Lima Charlie Episode 21, with Stephen Moore

Stephen is a 39-year-old country boy from Arkansas with a deep love for the land he calls home and the freedom he fought to protect. He proudly served 17 years in the military as a combat engineer, completing multiple combat deployments. His time in uniform taught him strength, brotherhood, and sacrifice—but like many veterans, it also left him with invisible wounds. Now medically retired as a disabled veteran, Stephen has found healing in wild places—through overlanding, camping, and off-road exploration. The outdoors has become his therapy, a place where the noise quiets and peace sets in. He is the founder of Moore Adventures, a platform dedicated to encouraging others—especially fellow veterans—to reconnect with nature and rediscover purpose beyond military service. Through social media, Stephen shares his journey and offers support to those struggling with mental health, particularly within the veteran community. Whether it’s hitting a trail, setting up camp, or simply lending an ear, he is always ready to help carry the load.
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hm, I've got no reason, the teeth of a killing

(00:24):
the scene with a need to blease you where the
light goes. Bring Let's believe him in the zone to
be from a end of a yankom aange disease. But agree,
I said, when you come to me, because I'll weird.
I'm a one of a kind, and I'll bring death
to the glacier about to meet another river of blood
running under my feet, for aging a violet long ago.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Stand next to me.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
You'll never stand alone, My last to leave, but the
first to.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Go the floyd. Make me dead before you make.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Me a field on the fear of the devil inside
of the enemy faces in my sight, being with a
hand or shoe, with a mind, quill.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
With a heart like or guys Martin.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
I am a warrior and this is my.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Songs, the goal of the rising war.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
The waste to the ground of an enemy.

Speaker 4 (01:25):
I read you, Lima Charlie, loud and clear. Welcome to
another episode of stew And the Nun presents Lima Charlie.
We're here today with Stephen Moore. Welcome Stephen.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Hey, how's it going.

Speaker 4 (01:42):
So let's tell us a little bit about yourself, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, I did seventeen years in the Army as a
combat engineer, and that was into due to a training
accident and some other injuries from deployments and things catching
up with me. But I did seventeen years, three combat
deployments and then some state side deployments and emergency missions

(02:06):
and things like that. And I'm currently sitting at about
eighty percent with the VA. So I'm a disabled veteran,
and you know, of course I've got, you know, some
things that go on with me. You know, I've got
some disabilities that you know, you fight through every day
and things. But I served my time in the Army,

(02:28):
and I did a little bit of as active duty,
a little bit of National Guard, so I've got, you know,
both experiences with that. But I did sometime with the
infantry teams too, so I got that experience as well.
But majority of it was combat engineer and we did
route clearance and QRF and recovery missions, and we did

(02:51):
some you know, security missions taking supplies back and forth.
But I mean, for the most part, that's what I did.
And then when I got out, I still was in
a I was in a spot in my life where
I was not necessarily lost my purpose, but I had

(03:12):
kind of I didn't have the drive that I was
that I did when I was in because I was
I was disconnected from that and and then being disabled.
So I found that being in the woods and off
roading and overlanding was a way for me to find
nature as a therapeutic medicine for myself. And that's how

(03:34):
I you know, cleared my head and things. And then
in that I found there was tons of veterans that were,
you know, doing the same and whatnot. So I try
my best to work with any nonprofit organization or veterans
organizations that have the same goals or missions to help

(03:57):
other veterans, you know, with their mental health illnesses or
physical barriers or whatever and get them out in the
outdoors to find that sense of peace or ways to
clear their head as well. So I mean that way,
you know, we've all got the same stories. They may
be a little different, but in a sense, they're all
the same. But that's what I do. And I started that,

(04:19):
and I started doing a channel on social media, and
my channel is more adventures. It's a young channel, but
my goal is to go out and see the things
off grid that you can't just find day to day
and camp remotely off grid and just use that as

(04:39):
like a trail therapy to clear my head and get
my peace of mind. But at the same time, reach
out to veterans and help them with any struggles they
may have and introduce them to the same thing that
I grew to have a huge passion for. And it's
it's worked out pretty well.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
Okay, let's let's talk about Let's talk about Bravo real quick.
So what do you come from the military background? I
mean you you're any of your family members in the military.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
My dad's dad, so, my grandpa, he was in for
a little bit. He did a little bit of the
Korean War. And I had some great uncles that were
in and they were all army and stuff. And then
I have some cousins that were in the army, and
then you know, it was just you know, friends that
I grew up with ended up in military and whatnot.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
So, so, was it was army your first and only
choice or did you think about any of the other No?

Speaker 2 (05:31):
I actually I chose the army because when I first
got in, I didn't I was young, you know, I
was seventeen. I didn't know what I really wanted to do,
but I wanted. I've always had that since where I
wanted to join the military, and I just I liked
what the military brought and the benefits of it. And

(05:53):
as a young kid, you know, I was like, well,
I can get in, I can do this, and I
can do something else with my life, you know, and
then I can figure out what I want to do
later on. I can get college paid for, I can
get you know, different help and whatever. Well, I chose
to do that in the Army, but I had looked
actually at the Marine Corps as well. But you know,

(06:14):
being young, I hadn't been away from home much. So
me and a friend of mine, which he is still
in he's actually a first sergeant now, and we joined
in together and we went army and went to boot
camp at Fort lennar Wood, Missouri, and we deployed together.
We did all kinds of stuff together. And but that was,

(06:37):
I mean, the Army wasn't necessarily my first choice. I
could have went the Marine Corps, but that was my
two top picks, and then I ended up choosing to
go to the Army. But there's days, you know, I
don't necessarily regret it. But you know, anybody who's been
in the military knows it's kind of like a roller coaster.
You have your ups and downs and goods and bads.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
So so what about what about combat engineer? Was that
kind of a choice that you wanted or did you
Did you think of any other inner job in the
arm ere.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Well, you know, when I was young, I didn't really
know exactly what I wanted to do, and I didn't
know a lot about the different jobs and their titles.
But you know, as a young kid and you have
the option to get a sign on bonus and then
people are shining these big numbers in your face. It
was kind of funny because I went to the recruiter

(07:26):
there in Jonesboro, Arkansas, was talking to them and he said,
how about this? He said, you want to get paid
to blow shit up? And I said, yeah, that's that
was pretty fun. Actually, tell me more about it. And
he's like, well, here's what we got. And I got
into three four and the end of three beginning O

(07:47):
four And I think back then the sign on bonus
is like twelve fourteen thousand. It wasn't like it like
it is now, where you get twenty thirty thousand in
one work. So but but yeah, I started that as
a combat engineer, and as soon as I turned eighteen,
I signed them papers, and the week after graduation I

(08:10):
left to go to Fort lender Wood and start that
process And did that all in one shot and started
my military career as a young kid with no experience
doing anything but playing in the mud and racing cars
and riding full wheelers.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
So school typically ends around May time frames, so you're
getting into you May June, right, so you're at Fort
leonard Wood in June.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
I went, yeah, so I went.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
In.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Let's see, no, I got in in March. It's okay,
So that's I signed up. I signed up for the
army and stuff in March on my eighteenth birthday. So
then I had to wait until I graduate high school.
So two weeks after that, I went, let's.

