Episode #141: Military Pettiness, The Benefits Of Having Enemies And Living With Osteomyelitis, With Jason Pike, Best-Selling Author of "A Soldier Against All Odds"

INTRODUCTION:

 The Army investigated him, arrested him, and tried to break him. LT. Col. Jason Pike is undoubtedly A Soldier Against All Odds. National Best-Selling Author and Book." 

A decorated combat veteran with multiple deployments, Jason Pike is the author of two books: an inspiring memoir and a book filled with actionable guidance to help others navigate the complex landscape of VA benefits. He not only survived 31 years in the service, but he keeps thriving. Pike has made it his business to help other veterans succeed just as he did.

INCLUDED IN THIS EPISODE (But not limited to):

·      Dare To NOT Compare

·      Living With Osteomyelitis 

·      Damn Doughnut Thieves!

·      Military Pettiness & Stalking #Creepy

·      The Benefits Of Having Enemies

·      False Accusations

·      Afghanistan

·      Full Metal Jacket Throwback

CONNECT WITH JASON PIKE:

Website: https://www.jasonpike.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasonpike.org

YouTube: https://shorturl.at/cetB2

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorjasonpike/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-pike-7b6774137/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jasonpike343

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JasonPike9

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jpike25/

CONNECT WITH DE’VANNON SERÁPHINO:

Website: https://www.SexDrugsAndJesus.com

Website: https://www.DownUnderApparel.com   

Donate Via PayPal: https://shorturl.at/gq068

CashApp: $DeVannonHubert

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Email: DeVannon@SDJPodcast.com

Transcript

Episode #141: Military Pettiness, The Benefits Of Having Enemies And Living With Osteomyelitis, With Jason Pike, Best-Selling Author of "A Soldier Against All Odds"

Jason Pike

[00:00:00]

De'Vannon Seráphino: Lieutenant colonel Jason Pike is the best selling author of his memoir entitled a soldier against all odds, and colonel Pike is a living example of what it means to be just that. Colonel Pike served 31 years in the United States army. He served in Afghanistan and had to deal with all types of petty military bullshit while he was serving. Colonel Pike also explains to us in this episode what osteomyelitis is and how he has been able to manage living with that over the years. 

Jason Pike: But, no, he he he matter of fact, he told people whoever falls out of a run, I want these other privates to go kick their ass On the side of the road and while they're running. So he he promoted it in a way. So no. He was a really hard ass Drill sergeant. He was sorta like that drill that Ford [00:01:00] old metal jacket movie. 

Jason Pike: Osteomyelitis is a bone disease. It happened in my when I was 9 years old, so It might it dissolved my knee twice. It was infection.

Jason Pike: It was a it was just 1 of those rare things, and it was in the seventies, and they had to put these damn painful Injections into it, I remember it, into the damn knee where these injections would go straight into the damn knee bone, into the kneecap, and It was painful 

De'Vannon Seráphino: I give you lieutenant colonel Jason Pike.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Hello, all my delicious truffles out there, and welcome back to the sex drugs and Jesus podcast. My name is Devannon.

De'Vannon Seráphino: I'm your host, and I have with me today, lieutenant colonel Jason Pike. How are you doing today, Maine? 

Jason Pike: Hey. Doing pretty good. I'm really happy to be on your show today.

Jason Pike: I'm really good. Really 

De'Vannon Seráphino: good. Yeah. And I'm gonna love talking As I was saying before we got on this call, I so rarely get a chance to talk to somebody who was an [00:02:00] officer in the military anymore. And so, you know, it's refreshing.

De'Vannon Seráphino: We both went in the military at age 17 and had some with some whirlwind experiences. So I cannot wait to dive into this and see how it was for you. I'm gonna go ahead and read through your biography here since it's so very well written. Theo Jayce is a national best selling author, And his book is called, soldier against all odds. K.

De'Vannon Seráphino: He's a decorated combat veteran with multiple deployments. Lieutenant colonel Jason Pike served 31 years in the United States army as both an enlisted and officer. This was 9 years of overseas in 5 different countries. Jason earned over 30 service awards and badges and served A wicked amount of military training thrown under the bus and ghost slided by his own superiors. Arrest and investigations are big stories [00:03:00] here.

De'Vannon Seráphino: So this is not your typical military memoir. 

Jason Pike: No. It's not. Not at all. I I'm a I was a senior guy, and I'm gonna tell you how I rose to the top from the bottom and from the bottom in multiple ways.

Jason Pike: And I will tell you my failures and fiascos, and I probably got more than most. I'm not I'm not a perfect penny by any means. I was not a perfect Penny. And there's some things I did that were my fault and some things that were not my fault. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Yeah.

De'Vannon Seráphino: I love the way you talk about failures. And so let me think about how I'm gonna say this. There is a quote that you put from Carlton Fisk at the beginning of your book. It says it's not what you achieve. It's what you overcome that defines your career.

Jason Pike: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, a lot of people think they've gotta be at a very top level, and they think they need to go [00:04:00] here. And it's like they're Comparing themselves, but, really, it's what you achieve personally from the baseline, not necessarily comparing yourself to others because you're you.

Jason Pike: There's only 1 you, and so you compare yourself just getting go going forward. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Now that what you speak of is counterintuitive to modern day stereotypical masculinity.

De'Vannon Seráphino: I'm a go down this road here. A lot of people associate, you know, manhood, masculinity with being in the military. When When I was in the military, a lot of those guys were very insecure. They did a whole lot of comparing and things like that. How did you manage to Keep your own mind, you know, your own opinions, your own you know, how did you get this to this place where you understand that the race is really against yourself and not anyone else.

Jason Pike: Yeah. In the beginning, I did [00:05:00] compare self and I was you know, I thought, wow. You know, I'm not like them, and I I can't rise to that level. I felt insecure in many ways. And then I said, you know, um, almost being kicked out of basic training a long time ago, I thought, you know, I can't achieve things, Thanks.

Jason Pike: And I and I I have to do it my way. It might take me a little bit longer. I may not get the Degree in 4 years. It may take me 5 years, and it may take me longer to do things, but I have to do it my own way if I'm gonna, You know, achieve my personal goals, which were to stay in the military and to achieve rank and things of that nature. That took me a while to figure out that it's I can only be me, and I can't really be them.

Jason Pike: And I I didn't I didn't walk the walk they walked. I walked my own walk. That caused me some trouble troubles as well. But, no, that took me a while to figure out, and I said, you know, that's just the way I am, and that's the way I [00:06:00] gotta go. Yeah.

De'Vannon Seráphino: That right there, what you're talking about is mad freedom, yo. Like, to have that awakening, to understand that it's not actually about other people. You know? I I I pray more people come to that come to that awareness. So the 1 thing that intrigued me In in the testimonial that you wrote about your book at the beginning of it, which I'm going to read if you don't mind and Sure.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Go ahead. Which has which has everything to do with, how taxing it was to go through the process of writing. There's a huge physical aspect and emotional aspect that comes along with writing, especially a memoir because this is not fiction. They're not making shit up as we go, which is nothing wrong with doing that. I love me some science fiction.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Godzilla fan here all the way through and through. Godzilla is real. I don't care what anyone had to say. But but you really go through some changes when you write a memoir. [00:07:00] It takes longer to write a memoir than does the right fiction.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Although 1 would think since you're writing about yourself or you could just you know, you live that you could just write it down. It's not like that. So gotta be sure all the facts line up. You have to be you have to write it at a pace where you can emotionally handle it. And so And then you relive everything.

