From Jersey To Jump Wings; A Soldier’s Path (Cedric Davis)

The bus doors swung open at Fort Dix and five drill sergeants stared him down—by 0400, bunks were tipping, cans were banging, and Cedric Davis wondered if he’d made the worst mistake of his life. What followed is a clear-eyed story of fear met head-on, pride earned the hard way, and a life held together by family, friendship, and duty.

We walk through Cedric’s Jersey roots and the steady example of parents married for 53 years, then into ROTC, a delayed-entry leap, and the shock of basic training. He shares the infamous gas chamber set-up after a quiet breakfast, the strict diet that kept him from desserts while letters from home kept arriving with cookies he couldn’t eat, and the phone call to his father during the Gulf War buildup that ended with four words that changed his mindset: keep your oath. From there, momentum builds—AIT for Stinger missiles, clearance-driven training, and a vivid, fear-soaked entry into airborne school at Fort Benning where wings only came by stepping out the door.

At Fort Carson, Cedric finds altitude headaches and long runs before settling into the rhythm of air defense. He explains supporting armor and artillery, painting vehicles tan for the desert pivot, living through the 100-hour war’s abrupt end, and firing both Redeye and Stinger. The highlight arrives as a team chief attached to 1-12 Infantry—rucking in, learning breaches, cross-training soldiers on what they could know, and becoming the “requested” team for field problems. It’s a portrait of quiet professionalism: do the job, protect the formation, keep moving.

Transition hits hard. The reserves feel hollow. Civilian doors close—“overqualified”—until FedEx recognizes his military backbone. Newark Airport becomes a new proving ground; Manhattan routes become a map of seasons and crisis. He takes us to 9/11, where streets and skies turned to chaos. Over time, corporate shifts push him toward the Newark Housing Authority, where he also finds the love he’d almost given up on. Marriage steadies finances and softens edges; three sons keep him honest. He works two jobs, tells his boys to build first and start families later, and credits a village of kin and friends for the man he is.

Cedric leaves us with a nudge to speak up, help neighbors, and carry responsibility forward. It’s a grounded, human story—basic training grit, airborne fear, Stinger teams in the field, 9/11 on the route, and a home built on loyalty. If this journey resonates, subscribe, share with a veteran or a parent who needs it, and leave a review telling us the moment that stayed with you most.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Today is Sunday, March 8th, 2026. We're talking with Cedric Davis, who served in the United States Army. So good morning, Cedric. Good morning, Bill. How you doing? Great, great. How about you? I can't complain. Well, that's that's good. And I I appreciate you uh taking time out. I know today is pretty much your only day off. So thank you for taking the time to talk with us. Thank you for the interview. I appreciate it. Excellent. So we will start out with uh our first question, and that really is when and where were you born?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

I was born in Orange, New Jersey, August 20th, 1972. Okay. And you grow up in Orange, New Jersey then? No, I was born in Orange, but I was raised in Newark till I was six. And then my father and mother moved to Hillside, New Jersey, where I still currently reside in Hillside. Small town. So you've always been a Jersey guy, though? Always, my entire life.

unknown 1:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Well, so so talk to me a little bit about what it was like growing up. Um my parents have been together for they've been married 53 years. They've been together since they were young. So maybe 60 years. So yeah, I come from a two uh parent household. Um my father was from is from Newark, New Jersey. My mother was from the South. Oh she relocated up here with my grandmother. Um, I think when she was a little girl. And they moved to Newark, New Jersey. Um I think my mother met my dad when she was 16, and they've been together that entire time.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

That's pretty incredible. Yeah, so yeah. So what did your dad do?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Uh my father, he was uh uh he's retired now. He was a bus mechanic for New Jersey Transit. That's where he retired, but my father did a a lot of things to support his family. You know, he was uh he told me he delivered furniture um with his father when he was young. My father's a Navy veteran. Um he did a bunch of odds and ends, you know, growing up in the 60s, and you know, when he was young, he said it was hard to get a job. So but when he got with New Jersey transit, he I think he worked 30 years and retired. He's been retired maybe 11 years now, 12 years.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, when you're when you're young and you got a family, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Yep, yep, that's what he always said. They whatever he had to do for his family. Yeah. So do you any brothers and sisters?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

I have a younger brother and sisters, three of us.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Oh, okay. And where do you fit in there? I'm the oldest. I'm the oldest. So you're in charge. I I would like to think so. Do they let you believe that sometimes?

