WEBVTT - Glory to God with Jacob Schick 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.040 Welcome to the Good Stuff. I'm Jacob Shick and I'm 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:20.560 joined by my co host and wife, Ashley Shick. 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:23.720 Jake is a third generation combat Marine and I'm a 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.520 gold Star granddaughter. We work together to serve military veterans, 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:31.120 first responders, frontline healthcare workers, and their families with mental 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:34.879 and emotional wellness through traditional and non traditional therapy. At 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.160 One Tribe Foundation, we believe everyone has. 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.360 A story to tell, not only about the peaks, but 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:42.680 also the valleys they've been through to get them to 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:43.600 where they are today. 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.720 Each week, we invite a guest to tell us their story, 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.080 to share with us the lessons they've learned that shaped 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:51.120 who they are and what they're doing to pay it 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:52.440 forward and give back. 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:54.720 Our mission with this show is to dig deep in 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.440 our guest journey so that we can celebrate the hope 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:00.240 and inspiration their story has to offer. 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.440 We are thrilled you're joining us again. 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:04.480 Welcome to the Good Stuff. 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:10.160 Welcome to our season one finale. Thank you so much 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.160 for listening over the last thirty episodes. We are truly 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.840 grateful for your support and hope. This podcast has provided 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:18.280 inspiration and hope for each of you, like it has 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.000 for us, thanks for making this show what it is 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:23.200 and what it's growing into, and for those of you 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:25.880 that have been listening all along and learning about the 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:28.240 two of us over the course of season one. We 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.720 wanted to bring the podcast full circle an end where 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:32.360 we started with our own story. 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:37.040 I strongly second everything Ash said, because without you, guys, 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.840 there is no show. And really we're coming full circle 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.640 because today our guest is me telling my version of 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.240 the story of when I was severely injured while serving 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:50.320 this country. I do a lot of public speaking, and 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:52.920 this is a story I've told many many times, but 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:57.920 this recording is different because it's intimate. It's to my wife, 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:00.760 just two of us in a room, and I am 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.360 going to dig deep to go back to that day 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:05.920 in that place and remember it just the way I 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:09.040 remember it every single day, but on a much deeper level, 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:11.960 because I think that that's only fair because of what 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:15.120 our guest has given us, I think I owe it 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:16.880 to all of you to do the same. 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:21.160 With that said, Jacob Schick, welcome to the season one 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.280 finale of The Good Stuff. Today we're going to hear 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:26.760 about the day you were injured while serving our country 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.320 in Iraq. Nearly twenty years ago. At the time, you 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.000 were twenty two years old on your first deployment in 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:34.880 the Sunni Triangle of Iraq. 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:45.040 It was September twentieth, two thousand and four, about five am, 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:50.359 and I'm the leader of the reacting Reacting is very 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.440 similar to the QRF, which means quick Reaction Force. And 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:56.120 what happens is we get called when there's a threat 0:02:56.160 --> 0:03:00.240 in IRIB operation that needs to be neutralized. And I 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:05.000 was sitting in the hum V next to Doc because 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.400 it was his turn to be on watch, and I 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.400 was debriefing with Doc about this high stress situation that 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:15.280 we just had with the Iraqi National Guard, and I 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:18.680 was still very much coming off my adrenaline high and 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:22.280 the guys had already betted down inside the tent. Once 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:26.560 that adrenaline dump wears off, Like you just knows dive, 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.600 there's always just super high highs and super low low 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.480 so there's very little in between. And so I remember 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.080 when I walked into the tent, you know, that's where 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.120 I find my moment of solace and sit down on 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:41.240 my cot trying to be quiet because I know the 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:45.640 guys need sleep. I kick the boots off, which is 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:47.880 like taking a deep breath, laying in your bed at 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:51.360 the end of a long day, knowing, Okay, whatever my 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:54.640 abnormal baseline is, I can get to it right now, 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:57.480 even for a minute. And I laid down on my 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:02.480 cot and within fifteen minutes a react got called, and 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:06.280 I remember just feeling bad for the guys because I 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:10.400 knew that everybody was tired and hungry, getting thirsty and miserable. 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:15.240 I just remember smiling because I was like, you know, 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.200 Murphy's law, it's just never ending. So I get up 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:21.919 and I put my boots on. I wake all the 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:23.880 guys up. And the way we do it is not 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.640 by rubbing their backs and whispering sweet nothing's in their ear. 