De'Vannon Seráphino: So I'm gonna read this here. Now this is from lieutenant colonel Jason, his own testimonial in his book about this writing process. And he says and I quote here, writing this memoir damn near killed me. In February 20 21, I was admitted to intensive care at the Stone Oak Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas suffering from blood clots in my lungs and legs. An off duty physician's assistant told me probable told me privately, probably outside the boundaries of formal rules, that I would likely die.

De'Vannon Seráphino: And he advised me to sign a DNR or do not resuscitate since the death that I was facing would likely [00:08:00] not be a comfortable 1. The clots were formed as a consequence of sitting behind a computer for long hours and the stress caused by stirring the sediment of so many mixed recollections. Besides that, a bout of pneumonia further complicated situation. Floods of memories are returning of past issues with the law of myself breaking many established rules, protocols, and the many failures that character characterized my journey, the consequences of which I faced, but also simply escaping death just as I did more than once more most recently with that hospital visit. Okay.

De'Vannon Seráphino: End end quote. So couple of things to unpack there. How did it feel to have a doctor tell you, look, Jason. Your ass is gonna die, I it's gonna be a bitch of a death, so let's just wrap this shit up. 

Jason Pike: So so I I felt when he said I was going to die, I felt he was being so honest with me.

Jason Pike: And I and I knew My [00:09:00] father had died a a a long death, and I saw him die that way. And I know that I didn't wanna die that way. In other words, just stay on a A respirator. And and I understood that, and I was really appreciated about that. And, yeah, yeah.

Jason Pike: And so I felt he was being very honest with me, and he did it privately. He says he because he did he he I think he he was off duty. He says, you know, and he we were alone. He says, you know, this is gonna be bad death if you don't sign the DNR. It's just gonna go on.

Jason Pike: I and I understood that. I don't know. Well, a lot of people would understand that that that I appreciated it, and that it would I got my obituary and made sure that we knew, You know, where I was gonna be buried and things, but, I thought but my body came back. It came back and so I'm I'm I'm a I'm a laughing chicken, but I I thought that was a pretty cool I I I enjoyed that. I I I'm glad that he was he did that.

Jason Pike: I wish I knew his name, so but I don't know his name. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Maybe not because he he [00:10:00] went off the record to tell you this, and we'll just talk to John Doe. John Doe. 

Jason Pike: Mhmm. Mhmm.

Jason Pike: So talk 

De'Vannon Seráphino: to me talk to me then about going to the military. First of all first of all, thank you to all the veterans out there and all the current active duty people because not everyone has the nutsack, Okay. To go to the military and to deal with all the bullshit that comes along with keeping this country safe. Far too many people celebrate fourth of July, Memorial Day, you know, different veterans things without actually taking the time to say a prayer for veterans, to really give a fuck about veterans. I get pissed off when I go places and they don't have military discounts or veterans discounts or nothing at all because without us, there would be no United States.

De'Vannon Seráphino: And so and that's a real fact. We have enemies here now and many more who would come over here and fuck up our shit if they could. But the the arms the armed forces and [00:11:00] the uniformed forces keep enemies away. So I just wanted to speak a word of commendation and appreciation to all of us who were bold enough and unselfish enough to go and put our lives, our mental lives, our mental health, our emotional health, and everything on the line for this country even though not nearly enough people act like they understand that. 

Jason Pike: Yeah.

Jason Pike: I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Yeah. So, yeah, it was a hell of a life in uniform, 31 years, started from the bottom In multiple ways. I can I can tell?

Jason Pike: When I grew up, I had a diagnosed learning disability. Reading and writing are my worst subjects, Believe it or not I I I don't know if I'm dyslexic or have an os Asperger's syndrome, but, no Academics were my worst subject, and I just kinda I just worked. I worked. This is a this is a book about never giving up. It's a different way of never giving up.

Jason Pike: I never gave up on many things. Of course. I had a lot of [00:12:00] problems, but this is a inspirational memoir and it's written in a form From the south, that's raw. It's out there. And so I think and I'm the narrator and and I'm the author and And it's a considered a national bestseller.

Jason Pike: It's right right now it's number 4 on army memoirs on Amazon. So, yeah, pretty proud of this book. You know? 

De'Vannon Seráphino: As you should be. Now the the the the disease that you that you were referencing when I was researching you, I I came across osteomyelitis.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Mhmm. Oh, yeah. That's 

Jason Pike: osteomyelitis is a bone disease. It happened in my when I was 9 years old, so It might it dissolved my knee twice. It was infection.

Jason Pike: It was a it was just 1 of those rare things, and it was in the seventies, and they had to put these damn painful Injections into it, I remember it, into the damn knee where these injections would go straight into the damn knee bone, into the kneecap, and It was painful, and my knee blew up. It [00:13:00] was pus. It dissolved. And then, The the the damn thing grew back. It's it's my left knee is, bigger even right now.

Jason Pike: And a lot of people will think, How in the hell did you get into the damn army? Because of your knee problem and your learning problems. Well I lied. I lied about my knee problem. I told them I'm good.

Jason Pike: No problems. This was before the Internet where they couldn't check anything out. Regarding how I got into the army through the entrance test, I have no idea. I wish I I I went into the national guard, which was we call that the nasty girls. And then I slimed I slimed my way in In that way, I think they just passed me through.

Jason Pike: They said, hey, dude. You're just we want you. We need numbers, and we're not it. Yeah. This is not real army.

Jason Pike: Right? So Just come on in. We're we're weekend warriors. And then from there, I went into active duty where I didn't have to pass an entrance test. Now So I yeah.

Jason Pike: I kinda just slid my way in, and it was a you [00:14:00] know? Yeah. That's how I did 

De'Vannon Seráphino: that. You know what? Have recover you ever did you were able to do it?

De'Vannon Seráphino: Do you still do it? That's what I call determination. So speaking of, you know, lying to recruiters, when I was in the air force, You know, I did 6 years in the air force, and I was a recruiter for 3 of those years. No. I did not lie to my recruits, but I did lie to my superiors because my superiors My superiors wanted me to lie to recruits, and I refuse to do that.

De'Vannon Seráphino: And so, so just an a word to people out there. You know, the the the federal government does not have access to your medical records. They cannot go and dig through, you know, your doctor's visits and things like that. And so when recruiters are asking you things like, You know, what drugs have you done, you know, and this and that? You know, if you don't have to tell them if you've done crystal meth and heroin.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Don't go to the military if you still have a problem because they're gonna just gonna throw you out. But don't let them disqualify you for some shit that they have no way to [00:15:00]verify. You know, I'm not saying lie about asthma and all of that, but what I am saying is whatever you your criminal record, they can find. Your educational record, they can find. Anything health related, bruh?

De'Vannon Seráphino: They don't fucking know. As I'm just gonna leave that there and do it do with it what you will. 

Jason Pike: Yeah. I said, no. I'm fine.

Jason Pike: I'm fine. No problem. I didn't even I was 17 years old anyway. So yeah. So I I didn't know a lot of what's going on.

Jason Pike: So but no. I did get in that way. I went to the week I was a weekend warrior before I went on to active duty. And I I started everything from the bottom. I had to go to a community college and then transferred into Clemson University, the Tigers in South Carolina.

Jason Pike: So I I had to build my basics up of academia that I didn't have in high school, and then I did not get an engineering degree. It was an educational degree, something easy. But whatever it took to get to that goal, I would just work it [00:16:00] slowly and methodically. And you know, a lot of people a lot of people say, well, How did a dumbass like you do all this shit? I think you know what?

Jason Pike: Everybody said that, so I said, I'll write a book about it because everyone's asking the same damn question. You know, we all know about how that motherfucker get to that level. And I think, well, okay. Well, I'll I'll I'll give you a book. Oh, no.

