Speaker 1: Welcome with the Good Stuff. I'm Jacob Shick and I'm
Speaker 1: joined by my co host and wife, Ashley Shick.
Speaker 2: Jacob is a third generation combat Marine who runs an
Speaker 2: organization called One Tribe Foundation that focuses on mental and
Speaker 2: emotional wellness. I am a gold Star granddaughter, and we
Speaker 2: both come from families that are rich in military history
Speaker 2: and very proud Americans.
Speaker 1: We believe everybody's got a story worth telling. It involves
Speaker 1: inspiration and perseverance, and we believe that we tell these
Speaker 1: stories to give people the extra that they need to
Speaker 1: not only live, but live well. Welcome to the Good
Speaker 1: Stuff today. Our guess is Judy Littlefield, author of the
Speaker 1: book The Other Man Down, A Mother's Journey after the
Speaker 1: American Sniper Tragedy.
Speaker 2: Many of you are familiar with the story of the
Speaker 2: American Sniper Chris Kyle, the Navy Seal sniper who returned
Speaker 2: home a war hero, devoted himself to helping veterans suffer
Speaker 2: with PTS, and was killed by one of the very
Speaker 2: men he was trying to help.
Speaker 1: Well, Chris Kyle wasn's the only man who lost his
Speaker 1: life that day. His best friend was by a side,
Speaker 1: a best friend who was equally devoted to helping our
Speaker 1: vets returning home. That man is Judy Littlefield's son, Chad Littlefield.
Speaker 1: These horrendous and cowardly murders happened over ten years ago.
Speaker 1: Their impact has an ongoing ripple effect throughout the.
Speaker 2: Entire world, and today we are celebrating the life of
Speaker 2: Chad Littlefield. So this episode is very personal to us.
Speaker 2: Jake was honored to be involved in the filming of
Speaker 2: Clint Eastwood's film American Snipers, starring Bradley Cooper's Chris Kyle,
Speaker 2: and through his involvement, we had the incredible honor of
Speaker 2: meeting Don and Judy Littlefield, Chad's parents, who we now
Speaker 2: consider family. We are so thrilled today to be sitting
Speaker 2: around the dining room table here in DeSoto, Texas of
Speaker 2: a beautiful Texas lady inside and out that we've been
Speaker 2: ends with for a while.
Speaker 1: Missus Judy Littlefield, better known as Mama Littlefield to us,
Speaker 1: I just can't call you Judy little Field. Just feels wrong.
Speaker 3: I think, not.
Speaker 2: Your mama, your mama. We've actually known each other for years.
Speaker 2: We met at an event in Fort Worth, I think
Speaker 2: eight years ago, and just so grateful for that friendship.
Speaker 2: But I know you and Jake have actually known each
Speaker 2: other for quite a while, longer a little bit.
Speaker 1: I don't remember how I met Mama and Coach. So
Speaker 1: do you recall our first interaction?
Speaker 3: Yes, I do. It was at the premiere of The
Speaker 3: American Sniper. Don and I were sitting there. We had
Speaker 3: been invited by Tea Kyle to be there, and we
Speaker 3: had just gotten some devastating news about the details of
Speaker 3: how Chad had been killed, and we were so weary,
Speaker 3: you know, it was just all we could do to
Speaker 3: get to the theater. And we were setting up in
Speaker 3: the audience. They turned the house lights up and before
Speaker 3: we knew it, Jacob and d come up and Jacob
Speaker 3: leaned over it and said, I'm so sorry for your loss,
Speaker 3: and I told him, I said, you know what, that
Speaker 3: meant a lot to me, because we were so overwhelmed
Speaker 3: of the news we had gotten, and we even considered
Speaker 3: not going, but we did anyway. And that Jacob Schick,
Speaker 3: this big bad marine, cared enough to come up and
Speaker 3: love on us and comfort us. And that's what that's
Speaker 3: when I first met him. He's just been my boy
Speaker 3: ever since.
Speaker 1: I know that I can speak for Rashley as well
Speaker 1: when I say we've cherished every moment and that you
Speaker 1: both are very near and dear to our heart, and
Speaker 1: we are just honored.
Speaker 3: And privileged to call you family on our side too.
Speaker 1: I distinctly remember Bradley and Taya setting up the premiere
Speaker 1: and us standing in the front, right in front of
Speaker 1: the screen, and then you all were acknowledged, and I
Speaker 1: remember badly looking at me and he said, you got
Speaker 1: anything you want to say something? But I remember because
Speaker 1: all I could think about was just I wanted. I
Speaker 1: just wanted to hug y'all. And I just said no,
Speaker 1: you know, because to me, nothing else seems to be said, right,
Speaker 1: I could just need everything said. We setting up a film,
Speaker 1: and I remember that distinkly well.
Speaker 3: There were a lot of veterans in the audience that night,
Speaker 3: and they had stood up and applauded us when Taya
Speaker 3: had said we were in the audience, and we were
Speaker 3: still processing that. We thought, these war heroes are standing
Speaker 3: up and acknowledging us, who are we?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 3: And then you came up. So we just fell apart.
Speaker 3: You know. The news that we had gotten the day
Speaker 3: before just kind of faded, you know, in the distance.
Speaker 3: We had new good information to process, you know, we
Speaker 3: were able to a table the other and until the
Speaker 3: trial hit. You know.
Speaker 1: So it's so important those little moments, you know, they're
Speaker 1: so important. I think there those those moments where it
Speaker 1: carries us to the to the next yard line. I'm
Speaker 1: grateful that I got that moment. That was a hectic
Speaker 1: day because you know, I hadn't watched you know, I
Speaker 1: got hit. Oh four September, oh fourth is when I
Speaker 1: got hurt in Iraq. I had not watched a war movie,
Speaker 1: war show, anything until the premiere. And I've told Ashays,
Speaker 1: I've told lots of people this I felt. And I
Speaker 1: didn't have to write. It's not mandated that I do
Speaker 1: go to the premiere, but I felt as though I
Speaker 1: owed it to the Kyle family and do y'all to
Speaker 1: sit and go through that film and watch it beginning
Speaker 1: to end, to have a genuine and authentic take in
Speaker 1: reaction to it. And so that was the first war
Speaker 1: movie that I sat down and watched since the day
Speaker 1: got hurt.
