WEBVTT - PROWESS AND PERSEVERANCE, PART 2: BOB WOODRUFF (ABC News) 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:04.800 We don't know. We can't know what combat feels like, 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:08.239 what we're turning home with life changing wounds feels like 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:12.040 unless we've been through that. And only about one percent 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:16.280 of Americans have seen war up close, but my guest has. 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:19.919 Bob Woodriff is an ABC News correspondent. He was embedded 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.040 with forces in Iraq when a roadside bomb almost took 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:26.639 his life and certainly altered his path and his purpose 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:31.080 and his families. My little my little daughter, Norah. I've 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:35.520 got twin adorable little girls, and they were five years 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:39.680 old when I was hit, and about six months after 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.680 I came back, still had all of these wounds all 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:46.760 over my body, and I couldn't remember a lot of things. Um, 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.559 and she my daughter asked me. She asked. She was 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:55.120 talking to my wife Lee, and she says, Mom, you know, ah, 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.279 Dad's head seems to have that because they cut off 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.760 part of my skullies. You've got that dented head. And 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:03.840 mom says, don't worry. That's they're going to put that 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:07.560 skull back on. It'll be fun. And mommy's got all 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:10.440 of these scars all over his back. Don't worry, sweet, 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:12.080 that'll get better. And my dad's got all these little 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:15.960 pieces of metal and rocks and implanted in the left 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.000 part of his jaw. She says, don't worry those popping 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.520 out one at a time. That's gonna be fine. And 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:25.240 she said, you know, mom noll, the I think my 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:29.360 dad loves me even more than he did before. Now, 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:33.000 whether that was an expression of it, um, maybe it 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:38.480 indicated something. I felt so lucky to be alive. The 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:40.520 tank Bob was riding and was hit by that I 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:43.560 e ed in early two thousand and six, just a 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.200 month after he earned the coveted co anchor chair in 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.400 ABC World News Tonight. He's still doing great work for 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:54.040 ABC News, but his injuries created another life mission, giving 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:57.240 aid and hope to wounded veterans, service members and their 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:01.320 families to the Bob Woodrow Foundation. We talked about what's 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.960 needed now and what we can do to support them. 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.680 What they really want is they want a job, you know, 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:10.080 they want to have their life better. Not just somebody 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.720 shouting out and say, you know you served, thank you 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:15.840 so much. But I'm not going to do anything more 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:17.240 than that. You know, I'm not going to do anything 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.920 else to help you. Uh. The big thing is not 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:23.200 just to say or to show how much you love them. 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:27.160 It's really more about doing something behind the curtain, to 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:32.200 do something for them. Bob believes recognizing and trusting in 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.480 the potential of veterans to use their skills and experiences 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:39.960 and do great things goes so far. Marine veteran Kiante's 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:43.160 story in the companion episode of this one said his 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:48.920 postcombat turning point was one person believing in him, and 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:51.320 he took it from there. There's a lot to take 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:54.639 away from this conversation with Bob Woodriff. Was great reconnecting 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.360 five years after learning so much from him covering the 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:01.560 Invictus Games together in two thousand and sixteen. Bob, thanks 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:03.440 for joining us. It's nice to reconnect with you. I 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.200 loved our brief time working together with the Invictus Games, 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:08.720 and I appreciate your time and your wisdom and your 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.600 expertise on this. Yeah, Chris, it's great to see you 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:13.680 again or listen to you again. I don't know what 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:17.919 defense of his audio or video both, but I think 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:21.360 that shedding light on the issues that we're gonna get 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.960 into is important. So let's start with this. You you 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.240 were a war correspondent for about a decade you saw 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:31.680 up close the Iraq conflict. You've had other experiences with 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:36.279 with people in combat. What is not understood or appreciated 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:39.640 enough by those of us that have not had that 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.440 experience about the nature of those kinds of conflicts, you know, 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:45.800 it's it's interesting that, yes, if you go and you 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.520 embed with the military out in a in a war zone, 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:52.400 you get very close to them. But it's not just 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.920 the people of America that don't have the chance to 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.160 go and and experience this and get to get to 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:01.680 know them, you know, they're in the war zones. It's 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.440 interesting in our country that we have very little contact 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.480 with the military, those of us on the civilian world. 