Today's episode isn't just another story—it's a narrative of transformation and triumph with Carnell Smith Jr., or as he's known, Sgt WarDawg. His journey is a mirror to the many soldiers who return home to battles of a different kind—battles with PTSD, with reintegration, with finding a new mission in civilian life. His words are a beacon for the lost, as he passionately discusses his life's new direction: aiding homeless veterans through his organization and the invigorating power of nature.
Keep an eye out for Sgt WarDawg's book and podcast, "The Wardawg Trail" releasing hopefully this year.
CampDawgHouse.org
SgtWarDawgTV.com
Twitter/X: @sgtwar
YouTube: Sgt WarDawg TV
Facebook: Sgt WarDawg TV
Instagram: @sgtwardawgtv
Tik Tok: @sgtwardawgtv
Tune into our CHW Streaming Radio and the full lineup at cominghomewell.com
Download on Apple Play and Google Play
Online-Therapy.com ~ Life Changing Therapy Click here for a 20% discount on your first month.
Donna’s Links
Website: www.rebel-llc.com Consulting/Coaching
Book: Warrior to Patriot Citizen (2017)
Blog: Taking Off The Armor
IG: @thetransitioningwarrior
Twitter: @wtpc
FB: The Transitioning Warrior
Jay’s Links
Website: https://j2servantleadership.com/
Book: Breaking Average (2020)
Thank you for listening! Be sure to SHARE, LIKE and leave us a REVIEW!
Today's episode isn't just another story—it's a narrative of transformation and triumph with Carnell Smith Jr., or as he's known, Sgt WarDawg. His journey is a mirror to the many soldiers who return home to battles of a different kind—battles with PTSD, with reintegration, with finding a new mission in civilian life. His words are a beacon for the lost, as he passionately discusses his life's new direction: aiding homeless veterans through his organization and the invigorating power of nature.
Keep an eye out for Sgt WarDawg's book and podcast, "The Wardawg Trail" releasing hopefully this year.
CampDawgHouse.org
SgtWarDawgTV.com
Twitter/X: @sgtwar
YouTube: Sgt WarDawg TV
Facebook: Sgt WarDawg TV
Instagram: @sgtwardawgtv
Tik Tok: @sgtwardawgtv
Tune into our CHW Streaming Radio and the full lineup at cominghomewell.com
Download on Apple Play and Google Play
Online-Therapy.com ~ Life Changing Therapy Click here for a 20% discount on your first month.
Donna’s Links
Website: www.rebel-llc.com Consulting/Coaching
Book: Warrior to Patriot Citizen (2017)
Blog: Taking Off The Armor
IG: @thetransitioningwarrior
Twitter: @wtpc
FB: The Transitioning Warrior
Jay’s Links
Website: https://j2servantleadership.com/
Book: Breaking Average (2020)
Thank you for listening! Be sure to SHARE, LIKE and leave us a REVIEW!
Welcome to Beyond the Frontline podcast, where your hosts, us Air Force veterans Donna Hofmeier and Jay Johnson, will help you transition from the front line to the home front. Listen every other Wednesday, as they will bring great conversations, resources, tips and feel good stories that will resonate and relate. Now here's your hosts, donna Hofmeier and Jay Johnson.
Speaker 2:Well, hello, hello, hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Beyond the Frontline. This is Jay Johnson and for the first time in our two year series history, I am doing this thing alone. My co-host, my partner in crime and the one that you're used to hearing me refer to as the queen the queen bee of this podcast, donna Hofmeier, is traveling today. She's actually heading up to Virginia and meeting with our executive producer, if you will, our director. She's meeting with Cindy from our parent podcast Coming Home. Well, it's a good trip for Donna and I just wanted you to know why you're not going to be entertained by having her presence with us today. But you're stuck with me and I think you're going to find a ton of value inside of this episode.
Speaker 2:You know, donna and I do our diligence, trying to bring things of relevance to the veteran community and we love to say to all of you listening that it's not just for veterans and about veterans. I think there's information inside of the content we bring you each and every session. That is, quite frankly, for anyone who may face challenges in life and or just want access to more information to aid their personal growth and development, maybe their professional growth and development. So if you're listening, if you're checking us out and following us, you know, look, just a selfish ask, but I would say, man, share it, share it with others, let them tune in to us. I was at a luncheon yesterday here in the San Antonio area. The room had 13 different mayors in the room and city council members and then just business professionals. And one of the city council members from a nearby city came up, someone I know, and we were talking briefly and he said Jay, I just want you to know that your podcast is in my ear daily when I'm out exercising. He said I've got a lot of catching up to do, but I love what y'all are doing and I don't say any of that to impress. I say it to impress upon you.
Speaker 2:There's relevance inside the information that we bring you and maybe when you're listening and if you go, I don't know, I don't know if this topic is necessarily something that intrigues me or compels me or serves me in a particular way.
Speaker 2:Here's the thought. Maybe it's not for you, maybe it's for someone else, though that you know I love to say we all have circles of influence that we operate within and you never know with what you pick up, whether it's from here or whether you pick it up from the amazing guest I'm going to be introducing you to here momentarily. You never know, when you pick information up, how you might be in a conversation and somebody express a need and you're able to equip them, you're able to share something that you learned, you're able to steer them back to a resource, back to an individual that can help them in some way. So we're thankful. We're thankful for all of you that are tuning in and listening to what we're doing. This has been a fun journey for us and I think, again, you're going to really, really enjoy the individual that I'm privileged to get to interview for this podcast episode and just let you get a glimpse into the amazing work that he and his team are out there doing to impact the lives of veterans and others.
Speaker 2:So, without further ado. I just want to say hello to Carnell Smith Jr, aka War Dog. Sergeant War Dog, what's going on, my friend?
Speaker 3:Hey, how are you doing, Jay? I'm doing great over here bro.
Speaker 2:I know that's true. I always like to say Sergeant War Dog, Our listeners don't get the benefit of what Donna and I normally get Today. Me, I get the benefit of actually seeing your smile in face on the screen. But I love your energy man. I'm an intuitive kind of guy and I feed off the energy of others and I can tell you've got good energy.
Speaker 3:Thanks bro, thanks Right on.
