We’re here uh this is episode one of the Chosen Few podcast uh I’m your your host and the founder of Chosen Few company um Step Sergeant retired or ETS uh veronis or Demetrius um super pumped to to finally kick this off we got an awesome uh awesome podcast
Ahead of us right now um this guest was my I had it written down here and I’m gonna keep looking at my notebook because I got a whole bunch of information on it um first guest is my former company Commander uh in 128 over
Uh a part of third ID at Fort Benning um he’s a major now when I knew him obviously he was a captain um Cameron bowling he is a uh infantry Airborne Ranger qualified uh he has two deployments uh one to Afghanistan in 2013 and another Middle East deployment
Which we’re not allowed to say uh in 2016 he’s got his expert infantryman’s badge and his combat infantryman’s badge and he’s currently uh like I said a major uh he’s a detailed ortha which is a operations research system analyst um we’ll dive more into what that is he can
Explain it because I don’t know uh what the heck that is at all um he was my company Commander for seven months um I I it was one of the best times in my Army Career having him as a company Commander um and he was a company
Commander for battle company 128 for all the the battle company guys watching uh for 18 months and uh everybody had nothing but great great things to say about him uh he’s a great leader and uh Mr major Cameron bowling thanks for having me man thanks for thanks for
Doing the show um battle hard I’ve missed you I’ve missed the boys of Boco um so yeah glad to be here man thanks for having me no problem no problem so uh so yeah you know I uh you know major bowling or or cam um you know I I wanted
Him to be on this show uh because of the impact that he made on me and of battle company uh in the 18 months but with me for seven months uh and I knew that I wanted him uh as a guest I knew he had a lot of military experience and life
Experience so uh I thought that it would be awesome to have him on the show uh so pretty much we’re gonna we’re gonna just hop right into it um you know the the way that I want these podcasts to go is just you know just a normal conversation
Uh and you know we’re going to talk about a whole bunch of stuff we’re going to talk about the Army we’re going to talk about you know mental health uh if you knew somebody or anything like that we’re going to cover it all um and it’s
Going to be awesome so where you from what uh where you from what state region I’m originally from from Columbus Ohio uh like far like farm town outside of Columbus Ohio big Buckey fan go bucks um I come from like a you know pretty regular workingclass family my dad was a
Federal employee my mom was a Catholic school teacher they both actually retired Air Force um so they thought I was pretty dumb when I went in the Army but the Army was the only one that had like money for college um but uh it was good you know I actually went to like
Catholic schools my whole life in central Ohio I went to like an all guys Catholic High School which was weird and I wrestled there which is even weirder um but had good experiences my whole family served like I said my parents were Air Force um all of my male uncles
Were uh well uncles are male but all of my uncles were Marines uh two of them went to Vietnam U they always talked great about I had one Uncle who was an infantry team leader in Vietnam um really did some cool stuff so he’s really the inspiration part of the
Inspiration for joining and for doing the Infantry because he always you know talked it up but yeah that’s me man in a nutshell where I’m from um and I have not been back to Central Ohio a long time I haven’t lived there since I was
18 you know so I don’t know much about it anymore but that’s where I’m from man nice yeah that’s um that’s awesome I I had never been to Ohio before it was never a state that was like desirable for me to go to don’t go other than a
Couple of months ago I made a trip to go visit one of my uh one of my best friends who uh who now lives in Northern Kentucky and we did go to Cincinnati the city of Cincinnati which was a great time I absolutely love the city it was
Super clean and and awesome so uh yeah I don’t know if I’ll ever venture out I do have a lot of friends that are from Ohio like people from chosen company in Colorado I just know a lot of people from Ohio for some reason um but maybe
One day you know but uh so for the people that don’t really know me that are watching um I’m from Long Island New York uh I joined the army in 200 and 17 I did one year at a community college uh didn’t really um like it I I was never
Really a fan of school so um I I didn’t want to just go somewhere else and and just party and and blow my parents money not knowing what I wanted to major in or do with my life uh I’ve always been super patriotic obviously being from Long Island you’re you’re only like 12
Miles away from New York city so uh obviously you know a lot of people from Long Island were affected by 911 even though I was like three or four um you know stories from my parents you know were were me dragging cases of water uh
At like a a a food drive to to send all this stuff over to the guys in like Iraq and Afghanistan so you know I’ve always been super patriotic um and uh I went ahead and went ahead and joined uh I joined the Infantry my parents were like
So not thrilled about that um for for whatever reasons you know may one day I’ll have them on and explain their their perspective of it um but yeah so I was I was originally I went to Fort Benning for basic training um and uh and yeah so we’ll obviously get more into
That but are you married do you got wives kids yeah yeah I’m sorry one yeah one wife not a polygamist yet although you know that’d be a cool thing but um no yeah I’m actually my wife is from Panama uh so I learn to speak Spanish I’ve got a feisty Latino stereotypical
Wife uh four kids so you know just Catholics man we’re just out here being fruitful and multiplying you know putting those kids out there uh maybe more kids that I can handle now four is like we’re we’re Max out at 4 I don’t think we can do anymore that’s a fire
Team you got a fire team right now dude I got a I got to train him too I got you know like battle drill six we got to get him out um but it’s you know it’s funny you said Cincinnati by the way so Cincinnati is where I went to college uh
And Cincinnati hands down most fun city in Ohio my brother lived in Cleveland for a couple years I went there and I you know hung out I’ve hung out in Dayton Columbus but Cincinnati by far best if you’re going to do Ohio that’s the place to do it so it’s good time
