Speaker 1: Multiple people in my family clean my father, are veterans.
Speaker 2: Troops that have been to war and now they're back.
Speaker 3: And think and be grateful for their service.
Speaker 2: Sacrifice, love for their country, just unselfishness, all that they
Speaker 2: do for us.
Speaker 4: There are some people in this country who take extraordinary
Speaker 4: steps to provide for the freedom and security.
Speaker 3: 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,
Speaker 1: devil dogs.
Speaker 5: 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 are the
Speaker 1: best our country has to offer, and we love them. Today,
Speaker 1: we honor them and we serve this. David Malsby 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.
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Speaker 3: Glad to have a couple of a couple of combat
Speaker 3: vets with us today, one from our staff, one that's
Speaker 3: currently in the program. George, want to reintroduce yourself to
Speaker 3: the world. It's been in a little bit since you've
Speaker 3: been here.
Speaker 2: Has probably been since Thanksgiving last tight?
Speaker 3: Oh really, it has been a while. That has been
Speaker 3: a while.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I graduated from Campo about close to two years ago.
Speaker 2: I went in back in August first of twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: My life basically came undone. Actually had a good friend
Speaker 2: that was still his staff there that brought me in
Speaker 2: and coming to Camp Hoe changed my life.
Speaker 3: And you were Army Marines, Marine Corps, Yes, sir, and
Speaker 3: you deployed twice Iraq, two times direct because the first
Speaker 3: time wasn't enough. You just wanted a little more something
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 5: Something like that.
Speaker 3: That's where they sent you.
Speaker 5: Guess what you're doing. Yay, what years did you boy? Yeah?
Speaker 5: What years did you deploy? Five and seven?
Speaker 3: Okay, so not atypical. Your second appoint was those seven,
Speaker 3: So that means it was fifteen years after that, roughly
Speaker 3: before you got the camp.
Speaker 2: Hope just the math is correct.
Speaker 3: Yeah, somewhere in there.
Speaker 5: I'm bad at math. Yeah, me too.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, numbers, they get in the way a thing
Speaker 3: of that. I don't understand them. Uh, but yeah, I
Speaker 3: took it a little while before you found your way
Speaker 3: to us.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Good fifteen years like you said. But luckily one
Speaker 2: of my good friends who was a staff or still
Speaker 2: a staff member there, I heard of what was going
Speaker 2: on with me and next day had me on the
Speaker 2: phone with Camp Hope trying to get me into the program.
Speaker 3: Glad you did. I'm glad you're still with us. Grateful
Speaker 3: for what you do. Thank you appreciated. I mentally all right, Derek,
Speaker 3: I want to introduce yourself to the world.
Speaker 5: I'm Derek Jolly Army. Uh. I was born in love.
Speaker 4: It and uh basically raised in Houston here Spring Branch area.
Speaker 3: How old were you when you moved to Houston.
Speaker 5: I guess around three or four.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, so you don't remember at all. It's going
Speaker 3: to say that it's been cold here this past week.
Speaker 5: Yeah and cold.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's gonna say with the wind it was well.
Speaker 3: I was not a fan leave It.
Speaker 4: I didn't meet too many people that were, but love
Speaker 4: It can definitely do that on the regular.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, there's nothing, no trees. Yeah, that's wind.
Speaker 3: Blocked the wind, Yes, sir, reminds me of my childhood
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City, like it would. It would get that way
Speaker 3: a few times every winter. Like I didn't like it then,
Speaker 3: I sure don't like it now.
Speaker 4: People that lived there, they got to act like they
Speaker 4: like it, I believe.
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe I don't know. It's what you're used to,
Speaker 3: whatever you know, grow up in. It's just normal. It's
Speaker 3: whatever it is.
Speaker 5: It is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I keep moving further south, Like I moved from
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City to Dallas, which is about three and a
Speaker 3: half four hours south of Oklahoma City, lived there ten years.