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:12.440 It's well below one percent of Americans, you know, serve 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:15.440 in the military, So you don't get a chance to 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:17.640 really get to know them very well unless you have 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.080 the opportunity opportunity to do so, whether you're visiting a 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.360 base or if you happen to be alongside them when 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:26.760 they're when they're engaged in war. So it's it's it's 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:30.320 it's really different than than it was historically. When you 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:32.400 look back when we're young, you know, you and I 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:36.159 were growing up in the has Has young teenagers, you know, 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:38.479 and at the time of the Vietnam War where people 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:43.200 got to contact with them, World War two, Korean War, 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:45.920 even the numbers are very high percentage wise. But now 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:48.640 it's just so small and the voluntary military that we 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:51.760 just don't have that much of a relationship with those 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.680 in the in the forces. We hear about wars, but 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:58.000 I think our understanding is of war at a thirty 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:01.040 thousand foot level. We have a general idea that many 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:03.839 thousands are involved, a bunch of money is involved. We 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:07.240 have a vague idea about what the overall mission is 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.600 as it's expressed to us. But the day to day, 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:14.919 what it's like, what their experiences, those of the personnel 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.840 that are fighting these wars, no understanding at all. You've 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:21.200 got a chance to see that up close, well, you know. 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:25.000 It's it's interesting though, Chris, that we had more coverage 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.760 of the when the when the wars were peaking in 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.520 the Rock and Afghanistan, because we had so much embedding, 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:35.520 we had the chance to broadcast more, put it out 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.320 on radio and really get a sense of what it 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.000 was like to be engaged compared to certainly compared you know, 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:46.200 to some of the more religious more wars that were 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:49.520 not long befine before this, you know, so we had 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:51.840 a chance to be there a lot of people covering it. 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.920 But you know, it's it's different the world and they 0:05:56.360 --> 0:06:00.520 the personality when you're actually fighting out there's different than 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.360 what you're like when you come back and you engage 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:07.200 and the military goes back into you know, the veterans 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.280 go back into the civilian world. It's uh, you know, 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.400 it's just it's a different world. It's an isolation. You know. 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:15.920 They just don't get the chance to get any attention 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.080 or coverage when they're back and they're not fighting out 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.680 there in the fields and on the sand. So you know, yeah, 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.440 it's it's a it's something so much that America needs 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.520 to learn more about the lives of those veterans, Not 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.800 so much really when they're in the in the in 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.080 the war, but when they come back and they're living 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.880 in a normal, ordinary life like the rest of us. 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.080 And that's exactly what I want to talk about today, 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:46.560 because the military civilian component of this is enormous. The 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.560 the mindset of those who do the fighting. What is 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.120 not well understood about that. I mean, it's it's it's 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.960 a broad question, I know, But for those of us 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:59.400 that have not been in combat, not seeing what they do, 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:02.560 seeing what they were turning from, and have no understanding 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.920 about why the adjustment is so difficult. UM take take 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:08.440 us inside an armored vehicle and inside the heads of 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.400 those guys as best you can. You know, I am 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:13.840 I embedded twice. I came in the invasion of a 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:17.640 Rock back in two thousand three with the with the Marines, 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.440 first L A. R. And then the second time I 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:25.920 embedded was when I was hit, which was with the 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:30.160 Army with a fourth Infantry in two thousand and six 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.440 in January, which is when we were hit, you know, 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:36.960 And that when I only and the first time I embedded, 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:40.680 I was there for for months with them preparing for 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:43.120 the invasion and after the invasion, and this time I 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:47.760 had actually come in in about five days before we 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.960 were ultimately hit and and wounded. I was only really 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:55.040 with them for about five days and that was experienced 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.120 not inside a tank most of the time. But we 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:02.119 were going village to villa just to try to learn 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.760 more about what the Iraqis needed and wanted so we 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:09.960 could ultimately the US could ultimately hand the power over 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:12.640 and the responsibility over to the Iraqi military, so we 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.320 were out there with both both both the US forces 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:20.040 and the Iraqi forces. So I the life in there 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:23.600 was very short lived. In the first l a R 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:25.520 and the vehicle on the way into the invasion, that 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.320 was one we've learned. We learned how to eat the 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.400 boxes of food, we learned how to uh, you know, 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.080 let's go to the bathroom, you know, on the sand, 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:36.400 in all sorts of ways. You know. We just couldn't 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.960 get out of the vehicle for eleven hours at a times, 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.400 just because we didn't want to be exposed to possible 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:48.600 explosions i e. D. You know, improvised explosive devices, so 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:51.280 we had to be somewhat cautious about that. So it's 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:55.520 two very different experiences for me h going in with 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:58.040 the Marines and then going out with the army. The 