Speaker 2: N four, Mama little Field, will you please tell us
Speaker 2: about Chad.
Speaker 3: I had a son by a previous marriage, but Chad
Speaker 3: was our only biological child, and I had had three miscarriages,
Speaker 3: and I really got mad at God because I thought,
Speaker 3: why even let me get pregnant if I can't carry
Speaker 3: that baby. So Donn had given up any chance of
Speaker 3: ever having a child. And then I got pregnant with
Speaker 3: Chad and was able to carry him. And he was
Speaker 3: our miracle baby because you know, we hadn't had one
Speaker 3: but then, and he was due on Valentine's Day, so
Speaker 3: he became our love baby also, you know, but he
Speaker 3: decided to come on eleventh instead. You know. Anyway, I
Speaker 3: guess I learned even through that you don't get bitter.
Speaker 3: Didn't help anything, you know, And it made me appreciate
Speaker 3: when we did have him. Little did I know we'd
Speaker 3: only have him thirty five years. But we have to
Speaker 3: rejoice in that time we had and not mourn what
Speaker 3: might have been. You know.
Speaker 2: I know Chad came over and spent that afternoon with
Speaker 2: you the day before he was killed. Will you please
Speaker 2: tell us about that? He said, he talked about all
Speaker 2: kinds of things and life is so good it's almost scary.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if he told me. We talked about where he
Speaker 3: was spiritually, and they had started going to Cowboy Church,
Speaker 3: and he said, Mom, I got to get in there
Speaker 3: and learn these Bible stories. My little girl knows more
Speaker 3: than I do. And I had done, and I had
Speaker 3: been named Volunteers of the month at our church. So
Speaker 3: that was written up and I showed that to him
Speaker 3: and I said it's not very big and he said, Mom,
Speaker 3: what makes you think that's not a big deal. So
Speaker 3: I got that approval from him, you know, before he
Speaker 3: left this earth. He stood up at the bar and
Speaker 3: he said, Mom, I would take a bullet for Chris
Speaker 3: chat don't talk like that. And he did. He did
Speaker 3: exactly that the next day. But he said on the couch,
Speaker 3: he said, mom, life is so good, it's scary. Little
Speaker 3: did we know that it would all be over the next.
Speaker 2: Day he talked about being a father, Yeah.
Speaker 3: How he wanted his little girl raised. And keep in
Speaker 3: mind that his little girl turned seven two weeks before
Speaker 3: he was killed. He and his wife had waited five
Speaker 3: years before they had a child. Chad told him one time,
Speaker 3: little girl said, Dad, I want a brother or sister,
Speaker 3: And Chad says, you want to college education our brother
Speaker 3: and sister. I can't afford both that sacks and so
Speaker 3: many times and I have learned this. My reaction when
Speaker 3: he left that day was, oh gosh, I didn't know
Speaker 3: he was going to stay this long. I have work
Speaker 3: to do, you know, real work. Little did I know
Speaker 3: that that conversation, every word would be something I would
Speaker 3: treasure for the rest of my life, you know, go
Speaker 3: over and over all of that, because it was the
Speaker 3: last words we had with him.
Speaker 1: What I see for that to be the last earthly
Speaker 1: encounter in that way, especially working in the line of
Speaker 1: work that I'm in now, with the foundation we do
Speaker 1: with a lot of loss, and it's I just can
Speaker 1: only imagine how much it's played a role for you
Speaker 1: and your family to be able to spread love and
Speaker 1: to be genuine and authentic and subd.
Speaker 3: Lovell And it was such a blessing that we had
Speaker 3: that time. You know, military families and gold Star they
Speaker 3: might not have seen their son or their daughter in
Speaker 3: the last year, last nine months. I walked away that
Speaker 3: day and I thought, I never have to say if
Speaker 3: I had one more I love you, or one more
Speaker 3: kiss or one more hug, because God gave me all
Speaker 3: of those things in that day. And we're given nuggets,
Speaker 3: but we have to be able to look for them
Speaker 3: and everything that seems like a chaos situation.
Speaker 1: Where was he spiritually when he came over.
Speaker 3: We raised our boys with a strong faith and in church,
Speaker 3: and Chad had kind of wavered on and off from
Speaker 3: the faith, but he never wavered from his beliefs. That
Speaker 3: day he told me that he was a believer, and
Speaker 3: you know, if anything ever happened him, he knew where
Speaker 3: he would go. So that was not even a question
Speaker 3: when he was killed.
Speaker 1: Through this horrendous tragedy, was there some sense of comfort
Speaker 1: in that and having that conversation and knowing that.
Speaker 3: Oh, definitely, definitely. After he got out of the house,
Speaker 3: it was like we never never mentioned it again. But
Speaker 3: it was rare that unless he was in trouble, and
Speaker 3: then you know, we really prayed, you know, to get
Speaker 3: him out of that. I remember one time he lost
Speaker 3: his company credit card and oh he went home, tore
Speaker 3: the house up looking for that credit card and everything.
Speaker 3: He called me and please pray, I've got to have that.
Speaker 3: I've got to come up with that company credit card. So,
Speaker 3: I mean, he was just a cousin and everything all
Speaker 3: day long. And then that evening he called me and
Speaker 3: he said, well, Jesus did it. And I said what
Speaker 3: And he said, I found my credit card. I said, wonderful,
Speaker 3: where was it? He said, well, I'd gone to the
Speaker 3: bathroom and dropped my wallet in the bathroom and it
Speaker 3: was in there. So it all worked out. But you know,
Speaker 3: he would just get so so fried over something, you know,
Speaker 3: But it was a truly a comfort to know that
Speaker 3: I would see him again. That's our hope, you know
Speaker 3: that we will be with him again, that he's not
Speaker 3: gone forever.