Speaker 3: Then I moved to Houston, another four hours south. Like
Speaker 3: I can't move any further south unless I buy a boat,
Speaker 3: and I don't want to buy a boat. I sure
Speaker 3: don't want to live in a boat in the middle
Speaker 3: of the Gulf of America or whatever you choose to
Speaker 3: call it. But uh hmm, yeah, too cold. All right,
Speaker 3: we're gonna have to take a quick break. A reminder.
Speaker 3: Eight seven seven seven to one seven seventy eight seventy
Speaker 3: three is our combat trauma support line. Eight seven seven
Speaker 3: seven one seven seventy eight seventy three. What you must
Speaker 3: know about that number is this a combat that will
Speaker 3: answer the phone twenty four seven three sixty five eight
Speaker 3: seven seven seven one seven seventy eight seventy three, will
Speaker 3: be right back and were welcome back Road to Hope Radio.
Speaker 3: David Malsby here got Derek that State's Army currently in
Speaker 3: our program at Camp Hope, Georgia, United States rings a
Speaker 3: veteran and a graduate of Camp Hope, current staff member
Speaker 3: at Camp Hope. All right, Derek, you mentioned you were
Speaker 3: from originally from Lovegood, grew up in the Houston area, right, correct,
Speaker 3: So what what caused you to join the army?
Speaker 4: Just be that I saw myself joining the military early
Speaker 4: before I got out of high school.
Speaker 3: Did you join right out of high school?
Speaker 5: Shortly thereafter?
Speaker 4: I worked at a local gas station everywhere back when
Speaker 4: you still pump gas.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just dated yourself a little, yeah, an idees, I
Speaker 3: do remember those days. I remember anyway, go ahead.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And.
Speaker 4: Getting out of high school, I didn't really have any
Speaker 4: plans for college, even though to me that was what
Speaker 4: you're supposed to do. But that's not what I did.
Speaker 4: I joint went to talk to the army. If I
Speaker 4: had walked into the Marines, I probably would have been
Speaker 4: the Marine, but I walked into the Army place there
Speaker 4: and they took me in and I joined the Infantry
Speaker 4: at my choice. What year was it, That was probably
Speaker 4: eighty six, and went to basic training and Benning Fort Benning,
Speaker 4: Georgia and stationed at Fort Ord, California, which was closed
Speaker 4: now they've closed it down after some time after I left.
Speaker 3: Did you have any family in the military or just
Speaker 3: you were the first one.
Speaker 4: I had an uncle on my mom's side there that
Speaker 4: was Air Force, and I want to say he was
Speaker 4: a lieutenant colonel or something like that, but he was
Speaker 4: high ranking. He was in Vietnam, but he stayed off
Speaker 4: the ground and in the air.
Speaker 3: Gotcha, which could be good and could be not so
Speaker 3: good because the way you're flying.
Speaker 4: Yes, sir, he was in a big bird, big plane,
Speaker 4: way high up there.
Speaker 3: Got you okay?
Speaker 4: So you joined eighty six ish, Yeah, and you deployed
Speaker 4: where it went to Panama eighty eight eighty nine, Noriega.
Speaker 4: If anybody remembers Daega, we were there trying to hunt
Speaker 4: him down on get him huge news at the time.
Speaker 4: He was huge news, it was, and we did back then.
Speaker 4: You didn't have the cameras you got these days where
Speaker 4: you got one on your helmet and everything. The only
Speaker 4: camera I had was one of those throw away cardboard
Speaker 4: Kodak cameras, and so there weren't many, no no media
Speaker 4: with us, traveling with us or anything like that. But
Speaker 4: they did catch some of it somehow. I didn't never
Speaker 4: see how they did that. But yeah, it was short,
Speaker 4: luckily short lived, and we we we nabbed him and
Speaker 4: got the job done.
Speaker 3: It was huge news.
Speaker 5: That'll call that very vividly.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So that was eighty.
Speaker 4: Eight, eighty eighty eight, No, yeah, eighty eight, eighty nine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, somewhere in there. Yeah, okay, all right, what did
Speaker 3: you do when you came.
Speaker 5: Home went back to training? How long did you.
Speaker 3: Stay in the army?
