
you again. And they left him alone. So he hadn't
(05:45):
He had a presence all the time, which is great.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And how did you come to find out that he
was going to join the Marines?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Was this a surprise? Is something he'd talked about.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
No, it wasn't really surprised because just a brief story
of our family history, there were so many members in
our family that served in the military, probably on both
sides of the family. I mean, even going back to
the Civil War. My grandfather on the Italian side immigrated
from Italy prior to World War One. He wanted to
(06:18):
be a citizen so bad that he enlisted in the
army and went back to France and fought into battles
and the trenches. And then after that, dads, my dads
and uncles and his brothers and their brothers and everybody
else served in World War Two at uncles and relatives
in Korea. Debby and I are Vietnam era veterans, and
(06:42):
we had three children involved in the golf wurs when
Joey passed away. Was Joey, Tommy, my oldest son, who
was in the Navy, and Andy, my youngest daughter, was
in the Marine Corps. And plus my son in law
was in the army. And then my daughter Andy's husband
was also in the Marine. So we've been we've been
living up there on the front lines quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
And all of those entered the Marine Corps before Joey did.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
They were all about the same time. Tommy and Joey
were in a race to join the Marine flo Army. Yeah,
it was. It was the wars were going on. It
was it was active. Everything was going on in Iraq,
and againstand.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And what was going on. Sorry, I'm sorry, they knew
what was going on. They knew what was there, you know,
what was going on in his life personally. When he
makes the decision to join the Marines. Is he working,
is he home from school? Is he figuring it out?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
He had just graduated high school. And I guess you
don't realize that your children listen to you and emulate
you their whole life, but you don't think they're paying attention.
But he saw what my wife and I did. We
you know, we listed there to Vietnam War, and both
of us served in the Houston Police Department. I did
twenty one years, twenty eight years, twenty one years. So
(08:02):
he was he was he was looking at something to
serve if he wanted to help, and and all of
a sudden he starts going to the recruiters that he
he depends. He decided, I'm gonna go in the Rine corps.
All right.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Tom Logan is our guest. The book is called Fishing
with Joey.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Where I can't believe he just said that happens that
Michael Arry Show.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Tom Logan is our guest. His son, Green Corporal Joey Logan.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Was deployed to Afghanistan, where he died in a helicopter crash.
Prior to that, for three months, Tom Logan traveled across
the country, spending father sontime. He wrote a book about
what that time meant to him, called Fishing with Joey
(08:59):
and he is our guest. Tom ray Hunt tells me
that many years ago y'all rode together. Y'all were partners
at HPD.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Oh yeah, night shift on the West Side. We had
some rowdy timesdand man, wow.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I said, I said, tell me some interesting things about it,
And he said, he's just a calm transplant from some
Yankee state. I can't recall which one. I think we
rode T two O G eighties beat?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Is that right? G? Eighties? How do you say that?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Yep, yeah, yeah, twenty Georgia. Yea. But north end of
of this city up there? Yeah where west time a
area all the way out to the city limits back then?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah, how about that? Oh oh no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's a different He's told me about different areas that
he worked over the years. So you go on this
trip with your son three months, you know, nobody thinks
to do that. What most people would have said is
when you get back, you'll have some great stories to tell.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Me.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
So when you get back, let's let's take some time.
How did you have three months? Had you retired by
that time?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah? I had just retired in two thousand and eight.
I went into work one day and it looked around
had twenty eight years with HPD, and I'm like, I'm done.
You know, you get to the point, you know, when
you've had enough. And you know, at that many years,
we were settled. Debbie and I had a house up
here in Willis and she had retired already, and the
kids are getting older. I mean, you know, Joe was
not eighteen nineteen then, and I says, we lost a
(10:30):
lot of time with our kids because we worked so much.
