Speaker 1: Multiple people in my family clean my father, are veterans.
Speaker 2: And the troops that have been de war and now
Speaker 2: 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 1: There are some people in this country who take extraordinary
Speaker 1: 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,
Speaker 1: devil dogs, and so much more. We call them fathers, brothers,
Speaker 1: sons and husbands, mothers, daughters, sisters and wives. We call
Speaker 1: them friend and neighbor. These veterans answered the call. Now
Speaker 1: we answer Theirs are 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.
Speaker 2: The road to hope, and indeed we are glad to
Speaker 2: have you along. On a Sunday, it's not just any Sunday.
Speaker 2: It is Easter Sunday, the greatest day of the year
Speaker 2: for those of the Christian faith, the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: the new life that we have represented in that, all
Speaker 2: that was one, in that the greatest victory the world
Speaker 2: has ever known. Happy Easter to everyone out there, Glad
Speaker 2: to have you along as you listen to Road to
Speaker 2: Hope Radio wherever yere listening, If you're listening through the
Speaker 2: KPRC the nine to five oh on the AM dial,
Speaker 2: thank you for doing that while you are driving on
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Speaker 2: doing that. Wherever you listen to podcasts, just look for
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Speaker 2: think on the eighth year. If I remember right, I
Speaker 2: should look at that up. But there's a lot of shows.
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Speaker 2: Ranch dot Com in the studio with us on this
Speaker 2: Easter Sunday. Got Brandon back. Good to see you, brother,
Speaker 2: good to see Want to reintroduce yourself to the world.
Speaker 4: Absolutely. My name is Brandon Hartsburg. I'm a retired staffs
Speaker 4: aren't from the United States Army and lead mentor Camp Hope.
Speaker 4: She is happy to be here.
Speaker 2: How long has it been that you've been on staff? Now?
Speaker 4: It's going on four long years, four good years. You
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: For good years. So what does a lead mentor do?
Speaker 2: What's his day? Well, I don't know. Every day is
Speaker 2: a different day, but it just gives up folks an idea.
Speaker 4: We pretty much run the whole campus and we save
Speaker 4: lives every day. Now, we just managed the mentors and
Speaker 4: we oversee a lot of scheduling training. We just make
Speaker 4: sure our mentors are doing their job at the same time.
Speaker 4: We interact with the residents too, and if there's if
Speaker 4: there's issues that come up or situations they can't you know,
Speaker 4: we get involved a lot more emails, a lot more
Speaker 4: counselor stuff. Just we try to keep the mentor completely
Speaker 4: focused on taking care of his guys and working with them,
Speaker 4: so we try to protect him from everything else and
Speaker 4: just make sure all that stuff squared away.
Speaker 2: Very cool. Grateful that you're there, too, Grateful for what
Speaker 2: you're doing. So blessing. I'm going to te one up
Speaker 2: for you here probably the next segment, give you a
Speaker 2: chance to go on a little bit of a assist Yeah,
Speaker 2: sophomore points. Yeah, give you a chance also on the
Speaker 2: show with us Today's guy. That's in our program right
Speaker 2: now at Camp Hope, which by the way, it is
Speaker 2: interim housing program of the PTSD Foundation of America. We
Speaker 2: bring veterans in from every era of combat. We have
Speaker 2: veterans from every branch. We haven't had space forcehet but
Speaker 2: it's coming. It'll happen with these days, but anyway, combat
Speaker 2: related post traumatic stress. The program is designed to be
Speaker 2: six to nine months in length. Some take a little
Speaker 2: bit longer than that, based on a number of issues circumstances.
Speaker 2: But the point of that simply is it's not a
Speaker 2: quick let's sit around the camp fires and kumba and
Speaker 2: then everything's good. It is an intensive program. It's all
Speaker 2: at zero cost to the veteran or their family. But
Speaker 2: I want to introduce you to Lawrence Lornt. You want
Speaker 2: to introduce yourself to the world. Aye, there's a chance, man,
Speaker 2: jump on a go for it.
Speaker 5: My name is Lawrence Brave, Born and raised Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 5: I served ten years in the US Army down at
Speaker 5: Fort Stewart, third Infantry Division, went to a RAQ, served
Speaker 5: there for three years of my life. Came back with
Speaker 5: some scars, came back with some wounds that I didn't
Speaker 5: even know I had, you know, went through two marriages
Speaker 5: and my second marriage now got two beautiful children. And
Speaker 5: it is just time for me to find my path
Speaker 5: in life and get my.
Speaker 3: Life back with God and see what else holds. You know.