Speaker 4: Oh the eighty seven to ninety two.
Speaker 5: When I got out, I.
Speaker 4: Left out the gate and there was not much information,
Speaker 4: you believing about what's gonna lapping out on the other side.
Speaker 4: I couldn't believe I was driving out the gate. I
Speaker 4: figured they were going to be sent, you know, holding
Speaker 4: us back for Iraq and stuff. But luckily I got
Speaker 4: out the gate.
Speaker 5: A lot of my.
Speaker 4: Battle buddies, I guess we call them, and did get
Speaker 4: recalled and just basically went to Germany or Hawaii, which
Speaker 4: would have been nice, but they held down the fort while.
Speaker 5: Everybody else was deployed to two Iraq. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I never heard anybody complain about either in uh Hawaii
Speaker 3: or Germany. I've never heard any comments about either one
Speaker 3: of those stations.
Speaker 4: And there were people stationed in Panama too, you know, yeah,
Speaker 4: yeah with the way, Yeah, but that's not a lot.
Speaker 3: Of smiling faces about that one.
Speaker 5: It's pretty down there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not been there, and I'm okay with that, completely
Speaker 3: fine with not having been there, nor planning ongoing there.
Speaker 3: It's not on my not on my bucket list right now.
Speaker 4: You want to go back, I wouldn't mind visiting a
Speaker 4: lot safer place nowadays, absolutely, since we did what we did,
Speaker 4: I know it's become a popular place for Americans business wise,
Speaker 4: beach hotels and building their empire down there. Yeah, I
Speaker 4: wouldn't mind going back and following them footsteps to see
Speaker 4: how things have changed.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of guys I've heard that a lot,
Speaker 3: and I know of some guys, for instance, a number
Speaker 3: of Vietnam Vets that take trips back, yeah, of decades
Speaker 3: literally decades later.
Speaker 4: And it helps a lot of things to see what
Speaker 4: came out of something that was not typically very good
Speaker 4: at the time.
Speaker 3: George, you ever have a desire to go back and
Speaker 3: revisit that, Nope, you know, Iraq and Afghanistan or definitely
Speaker 3: exceptions to that rule. I'm not sure anybody wants to
Speaker 3: go back to either one of those places. Yeah, remind
Speaker 3: me again where you said you were deployed those two times.
Speaker 5: I'll come and I saw it, Okay.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just the names enough for me, Like, Nope, not mine,
Speaker 3: not my place.
Speaker 5: It does sound nice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when it's time to plan the family vacation, that
Speaker 3: is not on uh, that is not on the list,
Speaker 3: Like we're not going.
Speaker 5: To go there.
Speaker 3: Uh. Quick reminder for information about Camp Hope as well
Speaker 3: as our support groups for both combat veteran support groups
Speaker 3: as well as family support groups. And I'll also mention
Speaker 3: and I'll get into a little bit of why. Also
Speaker 3: Law Enforcement First Responders PTSDUSA dot org is our website
Speaker 3: all the information about our programs, both the intern housing
Speaker 3: at Camp Hope support groups that happened across the state
Speaker 3: of Texas, a few different cities across the country, and
Speaker 3: then virtually so from virtually anywhere you can join those,
Speaker 3: but I do want to spend just a minute on
Speaker 3: the law enforcement and first responders portion of that. The
Speaker 3: issue of PTSD is just as prevalent, if not more so,
Speaker 3: in law enforcement first responders in comparison to what's gone
Speaker 3: on in our veteran community. The need is great. It's
Speaker 3: pressed on my mind a little bit more this week.
Speaker 3: This past week, we had.
Speaker 5: A number of.
Speaker 3: Local law enforcement officials, constables, sheriffs from the surrounding Houston
Speaker 3: area out to Camp Hope and then we were able
Speaker 3: to spend actually a great deal of time. We spend
Speaker 3: about three hours together with them in total and talk
Speaker 3: a lot about not only what we do at Camp
Speaker 3: Hopes that they understand what happens there, but also our
Speaker 3: outreach program and just how critically important is for us
Speaker 3: to have a good relationship with law enforcement. And we
Speaker 3: talked with them about a couple of issues that we've
Speaker 3: had one particular local agency. But these folks were just fantastic.
