A Soldier’s Journey From Poverty To Purpose (Darrel Johnikins)

A single choice to skip a class set Darrel on a path that reshaped everything—poverty to purpose, private to leader, soldier to deputy, and finally a man content with quiet Saturdays. We sit down with Darrel Johnikins to trace his route from a stove‑heated trailer in Louisiana to air defense Top Gun at Fort Carson, a tense year near the DMZ in Korea, and the relentless pace of a rapid deployment unit at Fort Hood that forced a life‑changing promise: family comes first.

You’ll hear how AIT at Fort Bliss forged a brotherhood—Cedric, Hickerson, and Darrel—that still meets every year, how silhouette training turned shadows into decisions, and how early leadership taught him to own a teammate’s safety before his own. Daryl opens up about marriage in the military, letters across oceans, and the harder part of service no one warns you about: coming home and learning to soften command into conversation. When he left the Army, he traded guaranteed paychecks for graveyard shifts at a factory, days in a criminal justice program, and the determination to graduate the same year as his daughter.

Inside the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, Darrel learned a different battlefield—people at their worst, the discipline to start firm and then give ground, and the resilience to handle death scenes without letting them hollow him out. He credits the Army for punctuality, integrity, and grit, and he shares a parenting story that shows what those words mean in practice: your word is the last thing anyone can take from you. Now newly retired, he’s savoring normal weekends, grandkid chatter, and a lighter load, while honoring the simple creed that guided every pivot: keep your word, keep your people, and live like the day matters.

If Darrel's journey moves you, share this story with a friend, leave a review to help others find the show, and subscribe for more first‑person paths from service to civilian life. What promise guides your next move?

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Today is January 15th, 2026. We're speaking with Daryl Jonikins, who served in the United States Army. So good afternoon, Daryl.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Good afternoon.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

All right. We'll start out real simple. When and where were you born?

SPEAKER_00 0:47

I was born in uh Monroe, Louisiana.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Now, where is that near?

Roots In Louisiana And Family

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Um, it's close to about 45 minutes, hour and a half from Shreeport. Everybody knows Shreeport.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

East of Shreeport.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

I've got uh so uh some of my relatives came from Hattiesburg area. So I was okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

I know where Hattiesburg is at.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Just curious. Down by Camp Shelby, I think, right in that area. Yeah. So did you grow up there in Monroe then?

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Well, I grew up um a little further east. It's called a small town called uh Lake Providence. Okay, and I you know, I really was grew up between there and Fort Worth. You know, my mom bouncing forth back for back and forth, but I actually graduated from Lake Providence Senior High before the school burned down.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Oh good thing you got out of there before that happened. Oh, for real. Yeah, so uh you have uh brothers and sisters?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Oh, yes, I have seven brothers and two sisters. One of my brothers passed away uh back in 2004, so it's six boys and two girls. I'm like roughly around you can say the middle. Uh-huh. And uh it's full, it's like first growing up. It was like, no, a couple of my brothers and sisters were older than me, so they was out the house, but it was me, my a couple of my little brother and a sister, and an older brother. So like about five of us and a two-bedroom trailer. So it was like that for a minute, you know. Uh during the winter time, you know, mom turned on the oven to heat it up and stuff. And once the house got heated, everybody needed to get their butt in the bed, you know, and the first one up, you know, turned on and you know, to get things started and everything. So it, you know, it the weird part about it is that people say that you don't know that you are living different until you move.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Right.

Choosing The Army And Basic Shock

SPEAKER_00 2:54

And so back it, so I graduated high school in 1990, and I went straight into the military on a delayed entry, and just going to a couple of different places, I had to know sit back and I and I was like, man, we was really poor. When everybody around you live in the same way, you don't see that, but when you actually move out of that area and and see how other people live, and it's like, oh crap, oh, so there is different things out there like that. So that was like an eye-opener and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Yeah, yeah. So it was a good childhood though, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

I mean, oh, absolutely, absolutely. No, no, no, really, no father figure, never around, but um, I had some strong uncles and my aunts that taught me some values that I instilled in my kids today. That now I never wanted for really anything, so you know it was uh it was a blessing. I had a I had really had a great good childhood.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

Yeah, yeah, that's the other thing too, because I I know how I grew up, and and you're right, you don't you don't know it's it's not it's different, it's different, it's not bad, right? Like right to grow up to grow up without having a lot of things isn't a bad thing necessarily.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

No, it's just the simple things make it make you happy, you know.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

It's so weird, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So you um you graduated high school and went right into the military. What was why the army? Why the military?

SPEAKER_00 4:33

To be honest, I was get trying to get out of a class I didn't want to take, and so they had the recruiters in, no, testing, and just so happened I passed the test, and I was like, oh crap, I ain't got nothing else going on. I may as well give this a try. But just behold, it was a blessing to get me out of my situation to give me a leg up on on pretty much changing my life, you know, for the good.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Yeah, yeah. So you're 18 and you're headed off to boot camp. Yeah. Tell me what so what was it like like stepping off that bus the very first few minutes that you're there?