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Um, you know what? They they they listen, but you know, we're all strong-minded, so yeah, everyone pretty much does their own thing. They listen to me when it when it matters.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Well, that's good. That's good. My sister's the oldest, so uh she thinks she's in charge too. So yeah, so talk to me about what it was like going to school. Um, you know, did you have a lot of friends? Did you play sports? Just kind of in general.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Uh as a kid, I played pop one football. Um, I played pop one for uh for years. And my father and mother, they were actively involved in the program that I can remember. My father would do whatever he had to do. He was a teen parent. So they would help out. Um, I wrestled in high school, so it was football and wrestling. I stopped playing football when I got to high school because I let someone uh tell me that I was too small because I was short. Uh-huh. You know, I think I was four foot something. I was very small coming up. So I let someone discourage me, and I was a pretty average. I was a good foot, decent football player. Uh-huh. But you know, I never played high school ball, but I wrestled in high school. I was in arm uh Army ROTC when I was in high school. I wasn't active in too many things. I I didn't like I didn't like care for school too much. Okay. But you made it through. Yeah, oh yeah, I made it through. I got I got decent grades, but I didn't like I didn't like it.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

I I didn't care for school. Was that an expectation though to get good grades as a kid? Like, is that something your parents were? Yeah, they they did.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

They did. I I I was uh above average student, and I don't remember ever really bringing my books home or doing any work. So I I could only tell myself, if only I applied myself, you know, where would I be? Because my brother is college educated, my sister is college educated. I'm the only one that I didn't want to go to college after high school. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

I think we all take our own path though, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:39

School wasn't my thing. I wanted to go into the military.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

So so speaking of that, let's talk about ROTC. How how was that for you and how did that shape your future decision?

Sports, ROTC, And Choosing The Army

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Um I was I think I I was in ROTC, my freshman, sophomore, and junior year because I I j I went in the army on the delayed entry program the summer of going into my senior year. And I didn't go into ROTC my senior year. My mind, I was preparing myself to actually go into the service. So you know, it taught uh you know it I I was already disciplined, but it reinforced some of that discipline and and and structure. You know, we used to go to Fort Dicks and it, you know, it was there was an element of excitement. We was we would go to Fort Dicks to the bases for for trips and everything. Uh I was on the drill team and we did drilling ceremony. Um we would uh I enjoyed like the inspections. Our chief warrant officer, he's long passed away, but he was uh he was his uh he was Chief Warrant Officer Sozio. I remember him uh uh vividly because he was he was a very positive force. You know, especially when I did tell him my ambitions were to go into the military. I knew that. I knew that early on, because I knew I wasn't going to go into school, I would have wasted my parents' money.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Yeah. So was that was that what were some of the other driving factors? Like why why the military? Because it sounds like pretty, like you said, pretty early on, you knew this is what you were gonna do. Um, you know, what what shaped that decision?

SPEAKER_01 7:23

I like excitement. Uh-huh. You know, and and the adrenaline, you know, watching war movies, Rambo, uh, Apocalypse Now. You know, uh, my father used to say when I was a kid, and I I remember I used to always like to go outside and play war and and and all that stuff. So I I knew early on that the military was a path that I was gonna take. In my mind, it was gonna be a career too. It it didn't work out that way. But I was joining the army to do 20 years. That was my that was my initial goal to go in and make a career out of it.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Okay. All right, yeah. And we kind of grew up in the era, I'm a little bit older than you, but we grew up in that era of be all you can be, right? And those motivational army those days. So did you sign up in the late entry during high school or did you sign up after high school? Uh during high school.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

I had to give my parents permission. Yeah. They had to sign, sign, they had to uh uh sign a release. And my father, he was okay with it. I remember my mother wasn't, and I remember having to talk with her and telling her, you know, whether you guys do it or I do it when I turn 18. I said, you know, this is what I want to do. So my mother reluctantly gave her permission for me to go. I joined the summer of my junior year.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Okay with uh I left for the army three days after I graduated high school. So you didn't even have like a senior summer then. You just left. I didn't I didn't want it.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

