Speaker 1: Multiple people in my family clean my father, are veterans, troops.
Speaker 2: That have been to war and now they're back and
Speaker 2: think and be grateful for their service, sacrifice, love for
Speaker 2: their country, just unselfishness, all that they do for us.
Speaker 3: There are some people in this country who take extraordinary
Speaker 3: steps to provide for the freedom and security.
Speaker 1: We forget that those people exist. We know them as
Speaker 1: the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. They
Speaker 1: call themselves soldiers, seals, rangers, airmen, sailors, devil.
Speaker 4: 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.
Speaker 2: And we love them.
Speaker 1: Today, we honor them and we serve them. David Malsby
Speaker 1: is your host, and he welcomes you to this community
Speaker 1: of veterans, as together we are building the road to hope.
Speaker 2: And indeed we are glad to have you along. On
Speaker 2: a Sunday afternoon on the kPr C nine five oh
Speaker 2: on the AM dial here in Houston, Texas. Thank you
Speaker 2: for joining us as you drive endlessly around Luke six
Speaker 2: ' ten. Thank you for choosing to listen to Road
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Speaker 2: glad to have a couple events in the studio with us.
Speaker 2: We got Kenneth's back. Who Kenneth likes to smile and
Speaker 2: not talk. We're gonna see if we can get him
Speaker 2: to talk to day. Kenneth. How are we doing?
Speaker 4: I'm doing good today.
Speaker 2: You want to remind the world who you are, where
Speaker 2: you're from, where you serve that kind of wonderful thing.
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, my name is Kenneth Matthews. I'm from dun
Speaker 3: North Carolina. I served in the Army National Guard out
Speaker 3: of North Carolina for eight years. Deployed twice, once to
Speaker 3: i Rag in two thousand and the second employment was
Speaker 3: to Kuwait, Kyrkistan and Afghanistan and that was in twenty eleven,
Speaker 3: twenty twelve.
Speaker 2: All right, great to have you back. Thank you, appreciate
Speaker 2: you actually speaking words. That was good. Well, we also
Speaker 2: have one of the gentlemen that's in our program at
Speaker 2: Camp Hope right now. We'll talk a little bit about
Speaker 2: that in the course of the show. But Rico, you
Speaker 2: want to tell the world who you are, where you're from.
Speaker 2: That kind of good thing.
Speaker 5: Okay, thank you. My name is Jesse Rico. I'm from Belvidere, Illinois.
Speaker 5: I deployed with the one seventy second Striker Gay Combat
Speaker 5: Team with Bravo Company one seventeen out of Fort Waynwright,
Speaker 5: Alaska to Mozoul for a year, and then was extended
Speaker 5: to Baghdad for ale was like four more months, and
Speaker 5: I was infantryman slash mortarman. But yeah, now I'm residing Texas.
Speaker 2: To me again, where you were originally from?
Speaker 5: Belvidere, Illinois, right side right outside from Chicago.
Speaker 2: Yep, no of fence. But Chicago is just not my
Speaker 2: favorite town in the world.
Speaker 5: You like it not too much?
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, well, thank you. Yeah, Like I've been there
Speaker 2: a few times and I keep thinking there's gotta be
Speaker 2: a draw because you know something's.
Speaker 5: Good, the food's good. Well, that's about it.
Speaker 2: You're in Houston, so I don't need to hear about that.
Speaker 2: We got food running out our ears around here. Good food.
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, yeah, and I guess that's what I've heard.
Speaker 2: And there's this one. I guess this pier or something
Speaker 2: that's like all the weird people from out of state
Speaker 2: go to, like, eh, tourist trap sounds it's like it's
Speaker 2: like San Antonio's the riverwalks, like it's the last place
Speaker 2: you should go. If you go to San Antonio, stay
Speaker 2: far away from that. Uh so yeah, no fence, but yeah,
Speaker 2: I've been there a few times. I keep them, where's
Speaker 2: the h I don't I don't get it. That's okay, Yeah,
Speaker 2: some people love it.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Some people are right, some people are wrong. It's just
Speaker 2: it's just how it is. But you're in Houston now,
Speaker 2: yeah yeah.
Speaker 5: How long kids? My kids resided San Antonio?
Speaker 2: Okay, very cool.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but I'm in Houston.
Speaker 2: How long have you been in Houston?
Speaker 5: Uh? Two years?