Yeah man um awesome all right yeah so what um when at what point in your life did you decide you wanted to to join the military I know that obviously you were an officer for for the viewers um little different route than than like an enlisted uh Soldier or you know enlisted
Service member so tell us a little bit about of you know how you got involved in the military you know what what what steps you took to to to join yeah I mean obviously the the service was big in my family right so my parents have like called the America room they’ve got
Their like either shadow boxes kind of like what you got behind you right they got their shadow boxes up they’ve got Awards and stuff and they always talked a lot about service you know just us as as children and then my dad worked still for the federal government as well and
Like I said all of my all of my uncles um but was what was a huge moment for me was like you said 911 my dad was a federal employee and he had got into a point in his cre he was fairly high up and he would have to go to DC every
Other week so we were in central Ohio we actually at one point going to move to DC and he kind of worked it out so he didn’t have to move but he had to go there you know TDY essentially one week and come back and was actually not in
The Pentagon of 911 but in the building next to it it was another different building supposed to be in the Pentagon that morning his meeting got moved to a different building like thank God right um and I can remember I was in gosh it was 2011 I think I was in fifth grade
Sixth grade sixth grade um and like you know it happens School stops they put us into the live library watching on TV and I’m like I think you know when the Pentagon get hit I’m like my dad’s in DC like he works in the Pentagon sometimes
Like what’s going on um and so you know hours later eventually like he calls the school and he’s like hey I’m cool funnily enough like my dad I mean I guess it’s not funny but he had no idea what was going on they evacuated his building he thought it was an earthquake
Or some type of natural disaster did not know so he didn’t call for you know a couple hours until finally in his hotel room he turns the TV on and he’s like oh my gosh what’s happening and then and then called the school so that was that
Was the first moment where I was like you know I think service might be on my Horizon and then um in those conversations with my parents you know they were both enlisted right and so and I didn’t really know what enlisted officer was but my dad was just like if
You’re going in you’re going to be an officer that’s that’s just how it is and I you know like I said I had no idea what that me I’m like all right cool he’s like it just means you’re going to go to college I’m like okay college is
Good let’s do that um and really did not have a sense of what that meant but it was just the path that my that my parents put me on right and so um I can remember when it was time to go to college there was really not money for
College you know I’d gone to these Catholic schools um on a on a scholarship or like financial aid because my mom worked in the Catholic school system so we got like next to nothing tuition right but College was kind of out of the question financially um and I remember one of those student
Pep rallies there was a colonel that came in and awarded some like full scholarship to a kid for ROTC and I’m like oh all right so you can the military will pay for your college okay so I can do the military like I want and college at the same time you know hence
The RC so I got I applied I got the four-year ROTC scholarship probably a mistake on their part I don’t know this was during The Surge right so like they were taking say anybody but they you know it was pretty uh easy I think to get that money back then and so I
Applied signed up they’re like yep four years of college like where do you want go and then I enrolled in Cincinnati and that was that and did four years RC there is it hard for uh is it hard for people to Branch I’ve heard for some reason it’s infantry is one of the
Hardest things to Branch for officers yeah so at West Point it’s actually a lot easier they give a lot more combat arms slots to West Point and they’ve got they’ve got reasonings behind that RC it’s the opposite so like 80% of our slots go to you know Logistics sustainment um AG stuff like
That kind of your softer Moss’s but yeah I was I was high up on the oml my GPA was good I like did really well at all the military stuff we have like our own version of Cadet basic training and I did really well there I had a good PT
Score back then so like you know I just was high up on the oml and I said I wanted infantry and I and I got it but yeah it is difficult I think I was I was a distinguished military graduate not to like toot my own horn but I’ll toot it
Which I think was like you know top it was I don’t know what it was it was like top 20% or top 10% of kets Nationwide so that was cool and I so yeah I got to do INF tree and got to do exactly what I
Wanted which is great yeah so after you did that you then uh you obviously commission at that point right yeah graduate commission and then I was I was down at Benning just like you man um you know uh for us we call our our bulock I think they still call it Bullock basic
Officer leader course uh for me it’s I Bullock infantry basic officer leader course it was 16 weeks at Fort Benning um but we you know we lived in apartments like we were off base I me some guys lived on base but it’s sort of like basic training but there’s a little
Bit more freedom or or a lot bit more freedom right um it was 16 weeks week week in the field weekend you know week in Garrison you know classroom type stuff um and that was my first experience and I can tell you dude like it was it was a wild experience so one
That was the first time I ever realized that the Army has a lot of talent um I’m sure you’ve met a lot of talented officers or talented anybody in the military I was by mostly West Point guys guys that had gone to Princeton guys that had gone to Johns Hopkins like guys
Who like could have easily been making big money anywhere else in the world um and they were you know really serving right they were sacrificing a a better career potentially to be uh serving the nation and I was just kind of like happy to be there you know I was you know just
A farm kid from Ohio who had just done well enough in school to get infantry um but it was a good experience it’s also when like the military like drinking culture started kicking in so like I’m sure we’ll break into that some more but