So you know, you can't make it up, but you
could do with them, but you can't. And that's what
happened with the decision trip with Joe. He was the
only one out of five kids that really loved the
outdoors like I did, and we decided after he graduated
from high school, I was going to go fishing for
the first year. I told my wife. She said, well,
you're a fisher, Hollie, just go, but you're taking him
(10:51):
with you. I'm like, yeah, I know, But he had
heard heself pretty bad falling out a piece of glass
way prior to that, and he had severed his tendons,
nerves and everything in his hand. And he called me,
you know his dad, Dad, my wrist is cutting, blood
(11:13):
is squirting out my wrist. I said, Joe, get your
friends to put a tournique out there and rush you
to the emergency room. So that was the beginning.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Of his rehab and his journey.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Also because he was already pre enlisted in the Marine
Corps and he figured, I'm done. I'm going to be
a cripple my whole life. Because the wound was severe
or terrible, and the surgeon that put his hand back together.
How can there be a microsurgeon on call at four
o'clock in the morning, And so this poor kid's hand
(11:46):
back together, nerves, arteries, tendons, ligaments and everything. And there
was actually no record in the books of who the
surgeon was. So I look at it. I look at
it as an angel putting that kid's hand back together
and give them a chance of life. It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I would love to find out who that hand surgeon was.
When would this have been and where this was?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Graduated high school two thousand and eight, so it'd be
two thousand and eight, and it would be about six
months prior to us going fishing. We started fishing into
May June, so that would be uh, that be timeline.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Hold on, so that's made June of nine. Has he
graduated because he's graduated at that point.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
He graduated on eight. Okay, so you got to back up,
back up about six months, seven months prior to that,
so it would be the beginning of the beginning of eight.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And where was the surgeon? Where was the surgery performed?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
From my knowledge, they took them to Ben Tobin.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
From there, We're we're in a panic mode.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I didn't couldn't even tell you. I've got I got
the medical record.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
So okay, well there's your answer.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
You know, doctors have told me when you have a
severe trauma like that Ben Tob is because they're doing
that all night long. I mean, if you've I've been
down there in the middle of the night's gunshots, knifing's
it's it's it's rough.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah, I worked at ben Top night shift route there.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
You know better than I do.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Those guys are adrenalin junkies, and those guys, those triosh
guys are amazing. I mean to think, what a toll
that takes on you. But you know that's there. That's
kind of their super bowl. They're they're good at it.
They give a professional reward, all right, So y'all start
the fishing trip.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Well, prior to that, he had to go through rehab
because his hand was so messed up. So he had
to go to physical therapy and he had just a
wonderful nurse and I think he sort of fell in
love with her too, but that's a whole nother story.
And it got to the point that his hand was working,
but it wasn't working properly. So I decided I was
going to go fishing anyway, and Debbie and I decided
(13:57):
he's going to go. So I told him, get your
fishing rod, get your fly rod, get out in the backyard.
Let me see you cast it. You know, he was
whining about it. I'm like, I don't think I can't.
I'm gonna do it. You know, I don't play with
my kids. They get their hardcore. And he started doing it.
He started doing it. I said, okay, we're going load
the truck with everything we got and fishing camping gear,
(14:18):
Coleman stoves, you know, all the fly rods and spinning
rods and everything you could imagine to go on a
fishing trip. But he had no idea that we're going
to stay gone from god June too. We got back
mid October. It was almost four months by the time
we got back. And the first thing he says, where
were going to go? Arkansas? I'm like, we're going to
start there. So we used to fight fish the White
(14:39):
River in Arkansas for trout, and it was, you know,
an amazing place to fish because anybody can catch a
fish there. And that's how we started. And I had
the whole route planned out a year ahead of time
for myself with the trout magazines of Fishing magazine, so
I had got the all the you know it itinerary
to go and I highlighted every place we're going to go.
(15:01):
And then while we were on our way, below the
truck and left and Debbie waved goodbye to see you
guys later. And I don't think she knew how long
we're gonna stay gone.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So tell me about that trip.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Well, it's like I said, it started in Arkansas and
we fished nine states, most of them Western Mississippi. There
was Arkansas, naturally, Missouri, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Night, Arizona,
I'm not done yet, Arizona, Wyoming, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.
(15:35):
And we drove. I drove most of the time, sixteen
thousand miles. Are you familiar with the Lewis and Clark expedition?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Of course, yes, well.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
They only traveled eight thousand miles and we doubled there. Yeah,
we doubled their expedition.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
But they weren't doing it at eighty miles an hour.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I know.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
On just a second. The book is called Fishing with Joey.