Speaker 2: Okay? All right? What brought you to Houston?
Speaker 5: I came to the program the first time.
Speaker 2: Okay, so that was what brought you the first time. Okay, okay,
Speaker 2: all right, got you, all right, We're gonna take a
Speaker 2: quick break. We wanna give you our phone number eight
Speaker 2: seven seven seven one, seven seventy eight seventy three. That
Speaker 2: is our combat Trauma support line. Eight seven seven seven
Speaker 2: one seven seventy eight seventy three. A combat veteran will
Speaker 2: answer the phone. A combat veteran will answer the phone anytime,
Speaker 2: day or night. All right, We're gonna take a quick break.
Speaker 2: Right back with more a road to Hoe Radio, and
Speaker 2: we welcome you back road to Hope Radio. Glad to
Speaker 2: have you along. We've got Kenneth, graduate of the program,
Speaker 2: currently a staff member at the PTSD Foundation of America's
Speaker 2: Interim Housing program we call Camp Hope here on the
Speaker 2: north side of Houston. And we've got Rico, who originally
Speaker 2: from Illinois, moved down here thankfully to the great state
Speaker 2: of Texas and as currently a participant in our program
Speaker 2: at Camp Hope. All right, So grew up in Illinois
Speaker 2: outside of Chicago. Eventually joined the Army. Yes correct, out
Speaker 2: of high school or the time in between.
Speaker 5: I was trying to get out of a lifestyle, got you,
Speaker 5: that was mixed with gangs and stuff to Mexico, stay
Speaker 5: with my grandma. I met a girl, got got her pregnant,
Speaker 5: then I got married. So once my daughter was born,
Speaker 5: I realized, you know, I had to make a change.
Speaker 5: So there was an opportunity and I and I took
Speaker 5: it all right.
Speaker 2: See, join the army and you were in how long? Again?
Speaker 5: I have five years?
Speaker 2: Five years the infantry. What year did you join?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was two thousand and one.
Speaker 2: One, so before nine to eleven.
Speaker 5: No, it was right after right after?
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, join the army. How long was it before
Speaker 2: you deployed?
Speaker 5: Right after basic training? I got so quick. Yeah, I
Speaker 5: went right to a unit. I was in Anchorage, Alaska,
Speaker 5: and then they moved me to Fairbanks, Alaska with the
Speaker 5: Bravo Company one seventeen.
Speaker 2: How long were you in Fairbanks?
Speaker 5: Eight years?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 5: Eight years?
Speaker 2: Yai. So I've been there once, but it was in July.
Speaker 5: Training is very very cold.
Speaker 2: Yo, No, I can't do that. The summer's great summer
Speaker 2: was fantastic, absolutely stunning. Went some did some salmon fishing. Uh,
Speaker 2: we're coming home. We're coming home, coming back to the hotel.
Speaker 2: They're in Anchorage and it's like dusk and it was
Speaker 2: before everybody had a cell phone, so I had no
Speaker 2: idea what time it was, but it was dusk and
Speaker 2: I'm thinking something, it must be like nine or ten. Like, no,
Speaker 2: it was three thirty in the morning still, which that's okay.
Speaker 2: The flip side of that, the winter like no, thank you, no, oh,
Speaker 2: thank you. Uh, I will pass on that. Yeah, how'd
Speaker 2: you like that? Did you enjoy it up there?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I mean some people love that. I just it's just
Speaker 2: not for me.
Speaker 5: Once I got out of the military, I stayed there
Speaker 5: to work with General Dynamics. I did DoD work and
Speaker 5: I worked for a support trained soldiers to go down
Speaker 5: range and strike her net. And I don't know I
Speaker 5: enjoyed it. But my kid's mother, she was already fed
Speaker 5: up with the whole changing. Twenty four hour darkness, twenty
Speaker 5: four hours sunlight, so too cold?
Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you like the cold? Weakens say, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna make him talk. I will find a way to
Speaker 2: make him talk. I actually like the cold, do you?
Speaker 4: Yes, sir?
Speaker 2: It didn't get real cold and done North Carolina. I
Speaker 2: mean for long right.
Speaker 4: Now, about thirty to forty threes doing the winter months.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which that's okay. If the sun shine, yeah, well.
Speaker 4: I really expecien.
Speaker 3: The cold was when of I was deployed to Kirkizstan
Speaker 3: and when it sounds cold, oh yes, between mountains, it's uh.