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Oh my god, my heart was like in my throat. And you know, you the the minute someone jumped into your face, you know, your heart beating, and then you I'm telling myself, don't say nothing. Do what they say, no matter what, just do it. It was yeah, it was just like it was a it was a shell shock, you know, big time.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Yeah, was there was there any any point in that first couple of days where you're like rethinking your decision making?

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Oh, yeah. It made me, yeah. Of course, of course, there was a few days like, man, why am I even doing this crap? But then I also know it's like, hey, you agree to this, you're gonna see it through.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Yeah, yeah. Once you raise your right hand, you're in, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

And that was part of the things that that no growing up, you know, if they know my no that my mom and then told me that if you say you're gonna do something, you make sure you get you fall through with it.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Yeah, and that's probably like in the back of your head the whole time, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Oh, yeah, oh yeah, and you know, once I got through basic and it things started to get easier, you know, it it was starting to become more and more enjoyable.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Yeah. Now, where'd you take your basic at?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Uh Fort Leonardwood, Missouri.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Oh, okay, all right. I've been there.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Yes, they call it Fort Lost in the Woods.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Yes, they do for good reason.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Oh, yeah, big time. And then, and like after my AIT, I mean, after basic, I went to AIT at Fort Blitz. That's where air defense, uh uh your your training is at, is in Fort Bliss.

Air Defense Training And AIT Bonds

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Okay, so your MOS was air defense?

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Okay, and was that was that something you thought about and chose, or they just kind of said, Hey, here you go, Daryl, you're gonna be air defense.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

No, they was like, hey, this is your option right here, you know, because granted, you know, it was on a whim, you know. I didn't score the highest I could have because I wasn't going in there to try to pass. So I think it was like air defense, infantry, and something else. And I was like, ooh, shooting missiles off my shoulder, that seemed to be pretty cool. I'm gonna go that route, and so yeah, and that's why I I went that way.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Yeah, that's how they got us. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Oh, yeah. You can shoot enemy aircraft out the sky and you know, enemy tanks, you know, making they pumping it up like it's the best thing ever.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Oh, yeah. Well, so tell me a little bit more. I want to back up just a little bit. Tell me a little bit more about basic training. And did you make some friends there? Do you still keep in contact with any of those folks? Oh, we're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Um basic training. I a lot of the people I met, I really didn't uh keep contact with the ones that really stuck was the one were the the three the couple of guys that I met in uh AIT, which was uh Cedric Davis and uh Carl Hickerson, which who are my friends to this day. We're like brothers from another mother. And and those two were those are what it were two of my the first uh good friends that I met. And so happened, we when we was we we clicked in the AIT, uh Davis went to airborne school, and me and Hickerson, we graduated and we went to uh Fort Carson. Okay, where Davis came later.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Is there anything about that time that like sticks out in your mind? Like if you think back to uh boot camp at is there any certain part of that that you like really kind of sticks out or that you think about?

SPEAKER_00 8:50

The the coolest part of uh basic was that at the time my aunt she was in, and just so happened she was stationed in uh Missouri at the time, and she was E6, and like one of the weekends that we had off, I was able to go to her house and eat with her for a day and go back to the barracks. So so that was pretty that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Was it was it was it tough like having that day of civilian life knowing that you gotta go back?

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Oh, absolutely. It's like it was torture. It's like, man, why do you even do this to yourself? You know, but you know, it's not like they smoked me one once I got back. I kind of like got back and kind of went straight into training, but the ideal of like, okay, I want to be like that. I can't wait till this over, so I can I get to that part. And of course, she talked to me about hey, just no, gave me some no insight, like, hey, it ain't gonna be that tough. You know, each step that you go through is gonna get a little easier and a little easier, you know. It's it's all a game, it's a mind game. It's all about breaking you down and building you back up, you know. JoJ, just no, stick to your values and what you got to do, and just and just go through it. And and that's what I did.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

That's great advice. So you uh you graduate AIT, and then where did you head from there?

SPEAKER_00 10:18

We went to uh I went to Fort Blitz.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Okay. Then and what'd you do, uh, what'd you do at Fort Bliss?

SPEAKER_00 10:24

And Fort Blitz, I just I learned my MOS, how no the the uh stinger and uh how it operates and all that, no, the if and the the all the logistics and everything, and how to identify enemy aircraft features, tank features, you know. I had to know every enemy aircraft and tank that the US uh deemed an enemy, and which was weird is that how I rem I remembered it, and just you can see shadows of it, and you can identify that aircraft. That's how good we had to be because you know most of the time you're sitting on a mountain range or hillside, you only gonna see the silhouette. So that's what you had to identify aircrafts and tanks from before you have to take actions.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Yeah, so they did they use like those little silhouette cards then as part of your training?

SPEAKER_00 11:22

And like the little uh projectors, yeah, like the old school projector, like uh went out. No, the ones that you you like the the disc that you put in and then and it spins and spins, yeah, like that.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Like a like a vacation slideshow, exactly, exactly. Now, how long how long was AIT?

SPEAKER_00 11:43

AIT was eight weeks.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Okay, and then you got your orders from AIT. Where'd you go from there?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

I went from AIT to uh Fort Carson.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Okay, and now you were assigned to your unit then at Fort Carson? Yes, okay, and and what unit was that?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

It was 1380A.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Okay, and so you're there, you're just kind of doing your thing. You're still what uh E2, E3 by now?

