WEBVTT - Service Above Self with Joaquin Romero 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:10.799 Welcome to the Good Stuff. 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:13.000 I'm Jacob Shick and I'm joined by my co host 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:14.200 and wife, Ashley Shick. 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.400 Jake is a third generation combat Marine and I'm a 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:21.320 gold Star granddaughter, and we work together to serve military veterans, 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:24.960 first responders, frontline healthcare workers, and their families with mental 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:28.280 and emotional wellness through traditional and non traditional therapy. 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:30.400 At One Tribe Foundation, we. 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.199 Believe everyone has a sword itself, not only about the peaks, 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:35.920 but also the valleys they've been through to get them where. 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:36.320 They are today. 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:39.320 Each week, we invite a guest to tell us their story, 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:41.720 to share with us the lessons they've learned that shape 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:43.879 who they are and what they're doing to pay it 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:45.200 forward and give back. 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:47.919 Our mission with this show is dig deep into our 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.800 guest's journey so we can celebrate the hope and inspiration 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:51.839 their story. 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:52.080 Has to offer. 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.360 We're thrilled you're joining us again. 0:00:54.960 --> 0:01:00.720 Welcome to the Good Stuff. Our guests today is my brother, 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.680 Joaquin Ramiro. He's not only a fellow Marine, but he's 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:07.600 a father, husband, and avid gamer. His work as a 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:11.120 Chief operating Officer of One Tribe Foundation puts him squarely 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.520 in the trenches regularly of helping a multitude of people 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:16.280 not die by suicide. 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.160 Yes, and his journey provides us so much inspiration on 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:21.800 the daily as we have the privilege of working alongside him. 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:24.360 He's here to tell us his story about how being 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:26.960 raised in a strict religious household and getting sent to 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:29.319 a boarding school in Mexico helped shape him to be 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:31.480 the marine and executive that he is today. 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:34.840 We're so proud to bring this conversation to you because 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.759 I know for a fact he dug deep and there 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.360 were no boundaries to his vulnerability. And this is the 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:43.720 first time I've known him to open up in a 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:44.520 public form. 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.000 Yes, it definitely felt like a family affair. 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.800 We're actually here in the One Tribe offices today, which 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.680 is exciting because this is where the magic happens. 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.000 Happy to be here. It's honor I have you here. No, 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.800 are you a marine's marine, but you're you're a leader 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.400 of humans. And just saying I love he is not 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:11.320 enough like it's not enough justice. Oh, I appreciate it. 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.200 It's an honor to be here. As you guys know, 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:13.880 I love you too. 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:16.840 Marine Corps was part is a part of your story, 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.799 but it's by no means. 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:21.720 The whole story, the whole story. 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:22.080 Right. 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:23.880 It's one thing to say, you know what, I want 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:25.760 to serve my country, I want to don the cloth 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.200 of my nation. But then what makes you go the 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.239 extra mile and say, but I'm not just going to 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.200 join the armed forces. I'm actually going to join the 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:35.280 Marine Corps. 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:40.560 So Marine Corps. It was all about the uniform. I 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.160 mean honest, the first thing I saw was the dress blues, 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.480 and I was like, all right. I didn't have really 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:47.840 a background on any of the branches to say that 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:49.760 one was harder than the other. All I knew was 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.239 that my grandfather was a marine. As a matter of fact, 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.440 I walked into the wrong door because I wanted to 0:02:55.480 --> 0:03:00.440 be in the branch that flew airplanes, air Force marines. 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.120 That's exactly what my recruiter told me. But yeah, no, 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:07.440 I went in with zero knowledge of any branch. I 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:09.720 just knew that I was going to serve. Walked into 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:12.840 the first door, the red one with the ego globe 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:14.359 and anchor, and I was like, all right, well, I'm 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.680 here to join. And my recruiter, well, I told my 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.240 recruiter was like, hey, I want to join the branch 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:21.320 that flies jets. 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.440 He's like, well we have jets, Well sign me up. 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.840 That's how I ended up in the Marine Corps recruiting office. 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:28.800 We'll find jets. 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.239 They have them. They do, they have jets. 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:34.960 I don't know about you, but it sounds like your 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:38.840 recruiter probably didn't have the same integrity as my recruiter, 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:43.920 which is kind of the mo for recruiters, right. I mean, 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:47.160 my recruiter was great. He was got me out of 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:49.280 jail like he was awesome. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:51.000 I mean he tried talking to me out. 