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:28.080 You know, It's just not the way we do it 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:31.080 in the Marine Corps. And I got everybody up and 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:32.839 told them we got to react and get moving. 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.039 And I know you've told me before. A react is 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.480 basically a response by your unit to a threat in 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:40.680 your area of operation. 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:46.120 All the guys are rustling and growing and mumbling, and 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:51.000 as they should. We were exhausted. Everybody was exhausted. We 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:55.000 were tired. We weren't physically beaten up, but we were 0:04:55.000 --> 0:05:00.720 pretty emotionally exhausted. The moment I breached the outside of 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.360 the tent, I felt it, and I knew we were 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:03.960 going to get hit. 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:06.720 Where did that feeling come from? 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:11.760 I believe that that was a combination of God and 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.680 my grandfather talking to me from beyond the grave. And 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.200 I felt that it was so real and so convicting 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.960 that I knew whatever I feel from this point forward, 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.280 no matter what happens, I have to listen to it, 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.800 which is my gut. I remember stopping for a moment 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:35.360 and having a lot of nervousness come over me, and 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.120 I looked to my right and all nine of the 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:42.400 other Marines and the REACT team were walking to the 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:45.599 two humbies to get ready to go on this react. 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.279 I remember seeing a couple of them dragging their flack 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:54.080 jackets and having their boots unlaced, and because it was 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:58.000 just it's so the antithesis of what people think of, 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:00.159 most likely when they think of them. 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:04.080 Corps, right, because Marines are always so buttoned up and 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:04.799 squared away. 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.000 I remember looking at him and I felt this overwhelming 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.919 sense of love and respect for him, and I just 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:18.000 remember thinking to myself, like I am so freaking it 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:22.360 honored that those are my brothers. Right after that, I 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.320 look to my left and I see my commanding officers 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.840 HUMBE and I knew he had a bomb blanket and 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:32.279 somebody somewhere God my grandfather told me to go get 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:33.240 that bomb blanket. 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:36.039 And a bomb blanket is that one more layer of 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:39.360 protection that you need in your vehicle should you get hit. 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.359 So I went and opened the passenger door of his 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.000 HUMV and I take the bomb blanket out, and I 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:49.560 start walking to the two vehicles and I go to 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.120 the lead vehicle. The driver was in the driver's seat 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.800 and I told him scoot over. I got it. And 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:57.760 he looked at me. He's like, no, bro, I got it. 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:00.920 And I said, I'm not asking you, you know, kind 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.599 of irritated him because we were very close and I'd 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:08.120 never really given a direct order. And I remember he's 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:11.840 scooted over the passer seat known as the ay driver. 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:14.040 And I go to the reach back to the back 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:19.440 and grab the radio from radio man. It's between five 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:23.440 and six in the morning, it's like right before sun up. 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:29.520 And I remember telling the guys button up your shatter 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:33.640 proof goggles, your keV lar, your helmet and at this point. 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:37.280 I knew that the guys knew that something wasn't right. 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:40.400 I mean, when it's one hundred and thirty degrees and 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:42.480 you're wearing a ninety pound combat load, you don't need 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:48.960 help being uncomfortable. And they knew that I had a 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:53.600 feeling about something. And I remember getting in the driver's 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.680 seat after I put the bomb blanket down, and I 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:00.600 have the radio in my right hand because something told 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:05.280 me drive with your left, talk with your right, and 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:09.800 I punched it. And by the time we go around 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:13.720 this turn and I'm talking with the watchtower, we called 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.200 the react. It was trying to get us on target. 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:18.760 We're trying to walk us on target. And I knew 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:20.880 that I had to take this road because there was 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:23.720 one way in and one way out of this area 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.560 in do Live, Iraq. I just have to sail on 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.840 this road until I can make a turn to get 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.040 off the road and off the tracks to make a 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.720 beeline to wherever the thread is. And I came over 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:39.720 this hill. There was at least a twenty or thirty 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:44.000 meter area that was soft sand on this one road. 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.000 The rest of it was like compact, so compact it 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:52.480 was as hard as cement, but this one area that 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:54.680 was part of a dried up waddy or a dried 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:56.920 up riverbed had soft sand. 0:08:57.800 --> 0:08:59.520 Why is soft sand dangerous? 