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.240 experience when you're hit, you're in an Iraqi town, inc 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:02.800 As you've told it, you you poke your head out 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:04.840 of the top of the vehicle to do a stand up, 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.240 which is an on camera because the audio wasn't great 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.840 the first time, and then boom um, everything about your 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:16.800 life when the course sort of changes in an instant there. Yeah, 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:18.679 you know, I have some regrets about it. I mean, 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.280 that's that's absolutely the case. People ask me, would you 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:26.720 have advice that if there was a an explosion or 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.480 the possibility of an explosion and you were out there 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:31.960 in the sand, I said, well, make sure you duck 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:36.880 after it's because it was. I was hit very badly 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:40.319 on the left side of my of my my head, 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.880 so it knocked me out instantly, and I then I 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.360 fell back into the tank and I actually woke up 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.240 for about one minute before you know, the expansion of 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:51.680 my brain ultimately knocked me out for the next thirty 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.960 six days. But when I went inside, I saw my 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:57.679 other team, my my producer and my sound man am 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:01.880 I and my shooter that that, uh, we're down there. 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:05.920 They're all fine ish. Actually, my cameraman, Doug Vote was 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:08.640 really badly hit too, but he did not go unconscious 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:10.600 at the time. And I turned to them and I said, 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.600 are we still alive? And they said, uh, yeah, we're alive. 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.199 And that's the last thing I remembered until I woke up, 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.959 you know in March. You know, this was January twenty 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.440 nine that was hit, So it was three thirty six 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:28.840 days later. It was. It was. It was an explosion 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:33.640 that kind of ultimately taught me a topic in details 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:37.760 that I never would have had any idea what to understand. 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:39.920 I did not understand them before. I didn't know what 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.880 an improvised explosive device was in terms of what it, 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:45.360 what it, what happens if you're hit by it. I 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:49.600 knew what they were, I just didn't know really what 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:52.320 the life was like when you were ultimately wounded in 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:54.640 a war. So it was a brand new topic that 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:59.160 I suddenly in an instant, became a student in. And uh, 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.640 it's been now slightly more than fifteen years since this happened. 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:07.320 Do you want to dive into what you lost but 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:09.800 also what you gained that experience because you just hit it, 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:13.080 not it. But I do think that when you went 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:17.080 through what far too many soldiers go through that kind 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.920 of injury, you gain an understanding that only someone who's 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:23.760 been through it can and that's allowed you to trying 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:25.439 to light on it, make a connection with them through 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.480 your foundation. And obviously we'll get to all that, but 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:31.320 you you now understand things in a way that very 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:36.160 very few thankfully civilians can. Yeah, you know there are 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.240 there are you know that's that's funny you say that, Chris, 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:40.160 because there's there are people that asked me that too. 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:44.640 Is there's obviously downsides, negative parts of getting hit us, 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:48.520 and there are some positive things that can happen in 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:52.240 your life that give you a different opportunity because you 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:54.800 really have to get off the old path that you 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:58.400 were on. It's really hard for everybody that's wounded to 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:02.199 give in to this and to admit or just face 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.559 the reality that you cannot do exactly the same thing 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:07.880 that you used to be able to do. I had 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:12.079 I had a loss of memory because of this blast 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.560 on the left side of my brain. I had never 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:18.960 lost I've not lost the opportunity to think and understand things. 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.400 I just can't come up with the words. So and 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:24.600 I sometimes I said, I wish I wish I had 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.839 more of a physical career that I was on, like 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.680 a like a surgeon, where I could just figure out 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.679 how to how to rebuild your knees and things, because 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:35.839 I don't really need to know the names of all 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.600 those joints that the patients would not like that idea 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:41.640 where I'd asked them, you know, what's the name of 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:43.360 that neat thing? You have there. I can't, but I 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.360 could physically fix it because I didn't need to have 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.480 words for it. So I lost my opportunity. So I 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.440 was really instantly give having that I was. I was 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:55.280 a reporter. I had to go live and report like you, Chris, 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.720 and I just I just lost the ability to make 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.240 sure I got the names right, you know, already, to 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:04.040 remember the name I came out, you said, remembering the 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.360 names of your kids and your brothers, and the states 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.400 and the presidents. And it just wasn't there, which obviously, 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.560 in its own way, is as a terrifying new reality. 