Speaker 2:All good stuff. Hey, sergeant War Dog, we're going to have a good time today. We're going to really tap into who you are, what drives you, the kinds of things we're into today, but let me give our audience just a little brief glimpse, is that okay?
Speaker 3:Sure Sure.
Speaker 2:So listen again, carnell Smith Jr, sergeant War Dog. He is in Florida and leads an amazing, amazing organization out there doing good things for people. He's on every different social media platform you can think of Sergeant War Dog. Tv is a great one to track him down on, but he's on Instagram. He's on X what was formerly known as Twitter, got his own website. He is a United States Marine Corps veteran. I'm just going to insert there.
Speaker 2:I feel like I say this anytime I'm in the room with a devil dog, a fellow brother in arms, a Marine in particular. There's no one I want with me more when stuff is not going right than a Marine. All right, it's true, you know, it's true, I'm an Air Force guy, got some weapons training in my background, but nothing, nothing like what you have. And I said to Sergeant War Dog at the start, when we were just having a little banner before officially stepping into this episode, I said man, I've started watching some of what you're putting out there. I'm learning and there's a lot more that I can learn. So I'm excited about that.
Speaker 2:But Sergeant War Dog is married. He's got a bride, a couple daughters, so he's a husband, he's a father, he's a veteran. He's got a book that just got picked up. Hasn't been released yet, but it will soon. We're going to talk to him about that book. And look, I'm just honored. I'm honored to have you here. He's a three time, three time combat war veteran. In fact, when I was looking at your, your bio and information, sergeant War Dog, day one, right, day one in March 2003, boots on the ground, that's right. Indy rack man, that's right. That's real. All right, that's, that's, that's real. So we're going to talk about that. So, without further ado, everybody again. Sergeant War Dog, I really appreciate you. I appreciate you taking the time to join me in studio today.
Speaker 3:Awesome, awesome. I appreciate you inviting me, jay. This is a great experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for us, I promise, and for our listeners. So let's just, let's get a little background. Okay, I just did a very high level. I know I didn't do diligence at all. Where'd you grow up? What was the impetus, if you will, that led you to the Marine Corps? Let's just hit those basics first.
Speaker 3:Okay, I am from Orlando, florida, and I happened to develop a passion I mean a deep, deep passion for SWAT teams and protecting people. So when I was 17 or 18, I, you know, I was doing well academically, I did receive academic scholarship offers and all, but I had to prove to myself that I could make it in the Marine Corps impetus. I just had to. I don't I can't put words to it. My mother was upset that I wanted to choose the Marines over college, but I had to prove to myself that I could run with who I thought were the big dogs.
Speaker 2:Are the big dogs right. I'm just going to call it out there. That's not. That's not denigrating or putting any of the other service members in the back seat, right? They're not Right. They're guys, they're warriors, men and women, and very, very thankful for you. Let me ask you a quick question. When you said that had to prove to yourself, what was it? What was it that maybe felt like you were, was it? Was it? Let me phrase it in a different way Was it that you felt you were lacking something, or was it more just about attaining, achieving something that you perceive to be, you know, a really large challenge?
Speaker 3:It was both. Actually, I knew, being a guy from Orlando, being from Mickey Mouse town, that I was a city guy. I, you know, I spend my time mostly in urban environments, but I didn't like that about myself. I wanted to have survival skills under my belt as well. I wanted to, you know, fully embrace all the different aspects that are required to be in a Marine, from running to hand to hand fighting to lifting weights or shooting guns. I wanted to be a well rounded operator and I felt that if I made it to the core, I would attain, you know, all the skills in the entire skill set that would allow me to save lives in, you know, the most crucial times of an emergency.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how old were you when you, when you joined the core, I was 18. Okay, and would you, would you do your basic?
Speaker 3:I went to Paris Island just like full metals jacket yeah that's the image.
Speaker 2:That's the image right? Sorry, Wardog, that's the image most of us have. When we think of Marine Corps, we think of full metal jacket. That's true.
Speaker 3:Yes, I have full, full metal jacket experience under my belt.
Speaker 2:I bet you did. Hey, what was your? What was your MOS? If I remember right, you were infantry, right I think. Somewhere on your sites I read you. You said hey, I was a grunt.
Speaker 3:That's right. That's right. I'm very proud to say that I was an 0311 infantry rifleman and that I was a grunt in the infantry. I I I can't put enough words to the fact of how, how much I looked up to these guys because I looked at them. As I told you, I had a passion for SWAT teams, so I looked at the infantry guys, or special operators, as SWAT team Plus, because they have the ability to survive in different conditions and countries and whatnot as well. So I just looked at them as the highest tier of the SWAT team that I could get to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's amazing. If you had to share with everybody your experience, kind of going into that, then would you say I had to prove to myself, I wanted to be challenged, I wanted to have this huge accomplishment under my belt. What part did you find? Maybe was easy, that's probably not a you know if there is such a word. Going through that kind of environment, that kind of training, what came easier to you and then what challenged you when you're in that environment, oh right, what came easy was dealing with the yelling and the Marines in your face and the I mean for me.
Speaker 3:I was a high school football player, so the Marines was kind of like just having a football coach with guns that's the way I felt about it. So I was already well equipped to deal with the language and then your face stuff and that part. So I was okay there. But I have to admit, as an infantryman I was not used to hiking. Something about that me thinking about SWAT teams ever, never did I envision the actual act of hiking with you know a hundred pound backpack and going up steep hills or going up you know any kind of difficult terrain. So I was truly, truly mind blown when I got to the Marines and I found out oh okay, I have to learn to do 20 mile hikes.
Speaker 2:I was going to ask you how long that took I was going to say we talking five milers, what are we talking, yeah?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I had to really wrap my mind around that. I was like what does this have to do with SWAT?
Speaker 2:So a hundred pound rock, 20 mile hikes, fully geared up, right Boots, different than being out in athletic shoes you ever, they ever, put you through scenarios where you also had to do a combat carry, carry a buddy right To also get experience.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, especially as we prepared to go to Iraq and all that, that became the norm to make sure we knew how to take care of our fellow Marines.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, what's that old saying, sergeant Wardog? Right, I know you and I both heard it and I believe to the core of my being. I bet we still got our life this way right. Swat, more in peace. Right, believe it or not, the war right. So put the work in. Put the work in. You can't prepare for everything. But rather than coast on the front end and then get yourself in some bad situations, they put you through the rigors at Parris Island, probably through your, your MOS. Training MOS is what I would call it. Is that what is the?