Speaker 4: When I landed, it was a negative twenty eight degrees.
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, that's not fit for God nor beast
Speaker 2: man beast, that's no.
Speaker 3: I wasn't used to it at first, but it took about.
Speaker 3: It took about a month and then you kind of
Speaker 3: get used to it.
Speaker 2: No, m hmm, nope, no, I'll pass. What was the
Speaker 2: best Millia had in Kirkistan?
Speaker 4: Well, I was on an air Force base.
Speaker 2: Oh so you ate pretty good? Oh yes, I love
Speaker 2: these stories. I was Air Force, so I had it easy.
Speaker 2: I hear this all the time, Like I know, some
Speaker 2: of you guys had some interesting moments. But that's what
Speaker 2: I hear all the time. But it was great.
Speaker 3: I was at an army dupe, I know, but they
Speaker 3: sent me sent me there because I didn't complain, did you?
Speaker 4: I got in trouble, so they sent you to the
Speaker 4: Air Force base because it was cold. No, nobody wanted
Speaker 4: to do.
Speaker 2: It to Okay, all right, but you had decent food.
Speaker 4: Oh yes, sir, I'm my own room.
Speaker 2: That's more than you get at Camp Ho. Right, you
Speaker 2: don't get your own room at Camp Hop on purpose,
Speaker 2: you are not getting your own room. We do feed you.
Speaker 4: Well though, Yes, sir, yeah, I need to lose some
Speaker 4: weight right now.
Speaker 2: You've been working on that, which I think is cool.
Speaker 2: I need to too, but it's just not near as
Speaker 2: much fun as it is putting it on.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, putting it on is real easy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well yeah, and fun. Did I mention it was fun?
Speaker 2: Eating is fun? It goes back to my thing, our ole.
Speaker 2: Our official tagline at the PTSD Foundation is Hope and
Speaker 2: Healing for the Unseen Wounds of War. But I always
Speaker 2: follow that up with our unofficial tagline is we like
Speaker 2: to eat, so you know, bring on the food, which
Speaker 2: is why we love all of our restaurants around Houston
Speaker 2: that take great care of our of our guys. We had,
Speaker 2: by the way, last week we had it was the
Speaker 2: Super Bowl, which wasn't all that super but we had
Speaker 2: and I don't I had no dog in the fight.
Speaker 2: As far as the game itself, it just it was
Speaker 2: just not you all know, you don't need me to
Speaker 2: tell you it was not a good game. But we
Speaker 2: ate well, all right, so we had. We had the
Speaker 2: Smokaholics bring in some They made nachos for us. Did
Speaker 2: you get any of the nachos.
Speaker 5: Yes, it was half chicken fijeta and the other half
Speaker 5: was brisket.
Speaker 2: Yep, brisket and chicken fahetas. I didn't eat any well,
Speaker 2: I did eat something while there. Uh so we had that.
Speaker 2: Let me get through this. So we had that, and
Speaker 2: then we had we had Big City Wings and they
Speaker 2: provided four hundred boneless wings and like a small lake
Speaker 2: of ranch dressing. It was dressing. Uh so I was
Speaker 2: gonna reseit. I didn't eat anything while I was there,
Speaker 2: but I did eat two celery sticks, so just you know,
Speaker 2: to be honest, I did eat two cellary sticks. But
Speaker 2: the the nachos looked and smelled amazing. Yeah, that looked great.
Speaker 5: Right after those, we had tacos.
Speaker 2: And I I had left before the taco showed up,
Speaker 2: but I'm told that was the best thing of the night.
Speaker 2: Do you agree that? Yes, that looked legit, just pictures
Speaker 2: of it. It looked like that looks legit. Yeah, So
Speaker 2: we like to eat. Who cares if the game's any
Speaker 2: good or not. We're gonna eat. Okay, So after the Army.
Speaker 2: You go into basically some contractor type work. Yeah, yep h.
Speaker 2: So you're in Anchorage for a years?
Speaker 5: Yeah, fair Banks?
Speaker 2: All right, Fairbanks. I'm sorry.
Speaker 5: So at some point, yes, I sent my family away
Speaker 5: to Texas. I ended up going to a program called
Speaker 5: the American Lake Dominicillary through the VA, and I was
Speaker 5: there for two years.
Speaker 2: Why did you go there?