Speaker 4 (09:02):
Still early in the early in the year when it
can be a little chile I mean versus the sweltering heat.
Well that I mean, miss Missouri is pretty miserable.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (09:13):
Yeah, Well.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
I was there long enough that I hit a little
bit of both, so and I mean I didn't get
held back, but you know, you do your basic training
part and then you graduate that and then you got
to do your A I T section. Well, there was
a hold over period for the people coming in for
A I T and all that so ended up being,
you know, pretty much was their better part of the year.

(09:39):
But so what you what do.

Speaker 4 (09:41):
You think, I mean, you're in the army, you go
through this, you know, uh, one one of your training
one once the training But what what was it like
for you? It was pretty easy, was it, you know?
I mean.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Well back then, well back then I was real active
in sports and everything, so I was probably back then
I was probably in the best shape for an eighteen
year old to go through. So I didn't have that
struggle that some people did going in of having to

(10:13):
get yourself in shape. You know, I was already in
pretty good conditioning, pretty good shape where you know, you
think you are and then then they start breaking you
down and they're in their way of you know, breaking
you down to build you up. And the running was nothing,
you know, the running didn't bother me. It was that
other stuff that you know, I learned how to use

(10:33):
different parts of my body and muscles of my body
that I wasn't It wasn't apparently it wasn't using, it
wasn't working out, but it worked out good. I mean
I had a good time. I enjoyed it. I learned
a lot. I learned a lot about myself, you know.
And then you know, with that, you get tore down
and then you get built back up. So and as
a eighteen year old, that's my first time I'd ever

(10:54):
been away from home. Oh wow, I'd never been away
from my family and stuff back then and for that
amount of time. So that was, you know, a new
experience for me. But you know, did that and then
I come home and went to report to my unit
because I was I was an Army National Guard. When

(11:16):
I first got in, went up there to report, and
they weren't there. There was nobody at my unit. There
were some guys there in the office, and I was like, hey,
it's my first duty back. I was supposed to report
to duty. They were like, oh, yeah, they're in you,
Mattila Orgon guarding a chemical depot. How much leave you
got left? And I was like, I don't even know

(11:37):
what you're talking about, you know, I was a young private.
I was like, I don't even know how to tell
how much leave I have, and he's said, well, i'll
tell you what, let's look it up and get it
figured out. Like a month later, I'm sitting in organ
which if you've done anything like that, you know, guard
to chemical depot when at this point they've done hit

(12:00):
the towers. You know, I was sitting there. I wasn't
sitting in eleventh grade history when that happened. And you
know they're over regarding the chemical depot. And so it
was twelve hours on, twelve hours off. And you know
how soldiers are. They get twelve hours off, they're going
to do a lot of stuff they probably don't need

(12:21):
to do.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
Yeah, but idle hands.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah yeah. But I mean it was a good experience.
I mean, and then did that, And then I tried
to go to college, and I was young and dumb
and getting all this free money that I pretty much
wasted and never got a degree out of it. But
I had a good time. I had a learning experience.

(12:45):
And then I I was like, well, I'm gonna go
work and then do the guard stuff part time, you know,
and do that and do my thing. And I was
still learning the ropes. Well, let's see, about two thousand
and six, I got a phone call. I'm sitting in
Saint Louis, get a phone call. How you got forty

(13:08):
eight hours to report here with all your gear? Like,
what's going on? They were like, well, we're getting ready
to go to Iraq. We got to do a three
month mob up, because that's how the Guard did it.
You did three months train up prior to and then
you know, months later, we're sitting in Iraq.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
Where was that train app at?

Speaker 2 (13:30):
It was odd because we did in Wisconsin. Yeah, we
went to Wisconsin to train for Iraq, and then we
did like three months in Wisconsin and I can't remember
the name of that base to save my life. It's
an old old military base. They had like old World
War two style barracks. It was just an old old

(13:55):
training base basically, but apparently it was a hub where
you would go before you go overseas. I mean they
had the villages. Once you left garrison and you went
past that gate, it was a simulated city of being overseas,
whether you were in Iraq or Afghanistan. And they had it,
you know, it was the connex boxes, but they had

(14:16):
legit people play in the park and once you crossed
that fence, that was you were in theory past, you
were in another country. And we did that, and then
we left there and we went to uh, what is
that base in California, Fort Irwin, California out there to NTC.

(14:37):
We went out to NTC and did that and we
stayed a month out there Death Valley, just do. We
stayed a month in the desert, just out there. We
didn't come back to base likely it was just a
simulated deal. Like it was like you were live fire.
But you know, we had those that miles here, right

(14:58):
and uh, we did that and then which took I
think it was three four days, and then we shipped Iraq,
and then we went to Iraq and did route clearance,
so we we'd show up and take over for an
active duty unit and we are in uh Balliwed, Iraq,

(15:19):
so we're roughly sixty miles from Baghdad, and we have
to clear the route, the main supply route in Missar
Tampa or Highway one from the Ballad to Baghdad and back.
And so that's what we did. We did that, and
then we got extended for a few months. So we
ended up doing an eighteen month tour and then come

(15:41):
home and uh did my leave and then went back. Well,
we was in the middle of that eighteen month tour.
I come home, didn't my leave and then come back.
And then we had the option to uh because we
you know, we changed hands while we were in the
middle of deployment, so we ended up working under the
twentieth Engineers while I was there, So we had the

(16:04):
option to set out a brag twentieth Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Back then, back then they were airborne unit, which now
they're not, but that back then they were yea and yeah,
that's out of brag. We worked under them. We were
still a National Guard unit of Arkansas and worked under them.
And then we had the opportunity, if you wanted, you
could transfer and go activeviuty with them and ride out

(16:27):
the rest of their deployment. And so I stayed and
then did the rest of their time. Come home after that,
and you know, Arkansas's bipolar weather. We had tornadoes and stuff.
So I did some of the disaster relief and then
I transferred to a infantry unit and I did a

(16:48):
deployment doing QRF, tower guard and convoy security. But then
they found out I had all this route clearance experience,
so they stuck me on the reconteam. So I would
leave an hour before the convoy, and I would be
in a three or four vehicle patrol basically, you know,

(17:08):
blazing the trail in front of the convoy. You know.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
And let's let's let's back up a little bit and
and kind of talk about that that. You know, you
just got back from California, right, You're you're doing the
train up. You're still pretty young at this point. I
mean you're, what you're almost three years in as a
guard right, yeah, Holly, what for at least?