Speaker 5: I hold dear to my heart and let it out
Speaker 5: and be who I used to be before the trauma
Speaker 5: set into my life.
Speaker 2: And we're gonna get into a little bit of that
Speaker 2: a long way. We're gonna have to rag a little
Speaker 2: bit Georgia it's just I was like, oh my gosh. Really. Anyway,
Speaker 2: as we do go through the course of the show,
Speaker 2: we want you to know and understand some of these
Speaker 2: things can be triggering. Not the Atlanta, Georgia part, but
Speaker 2: some of the serious stuff. Eight seven seven seven one
Speaker 2: seven seventy eight seventy three is our Combat Trauma Support
Speaker 2: Line Answer twenty four to seven by a combat vet,
Speaker 2: someone who's been through our program received additional training. A
Speaker 2: combat vet will answer the phone when you call eight
Speaker 2: seven seven seven seven seventy eight seventy three. We'll be
Speaker 2: right back with more of Road to Hope Radio. How
Speaker 2: often do you seem to have the bat film these days?
Speaker 4: You know, I kind of miss having it as often
Speaker 4: as we used to. I used to love having it
Speaker 4: like every week, sometimes three days a week.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: We had this old like iPhone six and you just
Speaker 4: walk in your office. There's only a few mentors and
Speaker 4: we all shared it and it just end up on
Speaker 4: your desk and you're like, what the heck? I just
Speaker 4: had it for three days. But today about every once
Speaker 4: a month, so it's a lot better. I got a lot
Speaker 4: more staff and it's fantastic answering that thing. But sometimes
Speaker 4: it's in the middle.
Speaker 2: Of your work day.
Speaker 4: If you deal with a you know, a crisis online.
Speaker 4: You know, with the guy, it's it's a tough maybe
Speaker 4: where's you out.
Speaker 2: Yeah. We used to carry him a sign them for
Speaker 2: two weeks at a time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because that's good training. That's waiting for me.
Speaker 2: Because there was three of us. So it's just kind
Speaker 2: of the way it worked out. Welcome back to Road
Speaker 2: to Hope. Ray, You're glad to have you along again. Reminder,
Speaker 2: wherever you listen to podcasts, just look for Road to
Speaker 2: Hope Radio hit that subscribe button. We would truly truly
Speaker 2: appreciate it. It is Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day. To me,
Speaker 2: that's the greatest, most important day in the history of
Speaker 2: the world, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, conquering death, hell,
Speaker 2: the grave, victory signs sealed and delivered paid for one
Speaker 2: hundred percent, and our organization we are a faith based
Speaker 2: and christ centered organization. With that said, no one coming
Speaker 2: into the organization or any way, shape or form part
Speaker 2: of the organization has to agree to some sort of
Speaker 2: creed or has to agree to even be Christian. Just
Speaker 2: we've had a little bit of everything come through our doors.
Speaker 2: But there's so many lessons from Scripture and certainly lessons
Speaker 2: from Christ, and the greatest lesson of all a lesson
Speaker 2: from the day of New Life. That's what we get
Speaker 2: to celebrate today. And I'm going to dip into the
Speaker 2: mail bag here for just a second. And then Brandon,
Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you a question that don't overthink.
Speaker 2: It's it's in your wheelhouse, all right, so you'll be
Speaker 2: good to go. But I want to dip into the mailbag.
Speaker 2: I received a message last Sunday. Actually, I don't know
Speaker 2: if you'd remember this. I won't say his name on
Speaker 2: Eric because I haven't asked this permission. I'll take later
Speaker 2: see if you're remember him. This veteran came into Camp
Speaker 2: Hope in twenty twenty one, so if I remember correctly,
Speaker 2: it was Fall twenty one and exited in May twenty two.
Speaker 2: But here's what he said twenty twenty one was I
Speaker 2: was at Camp Hope. Now five I'm in Orlando being
Speaker 2: celebrated for national MVP, top three percent of the company
Speaker 2: in my new career and finance. By the way, it's
Speaker 2: one of the top four banks in America. It's a major, major,
Speaker 2: bank and he just hit top three percent. Anyway, I
Speaker 2: would have never had this opportunity or found this career,
Speaker 2: which I truly love, if it wasn't for Camp Hope
Speaker 2: giving me the time and help I needed to get
Speaker 2: not just my life back, but a life I never
Speaker 2: imagined for myself. I love that. I love that he
Speaker 2: said it that way, a life I never imagined for myself.