Speaker 5: I started having PTSD episodes.
Speaker 2: Did you know that's what it was? Or did you
Speaker 2: as knew something was up you went to the VA.
Speaker 5: I had no idea what it was.
Speaker 2: Like.
Speaker 5: It kind of freaked me out in a way, like
Speaker 5: I was getting these flashbacks and and my kid's mother
Speaker 5: was pregnant at the time with my youngest and I
Speaker 5: don't know, just out of safetyes I called her dad
Speaker 5: told her and they need to move and I need
Speaker 5: to figure out what what's going on. And I noticed
Speaker 5: different changes that were happening.
Speaker 2: So you mentioned the flashbacks, Yes, what else was going on?
Speaker 5: I started getting seizures and that was kind of had
Speaker 5: because I had a TBI when I was over there.
Speaker 2: I was gonna ask because when you throw the siege
Speaker 2: in there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was hit directly underneath my striker when I
Speaker 5: was hanging out the hatch, I got hey, buy an
Speaker 5: a V bid, not a V bid, but an I
Speaker 5: d U and knock me out. And later on I
Speaker 5: find out I had three slip disc in a dislocated
Speaker 5: hereah and some other myths.
Speaker 2: All right again, we're gonna have to run to break
Speaker 2: reminder our phone number eight seven seven seven one, seven
Speaker 2: seventy eight seventy three. We do realize we'd like to
Speaker 2: joke around show a lot because it just can get
Speaker 2: really dark, really fast, So we like to bring a
Speaker 2: little levity to the situation. But we do realize these
Speaker 2: can be triggering eight seven seven seven one seven seventy
Speaker 2: eight seventy three. It's not a doctor or a PA
Speaker 2: that answers the phone, it's a combat vet, so they
Speaker 2: will completely understand. Eight seven seven seven one seven seventy
Speaker 2: eight seventy three. We'll be right back with more road
Speaker 2: hope radio.
Speaker 1: Job.
Speaker 2: Can have you ever been blown up? That's me neither
Speaker 2: thus to us. Yeah, I just I have obviously a
Speaker 2: lot of friends who have been, and some of them
Speaker 2: multiple times. Like what should not you know? Find another job?
Speaker 2: So what year was that you got hit?
Speaker 5: It was like September twenty sixth two thousand and five
Speaker 5: oh five.
Speaker 2: So we were talking off air, you mentioned you were
Speaker 2: still in the Army when they diagnosed you with both
Speaker 2: PTSD and TBI. Was that right after you got hit?
Speaker 5: Uh? No, I ended up coming back and I had
Speaker 5: issues in the army. I started self medicating what alcohol
Speaker 5: and drugs, and my brother pulled some strings in the
Speaker 5: Navy to get me to a STARPS program in Point
Speaker 5: Loma and he managed to get me a spot there.
Speaker 5: So my SARPs lady from Army she told my command,
Speaker 5: but my command said in order for me to go,
Speaker 5: I had to say it was command order, no longer self.
Speaker 5: So I said, yeah, I'll take it. And then when
Speaker 5: they found out that my brother was they took me
Speaker 5: from the program to his place to get fully evaluated.
Speaker 5: He found everything. I kind of made my brass a little.
Speaker 2: Mad trying to get help. Yeah, yeah, which is what
Speaker 2: they tell you to do, and then you get in
Speaker 2: trouble for asking for help. Okay, So that's when and
Speaker 2: where you were diagnosed with PTSD INBI.
Speaker 5: But I never really I guess in my mind, I
Speaker 5: said it's not gonna happen to me. And when it
Speaker 5: started happening. I was kind of more worried for my
Speaker 5: kids and family. Yeah, so I sent them sanutonium And
Speaker 5: what year was that you got diagnosed? I was diagnosed,
Speaker 5: It would have been in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that makes sense to me because obviously through
Speaker 2: time everything changes. But in two thousand and eight, there
Speaker 2: was a lot of misunderstanding about PTSD. I maintained they
Speaker 2: still don't know what's going on with TBI. I just
Speaker 2: I don't think they've ever really figured out how to
Speaker 2: treat that. Everybody I've ever talked to, including recently who's
Speaker 2: been diagnosed with TBIs, like, they don't seem to have
Speaker 2: a clue on that. But in two thousand and eight,
Speaker 2: two thousand and nine, even up I'd say probably twenty
Speaker 2: fourteen ish, there was an immense amount of misunderstanding of PTSD,
Speaker 2: and they were always coming out with stories about vets
Speaker 2: and you know shootings, you know, walking in store Fort hood,
Speaker 2: you know, walking on the base and just shooting the
Speaker 2: place up, and they always love to say he may
Speaker 2: have PTSD. Well, they had no idea that PTSD. They
Speaker 2: found some family member that lived four states away and
Speaker 2: they said, well, you know, he's a vet. He may
Speaker 2: have PTSD. Well okay, well he may be wearing a
Speaker 2: brown leather belt. Both would have the same influence on
Speaker 2: someone doing about something like that. That's not what PTSD does.