I mean we go to the field you know draw weapons Monday turn them back in Friday go out Friday night blackout in Downtown Columbus drink all day Saturday at the hotel pool or the apartment pool yeah you know just really bad behaviors that just started then that was it yeah
Yeah I mean uh what were those apartments called Independence Place Apartments IPS Independence Place right IP yeah right behind Sand Hill right yes right behind s every Lieutenant is just Lieutenant land they all live there uh and they’re all just just bous the pool is like always closed because somebody
Has like puked in the pool or thrown glass bottles in the pool and it’s so funny because like IP or Independence you know the apartments there you were on one side and then you had like a wood line and then us enlisted guys were on Sand Hill getting absolutely mutilated
And we were just getting you know smoked and and it was it was you know that’s that’s pretty funny how how like you know you guys were going out Friday night and Friday night we were low curling through our own sweat in this rocking sand pit it’s that’s pretty
Funny but um I guess they trust us more they shouldn’t though they shouldn’t they shouldn’t yeah second lieutenants are uh like freshly commissioned second lieutenants are like are like Senior Specialists I feel like oh yeah yeah 100% 100% but that’s awesome though okay uh so how was um how was how was Roc
Because I know and and listen I give props to I give props to r RC and and West Point and and any like Military Academy or if not a military academy but you do some sort of Roc in college you know because you’re not only um balancing you know especially if you
Play sports also you’re going to balance AC academics Athletics and then now you have to balance you know military you’re learning you know what are you learning what are you learning in RC yeah I mean so you learn I would say the first two years of RC you’re
Learning the same stuff you’re learning in basic training so it’s like how to take apart you know back then it was the M16 but how to take it apart put it back together qualify with your weapon PT test regularly how to read a map how to use your compass just those basic
Military skills not tying um gosh what else all the things of the map you know how to how to get your eight-digit grid with your with your uh protractor I don’t even know what it’s called anymore I don’t use it anymore um all that sort
Of just basic you know stuff you do kind of in basic training your Junior and Senior year is a little more officer focused you start getting into operations orders you know troop leading procedures all this stuff but it it is a you learn a lot about you know how
Staffs operate different like UH responsibilities as a commander those sorts of things that you’re going to end up doing as an officer um it’s a big time commitment I mean it was PT some days it was sometimes of the year it was five days a week sometimes
Three days a week um and then there’s a class every semester that you take and then there’s a lab once a week as well so you’re talking like three days in class five days PT and then you know in the Summers you’re also doing extra stuff I mean our Advanced Camp uh which
Is kind of our basic training I guess that’s a full month uh one summer I got to go to Airborne school as a Cadet um I did that I got go I traveled a whole bunch just doing stuff with the Army and so I mean I did other stuff in college
Too I was in a fraternity you probably got from my mannerisms like I’m trying to shed the like frat boy persona but it’s like it’s like ingrained right like it’s in me yeah so I did you know I did the Frat thing and I’m party to lie I’m
Not afraid to say like I I enjoyed college but I did also have this like you know back stop that kind of kept me from going full crazy and also RC you have to graduate in four years years and so you know you see a lot of people go
To college and then you know college becomes like an eight-year Adventure nine year Adventure n nth year senior you’re like you’re 26 years old you gotta leave exactly you’re not a doctor you should be a doctor right now what you doing yeah so yeah RC keeps you on
Track it was good I you know I got so I’ll be honest to you I got in trouble a couple times in college um and if it was like today I think they would have dropped me out of the program but it was that time when they were bringing a lot
Of folks in and I was I was high performing right and there was folks that liked me and leaders that believed in me and so they gave me that second chance and so that’s why if any Boco guys listen if I gave them a second chances because I was once you right
Yeah I got Second Chances so everyone deserves yeah but R is great man if there’s anybody and I know for enlisted folks too the green to Gold program great program like I highly recommend anybody that wants to do that to do that yeah what year did you go to uh Ranger
School and if you could possibly tell uh the viewers what Ranger school is for people who don’t know uh and tell us a little bit about it what year you went how how it went uh physically demanding mentally all that yeah I went to rid School gosh November of 2012 graduated
January of 2013 so it was like 231 or whatever that course is um it is the Army’s Premier leadership course it’s also pretty physically grueling and demanding they say it’s the toughest 62 days in the Army um takes place in a couple different places so there’s rby
Phase at Fort Benning you’ve got a mountain phase where you’re trekking through the mountains in dela Georgia Camp Merill I think it’s called and then you go down towards dtin at Fort Egan Air Force Base and you do a swamp phase and you’re walking through swamps up to
Your neck falling in in water trying not to drown um I probably lost 30 to 40 pounds while I was there I’ve always been a big like I’m a big cornfed dude uh and I probably went weighing 225 230 and left out of there probably somewhere in the 180s because
They just starve you um I think you maybe eat 2,000 calories a day which sounds normal but you’re walking probably gosh anywhere to 20 to 30 miles a day with you know 60 80 100 pounds on your back up and down mountains for some points of it um I was there in the
Winter time which they used to be like a special thing right the winter Ranger but like like I froze I did a lot of cuddling with other men like in the patrol base you know like as the big dude I’d get the the 240 right and like
I’d get a my tripod or whatever and then it was like I would just keep my hand on it and then just like you know the the AG and the ab would just kind of like lay on me yeah it was just dude’s cuddling man staying warm yeah that’s
What’s that’s what’s so funny about about being out now real quick I I just I have to say this because nobody get right you tell a another per you tell like a civilian that you used to like you know you were like super cold and you used to like cuddle up with