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, yes, that's correct, correct. I was the old 311 MOS infantry rifleman. Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, good. So, yeah, all that prepared you. So here you are, I'm a badge carrying marine, stationed where. Where was your duty assignment? Your first duty assignment?
Speaker 3:I was in the Mojave Desert of Southern California in a city called 29 Palms, California.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I've never been.
Speaker 2:I've heard of it. Yeah, you got 29 Palms and then. And then a warning order comes right Prepare to deploy. That's right, that's right. Talk to me about that, sergeant Wardog, very quick. I just I try to put our listeners in kind of the mindset Again. I know it's been 20 years now and it probably feels like a blink of an eye, you know to you, yeah, but so, wow, 20 years ago, 20 and a half years ago, at this point, right, right, you and your, you and your colleagues, you're gearing up to go. What? Where was your mind? What were you thinking about in that moment? I bet mom wasn't happy.
Speaker 3:No, mom wasn't happy for a couple of reasons. Specifically, mom wasn't happy because I'm an only child.
Speaker 2:So, the fact right.
Speaker 3:The fact that I joined the infantry totally made her livid. The fact that I, you know, wanted to act. As a matter of fact, she wouldn't sign the Marine Corps papers for me when I was 17. She was that upset so I had to wait until I was 18 and went ahead and took care of it myself. But in terms of being ready for war, I remember specifically seeing troops building up in Coyt and I was wondering, like man, is that going to be us too? And within a week of seeing the news of other military members starting to deploy to Coyt in preparation for our operation Iraqi freedom, I too got the order with the rest of the Third Battalion, fourth Marines out of 29 Palms, california. We got our orders to proceed to Coyt as well and to be one of the infantry units that we're going to get the job done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and did you? This is just for personal knowledge, right? Our listeners get to take in on this, but this is for me. Did you pass through Italy on your way to Coyt, or what was your route into Coyt?
Speaker 3:The route to Kuwait was from California to JFK Airport in New York, to Frankfurt Germany actually. Okay, it was Frankfurt Germany, then Kuwait.
Speaker 2:Okay, I asked that because I was at the time stationed at Aviano Air Base, northern Italy, and we had a lot of our servicemen and women, marine Corps and Army passing through Aviano on their way in right, and I was volunteering my time, as we were receiving them on the weekend, to go down there, man, just to shake their hand, serve them coffee right, get them food Awesome. And I remember, sorry War Dog, the reason I'm sharing this. I remember, right, there were some that were a little older and even though they were well trained and, you know, ready to go, do our nation's bidding, every one of them, I could see that in their eyes, I could hear it in their voice. Some of them actually also understood the gravity of it, right, that this is no joke. This is no joke. So it touched me in a profound way.
Speaker 2:I just tried to love on them as best I could. We had cameras, digital cameras, we were getting photos with them and I was getting email addresses and I was sending emails back to their loved ones at home with their photo right To say just want to let you know that your loved one, your son, your daughter, your husband, whatever mom, sister, pass through Aviano. We had a chance to connect. They're doing good, right. I just wanted you to know they're okay, right, but anyway, so that's awesome. When I asked you that, I was thinking how ironic will this be if you said no, man, we did.
Speaker 2:We went through Aviano and I thought you know what would the chances have been that I could have maybe patted you on the back and told you I was praying for you and wishing you all well, Because it wasn't lost on me, I think, a lot of those men and women. I was really worried about whether or not we'd get them home safe, right.
Speaker 3:Right, right, that is very honorable of you to do that.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I didn't want to tell the story for that reason, I just wanted to convey right, I think it's lost, sergeant Wardog. I think it's lost on the American public at large not those of us that have worn the uniform, we get it right, but I think it is widely lost. People say things like but you chose to do that. Well, okay, yeah, I did, but nonetheless, the things that we endure, the things that we experience, right, they just don't happen in a box, in a confined way that once it's over, we just that's stuff behind us and we never think on it again. To your point. I think part of your mission and we're going to get to that here shortly of what you're doing, it's because those that have seen and done the things in particular that you and your fellow Marines experience you can't just bottle that up and put it away. It's with you, it becomes who you are, right definitely.
Speaker 3:I can't put enough words to that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, so you and your colleagues, you arrive in Iraq and then two subsequent tours after that. I think 030405.
Speaker 3:That's right, yeah, that you were over there?
Speaker 2:How long were your tours when you were over there in the combat environment?
Speaker 3:Between seven and 10 months and I ended up turning 19, 20, and 21 in the war. Day to day, just in the war, and I have to admit, being there for the very first day of a war is surreal on a movie level that's the only way I could describe it. I have. I'm not one of those guys who gets into joking about the other branches or anything, because I have honestly been helped, taken care of or saved by every branch that we have, the Air Force in particular.
Speaker 3:As an infantry guy, I cannot thank the Air Force enough for the precision guided bombing that they are able to do to make things easier for the guys on the ground in terms of softening up a target and just making it a little more manageable for a grunt on the ground to do things. So I had the bombing from the Air Force helped the Marines get their medics or our corpsmen we get our corpsmen from the Navy. They're actually attached to the infantry units. I was even in a 14 hour firefight once with the Army with some of their ODA, operational detachment Alpha guys. So every branch. I'm not one of those guys that knocks the other branches or jokes, because they seriously helped me. I was even given special food from the Air Force, which was a blessing because at the time in Baghdad, we weren't able to be resupplied with food because we were so far ahead of the element that was behind us that had food and ammo and all. So, like I said, every branch has helped me, and it's meant the world.
Speaker 2:I love hearing you say that. You know I mean, I do have pride from being an Air Force guy, but you know. All of that being said, I know it's one team, one fight, just some right. Some are a lot closer to where everything's going down than others, so it's not lost on me.
