WEBVTT - Reaching for Gold with Brad Snyder 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:04.960 Please be advised the following episode contains references to violence 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:10.760 and may not be suitable for all audiences. Welcome to 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:13.880 Veterans you Should Know a podcast from My Heart Radio 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.840 that celebrates the men and women who have honorably answered 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:19.760 a call to serve their country in the armed forces. 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:25.280 I'm Rob Real, actor, comedian, and former Marine raw In 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:29.040 this special series Honoring Veterans Day, I'll be speaking with 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:33.199 four incredible veterans as they detail challenges they've faced and 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:37.160 how their experiences in military service served them in their 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:42.680 everyday civilian lives. In this episode, I'm speaking with Brad Snyder. 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.519 Brad served as an explosive ordinance disposal officer in the 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:51.960 United States Navy. That means disarming bombs people. The way 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.520 that most people have seen our community is like through 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:56.840 the movie The hurt Locker, where you've got someone with 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.720 either a robot or a bomb suit and they have 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:01.920 the ability to get down on top of that device 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:03.640 and then do something to it to put it in 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.840 a safer spot. And that was largely my deployment to Iraq. 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:12.080 On his second deployment in Afghanistan, Brad stepped on an 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:17.560 improvised explosive device, which detonated and left him permanently blinded. 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:22.000 In the process of his rehabilitation and recovery, he was 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:24.840 encouraged to try out for the Paralympics due to his 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:29.720 background and competitive swimming. Today, Brad is a five time 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:34.480 gold medalist competing in swimming and para triathlon for Team USA. 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:39.640 Through his experiences, he strives to inspire future generations to 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:46.720 embrace a life of leadership and civic duty. Brad, Welcome 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:49.720 to the podcast. Thank you for being here, Thank you 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:51.720 so much for having me. And before we get going, 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:53.560 I think we'd be remiss if I didn't thank you 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:56.280 for your service as well. Well you're very kind to 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.360 say that. But today is about you, Brad, and we 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:01.240 want to hear a story because I think it's one 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:07.640 of the most fascinating stories, truly, one of overcoming so 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:12.000 much and there's so many great lessons and takeaways to 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.720 your story that I want people to hear. I want 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.440 them to truly understand it, and I want them to 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.959 feel what it takes and what the mindset is to 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:24.200 do what you've done. So well, let's just dive in. 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:26.000 If you don't mind, I want to pick your brain 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.640 on so many things. Let's start with how did you 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.240 come to the military. It's a great question and something 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:35.240 I thought a lot about because I never made a 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:37.440 decision to join the Navy. I think I just grew 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.639 up always knowing that I would. Three out of four 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:45.200 of my grandparents we're all in the Navy in various capacities, 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:48.160 all in and around World War Two. My mom's dad, 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:51.560 my grandfather served in the Battle of Midway. He dropped 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:55.560 torpedoes out at Japanese subs and ships. So I just 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.840 sort of always knew from an age of like three 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:00.600 onward that I wanted to be like my grandfather and 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:06.000 following his footsteps and join the Navy. Brad had a 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:08.280 choice to make. He had made up his mind to 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.240 join the military. But there are three paths one can 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:15.000 take to receive a commission as a naval officer, an 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:19.120 r OTC scholarship at a civilian university, a degree, and 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:25.359 then officer candidate school, or the Naval Academy. I got 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:27.880 to visit the Naval Academy my sophomore year high school. 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:31.360 My uncle was also in the Navy. He was an 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.440 O six jag at the time working at the Pentagon 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.480 and we went and visited them in Virginia, and kind 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:38.760 of on a whim, he said, you want to go 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:40.680 visit the Naval Academy, And I thought, you know, why not, 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.800 and just instantly fell in love with the place. I've 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:45.600 shared this story a handful of times. What I thought 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.720 was so cool. Do you watched this brigade of midshipman 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.040 they go out for new information. It's just this big 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.320 mob of black and white and they all start yelling 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.000 stuff that you don't understand at the time. They're doing 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.920 accountability or whatever, and they're yelling, and I remember watching 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.120 walked by and each of them had their names stitched 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.080 on their shirt. And I remember being in high school thinking, man, 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.280 how cool is it that they're so important that they 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.440 have their name stitched in their shirt? Like nobody knows 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.800 my name, my name is meaningless, but here like your 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.240 name is really important. And that was really cool to me. 