We're talking to a gold star Dad, Tom Logan.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
We're coming on the most dangerous places between Sheila Jackson
Lee in the camp.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
And the Triple Crown.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Weave is, you know, tilted to the side, the leaning
tower of Weaver, a retired HPD.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Officer, and on right now.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
But I spent three months with his son, Joey Logan
before Joey would go off to serve in Afghanistan, where
he was deployed as a marine.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
That trip would be the last. He wrote a book
about it after his.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Son Joey Logan died in Afghanistan and the book is
called Fishing with Joey. You can find it wherever you
buy your books online, bookstores, you name it. So Tom Logan,
tell me about the day and we'll come back to
the trip itself. But tell me about the day that
(16:59):
you get the off news about your son.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, it's it's it's riveting, that's all. Like I say,
we were at home the ten thirty at night, but
prior to that, in the morning, Joe had called us
from Afghanistan and he says, Hey, I'm coming home in
twenty eight days. I'm going to take a truck and
do all kinds of stuff. And the main thing he
(17:27):
said he was focused on, I'm going to go visit
every living relative I have, from grandparents to babies. And
I'm like, Joe, that's impossible. You can't do it in
thirty days. See, I'm going to do it. And the
ironic thing that happened is every living family member that
we had attend at his funeral.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
How does that happen?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I mean, it's impossible, But they came, came, he came home,
and they came home to send him, send him to heaven,
you know, and you know, you talked to him that
that morning. Hey, I'm i'ment home. I can't wait. You know,
we're going to go fishing again. We got all kinds
of stuff to do. I hope. I was planning on
as I got older, him taking me somewhere, you know,
(18:07):
and that was our plan and never nerricame truition. So
we get to knock on the door ten thirty at
night and Debbie's looking out the window. It's just there's
two marines out there, and one looks like Joey. I said, death.
There's no way that can be joe We just talked
to him in Afghanistan, and then the reality set him
and we opened the door and they, you know, they
(18:30):
presented themselves and they presented a paperwork and Joey had
been killed in the helicopter crash, and everything went spiraling
downhill from there. You're in disbelief. You have no clue
what your mind goes through and where your senses go.
It was just it was devastating. You know. At that time,
(18:51):
we had three kids deployed. Tommy was in the Persian golf,
Andy was marine course, she was flying drone somewhere, and
Joey was in combat find he find a helicopters. So
at first we didn't know what happened to any of them,
and then they told us about joe.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
What happened.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
As far as the helicopter crash. You're saying, well, there's
always controversy about that kind of stuff, you know. And
they're flying a resupply mission to a fob out in
the the on the desert out there, and the unit
that was out there was running around supplies they had,
didn't have hard to any food or water, and they
(19:34):
could not come back in by road because the i
DS and the Taliban were really intense out there. So
Joey and his crew it was a second second resupply
that night, flew out the second time to drop off
supplies to them, and it was just a random, random resupply.
They'd done it hundreds of times. And there were two
helicopters went out. They go on pairs, and I talked
(19:58):
to the other crew of the other helicopter and all
they said they saw a flash and then the helicopter
started coming out of the sky, hit the ground, exploded
and caught on fire. And that's that's that's the crash.
And we don't know if it was mechanical or enemy fire.
But Joey always talked about the golden bullet. This says,
(20:18):
all you need is the right bullet in the right place,
and you've got problems mechanically. And he said that as
soon as we left base, there a Camp Leather at
Camp Bastion. We're catching ground fire from the time we
flew out to the time and came back, So anything
could have happened. And the Marine Copan Department of Navy
sent us a redacted report of everything. And I have
(20:40):
not read the whole thing yet because it's too it's
too intense because you can imagine what happens when you
fall from four thousand feet and hit the ground and explode,
catching on fire, you know. So that memory is forever
in my mind. It's not going to go away, you know.
And six couldn't ring died that night, you know, And
there was it was not just oh, it was you know.
(21:03):
The pilot which is Daniel Bartle and Nathan McCone was
a co piloting of both captains. Master Sergeant Travis Riddick,
he was Master sergeant, had twenty years he could have retired.