Speaker 2:I was deployed to Kuwait, sergeant War Dog, in 2008. I was over there for eight months and, although I never went into Iraq, the Air Force at that point had the convoy resupply mission for all of Iraq. So they would cross in from that Kuwaiti border, travel up to northeast and part of Iraq, hitting all the fobs and supplying and equipping them, and I would go out there. They would often leave about four o'clock in the morning to make this trek. They had a lot of contract personnel with them too, but I would get out there and love on them before they went on their missions and on some occasions, vehicles would come back after.
Speaker 2:You know, being hit by an IED or hitting an IED, probably better stated. And man, you get to see. You get to see what's real. If I was to ask you, if I was to ask you. So you were, you were, look, you were a man at 18, joining the Marine Corps. Then you said, hey, I turned 1920 and 21 in theater. Probably a lot, of a lot changed in you, I would think, in those three years. In all of that, what do you, what do you take away from that all, from all of that experience, more than anything else, sergeant Wardog, your time with your, your colleagues, you personally what did you walk away with from all of that?
Speaker 3:I actually feel like I walked away with an immense respect for what it takes to be a ground operator. A lot of people think that the military is one sided, like all we know are guns. But to be a true operator, you have to know so much more everything from being possibly chemically attacked to you know, being in shape with running, being able to do hand to hand fighting if your situation gets there, being able to understand culture, understand you know how you're going to interact with the populace. Those are my major insights and takeaways, because I was always like man, this is really what's required. I was like I mean man, going to Iraq once okay, that was required.
Speaker 3:Going again, that's really what's required. And then going to third time, is that really what's required for this job? And I learned the hard answer is yes, that's what it takes, that's what the duty calls for and you do your job. Now I'm sorry. I actually want to note we were the unit during my first tour in Iraq. We were the first wave of a Marines to reach Baghdad, so we were the ones that pull Saddam statue down in front of CNN and all.
Speaker 2:I remember watching it. I remember watching it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that was a pretty amazing sight to be there surrounded by thousands and thousands of Iraqis and to see them celebrating their liberation and whatnot At that time during the war. It was really an amazing thing to be able to experience.
Speaker 2:I can't imagine I remember watching it on TV certain war dog, you're there live, but the Iraqis even taking off their shoes and saying that's right. Doesn't that mean something like it's the ultimate sign of?
Speaker 3:disrespect, that's right. Yeah, saying you're lower than the dirt I walk on to show the bottom of their shoe or to touch something with the bottom of their shoe, is that ultimate disrespect of saying you're lower than the ground I walk on? So yeah, whenever they were hitting that statue with their shoes or throwing shoes at it, we totally understood that they were. That was their way of celebrating and displaying their disgust for Saddam.
Speaker 2:Yeah, couple things. You said certain war dog Don't let me put words in your mouth, right, but putting it in my own words of what I felt, like you shared a little while ago when I asked you what was your biggest takeaway and it sounds like human dynamics, right, like you said, I didn't understand all these complexities of different things. So, right, yeah. And then, and then, when you, when you said, man, to go one time was surreal, but then to go a second, third time, because that's what was required, was it tougher? Was it tougher to go the second time, the third time, because of what you had already experienced the first time, or did it become more about man? I've got experience that you know I'm going to be able to share and pass on to others.
Speaker 3:The only part that I found tougher was knowing that I was going to be under that constant threat of death again. I mean, when I returned from that first time in Iraq, I was like, ooh, okay, I will never have to worry about possibly being killed 24 hours of every day, you know for however long. So when it happened again, I was like, oh man, I'm in this, I'm in this environment again where I have to actually, you know, every second truly counts. I have to be on the lookout for my livelihood every single second, and it just it also brought a seriousness to me, to be honest with you. It brought a seriousness to me of, of, about life, about using the time you have wisely, to enjoy every moment that you have to enjoy the time you have with your family, and that was really a big character, character builder and character teacher for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that still sit with you today. Yeah, so I you know I'm listening to you and I'm thinking about keeping your mental edge, your shortness about you in that environment because of the risk that was there. But then when I hear you say gosh, I walk away with this deeper appreciation for life and relationships, and on and on. Is that that's still profound?
Speaker 3:to you today. Yes, oh, yes, oh, yes. No, no one ever needs to say to me or explain to me that life is short or that life is too short. No one ever. You know, with my experience is no one ever needs to go into the details of, hey, utilizing your time wisely while you have it, because I know that, you know, I know for a fact that time is not. You know, something that can be easily wasted or should be easily wasted. Yeah, I want to add also there's a.
Speaker 3:It was during my first tour, as we were crossing a bridge to enter Baghdad. My photo was taken in a book with a dead Iraqi man right beside me. Wow, so it's been weird to know that. I felt. I felt I never really needed to prove anything about what I did in the war, because there's always that picture in a book.
Speaker 3:The book is entitled the War in Iraq A Photo History. Okay, it's available on Amazon, but my pictures in that book, as I said, carrying the M249 squad automatic weapon. So I was carrying a machine gun, running on this bridge and running past an Iraqi man. And this was not just an average Iraqi man. This was someone who was former military, who changed into civilian clothes and who actually had a band of leaders strapped around his chest with some explosives. So you know, it's just that moment of knowing what he was trying to do to us or what we were capable of, knowing that the photojournalists from Time Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle and the other publications that were attached to us that they were able to catch, that moment has always been really surreal to me. I mean, I've been walking around since I was the 19 year old, knowing, hey, I'm in a book with a dead body beside me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, not something that any one of us in life ever expect to experience and certainly don't seek to have. That, you know, occur in our life. And yet you talk about what I took away listening to just then certain war dog. I was thinking this was again a part that people don't understand. We as a standing army right, meaning all the services as a standing armed forces we do our best, by and large, to conduct ourselves with in a very professional way, abiding by the law of armed conflict and all these different things. But we've come to find in all these engagement that's not necessarily what we are fighting against. Right, and it's tough with this CERN who is and who isn't out there trying to cause harm and injure others and who is a combatant, right, you describing that here's somebody who changed in civilian clothes yet still had military, you know, weaponry man. Tough, tough for me to contemplate how you navigate those days, day in and day out, when you're talking with people.