Speaker 2: Just wanted to share a good story today. Thanks for
Speaker 2: all y'all have done. A life you never imagined. We
Speaker 2: see that a lot of Camp and I think today,
Speaker 2: you know, Easter new Life. I think that represents it
Speaker 2: just perfectly. So tell me your version of what new
Speaker 2: life looks like for you coming through Camp Hope and
Speaker 2: what you've been able to do since then.
Speaker 4: Oh man, you did not make it easy, okay deep Okay,
Speaker 4: So first off, that story kind of hits me because
Speaker 4: you know, there's so many guys, including myself, that went
Speaker 4: through this program that had that that experience, and I've
Speaker 4: heard that story and I feel like that's why I
Speaker 4: work there right to give another man that opportunity it
Speaker 4: was given to me, and for me, the change is
Speaker 4: managing my PTSD. It's not gone away, but I can function.
Speaker 4: I can go to restaurants, I can be in crowds.
Speaker 4: I've even started two step in. I go out the
Speaker 4: country bars.
Speaker 3: Oh I'm so.
Speaker 4: I mean it's good for me, right, absolutely, new experiences.
Speaker 4: And I mean there's there's the the givens once you
Speaker 4: get your life together and you really heal from this
Speaker 4: stuff like the finances and the credit in the car.
Speaker 4: That's all the good stuff. But there's relationships, like unbelievable
Speaker 4: relationships with just men and women. Friends. Just I got
Speaker 4: a host of friends. I got a fellowship where I'm safe,
Speaker 4: I'm protected. You know, they get me. And I mean
Speaker 4: I don't feel depressed every day. You know, I'm not
Speaker 4: using drugs. I'm not trying to kill myself. That that
Speaker 4: success today is really being a father to my son.
Speaker 4: You know, I put him through a lot when I
Speaker 4: got out, and he just he got the he got
Speaker 4: the raw deal, tell you the truth of Dad's PTSD.
Speaker 4: So those those are the blessings and it's just new life.
Speaker 4: I think different, I act different, I talk different. My
Speaker 4: kiddo actually believes in God today because he saw God
Speaker 4: work in me and he had trouble with it, and
Speaker 4: he's believing in science and like, but he saw an
Speaker 4: evident change, like there's something to this god thing. So
Speaker 4: for me, that's that's the new creation. And I mean,
Speaker 4: people don't recognize me from my past. It's fantastic and
Speaker 4: I love that part of it. I don't want them
Speaker 4: to see that old man who I was before.
Speaker 2: You know, I would like, just for another minute, if
Speaker 2: you don't mind not to rehash Brandon's life prior to
Speaker 2: Camp Hope. That's not the point of this. But it
Speaker 2: was not pleasant. Will we always say this about guys
Speaker 2: coming in and no one comes in on a winning streak,
Speaker 2: So I would give you this to another one up
Speaker 2: for you. There's somebody out there listening that's struggling with
Speaker 2: whether it's PTSD, depression, whatever, they're struggling. And my thing is,
Speaker 2: I hear these stories so many times, and I hear
Speaker 2: of the struggles and whether it's suicide attempts or jail
Speaker 2: and legal issues and broken relationships and all that stuff
Speaker 2: that comes along with it, and all that train wreck
Speaker 2: that goes on for years sometimes before they finally go
Speaker 2: get some help. Whether it's Camp Hope or wherever, it
Speaker 2: doesn't matter, just all that happens between the trauma and
Speaker 2: the time I actually go get help to deal with it.
Speaker 2: What would you say to that guy that's in the
Speaker 2: middle of that right now and he's scared the death,
Speaker 2: to pick up the phone, to make the call.
Speaker 4: Fight through it. Just call back on your military experience,
Speaker 4: call back on your deployments. I promise you've been through
Speaker 4: things in your life. Pull from that face the fear,
Speaker 4: call someone, reach out. It will change your life. There
Speaker 4: is hope, There is many men that you can relate to.
Speaker 4: I have relief from it. And I thought I was
Speaker 4: screwed for life, right I got PTSD, I got a TBI,
Speaker 4: got this blast, you know, I got all these other issues.
Speaker 4: I want to kill myself. I'm angry all the time.
Speaker 4: I don't fit into society. That's how I felt. But
Speaker 4: once I got help, it was a process and a journey.
Speaker 4: But I just I encourage you to reach out and it.
Speaker 4: Just take that first step and just just trust the process,
Speaker 4: because it can't get any worse. If your where I
Speaker 4: was right now, and you're setting in that pit of misery,
Speaker 4: in that whole of darkness, why not give it a try.
Speaker 4: Reach out?