Speaker 2: As in a general term, what we have seen and
Speaker 2: have seen demonstrated over time is PTSD does not cause
Speaker 2: the mass homicides it causes mass suicides. It turns inward
Speaker 2: rather than outward. And just like your story, like you
Speaker 2: don't want to hurt your family, so you detected your
Speaker 2: family and you isolate You did it a little different
Speaker 2: way than a lot a lot of veterans do, but
Speaker 2: you still isolated from them to protect them because you
Speaker 2: don't want to hurt them. You're not a mass murderer.
Speaker 2: That's not what it is. But that was the stories
Speaker 2: that were coming out. There was a story here in Houston,
Speaker 2: and I don't remember the year, but I'm going to
Speaker 2: say somewhere around fourteen or fifteen. It was a Memorial
Speaker 2: Day shooter. It was actually a veteran flew in the
Speaker 2: day before, not Veterans Day, Memorial Day, flew in the
Speaker 2: day before Memorial Day from California Memorial Day. He gets
Speaker 2: this high powered weapon. I'll remember what it was, but
Speaker 2: starts walking down Memorial Drive here in Houston and just
Speaker 2: starts shooting randomly, ended up shooting at an HPD helicopter
Speaker 2: flying over, and of course eventually HPD took him out.
Speaker 2: But the same thing. All the local newspeople run, try
Speaker 2: to find anybody that knows this guy. Then sheally find
Speaker 2: a family member. Well, he was a veteran, and you know,
Speaker 2: he may have had PTSD. Okay, maybe he did, and
Speaker 2: maybe he didn't. Come to find out, if I remember correctly,
Speaker 2: that individual never deployed into a combat zone. I don't believe.
Speaker 2: But that was the That was just the way people
Speaker 2: thought about it at that time. These crazy vets PTSD
Speaker 2: run around and then they turn around and say, hey,
Speaker 2: if you're having trouble, go get help. Like, why would
Speaker 2: I do that? If I'm going to get diagnosed with
Speaker 2: something that everybody's going to assume that means I'm just
Speaker 2: going to start walking up and down a particular road
Speaker 2: in Houston just start shooting at the place. Who who
Speaker 2: would want that tagged to them? Just a lot of
Speaker 2: a lot of ignorance. And we've I think I'd like
Speaker 2: to at least think that we've helped people understand a
Speaker 2: little bit better about what PTSD does, but general terms,
Speaker 2: it isolates. So you go into a program in and
Speaker 2: out two and a half years set up, uh in Washington?
Speaker 5: Yeah, Wash, I see Dacoma, Washington.
Speaker 2: Okay, another beautiful place but darker, light raining all the time.
Speaker 5: It seems like I was in the two high suicide.
Speaker 2: Well and that was it's they had super high. Now,
Speaker 2: the numbers were lower because there weren't as many veterans
Speaker 2: there's like there are in southern California or Texas or Florida.
Speaker 2: Those are the highest populated. But the percentage in the
Speaker 2: suicide rate in Washington was crazy. Yeah. So you're in
Speaker 2: that program two and a half years ish, Yes, and
Speaker 2: then what'd you do?
Speaker 5: Why I was in the program. I got over medicated
Speaker 5: by the VA program. Imagine that I ended up in
Speaker 5: Fort Lewis hospital with my head. They tried to claim
Speaker 5: it was me committed suicide. I was like, you guys,
Speaker 5: give me the medication to take. I don't know how
Speaker 5: I'm trying to do that, but.
Speaker 2: Get it to the p V. Put you on a
Speaker 2: bunch of medication when they diagnosed.
Speaker 3: You, Yes, sir, I think I was They had me
Speaker 3: on like fourteen different pills initially when I first got donosed.