Speaker 2: Talk if you will, please about the relationship between christ
Speaker 2: and Chad.
Speaker 3: Okay, they met on the soccer field. Their little girls
Speaker 3: played soccer together, and they had to get out and
Speaker 3: the coaches were not adequate. You know, they had to
Speaker 3: help the coaches.
Speaker 1: You know, I can't look, It's just the way it
Speaker 1: is with two sons that play sports. You feel like
Speaker 1: sometimes you have to assist.
Speaker 3: With vigor the finer lines.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 3: Anyway, they met out there and I guess started talking,
Speaker 3: and then I guess Chris started telling him stories about
Speaker 3: the Navy Seals and stuff like that, and like I said,
Speaker 3: Chad was patriotic. And then Chris was doing fundraisers for
Speaker 3: veterans and he invited Chad along. One man introduced himself
Speaker 3: to Chad. He said, I know you, and Chad said,
Speaker 3: it scared me because I wasn't military and I wasn't
Speaker 3: nave sealing. You know, I didn't know who he thought
Speaker 3: I was. And Chad to him, says, you don't know me.
Speaker 3: He said, I'm not military. He said, yeah, you are.
Speaker 3: You are the one that brought Chris out of his
Speaker 3: darkest hours. And it was just you know, Chad told me,
Speaker 3: he said, Mom, I didn't know he was doing talk therapy,
Speaker 3: you know, when they're working out, you know, but you know,
Speaker 3: it helped. And Chad was a good listener. And if
Speaker 3: Chris wanted to talk and talk about things that bothered him,
Speaker 3: Chad would listen. If not, they would just work out
Speaker 3: quietly and split their ways. You know. They became good
Speaker 3: friends that way to Chris, and that's what he needed
Speaker 3: at the time. The next morning, February, the second, he
Speaker 3: had texted me because we had an inheritance that finally
Speaker 3: came through, and he was always seizing me. Hey, let
Speaker 3: me give you my bank account number. You know, you'll
Speaker 3: you'll probably need that to put that in my bank.
Speaker 3: You know. Chad was a funny kid. You know, we
Speaker 3: were disciplinarians. But you know all of his friends, you know,
Speaker 3: they wanted Chad to be their party in the life
Speaker 3: of the party. But I sent him a text and
Speaker 3: I said, look what I learned to do. And he said, oh, mom,
Speaker 3: I had to pull over the side of the road.
Speaker 3: I could not believe you were texting. It's a big deal.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean that even that plays into the
Speaker 2: story because that morning you were texting with him.
Speaker 3: Anyway, he told me. Then after that text, he said,
Speaker 3: we got a marine that's not doing well and Chris
Speaker 3: and I are going to take him to the range
Speaker 3: and just get him out for the day. So I
Speaker 3: knew where Chad was and they went down there. This
Speaker 3: was I don't know nine or ten o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 3: I guess on a Saturday morning. So that was the
Speaker 3: last text that I got from Chad and we went
Speaker 3: on the day. Don and I are very active in
Speaker 3: our church and we usually keep Saturdays open. We usually
Speaker 3: don't go out on a Saturday night because then were
Speaker 3: too tired to get up and go do anything Sunday.
Speaker 3: But this time we were having a ladies conference and
Speaker 3: I had to get up and go set up the
Speaker 3: display and everything. And because I'm pretty high maintenance, I
Speaker 3: had to make sure that my clothes were picked out
Speaker 3: and that, you know, my hair was done, and I
Speaker 3: was ready to go. God forbid that my makeup was
Speaker 3: not ride or something like that. You know, late, always
Speaker 3: on time, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1: Me neither right, always late.
Speaker 3: That's awesome. So we went about our business and we
Speaker 3: got a call from Taya, Chris's wife, and she said,
Speaker 3: we need to come. You need to come to my house.
Speaker 3: And Don said why, and she said, there's been an
Speaker 3: accident and you need to get your wife and come
Speaker 3: to our house. And from our house to they live
Speaker 3: in Middalothian, Texas, it's about fifteen miles and it's dark,
Speaker 3: winding roads. I mean there's no light at all out there,
Speaker 3: so you just kind of you have to know where
Speaker 3: you're going, you know, you get lost. So we got
Speaker 3: out there. There was probably a two block perimnium around
Speaker 3: the house that you couldn't even get through, and cars
Speaker 3: were just lined up everywhere, and the police stopped us
Speaker 3: and we told them we were the little Fields and
Speaker 3: the policeman said, we know Chris has been shot but
Speaker 3: we don't know about Chad yet, and I thought, how
Speaker 3: strange is that that you know my son's first name.
Speaker 3: And anyway, he led us through and so Donn and
Speaker 3: I walked hand in hand up to the house with
Speaker 3: the lights. And this was maybe nine thirty at night.
Speaker 3: The garage door was open and law enforcement was everywhere.
Speaker 3: There was FBI and Navy seal, local police, DPS officers,
Speaker 3: you know, just everywhere. And they directed us through the
Speaker 3: kitchen and my former daughter in law met us there
Speaker 3: and she said, Chris has been shot. We don't know
Speaker 3: about Chad. So we all went and sat down. Ta
Speaker 3: had come in, Chris's wife had come in, and we
Speaker 3: were all in a very dim lit room and people
Speaker 3: were whispering. Nobody was talking out loud at all, and
Speaker 3: it was full of people, I mean, people lying around
Speaker 3: the walls, and nobody sat except for the family, you know.
Speaker 3: And TAA came in and she said, now there's people here,
Speaker 3: Navy seals. If y'all need anything, they can help you.