Speaker 3: They loved hearing what we were doing, very supportive of
Speaker 3: what we're doing, looking forward to building on those relationships
Speaker 3: because at the end of the day, we all want
Speaker 3: the same thing, so they're encountering obviously a number of
Speaker 3: mental health issues as they go about their job with
Speaker 3: law enforcement first responders, for them to know that we're
Speaker 3: here and our outreach teams already and able and equipped
Speaker 3: to step in and help and go alongside them to
Speaker 3: help in some of those issues. But we also one
Speaker 3: of the gentlemen was there was an FBI agent who
Speaker 3: had just the night before he'd been up. When he
Speaker 3: got to our place, he'd been up for thirty straight hours,
Speaker 3: and when he got to our place, he was one
Speaker 3: of the FBI agents that took down I think it
Speaker 3: was fourteen Bandido gang members and that he had just
Speaker 3: come from doing that, and you could tell it was
Speaker 3: it had been a rough, rough time after that's a
Speaker 3: culmination of a six year investigation. So you know, those
Speaker 3: guys are absolutely exhausted. But just for you to know
Speaker 3: there is a place ptsdusa dot org. We will do
Speaker 3: everything we can to support our law enforcement first responder community,
Speaker 3: and everything we do is absolutely at zero cost to
Speaker 3: the veteran of their family. PTSDUSA dot org be right
Speaker 3: back with more Road to Hope Radio in just a moment,
Speaker 3: and we welcome you back Road to Hope Radio. Glad
Speaker 3: to have you along again the website for all things
Speaker 3: that we do at the PTSD Foundation of America's PTSD
Speaker 3: post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSDUSA dot org. On social media
Speaker 3: also PTSD USA that's on X on Facebook, Instagram, it's
Speaker 3: PTSD Foundation of America. For show information, and we'll also comment.
Speaker 3: Sometimes we don't do this with the Foundation. Sometimes with
Speaker 3: the show's Facebook page, we'll sometimes share military related news,
Speaker 3: veteran related news, items that don't necessarily really make the
Speaker 3: major news. So follow us on Road to Hope Radio
Speaker 3: on our Facebook page and you can keep up with
Speaker 3: some of the those things. We'll also post some of
Speaker 3: the events going on in support of the PTSD Foundation
Speaker 3: of America this weekend as we air this show this Saturday.
Speaker 3: There was a wonderful event in the Orlando, Florida area
Speaker 3: in support of the foundation in our chapter in Florida
Speaker 3: where we serve a little over two hundred veterans, just
Speaker 3: through that one chapter, and it's really just I believe
Speaker 3: four staff that are serving those two hundred plus veterans.
Speaker 3: And that's that's the last number I heard. It may
Speaker 3: be much more than that by now, but the last
Speaker 3: number I heard it was a little over two hundred
Speaker 3: vets that we do support work with their in the
Speaker 3: Florida area. So big thanks to everybody who is a
Speaker 3: part of that event in support of that chapter and
Speaker 3: what we do in the Florida area. So thank you
Speaker 3: very much. And again, if you're following us on so
Speaker 3: social mediall seat those events coming up if you'd like
Speaker 3: to participate coming up you are March April May. We
Speaker 3: have ours. We have two we call event seasons. The
Speaker 3: big one is from Labor Day through like the first
Speaker 3: week of December. That time is just one big blur
Speaker 3: in dealing with the fundraising events, speaking opportunities. That's number one.
Speaker 3: But number two is like now, so March one through
Speaker 3: about May the first, it's a very busy time. After
Speaker 3: that you kind of get into the whole graduation season's
Speaker 3: marriage or wedding ceremonies and all, you know, vacations. Everybody's
Speaker 3: trying to get out of town. Kids at our school.