Fort Carson Wins And Early Leadership

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Oh no, when I get there, I'm an E I'm an E1. Okay, and you know, of course I know I meet Sid and uh I meet Hick, you know, but you know, I'm a go-getter. And so and when I was 18, 19, I had my own team. I had a gunner that was younger than me. And so I I was I moved up the rank pretty quick. I think I was a PFC and he was a private. And two years back to back, uh, we got top gun of our um of the division. And I get we got to shoot uh like what they call live fire at our assimilated aircraft. It was like scaled down, like almost like um I'm trying to see what it would be like almost like the the the no the army drones that they have, kind of the big, but you're not too big. And we was able to uh my team was able to hit knock it out the sky both times in front of the the chain of command, which was pretty cool. I we've got awards for it and uh plats and stuff like that. So that was good.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Pretty cool at you at that age to be doing that kind of stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Oh yeah, oh yeah, you know, and just having the responsibility of someone, even though I'm young, but having someone else's life in my hands, you know, to teach and then to train and uh to make sure they well being is taken care of. So yeah, that was, you know, I didn't think about it at the time, but I'm sure it was tough. But I just it was something I had to do, and I just you know did it, got it done.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

And and pulling that team together, that's that's quite an accomplishment.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Oh yeah, oh yeah. And um, during that time, you know, uh as I promoted, I went to different places to train, like National Guards. I've been to like California, Las Vegas, uh, North Carolina, Louisiana, Iowa, Idaho, you know, I I traveled a little bit in the States, uh, spent a year in Korea. And um once I came back from Korea, I kind of I don't know why I did it, but I changed my MOS. I ain't I thought my MOS wasn't going anywhere, but I should have stuck with it. And I ended up changing my MOS to like 88 Mike, which is truck driver.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I I spent 11 years in the army myself, so okay, okay. Yeah, yeah. So you so you how long were you at Carson then?

SPEAKER_00 14:49

I was in Carson for from 90 to 94. Because I got my orders for Korea in '95.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

Okay. Talk to me a little bit about Korea. How was that for you?

Korea Tours, Marriage, And Distance

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Oh, it was it was interesting. You know, it granted I wasn't I wasn't been able I didn't I wasn't able to have my family there, so it was kind of a hardship, but the culture, just trying to get to people are so rude and always in a rush. It that was hard to get used to. And you know, out of the year, like at least I think three times we was activated because of what the North was doing, and we and uh my just having one of my position was on the DM uh DMV, a DMZ, and you know that that was nerve-wracking uh at times, but as far as the overall experience, it was great, you know. I learned different food, learn to eat different foods, you know, just the cheap clothing that I could send back home, or just the atmosphere, just you know, you don't have no one around you. The people that you're with is it's your support system, you know. Learning to lean on other people, you know, for your well-being was, you know, that was tough to know to do, but you know, you it kind of end up when you get in a routine, you you do it.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

Oh, yeah, yeah. Now you were saying you you you couldn't bring your family with you. Are you married at this time?

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Oh yeah, I was married. Well somehow I skipped that part. I met my wife in '92. Uh-huh. And we got married in 94. And I think we were married maybe wait December. We got married December uh 1994. And March of 95, I got, I had to head out.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Oh, that's rough.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Yeah, so about we were married about four months before I was the I was gone, and we both was living our separate uh life per se. You know, we talked and wrote letters and stuff like that. But that was the biggest adjustment, man. It's just when you're coming back, she was used to doing things her way, I was used to doing things my way, and just that like year or so when I got back, just trying to find each other again, and just that that that happy medium was was a struggle, but we got there and and it just rolled from there.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Yeah. Now are you still married?

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Oh, 31 years.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

You know, it's it's funny that you know when you deploy uh overseas like that, that's a real test when you come back. A lot of marriages don't survive that.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Because it's it's hard to leave, but did I I don't know, I found it more difficult to come home.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Exactly, exactly. It is it no the leaving it is easy because you know you what you had to do, your mind frame, but then get back and deal with all the civilian and and the family atmosphere. You know, you can't be all hardcore, straight up this way 24-7. You had to give and take and listen and reasoning and all that stuff. So it takes a lot more to it. Oh, yeah, because I well, I you get used to people just doing what you tell them to do, exactly, exactly a lot of why being told just following orders, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Right, yeah. Doesn't work that way at home. No, not at all. There are no orders, exactly. So you you get back home and you start to get reintegrated. Now, did you where did you go from Korea?

SPEAKER_00 18:46

I went to uh I went to Fort Hood.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

That so, judging by the look on your face, that was not your favorite place to be.