He went back to Afghanistan. Jesse Sipes was a corporal,
Kevin Reinhardt was a corporal, and Joe was a corporal,
and they love what they're doing. Joey called me one
time from Afghanistan, da, I guess what I got the
(21:24):
greatest job in the world. I'm like, tell me what.
Come on? And he says, I get to fly around
helicopters all day and all night, shoot big guns and
get paid for it. I might say, Joe, just get home.
It's just cool. Enough is enough. You've fought enough wars
out there. In that last deployment, he was the most
flown observer aerial observer, which means he was on a
fifty cow machine gun with two other corporals giving ground
(21:48):
support to the troops on the ground. And he was
awarded two Arrowing Medals with Strike Flight, which means he
who in that deployment seven months over forty two combat missions.
So he was running a gun and that many times,
and god knows how many other missions. He flew resupplies
and they had special ops. I've talked to some Marines
(22:10):
and Marsac guys. Yeah, those guys were flying us all
over the place. So those men, those Marines were really intense,
dedicated individuals called Superman, they were heroes. So that's that's
what it was all about. They stepped forward. There were
(22:31):
the less than one percent of this country. They said,
I'm going to do this for our country, our flag,
our nation, people of population here, and I wish more
people would understand that, you know, and show these guys
in respect and honor they deserve.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
And that's what I's I think that's what the main
reason for writing this book was because there was a
divine intervention with me because I'm not that bright. I
might sound like I got to bring half the time
is a turn offer, but I started journaling from the
first day, writing notes and journaling and remembering stuff, and
(23:13):
you know, his military experiences, the fishing trip and everything else.
And to some of the wonderful people. Over the last
thirteen years, they have come into our lives and they
still are helping, which is amazing that there's so so
many great patriots, are so many great individuals in this
country that really care, and that that really makes me
feel good. Every day I wake up, I'm like, what's
(23:34):
the next email, who's the next phone call? I call
them miracles, hold.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
On just a moment, Hold on, just a moment. Ton
Logan is our guest. The book is called Fishing with Joey.
This is not a war story. This is his story
about grief and dealing with it and making the most
different memories and will take it to that level coming up.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
And the girls all get pretty close in time.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
When you're listening to the Michael Berry Show.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Make memories, folks, upon you still can You just don't know.
We're not promised tomorrow. HPD officer Tom Logan had retired
after twenty eight years on the department. His wife twenty one,
retired to Willis, Texas. His son, Joseph Joey Logan had
(24:23):
just graduated in Willis, Texas and signed up for the Marines.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
He's headed off his.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Dad and he go on a three month cross country
fishing trip across multiple states and countries, and they made memories.
His son would pass in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan,
and he began journaling about those what he called divine
(24:52):
coincidences to deal with his grief, and out of that
came the book Fishing with Joey. You can find it
on Amazon or at any bookstore or wherever else you
buy your books. Is there a website for this book, Tom, Yeah,
it's it's on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
You see, click on it and you just put in
fishing for Joey and it comes up, you know, for
sale there in Amazon. I like to say something about
Amazon too. The book is in the pretty much religious,
spiritual Christian book and death and grief category and right
now is sitting at number one as far as Amazon,
(25:32):
and it's rated at five stars. So I was, that's good, right,
That is amazing And nothing at the five star in
this world, buddy, it's always four and three eighths or
whatever else or a two.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
You are you are a five star gold star bad.
I think it's fantastic that out of this grief you
manage to channel that into something that can help other people.
And and that's a very selfless act art I think
for some people to realize that. But I know you
(26:04):
know that as a law enforcement officer from a family
of service. I read that you're that you created a
Montana Mountain retreat out of this. Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Oh that was That's that's another miracle. I mean, Joey
and I fished so many places and after we came
out of British Columbia. We dropped down into Montana and Libby, Montana,
and that's when I think he fell in love with
Montana and he just talked about it, talked about it.