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:52.920 To go on the infantry. He's like, Jake, you don't 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:56.280 do that. Living conditions are gonna suck, like you don't 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:02.280 eat great. And I was like, exactly, need too mature 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:07.640 to be in college. I need to grow mentally, physically, emotionally. 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.880 Marines were a great, great place for that. And I 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:14.000 don't know about you, but my Marine Corps boot camp 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.320 experience was there's a reason they say they have more 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:18.560 mind games in Milton Bradley. 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.520 Yeah, yeah, that's a fact. Mine was different. Though. 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:26.520 My boot camp experience didn't feel as rough as I've 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.360 heard a lot of people talk about it, and I 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.200 think a lot of it had to do with my upbringing. 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.400 You think maybe I just felt like it was and 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.680 I'm not going to say easy. It was by no 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.200 means easy, but looking around at all the other recruits 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.719 in my platoon, some were struggling, they were on the 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:44.760 struggle bus, and I just felt like, you listen to 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:46.960 your orders, you do what you're told, and this is 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:47.520 going to be good. 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.360 Love fast, loved faster, and with purpose. That's right. 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.480 Yeah, being a United States Marine it is one of 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.480 the most challenging things that you can sign up for. 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.599 Everything from going through boot camp and then and you're 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.880 both your experiences, you know, deploying and seeing the things 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.719 that you saw, experiencing what you experienced, and then coming 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.080 home and then the transition of getting out of the 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:13.440 Marine Corps. Transitioning back to civilian life not an easy thing. 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:15.520 It's something that we focus on every day here at 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.440 One Tribe Foundation and trying to help our fellow veterans, 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:22.160 first responders, law enforcement officers, frontline healthcare workers, and their families, 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:25.640 you know, transition from going and doing what they do 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:29.600 on a daily basis and service to living a quote 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:33.520 normal life, whatever that might look like. But most Marines 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:37.200 begin their relationship, you know with that struggle in training. 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.160 Your story is different. You had some things in your 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:45.280 toolbox already that kind of helped you prepare for that experience. 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:48.880 Tell us a little bit about your story so. 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:54.200 Early on, I mean young teenager. I have a twin brother. 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:55.960 We were raised out in the middle of nowhere. I 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.680 think that's originally where everything just started for us as 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:03.480 far as our resibuilding braziliency. We lived out in California 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:07.240 in the mountains. It was caretaking some three thousand acres 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:10.360 of property for some rich old guy. We lived way 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:12.679 off of like the highway, like it was out there. 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.120 There was no electricity, no lights. We lived in a 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.839 fourteen foot trailer. We took bats in buckets of water. 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:22.520 We were homeschooled and we were allowed free rain to 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.760 this three thousand acres of property where we would leave 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:29.360 in the morning go exploring in the mountains, hunt rattlesnakes, 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:35.040 maybe not find rattlesnakes and strike that I'm kidding. And 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:37.800 there was like he had this man made lake out there, 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.760 so we'd like build little boats out of like inner 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.680 tubes and stuff. My mom probably would have had no 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.080 clue if one of us drowned that lake just putting 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:49.120 it out there. That's how that's how we were raised. 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:51.880 We loved it. We didn't know anything different. We didn't 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:52.760 know that we were. 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:54.120 What people would call poor. 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:56.240 It was just part of our life to be able 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.719 to have complete full rain of acres and acres of mountains. 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:01.200 It was just fun for us. 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:05.640 It was that's initially where you'd go a big boulder, 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.479 rolls over on your foot. Nobody knows one of us 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.280 could run back and get some help. Maybe, but I still, 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:13.880 you know, look back at it back on it today, 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:15.920 and I'm like, that's kind of nuts. Like if it 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:18.000 was my daughter, I don't know that she would have 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:19.080 been given that much freedom. 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:21.960 But because it sounds like little house on the Prayer, 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.280 like or like Texas in the eighteen eighties, like no electricity, 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:28.440 no running water, you're taking baths and buckets. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:30.080 I mean, what year was. 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:35.480 This, So this was what early nineties. Yeah, we were 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:39.920 probably thirteen fourteen years old at the time. Obviously home studied. 