Speaker 2 (17:30):
Right? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (17:30):
Before you five? So what what was what was going
through your mind on this first deployment? You think, and
here you are, country boy. You you had never left,
really really been out of Arkansas. Now all of a sudden,
you've been to Oregon, You've been to California, and you're
getting it ready to go to Iraq? What what are
you thinking here?

Speaker 2 (17:48):
What was it was a little bit of a climate change,
you know, because you know so it's kind of you know,
it's hard to really adjust because you go from Arkansas
to Missouri weather, and then you go from Missouri to Oregon.
Then you come back to Arkansas, and then you go
to Wisconsin, then California, and then the next thing you know,
you're sitting in Kuwait. You know, you got to stay

(18:10):
in Kuwait for so long to get acclimated and get
all the the boring end processing stuff done. And but yeah,
I started my first deployment as an E four and
when I got finished with that, well, in the middle
of that, I would become a corporal and at the
end of that, I was an E five and then

(18:32):
did my second deployment as a sergeant.

Speaker 4 (18:35):
So what do you think in this this deployment you
get over there, you're out of Kuwait, now you're in Iraq.
Are you thinking, oh, ship, what did I get myself into?
Or oh this is kind of exciting.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
Well it was a little bit of Yeah, it was
a little bit of both because we had some you
know our you know, you have the ADVON group that
goes front forward and uh it gets gets in there
and establishes you know, territory and transfer and all that,
and then they come back to get you. Well, our advond
group had to convoy from Baghdad to Ballode because it

(19:07):
was earlier in the war. And when they left International
Airport Baghdad headed to Bolode, to where we were going
to be stationed. They got hit with some ads and EFP. Well,
our supply sergeant got injured and a couple of our
other guys that was with them got injured. So here
we are sitting there wait waiting to go, and then

(19:27):
we're like and then we get word back that you know,
they've been in country less than a day and they're
already injured, and we're like, dang, what are we coming into,
you know, And and you know, as a young kid,
you know, you don't really know what to expect. It's
it's weird because it's like a sensitive excitement and pride
at the same time. But then you got that fear

(19:49):
in the back of your head because you don't know
what to expect, and you know how real it is
and what you've been seeing. But I mean, until you
experience it for yourself, I mean, it's really hard to
really know what to expect. But I'd say once I
was there a month or so, it's you're you're pretty
much just doing it day in day out. And it's

(20:12):
hard to explain that to people that haven't experienced it,
because once you're there a little bit of time and
you're there doing it all day, every day becomes the
way of life. You don't care about none of that
other stuff. Yeah, you want to talk to your family
and all that, but getting up early, staying up late,

(20:33):
you work all these crazy hours. Anyway, Sometimes you may
be out on the route for an entire day or
you know better part of an entire day, you know,
and then if something happens, you know, it changes. You
can't come back until you get that route clear, do
you get the equipment for your your fellow soldiers back

(20:55):
to base? And it I was, I was there. I'm
trying to think, it's been so long, said, I went
my first deployment eighteen, nineteen years old, twenty years old,
and now I'm thirty nine.

Speaker 4 (21:10):
So every deployment is a little bit different. But I mean,
for the most part, you're working. You're working seven days
a week. You're you know, you're absolutely long, twelve fourteen
sixteen hour days. We used to say every day was Monday, right,
you know, it's just a different Monday, like like like
Wednesday would be the third Monday of the week. Yeah,
it should be every every day is Monday.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
It becomes a routine, It just becomes u you've got.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Seven Mondays in a week. Yep, we did that too,
And you know, like you said, it just it comes
away alive and it becomes a routine and you have
to learn how to. I mean, you get acclimated, but
you have to learn how to because you're especially if
you're out there, out there in the middle of combat.

(21:56):
You're not one that gets to stay on base and
do all that. You're out there in it all the time.
You know, your sense of your senses are heightened. You're
always on alert. You know, you get back to base
and you're still on alert. Like and then I think
I was in country less than a month and got
my first i AD attack. You know, I was there

(22:20):
two or three days and got in my first gunfight.
You know, it's just a matter of just a matter
of doing it, you know, once you go out and
that was you know, and these guys had been doing it,
and we were were like, man, these guys are so chill,
like they're laid back, like this job ain't nothing right.
But you know, we didn't know what to expect. And
then when you change roles and here we are sitting

(22:42):
in country digging up bombs for eighteen months, we were
just as relaxed and chilled as they were. So when
the next group come in, you know, we were that
way to them. You know, they were like, well, how
do you you make this look so easy? Really, You're all, well,
you do so many patrols a day. Sometimes you don't
come back until you know, you know, and then you

(23:02):
get a request a mission to go clear a route
that's off of your norm, you go do that too, right,
I mean, you're you're literally driving up and down the
road and that like that picture you showed, that was
the buffalo, and uh, that's where I was in majority
of the time I was in that vehicle. Now there
was other times where I would I would move to

(23:24):
other vehicles, you know, but that's what they look like
whenever we took over in two thousand and six. Now,
as the war progressed, we got better equipment, so that
cage that's on the back of that ended up being
wrapped around the entire thing. So with that, that's that's
the buffalo we used. That's the ID or explosive the
disposal vehicle, which now back then that was the only

(23:48):
vehicle that had an arm on it, right, and now
pretty much everything's got an arm on it.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
But well, we've we've talked about we've talked about in
the series before with some of the guys, you know,
because that the guot was was twenty you know, twenty
years right, So it's such a long period of time.
And one of the things with combat and war in
general is tactics change, right, especially the longer it goes on. Absolutely,
early on you're typically fighting fighting a war using the

(24:16):
previous wars tactics, in the previous wars equipment, right, and
then as you go on, your tactics change. But what
people always forget is the enemy has a vote and
the enemy's tactics change, and that you know, you're you're
always playing off of each other as to what your
tactics and what your approach to it is.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
So, oh yeah, absolutely, because I can't tell you how
many times we dug up our own ordinance, you know,
because whenever we were over there in desert Storm, they
do like they do now, and they don't bring everything back. Well,
they from the intail that we received in it, whether

(24:55):
it's accurate or not, it's not here. They're there, but
they we dug holes and buried connexes of explosives. Well,
these folks live there. It's like burying it in a
field behind somebody's house in Arkansas. They're gonna find it,
you know. You know, it's like telling a bunch of rednecks, Hey,

(25:16):
we buried a whole train full of guns back there,
but don't go dig them up. Yeah, okay, Well we
was getting blowed up with our own, our own ordinance.
We was digging up our own stuff. I mean yeah.
Granted they would get stuff from other countries too, and
they'd make homemade stuff too, but it got to where
we it was intense, I mean, and it was just

(25:38):
so wild for me to try to explain it to somebody,
because you train yourself to see such tiny details. You know,
that copper wirelet goes to them ads would shine like
a brand new penny in the sun, but you get
at a different angle and you can't see it to

(25:58):
save your life. You know. It's kind of like a
you know, fishing line. If you get that that colored
fishing line at the certain angle, you could see it easily,
you know. So that's and they had They had a
lot of tact I mean, they weren't completely dumb. They
knew what they were doing. I mean some of the
things they tried were dumb, but you know, well.