Jason Pike: I don't wanna read the fucking book. I said, okay. Well, whatever. How about the audiobook? Okay.

Jason Pike: Well yeah. So but no. That's kinda because it was just a it was a wild life, and I just thought, wow. This would be an inspirational book. You know?

Jason Pike: A life. You know? 

De'Vannon Seráphino: It it really, really means a lot when you record your own audiobook I did mine. People like that authenticity, to hearing the words spoken with the emotional charge that comes with the actual author who lived it. So I commend you for taking the time to write your to to write your own Lord Jesus to to fucking to speak to your own audiobook.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Because, like, [00:17:00] emotionally, to go back to write a memoir is very taxing as we were talking about doing your testimonial. Because, y'all, when you write a book, you gotta go through that bitch, like, 10, 20 times at least, preediting, rewriting. Every time you go back and read it again, it's like you're living everything you went through again. And then you sit down and you narrate your own audiobook. Well, then that's just 1 more time that you're reliving it again.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Now all this is very cathartic and healing, but it's sticky and uncomfortable first. Oh, yeah. 

Jason Pike: Oh, yeah. Damn near killed me. I would prefer to go to Afghanistan than do you know, I it it's done, but it was a dream, and it was hard.

Jason Pike: I mean, In my and I I feel that I put the icing on my life, my cake. It's there. It's it's in some libraries and things. If I died today or tomorrow, I was just like, I've done I've done so much. And I've done so much.

Jason Pike: It's there. It's for history. It's for legacy. It's for my father. I dedicated it to my father, but exactly, like, [00:18:00] just like you're saying.

Jason Pike: This damn thing was 1 of the hardest things I ever done in my life. And and so so I I I I I'm I'm pretty cool with it. And but yeah, it's it's a it's a it's a it's a it was a hell of a feat. I look at memoirs now if they're honest. I look at I I admire people who do a memoir More than I ever did.

Jason Pike: I always loved documentaries and biographies and memoirs, but but, you know, now I No. For sure that this is a is a hell of a job to do. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't call that an understatement like that by any stretch of the imagination.

De'Vannon Seráphino: But so would you say that your book is not just for people who We're in the military or have a military interest. People you know, very many different lifestyles can take inspiration from your story even if they have no interest in the military. Yo. Yeah. 

Jason Pike: This is a lot see, this is set up a little bit differently where it's my I'm not go I'm not telling you I went to Afghanistan and [00:19:00] killed a hundred Taliban.

Jason Pike: This is a life of love hatred. This is a life of fighting. This is a life of the emotions of life, sadness, jealousy, heartbreak. This is a life of just it's a life in the uniform, and I come out with all those emotions of life that we all have In many ways. And it's an inspirational.

Jason Pike: It's everything from breaking laws to getting thrown under the bus you know, being back stabbed by your own people, your own military. So I have many, many venues of a life in uniform, and the theme is just never giving up and just survival and just persistence and grit and that you're gonna see that come out over and over. Not a navy Seal. So I know a lot of people think these special operators and things of that nature are like the never quit people. I'm in a different form of never quit.

Jason Pike: It's because I'm coming from a a a level that's a lot lower and then rising up through the [00:20:00] ranks and going through many Failures and diascos that will maybe give you inspiration, I hope. No. Regardless of what phase of life, resilient or what have you. Yeah. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Colonel, what I what colonel, what I would like to know is talk about some of these these backstappings because the military can be quite petty.

De'Vannon Seráphino: They're gonna be quite quite petty. When I was when I was an air force recruit her Let me see. Do I really wanna get that serious with it? I'm gonna I'm a I'm not gonna get that serious, but I'm gonna say this. I had bought some Krispy Kreme donuts in when I was working on c 1 30 Hercules aircraft at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona because I bought the donuts because I was late.

De'Vannon Seráphino: I think I was only late twice in my fucking 6 years in the air force. I was probably hanging out at the club, you know, and had woke up late, probably deviate there in at Tucson, just twirling around as I [00:21:00] do. I've set these damn things in the electronic warfare office. On the flight line, crew chiefs seem to have a run of it. A crew chief is the like the coordinator of the office manager for the whole plane.

De'Vannon Seráphino: They coordinate things. They can't really fix shit or do anything. They just kinda, like, Coordinate everything, but yet crew chiefs have this high pedestal that they're placed on. So when we're out for the morning formation, You get to the office, you check-in, you gotta go line up information, do, like, the roll call, and you go back into the office and start the day. Fucking donuts are gone.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Okay. We see the crude cheese running out. They didn't took the doughnuts, ate them. They're still gossed up and chewing on them. They had torn the box up, and they're trying to run out to the trash.

De'Vannon Seráphino: That type of shit now that's some evil evil devil flare of hell shit. How you gonna steal a man's Krispy cream at 6 AM chewing they face. Okay. [00:22:00] That's the worst thing anyone's ever done 

Jason Pike: to me. Well, I can break that 1 easy.

Jason Pike: I can break that 1 in a heartbeat. No. So once you become a senior person in the military, it's hard to get rid of them. You're kinda set in. If you're like, Maybe you're a staff sergeant or above or maybe you're a a captain or above and you've got your time in.

Jason Pike: Other than getting a bad evaluation, I didn't know this until it happened to me. I had been I was a lieutenant colonel. I was a senior officer in South Korea. It was my third time being in South Korea. I was no stranger to South Korea.

Jason Pike: South Korea is a station we go to. It's a regular fixed station that we go and Defend the region, what have you, and to do our tours there. I was over there. I went over there on my third tour. Well, I brought my family over there, And I walked into a situation.

Jason Pike: It was basically a turf war. In other words [00:23:00] I'm in a I was in the medical department, and they wanted me to do some research and things that were not in my line of competency. And I was more of an operation Operation. It was a it was a professional discussion, and I said, you know, I I think I can do better doing this. And I I it was a professional disagreement.

Jason Pike: No no fighting. It's just This is what my strengths are. Well, that didn't go very well, and I found myself facing various Wicked accusations and events that occurred over a 2 year 2 and a half year period of time. So I was a lieutenant colonel, and so my I had a a colonel supervisor, female, and I had a colonel retired. He just retired, but he had a lot of power play.

Jason Pike: Yeah. He had been there for a while, and he had a lot of power play. First accusation was just a rumor. I was a pedophile on post. So that rumor went around Yongsan Garrison, And it was only a rumor.

Jason Pike: [00:24:00] Okay? And they they the colonel put it out to other people, and I had to face that, which was nothing ever really there's nothing happened at all. Well, once that rumor so they were doing things to try to stir up shit to get you out. They can't they can't they can do a bad way. They They don't want you there.

Jason Pike: They don't want you. They don't like it, but they want you to get moved, but you just can't move in the military as a senior person. You gotta have people to do do all this certification and so. Well, once that didn't work, I went from a pedophile to being a spy within 1 year, about a year and a half. So the spy, I was I was brought up on charges of subversion and espionage against the US government.

Jason Pike: So this was more official. It went through a hotline. I I guess they have hotlines for everything. They got hotlines for suicide. They got hotlines for criminal activity or suspicious activity.

Jason Pike: Mine was subversion and espionage against the US government, and I had to go and face the win against charges, false bogus charges. [00:25:00] Criminal investigation division of the army was involved, and he had the military intelligence that was involved. And I had 2 different briefing rooms. 1 was up on on Yongsan Hill in there in Seoul and Yongsan Garrison. My my commander was being briefed Simultaneously, while I was being briefed in 2 different rooms by the CID, criminal investigation division, and the military intelligence division.