Another guy they’re like what you used to what but like Hey listen first of all you don’t know somebody until you’re cuddled up you know inside of their armpit to to stay warm you know huddling together in a in a blanket so that’s stuff in you know that that being
Weirded out by it is not a thing in the Army but uh but yeah win win Ranger that’s that’s tough for sure oh yeah no it it it sucks uh one of the funniest things about Ranger school too right is you do you do once you’re out in the
Field there’s some classro portions but when you’re out in the field and you’re tactical you basically always in the patrol base right um and so of course you get into the patrol base at like 2 3 in the morning you’re like zoning out you can’t like you’re just not there
Anymore so you set up the the crappiest patrol base ever somebody digs the slit trench night right next to like where the little HQ element is so in the morning they shift over leadership ship and the next guy’s briefing his like op words super serious you know like down
On the knee got the face pain or whatever he’s got hey man here’s the mission today we’re doing a raid whatever and then you just look like a little left and there’s like Johnny just taking a dump right like just just balls and wieners out you know just just
Sitting there and you’re like all right you know I’m just try to yeah I’m try I’m trying not yeah that’s um it’s just nasty nasty stuff but it’s just nobody bat nobody probably batted ey at it everyone just thought it was just completely normal this guy’s pretty much half naked right
Now in the woods I see everything he’s got going on uh so yeah definitely definitely definitely gross for some reason I always remember putting like the slit trenches near like weapon squad for some reason like even in Colorado I always remember the slit trench being right near like the weapon Squad element
Um which was super funny because they they really hated that um but yeah all right so so Ranger school now did you do 62 and through or or did you get R yeah I went through so I was I was in that very fortunate class there’s one Rangers
Class A year that gets the Christmas Exodus but yeah so I went straight through each phase um but it was longer than 62 because I got like maybe 14 days to go home in the middle of Christmas and then come back and finish swamp phase which was awesome um like if you
Can get in that class do it uh if as long as you can stay in the cold um but yeah I did I did good and one one thing I’m proud of is I always did well in my peers um you know that was probably the
Biggest the biggest win for me I just I just showed up man I tried to work as hard as I could and just be the guy that was a a team player I was in phenomenal shape at that point in my life um I had I had a singular mindset focus on Ranger
School I was just the months leading up to it just my single thought was getting through Ranger school getting in shape for Ranger school and that was it so I focused on it and got through right away so it was good w yeah I know that’s a
That’s a huge thing like you hear a lot of people that get rolled over um you know for whatever reason and and correct me if I’m wrong like you could get rolled over for something that you might have not even done but somebody else in
Your team or Squad uh did 100% I mean you get you get put in leadership positions you know you’re the squad leader you’re the platoon leader you’re the whatever today and I mean somebody in your squad does something as simple as like not have a tie down right or
Something and then you’re dinged right because you’re the leader and you’re responsible for everything that that group does or doesn’t do or fails to do right um so that happens a lot I was lucky uh in the my fire team we stayed together the whole time and we all went straight
Through so I had a guy from Ranger regiment like a specialist set of Ranger regiment I had a captain who was a kyowa pilot I don’t think they fly KY was anymore and a captain who was a an armor officer and then me just a second Lieutenant infantry guy and we stayed
Together the whole time and like when I got put as PL our IO who was the armor Captain I’d be like yo man help me write this order because I know you just did Triple C and you smart on this stuff and he helped me out um when we had like
Hardcore tactic stuff you could go to the the specialist from Ranger regimen I wish I remember his name I see his face you go to him and he be like hey man here’s how we do in regiment like set it up like this KY pilot guy was just super
Smart uh and I think I was just good at carrying heavy things that was about all I was good for but you know we just stuck together and helped each other out and got through it together we all went straight straight through and it’s because we’re the same fire team the
Whole time it was great now do you keep in I know you you you mentioned that one guy do you keep in touch with uh anybody else from rang School nice um gosh not too many people I keep in touch with a lot of my eyon mates uh especially the
Ones that are in I mean some of those guys uh odley Campbell he was our my branch manager for a while so I could call him like Hey man remember from bulck like Mike Bliss buddy of mine he’s actually a New York lawyer now he went
Got out went to Har law school he’s like a high powerered attorney somewhere in New York making Buu money I’m sure yeah um arcadio the guy from Ranger school he uh he’s now a major he’ll probably be a battalion commander in fact he might be Lieutenant Colonel now he was he was
FASTT tracking he was doing great things um so yeah I keep in touch with with most of them actually quite a few of them nice yeah that’s um that’s that’s not not really unheard of but it’s it’s not uh super popular uh guess if that’s the right word uh to to go straight
Through I mean I’ve heard stories of people spending nine months there like people have done a whole deployment in just in Ranger school um so that’s that’s awesome that you went straight through um so from Ranger school besides the uh the slit trench thing uh Ranger school bolck
RC yeah I want and what this is what I’m going to do on a lot of these episodes I want your top three funniest army stories that you have it could be from your time in battle company or something that a specialist in battle company did what happened in Ranger school something
Like that top three in your 12 years of military experience as the funniest top three funniest um so I’ve got I’ve got two from the bco days one uh I did you ever go with us to Fort Stewart for those cpxs that we did uh no no that was uh before when I