Speaker 3: And I said, if you would show me where a
Speaker 3: trash can is, i'd appreciate it. On to get rid
Speaker 3: of my gum, and this man just held out his
Speaker 3: hand to take my gun, and I thought, I said, no,
Speaker 3: just give me a tissue or something, and you know, no,
Speaker 3: I'll take it. I said, okay, and then asked for
Speaker 3: a glass of water, and it was right there. I mean,
Speaker 3: they just took it off the candet and I thought,
Speaker 3: whose water was this? Whose water am I drinking? But
Speaker 3: I didn't care. I was thirsty, you know. And like
Speaker 3: I said, everybody was so eager to help. Nobody knew
Speaker 3: what to do or when to do it until, you know,
Speaker 3: we could be till we knew that Chad was involved
Speaker 3: and that he had been killed. Also, we just began
Speaker 3: the weight to set there and waited. Chad was his
Speaker 3: wallet and everything was in Chris's truck, and the shooter
Speaker 3: had taken Chris's truck, so they had no way of
Speaker 3: identifying Chad. And we knew he was, you know, with Chris,
Speaker 3: but nobody else knew that. So we sat there and
Speaker 3: then later on we found out the shooter had been
Speaker 3: taken into custody. Before we ever found out that Chad
Speaker 3: was the other end down. Chad had had in my house.
Speaker 3: You didn't do tattoos. You got kicked out if you know,
Speaker 3: got a tattoo well, he got a huge one and
Speaker 3: it was Jesus Christ on this side and a big
Speaker 3: eagle on this side. But he shortened them, you know,
Speaker 3: short enough that he could still wear a shirt and
Speaker 3: you wouldn't see the tattoo. I decided at that point, hey,
Speaker 3: I got to choose my battles and that's not worth fighting,
Speaker 3: you know. Of course he was out of the house
Speaker 3: by then. Anyway. Anyway, that's the way they identified him
Speaker 3: in death. Anyway, finally the captain and the Middle Othian
Speaker 3: Police Department came in and the phone had been binging
Speaker 3: all night and back then, you know, it was a
Speaker 3: little flip phone thing. You know. My son and my
Speaker 3: grandson were wanting to know if Chad was okay, and
Speaker 3: I thought, how do you know about this? What is
Speaker 3: going on? We were in shock. We still tell you
Speaker 3: had set an accident. We're thinking that they wrecked the
Speaker 3: truck because Chad was a football player in high school
Speaker 3: and we had several dangerous things that happened. I had
Speaker 3: to go to the hospital, so we're thinking that's the accident. Anyway,
Speaker 3: we sat there and sat there, and finally he came
Speaker 3: in and he said, we have identified Chad and he
Speaker 3: is the other man down with Chris. Anyway, I went
Speaker 3: to my knees and just scream, not my chatty, not
Speaker 3: much chatty. It was true. And here we were sitting
Speaker 3: among strangers, and my little former daughter in law said,
Speaker 3: I've got to get to my daughter. She was, you know,
Speaker 3: with a sitter. And by this time it was eleven
Speaker 3: or twelve o'clock at night. I think we didn't know
Speaker 3: what to do. We just stood there and we thought, here,
Speaker 3: we're in a strange house. And my husband he just
Speaker 3: had to, you know, get us out, and so we
Speaker 3: decided to go with her over to her parents' house.
Speaker 3: We had nobody, We didn't have any family there, we
Speaker 3: had no support or anything. So we just followed her
Speaker 3: and we went over there. And my former drawing in
Speaker 3: law was in the education field, so they had counselors
Speaker 3: there immediately, several of them too for my little granddaughter.
Speaker 3: You know, they were all in the room with her.
Speaker 3: And anyway, we got ready to go home, and I
Speaker 3: went and hugged her and kissed her, and my little
Speaker 3: granddaughter said, mem is this a nightmare? I said, honey,
Speaker 3: I'm afraid it is. And we weren't going to wake
Speaker 3: up from this one. When she's here. We got cemetery
Speaker 3: and put a Christmas ornament on a reeve for something
Speaker 3: for her. And I keep flags, American flags and Texas
Speaker 3: flags out there all the time. And you know, one
Speaker 3: of the funny things, we were going to pick AD's
Speaker 3: headstone out and her mother said, oh, no, I'll have
Speaker 3: to find a sitter. That will traumatize her. I said,
Speaker 3: she needs to be in on this stuff. So anyway,
Speaker 3: she went with us, and she gets out of the
Speaker 3: car and walks in this monument place and the lady said,
Speaker 3: did you all need some help or do you know
Speaker 3: what you want? And she said, no, we know what
Speaker 3: we want. And the lady said, did you want a
Speaker 3: rough cut or a smooth cut? And she said no,
Speaker 3: we want a smooth because if a bird poops on it,
Speaker 3: we want to be able to get it off. I said,
Speaker 3: so much for that trisation.
Speaker 1: I mean, and how logical. Yeah, that's yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: from the mouth of babes.
Speaker 3: Well, and she wanted to do something on the headstone,
Speaker 3: and so I said, we'll go over there and sit
Speaker 3: down and come up with something. Well, she had a
Speaker 3: plaque in her room that said I found my prince
Speaker 3: and his name is Daddy, and they were able to
Speaker 3: let her and she had beautiful handwriting at that aid
Speaker 3: do her handwriting, and it's on the grapes.
Speaker 1: Well, I think what a Greek call it had to
Speaker 1: attribute to the to getting through the greeming process, having
Speaker 1: involved I think that was so important, you know, and
Speaker 1: that being able to hel forward and go through the
Speaker 1: healing journey, which is a lifelong journey.