Speaker 3: But this is are entering that busy time. So there's
Speaker 3: a lot of events coming up in the Houston area
Speaker 3: as well as Dallas area. Those in the Dallas Fort
Speaker 3: Worth metroplex got a golf tournament coming on up up there.
Speaker 3: We have I think three golf tournaments in the next
Speaker 3: just a few weeks here in the Houston area. So
Speaker 3: all those, all those events, information is shared with how
Speaker 3: you can participate those, whether it's just being there, whether
Speaker 3: it's volunteering to help thing running, or your business owner,
Speaker 3: small business owner, you'd like to be a sponsor. Lots
Speaker 3: of opportunities to be involved in fundraisers, and we don't
Speaker 3: talk about that a lot, but I will just tell
Speaker 3: you this is how we are able to do what
Speaker 3: we do. So when a veteran calls that crisis line
Speaker 3: eight seven seven seven one seven seventy eight seventy three,
Speaker 3: we want to make sure that we are able to
Speaker 3: support them and whatever way that is. For some it
Speaker 3: is making their way to Camp Hope. So we will
Speaker 3: buy the airline ticket, we will take care of all
Speaker 3: those things. Won't cost them anything, won't cost their family anything.
Speaker 3: We take care of all that. Well, we don't have
Speaker 3: just you know, as my mom used to say, there's
Speaker 3: no tree in the backyard that just grows cash. It
Speaker 3: is people who care, people who learn about what's going
Speaker 3: on in our veteran community and they care enough to
Speaker 3: do something about it. So for some that's just they
Speaker 3: don't have time, but they have money, so they'll just
Speaker 3: write a check. Some can't write a big check, but
Speaker 3: they can do something, and maybe it's participating in an
Speaker 3: event like a five K or something like that that's
Speaker 3: local to them. So there's multiple, multiple ways to get
Speaker 3: involved in support what we do. But if you like
Speaker 3: hearing these stories that we share each and every week,
Speaker 3: there's always someone here from our interim housing program at
Speaker 3: Camp Hope. Just see your understanding. Just a real big picture,
Speaker 3: real fast. It's roughly one hundred and fifty dollars a
Speaker 3: day to take care of our veteran at Camp Hope. Now,
Speaker 3: if we have let's say the moment, I think it's
Speaker 3: somewhere around seventy living on campus. Some of you are
Speaker 3: better at math than I am, but that's seventy times
Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty every single day. So you extrapolate
Speaker 3: that across the course for a year, it's a fair
Speaker 3: chunk of change. So the only way we're able to
Speaker 3: do that. I heard a story this past week as
Speaker 3: we were touring some folks through our campus. One of
Speaker 3: the vets had come to us from being incarcerated. When
Speaker 3: he arrived at camp, which George, this is your job.
Speaker 3: Right when they arrive at camp, you're one of, if
Speaker 3: not the first person that they see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, first person that day come in and see.
Speaker 3: So you're handling what we call the intake process. Yes, sir, Yeah,
Speaker 3: So this particular guy was telling us when he came in,
Speaker 3: and I forget where he had been incarcerat. I think
Speaker 3: it was somewhere in Georgia. When he came in, he
Speaker 3: had a bag like a think of a grocery bag
Speaker 3: when you go grocery, and this is what he had.
Speaker 3: He had two pair of jail issued underwear and I
Speaker 3: think two pair of socks and what he was wearing,
Speaker 3: that's what he had when he walked into our campus.
Speaker 3: So obviously you think of well, we do PTSD, So
Speaker 3: there's counseling, there's the peer to peer, but there's everything
Speaker 3: else in the world that we have to help take
Speaker 3: care of. Yes, sir, when these guys come in, we
Speaker 3: want to make sure. He talked about how how comfortable,
Speaker 3: how safe it made him feel when he walked in.
Speaker 3: Nobody was laughing, nobody was joking like, hey man, what
Speaker 3: do you need? Goes into supply gets jeans, shoes, shirts,
Speaker 3: the basics. They need toiletries, you know, toothbrush, toothpastey, odor
Speaker 3: and all those things. Just how welcoming it felt. And
Speaker 3: I think that's one of the key things about what
Speaker 3: you do, is just helping those guys, because they've got
Speaker 3: most of them. I would think it would have to
Speaker 3: be kind of scared out of their mind.