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:18.760 So I first and foremost wanted to go to the 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:21.080 Naval Academy, and I pursued that with quite a lot 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.200 of vigor. But my backup plans were go to our 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:26.760 OTC somewhere. Anyway, That's how I kind of dialed in 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:31.360 on the Naval Academy. Brand had just begun his senior 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.760 year in high school when the attacks of September eleven occurred, 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.799 but that didn't deter him from his call to service. 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.479 On September eleven, two and one, I remember I was 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:49.280 in English class and someone ran into the room to say, 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:51.800 turn on the TV. And it was just in time 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.760 to see the towers still there but smoking. And then 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:57.520 while we were all watching, the towers came down. So, 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:00.280 you know, I had already wanted to join the Navy. 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:02.000 I felt like I was fulfilling sort of like a 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:04.880 familial duty or a legacy kind of thing. But then 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:07.280 all of a sudden, with the towers coming down, you know, 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:09.760 it's our generation's fight, you know, that's what we were 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:11.839 all signing up to do. It gave my service such 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.240 a galvanized purpose, I suppose was the right way of 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:17.880 saying it. Yes, it did crystallize things. Crystallize, that's a 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:20.279 better word. People saw a need and they were ready 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:23.240 to jump in, And I think that's really outstanding. I 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.119 think there weren't a whole lot of people who straight 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.039 away from you know, stepping up and joining when there 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:30.200 was a time and a need. I think you're right too. 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:32.280 I remember I was in New York on n eleven 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.320 and my reserve, you and it. I just left active 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:36.680 duty and my reserving it was activated. I was a 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:39.440 captain at the time, but I remember that the vibe, 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.160 if you will, of everybody around, everybody in the city 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:49.120 and the country for that matter. Everybody wanted to do something, anything, 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:52.599 And I remember people were bringing down boxes of clothes 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.680 and you know, they just didn't know what to do. 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.520 They're bringing blankets, they were bringing things that didn't necessarily 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:00.200 need we needed, nobody needed down there, but they were 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:05.239 compelled to do something. They were compelled to take part 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:08.159 or feel like they could help in some way. And 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.280 I felt actually blessed that I was in the service. 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.279 So I volunteered to go back on an active duty 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.400 and I was able to scratch that itch, so to speak. 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:19.279 I was able to serve because I was in a 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:22.560 position to. But I do remember that feeling across the 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.960 country and especially in New York, there was a desire 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.880 to serve, to get involved. So I was, I guess happy, 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:33.480 and it felt good from patriotic sense to know that 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:36.080 when the country was in crisis, you know, it was 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.720 nice to see people respond for sure, and and you 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:40.680 were obviously one of those people, So thank you for 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:48.080 staying the course. According to the US, over two hundred 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:51.880 and fifty thousand people swore an oath to serve in 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:56.000 the active duty and reserve military forces following the attacks 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:59.279 of not eleven, many of them vowing to make sure 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:04.839 something so horrible never was repeated. Brad continued to follow 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:08.039 his dream and entered the Naval Academy the year following 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:12.200 nine eleven. From day one, life at the Naval Academy 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:16.280 was full speed ahead. Brad had a stacked course load 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:22.000 of engineering classes at seven indoctrination to military culture and knowledge, 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:24.720 and on top of that, he was part of the 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:29.840 academy's competitive swim team. It was an exhaustive schedule, but 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.280 Brad balanced at all and never lost sight of the 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:40.280 lessons he learned. It was tough, but it really did 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.640 force me to grow up quickly. I learned how to 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:46.600 manage time. I learned how to organize myself. I learned 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.160 how to learn quickly. I think that's a real important skill, 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.320 especially in the military. And I learned, you know, with 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.800 the right amount of those sub skills, you can survive 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:58.800 and you can thrive in an environment like that, and 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:01.320 I think the Navy was definitely a lot like that. 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:03.760 I was always keeping a lot of balls in the air, 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.320 and honestly that hasn't stopped. Even transitioning out of the military. 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:09.320 I'm still in exactly that same boat, just trying to 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:12.040 keep everything up in the air. They push you beyond 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.720 your perceived limits. We all have limits, we think. We 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:17.440 all think, oh, man, I couldn't do this, or you know, 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:19.240 I could never run a marathon, or I could never 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:22.440 do X, Y or Z. But then when you get 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.480 in the military and you start doing things and they 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:29.200 hold you to a very high standard, you realize that 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:35.719 what you thought were your limits are not okay. So 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.840 you are working your way through the academy and you 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.800 decide to choose an MS. And for those who don't know, 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:47.520 MS means Military occupational specialty. Your job, your j ob 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.120 is basically what an m OS is. So why don't 