Showed up to boo uh you guys were in the field for Battalion sticks yeah yeah but no I never did CPX so we we uh there was a there was a good group of us that went over a couple times to do these cpxs which is which is like for the division
And core level commanders to train them and their staff so it’s full of like high ranking brass uh and really really important and serious people and we we we we did awesomely right like we did great we did you’re supposed to do but uh and I hope like none of my old bosses
Listen to this but I definitely took those guys out in Savannah a couple times like hey like get in the van we’re going out um so and so you’re driving like we had we had a DD right we had a DD but it was like me and the boys and I
Can remember uh gosh Sergeant Cruz yeah Copeland all those guys we would go out somebody bought Kila shots and you had me and Willie both in the same bathroom hukin and like fighting over the toilet and I think after that I had to go pass out in the van and eventually Sergeant
Moran or somebody drove drove everybody it wasn’t wasn’t the best like uh you know command presence so to speak but I had to take the guys out at least once in Savannah gosh man top three there’s a lot uh let me think here yeah I know I
Know hold on I know I know a couple days ago we spoke about uh we spoke about first platoon in uh Japan if you would like to uh educate the viewers on on what first platoon in absolutely Japan was like Japan was awesome uh we had this platoon really was the platoon Sergeant
Right he was the ring leader uh Sergeant TR and they had this they had this uh initiation process I don’t know if it’s for everybody or just the officers or who it was for it was definitely borderline hazing uh and we we you know we let it happen for a little bit until
It maybe got too far but uh I distinctly remember that the new lieutenants as they would come in Lieutenant DS I remember specifically they would just find these dudes in the barracks and like trap them down and shave their heads man and that was a thing that was
A thing um we had a lot of fun with those guys those guys those guys were you know you s you tell that story to like a a senior leader and probably like dude you’re doing the wrong thing like that’s how you old team like there’s there’s an element of that but there’s
Also like there was just some good camaraderie and it was never meant like in a bad way and in fact I even warned the lieutenants as they came in like hey just so you know this is probably going to happen they’re GNA find you I can’t stop them like they they’ve gone
Completely rud but I did you know I’d always give an out like look if if you really don’t want to like that be a part of that like just let me know we’ll we’ll stop it we’ll shut it down like I understand this is you know beyond what
The rules of the army let us do but uh we’re always like no yeah let’s do it you know and so I love this yeah but yeah shaved head you just get your head shaved be yeah I think I think because so for the people that don’t know you
Know in a in a platoon right you have everybody in the platoon is enlisted right so they enlisted into the army um and they they you know some of them might have went to college but they chose not to be an officer they chose to be the the basic you know you’re a
Private you know PFC specialist Sergeant all that uh and you’re not an officer at all so you have an entire platoon uh of enlisted and then you have one guy who decides decided to go to college right whatever his major was and he was in charge of that platoon uh so there was
Always this friendly feud between officers and enlisted um so yeah I mean my my story from Japan uh with Lieutenant DS and I’m pretty sure he liked one of my videos before so I think he should be seeing this uh we wanted to do like a a and it’s an infantry thing
It is you tell you talk to people from other Moss’s or jobs in the Army and they’re not going to really get it it’s it’s an infantry thing um I remember one time I think it was my idea I was told it was my idea but we were staying in
The tents in Japan the tents that flooded every single day um and it rained really really bad one day and I remember we needed to we needed to welcome Lieutenant DS to battle company uh so I pretty sure I came up with the idea um we wanted to like we wanted to
Just bless him and we wanted to baptize him uh you know that he’s officially a part of the battle company family so we we called him over you know for for a serious issue but it was not uh and and he just got ambushed we had people like MCPE who’s one of the
Funniest guys ever jumped out of I think he was him he jumped out from somewhere or somebody from third all the platoons pretty much just ganged up on him and uh and we pretty much just you know threw him in this nasty you know insect infested water in Japan uh you know and
That was his cleansing that was his baptism into battle company uh so that kind of that kind of camaraderie you know it’s not because and I always used to tell this to to the lieutenants that would come in uh you know I would try and tell them I’d be like listen if the
Guys don’t mess with you then they probably don’t like you if the guys mess with you then they like you so that’s what I kept trying to tell all these you know newer lieutenants that used to come in and look to their ncos for guidance
Uh but that’s what I said I was like Hey sir you know if they didn’t like you they wouldn’t mess with you they would just leave you be and they didn’t really care what happened happened to you so uh everybody took it took it on the chin
And you know was a was a man about it Lieutenant DS great PL um all my PLS were were phenomenal with that so uh so yeah shout out to Lieutenant DS and all the battle company because you guys were uh you guys were an absolute blast to be
Around um all right we got one more can you think of one more story that was that was absolutely in in that vein in that vein my platoon used to mess with me so I was I was a deployed plon later right like in G for most of the time like we
Eventually came back most of my time was deployed and my platoon man I was I’m a big guy so they knew they couldn’t wrestle me down they wrestled me I wrestled in high school and a little bit in college and so they knew they couldn’t uh they weren’t going to get me
Physically so they had to get me other ways and the way they would always get me is they would just steal my stuff all the time and a lot of stuff they would steal my protein I’d come back from like the gym and I’d be missing all the