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:16.360 Thankfully that that has faded, right, Yeah, that I mean, 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:18.600 this is it. It's like night and day. What what 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:20.880 life was like when I had just woken up. You know, 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:22.600 I just couldn't remember the name of two of my 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:27.679 four kids, pretty sad um. I could remember other names 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.000 that I never to that to this day, I don't 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.520 understand why were those ones? Names that I can remember 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:35.920 are words that I can remember, and other ones I didn't. 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.400 But the problem is I didn't have so many um, 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:43.120 so many words that I could use to finish my point, 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.680 and it was just really quite embarrassing in the beginning 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:47.040 of that. So I I knew I had to get 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:51.560 out of exactly this the kind of reporting I did before. Um, 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.680 but it took me a long time to realize. You know, 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:57.560 I'm not going to anchor World News tonight again. I'm 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.840 not going to be covering the Why House where there's 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.679 moments where I couldn't remember the name of the vice president. 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:06.319 You know, I knew that I couldn't do that because 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.040 I had a it's called a phasia, which is really 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.040 the blast to the left part of the of the 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.920 head um. You know, you can get hit a different 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:16.280 angles of your brain. You can get you know, depression. 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.040 If it's hit on this side, you can hear, you know, 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:21.520 you can lose languages and words. You can hit on 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:24.680 the left side. Uh, you know, there's depression from difference. 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:27.560 So there's different things about the brand I didn't know 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:29.920 about before, And suddenly I knew that I had to 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.920 change change my path. Almost miraculous you survived. You talked 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:37.480 about the medical care you received right on the spot, 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.600 and then at the various hospitals. We become incredibly good 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.600 at keeping people alive and dealing with the immediate physical 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:48.480 trauma and the the very obvious wounds of war. It's 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:52.280 the next level of the wounds, the ones you don't see, 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.000 the ones that sneak up on you, the ones that 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:56.880 linger for years. That's what Bob I think as a nation, 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.960 we're still grappling with understanding the depth in the skoo 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.240 to that problem, then what to do about it. You 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.000 had a chance to buy your first hand experience, sort 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.800 of get a window on that, you know, I with 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:12.480 without without questions. You know, I do say the one 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:16.800 I went to UH does enable which part of Walter 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:20.960 Reid down in d C, in Berkeley, in in uh 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:29.720 wash in d C. That was remarkable advancements in medicine. 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.040 You know, they do say a lot, and it's true 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:36.000 that wars, if there are good things is they have 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:40.200 developed new kind of treatment and surgery, et cetera for 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:43.800 the medical world. I mean, the care was amazing for 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.720 all of us, For me who was a civilian right 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:50.880 there in the military hospital surrounded by largely Marines as 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:52.880 this was, but does enable which is you know, as 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.800 you enable which in the Marines are part of the navy. Uh. 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:58.640 And this was the place that was really concentrating on 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.800 brain injury as opposed to you know, amputation and burns, 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:07.120 which is a specialty, and other other hospitals. So there 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:11.960 I was getting this amazing treatment, and I also, you know, 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:16.000 I saw that it wasn't so much really the the 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:20.240 doctors and the nurses, they were not giving them quite 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:23.080 the same treatment as I got. Was coming to a 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:30.200 sense of lacking the kind of luck and and resources 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:32.400 that I did. I was, you know, twenty four years old. 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:35.520 At forty four years old, at the time, I had 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.320 my family, I had ABC was behind me. I was 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:41.520 being so much well supported, and I realized that on 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.680 that same third floor, but as enabled with other unconscious, 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:49.240 badly wounded hit by I E ed patients like me, 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.400 and some of them did not have the family surrounding them. 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.000 In some cases they had no one their family members 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.720 because they at that point did not get the rights 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:03.360 and the abilities two keep their jobs and come and 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:07.680 visit their their son or daughter while they're they're recovering, 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:11.680 almost dead. And then that was really when we realized 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.280 that something needs to be done. You know, I woke 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:16.520 up and and it took me a long time to 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.359 realize how badly I was hit. I didn't even I 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:22.679 didn't even know when I woke up, part of my 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.399 skull had been removed. It took some time before my 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:28.280 family to really want to tell me that news, but 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.520 I woke up, Wow, I'm back. Everything is miraculous. And 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.520 that's when I learned that everybody on that floor with me, 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:40.280 we're going to uh really descend into major depression because 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.480 they realized that their lives are not the same. That's 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:45.560 another way that you can relate in a way that 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:48.400 very few of his can to what the many many, 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:53.600 many thousands of soldiers would come home with the invisible wounds. 