Speaker 2: Okay, so when they put you on this cocktail of pills,
Speaker 2: did that strike you as this seems like a lot?
Speaker 2: Did it not cross your mind that this was a
Speaker 2: lot at the time? And I'm talking about now, but
Speaker 2: at the time, and maybe you're just you know, you
Speaker 2: got PTSD, you got some you know, things aren't working right,
Speaker 2: all right, So I would understan no matter what the
Speaker 2: answer is. But did it kind of strike you as
Speaker 2: odd that they give you that many pills?
Speaker 4: Initially?
Speaker 3: I was just like, you know what, it's a doctor
Speaker 3: of prescribing this, So I mean, they know it's better
Speaker 3: for me than I do.
Speaker 4: That's at least that's what I thought.
Speaker 2: And I've heard that many times too. So for instance,
Speaker 2: the Vietnam vet that came through our program was really
Speaker 2: the first graduate of our program way way back in
Speaker 2: twenty twelve, and same thing, a bunch of medications, and like,
Speaker 2: did you bother to ask anybody? And I came to
Speaker 2: find and talking to some of these guys just like
Speaker 2: it was the soldier mentality, This is an order, you
Speaker 2: fulfill the order, whatever the whatever your command tells you.
Speaker 2: To do wherever they tell you to go. However long
Speaker 2: they tell you to go there, you do you just
Speaker 2: you take the order, You do the order. And that's
Speaker 2: kind of the way. His mindset was, Well, this is
Speaker 2: what the VA told me to do, so I followed orders,
Speaker 2: and you end up taking fourteen some of the guys.
Speaker 2: One of the guys came in over thirty thirty prescribed medications.
Speaker 2: He was taking every day, and it's like, do you
Speaker 2: understand what that does to your vital organs, what that
Speaker 2: does to your liver, what that does to your heart.
Speaker 2: And that's why so many guys end up with congestive
Speaker 2: heart failure taking so many pills. So they give you
Speaker 2: how many.
Speaker 5: I was at eighteen?
Speaker 2: Eighteen?
Speaker 5: Yeah, very high doses.
Speaker 2: That was while you were in the in the program.
Speaker 5: Oh, I wasn't taking as many as in the program.
Speaker 5: The minute they sent me away. I was.
Speaker 2: So when they sent you away, they sent you away with.
Speaker 5: Eighteen when I finally reunited with my kids mom, and.
Speaker 2: So you're trying to go home, yeah, and they've got
Speaker 2: you on eight teen pills.
Speaker 5: So I end up going back to Alaska. I got
Speaker 5: to figure out how to move from Alaska to where
Speaker 5: they're at. I don't want them to come back. But
Speaker 5: then now I'm like, this is a lot of pills. Yeah,
Speaker 5: this is normal. So uh yeah it was. It was
Speaker 5: a struggle.
Speaker 2: Yeah's with the things that they did and continue to do. Really,
Speaker 2: it's just it's just crazy to me. It's criminal what
Speaker 2: they do to our guys. All right, we're going to
Speaker 2: take one more break here eight seven seven seven one,
Speaker 2: seven seventy eight seventy three, not only for Camp Hope,
Speaker 2: but also for our warrior groups, family support groups that
Speaker 2: take place in person and as well as online, so
Speaker 2: you can be a little bit anywhere in the world,
Speaker 2: jump online, be a part of one of our support
Speaker 2: groups PTSDUSA dot org for all that information. All of
Speaker 2: it is a zero cost to you your family. We'll
Speaker 2: be right back with more Road to Hope Radio place.
Speaker 2: It's that gets a man who's going, and we welcome
Speaker 2: you back to Road to Hope Radio. Remember wherever you
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Speaker 2: never know when they may know somebody who needs programs
Speaker 2: that we provide all at zero cost. Warrior groups, family
Speaker 2: support groups, the interim housing program at Camp Hope six
Speaker 2: to nine months basically in design. And I know that
Speaker 2: sounds like a long long time if you think of
Speaker 2: it as just your next deployment. This time, you're not
Speaker 2: getting shot at or blown up like Rico was. This time,
Speaker 2: you're working on a go forward for the rest of
Speaker 2: your life. So just look at it that way, an
Speaker 2: investment in the rest of your life, not only for yourself,
Speaker 2: but those that you love and those who love you
Speaker 2: ptsd USA dot org. Okay, let's let's switch the gear.