Things that I need to post gym um they threw my they threw all my like stuff out of my Barracks room one time and like set my Barracks room up outside like the same way it had been like in the in the hooch they set it up outside
Yeah they uh they also would take my weapon all the time which was not cool I mean I know you’re supposed to have your weapon like arms length I think they were trying to teach me a lesson but in Striker we were Strikers right so like
You put your weapon in the hatch I might have to come back out one more time to like make sure my radio is good or whatever and as soon as I would put my weapon in the hatch like the Gunner would grab it it would go up out the
Hatch somebody else would rabbit and next thing I know it’s like in three vehicles away right yeah so that sort of stuff you know and you’re you’re right like they’re messing with you they like you like when you’re not getting messed with a little bit then then you’re like
Okay what’s what’s going on here um but I had I had a blast with those guys on that deployment uh it was a it was a wild deployment I still keep in touch with a lot of those guys too I still very active on that unit Facebook page
Uh I had a blast those guys so it was good and that was your first unit right yeah that was my first so it was uh First Armor division out of Fort Bliss it was the first brigade 341 infantry we were a striker Brigade back then now I
Think it’s a a heavy Brigade or armor Brigade um but so funny story we can get into it now uh you know I’m leaving Rangers school I’m doing my like due diligence the right thing email my bat Commander Hey sir I’m on my way I got my
Ranger tab you know I’m haa I’m ready I’m ready for a platoon and he’s like hey brother like don’t even get an apartment you’re going to Afghanistan just soon as you get here all right sounds good get the uh El Paso put my stuff like at a
Buddy’s apartment I stayed like in his guest room for a couple weeks boom got sent to Afghanistan in Afghanistan in Kandahar Airfield waiting to get picked up by my unit to go then to where they’re at which is like an hour west of Kandahar in Zari District
Um and one of the platoon has a mcow so there’s there’s four Kia um specialist daing specialist Gilbert specialist T who’s the platoon medic and then a Sergeant First Class Jeff Baker who was a like an EOD attachment to the to the platoon or the company um and so I first meet my
Battalion my commander and everything at the ramp ceremony for specialist Cody tal right like putting his his casket on the plane that was my first like welcome to unit was a was a ramp ceremony sending back one of these deceased soldiers um they take me back with them
To the fob they say hey you’re too new like you’re not going to be a platoon leader nothing like that’s going to happen um all right cool whatever I’m doing my staff work and then all of a sudden that same platoon that had this mask cow and by the way there was there
Was six or seven more that were wounded and sent home back to like you know San Antonio and stuff like that the company medic lost both of his legs specialist heart swick I still talk to him occasionally as well um that platoon they decided to switch
Out the pl after that now he got a bsmv for that day he did all the things right but the unit just said hey after something like that we ought to switch that PL out they’ sent a guy down there to take that platoon I guess that guy
Wasn’t cutting it and so they sent me down there so here I am as a brand new second Lieutenant maybe two months removed from like Ranger school and bulock and all my basic stuff right now platoon leader for a platoon that just lost four guys and you know another six
Half a dozen or so are back home getting treatment for wounds um tough tough leadership position to be put in because like the last thing they want now is some new second Lieutenant who doesn’t know anything who doesn’t know what he’s doing um so that was a
That was a hardcore experience for me I really had to kind of you know win those guys over I had to prove myself I had to show that I cared about them which I did obviously I’m not that kind of leader um but you know it it it was a very lonely
Experience for me personally it was weird at first we were we were on a company cop my company Commander was like a real hard charging regiment guy he would just yell at me because I was a dumb Lieutenant myON Sergeant would talk to me like I was a dumb Lieutenant I he
Was a great guy he he mentored me a lot but you know you just you’re just like this idiot in this in this sea of very serious people after a very serious incident yeah that was that was the start of it that was the that was my
Welcome to the Army yeah and did you do uh was that a nine-month deployment or 12 or 15 it was a it was a N9 month deployment I think I did six or seven months of it um so I got there like a couple months late after they’d already deployed
Okay so how uh what was what was your guys’s uh you know your mission set when you were overseas yeah um so we did a lot of you know presence patrols I think they call it I don’t think they call it that anymore assured Mobility patrols
Just going out in sector and trying to find the Taliban it was Heavy IED environment so we stayed a lot of on on the hard ball we did do some dismounted missions but a lot of it in the strikers just because there was so many IDs there
Was a our sister Battalion their whole reconnaissance platoon uh the pl Striker got blown up uh on Highway one with a 500 pound deep Berry I so the pl and all the crew and all the squad in the back of the striker were Kia
Um a lot of just a lot of that the mission set that we ended up doing is we would go out as a whole company really and we used um different they call it llvi collect uh essentially you know scanning frequencies that are unsecured for folks talking and they had technology where
They could do that find out what folks are saying and then find the direction that frequency was being emitted from and essentially I would go out a lot my platoon is the guinea pig platoon which like I I thought it was fun it mean could have been very bad but we would
Set up a couple platoons with this technology and then I would drive down like the middle of a city where we knew there was Taliban let’s say they’d start picking up intercepting these transmissions and then from the different angles they could say okay we think that there’s a you know HQ element
In this building this building this building um and so we would we would sort of move you know try to be as spiky as possible right we were trying to look like a hard target uh as we traveled through this city you know guns mounted air air air