Speaker 2: Usually they're pretty like, uh, in a shock and all
Speaker 2: that they're there. And like that case where the certain
Speaker 2: resident didn't have anything, just basically like, hey, man, don't
Speaker 2: really worry about possessions or anything. We'll get you taken
Speaker 2: care of. You don't have shoes, We'll get your shoes.
Speaker 2: If you need underwear, we got you. If you need hygiene,
Speaker 2: of course, we're not gonna let you run around here
Speaker 2: being smelly. We're gonna we're a big family here. We
Speaker 2: take care of our own.
Speaker 5: We definitely do that. When they come in the.
Speaker 4: In the bay, we take care.
Speaker 5: We're welcoming to them. They're not alone.
Speaker 4: They're in a place where other people have been in
Speaker 4: that same position or somewhere close to that, or even
Speaker 4: worse than that. But whenever they come into bay, everyone's
Speaker 4: saying welcome home. And a lot of times you don't
Speaker 4: know what kind of condition they're in, but they're in
Speaker 4: a good place where people know it already. They've been
Speaker 4: there and done it and have seen it.
Speaker 3: And we feed them pretty well.
Speaker 5: I'm getting I'm gaining weight.
Speaker 3: We often call it the Camp Hope forty. Some of
Speaker 3: these guys have been have not been, you know, obviously
Speaker 3: taking care of themselves mental health and addictions, so whatever
Speaker 3: they're self medicating. Yeah, sometimes that's about all they're doing
Speaker 3: and can come in pretty rough shape. And can I
Speaker 3: remember one guy had been living out near the y
Speaker 3: off of two forty nine and Tomball, and I think
Speaker 3: he put on literally put on fifteen pounds in two weeks.
Speaker 3: I mean he was eating everything in sight because it
Speaker 3: is the first time he'd eaten. And who knows how.
Speaker 3: I mean, he was still skinny as real. I mean,
Speaker 3: you wouldn't notice it except if you hadn't seen him
Speaker 3: come in. He was in such bad shape.
Speaker 5: Yes, they're in a lot of them. Come in.
Speaker 4: You're not gonna see him for a couple of days
Speaker 4: because there's yeah, they're worn out. Yeah, absolutely, come in,
Speaker 4: got to sleep. And everybody in the bay knows knows that.
Speaker 4: And crack the door open and see if they're doing okay,
Speaker 4: and there's always somebody the staff coming in and checking
Speaker 4: on them make sure they are not having any trouble
Speaker 4: in there.
Speaker 3: But you referred to it, and to me, that's one
Speaker 3: of the beautiful things that happens when they walk into
Speaker 3: that bay for the first time. Not only have they
Speaker 3: received whatever, you know, we can supply them from our supply,
Speaker 3: but everybody in the bay is like, hey man.
Speaker 5: Welcome home.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we got you. Just relax, need something, tell us
Speaker 3: I got an extra pair of shoes.
Speaker 5: You need some shoes. If you need help with something,
Speaker 5: let us know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and again all at zero costs to the veteran
Speaker 3: of their family and grateful for a wonderful community that
Speaker 3: helps make that happen. All right, we're gonna have to
Speaker 3: take a break again. Ptsd usa dot org for all
Speaker 3: of the information ptsd usa dot org and we're gonna
Speaker 3: take a quick break and be right back with more
Speaker 3: of Road to Hope radio.
Speaker 6: Spek and we welcome you back a little to Hope.
Speaker 3: Rado got Georgian and Estates Army that current staff member
Speaker 3: at Camp Hope, graduate of Camp Hope at Derek and
Speaker 3: in States Army. So you served five years, so eighty
Speaker 3: seven to ninety two, right, so that's been a while
Speaker 3: before you got to Camp Hope.
Speaker 5: Yep.
Speaker 3: When did you begin to realize something was going on?