Speaker 2: You've you came to Camp Hope the first time a
Speaker 2: couple of years.
Speaker 5: Ago, yes, two thousand and twenty three.
Speaker 2: Twenty three. Okay, how did you originally hear about us?
Speaker 5: I was at Loyal Ridge in San Antonio.
Speaker 2: It was rehab rehabcility. Yep.
Speaker 5: We'll see these guys with tattoos on their arms and
Speaker 5: they would always go into the room and that you
Speaker 5: cant it was. It was a mandatory. But one day
Speaker 5: I walked it into the classes, see what what you know?
Speaker 5: What was being pitched and they started talking about Camp
Speaker 5: Hope and what kind of program it was. And I
Speaker 5: guess the thing that kind of got me was faith based,
Speaker 5: like something I didn't have really in my mindset at
Speaker 5: the time. I was kind of at my lowest when
Speaker 5: I was there, and I wanted to try. So I've
Speaker 5: been to different programs. The one in uh Tacoma wasn't
Speaker 5: the first program I've done. I've done several in San Antonio,
Speaker 5: so I figured why not give it a try? And yeah,
Speaker 5: that was about the first time.
Speaker 2: I had Did you have a faith system, some faith
Speaker 2: that you were practicing prior to the military or no.
Speaker 5: I grew up as a Catholic and I followed my
Speaker 5: cultural traditions. All my kids are baptized, first communions, confirmations
Speaker 5: and stuff like that. Sure, it's just like seemed like
Speaker 5: after combat, I kind of broke away from everything.
Speaker 2: A story. We're here all the time all the time
Speaker 2: at camp, so you hear about that and that kind
Speaker 2: of picture interests and need to try something different because
Speaker 2: what I've been doing is not working. Yeah, so you
Speaker 2: come into camp, you're there for how long?
Speaker 5: The first time I did he go was there for
Speaker 5: ten months. Then I moved to tunnels of towers. But
Speaker 5: by by that time, when I graduated, everything I didn't
Speaker 5: take into, I was able to get the help I needed,
Speaker 5: and I was able to get deep into what I
Speaker 5: guess I had hidden that I stuffed down. And but
Speaker 5: then by that time, I've already filed for divorce, so
Speaker 5: I'm not used to not having my kids no more,
Speaker 5: not being there, even though they were only two years,
Speaker 5: two hours away. It was it was a different lifestyle.
Speaker 5: I kind of went back into that rabbit.
Speaker 2: Okay, so how long have you been back?
Speaker 5: Been back for two months.
Speaker 2: I choose to come back.
Speaker 5: It was like home, Like I I knew I would
Speaker 5: have got. I knew the help that I got before,
Speaker 5: and I knew the people I see him like family.
Speaker 5: And uh So, in a way, I was kind of
Speaker 5: embarrassed going back, because you know, I feel like I failed.
Speaker 5: But that's not the way they made me feel. You know,
Speaker 5: they were all happy to see me again. And uh,
Speaker 5: you know, went back to the same Miller Bay and
Speaker 5: uh you know, the same cooks you know they were,
Speaker 5: they were nice, happy to see me. Uh, even Kennedy
Speaker 5: through here when I got stung by a bee when
Speaker 5: he helped me out when I was in the program.
Speaker 5: I won't forget and uh, but it was, Uh, that's
Speaker 5: where I feel home, like I don't have to isolate there,
Speaker 5: I don't have to hide. Everyone else's seen combat. Uh,
Speaker 5: kind of same walks aways. And it was, I guess,
Speaker 5: the only place where I could bring my guard. Now
Speaker 5: for a long time, they can't do that.
Speaker 2: And this story we hear a lot feel safe. Uh,
Speaker 2: And of course we obviously love hearing that. And you're right,
Speaker 2: we I know it's difficult for guys when they for
Speaker 2: whatever reason, you know, they stop doing what they learned
Speaker 2: to do while they're at camp, and things get can
Speaker 2: get dark really quickly, and there's that there's always that
Speaker 2: anxiety of what's going to be like if I go back,
Speaker 2: and what's everybody gonna think? And I get that. I
Speaker 2: can understand why people feel that way, but we we
Speaker 2: don't view it as failure. We view it as, hey,
Speaker 2: you did the right thing by not continuing down that
Speaker 2: spiral and picking up the phone and making the call.
