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