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:02.800 The thing is when you see the soft sand off 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.680 of a hard compact surface, you know that if there 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:09.360 is an a media threat in the form of a 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:13.960 bomb or an ied and provides a supposed device, it's 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:18.880 going to be there. Within hitting that soft sand, it 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:23.360 was maybe maybe two seconds and the front left tire 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:30.760 may contact the pressure plate. The way this works is 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:35.679 it was a triple stacked anti tank mine. The pressure 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:38.160 plate goes down and the lights of fuse and the 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:41.960 bombs go off, and that made the front left tire. 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:54.040 Once it made contact, it blew directly beneath me. So 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:58.640 many things happen before I'm ejected out of the hum V. 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:04.160 The firewall on the humbe folded so that broke my 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.599 right foot. A piece of shrapnel or a piece of 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:11.520 the hum vy went through the bottom of my left 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:13.760 arm that I was driving with and came out the top. 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.880 Then the steering wheel and the dashboard disengaged and hit 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:22.959 me in my chest, which is on the front of 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:25.800 our flat jackets is where we wear all of our magazines, 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:27.880 where we keep all of our AMMO for quick and 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.480 easy access, which made all my magazines explode, and it 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.760 also broke every one of my rips. In this process, 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.160 I had a piece of shrapnel go through the right 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:43.199 lens of my goggles. Then I was ejected. I was 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.520 blown thirty feet to the top of the humbe because 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:50.320 we operated in two door, soft top humb's, And I 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:56.560 remember being in the air knowing this is very, very bad. 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.160 Leave you remember all of these details on something that 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.480 happened in the blink of an eye, as if it 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:09.040 was in slow motion. We left you off, with you 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.480 literally mid air. After the explosion, I. 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:18.520 Ended up landing ways away from the reacting and I 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:20.800 stuck the landing with my head because I'm a marine 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.640 and we believe in good form. My ears were just 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:29.840 ringing and ringing, and it was just so loud, and 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:35.679 I smelt smoke fire. All the sand was still this 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.680 huge cloud. Because the sand is so fine, it's like 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:42.400 baby powder fine that it takes forever when there's an 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.800 explosion or even when you're driving for it to settle, 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.400 And it's not like dust on a dirt road, which 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:50.720 settles fairly quickly. I mean this stuff just it's like 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:54.920 it floats in the air. And so I still couldn't 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.960 see where the vehicles were, and I couldn't figure out 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:01.760 where I was. But then my age driver started yelling 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:10.840 check Chick, and I remember trying to immediately make my 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.240 way back to the lead vehicle, and I was going 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.559 towards the sound of his voice. And so I started 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.920 pulling myself with my right arm, and I was trying 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.280 to move my whole body and the only thing that 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.800 would function or even move was my right arm. So 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:29.360 as I'm pulling, I realized I don't have a weapon, 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:33.560 and so I start to move my left arm, which 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:37.160 was just flopping around, and I knew it was broken. 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:39.840 I didn't even have to look, but I was waiting 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.480 for my arm to hit metal at the rail system 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.760 of my sixteen, and I couldn't find it. And then 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.000 I looked down and I could see with my left 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.120 eye of it, I wasn't going anywhere. I was just 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:59.400 scooping sand. The whole time I'm hearing shack Hick. This 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:04.840 crush my soul is when he broke military protocol and 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:08.600 he just yelled my first name, and he just yelled Jacob, 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:18.760 and it was this blood curdling scream of desperosity just 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:23.800 to have any sign of me, because I'm sure when 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.200 he looks in the passenger seat and all these seas 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.400 or my rounds from my magazines and my blood, but 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:32.840 no me. I remember when he did that, and it 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:37.600 broke my heart. I couldn't get to him, and I 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:42.719 was trying hard, and it just crushed me because I 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.440 loved him so much and I wanted him to know, like, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:50.560 hey man, I'm okay, and too, like stop yelling, because 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:52.400 you're making us a target. Stop yelling. 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:54.760 Why what were you afraid of? 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:57.480 I didn't know if we were going to take on 0:13:57.559 --> 0:13:59.320 small arms fire. I didn't know if there was going 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.520 to be a second attack. I didn't know. So at 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:05.040 that point, I realized, I'm not gonna be able to 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:06.880 get to where he is, and I need to do 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:11.200 a self assessment. And I remember looking down at my 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:13.760 left leg and starting my self assessment to see what 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.240 kind of aid I can render myself if I'm even 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.920 able to do that, and I saw my phibia, my tibia, 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.240 sticking out of my left leg, and my left leg 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.960 was wrapped around itself and my foot was inverted and 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:29.000 turned upside down. My boot was blown off, my combat boot, 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:31.680 and I remember thinking when I saw that two things. 