MOS Change And The Fort Hood Grind

SPEAKER_00 18:55

No, no, I was trying to go to Germany, you know, because uh we always wanted to go to Germany, so I was gonna I was trying to, you know, go to Germany and take my family there for like eight, no, at least you can do eight years uh with your family, and but they sent me in the Full Hood, and before I went to Full Hood, I changed my MOS to 88 Mike. Well, just so happened, I got uh attached to a rapid deployment uh uh division. So every time someone went somewhere, either training or whatever, a attachment from my unit had to go with them to either load them up uh for supplies and uh uh fueling and stuff like that. So I was gone. Oh my gosh. Each the three years I was there before I decided it was enough. I think out of a year, I was gone probably six months.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Oh, that's tough.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Yeah, and and um, and of course, on one of the times I got back, my wife was like, you know, I I can't do this anymore. She said, You're never here. You know, the kids are growing up, they are wondering why you're never around, why you're not doing, you know, no doing no sporting events or nothing like that with them. She said, I I really can't take it no more. And I was getting unhappy because it's like, man, you know, I'm never around my family. You know, what was the point of coming here? You could have kept me overseas for another year. And if that the case and so and um like when we first met, I told her that, hey, as long as I'm enjoying it, I'm gonna continue to uh re-enlist and all that, but I will not let the army ruin my family. I would get out before that happened.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

Yeah. That makes sense. And you can't.

Leaving The Army For Family

SPEAKER_00 20:55

And then so so at one point I came and and when I came back from uh some training, uh like like I think it was like three weeks training, I told her, hey, I'm done. And of course she was nervous because you know, she wanted me no home, but then just as knowing that to be exit from that security, you know, that you're gonna get paid on the first and the 15th, no matter what. That that's job that that now that financial security was a struggle with her. And I told her, hey man, hey, I got you. You know, you this is my job to take care of my family. I'm gonna get out, I will get something, and uh, I will take care of us. So don't even worry about it. And she was like, Okay, she just held on to that, and uh, so I ended up uh uh getting out, uh, start working in a manufacturing uh that made valves for Ford Chevy and GM in uh Nebraska. And while I was going to uh working at night, I was going to school during the day from like 8 to 2, along with you know, my kids, basketball, volleyball, and all that stuff. So I think for five years, I probably averaged about three hours of sleep a day. But I ended up graduating along with my daughter in like 2001 with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, and we had both got tired of all the snow and all that stuff, and I was like, hey man, I'm done. She said, Yeah, I'm done with all this code too. I can't stand it. So I ended up, she says she said she wanted to go move back to Texas, and so I ended up uh applying for the job for Travis County Sheriff, and uh they ended up uh hiring me, and I went and do the interview, the background stuff, and then when they decided they was gonna give me the job, they told me, hey, you got two weeks before uh you start. So I had two weeks to move like a pretty much four-bedroom uh house, three cars, and I had to get all that to Texas within two weeks. And but you know what? Uh with my military, you know, that drive, I got it done. Yeah, well, I came down first, you know, find found us a spot to uh live in, me and uh one of my brothers, and uh I got back and we loaded everything up uh on the uh the it's like was this a it was one of the trailers, the traveling trailer. You load everything up and they haul it for you through the uh military, and within two weeks, I was in Texas, starting my uh my new uh career.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

Wow, wow. So I want to I want to pause there. Um that's a lot. So obviously the 88 Mike School paid off in this in this instance because you had to move. But is before we transition and like into your uh civilian career, um, is there any uh anything else you want to share about your military time or or uh any stories that we might have missed or anything in there that you wanted to talk about?

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Oh man, so that there's it's there's so many good memories in military with going no no because uh most of the time in Fort Carson, when I went somewhere, like we would got deployed to NTC or uh uh what uh Gardener, what was it called? Penion Canyon and stuff like that. Me, Cedric Hickerson, and Brian, we you know, we went on some point and just hanging out with them, you know, during the training and stuff, and then coming back and just talking about, you know, the experience and stuff like that, and just the things we did, you know, the hanging out, the uh barbecuing and just hanging out in the barracks, the fights that we had, and uh we had uh Hickerson, he he was a barber, and we just always talk about how uh like on the weekends when he used to cut our hair, he used to be so rough with our with us and charge us three dollars to cut our hair, even though he's supposed to have been our friend, and he wouldn't take no for an answer. And so we always reminisce on that about hey Hickerson, you remember when you used to charge us, man, and we all was poor private, and you call charge us three dollars for a haircut and we had to clean up after ourselves, and so like those memories, or when someone got too drunk that we had to carry back to the barracks, or someone threw up on themselves and we let them sleep in and and and and laughed about it, just those type of things you know we we we we reminisced about like that, but there was a a lot of good times, you know. There's time when we just we didn't want to go nowhere. We s we sat in the barracks and we played space, you know, had some drinks and just laughed. No, just stayed up to wee hours in the morning just laughing and having a good time. You just like the camaraderie. That's that was the the thing that we that we talk about the most, the the times we spent together.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

Yeah, yeah. And you're still friends with with those guys.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Absolutely. 30 plus years later, yep.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Yeah, yeah. Actually, we're just on a cruise with a couple of them.

School, Snow, And A New Badge

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Oh, yeah. Uh Brian, uh Hickerson, Davis, and me, uh, the four of us, uh what it was it was like about four years ago, four or five years ago, we made a uh plan to go to the Army Navy game.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

And uh all of us uh met up with our wives. Hickerson wasn't married at the time, and man, we had such a good time that we made a pack of vow, like, you know what? Once a year we're gonna take some time out of our schedule and we're gonna do something together. And so that's when we start cruising on Royal Caribbean. So each year we go on a Royal Caribbean cruise, all the four of us, no other family, you know, is our friends uh involved, just us four with the wives, and we go and we have a hell of a good time.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

Yeah. Well now, so when you're when you're all together like that, for you, like what's what's one story that you'll always bring up to them, and you guys will just like laugh about it, or you'll be like, Oh, I can't believe we got away with that. Like, what's one one thing?