Speaker 3:Right, right, I have to admit also I have so much respect for our unified respect of the Geneva Conventions. People think that when you go to a war, everything's just wide open and you're shooting in anything and everything. But you aren't, and we don't, and I have to. I'm proud to say that America does not just go out and bomb mosques or hospitals or things that are really relevant to the infrastructure of a country. We go out of our way and the defense contractors that we work with and the weapons that they make, everyone goes out of their way to ensure that the loss of civilian life is very minimal, and I'm proud to say that our military does that and I got to see it firsthand on numerous occasions.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:The only problem is the enemy. The enemy does not respect the Geneva Conventions. So they know we don't attack schools. What do they put all their weapons in? The schools? They know we don't attack ambulances, so what do they use to try to travel around and to attack us? Ambulances? Or they would shoot at us from the mosque, that sort of thing, and we normally, primarily, don't ever try to attack religious institutions or anything like that. So just knowing that we were going out of our way to not be, I don't know, marauders and trying to take over everything and destroy everything, to know that America cares that much, even in the crux of combat, it was really, really eye-opening and impressive to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sergeant Warduck, I'm glad that came out right. This is kind of in the news today with conflicts going on in parts of the world, right Over in Ukraine, over in the Gaza Strip, and we hear these things. But it really is true. It doesn't make us perfect, it doesn't mean that mistakes don't happen right, but we really do our diligence. I believe that, as a professional fighting force and all volunteer force today, we do go out of our way to try to exercise prudence in the way we conduct operations. I love that you hit that. I think it's true.
Speaker 2:It breaks my heart a little bit, sergeant Warduck, when I you know I'm a history kind of nut. I study history, I love reading books on history, particularly you know the armed forces and combat ops, and I think it's a shame how much blood this amazing country that you and I call home has spilt on behalf of other nations and their houses, and then how quickly we can be forgotten or left alone. And I'm not saying by all, but certainly it'd be nice to look to our right, to look at our left and who's standing in front of us and behind us of friends and allies who understand how much we've put on the line on their behalf, and all we want is them to stand with us. That's right.
Speaker 3:That's all we're looking for. Just get in the grass with us. That's all we're looking for.
Speaker 2:Get in the grass with us. I love that. That's a great way of saying it. Well, look, let's talk about when did you get out? At what point did you leave the Corps and then did you dabble in anything for a little while outside of the Corps before you jumped into this endeavor that you're doing today, where you're helping veterans with traumatic brain injury and PTSD and maybe even not maybe even. I know veteran homelessness and other things that we know veterans face. Talk to me about your transition from the Corps into what you're doing today.
Speaker 3:Sure, sure. So after my time in the Corps, I actually went straight to college. I mean so in order to get my mother off my back and to let her know. Yeah, to let her know.
Speaker 2:Mom happy to have you home. Your mission's not done, yeah.
Speaker 3:Right right To let her know that. You know, I did still care a whole lot about education and all, and I knew that to be the type of federal operator I wanted to be for any of the federal agencies, I knew I needed to combine all that combat experience with a degree if I really wanted to be able to, you know, have my choice of which agency I could join. So I attended the University of Central Florida in Orlando. I majored in international relations and while I was going to UCF I was actually keeping my security clients active by working overnight arm security for Lockheed Martin, the defense contractor. So they have a facility in Orlando, their missile and fire control facility. I was able to be a part of the security team there overnight. So I was attending school full time during the day. I couldn't sleep from the war, so the best option I had was to work overnight and, you know, still be able to utilize my skill set in that way and for a defense contractor of all places. So I was able to go through school, continue gaining private security experience.
Speaker 3:But then I have to be honest with you, jay. Okay, I got hit in the face with a ton of bricks in the terms of flashbacks and memories. For some reason, during my senior year at undergrad, everything that I had forgotten about suddenly came back and it flooded me and I didn't know how to deal with it. To be honest with you, I didn't know how to handle it all. I was overwhelmed. I didn't realize that my emotions were still so linked to things like certain smells or fireworks, or I had no idea that I would end up struggling with PTSD, to be honest with you, and when it happened it just broke my heart. It felt like man. What's wrong with me? You know how could I go from this great infantry Marine to now dealing with things that I thought I could just get over with mind over matter? But PTSD is a much stronger and much more massive beast than I ever thought it was. So I actually had to be hospitalized, jay. I had to be hospitalized several times because I got suicidal Once I got to college and then I learned that the UN didn't want us to go into Iraq. That inflicted a deep moral injury for me, because I took that personal as saying man. So if we weren't supposed to go in, does that mean that the Iraqis were actually justified in firing at me and then were justified in things that happened, and it was just a very big mind boggling situation to try to wrap my head around all of that.
Speaker 3:So I struggled with PTSD, was hospitalized and for the next 10 years, I jumped on a regiment of medication and counseling and I jumped on a path of 10 years of being stagnant. I mean, I was still doing my thing as far as being a father, being a suburban dad and being a husband, but I had no inkling to do anything else. Yeah, I was really kind of stuck for about 10 years until 2018. When 2018 came around, I finally went out to camp for the first time since being out of the Marine Corps, and something about being there and camping and having my gun with me again reminded me that I actually was good at something.
Speaker 3:I forgot how easily I know how to put up a tent or set up a perimeter or set up a campsite. My only issue was I didn't know how to camp and have fun, because the only camping that I had ever done was under war and tactical circumstances. So once I got into the spirit of camping, I then jumped into hunting hunting wild hogs, and I got my hunting license and all because you can still utilize your night vision and thermal vision equipment that you would use in Iraq or Afghanistan while you're hunting wild hogs. So even that brought me right back into knowing that, hey, this is something I've been trained to do. This is something I was taught to do. I know this. This is home. This is my comfort zone. So I eventually started to take a GoPro out with me, but I did it not to record footage. I did it so that my daughters and my wife would know if anything happened to me, because I was going into pretty remote areas by myself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in one of your videos I don't mean to step on you and just for our listeners, if you're, for whatever reason, jumped into this podcast Midstream or something I am in studio today with Carnell Smith Jr, aka Sergeant Wardog, that's who you should know him by, that's how he's branded and how you're gonna get to connect with him out there. But in one of your videos I was watching man you go out into like the march, the Everglade kind of stuff, and you're man, you're doing some real stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because it's foreign as the locations are To me, it feels just like being in the war again. I mean, you're in locations unknown, you know.