Guards out all that sort of stuff but we would draw up essentially enemy sit atts and then we pass it off to to Ranger regiment um and they would go there and just kill those dudes so we would go do their reconnaissance draw the attemp hey
Here’s where we think we got three guys here Five Guys here whatever whatever um this is what they’re talking about here’s your here’s your sit temp go go kill them and you know we we had looked at doing it ourselves obviously um as an infantry company doing that but we had a
Whole range of company in sector and that’s all they were there to do was those sorts of raids so we passed that stuff off and that’s what they did yeah they they they really know how to do a raid those guys yeah those Pros man
We would we would uh we would taxi them sometimes I think they had their own vehicles but we we do like their outer Cordon you know so we drive we videoo drop them off somewhere um they’d go in and do their thing and we’d set up an
Outer cord on and then we just wait to hear back from them yep we’re ready and they’d get back in and we we drive them back they’re they’re Pros man I mean I like I don’t I don’t know if I’m of that level to be in a unit like that those
Guys are the real deal serious dud yeah they’re they’re phenomenal uh and same thing with odas they I mean you know the the ranger regimen is obviously your direct contact UM your direct action sorry but your you know your Oda is the fact that you can you know speak
Different languages and and everything like that all the training that they have to go through it’s you know really is you know extremely impressive and and definitely needed uh especially with the uh different conflicts that that this country has been involved in it’s super important that we have these different
Assets so uh so shout out to shout out to to those guys um awesome all right so uh you know the next thing that we’re going to really get into um you know is is something probably that that I care about you know the most uh and and it’s
Probably the whole mental health thing because um you know honestly I am pretty siick and tired of of collecting these it’s become like a collection now of these bracelets you know that um you know that military and First Responders law enforcement you know they wear but
You do see them a lot in the military and uh and it really sucks to see because uh you know and it it doesn’t necessarily mean it was somebody that took their life right it just means that they you know this bracelet is a you know a memorial bracelet uh to honor
Somebody they knew a friend or or somebody uh you know overseas you know um more more the bracelets that I have are for people that I knew that um that were struggling so bad and and never talked it out um felt like they didn’t have anybody to talk to uh and and they
Couldn’t they couldn’t deal with life anymore and they thought that they would have been happier you know not not here um and it really it really really sucks and and just from the past couple days of this podcast thing being you know what it was you know I’ve been having
People reach out to me saying that you know this podcast is gonna hopefully save a lot of people this podcast has saved me thank you you know thank you know so that’s what I’m hoping for this podcast you know so so talking about mental health is is super super
Important uh I think you know for for men you know I I I pretty much want to normalize men saying that they have mental health you know they have mental health problems right I don’t find anything wrong with it uh I think it doesn’t you know it makes you
More of a man to admit something like that than than than to keep it quiet and and and uh you know commit suicide or something like that that’s the easy way out all right you gotta you got to fight you know and and keep yourself in check
And keep yourself in line and and talk talk about it so that’s what this podcast is going to be but to get into it um you know obviously you know what what have you experienced have you experienced uh you know soldiers that that have had have done that uh or you
Know anything from war or anything for yourself uh that you might deal with yeah um I mean I got a few stories but I’ll start with a friend that committed suicide I mean that same deployment we got back from it we did a whole reorder
The company mov n’s around and I got a guy named Sergeant Brian Butler he ended up becoming my VC he was an awesome dude he was kind of like he was I think he’d come in a little later so he’s a little older like he was an E5 a little older
E5 kind of ornery kind of already like that like grumpy n kind of stereotype but like a great guy in fact I was a terrible PL like I went out with my dudes a lot and I wasn’t a terrible P for that but you know what I mean you’re
Breaking the rules right I went out with those guys a lot and I went out with Brian quite a few times he had a girlfriend friend um I think she might have even introduced me to some of her friends you know like I hung out with
These guys um and ran uh you know I ended up moving on I was an XO and whatever and he stayed there in Alpha Company 341 eventually got out moved to California where I think he was from originally um I knew he was kept in touch with him on Facebook you know it
Seemed like he had some hard times I know he was a dad I don’t think he had custody of his kid anymore there was some issues with you know seeing his kid he was doing like a motorcycle mechanic program to become one um I thought that
Was going good I kept in touch with him here and there you know Facebook post just hey what’s up happy birthday stuff like that um and then this past fall I found out that he committed suicide um and it was actually three or four months ago that he committed suicide and we
Have a whole unit Facebook uh and nobody knew like everybody lost contact with him essentially and found out months later that Brian had passed away through SU side and I you just feel you feel awful one I mean I know he’s a parent he I mean had a girlfriend at least he might
Have been married at that point I mean obviously his parents were devastated um all the guys in the unit are devastated and you’re just like how you know what what happened what happened I think he was the kind of guy if I had to guess that had a hard time you know shedding
The Army and kind of integrating back in with Society um and I can just say from my own experience like my last two years the army gosh they keep like promoting me and sending me to these great things I don’t know what they’re thinking but they sent
Me to graduate school for two years at Auburn University and when I heard about that stuff folks integrating back in with Society like I never I never thought that would be me or like this doesn’t make sense like they just they made their identity the army they shouldn’t