Speaker 2: And it is difficult, I think for many I've heard
Speaker 2: many say it's the most difficult thing they ever did.
Speaker 2: But when you think, we're back to Easter here for
Speaker 2: a second. If Easter is the greatest day in the world,
Speaker 2: and it represents the new life, and that's what we want.
Speaker 2: It's what you just talked about in your own personal experience,
Speaker 2: your new life. That's a post getting help from your
Speaker 2: combat trauma. You don't get there without first there being
Speaker 2: it's commonly known as Good Friday. There's no resurrection without
Speaker 2: the crucifixion. Nobody wants the crucifixion. Nobody wants to surrender.
Speaker 2: But you want the victory, you have to surrender. And
Speaker 2: that's so backwards for you military guys, but it's the
Speaker 2: way it goes with Jesus. Jesus everything he taught was
Speaker 2: backwards what the world thinks. If you want to be first,
Speaker 2: you gotta be last. You want to serve, you gotta
Speaker 2: want to be served, you gotta serve. It's just the
Speaker 2: way it is with him. But yeah, it's got to
Speaker 2: be a there's got to be a daya surrender. You
Speaker 2: gotta I give up. My way is not more cutting it.
Speaker 2: Pick out the phone eight seven seven seven one, seven,
Speaker 2: seventy eight, seventy three the website because we have not
Speaker 2: only not everybody needs Camp Hoope. I gotta say that
Speaker 2: not everybody needs Camp Hope, but we do have support groups.
Speaker 2: We have support groups for family members, law enforcement, first responders.
Speaker 2: All that information is online PTSD post traumatic stress Disorder
Speaker 2: PTSDUSA dot org, all free. We'll be right back with
Speaker 2: more Road Hope Radio, and we welcome you back to
Speaker 2: Road to Hope Radio. David Malsby Here, we got Brandon
Speaker 2: and it starts the Army Vet lead mentor Camp Hope Lawrence,
Speaker 2: my State's Army VET current resident program at Camp Hope.
Speaker 2: Lawrence met you know a little bit about you. Don't
Speaker 2: know your whole life story, but what I do know
Speaker 2: of you is post combat post PTSD diagnosis in some
Speaker 2: of the trouble to come along with that introduced me
Speaker 2: to pre combat Lawrence.
Speaker 5: Oh wow, pre combat Lawrence was a lot different. I
Speaker 5: was very outgoing. I was the class clown when I
Speaker 5: was in high school.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: The whole thing was about me even joining the military
Speaker 5: is my mom. You know, I grew up in a
Speaker 5: very traditional, strict home. My mom would ground me if
Speaker 5: I made less than eighty five the report card.
Speaker 2: Because she was a Georgia Tech Gut graduate where you grounded.
Speaker 3: Up, Yes, I was.
Speaker 5: She grounded me a lot. I didn't do the high
Speaker 5: school parties. It was just sports in schoolwork. She kept
Speaker 5: me safe, though, I will say that she kept me
Speaker 5: safe from a lot of the outside world. I think
Speaker 5: that was a big problem in my life because I
Speaker 5: was so sheltered growing up in a broken home and
Speaker 5: then having just my mom and having her as my
Speaker 5: guidance counselor. You would say she protected me from everything,
Speaker 5: like so sheltered, like you see in the movies.
Speaker 3: Everybody like that show that.
Speaker 4: Sheltered parent, and she like wrap you and bubble rap
Speaker 4: before you went out. She wasn't that bad. I know.
Speaker 5: I got my hands smashed at a soccer match in
Speaker 5: high school and she come running out in the field.
Speaker 4: I'm like, go away, go away. That's like almost close
Speaker 4: to the ball.
Speaker 2: Rack. Always her curfew in high school, well as.
Speaker 5: A kid, it was until the street light came right,
Speaker 5: and then in high school, well she would say come in.
Speaker 5: I'd have to stay in after dinner, but I'd sneak
Speaker 5: back out through the window.
Speaker 2: Oh there we go.
Speaker 3: But Yeah, she was.
Speaker 5: Very inspirational in my life pre army, but she sadly
Speaker 5: passed away when I decided to go from the reserves
Speaker 5: to active duty in two thousand and eight. So yeah,
Speaker 5: that was pretty traumatic.
Speaker 2: While you were in after your first apployment.
Speaker 4: Yes, before your second. Yes.
Speaker 2: So you mentioned sports, and you mentioned in soccer, which
Speaker 2: I think is a sin. But anyway, we'll talk about
Speaker 2: that later. What was your sport?