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.840 We didn't, you know. I want to give some praise 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:45.680 to my mom. She did a pretty good job educating us, 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:48.600 keeping us educated because we were able to transition into 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.480 public school at the time. But we didn't go to 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.480 public school until we were in the eighth grade. And 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.920 this is where it became problematic because you know, my brother, 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:01.040 he was born without an ear, not very used to 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:05.200 interacting with kids or people our age, so he got 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:07.920 bullied a lot for it, ended up doing this surgery 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:10.400 and they messed it up even worse than what it 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.880 was before. He ended up leaving the school. I stayed there, 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.320 so we've always had a really close connection. So it 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:19.440 was difficult for me to not have my brother at. 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:23.360 School, especially because y'all are identical twins. 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:25.880 We are what they say is true about twins, right, 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:28.720 you have that crazy strong bond. 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:33.880 It's very difficult for us to be not especially identical twins, right, yeah, 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:35.160 more so than fraternal. 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:39.960 Yeah. And you and Francisco or your type, Yeah, very close. 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.280 And so that was a difficult time because we'd never 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.960 been raised around kiddos. We were very you know, kept 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.000 in a bubble most of our lives. So having that 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:51.880 interaction bullying, we weren't used to what bullying was at 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:55.240 the time. That was also something that just I want 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:57.080 to say, looking back on it now, just built on 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:01.439 that resiliency. And then after graduating school, eighth grade or whatever. 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:05.960 Our parents decided our home. Stepparent and parent decided that 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.440 they would wanted us to go to school in Mexico. 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.800 And I think that was an extremely rough transition, at 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:12.600 least it was for me. 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:14.000 How did that come about? 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:18.640 That came about from the religion that we practiced at 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.560 the time, or that they practiced at the time. It 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.720 was they were very conservative, I guess. I guess I 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.960 could say we were all conservative Christian not by choice. 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.640 As far as kids, he just you raised how you raised. 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:36.920 Stepdad at the time, he was extremely conservative Seventh day Amtist. 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:40.240 My mom in her prior life was very much into 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:44.440 gangs and very violent and things like that. When they met, however, 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:47.320 they met, she converted over to this religion from Catholic. 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:49.920 We used to live in the Bay Area, moved down 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:52.560 to San Diego with this guy stepfather, I guess at 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.400 the time, knowing no one all of our family was 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:57.240 up in the Bay Area, so we didn't have anybody. 0:09:57.520 --> 0:09:59.240 I think that also serves as a lot of the 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:02.360 connection between and my brothers. We had each other our 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:04.840 whole lives, like through everything. In any case, it was 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:07.480 this religion. I didn't really have a problem with the 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:11.280 religion until we got to our teen years and myself 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.839 and my brother were appointed as the bad kids of church. 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:17.000 And this is something also that I look back and 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:19.440 I was like, well, what is a bad kid? Because 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:22.559 we wore baggy jeans and went to the movies and 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:24.560 I think the first movie we went to was a 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.800 Titanic and somebody from church saw us and they're like, 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.600 all these sinners are at the movie theaters. And so 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.360 that was really what labeled us as bad kids in 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.439 the church, right, so, you know, in order to get 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:38.720 us on the right path. I don't know if a 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:40.880 recruiter was going around to all the churches in the 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:44.200 area or what, but my parents caught wind of this 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.439 school down in Mexico that, you know, was great at 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.800 transforming the lives of bad kids or something. I don't know, 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:53.280 because that's how we ended up down in a boarding 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:54.079 school in Mexico. 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.120 What are the beliefs of this church? 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.760 Like, because you going to see the Titanic at the 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:02.080 movie theater? And I grew up in a very conservative 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:04.440 church environment as well, where we weren't allowed to listen 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:08.040 to secular music and you know, you couldn't wear revealing 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:12.360 clothes and couldn't celebrate holidays and all of that same thing. 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:14.520 No secular music. 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.480 I mean we listened to hymns, and I mean that 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:19.679 was the music that we grew up with, not Metallica 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:23.320 or led Zeppelin or anything. The other thing that I've 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:25.520 talked about a lot. We weren't allowed to do any 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.800 kind of intramural sports. I consider myself fairly athletic. I 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:30.679 think we probably could have done well in any sport, 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.240 but we were never given the opportunity because games fell 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:35.600 on Saturdays, and Saturdays are the day of rest. 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:37.600 You don't do anything. You don't watch TV. 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.200 From the time the sun goes down Friday evening to 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:41.679 the time the sun goes down Saturday. 