SPEAKER_00 27:41

Well, it it was it was a bad story, but it's not, but it was a story that one day uh the four of us, well, Brian wasn't with us this time, but it was uh me, Set, and Hickerson. We went out, and these guys just started trouble with us for no reason, and just telling the story about us fighting in that in that in that club and then getting kicked out and going to another spot and just not forgetting what happened and just continue to enjoy ourselves, you know what happened during that time, how we looked at the look at took uh each other, got had each other back in that moment and made sure we all got out of there okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

Oh, yeah. Did you guys win that fight?

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Hello. My pups.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

So um, so so now you're down in Texas and you're uh you've got a job with the sheriff's department. Now, did you have to go through their academy or anything like that when you started working for them?

Corrections To Patrol And Hard Calls

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Um, yes. I will I went not yeah, yes, it was a kind of a small academy. It was called uh Cobra uh Correction, something something, but it was like oh how long was it? It was like maybe three months, something like that. So, yes. Okay, and they were paramilitary.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Oh, yes, you're probably a lot of familiar themes.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Yeah, I laughed about it because it's like you know, either you're the military, you're not this paramilitary trying to be so gung-ho. I said you is it it was a it was a joke to me because I knew being in the military and seeing what they was trying to do, and it's like you guys are so far off, so far off. You shouldn't have even tried. So, yeah, it was a joke to me. As far as them trying to trying to get in your face and correct you and stuff like that, I kind of like pretty much like blew it off because I knew it wasn't nothing. And I and I I got course I got through it and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Well, what attracted you to uh to working for the sheriff's department?

SPEAKER_00 30:01

The day it was the first one to call.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Oh so it wasn't like a dream of yours.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

Nope. No, I didn't have no dream, I had no idea what I wanted to do, but it it actually worked out. You know, I guess I I'm built for public service and stuff. So, because you know, I got there and I worked in a jail for about 12 years, and then I went on patrol, and so I was in law enforcement for another five, and just out in the community, just doing good and stuff like that, just you know, handling business, which was great, and got to a point when I was like, you know, I'm eligible to retire now. Um I'm I think I'm good. I I think I'm I'm ready to call it a quits.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

Yeah. Well, talk to me about your talk to me about your career in law enforcement, some of the things that you got to do. And I'm just curious, did you make some friends there like the friends you made in the military?

Integrity, Resilience, And Civilian Lessons

SPEAKER_00 31:02

Oh, uh no, not even close. I have some good people uh that I talk to, you know, that was cool and stuff like that. But the closeness, the camaraderie, like in the military, no, nothing like that. I got I can got some guys I can and and some females I can say that you know, we cool, we we we we good friends. But as far as like best friends, like family, nah, I didn't I didn't meet anyone like that. Um, let's see, correction was interesting, you know, because you know, you're dealing with people at their worst. And a lot of times, like the first 24 hours they're in, you know, they either hide or drunk on something. So, no, and so you got to deal with that mentality. And then once they actually sober up, then you got to deal with the manipulation and stuff like that that they try. But I I learned earlier that it's easier to start at 100 and slowly work your way down to 50% than to go from zero to a hundred. So I was strict, you know, no, no, no, no. And once I got my the unit working like I wanted to work and the respect I got, then I started giving a little bit, giving a little bit, and I never had any problem as far as anyone that's trying to assault me or anything like that. And so, yeah, no, there was uh like death and custodies and stuff like that, but no, you I just you you you take that with no with a grain of salt, you know. As long as you do what you have to do, and you was on time doing your visuals and you did your checks, you know, some things are out of your hand, you know, because but then it's easy for someone if they are committed, because it's not like a lot of time people are gonna say, Hey, I want to kill myself. No, the ones that are actually committed to it ain't gonna tell nobody, they're just gonna do it, and then it's gonna be that oh shit moment, right, you know, and um that you know there was a couple of those, you know, and of course, you know, you go through your IA investigation, and yeah, you did everything right, and this and this, your visuals was on time, and you you move on from that. And um, I guess, and well, then which that was in that aspect, but in law enforcement, hmm, that was a lot more of that because there was a lot of uh deceased person calls that I went on, and what was weird, I don't know, was it the military that helped me or just my me myself, but I remember in training, my first uh call I went out on was the deceased person, and I had to I worked the scene, you know, so I'm taking pictures and stuff like that, and then I look at the dude, and I the first thing I thought to myself was huh, it looked worse on TV. And and that that was my that was my thought, and I'm like, and when I saw that, I was like, okay, I can do this. This it this is not that bad, and you know, and of course, there's been other you know gruesome scenes that really did it, and no, none of it had a tone on me. And I told my wife, I said, I'm grateful because I think what would have broken me if any one of those incidents would have had to do with a young kid, right? Because I love kids, so you know these was adult, so I can I could depart no no departmentalize them and put them out in a box and not think of it again. I think if it was some young kid or something like that, I think it would that it would have affected me more than anything. So, and I was grateful that I never ran across one of those scenes.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

Yeah, I can only imagine. Do you so what do you think some of the what are some of the lessons that you learned in the military that helped you in your civilian life?