Speaker 2: That's choosing their right thing. So at some point you
Speaker 2: reverted back to what you knew you needed to do. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and so to us, that's a success. And yes, we're
Speaker 2: glad you're here.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, very glad you're here. Did you feel that like
Speaker 2: like this is home when you were at camp it
Speaker 2: felt safe?
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, to the fact, like once I graduated and
Speaker 3: I started working on the foundation. I don't know if
Speaker 3: you remember, but I had to go back to North
Speaker 3: Carolina for like five months because of that court and probation.
Speaker 4: But once I got all that.
Speaker 3: Completed and graduated from probation, that court, I mean, when
Speaker 3: I came back to Camp Hope, it was like I
Speaker 3: never left. Everybody welcomed me, gave me big old hugs,
Speaker 3: Glad you're back, Kenetha. We knew you would make it,
Speaker 3: And it was just like I had a sense of
Speaker 3: gratitude about the whole situation because I know that Camp
Speaker 3: Pope saved my life. And I mean, well, God in
Speaker 3: Camp Hoope, that's I can't that's the only only people
Speaker 3: I a thing for it the way how my life
Speaker 3: is right now.
Speaker 2: What was that like for you to stand before the
Speaker 2: judge when you went back with your you got your certificate,
Speaker 2: you completed, you got your coin. I've done what I
Speaker 2: set out to do. I've done what we agreed for
Speaker 2: me to do. What was that like for you to
Speaker 2: stand before that judge?
Speaker 5: Mh I'm not.
Speaker 4: Allowed to, y'all cried.
Speaker 3: It was it was like, just uh a feeling of accomplishment.
Speaker 3: The judge, the DA and everybody in ventquart in North Carolina.
Speaker 3: They actually, uh put Kenneth Tecks Matthews on my certificate
Speaker 3: because I've talked about camp Hope every single time in
Speaker 3: front of the court.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: And it was to the point that once I graduated
Speaker 3: and came back down here, like I want to say,
Speaker 3: it was not even.
Speaker 4: Thirty days day, all flew down here to see what
Speaker 4: Camp Hope was about.
Speaker 3: They flew down, Yes, sir, who all did it was
Speaker 3: a Hornett County Judge, Harnett County DA assistant DA in
Speaker 3: a couple bitcourt.
Speaker 2: How about that? So you made you definitely made an
Speaker 2: impression on them, because it's got to be that smile
Speaker 2: right there. It has got to be that smile. Kenneth
Speaker 2: Texas and Texas short for Texas. Is that what I'm hearing? Yes, sir,
Speaker 2: so even they know Texas barbecue is better than North Carolina.
Speaker 2: You know I had to throw that. You knew I
Speaker 2: was not going to go showing you that. Throwing that
Speaker 2: in there.
Speaker 4: I thought we've almost made it.
Speaker 2: No, did you tell them Texas barbecue is better than
Speaker 2: North Carolina barbecue? After they said you're clear.
Speaker 4: I didn't say nothing about no barbecue.
Speaker 2: Probably a good choice. I hope while they were in
Speaker 2: town though, they enjoyed some Texas barbecue. I hope they
Speaker 2: did that while they were here. But that's awesome though,
Speaker 2: that they would go to the time and expense to
Speaker 2: come out and see what what's this place that changed
Speaker 2: your life so much? That's that's absolutely awesome. I love
Speaker 2: that story.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was definitely like a proud moment.
Speaker 2: All right, guys, we are out of time, Regal. Thank
Speaker 2: you sharing sister. Keep doing the work that you need
Speaker 2: to get done. You deserve it, Your family deserves the
Speaker 2: best version of you that you can provide. Keep doing
Speaker 2: what you're doing, don't quit, don't give up. And praying
Speaker 2: for you and pray that they continue to get done
Speaker 2: what needs to get done. Thank you, sir Kenneth, Thanks
Speaker 2: for sharing your story. Thanks for what you're doing to
Speaker 2: continue to serve your fellow vets at Camp Hope. It's
Speaker 2: inspiring to get to see some of that, so thank
Speaker 2: you for doing that. Thanks we again, thank you for
Speaker 2: joining us Hope. You'll join us again next week. Wherever
Speaker 2: you listen to podcasts, look for Road to Hope and
Speaker 2: UH before we you with you again for more of
Speaker 2: Road to Hope Radio