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.240 One that's not supposed to be like that, and two 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.280 this was a significant amount of force to be able 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.560 to blow my combat boot off of my foot and 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.760 not take my foot with it. And I remember looking 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.680 at my right leg, which looked normal, and it hurt 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.520 like hell, and I knew it was broken, but it 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:55.360 looked normal. I worked my way up and got to 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:59.400 my left arm and saw daylight through my left arm. 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.920 It blew out five inches on out of my left arm, 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:04.960 my own the bone, and then part of my left hand, 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:09.720 probably gonna lose the left leg, lose the left arm. 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.400 And then I look at my right arm and I 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.200 just see s trapping, the wounds, a couple of minor burns. 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.560 I couldn't see my own face, but I felt trapping 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:21.360 alver my face and my chin and my neck, so 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:25.040 I knew I was really wounded. At this point, I 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:27.800 still hadn't taken a breath when I got hit by 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:31.360 the steering wheel and just collapsed my lungs. I wasn't 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:35.000 able to breathe laying there after my self assessment, and 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:38.680 I just remember telling God, all I ask is that 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.680 you don't take me in front of my brothers. Because 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.640 I knew I was dying. This was most likely going 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.480 to be my last day on the planet, and so 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:52.080 my hyper focus became not dying in front of my brothers. 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:56.000 And the deal I made with God was, as soon 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:59.680 as the bird gets here and those kids leave the deck, 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:04.040 I'm all yours. All I ask of you is to 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:08.520 not allow my family to watch me die. And I 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:13.000 became hyper focused on staying alive for as long as 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.400 that took. Little did I know it was going to 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.560 take as long as it did. But I was able 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:22.560 to really focus on that and dig into something that 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:26.000 I knew I had but I rarely had to tap into. 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:29.040 At which point I could hear a couple of the 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:32.080 guys coming up, and the majority of them are standing 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:33.920 around me, and you know, we got you, Shike, we 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:38.160 got you, brother, and I looked up and the first 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:40.840 thing I said, up, grace of God, I was able 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:42.520 to take a breath, and the first thing I said 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:46.680 was developed through sixty, which means set up a security perimeter. 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:50.800 And I remember the look on their faces like oh, 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:53.840 oh yeah, and I was like, yeah, we're at war, 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:55.680 and I don't feel like all of us getting shot. 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:59.680 Was you looking at me? Set up the three sixty, 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:03.360 several of them went up, set up the security perimmer. 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.639 A few of them picked me up and took me 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.600 to the second Humby that was not didn't take any 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.640 damage because at this point the pain didn't necessarily set 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.920 in yet. But I knew it was coming. And by 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.280 the time they got me in the vehicle in the 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:20.639 back of the second Humbye to take me to the 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:25.600 command post, and it started setting in. The more painful 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:29.879 it it became, the angrier I got. And I remember, 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:32.520 they get me to the command post and Doc straight 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:36.040 they're ready to go, ready to work on me. And 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:39.119 it was one of those moments that were surreal because 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:42.639 I was I felt like just minutes ago, I was 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:46.560 sitting with them and we were just talking and I 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:48.879 was trying to come down off this adrill on high 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:52.760 and yet here he is just straight up in work 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:56.480 mode and he's talking to me and I'm just yelling 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:59.680 at him. You hit me, Doc, hit me with the morphine, 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:02.160 and he did, and he hit me twice and that's 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:05.479 the only time he would hit me. And it was 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:09.200 putting a needle in your thigh and releasing some morphine 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:13.960 into you. And I was pissed because he had only 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:16.520 hit me twice and I knew he had more. And 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:18.520 I'm yelling at this guy who I love and I 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:22.040 respect and calling him a stingy bastard. At this point, 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:25.080 I'm in fight mode, fighting for my own life. You 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:27.960 had this other marine that was with Doc, that did 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:33.840 this additional training to help Doc with these situations where 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:35.680 he had a little more know how when it came 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:40.040 to providing medical care to the Marines and to the enemy, 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:44.240 which we did. This particular marine he stepped on my 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:46.919 left leg and obviously was an accident. He didn't mean 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:51.439 to do. It really pissed me off. The complete antithesis 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.679 