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:42.560 You don't do anything. 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:47.000 No TV, no video games, no sports, no nothing. So 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:50.640 that was one of those roles. Movie theaters off limits 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:54.120 to a certain extent. Meat eaters were also looked at 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:56.240 as like, oh, you know, you guys are kind of bad, 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.040 like you should be vegetarian. Yeah, no makeup for the 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.520 women jeweler. Jewelry was pretty much one of those things 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:06.280 that you're not a medic center and this specific church 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.400 because they're not all the same. This specific church was 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:10.959 very conservative in its ways. 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.600 So how did you feel that even at that age, 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.959 you know, you're early teens, you're one of those people 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:20.240 that you're very intuitive anyway, you're a good read on energy. 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.840 And did you even know then, like, yeah, this is 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:24.160 this is a little crazy. 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.680 No, it was at that point when, you know, because 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:30.560 most of the other churches that we had gone to 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:32.679 was hitting mess. It was like, you know, but this 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:37.559 specific place, the people in it were very judgmental individuals 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:37.800 and this. 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:42.280 Is on its face hypocritical. Yeah, you know, absolutely, I 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.400 agree with that. It was. There was a lot of hypocrisy. 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:47.720 And I'm not going to call anyone out here by name, 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.559 but there were other other teenagers that were far I 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.440 don't want to use the word worse, but let's just 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:55.880 call it worse. At the time that nobody was saying 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:58.520 anything because you know, their father was a head deacon 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:01.480 and maybe they kept it hidden how to do senority. 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:05.880 So it was it was definitely identified as what is 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:08.040 this like this place? 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.240 Do I even want to be here? Yeah? 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:15.559 And we went Wednesday evenings and Saturday all day long time. 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:17.959 You have your friends in church, and I think that's 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.679 really what kept us. There is that we get to 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:22.640 interact with our buddies, but for the most part, it 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:23.960 was like, I'm not I don't want to sit through 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:27.520 a sermon like especially these moments. 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:31.439 And I do think for some people, this environment, the 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:36.760 structure works. For some people, they're so desperate or they're 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:41.720 longing for the belief, for the atmosphere, for the family, 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:45.000 and this is what they cling to. And in my experience, again, 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:48.400 because you know I share this, I understand exactly what 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.000 you're talking about, because it's very similar to a period 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:53.000 of my childhood where we went to a church that 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:55.960 was very similar. It's almost like they want that to 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:57.360 be your whole world. 0:13:57.640 --> 0:13:58.200 This is your. 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:00.320 Family, this is your world, this is your environment, and 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:02.000 we've got to make sure so as you're when you're 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:05.280 a child, if it's your parents seeking out that environment, 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:08.120 seeking out that religion, you know, as a child, it's 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:10.120 like that's just what you grow up in. It's almost 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:12.640 the norm. It's well, this isn't weird, this isn't odd, 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:14.119 this is just my environment. 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.680 And you don't know until you get labeled. 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:19.680 And I do agree with you. 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:23.040 Religion and especially church, one of the positives is the 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:24.880 fellowship right people getting together. 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:26.320 I absolutely agree with that. 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:28.600 How was that when you got the call like, hey, 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.000 we're going to this boarding school in Mexico? 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:32.080 What was going through your head? 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.200 We didn't have a choice, so I wouldn't be able 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:36.840 to tell you how I felt about it at the time, 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.360 because it was like, this is what this is what 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:39.840 you're doing. 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.360 Yeah, and you were probably pretty accustomed to that at 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:42.840 that point. 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:44.800 This is what we do, how we do it, when 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.440 we do it, and you don't question. We obeyed the rules. 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:49.920 If you didn't, then you get your ass whooped and 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.400 a lot of weird punishment too. It used to be 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.560 that we'd get spank that we used to live out 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:59.280 by an orange grove. I remember this in our stepfather 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:04.400 whenever we did something bad. Some were some justifiably we were. 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:08.200 We weren't always angels. You'd take us out and you know, 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:12.600 ten trees in and you'd hold our hands above our 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.640 head by our wrists and hit us with the belt 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.480 and just depending on the severity of the of what 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.960 we did, it was anywhere from three to ten that 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.560 we'd get I have to sit there and watch my 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:25.480 brother get spanked, and then it was my turn, and 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:27.400 my brother would sit there and watch me get spanked. 