Jason Pike: Bottom line was nothing ever happened. I went through 2 years of basically hell, people following me around phone, computer crashes, all kinds of crap. I had to go see my criminal dip my defense attorney. And, Basically, there was nothing there, but they tried to find it. And it was just because I didn't play the game what they wanted, and they didn't like me.

Jason Pike: And so that I did. And so and I had to face that. Now at they did do their job of making people question who the hell I was and what to do with me. My [00:26:00] reputation went really bad and they didn't know really so my assignments managers are people at the top in Washington, DC or wherever they're at. They didn't know what to do with me but they received us no there was no charges.

Jason Pike: I eventually left South Korea. Once I left South Korea, that only that 1 little group of people, everything went away. There was no more that was the only time in my life. So when you hear someone this this guy's going through an investigation or this we automatically think they've done something wrong that we automatically falsely think, but that a lot of times, nothing nothing really it's not at that you know what I mean? I was not on the television or radio.

Jason Pike: It was more stepped out. But if I was on a television or radio, it would've drove me crazy. But that was a very difficult time to go through, and I have 1 chapter just devoted to that. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Yeah. You know, as they say, If you don't have enemies and people working [00:27:00] against you, then you ain't really doing much.

De'Vannon Seráphino: You know? And when you're headed from from Jesus to to whomever you wanna reference, unless when you're actually a force for good, The devil is gonna get in people and just try to fuck with you. Okay? And that's just the way it goes. And there's just really nothing more I can say about that.

De'Vannon Seráphino: You know? People people are something. You know? As as as as my spiritual leader would say when she was, you know, physically you know, her physical form. People is something.

De'Vannon Seráphino: But all that did was refine you, strengthen you, help to build your character. Like, our enemies don't even realize that God is just using them to make light workers and people who actually give a fuck about community and people stronger. Everything they threw threw against you just made you, You know, help help help to lay the foundation for the man you are today. They they didn't hurt you. They didn't kill you.

De'Vannon Seráphino: You finished your career honorably. [00:28:00] Everything worked out fine, and then they left there looking silly. Yeah. 

Jason Pike: Yeah. And matter of fact, it gave me determination to go to when I went to war in Afghanistan, my shirt 1 of my sergeants Gave me the shirt when I put some but he what I I felt I'm gonna show them.

Jason Pike: I'm gonna show them. I'm gonna go to combat. And you know what? When I went to combat, I'm gonna do the best I can possibly do to show them, and then I did. I went there, and I came back honorably.

Jason Pike: I had a bronze star, but More importantly than that, I felt like I was redeemed. In other words, I was at I was a piece of shit. I was really a piece of shit out of South Korea. Then, Oh, by the way, you're gonna go take a unit in Afghanistan. I thought, this is a way I'm gonna I'm gonna show them now, and I did.

Jason Pike: I'll come back. Once I came back and everything, I had Best evaluation ever in my life. I was probably working off of just revenge. I'm gonna show them. Not necessarily, like, you know, we did well in Afghanistan.

Jason Pike: We we got a submission and all that stuff. But In my mind, I was thinking I'm gonna show I'm gonna come. And once I came back from from Afghanistan, it [00:29:00] was like, whatever you want, man. You're cool. What what assignment you I've never had that in my well, we can you can go to any assignment you want to.

Jason Pike: I said, well, I'll go to Germany, drink some beer, and just retire out of there. And but, no, I was redeemed from the dead out there. And so that was that was actually a good and then I I honorably was honorably you know, discharged and got all the awards and whatever. You know? 

De'Vannon Seráphino: That's because you passed the test.

De'Vannon Seráphino: You know, when when when people around us are being tacky, brute, basic bitches. You know you know, we gotta keep it classy. You know? You know, when they go low, As Michelle Obama always said, you know, when they go low, we go high. We cannot we can lower our vibration, you know, down to these bottom feeding ass assholes around us.

De'Vannon Seráphino: We use them for what they're worth, which is to help refine us and strengthen us and lift us up. And then we discard them, and we move on and leave our asses back during the dust somewhere licking the ground, which is what they seem to all like to do. [00:30:00] Your story, it reminded me, like, the whole pedophile thing. When I was when I was 17 and I wanna get into your mind about whether whether or not you felt any incongruence when you were 17. I don't know that I recommend going to the military for 17, but maybe it was different since I'm queer and everything.

De'Vannon Seráphino: But, you know, I was 17. 1 day, I was walking up the steps in basic training, and this Asian dude was walking down the steps, and he had his dog tags hanging out his battle dress uniforms. I don't know if the same thing in the army, but in the air force, you may as well have just, like, I don't know, shot the commander in the head. Did they make a really big deal out of your dog tags and not being inside your shirt? Of course, everything in in basic training and really in the military is a big deal.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Everything is the chicken little syndrome is for real. And so just as a reaction. I reached out to kind of, like, touch them and tell him that they were in outside his shirt, and he pulled away from me like I was trying to grab his tits or something, and then this whole rumor started that I was like, [00:31:00] this sexual predator. Okay. And then the the the drill instructor was giving me this stank I look like like I'm just some nasty hoe and just trying to molest these boys.

De'Vannon Seráphino: And I'm all like, okay. I'm 17. I'm a virgin. The least experienced person out of all 60 of these grown ass men who have wives and And they were coming up to me, showing me pictures of their boyfriends and getting into gay conversations that I was not trying to have. Okay.

De'Vannon Seráphino: I didn't report this. I didn't say anything, but suddenly, I was the youngest, most effeminate, you know, of all probably the only effeminate 1 in there, but I'm the 1 who's molesting grown ass men who are who are taller than me, physically more developed than me because they're older than me. I couldn't make them do anything. Eventually, the drill instructor got on to the bullshit. Okay?

De'Vannon Seráphino: And then it's interesting when people accuse us accuse us of shit we didn't do. And then when the truth comes out, it's like the very people who they once convinced that we [00:32:00]were evil. Those people turn against our accusers. Interesting how it backfires on them that way. 

Jason Pike: Yeah.

Jason Pike: I don't know if there are any precautions. I do know I changed the names of those people that my nemesis, my enemies. There was only a few of them. I do know I was in a small Public health specialty that if anybody was in that specialty and they're my age or even yet, they could figure out who who was behind all this stuff. It wasn't that We kinda know.

Jason Pike: There's not there's not that many full colonels. There's not that many people in our specialty and people who are even related and they can say, well, is this And there are some people says, is this this person's name? I said, yeah. It is. Yeah.

Jason Pike: So but, yeah it was a wicked thing. I think you know, throwing people under the bus, backstabbing. I think that goes you know, that's I I didn't know it would occur in professional organizations, at that level, I never knew that happened. Yeah.

De'Vannon Seráphino: [00:33:00] Yeah.

De'Vannon Seráphino: It's par for the course. Anywhere you go, I've come to realize that it doesn't matter if it's fucking 2 people working at a burger joint. 1 of the bitches is probably gonna be petty, you know, at the end of the day. So when you were 17, did you feel like you couldn't It was hard for you to relate to the other people in boot camp and in the military, or did you really not find that? I found the adjustment curve for me was Stupidly, ridiculously difficult.

Jason Pike: It was hard for me to drink the damn water coming so fast out of the fire hose meaning the all the instructions, the acronyms. It was sort of a haze. And when I was 17, I that's when I joined. I went to basic training. And I I had a few trusted friends around me, but I really didn't have much time to even really develop much friendship than just 1 or 2 people because We were up at 4 in the morning, and we were going to bed at 11 o'clock at night.

Jason Pike: It was not stop, and it was hell. And matter of fact, I almost got thrown out when I was 17. [00:34:00] They did a drug deal. It was basically a drug deal. This does not happen in the military.