Speaker 2:There's stuff out there that can hurt you.
Speaker 3:Right, right.
Speaker 2:If you're not paying attention.
Speaker 3:Definitely, definitely, and that's what I needed, though. I needed that challenge, survival challenge to really get my creative juices going. I needed that challenge of being out in places like that, so I went from carrying a GoPro to starting a YouTube channel, to starting my own podcast called the Wardog Trail. I wrote a book about my experiences in Iraq which is not what's the book called.
Speaker 3:The book is also called the Wardog Trail, which is, I named it, the same name as the podcast, so it'd be easier to find and to establish a platform. It highlights my three tours in Iraq as an infantry rifleman. As a gun, I give you the nitty gritty details, from going on boat missions with Marine Corps snipers to being in a 14 hour firefight with the assistance of the Army. I lay it all out. I lay out my struggles with PTSD and then the land that I ended up buying back in 2018, I got the idea to turn that into a homeless veterans camp. I saw.
Speaker 2:I saw this sergeant war dog on on your on your website certainly, so you do something called camp or dog, I think right okay, I'm camp doghouse, oh okay. I'm doghouse. Thank you, camp doghouse. I saw that you know one of your missions is you want to help those that Regardless yeah, I think you said on your site like an indefinite term Whatever you want it to be yourself, to be able to know you can go off grid and have all the skills you need to be able to survive and thrive.
Speaker 3:Right right camp doghouse Can be found at camp doghouseorg. It's actually my idea of a Homeless can't, a homeless shelter that is, in a camp setting that is conducive to veterans. So In the central Florida area, or specifically Orlando, if I can find any homeless veteran who doesn't mind being in an outdoor camp setting, I want to let them know. Hey, I have a place for you. I I'm in the process of trying to acquire RVs and campers. It's what I want to do is get five to ten campers and put two men. I'm sorry and I can only accommodate men for right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, I would like to get five to ten campers, put two men in each and then that'll give me between 10 and 20 men that I'm helping to come off the streets and to really use the camp as a Platform to get the rest of their lives together and in whatever way they would like to. So I'm trying the process of setting things up so that they can a Be able to get transportation to work, to doctors, appointments with the VA, that sort of thing, and then come back to the camp. And then at the camp we will always be holding, you know, ptsd educational sessions. I experienced the TBI myself and I have to wear hearing aids because of it. So it's really big on me to look after individuals that are suffering from PTSD and TBI, that have might have Fallen down on hard times in civilian life Because I realized how, you know, destructive the war could be towards someone psyche some of these things.
Speaker 2:Starting word dog I'm. You've got first Hand life experience with this number one. Let me just say I appreciate, appreciate your vulnerability, right? I don't. I don't think we help anyone and I don't think we help ourselves when we deny what's really going on with us, right, and your authenticity when you said, jay man, I, I get home, I'm in school, right, doing what my mom had originally had, this dream and vision for me, and? And you had the desire to do it too. But then you said, out of nowhere, right, this, this hits you and you start having these flashbacks and these memories and you and you and you sought help for yourself. Of course, you know, if somebody guided you, whoever it was, thank God for you, thank God for them. But you and got treatment and we have a horrible problem in this country starting war dog. You know this better than any, because this is what you're doing, day in and day out, trying to help.
Speaker 2:We have a lot of veterans who are unsheltered, right, who are homeless, and maybe some of it ties back to their own experiences and their inability to get past some of those things. You know, maybe it's just bad circumstances, bad choices. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. They're still worthy of our love, our time, our attention. So you're out there now thinking of this idea and you're starting to put things in place to bring it to fruition. What's the? What's your long-term vision with this? Even what? What are you hoping to to be able to achieve? I?
Speaker 3:Would like to make camp doghouse Basically my legacy. I wanted to extend for the rest of my life. I want to always Be able to go to some individuals, some veterans that have, you know, are homeless and have been through things, and let them know, hey, if you don't mind living in a camp setting, I have a place for you, I have Wi-Fi, I have power, I have, you know, tvs and whatnot, and we're out, off-grid, we can ride in four wheelers, we can hunt, we can camp, we can fish and you can also be surrounded by other war veterans, because the one thing that I found the most is that the only person that truly understands war veteran is another war veteran. That's, that's something I've come to learn over these years. Yeah, so I what I hear you saying.
Speaker 2:Right again, we go back to this unsheltered population of veterans homeless if they're willing to Be semi austere a little bit. Right, you mean there's some visions in there, so I think that's a good idea. Right, you mean there's visions in there, some modern-day luxuries. I love you talking about Wi-Fi TV, things to, things to recreate. That's good. But if they're willing to go join you at Camp Doghouse, they can be surrounded by like-minded individuals. I think there's therapy in that. Right there, you said no one knows what it's like to have had those experiences like another veteran who's been to war. Right, right, yeah, exactly, man, that's a. That's amazing. So what's your biggest need? Certain war dog. What for our listeners who are tuning in? You know you talked about your website earlier. We talked about war dog TV. They can go out and start getting a feel for who you are, seeing them, the mission your championing. What's the greatest need? How can people who are listening get involved? How can they help support you in the team?
Speaker 3:They can visit camp doghouseorg and and make a donation and whether that's whether it'sa Financial or products or food or anything like that, trying to have camp doghouse as a fully running veterans shelter and veterans camp. It's gonna be funded by grants, primarily as a 501c3 nonprofit. Yeah, primarily funded by grants, but the help will always come in the form of any any type of donation that the public wouldn't mind Contribute towards helping homeless veterans get their lives back in order. Yeah, did I see it right on on one of?
Speaker 2:your sites. Like I said, I went to several of your different social media channels and, again, for our listeners, he can be found, his organization can be found across all the platforms. I think I saw them all listed. Did I see shirts, even on one of the?