Speaker 3: And we're able to pass that on to his little
Speaker 3: girl also. Anyway, they arranged to have Chad's funeral a
Speaker 3: week after he had been killed. So, and there's an
Speaker 3: organization called the Patriot Guard Writers and they're usually a
Speaker 3: bunch of veterans that escort of veterans home to their
Speaker 3: final resting place. Well, they do military, and Chad was
Speaker 3: not military, but they got special permission and there were
Speaker 3: two hundred motorcycle guys that showed up to escort my
Speaker 3: son to his final resting place and they surrounded the
Speaker 3: the grave site with those beautiful American flags and just
Speaker 3: so so overwhelming and heartfelt they would love us enough
Speaker 3: to do that anyway, but they got that taken care of,
Speaker 3: and then you know, the silence comes the people are gone,
Speaker 3: the relatives are gone, the cards and letters have stopped,
Speaker 3: the phone calls, and Don and I talked and we said, Don,
Speaker 3: we can't afford to get better over this. We're gonna
Speaker 3: have to get better because we can't afford to live
Speaker 3: and revenge and anger. You know, it is what it is.
Speaker 3: We've lost our son, but we're going to rise above.
Speaker 3: And the reason I'm called Mama Littlefield is I lost
Speaker 3: my son, but I have gained so many you know.
Speaker 3: I had one one that say, my mom passed last
Speaker 3: year and I really miss her not wishing me a
Speaker 3: happy birthday, And I said, on behalf of your mom,
Speaker 3: please let me wish you a happy birthday. So I'm
Speaker 3: being Mama, Mama Judy, Mama Littleville. So and I just
Speaker 3: appreciate that so much. I just just love these guys
Speaker 3: and know that Chad would be so thankful that we're
Speaker 3: being treated like we are because he was very patriotic kid.
Speaker 3: You know. He was always saying, Mom, what did you
Speaker 3: do for a veteran today? And I told him one day,
Speaker 3: I said, son, you need to be a first responder
Speaker 3: because if there was an accident on the side of
Speaker 3: the road, he was the first one out, and he
Speaker 3: was a germ preak. He didn't like his name brand
Speaker 3: clothes messed up or his hands dirty, but he would
Speaker 3: if there was somebody in need. You know, that all
Speaker 3: went to the ways.
Speaker 1: I can relate it. Mama, it's I don't like germs
Speaker 1: that aren't mine on me. I don't. It's and it
Speaker 1: just seems to get worse the older I get.
Speaker 3: That's interesting. Well, you know, like I said, but Chad
Speaker 3: told me, I said, you need to become a first responder.
Speaker 3: He said, Mom, you don't need to wear a uniform
Speaker 3: to help your fellow man. I said, boy, you're right.
Speaker 3: You know, we need to reach out more often and
Speaker 3: love one another and uh, you know, with kindness. And
Speaker 3: then after that we had to wait for two years.
Speaker 3: It went to trial. The case went to trial two
Speaker 3: years later. But we were the only ones that didn't
Speaker 3: know what had happened. I mean, we knew Chad and
Speaker 3: Chris had been shot, but we didn't have any details.
Speaker 3: We didn't know why, the motive of nothing. And I
Speaker 3: don't know why they kept that from it, maybe because
Speaker 3: they felt we needed to be protected. But then after
Speaker 3: that we went to trial and that was a whole
Speaker 3: whole different thing. The trial lasted too and a half weeks,
Speaker 3: and we stayed down there and every TV or social
Speaker 3: media they contacted us and they were I think I
Speaker 3: know they were coming by the house because on the
Speaker 3: weekend we came home and there were cards and things
Speaker 3: in my mailbox with no stamp on them, So I
Speaker 3: know that they were coming by here. But and we
Speaker 3: couldn't do any interviews because we didn't want to jeopardize trial.
Speaker 3: And in Texas, because there were two murders at the
Speaker 3: same time, they went to trial for both, for Chris's
Speaker 3: murder and Chad's. On all the national TV and everything,
Speaker 3: it was considered the American sniper trial, and it was.
Speaker 3: It was the trial of Chad Littlefield and Chris Kyle.
Speaker 3: They proved in a court of law that he did
Speaker 3: not suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, that he had
Speaker 3: chosen to get high and drink, and he told his
Speaker 3: sister he left the scene and told us, sister said,
Speaker 3: I just sold my soul for this truck. That's our story.
Speaker 3: But like I said, we learned a lot. We learned
Speaker 3: to not be bitter, we learned to love more, We're
Speaker 3: more compassionate, I had some people tell me one time, said, well,
Speaker 3: we've lost our jobs, and we don't mean to compare
Speaker 3: that to your loss. I said, no, you don't understand
Speaker 3: when you're in pain. I don't care where it's coming from.
Speaker 3: Everybody is in pain together, and we need to reach
Speaker 3: out and help them.
Speaker 1: And I'm a firm believer in that. We are firm
Speaker 1: believers in that there's no there's no levels, right.
Speaker 3: Right, there's no levels. If you're hurting, you're hurting in pain.
Speaker 1: Right, And it is so important for us to really
Speaker 1: lean in. I just love that because it's I think
Speaker 1: it's important for people to hear that your pain is relevant,
Speaker 1: regardless of what it is, because societally, we get so
Speaker 1: so separated and segregated because of you know, well this
Speaker 1: my situation is not as bad as that situation, et cetera,
Speaker 1: et cetera. And it's like if we could just lean
Speaker 1: in and realize that the one thing that makes us
Speaker 1: the same is we all understand pain and suffering. And
Speaker 1: that's regardless of your belief system, you know, regardless of
Speaker 1: your political ideology, regardless of et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1: Everyone understands that and it's the one thing that we
Speaker 1: can just agree on well.
Speaker 3: And what you said was my granddaughters. That's a tribute
Speaker 3: to how we handled grief. I had not thought about
Speaker 3: that before. But I can't imagine if she had been
Speaker 3: around us and we refuse to live, if we refuse
Speaker 3: to get out of bed or just go on with life.