Speaker 4 (26:20):
They were learning. They were learning like everybody else.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Absolutely, yeah, and it was it was a learning experience.
It was. It was a little mixture of uh, fear
and excitement and joy and you know, yeah, you'd get scared,
but the while, you know, you'd have your drill and
dump where you can't hardly talk because your voice is shaking,
your legs are you can't stand up because your legs

(26:43):
are shaken like crazy. But you know, I mean you
just you learned to adapt and overcome and fight through it.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
And so how long how long was this first employment
for you? I mean you said it was supposed to
be a couple of months to begin with, but you
kind of extended. So how long how long did yeah
staying there?

Speaker 2 (27:02):
I was there twenty months and it was supposed to
it was supposed to have been, you know because back
then they didn't do six eight month deployments. Sure back
then they would they would slot it for twelve months.
But if they needed you to stay, you got you
got extended.

Speaker 4 (27:16):
Well that was they do, just an extension that they
just make you permanent. Point.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
Well, well, but mine. It was a little mixture of
both because uh we well, well there was other guys
that were in the same scenario. But with our guard unit,
we were going to be there twelve months. We got
extended to eighteen. In that extra six months, we were
under the twentieth Engineers, and then we had the option

(27:44):
to stay and be part of the twentieth Engineer unit
and finish out theirs and then you just transferred from
guard to activooty and come, you know with them. I
guess that was back when retention and recruiting was low
because the war, and we had the option to do
it that way, and it was second nature. It was

(28:04):
just a matter of paperwork to switch from guard to
active duty back then, right. And by that point I was,
you know, I was a I was a sergeant, just
a little young buck sergeant. And what experience I had
was what experience I had from Iraq. I had no
other experience other than you know, garrison stuff. But you know,

(28:26):
but I mean, you learn a lot about yourself and others,
and it's it's a it's an awesome thing. But at
the same time you're kind of like, I don't know,
you know, because it was mix it's mixed feelings all
the time, but I mean, you know, you get that
sense of pride. So like me and my good friends
that we still tell stay in touch, even the ones

(28:47):
that are you know, completely disabled or don't have all
of their born with parts, and you know they got
some that are artificial or titanium. But it, uh, we
all still say. You know, if they were to call
us today, sure you'd be like, where do I need

(29:08):
to meet? At? Whose truck are we taking?

Speaker 4 (29:12):
So? So you finished this deployment, where do you go
from there? You you just moved over to the twentieth
did you go to.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Brag went there for a little while, and then uh
did that And I think it was roughly three three
years ish, right.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
There was that up smoke bomb Hill?

Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yes, okay, yeah, uh, it's been so long some of
these names. I'm having to I'm really dig into the
memory books here. Yeah, but uh but yeah, we did
a little time with them. I never did get my
jump wings or nothing, but i'd done that and ended

(29:56):
up did the activity thing for a little while all
and decided I was going to go back home and
I transferred back to my original unit in Arkansas. Well,
they weren't going anywhere. But the other Arkansas Guard unit,
which is the thirty ninth Infant Troubrigade Combat Team, they

(30:18):
were getting ready to go to Iraq. So I had
the option to do disaster relief with my unit or
transfer and go with them. So I did disaster relief,
and then at the end of my disaster relief, I
transferred and went to the thirty ninth and I had
to do a little they're spread all over the state

(30:43):
and they pretty much covered most of Arkansas. But back
then the unit I went with was out of like
Forest City in Brinkley. That was Charlie Company. But they
do a lot of stuff out of Fort Chaffee, and
their ultimate goal is to have the whole state of
Arkansas to be thirty nine. Because now they've got a infantry,

(31:06):
they got they got a little bit of everything. They
got infantry, they got our field artillery, they got combat
engineers and so but I mean, the eighty seventh Troop
Command won't ever go anywhere. My original unit, the one
that's got the hog patch. But so I deployed with them,
and my original orders said we were going to go

(31:28):
to Taji, Iraq to do QRF and tower Guard. You know,
in my mind, I'm like, I know Taji like the
back of my hand. I've been in that area for
all these years. I was like, so let's go. So
when and Buddy signed up, we get to Kuwait and
they're having problems with feeling you know, the strength percentages

(31:50):
per company, and they started reaching out to folks like
in the I our armor and getting volunteers. So we
ended up with people from all over, you know, and
you get people that are irr. They come in with
the worst attitude, you know. So it just ended up
being this big huge ship show. It was it was,

(32:11):
it was, it was something because it was not very organized. Well,
we sit in Kuwait for like almost a month, and
then finally they were like, oh, you're not going to
Taji to do tower Guard anymore. We're sending you to
Alisade to do uh conboy security. No, my my orders
say this, this is where I'm going, this is where
my experiences is. They were like, now we need you here.

(32:35):
So we ended up in Ala said Iraq, which is
out west by like Felujah and Ramadi where the Marines
are at. So that base in Alasade, it was a
primary Marine Corps base and we was doing Cowboy security
from we'd go from Alaside to Jordan. That's a three

(33:00):
hundred mile trip one way. You know. Of course you'd
stop at the little combat outpost on the way there,
you know, and pick up your splies and refit, and
then you'd go. So it wasn't just a straight shot,
you know. Me, it'd take two or three days to
get that three hundred miles done. Then you'd be down
there for a day and you turn around, you do

(33:21):
it coming back, and that's what you did. But so
it was a totally different deployment style because here I was,
I was over there doing that for fourteen months, and
I think I fired my rifle twice where I just
got out of deployment where I fired it non stop
all day long, right and got blowed up constantly. You know.

(33:43):
It was. It was a totally different ballgame, totally different style. Well,
then rolled that out and I stayed with that unit
for a little while because the transfer process from them
back to my original unit wasn't it wasn't exactly easy.
So I stayed with them for a while, and then

(34:07):
I took a break in service for about three and
a half years and then I played that game where
I got When I tried, I started missing it and
I started having regrets. So I wanted to get back in. Well,
had all these waivers and this It took me about
three four months to get back in and get get

(34:32):
back in and UH do that and I get to
the unit that I originally was with. But by then
they changed, They changed their they changed their name, they
changed the way that was, uh, the way the companies
were laid out, and I joined in with the same guys,
the same company. It was just had a different name

(34:53):
and they were a sapper company. So did a little
bit of sapper training and and did that, and then
they started to getting trained up and ready to go
to Afghanistan to do route clearance in Afghanistan.