Speaker 4: I worked offshore, Okay, it was my saving grace because
Speaker 4: I worked a month on, month off. I could go
Speaker 4: detox basically Onrick and I had to you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you you.
Speaker 4: I felt it when I got back to work, you know,
Speaker 4: two or three days, and then got laid off during
Speaker 4: COVID and I was on.
Speaker 5: It was too readily of aailable for me. So I
Speaker 5: ended up coming to Camp Hope. I mean I was.
Speaker 4: Let you hear about camp my ex wife actually really
Speaker 4: she did all the work. She did all the research,
Speaker 4: and she brought me the papers thinking I was going
Speaker 4: to be mad about it.
Speaker 5: I wasn't.
Speaker 4: I saw where I was going and filled out the paperwork, well,
Speaker 4: signed everything. And luckily I have a good ex wife
Speaker 4: that we still get along great even though we're divorced.
Speaker 4: She still does a lot for me, and so, you know,
Speaker 4: it's it's been a short time period since the divorce.
Speaker 4: But yeah, usually when I talk to guys at Camp Hope,
Speaker 4: it's not a good you know.
Speaker 3: So you've been at camp long enough, you know that's
Speaker 3: that's a blessing in your life.
Speaker 5: Yes.
Speaker 4: Yes, most guys there's some few choice words, yes, when
Speaker 4: they go to talking about their ex wife.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it can definitely be one of the stressors that
Speaker 3: leads to their need of a place like Camp Hope,
Speaker 3: which is one of the reasons why when you first
Speaker 3: come into the program. And I know, you know, some
Speaker 3: guys come and kicking and screaming over this, but the
Speaker 3: first thirty days you're blocked out from the world. I mean,
Speaker 3: there's just no communication. But that's one of the reasons why.
Speaker 3: It's not the only reason, but it's one of the
Speaker 3: reasons why.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And when I first came to Camp Hope, the first day,
Speaker 4: I drank something before I got there, and the first
Speaker 4: thing I did was.
Speaker 5: Sit here blow.
Speaker 3: I was going to say, did you own up to
Speaker 3: that or did you try to hide it?
Speaker 4: I know, I blew in the and I ended up
Speaker 4: going to West for thirty days.
Speaker 5: Yeah, which was all right. Yeah, it wasn't bad.
Speaker 3: And and uh, that's why we have that relationship with it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it prepared me for Camp Hope a little bit too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because you gotta be your mind that they deal
Speaker 3: with Camp Hope. Yes, sir, it's an intensive program.
Speaker 5: Yeah and lengthy. Yeah.
Speaker 4: That's why I feel for some of those guys that
Speaker 4: come in. I know they're hurting and they're getting stuff
Speaker 4: that you know, they're something they may not be able
Speaker 4: to do because they've been out of it for so long.
Speaker 4: But they quickly turn around and everything starts coming back
Speaker 4: to them, you know, reading and writing about yourself and
Speaker 4: the talent that comes through there too. I'm surprised to
Speaker 4: hear people talk and the things they've been through and
Speaker 4: did in the army or even after after military service.
Speaker 5: A lot of musicians, you know.
Speaker 3: Sure, we've had guys work for Fortune five hundred companies
Speaker 3: coming to our program.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean there's a little bit of everything.
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's some people that are scary smart.
Speaker 4: Yes, I keep my mouth shut sometimes when I'm around them.
Speaker 5: Like, how you doing. I'll just sit here and listen
Speaker 5: to you speak.
Speaker 4: You got a brain that I've never I wish I
Speaker 4: had half that talent, But they too fall fall.
Speaker 5: Down and have to get back up. Of course, Camp
Speaker 5: Hope is a.
Speaker 4: Great place to uh heal and uh and learn about
Speaker 4: the Bible and.
Speaker 5: Uh it's a faith based system.
Speaker 4: And you don't have to I mean, you can talk
Speaker 4: to whatever higher power you have, and y'all make it
Speaker 4: very comfortable and nobody's going to be left out.
Speaker 5: Just because you know. But yeah, I'm I'm definitely a
Speaker 5: believer in God and uh and.