Speaker 3: I can't imagine how it would have affected her at
Speaker 3: her young age. And I'm so glad that we chose
Speaker 3: to get up and go on through it all.
Speaker 1: You know. We've noticed too that when we are going
Speaker 1: through hard times, they're always listening, our kids, like they're
Speaker 1: even when you think they're not. It's always listening. Will
Speaker 1: be mid sentence and you'll hear the little one, what
Speaker 1: does that mean? And it's like, oh god, he's been
Speaker 1: listening time. Yeah. But especially when we're going through challenging times,
Speaker 1: they are hyper focused what are they going to do?
Speaker 1: And it's our time to really show what living well
Speaker 1: looks like in the face of adversity, you know, and
Speaker 1: it's we're not always good at it, especially me, you know.
Speaker 1: I think it's so important that that to know we
Speaker 1: can find therapy and everything we do, it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be sitting across from a professional. Licensed professional doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be. And I think that that's that's really important,
Speaker 1: the example that you all have shown her, and I
Speaker 1: guarantee you it's attributed to her being able to hold forward.
Speaker 3: There's been a lot of lessons learned. And Chad was
Speaker 3: very I mean, he was calling every day. He's a
Speaker 3: mama's boy. He would call every day or come by
Speaker 3: or you know. And because he did that, my other
Speaker 3: son let him. You know, it might be four weeks
Speaker 3: before we would see the other one, you know, because
Speaker 3: he just you know, they'd get busy. But then after
Speaker 3: Chad was taken, well, I'm telling you, Jerry's on the
Speaker 3: phone every day, taking us wherever we need to go
Speaker 3: and helping us. So we're blessed that we have him
Speaker 3: to take care. And he's not military either, but he
Speaker 3: works to raise funds for veterans and try to help.
Speaker 3: That's what's so beautiful.
Speaker 2: Y'all truly raised to patriotic, god loving young men, and
Speaker 2: we truly appreciate you sharing your story.
Speaker 3: It's beautiful that you're able to.
Speaker 2: Honor and remember him and share his story so we
Speaker 2: can all remember him, you know.
Speaker 1: You and Don and Jerry and chat or proof positive
Speaker 1: to me that every human being has an inner warrior.
Speaker 1: I believe it's ingrained in our DNA, and you're proof
Speaker 1: positive of that. The way you've you've all been able
Speaker 1: to embrace grace through it all is inspiring and of itself.
Speaker 1: And I believe there's a big difference between suffering and
Speaker 1: suffering well, you know, and I don't believe that we
Speaker 1: ever get over significant traumatic experiences in life. I just
Speaker 1: I believe that we learned to deal with them in
Speaker 1: a healthier manner. You know, you guys have definitely been
Speaker 1: an inspiration to not only me but us and how
Speaker 1: to handle what life throws at you.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: And I've been I've been through a lot of life
Speaker 1: in my short amount of time I've been here. But
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's it's a it's an honor to
Speaker 1: be around people like you both, because it's uh, it's inspirational,
Speaker 1: it's motivational, humbling.
Speaker 3: Chad asked me one one year what I wanted from
Speaker 3: others day, and I told him I wanted to authentic
Speaker 3: get bush And so he went and got one for me,
Speaker 3: and he dug the hole and planted it and everything.
Speaker 3: He was over here one day and I said, Chad,
Speaker 3: look at that crazy bush. I said, when your life's
Speaker 3: going good, that bush just blooms. And he said, but Mom,
Speaker 3: if you had not watered it and kept the weeds
Speaker 3: out of it like you did, my life, neither one
Speaker 3: of us would have ever produced. So Chad and I
Speaker 3: bonded over that crazy yellow rose bush, you know. And
Speaker 3: then after he was killed, Mother's Day was coming up
Speaker 3: and the rose bush just was not doing anything, and
Speaker 3: I cried, and I cried as a don It's died
Speaker 3: with him. The rose bushes died with him. And a
Speaker 3: couple of days before Mother's Day, I walked outside and
Speaker 3: just happened to look down and there was a little
Speaker 3: yellow bud on that rose bush. And I thought, thank you, Chad,
Speaker 3: thank you ched so much for letting me know you're okay.
Speaker 3: And the yellow rose. When he'd get mad at me
Speaker 3: or something, he'd show up up on my door with
Speaker 3: the yellow rose say I'm sorry, mom. So that was
Speaker 3: our deal. And then when I saw that little rose bush,
Speaker 3: you know, it's just like he was saying, I'm sorry
Speaker 3: for the pain, but I'm good. You know that that
Speaker 3: yellow rose has been a meaning for me ever since.
Speaker 3: So that's amazing.
Speaker 2: Always give a Texas girl yellow roses.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: He clearly made such a huge impact on those that
Speaker 2: whose lives he touched. Even in his friendship with Chris,
Speaker 2: Jake said, you know, you can find therapy in anything
Speaker 2: that you do. And you said earlier when they would
Speaker 2: go exercise, they would exercise their bodies for their mental health.
Speaker 3: That's huge. Well, and not only that, of course you
Speaker 3: probably know this, but we were offered so many pills
Speaker 3: and alcohol. Here, just drink this and you'll feel better. Well,
Speaker 3: I have a very addictive personality, and.
Speaker 1: You and me both, Mama, I knew.
Speaker 3: If I had a glass of wine today, I'd need
Speaker 3: a bottle tomorrow. And it would have been accepted, you
Speaker 3: know what I was going through. It would have been
Speaker 3: accepted to judge, you know, just stay on the pills
Speaker 3: and stay out. But we've always felt like you have
Speaker 3: to walk through the pain. You can't walk around it,
Speaker 3: you can't dodge it. It's there. Walk through it. So
Speaker 3: and and that's the thing. I could have drank. I
Speaker 3: could have taken the pills, but then when I got sober,
Speaker 3: I would still be in pain.