Jason Pike: It's in my book, but this does not happen. They sent me and another soldier, the sorriest, the worst privates, to a criminal correctional facility. Not that we did anything criminal. It was basically a scared straight type of a program To where it was a different level of hell where they could, you know, maybe see if they could break us or make us. 1 guy broke.

Jason Pike: I stayed in. More importantly than that, he was trying to we were used as guinea pigs for the entire platoon to say, you know, if you If you got all you guys, if you don't get your shit in order, we're gonna we're gonna send you ass over to CCF, criminal correctional facility, For this hellacious program that we went through, obstacle courses and gauntlet of screaming and yelling and making big rocks into small rocks, It was an exercise to really either get us out or to make us and also improve the entire platoon. But when I was 17, I didn't have that the situation you had as [00:35:00] far as relating. We were they were South Carolina. We had a buddy platoon.

Jason Pike: Most everybody was 17 or 18 years old that went there. So and we sort of had the same vernacular, the same type of yeah, the same type of language and things of that nature. But and it was There was not a whole lot of time to even make friends or to have anything petty going on between us much. I did I did get in a fight with someone. I I threw Threw his ass to the ground, but he he came sleep is very precious.

Jason Pike: Food is very precious. And so there was this guy, and he came in and Acted like he was a drill sergeant screaming, and he was he was just another private. And I was sleeping, and and so I I saw him. He woke me up. And so I I I threw his ass to the wall lockers and threw him on the ground.

Jason Pike: And then I bit started beating him up, and everyone pulled me off. But at that point, that I I didn't get in trouble for fighting. I and believe it or not, out of 40 people, no 1 said a word to the drill sergeant we were fighting. I think at that my well, Jiro Songer [00:36:00] probably would probably promote me if he knew that I was fighting, but he just loved that type of stuff. That was a different culture at the time, and he loved people And then, you know, all hell breaking loose and stuff.

Jason Pike: But no. That's no. I didn't have those issues when I was joining the military at the age of 17. Yeah. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: That's good for you.

De'Vannon Seráphino: But it tells me a hell of a lot about that man. If he enjoyed fighting, what what sort of hell was living up in him? 

Jason Pike: Yeah. His name was Ellen Berg. I got his picture in the book.

Jason Pike: But, no, he he he matter of fact, he told people whoever falls out of a run, I want these other privates to go kick their ass On the side of the road and while they're running. So he he promoted it in a way. So no. He was a really hard ass Drill sergeant. He was sorta like that drill that Ford old metal jacket movie.

Jason Pike: And that was just exactly the set up on my basic training. You had the open bait barracks, and you had the wall lockers. Everything was set up. The the the cussing, the screaming, the The language and [00:37:00] the just the mental games were all there just like full metal jacket. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Yeah.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Like, all I remember from that delicious movie was this is My rifle, this is my gun. This is 

Jason Pike: my gun. And that did happen. That did happen. The and so there was a guy who's called it a gun.

Jason Pike: This was before the movie. It was 19 83, so I don't know where he was. So yeah. And he had to sit up there, and we had to watch him say this over and over and over. This is my rifle.

Jason Pike: This is my gun. This is for fighting. This is for And he had to point to his penis. This is my you know, it wasn't hanging out there or anything like that, but he had to point to it. And then he had a rifle.

Jason Pike: And this is my yeah. This is my rifle. This is my gun. This is for fighting. Super fun.

Jason Pike: Yeah. And we had to sit there and watch it for about 10 minutes. Yeah. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Well, you know, I'll never tire of of of that scene because they were actually grabbing their dicks, I think, in the movie. I believe that they were grabbing them.

De'Vannon Seráphino: And so I was standing with my popcorn, like, oh, cry. Okay. Oh, cry. I I love [00:38:00] everything about this. 

Jason Pike: Yeah.

Jason Pike: That brings back memories. I tell you what. Just the just of what they did. And so no. There is Some people that did suicide, not in my unit, but in some other ones.

Jason Pike: But it was field artillery. We were combat arms. It was 19 83, it was yeah. It was just a different it was a different setup. Different 

De'Vannon Seráphino: setup.

De'Vannon Seráphino: When you say suicide, do you mind suicide? Drills or committing suicide? 

Jason Pike: Attempting suicide with Brasso. That was in another batter that was in another battery that went down. They would get the Brasso where you clean your whatever your your brass, And they drank the damn thing to try to commit suicide.

Jason Pike: I guess they just went there. What they did is I think they just went and pumped their stomachs out of the medical facility and Brought them back or or maybe kicked them out. I don't know. But they would you know, if you try to kill yourself, they would think that you're damaging government property, and you might get an article, Some sort of an article would have you. I mean, even if you had a sunburn and you didn't protect yourself or whatever, do you that means you you're [00:39:00] damaging government property.

Jason Pike: That's what they talked us about. So, you know, you gotta follow the rules and you can't get trouble or whatever, all this stuff. So no. It was just wild. The the the culture at that time was kind of wild compared 

De'Vannon Seráphino: to now.

De'Vannon Seráphino: You know? Yeah. Because I know that if I'm not mistaken, didn't they used to, like, smoke weed and shit back in the 

Jason Pike: day. Back in the seventies, well, you know, I yeah. The back in the yeah.

Jason Pike: Before what yeah. What I Here was you know, weed and drugs were just all through the barracks. Not where I was at. Not at I was in basic training, but that was in the seventies is what I hear Over and over and over. It's like, that was just a normal thing that occurred years ago.

Jason Pike: That was during the drug times of the seventies. It was a It was a sorry time for the military really, and that turned around some somewhere in the eighties. You know? 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Talk to me about Afghanistan. How many times did you deploy there?

De'Vannon Seráphino: I only went 

Jason Pike: there 1 time. So Afghanistan, I was in a period of hell just before I went to Afghanistan. My mind [00:40:00] went right because my father had passed away right when I was going there. I did go see his funeral, and I was undergo I had I had just gone through that federal investigation, which kinda threw me on my you know, threw me down on the floor. And so I had Multiple stresses before I went to Afghanistan.

Jason Pike: When I went there I was a commander of a a public health type of a unit, and I I couldn't really think very well. I kinda wanted to die over there anyway. I said, this is what I wanna die. I wanna go not bothering heaven and, you know, get rid of this pain that I'm in. And I wasn't scared.

Jason Pike: Unusually, that's not a good thing. You wanna be scared, but I wasn't scared. I had a death wish in LA because I'd already gone through a lot of hell up to that point. And, yeah, we had incoming rounds few like, 4 or 5 times a week, and and and we had I saw an IED blow up a Humvee improvised explosive device, just Just just blow everyone a [00:41:00] away, but I never went to any type of funerals or events to honor the dead or anything Because my focus was just to get the hell out of there. I think we did very well.

Jason Pike: Other than those occasions that occurred, The the the bombs that came in, the indirect fire were from mortars, and they would just blow up the airfields, the dining facility, and just various things. They didn't it was kinda like just Pointing it and just hoping it would try to trigger something, but then they would run away or it they'd be gone. But, no, really, it was not a bad tour. It was kind of my Afghanistan was sort of a redemption period for me. And I I I really in Afghanistan, I was just trying to get over A lot of the other stresses that occurred previous in my life, and and I did we did we all did well.

Jason Pike: I I did tell the soldiers that my father died, and it was not right. And they they took extra care of me. No. I I give them that. They they took extra care of me.

Jason Pike: No. But, no, we did very well. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Mhmm. [00:42:00] I might dare say all of the shit you went through before going to Afghanistan may have helped you prepare you to live in that tough environment. Yeah.