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Oh, um my drive, uh huh, my determination, uh my integrity, you know, just you know, you know, your punctual your punctuality, you know, being on time, you know, on time is late, you know, early is on time, you know, that mentality, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

Yeah, that'll get you, that'll get you far, really.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

Oh, absolutely. And just you know, my determination to succeed.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

It sounds to me like you kind of lived those army values, they weren't just something on a poster.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Oh no, absolutely not. I live those, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

Yeah you see you spent how long in the in the military then?

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Uh 10 years.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

10 years, and then 17 years with the sheriff's department. Did were you could you buy your military time through the sheriff's department?

SPEAKER_00 36:39

And that's what helped me retire because uh out of the 10 years, they give you five years credit. So once I uh put my five years toward my retirement, I I met the uh rule of 75, which made me eligible to retire like last year sometime.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Uh-huh. You just recently retired though, right?

Camaraderie, Cruises, And Brotherhood

SPEAKER_00 36:59

Yep, like uh about a week ago.

SPEAKER_02 37:02

Yeah, how's that going?

SPEAKER_00 37:03

It's going great. It's going great.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Yeah, every day's Saturday, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:09

That's right. That's right. Every day is Saturday, and I love it.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Now, do you think you'll do anything else, or are you gonna just be retired and do what you whatever you want to do?

SPEAKER_00 37:19

I'm gonna do pretty much do what I want to do. I'm not gonna just sit around and not do nothing. I'm gonna find something just to no kill time that I enjoy, like maybe substitute, teach, or something like that. But as for it's putting a uniform on again, I think I I think I'm done. Yeah, I told my wife, I said, man, most of my life has been in a uniform, having some odd hours and stuff like that. I think I'm done with it. I want to have some type of normalcy where I can come home at night, weekends, we can, I can plan stuff on the weekends and stuff. It's amazing. My wife just said, what, my first weekend, she was like, Man, it is so great to have you home. You know, we we we moved the bedroom furniture around, we cleaned that and stuff, you know. I did stuff out of the yard. She's like, it's been 20 plus years for us to have some type of normalcy. She said, I was nervous at first. She said, but I think I'm really gonna like this. And and and and that's what I feel too. It's like, you know, it's all about enjoying. I don't know how much time I have left, but I just want to enjoy it being happy, stress-free, spending time with my family.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

Yeah, that's what it's about. That's why you work so hard, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Yep, exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 38:44

Well, now you know, you mentioned that you don't, you're not gonna put on a uniform again. So I'm I'm just curious, what was that feeling like the last time that you put on that uniform and you knew this is the last time I'm putting on a uniform?

SPEAKER_00 39:00

It was uh it was bittersweet, you know. You you you you you kind of have you happy, but then you also have that, oh man, it's over. Yeah, you know, you know, no, no, just no, not represent not representing anything, you know, because when when I was in the military, you know, the uniform, I represented the United States, you know, and you put your best foot forward. You know, you stand tall, you look good. And when I was with the uh sheriff department, you know, I represented Travis County. So I had to stand tall, look good, you know. What I say, how I do things, you know, everything represented the sheriff department, so I had to be on point. And I'm no, and just saying, like, not having that, it was like it was like a kind of like a weight off my shoulder, but then also was uh oh yeah, it's done.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

Yeah, yeah, and here you are.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Yep, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 40:02

Yeah, so we've we've covered quite a bit in our conversation. Is there anything that I that that I haven't that we haven't talked about that you wanted to make sure that we get on this? Because you know, people will listen to your story, maybe your family will uh take a listen to it. Is there anything in there you wanted to include that we haven't included?

SPEAKER_00 40:21

Oh, as far as like he wanted to talk about uh uh Brian, you know, uh Brian was closer to said, like my my best friend than than I was to him because we only met each other like occasionally. We only recently got close, like after the military, because I I knew of him, but I really didn't hang around with him. But I knew uh he was like kind of like me back in the day. He was a player, he was a ladies man, but he was all he was driven, he really didn't like. The military because he had this mind frame that he wanted to do something bigger and better. And so, like, I think after like a couple of years, you know, after being in, he decided that he was gonna get out and he wanted to um start his own business because he was always talking about a business, this business, that. And you know, he worked his butt off and he made it happen, which I'm over the moon for him. And the the guy has a big heart. Like you, as you know, his heart is as big as he is, and he would give his shirt off his back to anyone. And just the all the guys that I really hang around with that I call my brothers are like that. You know, I don't have to wonder if I'm in bad shape or need help, that neither either one of them will be there to be like, hey man, what you need, and and they know that each one of us is like that for them. So it's just this crazy awesome bond that we have, this brotherhood that that's it's unreal. And if anybody could have that, I wish the best for them if they can get it to hold on to it, because you know, sometimes these gentlemen treat me more better than my own family does, you know, and like like we always tell each other, no family is not always blood.