Speaker 5: Well, soccer was one, but then I also played football
Speaker 5: and baseball as well.
Speaker 4: Okay, soccer even a sport in Texas.
Speaker 2: I think it's like punishment.
Speaker 4: Running up and down constantly cross country.
Speaker 2: You're doing. No one ever scores, like what is the point?
Speaker 4: I like baseball. It was intended to and in one
Speaker 4: inning and it could flip exactly a score, a run
Speaker 4: after run.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a great soccer game is one Nils like, no, no,
Speaker 2: thank you, I'm I'm.
Speaker 3: It's exciting nobody.
Speaker 2: It's that big net over there. Come on, it's a
Speaker 2: big net too, Like quick, can't somebody on the net?
Speaker 4: You know a game? That's fine, it's hockey, even if
Speaker 4: they oh.
Speaker 2: Much so NHL Live. I don't think there's anything like it,
Speaker 2: and I you know, I've never played hockey in my life.
Speaker 2: I'm a baseball guy. But live NHL.
Speaker 4: That's exactingly sport, very nascily you know.
Speaker 2: Well, I remember the first game I went to. Uh,
Speaker 2: people on the front row are just banging on the
Speaker 2: glass screaming for blood on the ice, that they were
Speaker 2: not going to be happy until there's blood on the ice,
Speaker 2: Like that's this is this is a fun sports. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: baseball football, which was your best football?
Speaker 3: Football was definitely my best baseball.
Speaker 5: Yeah, just filled in that void so I didn't have
Speaker 5: to go home look up time.
Speaker 2: Yes, what was your position?
Speaker 3: I was a wide receiver.
Speaker 5: Okay, that's why I've got humongous legs for a skinny guy.
Speaker 2: Decent hands, Oh yeah, I was.
Speaker 3: I could catch anything back then.
Speaker 5: I don't know about now I touched the football in
Speaker 5: a couple of years, but yeah, back then, I was
Speaker 5: running probably in high school. I think I ran like
Speaker 5: a four nine, So it was I was pretty fast
Speaker 5: and had handed very sticky fingers.
Speaker 3: To catch a football. You would say.
Speaker 5: Even had a referee come look at my gloves one
Speaker 5: time to think that I had glue on my gloves
Speaker 5: in a high school match.
Speaker 3: He did.
Speaker 4: He's yes, he think he could catch a baby. Like,
Speaker 4: let's say you were just hanging out and this woman
Speaker 4: was about to have a baby and just deliver it.
Speaker 4: Do you think with those hands you could deliver a baby?
Speaker 5: Oh yes, sure, I protected my daughter going down twenty
Speaker 5: flight of stairs in an instant football.
Speaker 2: There you go. Your hands. Cut some jambalaya this week
Speaker 2: at Campo.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, it was delicious.
Speaker 2: We had a group of folks out from Amigy Bank
Speaker 2: and they painted a house. Uh the inside one of
Speaker 2: the houses is being refurbished right now. Did some inventory
Speaker 2: in the storage and some dude from Amigy is legit
Speaker 2: from Louisiana. I didn't get to eat any but I
Speaker 2: saw a lot of smiles on a lot of faces,
Speaker 2: and everybody said, that's one of the best, if not
Speaker 2: the best, they've ever had.
Speaker 4: Such a good thing.
Speaker 2: Cool, that's so good.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's a big bank and they for them
Speaker 4: to come out and do that paint a house, I mean,
Speaker 4: let me just take a time out and go paint
Speaker 4: a house and cook for these people and go through
Speaker 4: the supply room. And they were all over our campus
Speaker 4: just fantastic.
Speaker 2: And they had they had as much fun as the
Speaker 2: guys did. Eating the gym be life. Yeah, they were
Speaker 2: thrilled to death to be there. They're like, thank you
Speaker 2: for having us volunteer course, if you worked at the bank,
Speaker 2: I don't want to get out every now and then too,
Speaker 2: I'll paint a house. Yes, sign me up for that.
Speaker 4: Probably make a lot of money too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they had a great time, but it was great
Speaker 2: to see them. And I mentioned that because we do
Speaker 2: have a lot of companies that different employee groups within
Speaker 2: a company might come out and do some volunteer work
Speaker 2: at Camp Hope. There are so many opportunities to do that.