Speaker 1: You'd be a square one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, anything, you know.
Speaker 1: That's one thing that I you know, I try and
Speaker 1: tell people is that because you know, November it will
Speaker 1: be five years that I've been cleaning.
Speaker 3: So wow, wow, congratulations.
Speaker 1: Well thank you. I believe that when we feel it,
Speaker 1: we sit and we feel it, we feel the pain,
Speaker 1: and we exercise the pain.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I believe that that's doing a lot of shaping of
Speaker 1: our character and our understanding immortality and our appreciation of
Speaker 1: the things that we otherwise just don't appreciate because we're
Speaker 1: just going through life trying to get everything done, to
Speaker 1: go do this or that for this person or that person.
Speaker 1: And it's I think that it speaks volumes of you
Speaker 1: guys as not only human beings, but leaders in community
Speaker 1: and being rooted in your spirituality, being able to just
Speaker 1: fill it and not numb because a lot of people
Speaker 1: do which and just like you said, just like you,
Speaker 1: like I suck at anything in moderation, it's all the
Speaker 1: way or no way.
Speaker 3: Oh that's me, that's me.
Speaker 1: And you know with me, it was like, well, if
Speaker 1: one pill works about you, five is going to be awesome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: which led you know, so on and so forth. And
Speaker 1: which was the same thing. It's just because nobody judged.
Speaker 1: There was no judgment like, well, you know, can you
Speaker 1: imagine yeah's gone right? And so there was no judgment.
Speaker 1: There was no questions, No, Jake, maybe you should tone
Speaker 1: it down some mate, none of that, because how dare
Speaker 1: they impede on my process? Right? And I remember when
Speaker 1: I stopped drinking, and it was because I wouldn't say
Speaker 1: I was sober for about a year because I think
Speaker 1: there's a big difference between not drinking and living a
Speaker 1: sober life. And I had so many people walk up
Speaker 1: to me and go, you know, Jake, I was going
Speaker 1: to say something to you about it. I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: but you didn't and that's okay. And I said, and
Speaker 1: that's on me, not you. That's okay, you know. But
Speaker 1: it's it's something that, yeah, we all grieve differently, we
Speaker 1: all go through things differently, and I think it's really
Speaker 1: important for people to hear what you and coach and
Speaker 1: your family have gone through to understand it doesn't always
Speaker 1: have to look like you see on TV it all.
Speaker 1: It doesn't always have to look like a Hollywood film.
Speaker 1: It's not always going to.
Speaker 3: Be pretty like I'm okay right.
Speaker 1: It's okay to not be okay, and it's okay to
Speaker 1: fill it because we were all human.
Speaker 3: And that's not over. You know, a lot of times
Speaker 3: I think I got this thing lived, you know, and
Speaker 3: something a smell or you know, a thought or something,
Speaker 3: and I lose it, you know. And we will never
Speaker 3: get over Chad's lost, never, but we are learning to
Speaker 3: live without him, and it's healing, uh to talk about it.
Speaker 3: And a mother's greatest fear is that her son would
Speaker 3: be forgotten, you know. Jerry used to tell us and Mom,
Speaker 3: there's two deaths. The first one is physical. The second
Speaker 3: one is when people forget you ever existed. And that's
Speaker 3: what I don't want to happen too much, head I want,
Speaker 3: I want him remembered for us and his little girl
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 2: He talked about community, and one of the things that
Speaker 2: christ and Chad really bonded on was was community. But
Speaker 2: since this whole thing's happened in your life, your community
Speaker 2: has grown as well. Now, talk to me about that day,
Speaker 2: the days after the law enforcement, the military veterans that
Speaker 2: you came in contact with, those connections that you've made.
Speaker 3: Well, and of course that picked up, you know, like
Speaker 3: a couple of months or so after the death, you know,
Speaker 3: when people felt safe, you know, approaching us. I remember
Speaker 3: one day Don and I thank god one of us
Speaker 3: was usually up and could help the other one, and
Speaker 3: one day we were both down and I kid you not,
Speaker 3: I was suicidal. I didn't want to live. I wanted
Speaker 3: my Chad. I wanted to be with him, and I
Speaker 3: just cried out and I said, God, what do you
Speaker 3: want me to do? And there came a knock on
Speaker 3: the door and it was the chaplain of the Desoda
Speaker 3: Police Department, and he said, I just thought i'd come
Speaker 3: by and check on you guys and see if maybe
Speaker 3: I could pray with you. But do I have a
Speaker 3: job for you? So anyway, But like I said, God
Speaker 3: sends people when you really need them, and we need
Speaker 3: Deemed that day everything kind of developed on a step
Speaker 3: after step, meeting people and doing fundraisers and things like that.
Speaker 3: We don't know too many firefighters that I have been
Speaker 3: presented with their challenge, coins many police officers, and of
Speaker 3: course are vets. Like you said, that community has just
Speaker 3: grown and grown.
Speaker 2: So three questions we ask all of our guests. Rapid fire,
Speaker 2: It's not really rapid fire, but we called it that.
Speaker 2: So what do you do to relax and recharge?
Speaker 3: Doctor Charles Stanley is a pastor out of Atlanta, Georgia,
Speaker 3: and he has a podcast thing that comes on the
Speaker 3: computer every day at two o'clock and that's my time
Speaker 3: to sit there and you know, listen, do whatever I
Speaker 3: want to and that's my time. I tell Don, I said,
Speaker 3: this is free time. If you want to do puzzles
Speaker 3: or whatever. You know, Don has to have his nap
Speaker 3: every day because you know, when you're a mother, the
Speaker 3: only time you get anything done is when your kids
Speaker 3: are asleep. Well, when Don goes to sleep, and that's
Speaker 3: why I get myself.
Speaker 1: That's your recharge, relaxed time, you know, and that you
Speaker 1: know what naps are important. There's studies at show they
Speaker 1: shouldn't stop in kindergarten that we should continue those throughout life.