Speaker 4 (35:10):
What is your What was your rank?

Speaker 2 (35:12):
At this point, I got back in at E five.
I just I got in that first they were going
to put me in as a corporal and make me
wait until there was a slot. Well, they ended up
let me come in as a five, and I just
had to wait until I was basically able to I
was just an E five and a floating spot, I

(35:34):
guess because I wasn't even in charge of his team
or a squad for a while. And then I stayed
there for a long time and did that, did that
trip to Afghanistan and did route clarence there, which they
it was weird the way that did it because here
we were the ten thirty six engineer sapper company. Well,
they made a totally different company and they basically took

(35:57):
two or three companies. They made big, one big group,
and then they stuck us with another company. Once we
got over there, and we were a route clearance sapper
company and we made one of that. We was a
sapper platoon. We had enough to make a company. But
we uh, we run the route clearance out of the
Kandahar area and did that.

Speaker 4 (36:20):
So what what was what was one of the like
if if you had to pinpoint the biggest difference between
route clearing in Afghanistan versus rout clearing in Iraq, what
was was? Was there a big difference between the two. Yeah,
whether it was equipment, whether it was tactics, whether it.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Was well, the equipment was the same other than we
started using I don't know, you remember seeing the mine
rollers that we would put in front of our rgs
and hubs and I don't remember the name, the nomenclature
on it, but the mine rollers that were in front,
we started having to use them because you know, pretty

(36:56):
much everything was desert and dirt. And the difference between
there and Iraq is they didn't play around. They would
put a lot bigger stuff in the ground in Afghanistan
and when you would get in a firefight there, they
would dig in and fight until somebody was dead. Because

(37:18):
they didn't do that lay it over the side of
the truck, spray and pray kind of stuff like they
did in Iraq. Iraq didn't they didn't stay in just
I mean they did at times, but for the most part,
when we were doing rat clearance, the firefights and stuff
we got in, they were in a vehicle running, or
they'd be at a house, or you know, they were

(37:39):
doing spray and pray, or they would be hiding and
taking pop shots. Where Afghanistan they would they would dig
in and fight. It was a totally different type of
well for one, totally different type of environment because I
mean you'd go from being one hundred and forty degrees
to being in the snow.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
You know, and.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
I mean you still use the same uh equipment. You
had to change your tactics a little bit because you
didn't have the same environment. You didn't have a lot
of concrete asphalt roads. You had some, but not as
much as you did over there because where we were
at it was all dirt roads. Right, We did right
clearance out in the desert. I mean, yeah, you got

(38:22):
packed in, you got sand dust, you got the rock
and all that. But it was it was a learning experience,
you know, because we pretty much we knew what we
were doing. Well, you've done it before, and yeah, that
picture there is at the firing range in Alaside, Iraq.
That was that. That was that deployment that I pretty

(38:42):
much volunteered for when I transferred. But yeah, but yeah,
it was it was definitely different, but it was the
same at the same time. But they they didn't they
didn't have little bombs or little I D s over
there like Afghanistan day. They did, but it was more
or when you dig up something or get hit with
something over there, it was bigger, you know. Or the

(39:04):
firefights they would last longer. They would dig in and
fight and they would just stay, so you either took
them out or they run out of bullets. So it
it was different, for sure, but I mean in the
sense that they are doing the same thing. I don't

(39:30):
know what's going on with your audio. It changed on
me there. I can't hear you. It sounds like Alvin
and the Chipmunks when you try to talk.

Speaker 4 (39:50):
Yeah, m.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Now I can see you movement trying. But and then
when it does, it's like almost like Alvin and Chipmunk's talk.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
By now there it is okay. So how long was
this deployment.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
By the time I got there, I did, uh, eleven
months because I was kind of on a late I
didn't go with the ad on. I didn't go with
the original company because I had done deployed so many times.
I had to go through the SRP to get cleared,
and it took me three attempts to clear SRP. So

(40:41):
I was kind of on a rear debt group that
come in. So I ended up only doing about eleven
months there. But and then I did a lot of
rear debt stuff for a while.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
So so where'd you go after this deployment? You went
back to Arkansas.

Speaker 2 (40:58):
Come back to Arkansas, and it was just one of them.
You know, we had done had all these deployments, and
things started changing as far as how the companies were
and the way they were laid out, because they went
from being you know, excuse me, they went from being

(41:19):
Alpha Bravo, Charlie Delta and headquarters to they were like
the ten thirty six ten thirty seven, and then they
split us up so like some of the using its
got shut down and put with other companies to make
it bigger. And it was. It was weird because we
were there in the armory on Arkansas State University which

(41:41):
is now an ROTC building. Well, then there was a
Army Reserve unit in jones World that had a big,
brand new facility, huge facility.

Speaker 4 (41:52):
And there were they were.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Like a chemical company or something, and they got disband
well I don't remember the details on it, but somehow
or another we ended up with this building. So we took
over this entire building and the motor pool and all
that and went from there. And then I took a

(42:20):
promotion and I moved from Jonesboro, Arkansas to Harrisburg, Arkansas
to what was the It was the ten thirty ninth
when I first got in there, and it was still
a combat Engineer unit, but it was a different name,
and they were at this point they were looking at

(42:44):
building the Engineer Battalion in the thirty ninth Infantrobrigade Combat Team.
So they started moving stuff around and they took the
Harrisburg unit away from the eight to seventy five or
the eighty seven Troop Command, and they put them in
with some other companies and they built a engineering Battalion

(43:09):
in the thirty ninth in for duber Gade Combat Team,
which now by that point we got you got infantry,
you got your headquarters supply folks, you got your transportation,
you got your engineers, you got your field artillery. You know,
you got your medics group. And so they pretty much
had everything they needed. They could deploy as a brigade,

(43:30):
you know, they could take over for full activity units
at this point, you know, and we started we had
to go through and get rid of all of our outdated,
old equipment, and we stayed at the same we stayed
at Harrisburg, but we got brand new stuff. We ended
up with Buffalo's, we ended up with the rgs. We
got new home bies, we got new dump truck, we

(43:51):
got them pretty much our whole fleet. But we had
so much stuff coming, we had to build a bigger motorpole.
So we we built a bigger motor pool and the
parking area and redid some of our parking down at
the bottom of the hill. So we had some of
it stuff at the hill, some of it at the
bottom of the hill. And then you know, did that

(44:14):
and uh.