SPEAKER_02 42:33

Yeah, yeah, your friends are the family that you choose, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:38

That's right. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

So, you know, if I reflect on this, like Brian's very successful. I don't know that he'll ever retire because he loves what he does.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

I think exactly.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

And and you've you know, you've had really two successful careers and you're retired now. Um, what about your other two friends? Like, are you guys all kind of in the same situation? Like everyone's successful and just kind of enjoying life.

Parenting With Backbone And Pride

SPEAKER_00 43:03

Yeah, pretty much. I um, you know, I think Brian is the most successful because he he did the most hustling. Um uh said, you know, he's um uh he's like a maintenance supervisor. I think he's close to retiring too. I got him uh set up with doing some VA stuff, you know, me, my law enforcement and military career, and then my uh other French, he was like a jack of all trades. He used to be a beautician, you know, hairdresser, clothing designer, and now I think he drives trucks. So he he he he done done it all. So I I say it's for the most part, we all have been very successful, we've been blessed.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

Yeah. Do you think do you think any part of that like is that related to the fact that you all kind of have had each other's backs over the years?

SPEAKER_00 43:56

Absolutely, absolutely. You're knowing that, man, you you you only gonna fall so far. I will catch you. You know, no, you you good. Don't even know, don't worry about what you got to do, just keep grinding, and whatever you got, whatever you need, you know we're here for it.

SPEAKER_02 44:13

Okay, and then you know, another thing I wanted to ask you about was your kids. So you said that you graduated the same time your daughter did.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

Yeah, um, I have uh two stepkids and I have a daughter, and they're Blake is 40, I'm 39, Britney's 37, and Jasmine's 37. So, yeah. So when I was going to college, uh, she was in high school, the girls was in high school, so like they we wouldn't pretty much graduated at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 44:46

Did you guys have like a graduation party?

SPEAKER_00 44:48

Oh, absolutely. And then the funny thing was, well, when she was in school, when she went to college, I was like, Hey, I'm gonna pay for I'll pay for your tuition and your books, and if you know the sorority, I said, but if you there's any play money that you want to go out and this and that, you're gonna have to uh earn that on your own. And the first thing she said was, How am I supposed to go to school and work too? And then I gave her a look, and she was like, Okay, never mind. I said, Exactly. I said, because I did it. I said, So don't give me that nonsense. You if you want it, you're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02 45:31

You're the wrong person to ask that question, huh? I said, You're the wrong person to ask that question.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Exactly, exactly. I'm the wrong one. My wife always tells it, you know, he ain't got no heart. I said, it ain't I ain't got no heart, I just don't wear it on my sleeve.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 45:48

You know, I'm not I'm not gonna be gullible to anything, no.

SPEAKER_02 45:53

Well, and we all want our kids to do better than we did, at least absolutely, right? Absolutely. So, you know, I I'm kind of thinking on the things that we've talked about, and you know, think about where you came from, uh a trailer w that was heated by a stove, and where you're at today and where your kids are headed. Oh yes, how's that make you feel?

SPEAKER_00 46:20

Proud. Proud, because man, I can I'm the first one oh well.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

It's okay. It's okay, man.

Retirement, Normalcy, And What Matters

SPEAKER_00 46:35

I'm the first one in my family to actually go to college and graduate. No, granted, all my brothers and sisters, they they did good. But as far as to say, being a college graduate, me. Like I'm the only one in my immediate family that ever met went into the military. Uh, as far as law enforcement, you know, I have a couple of brothers and sisters that have been in and out of jail, prison. I call myself the black sheep because, you know, I've never seen any side of a jail besides be work there, you know. And I always used to ask myself, what am I doing different than them? And then I realized that it's like, no what? I'm not lazy. The army taught me not to be lazy and look for easy money. And that was the difference between me and them. And you know, I tell like I tell them, I love you to death, but guess what? I would never spend my hard-earned money bailing you out because of some stupid stuff that you did. I I refuse to, and they knew how I stood on that from day one, and so if anyone got in trouble, they didn't call me as far as the actual money. They called me and let me know what was going on. I called, gave them my support, and no, some a some legal advice if I had it, but other than that, that was that.

SPEAKER_02 48:05

Yeah, well, sometimes people need tough love.

SPEAKER_00 48:08

Oh, absolutely. I believe in it, I definitely believe in it.

SPEAKER_02 48:12

Yeah, I think, especially with kids, right? It's a lot easier to be tough on them when they're five. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 48:19