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.840 we just say that just just our job. I know, 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:55.720 because the military we make it. We make it so hard, 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:58.880 we have to make everything so unique. You decide to 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:03.960 become an explosive ordinance disposal officer, probably the most dangerous 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:08.600 job in the world. How does that come about? Not linearly, 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.760 I'll say that when I got to the Naval Academy, 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:13.680 they started barking in my face and said, what do 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:15.520 you want to do after you go to the navalcadey, 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:16.800 what kind of service do you want to do? What's 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:18.640 your job? And I kind of just looked at him, 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:20.960 like my jobs to be in the Navy, Like I 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.760 don't know, what do you want me to say? You 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:25.440 want me to pick? I don't know. You tell me. 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:27.440 I thought the military would order you around. They call 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:29.400 it orders, right, so what are my orders? Just give 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:34.600 me orders? They said, no, you have to pick. So 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:36.960 I spent a lot of time soul searching going around, 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:39.600 and the Naval Academy and the summer programs do a 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:43.040 good job of socializing you across the different arenas of 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.760 both the Navy and the Marine Corps. And what I 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.560 loved most was actually scuba diving. I got to go 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:54.079 to Navy scuba school and I went back to the 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:55.760 Naval Academy. I said, I found it. I want to 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:57.640 be a scuba diver and they were like, that's not 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.120 a thing. Now there is a Navy Diving Corps, but 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.280 that's only enlisted, and no Naval Academy officers go into 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:06.720 the Navy diving community specifically or at least directly, but 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:10.400 it is a prerequisite skill for Navy seals and e 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:14.280 O D officers. And then around the my junior year, 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:16.360 I went out on e O D summer camp out 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.880 to San Diego, and on day one of e O 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:23.640 D Summer Camp, I went out with our Dolphinsay, so 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:25.120 not a lot of people know this, but we have 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:28.960 a marine mammal program where the Navy utilizes dolphins and 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:33.040 sea lions to do certain things for us. Yeah, it's real, 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.280 and it's really cool. As far as I'm concerned. It 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:38.920 feels so double O seven, it feels so James Bond. 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:43.720 Having dolphins work with us to take on the bad guys. 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:45.880 It really is amazing. It's just really tough giving them 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:47.720 a high five because they only have fins, you know. 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:51.880 But to belabor the story, I go out to Point Loman, 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:53.800 San Diego, and the day one of this camp, I 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:57.000 go out onto this twenty one ft Boston whaler and 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:59.560 this dolphin trainer like blows a whistle and the dolphins 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:01.880 jumps out to the water into the boat and then 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.280 we drive out, you know, a couple of miles from 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.800 shore where we have a training area which is basically 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:12.160 three feet of sea water above a couple of mine shapes, 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.120 like their fake minds, and we trained the dolphins on 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.720 how to find mine shapes at three feet. Now, we 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.320 can't really dive sustainably at that depth, not looking for 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:23.880 stuff anyway, so we can use these dolphins to help 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:26.720 us find potential minds that have been buried or who 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:29.440 have lost their way or found at three feet below 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:31.719 the surface of the ocean. That was day one of 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.360 e O D summer camp. The summer camp sold me 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:35.960 and I went back to the Naval Academy and said, 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:37.600 I'm I want to be an EYO D officer. And 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:39.600 I was really worried I wouldn't have the grades to 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:41.560 do it, but I got in by the hair on 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:45.040 my chinny chinchin, and I'm just really grateful. Wow, they 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.880 did quite a job on selling e O D, because, um, 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:52.079 you know, explosive Ordinance Disposal. It's just the sound of it. 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.440 It's terrifying. I got to see the e O D 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:56.720 you guys work, and I actually saw him work in 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.640 real life scenarios and I was always impressed and they 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.880 had confidence. Oh my gosh. You know, everybody gets a 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:06.360 little skittish around the things that go boom, and these guys, well, 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.640 they instilled confidence and everybody around him. I always felt 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.880 like when they showed up, everybody could relax. Truly amazing. 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:18.120 Now you get the job of explosive ordinance disposal and 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:23.920 you deploy, and now you find yourself in tricky situations 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:28.319 because you're actually having to deal with unexploded ordinance or 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:32.800 roadside bombs improvised explosive devices i e D S. So 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:36.080 did you feel like the training you received prepared you 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:38.440 for being in a combat zone? I mean, did you 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:41.120 feel like you were ready when you got there? Yeah, 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.439 for sure, but not always directly. What I think is 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:46.320 great about the e D community and the way that 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:49.640 we approached training. We were given frameworks, We were taught 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:53.240 how to think more or less, not necessarily like when 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:55.920 you see this, this is what you do. That kind 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.320 of procedural mindset doesn't really work in our community because 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.200 you're never going to really they see exactly the same 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.120 scenario twice. So what the e D community teaches you 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:07.760 is all the sort of background knowledge you might need 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:12.600 on all kinds of explosives, fusings, different ways of deploying weapons, 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.480 but then also how to manage the scenario on the ground. 