Speaker 2: And yes, you do get to have some interaction. It's
Speaker 2: obviously not free for all at our place, but you
Speaker 2: will have some opportunity and have some interaction with some
Speaker 2: of those in our program and certainly with our staff
Speaker 2: who are graduates of the program. So it's a great
Speaker 2: opportunity for you to support what happens at Camp Hope
Speaker 2: and supporting our combat veterans, but also do something it's
Speaker 2: very meaningful. It's it's the primary way to two overcome
Speaker 2: some of your own issues. I have people ask me
Speaker 2: from time to time like they're going through a tough
Speaker 2: time or struggle. They're in a dark place for whatever reason.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's results of their own choices, maybe it's things
Speaker 2: out of their control. But they're just in a funk
Speaker 2: and can't quite seem to get a way out. And
Speaker 2: I'll have them ask me, what do you do? How
Speaker 2: do you get out of this? And will I always
Speaker 2: say look around for somebody you can help. There's always
Speaker 2: somebody you can help. And there's something selfish to it
Speaker 2: because I know when you do it, it's going to
Speaker 2: make you feel good. Well, that's not the worst thing
Speaker 2: in the world to feel good like. There's an know
Speaker 2: that's not a sin. I used to be taught it was,
Speaker 2: but it's not when you're doing it the right way
Speaker 2: and doing the right thing some legal, moral, you know, ethical. Uh,
Speaker 2: find somebody else to help. So you know, for your
Speaker 2: your group, you're you're looking for team team building opportunities.
Speaker 2: Come volunteer at Camp Hope. You not only impact a
Speaker 2: lot of veterans lives, but you'll impact your fellow employees.
Speaker 2: So just another way to encourage folks PTSDUSA dot org.
Speaker 2: All right, so your mom you mentioned she wasn't happy
Speaker 2: when you transferred from reserve to active. Yes. So was
Speaker 2: she for you joining the reserves? Oh?
Speaker 5: Yeah, she because I grew up in a very poor family.
Speaker 5: So she of course wanted me to go to college
Speaker 5: like her. But she knew the only way I could
Speaker 5: go to college, you know, go join the military, get
Speaker 5: your mond yep, And so I did. I completed basic
Speaker 5: training two months before the Twin Towers got hit, and
Speaker 5: she kind of changed her tune after that because you know,
Speaker 5: we were still kind of peace time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, before nine to eleven.
Speaker 3: But you know, I was eighteen years old.
Speaker 5: I was gung ho about it, you know, patriotic, you
Speaker 5: know what what happened that day.
Speaker 3: I was ready to go. But yeah, she wasn't, of.
Speaker 2: Course not, and I don't think any mother.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so hell it was. So your first appointment was
Speaker 2: oh six, yes, so are you? And all right?
Speaker 5: First employment was there thirteen months where though we were
Speaker 5: in over Ramadi hit vict you know byop mostly and
Speaker 5: then we went to the Green Zone because of my
Speaker 5: mos So I was all.
Speaker 3: Over the place.
Speaker 2: So in west won't mean thing to anybody listening. So
Speaker 2: just what were you doing?
Speaker 3: I was a ninety one Juliet so I was a
Speaker 3: chemical weapon.
Speaker 4: Specialist.
Speaker 5: So I was always attached to either Ranger Regiment or
Speaker 5: Special Forces Unit or EOD, you know, always checking everything
Speaker 5: to make sure you know there wasn't chemicals or a
Speaker 5: chemical weapon. Always had an decon apparatus on nearby stand
Speaker 5: by in case something bad happens. I can save people's lives,
Speaker 5: kind of like a chemical version of a medic kind
Speaker 5: of situation.
Speaker 4: Got you sounds pretty dangerous.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, there's no stress in that job. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and then whatsoever. All right, We're gonna have to take
Speaker 2: one more break and we'll come back and finish up
Speaker 2: with chatting with Lawrence and Brandon. Glad to have you long,
Speaker 2: hang hang on tight. We'll right back with more of
Speaker 2: Road Hope Radio, and we welcome you back Road to
Speaker 2: Hope Radio on this Easter Sunday. Those of you listening
Speaker 2: on the KPRC nine to five OHO and the AM
Speaker 2: dialar here in Houston, Texas. Those of you listening through
Speaker 2: the Magical Podcast, thank you for listening and for sharing
Speaker 2: talking with Lawrence and Brandon, both the United States Army
Speaker 2: Veterans Combat Veterans PTSD and Lawrence, We've laughed a lot,
Speaker 2: and I don't want to get too dark here. But
Speaker 2: let's talk a little bit about as I mentioned, welcome,
Speaker 2: nobody comes to camp Hope on a winning streak. So
Speaker 2: first apployment's six rather lengthy one. For your second when
Speaker 2: you lose your mother, second employment, rather lengthy one. Not
Speaker 2: a pleasant experience. There's a lot of trauma in war
Speaker 2: that can go on, and said, we'll just leave it
Speaker 2: there for now. You bring some of that home. Did
Speaker 2: you recognize something was going on early or did it
Speaker 2: take a while.