Yep. Oh, I was tough on them when they were 16 too. My my daughter, uh, I think well, she was either between 16 and 13. And uh, what she used to do is she used to make these agreements with my wife. Hey, mom, if you let me go here today, you know, I won't ask the rest of the weekend. And then she let it go, and then that week that the next day comes around, then she starts bugging her and bugging her, and of course, my wife gets tired of it, and she said, Well, just go, Brittany, just go. And so after the second time, I said, I tell you what, the next time she wants to work out something, she comes to me. She don't deal with you anymore. And so she came to me, hey, Dad, hey, if you let me go hang out with such and such to this today, I'm not gonna ask no more this weekend. I was like, Okay, cool. You you got it. And so, of course, she tried to play the same shit with me, no, and I said, No, but that ain't fair, blah, blah, blah, blah. I said, No, what's not fair is you giving your word on something and try to take it back. I said, You're not going anywhere. You can either come out here and hang out with us or take your ass in the room, and so she stormed off in the room and she slams her bedroom door. I say, I walk off in there, I say, Listen up, little girl. I say, you slam that door again, I'm gonna take it off the hinges. You know, she huff and puffing all and I walked out, and I went back out and joined my wife on the couch. You know, we was watching the show, and then she came, got something to drink, and then she went back in the rooms and she slammed the door. I looked at my wife, and my wife gave me the oh shit, it's on, right? And so I went to the garage, grabbed the hammer and the screwdriver, went to her bedroom door, bing, beep, being bing, bing. And she was like, What are you doing? Don't worry about what I'm doing. I grabbed her damn door off the hinges, set it in our room, and the first thing she said was, Well, how am I supposed to get dressed? There's a bathroom. Well, I ain't got no privacy. This is my house. You don't you don't need privacy. You're the child. I kept the door from her for a week. After a week, she came calling, come to me, crying and stuff. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I said, Listen, I said, let me tell you something. This is a lesson I'm trying to teach you. I said, people can take a lot of shit away from you, but they can't take your word. If you give somebody your word, you stand by it. Because if you don't have that, you don't have nothing.

SPEAKER_02 51:08

Yeah. Well, and and Daryl, you gave her your word that you would take that door off if she slammed it again.

SPEAKER_00 51:15

Absolutely. And and and what and that's what I did.

SPEAKER_02 51:19

Yeah. That is.

SPEAKER_00 51:21

And I told her, I said, there's nothing I've never told you guys that that I would do that I haven't done. Because if I if I have any doubt that I think I can't do it, I'm not gonna give you my word on it.

SPEAKER_02 51:35

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and she's look, she's successful.

SPEAKER_00 51:40

Absolutely, absolutely. I got two grandbabies, and they are they they some pain in the ass sometimes, but I love it in death.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

So I I'm gonna ask you this. Like, I I experienced this for the first time when my uh granddaughter came to visit because my my son lives in Alabama. Okay, um, but they came up for a couple of days, uh maybe a week or whatever, but they left on Saturday morning, and when they left, like I couldn't even get off the couch. Oh so exhausted.

SPEAKER_00 52:11

It was yes, uh well, these yours can go to a different state, you know. Uh mine live right around the corner, a couple of blocks away, and just so happened this last week. Um my daughter was and her boyfriend, and the oldest was going to uh I want to say Gainesville, something like that. And my and then the baby was like, I don't want to stay in the car for two hours. Can I go to Papa and Gigi? And of course, my daughter called, was like, Yeah, I said, Yeah, he can come over. That's that's all good. This little dude, he's a talker. He talks from the time he gets here until the time he leaves. And so he's playing a game and he's talking because I was watching football, but he wanted to play the game, so I let him play the game on the TV. I'm trying to watch it on my computer. And he pop up, pop up, pop, pop up, pop up, pop, pop, pa, pop up. And I so at midnight go downstairs and I go to my wife. I'm like, oh my God, this kid would not shut the hell up. And she started laughing. I'm like, that's not fair. I say, you you down here chilling, he wants to be around me, and all I hear is pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. But then when he leaves, it's like you said, it's so quiet, it's like, damn, I missed that of the asshole.

SPEAKER_02 53:45

Exactly. That's exactly it. Exactly. You know, as a as a former soldier myself, I find this is really weird. I like to be alone, but I don't like to be lonely. Right. You know, like you're like, oh, I can't wait to be in this house by myself, and then everybody leaves, and you're like, Oh, damn, I wish someone was here.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

Right, yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, you you you want to be alone, but you say you don't want to be lonely. You want to be able to go go in your own space and in your own, you know, and just your own zen, but you want to be someone to be there. Like when you get tired of that, be like, hey, what's up? You want to go hang? Yeah, you know, you want somebody there. That's what I got, really honest, because I have a media room that which is where I'm at now, and my wife, she watched a lot of stuff. We've watched two different shows, even though the shows she watched now are the shows I used to watch, but ever since I went into law enforcement, I can't watch them anymore because the reality and that it doesn't match up. I can't I can't stand it. But then if there's a commercial break and I'm like, I miss her, I want to go bugger. I go downstairs, you know, and I can tease her and stuff like that, get on her nerve, and I can run back upstairs. So, yeah, I definitely get that.

Final Reflections And Legacy

SPEAKER_02 55:07

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, we've talked about a lot of stuff, we've covered a lot of your life um in our conversation today. Um, you know, I think as we kind of wrap this up, um, I I oh I always ask a final question, and um and that is, you know, if someone's listening to this story a hundred years from now, you know, and we're both not here, but they're hearing your story, what what lesson would you like to leave for them? What would you like them to take away from how you've lived your life?

SPEAKER_00 55:43

Man, I did my part to keep my country safe. And I lived every day like it was my last.

SPEAKER_02 55:58

That's good. Well, thanks for sharing that. Thanks for spending some time with me this evening. I've I really enjoyed getting to know you.

SPEAKER_00 56:05

Oh, thank you for having me. It was it was great talking to you. It was it was it was wrong, it was an eye opener. I I enjoyed this a lot.