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.399 I mean, you went through I'm sure stages of it. 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:59.200 You've lost you you said, speech and memory essential tools 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.760 to your job. Um, most people would be very angry 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:04.440 about that. You have to go through those stages. And 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.959 then depression obviously is as a companion to that. What's 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:12.640 misunderstood about the severity of that and what the struggle 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.240 that people go through. Yeah, you know this this is 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:17.560 another thing, like like I said before, in terms of 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.000 you compared to some previous wars, we had so much, 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:22.760 so much coverage of it that was going on. People 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.480 saw what these worlds, what these weapons were like, and 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:27.640 what they're seeing out there and But the other one 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.320 that was different about this war, completely different one compared 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:34.440 different ones, is because of the advanced medicine, lives were 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.120 saved that we're not saved in previous wars. In fact, 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.240 they I was told that five years earlier, if I 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:43.680 had hit with the exactly the same I E D 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.760 and I had the same ability, the same kind of 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:50.280 treatment once I got in, that I probably would not 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.360 have survived. They were able to develop things that they 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:57.320 never would have, that they didn't really have before, so 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:02.080 that the medical care was was so good that they 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:03.920 were able to save people that would not have been 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:06.720 saved before. On top of all of that, that they 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:17.439 they had numbers um because of these uh different kite 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:20.639 because they were I e ED explosions, they were hitting 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:26.120 that those were hitting people from the side. Um when 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:28.320 you're in a rock and they're hitting you from the 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:34.520 underneath when you're in Afghanistan. Because Afghanistan had dirt roads 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:40.080 and Iraq had largely pavement roads. So the insurgents they 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:42.240 wanted to plant an I e d. As, they put 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:45.520 it on the side because they couldn't get it underneath pavement. 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:48.359 In a rock, they would go underneath Afghanistan, you go 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.680 from underneath. So in Iraq there's a lot of these 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:54.640 blasts from the side, which means tons of brain injuries, 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:58.760 you know. Then in Afghanistan a lot of amputations because 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:02.439 they came from Underneathan blew off your arms and your legs, 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:05.320 So it's kind of interesting to see those that part 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.919 of the war. But given the fact that some of 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:13.560 these wounds because of the blasts, as opposed to bullets 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:17.000 and explosions that you know, knocked you out, there were, 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:20.680 as you said, a lot of invisible wounds, the ones 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:25.439 you couldn't really see, and that created problems in the 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:28.240 sense that no one really knew what to do, and 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.720 they didn't really know what they were, and they knew that. 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.000 Some did not want to ever admit that they had 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:38.280 something that no one saw because because it was it 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:43.200 was looked within the military, especially as is embarrassing. It's 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:45.520 like you're being wimpy or something. If you want to 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:47.880 say that you're not the same condition as you were 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.840 because you can't see anything. Was it was easy for 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:54.000 me to convince people because mind was so obvious. But 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:56.119 I knew that there was a lot had kind of 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:59.800 these new wounds that didn't exist that much before. So 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:04.160 those are physical. And then there's always the multiple deployments 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:07.040 in this war. Because it's voluntary military, we have such 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:11.719 small numbers of American serving and a very big wars 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:14.800 going head to head to Iraq and Afghanistan. They had 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:20.600 so many deployments that people developed kinds of depression and 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:25.680 traumatic brain and brand that too, but also PTSD post 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:28.080 traumatic stress. Let's talk more about what's different with these 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:31.240 wars because the it's been more than twenty years since 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:35.040 the presence in both Iraq and Afghanistan began. Officially Iraq 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:37.800 was nine years, but they're still at presents Afghanistan stretching 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:41.240 towards two decades now. And as you said, a lot 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:43.800 of it it's the same soldiers fighting again and again 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:47.120 and going back and forth, which I mean in Afghanistan 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:50.119 alone is longer than both World Wars and the Korean 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:54.560 War combined. So what's unique and challenging about the problems 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:56.719 that they faced just because of this year length of it, 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:00.400 well the length of it they didn't one, they didn't 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:03.159 know when their last deployment was going to be. I mean, 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:05.480 they would go one after another after another, whereas you 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:08.680 look at Vietnam, people would do like one deployment because 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:12.240 there were so many they were they were drafted in 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:14.840 this case, they didn't really know a how often they 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:17.359