Speaker 4 (44:15):
So, so as an engineering battalion brigade, are you doing
this work yourself? A lot of it?

Speaker 2 (44:23):
A lot of it, yeah, because like we would go
to so we would go to Fort Chaffee. You're familiar
with Fort Chaffy. We'd go there and do a lot
of our training, especially once we become part of the
thirty ninth which to eighty seventh Troup Command. They still
use that too, but uh the thirty ninth uses it
a lot, and because it's a lot bigger base.

Speaker 4 (44:44):
But expanding your your parking lot and your motiples stuff
like that, you're actually i mean, being engineers, you're doing
the work.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
Yeah, I mean there was some contracted stuff like the
electrical and the fencing and stuff like that. That stuff
was contracted, like level in the and bringing in the rock,
and we did most of it, you know, and it
was you know, it was just a fenced in gravel
parking lot, you know, gravel motorpoole. I mean we had

(45:10):
you know, we had vehicles like that buffalo. It was
thirty four tons, you know, right, you know, so we
had big stuff, so we had to have quite a
bit of room and which worked out pretty good, you know,
and kind of you know, looking back between two thousand
and four when I got in in twenty and twenty one,

(45:32):
when I got out in between that and you know,
like in between deployments and stuff, while I was home,
I did, you know, whenever we'd have ice storms or tornadoes,
I did uh disaster relief missions. Or when we had
flooding like the flooding and Pocahontas, we would do you know,
we would go with missions like that. So I did

(45:53):
a bunch of state side emerged emergency missions like that.
And then you know, with all the school and stuff
I had with that was one thing that was good
about being part of the thirty ninth Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
Even as an engineer, you had a bigger budget, you
had bigger opportunities and better opportunities for training, so you

(46:16):
could go to schools. I ended up getting on uh,
the rifle team, which they did. They did like rifle
competitions out there at Campa Robinson. So I was on
the rifle team out there and got my Governor's twenty tab,
did all that, and you know, we did all kinds
of training. Ended up getting to do a little bit

(46:37):
of training with Fifth Group, which was really awesome, you know,
because I'd always loved watching them guys operate one all
these overseas because you know, out there doing route clearance,
you just got on the phone. You just got on
that high freak radio and you called and you could
guarantee it that somebody was showing up. It may be

(46:58):
a fleet of abramstances. It may be Bradley's that show up.
It may be a group of Strikers that show up.
Or sometimes it made we called them the secret Squirrels
because that's what we thought they were. Forever. Come to
find out it was United States Military Delta Force and
Special Forces. They were rolling around and up armored black
Tahos and then some like little old beater Toyota pickup truck. Yep.

(47:26):
Oh yeah, well that's what I run. I've got a
Tacoma and I've got built out but so it was cool.
I got to do some time with fifth Group, did
some training with them, and uh you know that was
that was a cool experience. You know, basically they used
us like a like they would if they were doing
a Gorilla Force training thing, and uh it it was good.
It turned me a lot. So in that during that

(47:49):
SF thing is when I it sustained my injury. So
I come a past roped out of a helicopter with
full full kit you body armor, rucksacks, and we was
we flew in the black Hawks. We had you know,
we had to set up l Z. We flew in
the black Hawks over to this live fire shooting house

(48:10):
which was in like West Memphis, I believe if I
remember right. And when I fast roped out, I landed
where the middle of my foot was on the edge
of the asphalt and there was I at two or
three inch lip with my feet, you know, head on
the edge, and it just dropped well that planner's fascy
itis tendon pour away from my heel on both feet.

(48:33):
Oh wow, So here it is wadded up in the
bottom of my foot and I'm just now touching ground.
We ain't even fired the first round yet, so we
we pushed on. It was it was rough, it was painful.
By the time I got done, I was almost in tears.
But thankfully I've got a pretty good pain tolerance. And

(48:55):
it got done and I was like, Lieutenant, I think
I think I hurt myself. He was like, what do
you mean. It's like, I can't hardly walk because it
take your foot off. Let's look at it. You know,
I had an old he was an old infantry lieutenant.
He'd been in like twenty two years or something. I
pulled my boot off and the bottom of my feet
were purple. It was like, oh, yeah, yeah, we got

(49:15):
something going on here. We need to get that checked out.
So that's a that's a quick way to end a
active duty or National Guard career whenever you got feet
problems or knees or back right. Because I couldn't run,
so I couldn't do my PT test. I couldn't even
do the alternatives until I had my surgery done, and

(49:36):
that was eight weeks per foot and they won't do
both feet at the same time. So it pretty much
put me out. You know. By this time, you know,
I'm you know, all my deployments I've got, you know,
all the disability stuff where I've got injuries from that,
but it it put me where I was pretty much couldn't.

(49:57):
I was non deployable at that point, right, and went
to the med board and stuff and tried my best
to get that, you know, taking care of where they
would give me a medical retirement. And I was coming
up to my ETS date at seventeen years and by
this point I was just tired of dealing with the
administration part. I burn out. I could do nothing. So

(50:21):
I felt workless because here I am a six and
can't even do my job, can't even All I can
do is show up and tell the guys what to do.
But I can't do nothing.

Speaker 4 (50:29):
Yeah, you don't seem like the tape to want to
sit behind a desk. No.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
I hated sitting behind the desk. I hated it when
we had to do you know, paperwork, which I mean
that's part of it, especially you know, running a squad,
running a group, that's what you get. That's how you
got to do it. You got to do it, do
a little bit of both. And but but yeah, I
mean did that and I ended up taking a partial
medical retirement. So it's like sixty percent medical retirement and

(50:58):
I etsd out, so I'll get that when I get
retirement age. But I mean, and then right now I'm
at like eighty percent it's a VA, and then that's pending,
so some of that may change too, But but I
mean it. I mean they've taken care of me. That
VA process was not an easy process. It is. It

(51:20):
took me a long time to get to where I
am now, just because I think I got set up
wrong to begin with, and then it was a fight
to get corrected.

Speaker 4 (51:29):
I think even those that have been set up right,
it's it's always a long process.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
Oh yeah, absolutely, that's.

Speaker 4 (51:34):
A that's a common amongst every every veteran. It's got
I mean, it is a long process.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
So yeah, I mean it's got its goods and it's bad,
you know. You know. I mean that I don't have
to pay for none of my medicine. I can. The
only time I have to pay for anything out of
pocket is if I go to a clinic like a
v A clinic and it's out of network or something,
I have to pay for that visit out of pocket,
which is odd to me. I go to a v A,
you would think it'll be covered but not so. But

(52:04):
I mean the play for my you know, if I
have emergency or something, I can go to anywhere in
the country. They pay for my medicine. And then of course,
you know they they send me a check every month.