De'Vannon Seráphino: And 

Jason Pike: we we did prepare, like, when you just you just don't go to war. I you just don't go to war. You have to go through a Procedure. Yeah. These days, well, at least when I went in, you had to you had to go get validated to show your competency as a soldier again over and you you you go through you do extra training before you even get there.

Jason Pike: So we had a whole lot of preparation. Yes. And I had so That was the only war zone. I've been to El Salvador twice, which was hazardous duty, but Afghanistan was a true war area that I went into. And, but, no I could have declared mental health, and I thought about doing that before I went to Afghanistan.

Jason Pike: But then I talked to my uncle, and he said, what would Dad think about you declaring mental health and trying to get out of the war. And and so I [00:43:00] just I just bit the bullet, and I said, okay. I'm gonna go ahead and go And just do the best I can. And I'm gonna just I I'm gonna have to tell the soldiers that, you know, you gotta help me out, man. Help me out then.

Jason Pike: Because you know, I this is gonna be tough for me. Just Not that it's Afghanistan, but more of dealing with my father's death and then that bullshit federal investigation crap. And so yeah, I had a whole lot of things on my mind while I was there in Afghanistan. You know? Did you kill anyone?

Jason Pike: No. I did not kill anyone. People tried to kill me and us with indirect fire. So we would we would the indirect fire would come out and come down, and we would there would be an alert, And then we run to these above ground bunkers that occurred 5 or 6 times. And it seems a week oh, 5 or 6 times a week, and that would've that was Just a regular thing.

Jason Pike: Right? It seems like it occurred between 5 in the afternoon and 10 o'clock at night. We so so we were sort of like, okay. When is it gonna happen? We just ran out of our I walked out of my bunkers.

Jason Pike: I'm like, come on. [00:44:00] I I don't care, man. Say, where are you at, sir? Where the hell you at? Hey.

Jason Pike: You need to get into the podcast. Alright. Whatever. And so and so but now that that happened a lot. Yeah.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Did you have the same job classification the whole time you were entered? Did it change? 

Jason Pike: It changed. I I when I enlisted, I was field artillery. Then when I went on active I feel artillery is putting bombs downrange.

Jason Pike: That was just weekend warrior national guard. When I went on to active duty, initially, I was a chemical defense person, a chemical officer, you know, nuclear biological chemical defense. And I didn't like that at all. And so I when I I did I changed as an officer as a and on active duty, I changed into medical service corps As a public health, a preventive medicine officer, I think in the air force, they call them bees bioenvironmental folks. But I was in, you know, water, food, sanitation, inspections, things that get soldiers sick out there [00:45:00] food, water, all That type of stuff.

Jason Pike: So I was in a unique specialty of of of the army army medical department, public health. Yeah. And I I stayed in that for probably 20 years, so most of my time wasn't. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Do you can you recount what's the most bizarre, craziest thing that you saw or that you experienced when you were in Afghanistan? 

Jason Pike: Yeah.

Jason Pike: The most bizarre thing would be personnel problems. I was a commander. I think the just dealing with certain personnel in my unit was It's just wow. I guess when you take people away from their home and you got them stressed, they do crazy things. And, Whoo.

Jason Pike: I had a really, really pretty soldier who was doing she was doing damn porn in in in a war zone. And the reason she was caught was that she they did the damn video. Someone left it on the damn computer, and And then they showed it to [00:46:00] me. And so she was we had to transfer her ass away to another unit to get rid of her because of the shame and the scarlet a. But, That's, like, weird that she was 1 of the best soldiers I've ever commanded ever, but she just did something stupid.

Jason Pike: That would be 1 thing. Enough. I I had another soldier who was supposed to be my executive officer. He was a captain. He had been 20 years.

Jason Pike: He had 10 years enlisted, 10 years in as an officer, he was reservist. I was commanding a reserve outfit. Not that that just oh, whatever. That I was active duty, but I they had me filling in on someone, and he couldn't speak English. He was basically he was from Puerto Rico, but he couldn't speak English.

Jason Pike: He couldn't write English. But I don't he he he was an officer in the military and with a bad attitude. And I had to almost babysit him a lot, And that it was the personnel problems. I my soldiers most of all my soldiers knew what to do. That's how we we did so well.

Jason Pike: It's just dealing with these little personnel [00:47:00] issues That were very taxing and very difficult to deal with, especially that 1 guy. If I didn't if I didn't have that guy, my and I tried to get him out of the unit. I tried it, But it was just difficult, and I couldn't do that. But he took up a lot of my time just making sure that he don't screw with anybody and just, you know, be a bad influence. But Yeah.

Jason Pike: That those were just personnel issues. The incoming rounds, we knew what to do. We knew how to do our jobs. We we did the base camp inspections. Went from I had about 18 camps out in reserve.

Jason Pike: RC West or there's a command west. We're out near Turkmenistan and Iran. That's just a big swath of area that we just went from helicopter to helicopter from base to base on hell helicopters and just enforce sanitation measures to make sure that Yeah. The soldiers and the sailors or what have you didn't get sick from the our own stuff. So those were just a few of the issues in Afghanistan that I had.

Jason Pike: Yeah. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: How in the piss hell does somebody [00:48:00] become an officer in the military United States military, and they can't speak English? What the fuck? 

Jason Pike: Exactly. So I think he was out of he originally was from Puerto Rico and went into a reserve outfit down there near Miami.

Jason Pike: And I think maybe he was in a he was locked in some sort of a good old boy network, and they just promoted him on. And so exactly. And he had a college degree. He even worked for the men. At the time, he was considered an engineer with the veterans administration Out of Miami.

Jason Pike: That was a very unique and bizarre thing. I mean, he would and, also, if if it I said, just keep quiet. Don't say shit. Don't write emails to anybody. Just you know, just just just stay there, and I'll I'll I'll give you an army accommodation medal And just you know, can you just shut up?

Jason Pike: I gave him a lot of counseling statements that that none of them did any good. And I tried to talk to him over and over and over again, but He [00:49:00] just had a bad attitude. He was a disgruntled character. He wanted to be the commander, and I said, you know what? I'm a lieutenant colonel.

Jason Pike: How does a captain how does a lieutenant colonel report to a captain? It doesn't work that way. I says and he said, well, they told me I was gonna be the commander. I said, well, I'm the commander. I mean, that's just the way it goes.

Jason Pike: And they they put me in this job. And so you know what? It was really, really Penny. And, you know, beyond if he was the commander and let's assume that it doesn't work. Let's he would have been pissed off about something else.

Jason Pike: It would have been something else. So I don't know. I think I think just think he was just a disgruntled mean, or just a bad character. But no. Exactly.

Jason Pike: I've never seen someone in the military that couldn't speak or write English, that had basically just gone through the gates of life. He was a he was a yeah. He had been a captain 10 years prior he was a e 6 in the reserves, and then he went over to become a lieutenant. And I have no idea. That is a I got it in the book, [00:50:00] changed his name.

Jason Pike: But that was 1 of the most bizarre things I've ever seen in my life. You know? On the 1 

De'Vannon Seráphino: hand, I I I can Get behind the determination because where there's a will, there's a way, and there's exceptions made, you know, every day for people. But culturally speaking, To serve that long and not bother to learn the language, you know, of the country that you're serving is disrespectful. Pool.

De'Vannon Seráphino: You know? It 

Jason Pike: was, yeah, it was weird. It was weird. And and and the thing about it, he was he just he would write these emails that were just I'm not. It was just you could say that he couldn't and he would send them out to people, and I'm thinking, good lord.