Speaker 4: I do need to learn more. I need to get
Speaker 4: more familiar with the phrases. The people can sit there
Speaker 4: and repeats, yeah whatever I'm trying to say. Scripture, and
Speaker 4: I definitely have not got that far yet, but I'm
Speaker 4: still I'm reading the Bible and it's not something that's
Speaker 4: easily understood. It slowly comes to you reading those uh
Speaker 4: those uh, the scriptures, and I find myself I got
Speaker 4: to read them several times sure before I get get
Speaker 4: the meaning of it and what I think it means.
Speaker 3: What's when did you get diagnosed with PTSD.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm in the process of getting diagnosed. This is
Speaker 4: the first program I've been through. And wonderful counselor that
Speaker 4: I'm seeing and uh, yeah, she's and it's been a while,
Speaker 4: I mean sure, and.
Speaker 5: It's something I've lived with.
Speaker 4: For well, it's been thirty exactly thirty years since I
Speaker 4: was in the military and that's like I said, working
Speaker 4: offshore was a saving grace because you're with a group
Speaker 4: of guys out there that you depend on.
Speaker 5: You get hurt out there very quickly, and it was.
Speaker 4: Good comp comp camaraderie is not the right word, but yeah,
Speaker 4: and a place to heal, just to get off the
Speaker 4: rig and come back home and start it all over again,
Speaker 4: right until I lost the job. And there it was
Speaker 4: in my face, and like I said, the wife that
Speaker 4: understood that has unfortunate, unfortunate fortunately you know, found me
Speaker 4: laying somewhere and telling me to just get get your
Speaker 4: bud in the bed because I got a seventeen.
Speaker 5: Year old son.
Speaker 4: Yeah too, And it was embarrassing to me. Of course,
Speaker 4: I was humiliated with myself and she she handled it well.
Speaker 4: She gave me a chance. So it was really all
Speaker 4: my fault. She gave me the chance, and I kept
Speaker 4: on messing up.
Speaker 3: What's something you're learning or have learned in your time
Speaker 3: here that's helping you.
Speaker 4: Self, compassion, I'm learning how to take care of myself
Speaker 4: instead of trying to take care of everybody else around me.
Speaker 4: I need to be able to take care of myself
Speaker 4: really before I can take care of somebody else and
Speaker 4: learned that I'm holding there's a more than just PTSD.
Speaker 4: It's it's always is something from child childhood. Did that
Speaker 4: you know they're with the counselor. I have that they
Speaker 4: get it out of me and they're very.
Speaker 5: Good counselors, all of them.
Speaker 4: And uh, yeah, I got there and the first time
Speaker 4: I talked to the counselor, there's things that I have
Speaker 4: never told anybody, not my wife, not my immediately there
Speaker 4: was nobody. I've been holding it inside, and uh, I
Speaker 4: felt very comfortable telling her what it was. And then
Speaker 4: I talked to after her, I talked to my mentor,
Speaker 4: which is a Jonesy.
Speaker 3: And uh very nice. Yep, you got a good one.
Speaker 4: And I talked to him and told him what had
Speaker 4: happened to me.
Speaker 3: And uh, there's that safety that happened the camp Hope. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you can open up and be vulnerable and share. So
Speaker 3: he's one of the great things you get to see.
Speaker 5: Yeah, even with a bunch of X out right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, because you know a lot of shared experience,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of that childhood trauma that is uh,
Speaker 3: you know comes to light. Well, guys are Camp Hope man.
Speaker 3: Thank you for sharing some of your story. Keep doing
Speaker 3: what you're doing at camp, keep learning and keep working.
Speaker 3: Your son deserves it, You deserve it. Take full advantage
Speaker 3: of what's going on there. George. Great to see you
Speaker 3: again again. Thank you very very much for what you're
Speaker 3: doing to welcome these guys in. Often that very first
Speaker 3: impression is so critically important for the rest of what
Speaker 3: happens at Camp Hope. So thanks for doing what you do.
Speaker 3: Appreciate it, and thanks again to our sponsors A Corey
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