Speaker 4 (52:16):
But let's let's talk a little bit about some of
your deployments and and uh, I mean anything that that
So the kind of philosophy behind this, this show and
the series is future generations we have will come back
and watch this, right and you know here here are
the different stories and things and and what kind of
kicked that off for myself was you know, remembering stories

(52:38):
of my dad and and some of the stories I
have with some of my friends who were in the army,
and and I know none of that's recorded anywhere. So
is there anything whether you know, any of your deployments
or any any experiences you've had that that stand out
that you want to make sure, you know gets put
into the history books.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
Well, uh, because I've had I mean I've still have
people that will ask me, you know, was it worth it,
you know, should I join the military or what should
I you know, because if I knew then what I
know now, I probably would have went active duty the
entire time, and who knows, I may not be here

(53:16):
today to have this podcast, but telling young soldiers and
guys that were looking into that or guys that are
having problems. I mean, it was a it was a
life decision I made, and I don't regret it at all.
It's had its goods and its bads, and it built
me to be the person I am today, and it's

(53:36):
molded my character and my personality the way I am today.
I mean, yeah, I've got yeah, I'm a roller coaster.
I've got you know, PTSD, depression anxiety. I got pains.
It hurts, but you know, that's just that's just part
of it, you know. And I chose to be in
a combat arms unit, and it's totally changed what it

(53:58):
was from two thousand than a fourth to twenty twenty
one when I got out, So I was in what
we called the old Army. The new Army is a
little different, but it's still got its goods and it's
definitely a good benefit. But anybody that's interested in doing it,
I don't ever try to talk them out of it
because it was a great experience for me. I learned

(54:19):
a lot of life lessons. It built me. You know,
you learn it makes you where you respect things and
respect life a lot more and you don't take things
for granted. So I do it just because if you
could learn anything, I mean, you become a better man
or a better person, and you know, you take a

(54:41):
more prideful respect in life, and you don't sit around
on your hands and not do things like you know,
like like now and you know here twenty twenty five. Hell,
a lot of people do they want handouts you. It
don't build you to be that way where you're a fighter.
You want to do it, you want to do it
for yourself. But then at the same time, you still

(55:02):
have that compassionate side because you were always watching everybody's back.
Now that I'm out, you know, yeah, I'm done. I
didn't lose any limbs. I didn't go I didn't earn
a purple heart, which they tell me I could have
with all the concussions and stuff I had. But it
was hard for me to pursue a purple heart that

(55:24):
way because I had friends that either didn't come home
or they didn't come home with all their body parts
like they did when they got there. And to me,
I just I don't they don't sit well with me
just because I seen, you know, folks get killed and
injured in you know, right in front of me. So

(55:45):
I have a different perspective on it a little bit.
But it is a great thing, and it's it's built
me to be who I am. So my transition home
after all my deployments was probably my darkest times in
my life. And I got home and I couldn't I

(56:05):
couldn't transition back, and that was where I struggled for
the longest. I didn't like being around people, and I
didn't like if they weren't military people. I didn't want
to be around. I didn't want to be around you if
you were loud and obnoxious and just what I considered
you was doing stupid stuff and we'll have anything to
do with you. I didn't want to be in parties.

(56:27):
I would always I would always carry a firearm or
a big knife with me everywhere I went. You know,
it was easy for me to get into confrontations with
folks just because I just I didn't cope well, and
trying to transition back, I ended up in a real
dark place and I I experienced I experimented with drugs

(56:50):
and alcohol, and you know, anything that would help me
cover my mind to where it was, you know, what
I thought was helping me, which in turn made it worse.
You know, I tried taking my life a couple of times.
I become an alcoholic for a little while. The drug

(57:11):
thing never stuck, but uh, I mean I literally did.
I I tried taking my life twice and I drink
all the time, which I still drink now. But I
don't have the same mindset now than I did back then,
because back then I didn't know how to I didn't
know how to get myself past that point. You didn't

(57:34):
have an I didn't have an outlet, and I didn't
know who to turn to. And I felt like I
was alone, you know, and like I was being judged,
you know. And like a lot of my friends that
I was best friends with growing up, when I joined
the army, they turned their back on me when I
come home, when I come home from Iraq or come
home from deployments. Yeah, they wanted to do that whole

(57:55):
dog and Pony show, Oh hosts so and so is
back home, But then it's and as that was over,
they were gone. They weren't they They weren't calling they
weren't hanging out unless it was something that made them
benefit from it or look good or so I got
in that dark place and I had to find something
that helped me. And with talking with other veterans, you know,

(58:18):
I got We grew up, you know, drag racing and
being out camping and whatnot. And I tried. You know,
I did different things, you know, I did some. I
used to do things that keep my mind busy, you know.
I raced RC cars for a little bit. I'd go
hunting and fishing, and you'd still turn yourself back when
you was home alone or somewhere, you'd still find yourself

(58:39):
in that dark spot and you couldn't get yourself past it. Well,
then I finally got I taught. I found a guy
that was a recruiter when I got out. I saw
him in town one day and me and him sit
in a parking lot and talked for an hour and
a half and he give me some numbers. And I
called that guy at the VA. And now I'm sitting
where I am today, and I got help. I don't

(59:02):
have suicidal thoughts. I have a monthly psychologist that I
talked to and it helps. I mean she's a lady
that she has the same mindset as we do. Like
you wouldn't think that a lady like that would be
that way, but she's has the same perception as we do.
Like she was there, she went through it too, like
she she spent time in combat, so her outlook on

(59:25):
it was different. And you know, and then I at
this point, I've been married twice, I've got two kids,
and it was a roller coaster for a long time
to get myself past all of that and to know
how to cope and how to do it. So what

(59:46):
helps me the most is when I have fed fellow
veterans that are having that same struggle or those same
questions or don't know where their outlet is. I found
my outlet by using off roading and overlanding and going
out in nature. And uh, just I don't have to

(01:00:10):
have no music on. I don't even have to have
nobody with me. I just go out there and run
the trails and ride it around, even if I don't
find anything. I mean, yeah, I love to go find
waterfalls and camp spots next to the water, But at
the same time, it's just a it's peaceful, and I
used it as a disconnect. I don't have any phone service,

(01:00:31):
I don't have anything like that. So I was able
to disconnect and and then just something about you know,
sitting there in the in the outdoors, the sound of
the woods is beautiful. You know, I could sit there.
I wouldn't even have to listen to music. I could
just sit there and listen to the water run and
the sound of the music, you know, or I say
sounds of the music, but it was the nature's music, right,