Jason Pike: You know? We're talking about really bad grammar. Very, very, very bad. You could tell that he probably couldn't really understand. He was doing the best he could, but but, yeah, Bizarre.

Jason Pike: Some of these things are just bizarre. Yeah. Exactly. And, yeah, I guess if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have a whole lot to do in Afghanistan [00:51:00] other than just Run away from bonds and things, but I had to yeah. So you know, he he, yeah, he he he he he kept me busy.

Jason Pike: Man, I I got him out a little earlier than other soldiers, but that took us some time to get him out of there a little earlier. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Yeah. You talk about running away from bombs, Like, you're just shopping for celery at the grocery store. 

Jason Pike: Yeah. Yeah.

De'Vannon Seráphino: That's That's that's something that that's that's The the life that we live in the military is fucking high octane and so fucking highly stressful. You know? But it it really, really makes us super fucking Strong fish shit don't be phasing us. Yeah. 

Jason Pike: Oh, yeah.

Jason Pike: It's just another incoming. Okay. We'll give you our alright. I know where to go. I know run or wherever and to do the do the accountability.

Jason Pike: Are you all there? Are you okay? Got all their equipment? Okay. We're cool.

Jason Pike: Alright. Well, Now the siren's off. There was an English woman went on the loud I don't know why it was an English woman. It was a rocket attack. Rocket attack.

Jason Pike: And then [00:52:00] then and then then when it's all then that means you go into your bunker. And then when it's all clear, All clear. All clear. And I said, okay. It's over, and we will go by.

Jason Pike: I remember I remember it was an ink, A sound of an English woman. I was like, woah. Cool. But, no, that happened all the time. And then you would hear rocket after rocket rocket attack, maybe 30 seconds later, you would hear Then you hear all the sirens.

Jason Pike: You had the rapid reaction force that would come in to put out the fires or things of that nature. And then after that, it was done. Then you pretty much go back to whatever you were doing. And that was just sort of a yeah. That was kind of a normal thing.

Jason Pike: You 

De'Vannon Seráphino: know? Again, hats off to people who are strong enough to make it in the military. I think everybody should go to the military for a year or 2, Wait tables or do something that makes them put their put their direct their energy towards giving a fuck about somebody besides [00:53:00] themselves. Some countries have certain things like that in place, and I think that they're way further along internally in character development than the United states is. The United States is a very, very fucked up country, generally speaking, in the way people go about dealing with each other, in my opinion.

Jason Pike: Yeah. I never knew anything more than the military. I joined so early, and that's all I ever did was serve for the most part. And I just I just came with the territory And serving others, teamwork, helping out others. You know, you help them out.

Jason Pike: They're gonna help you out. You know? And what comes around goes around. Be nice to everybody and Take care of them, and you'll see the thing. Same things come back to you if you just take I was good at commanding.

Jason Pike: I mean Commanding is just to me, it was just so easy because it's just taking care of people. I mean, you take care of them, they take care of you. It works both ways. A lot of people think, well, you're a commander, And you can you know, you're no. They can also screw with you as well.

Jason Pike: So you wanna take care of them extra special so they don't do anything to screw [00:54:00]up. And so That's to me, it was pretty simple. I did 2 commands in the army, and I did some executive officer time. And to me, that was just easy. My my father Taught me how to take care of other people and, you know, help out and be a leader, and I thought that was 

De'Vannon Seráphino: easy.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Yeah. Yeah. That's not common. You know, out here in out out here in these streets, man, people, you know, as, You know, as as as as Jesus said, you know, people people are just becoming, like, more and more lovers of themselves, You know? And and that's and that's a huge reason why they they love themselves, but they're not in love with themselves.

De'Vannon Seráphino: They like getting things and doing things. It's not it's not the same. So you probably you know, you grew up around better stock. Now you say that you mentioned your your father. In the book, you do talk about, You know, there was a fight.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Things weren't always so, like, great. Can you talk to us about that particular instance? Yeah. 

Jason Pike: So I got in a fight with my father. [00:55:00] He was first of all, my my book is dedicated to my father, and, also I love him very much.

Jason Pike: He was a wonderful father. He made me Oh, but, you know, things weren't always perfect. But when I had a fight with him, it was when I came out of that basic training. I was 18 years old. I was feeling really strong, and I was Feeling very much of a badass, and he wanted to test me.

Jason Pike: And so he's you know, he was drinking some scotch 1 evening, and He started pushing me around, and, eventually, he threw me to the floor and pinned me. And I pinned him back I I threw him back, and he threw me back. And I I I pick I I managed to pick his ass up and then body slam him on his back. I don't I it was just so fast And we did it. Once I body slammed him he goes, oh, no more Jake.

Jason Pike: He called he called me Jake. No more Jake. No more. I'm that's it. And so I don't think I kicked his ass in hindsight.

Jason Pike: I think that he allowed me to kick his ass and because he wanted to keep I think he was proud of me, and he got a little [00:56:00] bit more. He got a little bit too spirited and and and proud of me, I guess because he knew I had changed a whole lot coming back from basic training. He just wanted to test me a little bit now. It was his own 

De'Vannon Seráphino: special little way of showing love. 

Jason Pike: He was a really, really good father.

Jason Pike: He came from a white white trash environment. I'm talking about, You know, years ago, everybody in the south was poor, but, you know, he came from you know, stealing food for a garbage can for just being, like, moved around from house to house. He was not an orphan, but he was more like just he was he was an illegitimate child, a bastard child, I guess. And he just moved and lived and survived how he did. And and then he taught that to his sons and and things and But not that we were we were not like trash.

Jason Pike: He he we all had food. We had a stable home, but he always told us stories about how he lived. And He even taught us [00:57:00] he even taught us how to steal watermelons when we were young kids, like 9 year 8, 9 years old. And he says, if you gotta steal food to eat, go ahead and do that if we get poor. And it's like, no.

Jason Pike: We're not gonna get poor. We're not gonna become poor. And then he he was also a character, a little bit of a asshole, and he shot he taught me how to shoot bottle rockets That people in cars when I was a young young kid too. And so he was a playful father, and he said the big the biggest rule was, Sons, we can go out here and have fun and be like boys and things, and I teach you a lot of stuff, but you never say anything to mama. Never say anything to mother or sister.

Jason Pike: Don't say. We keep it here and that you know? So I we I kinda grew up with a a with with a great father who taught us fun and leadership at the same time. That sound like a 

De'Vannon Seráphino: pretty fucking good balance to me. A little play, a little work, you know, balance.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Everything really boils down to balance in this life. Not too much of this, not too not too little of that. Oh, 

Jason Pike: yeah. We had to work we had to work to make money. Sink or swim attitude.

Jason Pike: Hey, sons. You [00:58:00] know, If you ain't making if you ain't working, if you at 18, you sink or swim, and I'll take care of you until then. After that, it's all up to you. It was kinda like that. He he did he did promote work.

Jason Pike: He did promote chores and saving money and, you know, the things of what you have do around the house. I know when you get you need to get a job. I I went in I got a job when I was 14 in agriculture packing, you know, in a peach shed in a peach shed packing house. And So, no, he wanted us to work and learn the basics of just what it really means to make money and the pain associated with that. So but no.

Jason Pike: He was a he was a good father, a very good father. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Yeah. It sounds like he led you all with a lot of intent. I wonder if if that What he instilled in you has something to do with how how at the beginning of this episode, I was talking about how you how you don't Compare yourselves to other guys and other people. You understand the race against yourself.

De'Vannon Seráphino: You sound very secure, very in touch with who you are and why you are, which is the antithesis of modern day American masculinity. I [00:59:00] wonder if you got some of that from your dad. You know? 