Matter of fact, Daniel Barrow, the pilot, was from Montana,
so I think they both had conversations about Montana while
(26:38):
they're flying and hanging out together. So Joey's last phone
call home that morning I was telling about earlier, was
all about buying property in Montana, building cabins for Marine
Corps buds that come back and just decompress and relax
and enjoy the enjoy the wilderness. And then, uh, you know,
(27:00):
that night we got the call and Debbie, my wife,
said we need to do this for Joey. That's his legacy.
I'm like, yeah, it's really hard for me to go
back and retrace all those places and all the memories
were well up, and she said, oh, we're doing it.
So we ended up getting into We went in a
Toyota Corolla and drove all the way back to Montana,
(27:21):
talked to a couple of real estate agents and we
finally found this beautiful piece of Montana wilderness. One hundred
and sixty five acres four miles up on a mountain
road in the middle of Lolo National Forest and Lolo
National Forest. Surrounding our property is three thousand, one hundred
and fifty square miles of Montana, Idaho wilderness. So's it's
(27:45):
it's unbelievable that that happened. You know, there's no there's
no possible way unless the hand of God just died
this right to the place. And from there we started
building six cabins and one in honor of each of
our fallen marines. And we've got five out of six
up and running. We've got one more to put up,
and our goal is to get our combat veterans and
(28:08):
disabled veterans up there and let them enjoy what Joey
and I enjoyed and what we love and beautifless off
the grid. A lot of times there's no cell phone
or internet reception, so you've got to enjoy your surroundings.
You can't be on the phone round the laptop, you know,
connecting with the real world. And that's what it's all about.
Disconnect and relax and look at the stars at night,
(28:30):
look at the wilderness, Goana Height, the Clark Fork, River
is right down the mountain below us and there's fishing there, kayaking, canoeing,
all kinds of outdoor activities. So if you love the outdoors,
it's a perfect place to bring yourself, your fellow Marines, soldiers, Navy,
and your families because we want to have a family
orient because when guys come back from the deployment, they're disconnected.
(28:51):
They never leave the war, and their families suffer, their
kids suffer, their wife suffer. People don't understand the PTSD
and everything else that is wrapped up in their minds,
plus the physical physical injuries. It's a really hard road
to tow. Matter of fact, I'm going to a PTSD
meeting every Tuesday at the Messodist Church in the Woodlands
(29:11):
strictly for combat PTSD veterans, and I guess I got grief.
Grief and PTSD demeter same things. Because all we do
is think about what happened. It's hard, it's hard to
hard to process. So that's why we're up there in
Montana and we do it seasonally from in May until
(29:33):
October before the snow starts hitting again. That we're back
to Texas working and stuff. Here.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
I'm involved with a group called the PTSD Foundation of
America and a residential facility called Camp Hope.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
And that's yeah, that's that's where these guys come from.
Camp Hope. Yeah. And I'm gonna I'm a good probably
hopefully this week or actually do a tour with them
and talk to their management up there and see if
they can figure out how to send a group of
guys up there to just to That's what I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
That's what I was thinking. What a neat deal.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
One hundred and sixty four acres next to the Lolo
National Forest in Montana and soon to be six cabins
five so far. That's uh, you know that that is
really that's incredible. That y'all have been able to pull
that off is incredible. Two police officers and able to
(30:31):
make this a reality is man, It's just it's uh,
it really is amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I have about a minute left.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Why don't you share with us how you deal with
what has to be crippling.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Grief?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Have you learned some things that you can share on that?
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yeah? And I think that's a basic is it for
the book? I want to share what I do and
with other gold Star families all over the country, all
over the world, and it's finding something positive every day,
something that makes you happy. Relive the good memories and
bad memories will always be there, but take it upon
(31:19):
yourself to enjoy every minute of your life. Enjoy your family,
your children, and the people that surround you that are
good people, and make it a celebration of their lives.
And that's what it's all about, as far as I'm concerned,
And every every day I get up, I've got so
many hobbies with the outdoors and hunting and fishing and
(31:40):
stuff like that. And I was working with Healing Water
for a while, helping them build fly rods or disabled
vets and fishing and stuff like that. So I always
get involved with a like minded group and people that
they love their kids as much as we love ours.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Thank you telling your story. Thank you for your family service.
The book is called Fishing with Joey
Popular Podcasts
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.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.