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's the thing I'm sorry I forgot to mention. All right, ultimately I would. I would also in addition to the camp and everything else. Remember it started off as Sergeant Wardog TV just going out into the woods. So, yeah, I honestly want to have my own outdoor hunting channel one day. I wanted to be a hybrid of military content and hunting and outdoor content, but that is, my ultimate goal is to have the camp. And then, while I'm not at the camp, I want to have my own show where I get to go out and hunt, you know, deer, elk, wild hogs. I want to make some safaris into Africa a few times, wow. So everything is still geared around trying to have a web series and trying to be on the major outdoor network Television shows it you know to, to get them to see like, hey, you got a pretty wild Marine over here who loves to get after it.
Speaker 3:Let's, you know, let's entertain people and let's do some military things, some hunting things, and let's just have a good time. Man, I'm telling you.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you right now, any of our listeners that may have a connection right, maybe you're operating in that industry I'm telling you you're not going to find a better human being, a better human being who has a passion. You even use that word at the beginning, as we're stepping into this. You said I have a passion, man it. It comes through, sergeant Wardog, it comes through listen, any of you listening that are in that industry that can help make connections, right. I love saying this our war dog. When I'm talking to people, you know I'm like man, your job isn't to sell me. When I'm talking about the business I do and I'm talking to others, your job isn't to sell me. But I sure do appreciate an introduction, right, because no one will sell me like I will. No one will sell you like you will. Your passion comes through. So if you're a listener and you can even make an introduction to somebody, that can help further Sergeant Wardog's cause, all that you hear him talking about, even from these hunting. You do some fishing too.
Speaker 3:I mean there was, you've got kind of a pretty broad Outdoor, yeah yeah, I try to get after we're, we're in four, we're in four wheelers, we're in, we're camping, we're hunting, we're fishing, we're hiking. You know we would. I try to encompass the outdoors in full, if I can.
Speaker 2:No alligator wrestling. Right, you're in Florida. Tell me you're not getting your, your, your mad martial arts skills against reptilian Okay.
Speaker 3:I will admit I have screws in my back from the war, so I'm not supposed to do anything involving alligators, but I did go ahead and get the the alligator qualification on my hunting license. That way I'm at least able to be the one that shoots the alligator I got you. I'm not. I'm not licensed to be the boat operator, but I am licensed to be the shooter.
Speaker 2:Okay, I thought we were getting ready to get into. You know, can't confirm nor deny, but maybe he's getting ready to confirm that he's actually wrestled an alligator. We'll keep that. That's still classified. That's classified.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2:Hey, let's talk about this for a quick, certain war dog. Let's talk about the veteran experience right now. You've already had people that you've been able to take out and recreate and help them heal in some way. You know, through your own experience and now working with them, any, any, any fun stories, any big wins. You know you don't have to share names, but you have some just really amazing moments that stand out that you can maybe share, where you've really helped another veteran.
Speaker 3:Yes, I've had some times where guys have come out with me and they'll say, wow, this is what I needed. I didn't know that this is what was missing, that you know I needed. You know they work and live in urban environments. So for them to say, wow, I have not been this truly happy and I did not know that I was missing this part of my life and that this is still entwined with my identity, that you know were actually involved in, like reuniting them with themselves in a way. That was probably the biggest takeaway that I had is for them to know that the reason you know you might've felt odd or different like I did is because the outdoors have been a part of your life, of your career, for so long.
Speaker 3:And once you, you know, go to the civilian world, you're probably not going out and doing, obviously, the type of things that you were doing with your service. You're not in the same environments. So, whatever you know, whatever was that sparked happiness inside of you while you were doing your job in the military? I feel that's missing and lacking obviously out here on the civilian side. To me, I feel like it comes down to job satisfaction, that feeling that you get of job satisfaction for an infantry guy or any type of operator. You can't get that job satisfaction, that same feeling, from anything that you do in the civilian world to me, unless it involves the outdoors. And so that's pretty much. You know what I took from the veterans that would tell me how much it helped them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that. You're touching lives and you're right. We may take for granted Now when we're in those kind of austere environments because someone else made us go do that. It's different now, when you get to be the one to say I want to go do this right and do this. I'm listening to you inferring a little bit maybe not inferring even, but the camaraderie, the closeness that we have together when we're in some of those environments and then you get back and thrust back out into the world. None of us were meant to do this alone, sergeant Wardog, what do you think?
Speaker 3:Oh, I totally agree that was actually.
Speaker 2:Sisterhood yeah.
Speaker 3:That was actually one of my largest struggles was because I mentioned that I'm an only child, so my brother, the only brothers and sisters I've truly known in this world, were military people, were veterans. So anything involving another veteran and I automatically feel I have another bro or another sister. I feel like I'm not alone anymore and that was probably one of the hardest transitions and adjustments for me coming into the civilian world was knowing that man I'm going from, where I had a family of 30 Marines, of a platoon. I had a platoon of brothers all the time to now it's just me and that was one of the most you know alone feelings I could ever describe to you Jay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, alone is not a place to be, particularly when we're dealing with something right. We need to be able to let others in, let others help us, and it's not easy always asking for help. I was thinking about that earlier listening to your story, when you're talking about all these flashbacks that started happening. You started suffering from the effects of PTSD. You know, man, here you are a hardened guy that has accomplished a lot. Remember, back to the story. I wanted to do this to prove to myself and you did right. Noble reasons, noble service. So you get to that point and you think, man, I ought to be able to take care of this. Right, I can do this on my own, maybe not.
Speaker 3:Right. I am a very big proponent of letting people know that I actually had to personally use the veterans crisis line twice and it probably saved my life. So now we have the digits 988 that you can use to if you have any type of crisis. But even before 988 came into the picture, I actually had to use the crisis line twice. So I tell anyone, don't ever be ashamed nor afraid to use any of the veteran resources that are there, because that's what they're there for and when you're in a time of complete mental chaos, that's what you need. That's what the resources are there for, and I'm happy to say that I'm one of the people that they truly helped.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thank God right for that. I thank you for your spirit, for who you are again, your transparency and just sharing part of the story, and for what you're doing. What you're doing today, man, it's heartwarming. It, quite frankly, makes me feel a little inadequate. Oh no, there's always more that we can do right and you are man. You're touching lives right now and helping people heal Sergeant Wardog and I love that Right on.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Jay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's real. So listen as we start to wrap up this interview with Carnell Smith Jr again, aka Sergeant Wardog and I didn't say this earlier, it's Sergeant SGT, separate word Wardog, w-a-r-d-a-w-g, so that you can make sure you're finding the right guy and the organization and the mission that's out there. What haven't we touched on, sergeant Wardog? What would you come in today into the podcast, being so gracious with your time, that was on your heart, that maybe you wanted to share? Make sure you let others know. That hasn't just organically come out in our conversation.