(01:00:53):
and it was calming and peaceful, so I found it therapeutic. Well,
then I found that this overland thing was actually a
pretty popular deal, and I started going with my dad
and we started going to different things and met a
bunch of people, a bunch of amazing people that do it.
And then I got connected with some veterans programs that

(01:01:16):
do the thing, and you know, they get veterans together
for the same mission, you know, help them with their
disabilities or there. They're the way to find an outlet.
And most of them, you know, are nonprofit and they
do little things, you know, take a veteran out or
sponsor a veteran do this, or a veteran don't have

(01:01:38):
camping gear, get on some camping gear, you know, take
them out, let them go experience that. But at the
same time, if they legitimately need help, get them the
numbers and the connection what they need so they can
be able to enjoy their life. Because it took me
a better part of ten years before I was what
I felt was normal, and I mean I'm still not

(01:01:59):
a normal person. I still got a sick sense of
humor like most of us army guys do. But at
the same time, my sense of purpose is a lot
better nowadays. And I use that just as that's my
outlet and that's how I clear my head, and that's
I like to I'm not necessarily a social butterfly, but

(01:02:20):
I like to be around like minded people.

Speaker 4 (01:02:23):
Well, veterans always do so much better with with other veterans, right,
I mean, it's it's people. It's people you have shared
experiences with, right, whether it's something as simple as going
through basic training, you know, where we had that one
drill that you didn't like or they didn't like you whatever,
you know, yeah, those or you know, it's it's like
yourself where you know you've you've experienced combat. So but

(01:02:45):
when you're with other veterans and you have those shared experiences,
it helps you feel like you're part of that group again.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
Oh yeah, the camaraderie. Yeah, even if you weren't. Like
I've got good friends that are Marines and Navy and
Air Force and even army guys, and some of them
did short amount of times, some of them did longer
than I did, and we've all got a way to relate.
But it's just even I've got good close friends that

(01:03:16):
are law enforcement or firefighter veterans, and in my sense,
a law enforcement or a firefighter, they got the same
They got the same struggles as we do. They had
to go through the same things. They just did it
here in the United States, but we did it in
some foreign country. So I like to reach out to

(01:03:36):
them as well. I mean, granted, most of my outreaches
with veterans, but I don't have a program that I
do it. I don't. I don't own a nonprofit or
nothing like that, and I don't. It ain't that I
don't care to. I like to help others because ultimately
we're all doing the same mission. And if I can
be a part of multiple groups, then that's just more

(01:03:56):
ways to reach out to help other people veterans, and
it's it's been a really good thing. I mean, we
just recently got back from a trip and I was
the only veteran, but it was just something about it,
you know, like that picture there. We was at Padre
Island National Seashore. I'd never been to the ocean since
my son was one and he's thirteen, so that was

(01:04:19):
really awesome to experience.

Speaker 4 (01:04:21):
And it's one of my favorite places.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
Oh yeah, I'd never been. I'd been to the first
time I went was when my son, Craig was one
and we went to Florida. But then here recently we
found out about Padre Island and that we could you
could drive on it and you can't off grid, and
we were like, well we got to experience that. Well,

(01:04:44):
then we got with Caleb Baker with Baker Overland and
he put together a trip and we all went and
left on Tuesday, come back home. I was home by Saturday,
and then we took Sunday to refit.

Speaker 4 (01:04:58):
My favorite thing about that entire trip is as soon
as I can see that front gate, my cell service
drops and my cell phone goes in my glove box
and I don't pull it out for four days. So
it's a complete disconnect from the connected world that we
live in now that I think everybody needs to do
more often.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
Yeah, that disconnect. Yeah, don't get me wrong. The technology
and stuff has its goods because I mean, I'm a
robotic automation technician. I've been doing industrial maintenance for the
last fifteen years. You know. That was one of the
good things with being National Guard. There at the end
of my stuff, I could work full time and get
other experiences and being networked like that, there was tons

(01:05:41):
of people that had experience and connections. So I ended
up getting connected with some folks. And now I've been
doing industrial a maintenance and I did some time, you know,
law enforcement, did some time working in the prison, did
some drug your ratification stuff, you know, things like that.
But then when I learned what real money was like,
I started doing maintenance. But that you know, I did

(01:06:05):
that law enforcement in prison work when I first got back,
and that was it was easier for me to transition
to something like that because that was the style I
was used to. It was it was familiar, it was comfortable,
you know.

Speaker 4 (01:06:21):
So so we've been going for about an hour, So
is there is there any anything else that you want.
I want people to know any other stories, anything, you know,
just in anything you can think of. Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:06:37):
My main thing is is just don't let the hard
days win. There's always something that you can do to
better yourself, or there's always somebody out there that's going
to be willing to help or that will just listen.
You know. I'm always available if somebody has something they don't.

(01:06:58):
We don't know each other. We you can message, meet
online and we can talk. I can get them hooked
up with whatever we need. I've got access to those
same hotlines and websites and everything too. I'm slowly growing
my stuff. But my thing is is if anybody is
having that, you know, those thoughts or struggles, there's always

(01:07:20):
somebody out there that's willing to help, somebody that's got
your back, whether they had the same experiences or not.
You know, they're willing to provide you with the information
to help you or just to invite you out or
sit around the fire or sit on the phone and listen.
You know. And it's it's what's helped me. It's helped

(01:07:40):
me cope and rebuild my mentality of it. And I'm
happy as now as I've been in a long time,
and I mean, yeah, I still have my moments where
I struggle, But like you said, the hard days win. Yeah,
that's my motto on it. Don't let the hard days win.
Try to stay as positive as you can and keep

(01:08:02):
your mind busy. Keep your mind. When I say keep
your mind busy me, it keeps your mind healthy. If
you're doing something to stay engaged, it keeps your mind busy.
But it keeps it healthy because your mind's always working.
So that helps you keep the bad thoughts and all that,
you know, fought back so or you don't have it

(01:08:22):
as often, and then you get to the point where
you're you may maybe like me, where you have to
take some you know, prescription medicine to help with things.
But it it helps and it works, and there's always
somebody out there that cares that will help, or if
they don't, they're willing to find information for you.

Speaker 4 (01:08:45):
But okay, all right, sir, Well, I appreciate you coming
on sharing your stories with us.

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
Absolutely. I appreciate you having me.

Speaker 4 (01:08:53):
Yeah, you know, we uh people check out you know,
all of his uh his sites all over social media,
his YouTube, his Instagram, He's even on TikTok. You can
find everything on his link tree.

Speaker 3 (01:09:09):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:09:09):
Make sure you go visit our sponsors Gear for Grunts,
Enlisted nine Fight Company, Alpha Elite Performance, Bohammer dot Com,
Marveta Fishing. Make sure you go visit all of those
and appreciate you spending your time with us.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
Thank you, sir, Thank you,