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:30.160 So I remember there was one time when we started 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:33.720 getting too old for getting hit, we had to dig 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:37.640 a hole like three feet deep, drop this fifty pounds 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:40.360 rock down in it, take it back out, fill the hole. 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:44.600 And it just random discipline that that sounds. 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.920 Like a marine corps. You see all those big rocks, 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:48.960 go make them a little rock. 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:49.480 Yeah. 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:52.840 Yeah, So tell us about when you went down to Mexico. 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:56.520 So Mexico was interesting. It was one of those things too, 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:58.960 where the way we were brought up, it was just 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:02.040 like you just do what is ahead of you. So 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:04.600 if they say you're going to school in Mexico, just 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.960 go to school in Mexico. It's not necessarily that I 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.360 wanted to be there, but at the time it was 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.240 just like make best of a shitty situation kind of deal. 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.440 And it was an interesting time. We graduated because in 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.200 Mexico you graduate in the ninth grade. So we graduated, 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.560 stayed the next year. That's where things started getting rough. 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.080 I started getting into what they say would call trouble. 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.200 I guess being a smart elect to the teacher if 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:32.160 they didn't like you anything that you said, and so 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:36.200 they give it's called then monastasion, but it's I guess 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:38.280 the equivalent to like a demerit or something here. I 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:40.840 guess you get so many of those. They pull you 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:42.800 out of school and they make you work. I remember 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:45.000 there was a time where this was when I was 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.000 actually pulled out of class and made the new manual labor. 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:51.480 All day they were redoing the whole basketball court concrete, 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:56.080 and so my job was to handmake bricks. Well it 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.680 was a machine, but we'd like hand mix the contry. 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:01.840 I remember they drove us out way out to the coast. 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:04.199 This is in Baja California. So we went out to 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:06.639 close to some Philippe, which is on the inside of 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.879 the Baja California, to this gravel pit. And it was 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.840 like three three of us guys. We were all in trouble, 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:16.359 so we were, you know, serving out our sentences in 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.159 manual labor. They take us to this gravel pit. We 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.639 loaded up on this dump truck. Very safe procedure, by 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:24.879 the way, driving one hundred and fifty miles on the 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.199 back of a truck full of gravel. I remember, we 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:29.840 loaded up, bring it back, and our job was to 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.160 make concrete and bricks and then we had to lay 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:35.159 out all this concrete on a new basketball court. So 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.200 you have that that work, and then you know you 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:42.560 you then go to your dorm and finish out, and 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.080 on top of that, you do your you do your 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:47.800 school work, you go to school, and then you work 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:51.119 at this at this school, so in order to stay 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:52.960 in the dorm and all. 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:54.440 Of that, pay in your own way. 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.480 But through many Yeah, they had a labor piece of 0:17:57.480 --> 0:17:59.800 it and then the school the education piece of it. 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:01.240 So if you get enough. 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:04.360 Of these demerits, you just do manual labor all day 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:06.040 long while everybody else goes to school. 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:07.840 And I got to that point. I got enough of 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:09.040 those where I got to that point. 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:11.399 So I think it was like seven after ten you 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.560 get kicked out of school completely. And I remember this 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.800 time it was on me. I'll admit it. There's a 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:20.120 girl's dorm that's a couple of football fields away from 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:23.159 the guy's dorm. Keep them separate, right, One night, I 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.680 snuck out with my girlfriend at the time, and a 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.520 couple other buddies went with their girlfriends too. Keep in 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.040 mind the way I was brought up, I had not 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:35.439 kissed a girl before. Holding hands was you know, saying yes. So, 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:37.679 you know, me and this girl were hanging out in 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:40.159 the South Alfa field by this water pump. I remember, 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:42.760 we didn't do anything. We went out there, we were 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.480 talking all night, you know, and these two other couples, 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.359 who knows what they were doing. I mean obviously by sound, 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:49.919 maybe you know what they were doing, but I was 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:52.720 very oblivious. So, you know, somebody ritted us out. 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:54.400 But it was completely innocent. 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:56.399 And what adult are you going to tell that we 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:59.000 didn't do anything and they're going to believe you exactly, 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:02.399 So somebody dined us out. The group of us that 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:04.880