Speaker 3:I really want to let individuals know that my entire story will soon be available in a book. Yes, like I said, I finally. It took me about four years because thinking about the memories that I was writing about would actually make me sick to my stomach sometimes. So it made it difficult to write the book as long as I needed it to be, because I had to embrace step-for-step, day-for-day things that I had already been through. So I really would like everyone to know that myself and the entire story of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines 3-4, out of 29 Palms, california, is available and visible in the book. The War Dog Trail. The same name is the podcast.
Speaker 2:Is it already released? Did I misspeak earlier when I said it's getting ready to be released, or has it already been released?
Speaker 3:Do I need to?
Speaker 2:be running out there right now.
Speaker 3:No, no, it hasn't been released. I've actually only just submitted it recently to my two publishers and all.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:I was accepted by both.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's amazing. So what do you anticipate? Do you have a release date kind of in mind? If they shared anything, when can we start looking out for it, you think?
Speaker 3:I'm hoping sometime next year, hopefully maybe towards the end of next year or just after the summer. I'm hoping that we'll be able to work out a release time around then.
Speaker 2:OK, and give me the name again for everybody listening.
Speaker 3:The War Dog Trail.
Speaker 2:War Dog Trail Spell, just like you've got a W-A-R-D-A-W-G trail.
Speaker 3:That's right. That's right and that's my way of signifying that the path of a warfighter is its own trail, it's its own path in life, it's its own journey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think for sure. You know that from life experience and for those that served with you and for those that you're still getting to engage with, encounter and to help recreate, I know every bit of that's true. Listen, I, man, love everything about you, love what you're doing, love who you are as a human being. I loved even I think it's on your intro to your website maybe the very first web episodes I watched. If you two videos, everybody you can watch videos out there and truly get to see the man and get a true sense of who he is. He's as authentic as they come.
Speaker 2:But something else I loved about you is your love for humankind. I love that. You said let me tell you what I don't tolerate. Let me tell you what we won't tolerate in this family, in this organization no racism, no bigotry, no, and you lay it all out there. And, sorry, wardog, I'm going to tell you right now it's been the biggest thing for me that has changed my life, just to be able to look at another human being and know that they are worthy of my time, they're worthy of my attention, they're worthy of my love. They have value, they have dreams, they have goals and we are far more alike than we are different, and if we can just start looking at each other through those lenses, I think it changes everything.
Speaker 3:Man just be there for one another. Right, right on, right on Jay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good stuff. Any last words from you, my friend, my brother-in-arms?
Speaker 3:Just for anyone. Veterans, please keep your head up and continue to fight day by day. Your survival suicide is real for veterans, so continue to fight day by day. I'm holding on, you hold on. And for everyone else, please be sure to check me out at SergeantWardogTVcom on YouTube, facebook, instagram, snapchat and TikTok.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's good stuff. I'm going to stay tuned in because I told you pre-show. You know I was picking some stuff up, learning from you. As I'm watching those episodes and I didn't say this earlier, I just feel like I'm going to circle back and bring it in now. Those that have listened to me a while they know I'm a little bit like a Labrador Retriever. Sergeant Wardog, my brain. I just pick things up. But so my first 11 years in the Air Force I was an enlisted guy and was a weapons instructor small arms, everything from handguns up to the 50-caliber.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:The MK-19. Yeah, the MK-19 was a fun one, right? But when you said M249 saw a squad automatic weapon, I had the pleasure of operationally function, checking that, putting it through the rigors when it was first coming out into the armed forces.
Speaker 3:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah this is somewhere. I don't know is mid-90s, maybe, is kind of what my brain remembers that belt fed 556. So when you said, man, that's what I carried, that's what I carried, I'm like I don't have your experience with it, but I know that that weapon system is impressive.
Speaker 3:Yes, it's massive, it's a beast and I love it. I used to have a love-hate relationship with it, to be honest with you, because I wanted to be one of these little slick, fast-moving SWAT guys with a rifle. But when I got the M249 and saw how long and cumbersome it was, I was like, oh man, it totally ruined my SWAT dream. But then I fell in love with it. I fell in love with its range, its accuracy. I became a true Saw Gunner.
Speaker 2:Let alone all the additional ammo you carry around on you at any given time.
Speaker 3:Oh, yes, it required. Yeah, so everyone else gets to carry magazines for a rifle, and here you have to have 200-round drums all the time. So at seven and eight pounds apiece, so yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it'll get to you. Well, look, the pleasure, the privilege, the honor Sergeant Wardog was all mine. Regret that Donna couldn't be here in studio with us today, but I know you two are connected and, man, I'm telling you deep appreciation, love and respect for who you are, what you've done, what you're doing for veterans. Love you, man, and if there's ever anything that we can do that I personally can do for you, I hope you won't hesitate to reach out.
Speaker 3:Oh, definitely. Thank you, Jay. This has been an amazing time. Had a great time speaking with you and being able to share the mission.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that, sir. Thank you very much. So for everybody, on behalf of our parent podcast company coming home well, and on behalf of Donna Hoffmeyer and I. We just want to thank you for tuning in, for listening, for picking up what we're putting down, for connecting with people like Sergeant Wardog and helping support worthwhile causes out there in our communities, and this is certainly one of those. Please connect with him, reach out to him, drop a note, say hey, I got to listen to your interview and find out how you can get in and support he shared earlier Donations certainly appreciated If you're in the Florida area. Maybe there's even some others. But thanks for listening. Then Please give us a like, please give us a follow, please give us a share and until next time. Bye for now.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to Beyond the Frontline, a podcast of coming home. Well, Join us every other Wednesday and if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with others, post about it on social media or leave a rating and review.