Speaker 1: Just for everyone listening, those are naps are very important
Speaker 1: for brain health. So another question we'd like to ask,
Speaker 1: is there a particular person or entity that has had
Speaker 1: a significant impact on you or your story?
Speaker 3: Well, I guess I would have to say my dad.
Speaker 3: My dad was a mortician, so I had a really
Speaker 3: chunky child. We lived at the funeral forever. But he
Speaker 3: was had a servant's heart. He was always serving people.
Speaker 3: And back in those days, the funeral homes did all
Speaker 3: the ambulance service. So he was forever going out. And
Speaker 3: I'm from Harlingen, Texas and years ago they had an
Speaker 3: Air Force base down there. Well, there were quite a
Speaker 3: few crashes, you know that he had to go out
Speaker 3: and deal with and take care of families and comfort families.
Speaker 3: He always had a servant's heart. He even in his
Speaker 3: last days, had gone to school and learned how to
Speaker 3: take the eyes out and pack them get them on
Speaker 3: a plane for a transplant. So I would have to say,
Speaker 3: Dad is the one that gave us the service. He
Speaker 3: had to be the one that put a servant's heart
Speaker 3: in me. And I guess that's where Chad got it.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: It's it's awesome because you know, greatness can be generational
Speaker 1: to not just trauma, and I love hearing that. That's beautiful.
Speaker 2: Last question, and it's broad, but it can be specific
Speaker 2: to what feeds your soul.
Speaker 3: I think healing when we reach out, especially vets, because
Speaker 3: that's where we have our most contact. Somebody that's been helped,
Speaker 3: somebody that that just needs a hug, that needs some love,
Speaker 3: and we can do it. I mean, I've met people
Speaker 3: at the cemetery that want to come out and you know,
Speaker 3: we just sit around Chad's gravesite, and you know, they
Speaker 3: just wanted to be near Chad, you know. And I
Speaker 3: think that is the most productive thing. You know, we
Speaker 3: feel like we've accomplished something. And the other thing is
Speaker 3: next year, Coach and I'll be married fifty years and
Speaker 3: want an accomplishment that fifty years. I told him that
Speaker 3: could be a long year.
Speaker 1: That's amazing.
Speaker 2: Congratulations, that's amazing. Well, we celebrate Chad's life today and
Speaker 2: every day, and thank you for having the strength and
Speaker 2: the courage to come and share your story and his story.
Speaker 2: We're thrilled to be able to tell it, to be
Speaker 2: able to share it so that we can continue to
Speaker 2: speak Chad Littlefield's name.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mama, little Phil the coach for your strength
Speaker 1: and your inspiration, your leadership, your grace, your wisdom. So
Speaker 1: truly grateful, truly humbled by you both, and your vulnerability
Speaker 1: and your willingness to find victory in that and healing
Speaker 1: is all inspiring.
Speaker 3: Wow. Thank you, Thank you for those words.
Speaker 2: How could you not be truly inspired after hearing that story.
Speaker 2: I mean it truly is a mother's journey that she's
Speaker 2: been on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's something that most people, if not all people
Speaker 1: who are parents. It's the worst thing you could ever
Speaker 1: go through, and yet she lives her life with love
Speaker 1: and grace and alongside coach who does the same thing
Speaker 1: kind of command you be better.
Speaker 2: Absolutely married fifty years next year and you know, let's
Speaker 2: be better, not better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there should be in a word for that.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful love story
Speaker 2: to include their love of their child, and even through
Speaker 2: this tragedy, Man, it's just made them stronger.
Speaker 1: Us knowing them personally, they've mentioned how yeah, there's times
Speaker 1: that got really hard and really tough between the two
Speaker 1: of us, and it's just like, we know we can't
Speaker 1: be weak at the same time, right, we have to
Speaker 1: be able to lean on each other and have the
Speaker 1: vulnerability and the humility to let the other one be
Speaker 1: strong when one of us is a weekend, And that's
Speaker 1: what they did, and they made it through.
Speaker 2: Through one of the most horrific.
Speaker 1: Tragedy, probably the hardest thing any parent could ever deal with.
Speaker 2: It's got to be right right, y'all. Be sure to
Speaker 2: check out her book, The Other Man Down, a Mother's
Speaker 2: Journey after the American Sniper Tragedy.
Speaker 1: It's the perspective that you'll need, especially if you're a
Speaker 1: mom or a dad and you really want your kid
Speaker 1: to know and to feel how much you love them.
Speaker 1: Read this book because I promise you when you put
Speaker 1: it down, I promise you you'll hug them a little
Speaker 1: tighter that night.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and your soul will feel full.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: We are so glad that you joined us here today
Speaker 2: for this episode of The Good Stuff. If you have
Speaker 2: anyone in your life that you think could use little inspiration,
Speaker 2: be sure to pass this episode along to them.
Speaker 1: It's important to let them hear it and to understand
Speaker 1: that they're they're worthy of living well because the whole
Speaker 1: point of this life is to lean in, love hard,
Speaker 1: and live well. And you can't fully do the last
Speaker 1: one without fully doing the first two.
Speaker 2: And be sure to cannnect with Jake and I would
Speaker 2: love to hear from you. If you have a story
Speaker 2: that you think we should tell on The Good Stuff,
Speaker 2: be sure to send that over to us. Connect with
Speaker 2: us on social media, and we look forward.
Speaker 1: To hearing from you. The Good Stuff is executive produced
Speaker 1: by Ashley Shick, Jacob Schick, Leah Pictures and q Code Media.
Speaker 1: Hosted by Ashley Shick and Jacob Shick, Produced by Nick
Speaker 1: Cassilini and Ryan Countshouse Post production supervisor Will Tindy. Music
Speaker 1: editing by Will Haywood Smith, Edited by Mike Robinson.