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.400 And again I felt very prepared in how to think 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:24.160 through those scenarios. What became challenging is bringing to bear 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:28.319 the tools that you might want to mitigate those hazards. 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.360 And the way that most people have seen our community 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:33.559 is like through the movie The hurt Locker, where you've 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.360 got someone with either a robot or a bomb suit 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:38.640 and they have the ability to get down on top 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:40.600 of that device and then do something to it to 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.200 put it in a safer spot. And that was largely 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.199 my deployment to Iraq. We had a big, giant em 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.480 RAB truck with all kinds of gear, a bomb suit, 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:53.199 two robots, all sorts of stuff, water bottle charges, you 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:55.400 name it. I've got all these tools to bring to bear, 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:58.720 but our mission set doesn't always allow for a giant 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.120 vehicle in a bomb suit and two robots and water 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:04.280 bottle charges. And that was my deployment to Afghanistan, where 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:07.640 everything that I'm going to bring to my job as 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.680 an UNI officer I have to carry with me, so 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.360 I really only have a pocket knife and some five 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.120 or in Afghanistan. I think you just described what every 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:19.760 military person who has ever served has experienced. You get 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.240 wonderful training, we have wonderful equipment, You have all these 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:25.280 wonderful things, but when you're deployed, when you're out on 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.240 the street, that stuff just isn't always there. And then 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.520 you have to improvise, adapt and overcome, as they say, 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.600 and you have to be able to make judgment calls, 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:36.600 and you have to be able to decide what the 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.560 best course of action is. And it's not always at 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.720 your leisure. You know, you're moving in a very dynamic environment, 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:47.240 very hostile environment. Potentially maybe you only have the information 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:49.640 you need, but you still got to act. So there's 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.200 so many X factors that are brought to bear against 0:14:53.200 --> 0:15:00.840 what you're doing. Veterans you should know will return after 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:15.400 the break. On Brad's second tour overseas, he was on 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:19.200 a morning patrol, just like the many mornings before, but 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:23.080 this day was different. This day Brad's life changed in 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:31.080 an instant. We were on what I would categorize as 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.120 a routine foot patrol from one place to another in 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.760 a area of Afghanistan called the Panjwai Valley in two 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:42.080 thousand eleven, and at this particular time, we were not 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.840 routinely engaging the Taliban in typical firefights. They were in 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.880 very small numbers. They were hiding a lot, and we 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.080 were very actively trying to find them. But what they 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:54.120 were doing a lot was the i e ED and 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:57.760 improvised explosive device. They were burying tens of them everywhere. 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.440 Every square mile probably had a hand full or so 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:02.960 of these i e d S. It made our job 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.000 very difficult. There weren't a lot of places where you 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:06.960 could get to with a vehicle and where we were working, 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.640 and the tactical decision we made was for our foot 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:13.600 patrols to always walk like ducks in a row, like 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:15.840 you're always just following the footsteps of the guy in 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.360 or gall in front of you, and out in front 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.720 of our patrol would always be an EOD tech like 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:26.240 myself or my partner atom clearing with a metal detector. 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:29.320 And at about seven thirty in the morning, I was 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:32.440 halfway back in our patrol, just following along like everybody else, 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:34.280 and up at the front of our patrol there was 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:36.200 a big blast plume that shot up into the air 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.200 and we train everybody. When a blast like that goes off, 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:44.520 don't move because where there's one bomb, there's likely many. 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:46.480 You know, it's a very common tactic for there to 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:48.200 be multiple I e d S around each other. We 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:51.640 call them secondaries. When one blast goes off, don't move. 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:54.600 Let the EOD tech myself use my metal detector to 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:56.600 clear some space for a medic to get down to 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.520 the casualty. So I pulled out my metal detector, ran 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.840 up to the run and Uh. I was really gratified though, 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:04.679 because I looked over and saw my buddy Adam was 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:07.479 just fine. He looked at me about as confused as 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:11.760 I was. But what we learned was two Afghan commandos 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.439 had stepped off of the cleared path and landed on 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.600 a forty pound I E D, effectively mortally wounding the 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:19.840 two of them. But we didn't know that at the time. 