Jason Pike: Probably did. My father a a a whole lot came out of my father.

Jason Pike: Gotta understand, I was diagnosed with a learning disability at age 6 or at age 7. So I knew I was different, and I knew I walked a different walk. And he He knew that too and he even told me that when I was growing up. He said, son, you're you're a little different. You you you beat to the drum of it.

Jason Pike: You know, you beat to the tune of a different drummer That's what he used to call it. And he says, you know, that's okay. Whatever it takes, but just, you know, never quit. I he's sorta like, I understand you, Jake. I understand it.

Jason Pike: And you're your man, and you know, that's cool. And you be your own man, and That's what he wanted. He wanted you to be he wanted me to be he he wanted me just be your own man, and what the hell with everybody else if that's the way it goes. And And that's basically yeah. I I kinda wished I was a little bit more, like, with all those other guys and [01:00:00] how they did things, but I I knew that I was different from a very early beginning.

Jason Pike: And my dad also, he said, hey, Jake. It's okay. It's okay to be you. And so he he helped me out with that. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Maybe that's what more parents need to do.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Just tell their fucking kids. Verbally tell them, hey. It's okay to be you, and then repeat that shit. Because there's a lot of pea there's a huge identity crisis. A lot of these a lot of people, especially males, don't know who the fuck they are, and they and it's not okay for them to be quirky or different or strange.

De'Vannon Seráphino: I love what he did. He said, he he took your supposed weaknesses, and he turned them into a he alchematized them, and he made them strengths and your perception. Nobody wants to be, you know, typical, you know, different sales, different Different is what people notice. Different is good. So, I mean, the weirder, the better to me.

Jason Pike: Yeah. He he promoted it. My my my mother, I had a challenging relationship with my mother. She [01:01:00] wanted to be she wanted me to be more in tune with everyone else, more normal. And whether it be by proper dressing, proper whatever things and proper I used to listen to Hank Williams junior.

Jason Pike: He was a rockabilly type. And so I was more on the redneck side of life, and my my mother was more in tune with the, You know you know, keeping the household straight, and I was little little bit different. So yeah. But my my father said, son, it's our he would say, son, it's cool. It's It's all cool.

Jason Pike: He he would promote it. He says alright. And but he did it secretly, and I was listening more to my father, which was more like than my mother. And But no. Yeah.

Jason Pike: I think if they if a lot of these kids had some male role models that would just sort of keep them strict, you know, they may not have a you know, The father can still be an influence on their on their kids even if they're divorced or what have you. If they could just spend some time with them, you know, hang out, and he did. He spent time with them. The time, he he worked a lot, but when he was there, he was there. He was with us.

Jason Pike: And so he was there out there. He was [01:02:00] our He was a baseball well, he was a he was like a a baseball coach and he would out he'd be out there playing with us as well, Hanging out and understanding the neighborhood, understanding the kids out there. And he enjoyed kids. I I enjoyed kids as well, and I just sort of I sort of just I sort of mimicked his activity. So when I became a military person, it was like it's all all you do is take care of people, man.

Jason Pike: You just Watch them, take care of them, talk to them, you know, and it's really it's gonna really was pretty simple just because of my father's how he raised me. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Who is that song? I looked into my father's eyes. Then the other 1 says, the dance with my father. There are some good fathers out there.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Some good some there's some good dads out there. And to you know who you are, to you, I also commend you and take your hat off because raising a human is a big deal. Okay. So now so I've [01:03:00] appreciated this conversation. It's kind of felt like I'm talk you know, back in the Terry talking to, you know, the good old colonel and everything, and and I was around a lot of officers even though I was not an officer.

De'Vannon Seráphino: But because of the way I carried myself, I was invited into, you know, situations that exceeded my rank. So so this has been pretty delicious. And so, y'all, the book is we're We're gonna read I'm gonna I'm about to ask you 3 jokes. I forgot to tell you at the beginning of this that I'm gonna be asking you 3 dad jokes at the end. But the the book that he's holding up I'm gonna hold it back up.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Hold the Holding up is called the soldier against oh, 0, look at that photo right there with tenant colonel Jason g Pike. Look at those. That's when 

Jason Pike: I that's when I was 17 years old and got locked up in a criminal investigation Innovation. That right there is when I'm a lieutenant colonel in Afghanistan. So, yeah, this is a it's a memoir.

Jason Pike: I gave everything. I gave it all on The same. You'll see all the good, bad, and the ugly. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: You know? He went to the hospital and everything for it, y'all.

De'Vannon Seráphino: That's all. Yeah. And then and then then a portion of these proceeds goes to what Go to where 

Jason Pike: now What I do what I do is I and there's not a whole [01:04:00] lot of of of the price of the book is about at the most of the bottom level. I want people to get the story out. But I do give to veterans.

Jason Pike: All this will go to veterans. It could be the wounded warrior project or it could be the upstate warrior solution nonprofit activities that help veterans out. So no. I I have I give to veterans every year. Yeah.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Abso fucking lutely. And so y'all before I get to the jokes, his website is Jason Pike dot org. You can find him on Facebook, insta I mean, LinkedIn. Oh, yeah. Instagram and Twitter is where I saw the most activity when I was looking looking you up and researching you.

De'Vannon Seráphino: So So we do a few dad jokes at the end of the shows these days just to kinda lighten the mood. And so hopefully, you know, you get 1. I don't think I've had anybody get more than 1? But they didn't have anyone that I don't think I had anyone that got 2. But Okay.

De'Vannon Seráphino: What did the proton say to the electron? [01:05:00] You're too 

Jason Pike: electric.

De'Vannon Seráphino: Almost. He he he said stop being so negative all the time. In in that field, though.

De'Vannon Seráphino: What happens when frogs park illegally? They hop 

Jason Pike: around. I don't know. I don't 

De'Vannon Seráphino: know. They get towed.

Jason Pike: They get towed. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

De'Vannon Seráphino: I think you'll get this 1. Why are pediatricians always so angry? 

Jason Pike: Oh, wow. You got me on that 1. Why are they so angry?

Jason Pike: Too much screaming and yelling. I don't 

De'Vannon Seráphino: know. Because they have little patience. Oh, 

Jason Pike: gosh. You got me there on that 1.

Jason Pike: Yeah. You got me on all of them, really. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Yeah. You can't I guess a military mind might not do [01:06:00] so good with these. You can't These they you can't analyze it.

De'Vannon Seráphino: You have to, like, just lie to, like, float to you. 

Jason Pike: Okay. It's been a while since I've had jokes, but I appreciate your time, man. It's Been great. Thank you very much.

Jason Pike: Absolutely. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Any I'll let you have the last word. Any words of encouragement that you might wanna say to anybody, anything at all, and then you can close this out. 

Jason Pike: Jason Pike dot org is my website. Jason pike Pike dot org.

Jason Pike: If you can leave me a review, any review, even if you didn't read the book, That's cool. In other words, 5 star, good book. That would just it just helps me out getting this thing out there. No. Show up at the right place At the right time with the right attitude, and you'll be doing better than most people even if you don't know a damn thing.

Jason Pike: So no. Hey. Good luck, bud. Yep. Take care.

Jason Pike: I appreciate it. 

De'Vannon Seráphino: Absolutely. Thank you so much for coming on the show today, Colonel. Alright.

Thank you all so much for joining us today and for taking some time to invest into yourself and into the lives of your loved ones. Please visit us [01:07:00] at sex drugs in jesus dot com and check out our resource page, our spiritual service offerings, my blog, my books, and other writings that god God has partnered with me to create. Find us on any social media platform. Stay strong, my people, and just remember that everything is gonna be alright. [01:08:00]