Speaker 3: Oh, it definitely took a while.
Speaker 5: Like I didn't even notice it even up until about
Speaker 5: two maybe three years ago, until my wife had pointed
Speaker 5: it out.
Speaker 2: And what was she pointing out?
Speaker 5: How distant I was becoming isolating myself.
Speaker 3: The biggest thing she said.
Speaker 5: Was I was there physically, but I wasn't there mentally
Speaker 5: or emotionally for her and our kids. And when she
Speaker 5: told me that, I you know I that back then,
Speaker 5: I was just like, No, there's no way, there's you know,
Speaker 5: there's always somebody worse off than me.
Speaker 3: You know, it's just my emotions. They'll go away, you know,
Speaker 3: I'll I'll be who I was before.
Speaker 5: It's just temporary, And it wasn't This was a couple
Speaker 5: of years ago. Yeah, she told me. It hit start
Speaker 5: hitting around late twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: How many children you have, Yeah, we have two.
Speaker 3: A son and a daughter, Aspen and Barrett.
Speaker 5: Held Aspen will be seven in June, Happy birthday baby.
Speaker 5: And my son, Barrett will be thirteen in November. And
Speaker 5: then my wife just had her birthday last month, so
Speaker 5: she's looking good.
Speaker 3: Love you, Haley.
Speaker 2: Isolation is one of those those are the big red flags.
Speaker 2: When someone starts to isolating you, somebody better reach out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and get some help.
Speaker 5: She told me numerous times that I needed to get help,
Speaker 5: you know, more than just the VA. She felt like
Speaker 5: I needed to go to a program that you know,
Speaker 5: specifically helps veterans in that area, because you know VIA
Speaker 5: they deal with so many people. Did you go to
Speaker 5: the VIA, Yes, I went to them numerous times, but
Speaker 5: it was just I just felt like I didn't get
Speaker 5: anything from it. It was just like, you know, answer
Speaker 5: these questions and then okay, teleconference over.
Speaker 4: I had a bunch of drugs from the VAY.
Speaker 2: Did they diagnose you?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 2: With that? Did they do anything or just say here's
Speaker 2: what you got?
Speaker 5: They basically said, here you have PTSD along with depression
Speaker 5: and anxiety. You know, here's some medication, and you know
Speaker 5: your therapist will reach out to you once a month teleconference,
Speaker 5: and that was it, so not really ever in person
Speaker 5: getting you know, and it just festered inside of me
Speaker 5: more and more every day, and my PTS just got
Speaker 5: worse to the point where I didn't even know who
Speaker 5: I was anymore. And it affected my marriage and my
Speaker 5: life with my children, and man, it takes a toll
Speaker 5: on you.
Speaker 2: I'm a firm believer that's it's not not the cast
Speaker 2: blame on anybody. It's just the VA is overwhelmed. There's
Speaker 2: no there's no two ways about it. But I think
Speaker 2: the diagnosis, the writing of multiple prescriptions, which are all
Speaker 2: chemicals that you're now putting into your body that are
Speaker 2: designed to change things. Right, and we'll talk to you
Speaker 2: on camera in a month, it's like, well, what happens
Speaker 2: during that month because all those chemicals are starting to
Speaker 2: go to work and they are changing things. And I'm
Speaker 2: a firm believer. That's why we end up losing so
Speaker 2: many veterans to whether it's overdose or suicide. We're unnecessarily
Speaker 2: losing them because they're constantly getting either a change in
Speaker 2: the cocktail of medications or a change in dosage, and
Speaker 2: well let's try this, well let's try that, Like, well,
Speaker 2: this is a human being. What are we just throwing
Speaker 2: stuff around for? And then we're going to see in
Speaker 2: a month. I just it's got to be a better way.
Speaker 2: I'm firm believer there's a better way. But so you're
Speaker 2: diagnosed a couple of years ago.
Speaker 5: Wish twenty fifteen is oh, they diagnosed, and you know,
Speaker 5: they had me on zol off and all kinds of
Speaker 5: other things.
Speaker 2: How long did you stay trying with the VA.
Speaker 5: I think fifteen all the way up to about twenty
Speaker 5: eighteen after my daughter was born. And then I was
Speaker 5: just like, you know what, it's not helping, you know.