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.080 So Adam and I job at that point, it's too 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:24.600 clear space, get the medics down to the casualties, and 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:26.719 then clear a spot for a helicopter to come in 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.400 and take those casualties to the hospital. It was really 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.439 difficult in doing that, and it was pretty chaotic. We 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.160 also knew that there were insurgents in the area who 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:38.080 may now know where we are, so we felt like 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:40.280 the sense of urgency to get off the X. As 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:43.120 we say, we were able to move the first casualty 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:45.439 back about a hundred feet where we were intending to 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:48.000 bring in a helicopter, and then on my way back 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:50.680 to Adam in the second casualty, I made a judgment 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.320 call in that moment where to get to Adam. I 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:56.040 was running across grass and I remember thinking, what are 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.040 the chances? And I e d spend here so long 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.280 that grass is grown on top of it, And that's 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:02.919 exactly what happened. There was a pressure plate buried underneath 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:05.320 where grass had grown over, and that's the one I 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:13.000 stepped on. I was really lucky in a number of ways. 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:16.920 The pressure plate was separated from the actual blast itself, 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:19.520 and that's what saved my life. It blew up in 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.399 front of me, not underneath me, and because of that, 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:24.119 it came out of the ground and really just smacked 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:27.080 me in the face, as opposed to blowing up underneath me, 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:29.119 which surely would have taken off my legs, if not 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:35.080 my arms as well. The important part of this story 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:40.280 is immediately following the blast. I knew that I had 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.480 been blown up. I knew that it was likely a 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:47.119 forty pound charge, which is a pretty big explosion, and 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:51.440 I had known of other victims of similar sized explosions 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:55.879 who were really in not good shape afterward. And the 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.159 fact that I actually could still see I think a 0:18:58.160 --> 0:18:59.960 little bit. I looked down and I saw my hand 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:02.639 ends in my feet. There was no obvious damage. I 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:04.520 could still see that I had my feet, I still 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:08.240 had my arms, and that, in my mind, meant that 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:10.600 surely I had died. There was no way that I 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:13.720 was intact. After that, for me, I felt like time 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:18.960 stopped and I remember thinking, for sure, I'm dead, and uh, 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.920 that's you know, that's sad. But I I thought about 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.399 my whole life, and I thought, I'm proud of the 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.840 life that I've lived. I died, you know, serving my country, 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:31.960 and I think that's honorable. And I'm sad that I 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:34.640 won't be able to see my family, but I think 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.240 that they'll understand, you know, they'll appreciate what I did. 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:40.360 And then I actually felt like, for sure, my grandfather's 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:42.920 coming to grab me. Like my grandfather who died when 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.639 I was eleven, my hero, he's gonna come take me 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:52.120 whatever happens after you die. But then I didn't die. 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:59.520 I came back. That's just amazing. It's amazing to me 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:02.800 that those thoughts were in your mind, that you are 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:07.919 actually walking through those thoughts, that whole process after just 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:11.879 being blown up, in that slowed down, in that shock 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:15.760 state probably you were in, you still had the ability 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:18.399 to process, and these were the things that occurred to 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:23.199 you in that moment. It's unbelievable. Please continue. Yeah, and 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:25.359 to your point, what's wild about it. It's been a 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:27.119 decade now, it's been a long time, and I've been 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:29.440 able to piece little things together, and I've talked to Adam, 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:33.359 who wasn't far away. All of that occurred in a 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:36.760 matter of seconds. So Adam starts yelling at me. He 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:38.760 knew that I had been in the blast. He yells, 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:41.199 his voice starts coming through the fog to me. I 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:44.879 remember yelling back at him. And what's crazy about it is, 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:47.560 you know, a moment ago, I was okay with dying 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:49.760 and now I'll come back to life. But now I'm 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:52.639 really afraid because I knew I had taken the blast, 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:53.960 I had taken it to my face and all of 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:56.560 a sudden, I was aware that my face isn't right, 0:20:56.720 --> 0:20:59.800 something's wrong with it. I'm bleeding, it doesn't feel right, 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:02.240 and I remember kind of starting to panic, like I 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:04.320 don't want to be here. I don't want to be 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:11.080 in this moment. I'm afraid of what is happening. And 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:13.440 Adam got to me, and I remember grabbing him by 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:15.919 his kit and I said, how bad is it? And 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:17.840 he said, I'm not gonna lie to you. Your face 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:20.040 is pretty left up, but the rest of you looks fine. 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:23.119 Do you think you can stand up? And at that moment, 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:29.399 I felt this really strong urge like disappointment, frustration, anger, 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:33.640 all at once, where I committed like the ultimate sin 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:36.080