Have done that um you know I’m not speaking badly about them but I just thought that’s not going to happen right but it’s it does like it happened to me like I’m I’m sitting there in school and just the humor the Dynamics the the way
That you act that you are you can tell your different I mean I have two different College experiences right I have undergrad before the Army and my Master’s Degree be having 10 years in the Army two different people went to school right like it’s a totally different me
Now because of 10 years of of not just the Army I think the Infantry really that’s where that this culture really resides and in other combat arms as well but you know just the dark humor I would say stories in class and people are just like you know that doesn’t or something
I thought was hilarious and no that’s not creepy old guy yeah yeah and then you see you feel you feel the isolation right and you seek you seek that camaraderie that you once had um because you’re like man this isn’t they’re not getting me they’re not getting me the
Way you would get me or the way one of my buddies would get me that was in with me or serve with me at some point and then the other cool thing right like I’m now back into the army and I’m doing stuff and where I’m at now there’s not
Many infantry folks but um it’s an instant connection with people once you’re back in or or around those folks and that’s why I encourage anybody that gets out and has that and I’m not a mental health specialist or anything but if you can find a way to keep that connection whether through a
VFW veterans group if if you go to school every school I feel like has a veterans group on campus like you you have to actively seek those things out because you’ll think it’s not it’s not going to happen to you and then it does uh and then you’re like and for me
I sort of sought Refuge just in my family I just focused in on on F I have little small kids so like if if I go down like like it’s I can’t right I can’t go down so I just really focused on them and made my time at Auburn about
Them and my family and and much less about anything social you know so yeah I mean I think that’s what that you know that’s that’s one thing that I’m struggling struggling with right now for sure is is that camaraderie thing you know I mean um to to be in the barracks
And to be with with guys likeminded individuals every single day of your life for you know x amount of years um with the same sense of humor as you they get you and then just to not have that anymore you know that’s what super hard about the transition for me um of course
I miss the job you know there’s things I don’t miss you know I don’t miss uh waiting at five o’clock in the afternoon for formation to be released on a Friday because that really sucked um but you know we all sucked together you know the whole embrace the suck thing
You know that’s you know I I really never say that but it’s super true right you know you you have this this Bond and this Brotherhood that you know it doesn’t matter what job you do you know after the military you’ll never have you’ll never have that Bond and I
Obviously am super biased that you’ll never have a bond like that unless you’ve experienced being an infantryman um I don’t care what other MOS you are hopefully I can get some people on here this show to uh to you know go go back and forth with me on that um but like I
Said I firmly believe that you know the Infantry and the Army in general just has has such a an awesome uh Bond so you know definitely yeah VFW um you know and and there are so many ways to cope with your mental health um and and this this
Podcast this company that I have I’ve created is definitely going to be uh hopefully a podcast and a company that somebody could reach out to uh and just talk if they want to talk offline off camera you know seriously call you know I want to listen to you it doesn’t matter what
Time of the night it is you know I’ll answer and I know a lot of other people that you serve this will answer um so so yeah so definitely um definitely keep keep your head on straight uh I’m talking to everybody but you know even you Cam keep your head on straight
Everybody I need to keep my head on straight uh because you know this this world definitely has a purpose for us uh we just you know it takes some time to figure it out but everybody’s got a everybody’s got a responsibility um don’t use booze as a crutch don’t use Bo
I love booze don’t drink man don’t drink don’t do drugs uh it’s not worth it you know don’t don’t go home don’t go home and hit the bottle you know Reach Out do something find yourself an outlet um you could be like me and and pick up Golf
And suck at golf but I enjoy it um you know I’ll go to the gym and everything like that so there’s there’s definitely Outlets to do uh to use to to keep your head on straight um but super important but listen we’re going to wrap it up um
Yeah we’re going to wrap it up this has been a phenomenal episode one I’ve had uh you know such a great time talking to you uh I appreciate you for being on being the first guest of this podcast uh please keep tuning in uh cam uh
Obviously we’ll be in touch you know let me know about how this this this new career that you’re going to take up in the army goes and everything like that and um and and yeah so it’s been it’s been great having you man it really has thanks for being the first guest in
Supporting me it’s been it’s yeah thanks for having me man I I love the show I hope hope it connects with a good audience um and I appreciate what you’re doing man yeah awesome thank you so uh one last thing for everybody else um like I said thanks for the thanks for
The constant support uh throughout the past couple days with this uh I have a website going live in in uh about a week or two um and a bunch of merchandise uh that’s in the process of getting made um sub to this YouTube channel um you know
Follow the company uh The Chosen Few company um on Instagram you can follow my personal one if you want that one’s boring but um just uh just keep showing love and keep sharing it and uh and yeah so uh one last thing this uh first episode is um gets me super choked up
Even talking about him but this first episode is first episode is donated to the guys uh in chosen company 212 so um that’s it uh got to figure out an intro or an outro an intro and an outro but uh thank you guys again and uh next
Week’s guest uh is a very very uh close friend of mine uh and also a former leader of mine uh so that drop will be coming soon but uh that’s it thank you guys for watching and uh till next time a
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