Speaker 2: Could you just stop the medication? Okay? And no counseling
Speaker 2: or no.
Speaker 5: I just I gave it all up because it was
Speaker 5: I felt like it wasn't working.
Speaker 2: Usually something happens that spurs someone to decide to code
Speaker 2: to camp hope for six to nine months of their life.
Speaker 3: Yeah, call that like our d day.
Speaker 2: Yeah it was.
Speaker 5: It was a day of reckoning for me. My wife
Speaker 5: actually found you guys. The company we work for is
Speaker 5: actually based here in Houston, and she came out here
Speaker 5: in the early February for the manager's meeting, and she
Speaker 5: knew someone that had came through here before and he
Speaker 5: had told her, you know, hey, I think you should
Speaker 5: have send Lawrence there. I think it would really help
Speaker 5: him and benefit him. And so she called me up
Speaker 5: and was like, Hey, would you go to Camp Hope?
Speaker 5: And I didn't even think about it at that point
Speaker 5: in my life. I was like, yes, I'll go.
Speaker 2: You haven't been here long, you're still pretty early in
Speaker 2: the program. You've made it through blackface, So yeah, that's nice.
Speaker 2: It's really early in your program. So I hate to
Speaker 2: even ask, but yeah, can you tell a difference yet,
Speaker 2: Like just when you wake up in the morning, is
Speaker 2: there a difference in it's a new day, it's a
Speaker 2: new opportunity.
Speaker 5: I can say without a doubt, yes, we did, you know,
Speaker 5: constructive criticism yesterday. And so, you know, all the peers
Speaker 5: were like, you know, Lawrence, when you came here, you
Speaker 5: were depressed, you were sad, you were so focused on
Speaker 5: the things that you did wrong in your marriage and
Speaker 5: before your trauma from war. And they're like, now, dude,
Speaker 5: you walk around with a smile on your face, You're
Speaker 5: hugging everybody, you're shaking hands, you're always helping others. Even
Speaker 5: my peers were like, you're doing an amazing job already.
Speaker 5: And I'm six and a half weeks in.
Speaker 2: Good Oh.
Speaker 4: I was just thinking.
Speaker 2: I was so I smiled. The smile is one of
Speaker 2: the first telltale signs for me. When I see somebody
Speaker 2: begin to smile, something's working.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the light's clicking on. Yeah, it's fantastic.
Speaker 2: They're doing the work.
Speaker 4: You can see isolation. I'll tell you anything about isolation.
Speaker 4: Isolation when you're a veteran and you're isolated when you
Speaker 4: get out, you were in such a dark place this
Speaker 4: whole but you're comfortable there. It's such a hard like
Speaker 4: when we're talking about reaching out for help, it's so
Speaker 4: hard to get out of that. And when you're in
Speaker 4: the military, you got this tribe. You get so close
Speaker 4: to other human beings more than most people ever wield
Speaker 4: their whole life. And I feel like if you've never
Speaker 4: had that, you don't really know what it is. But
Speaker 4: if you lose that, it's like a piece of your
Speaker 4: soul's gone. So that brotherhood's gone. You know, you don't
Speaker 4: know what you're missing if you don't got it. But
Speaker 4: once you've had that, So when they have that fellowship
Speaker 4: again at Brotherly Love and they're connected, they belong, they
Speaker 4: feel a part of that's usually when that smile kicks on, right,
Speaker 4: it's like a light like you just in the dark
Speaker 4: and you flip the light on.
Speaker 2: Well, I can't think both of you guys enough for
Speaker 2: being here today. It's the fastest hour of my week,
Speaker 2: every single week. It's just like, how in the world
Speaker 2: are we already done? But then both of you guys, dude,
Speaker 2: keep doing the work. Yeah, keep doing the work. Don't
Speaker 2: don't stop. Don't stop, Yeah, don't stop because I want to.
Speaker 2: I want to take the shortcut. Their short coats don't work. Nope, Complete,
Speaker 2: complete what you've begun again. PTSDUSA dot org for all
Speaker 2: information about our program at Camp Hope as well as
Speaker 2: our support groups for veterans for family members. Everything gets
Speaker 2: zero charged to the veteran or to their family. It's
Speaker 2: a it's a great easter. It's a great day to
Speaker 2: put the bottle down, to put the pills down, pick
Speaker 2: up the phone and call eight seven seven seven to one,
Speaker 2: seven seventy eight seventy three, You won't regret it. Thanks
Speaker 2: for joining us, looking forward to being with you again
Speaker 2: next week for more of Road to Hope Radio