of politely asking him to go away is what I 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:59.280 told him, And I remember him getting emotional, and I 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:04.119 remember that pissing me off more. And so if you 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.080 haven't picked up on it yet, anger is a very 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:10.440 high octane fuel for me that I've learned to utilize 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.120 over the years to help get me through the valleys 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:17.080 to the peak. And I've used it as a motivator 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:19.560 and a lot of bad but also in a lot 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:23.879 more good and I remember hearing my tuning commander given 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.960 talking over the net or the radio to our battalion 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:31.119 back at the base and alasade I distinctly remember him saying, 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:34.120 We've got to get the spreen out of here. He's 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:39.320 category four and he's rapidly approaching category five. Category four 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:44.000 means urg a surgery, Category five meaning expectant not going 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:48.840 to make it. And I knew he was right because 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:53.119 every minute that passed I felt life leaving my body, 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:56.480 and I knew I've just got to keep fighting, got 0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:00.720 to keep fighting. And I was very, very very grateful 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:02.960 to be in the back of that hume Bee in 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.600 my right arm. It is just another reason I know 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:08.159 God's real because it wouldn't have worked if it was 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:12.080 my left. It had to be my right, my right arm. 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:16.760 Other than burns and shouting, the wounds to work fine, 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.879 I was able to hold my right hand up in 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:24.040 the back of this humb Every marine that I needed 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:25.600 to talk to, I got to talk to him and 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.199 hold their right hand and tell them how much I 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:32.120 love them and I respected them, and that they had 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:34.639 so much to do with me being the marine that 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:37.760 I am. And I remember telling the guys even the 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.199 guys that didn't want to look at me, and I 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:44.159 remember yelling at him to look at me and to 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:46.560 take a good look at me, because this is what 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:49.639 they want to do, and you have to fight forward, 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:51.880 you have to fight for me. I'm out of the fight. 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:56.080 And I remember when the guys were telling me, this 0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:58.520 is your bird home, brother, it's your bird home, Jake. 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:02.879 Every time they said her to piss me off, because 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:08.920 I was home. Wherever they were was my home. That's 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:13.359 my family, and I to this day feel that way 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:15.800 strongly that they're my family. 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:18.639 In that moment, what was it like to spend that 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:22.240 final bit of time with your family in your home. 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:27.439 I remember, after talking to the guys and the marine 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:30.800 Bravado going out the door and just being completely vulnerable 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:33.919 and leading with love in this moment, because it was 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:37.960 I had already made peace with the fact that as 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:40.280 soon as I get on that bird, you know I'm done, 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:43.760 as that was a deal I may with God, and 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:48.560 I'm a manimal word. And I remember I'd had enough 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:52.359 of havingough being poked and prodded and bandaged up and 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:56.600 unbandaged and bandaged up, and yelling why don't I hear 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:01.320 rhotors again. Every second the past, I got a little 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:04.639 weaker and a little weaker and a little weaker, and 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:08.399 I was starting to worry that I wasn't going to 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:11.359 be able to make it to the bird. I was 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:15.520 so hyper focused and convicted and not dying in front 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:19.080 of them because I didn't want them the last thing 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:21.800 to see if me was my dead body, because I 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:23.919 love them and respect them too much for that, and 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:26.240 that's not how I want them to remember me. I 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:29.359 wanted them to remember me fighting and going out like 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:32.399 a gladiator like I am, and that's why I was 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:35.080 so convicted in it, and I didn't want to do 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:37.600 that to him. The last thing you ever want to 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:40.080 do is let one of them down. And I finally 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:43.879 remember hearing the roads of the helicopter and landing, and 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:46.639 they're carrying me to the bird. Right before the guys 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:49.480 loaded me, you know, Doc was having to put bandages 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:51.000 on me and then take them off and put them 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:53.160 on me because I was bleeding through these bandages. When 0:22:53.160 --> 0:22:55.280 they were loading me on the bird, the rotor wash 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:58.960 from the black Hawk blew up the bandages, and the 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:02.399 sand being so fine, blewe into all my wounds. Like 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:05.880 I can't believe it just got worse, which is why 0:23:05.960 --> 0:23:08.119 one of the sayings that I love to say is 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:10.400 that physical pain reminds you you're a live but mental 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:13.280 pain will test your will to stay that way. And 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:18.679 I'll never forget when Michael Toon Sargeant, I respected the 0:23:18.720 --> 0:23:21.720 shit out of He called me Jack London because my 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:24.560