My mother was like, you know, stay for the summer, stay for the summer. I was like, no, I wanna I wanna go. You know, I w I wanted you know, I wanted excitement. I wanted to get out on my own, I wanted to get out of hillside, I wanted to experience life.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Yeah. So well, it you know, good for you for uh realizing that college wasn't in the cards because I'll you know I graduated high school, and of course everyone pushes you to I went to college and failed miserably. And then and then went in the military. Okay, yeah. So where did you go to basic training then? I went to basic training, Fort Dix, New Jersey. Okay, short, short bus ride from where I live. Yeah, so you're like you are a Jersey guy through and through then, because you really never really left. So talk to me about arriving at basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Fort Dix Shock: Zero Week To 0400 Wakeups

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Um the night I left, we stayed in a hotel. We stayed in a hotel right next to it was next to a club. I forget, I forget that whether the club was Club 88. It was a a club back in the day that was everybody went to. So going to that club that night, never been to a club before, uh, didn't go out, wasn't much for going out, but the people that were leaving the same night, they was like, oh, let's go out. So I went out to the club and I realized I was like, oh, this is not my thing. You know, you know, I stayed because I said, who knows the next time I'm gonna have free time to be able to do anything. So I had a good time that night. That morning, um, my recruiter, I I still remember his name, Staff Sergeant Marquez, was my recruiter. He came in, he picked us up. We all went to breakfast. Um, they loaded us onto a bus and we headed to Fort Dix. We got to Fort Dicks during the day. And I remember, you know, you have your zero week. Got there, zero week, you know, we got processed in. And I remember, you know, getting his haircuts, you know, getting issue G uniforms, and everything was cool. So I'm saying to myself, oh man, this is not gonna be so bad. Um, after about I think four days or five days of zero week, they load us onto a bus. And I remember us driving not a short distance from where the reception area was. And there was these five drill sergeants standing outside, and as the bus, I remember the bus stopping and the double doors lined perfectly with the first drill sergeant that was standing in the line. And I remember his name, he was senior drill sergeant Rivera. I'll never forget. Because when he got on, like the look on his face, my heart sunk. And this, you know, this is the 90s, it's still cursing at you, you know, putting their hands on you. Saying bad things about your mom. Saying bad things, yep, saying bad things about your mom and everything. And when he got on, and just the sheer, you know, the sheer intensity that he engaged us in, right there. I said, Oh man, I messed up. I said, I messed up. So they're shuffling us off the bus. I got my duffel bag, I got my little bag with all my personal stuff that I brought with me. And we're getting off the bus and they're pushing us off the bus and they're shoving us and everything. We get off of the bus, I line up on these yellow lines, and by this time I'm saying to myself, I should have gone to school. Should have gone to school, but it was too late. That first night was I remember, you know, they improcessed us, we got into the barracks. I think it was that was it for the night. It the the adventure began that next morning if at at 0400.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Yeah, so talk talk to me about that. What's happening at 0400 at Fort Dix?

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Um the first morning, I remember them coming in, you know, with the garbage cans and beating on the garbage cans, waking everybody up, tipping bunks over. Wow. Tipping bunks over. And I'm saying to myself again, I'm like, oh man, you know, I'm messed up. You know, you they're yelling at you, someone's in your face, you got two people on either side of you, and they're barking contradictory orders. One thing, you don't know what to answer. And I remember, as all this stuff is coming back. I remember looking at the drill sergeant, and he's like, you know, what the F are you looking at me for? Don't look at me, private. Looking down, and then the other one's saying, Well, you don't like the way he looks. So it was just, it was, it was a sensory overload. Right that first day. And it just went from from bad to I think worse. Because when I joined, I joined, I was, I was underweight. When I when I my through my senior year, I forget I think I had to gain 20 pounds. I think I wound up gaining 30. Because all I did was eat, you know, not much running or preparation. So I wasn't physically ready at all. That I remember. So I went in overweight, so I was all types of fat body and you know, can I say ass, fat ass, and things. So I remember being put on a strict, they put me on a diet. I couldn't have juice, I couldn't have water, I couldn't have cake, I couldn't have any of that. And I was all kinds of all kinds of fat names. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

So and for people for people listening too, I don't I don't mean to write for people listening too, like when you're in basic training, meals are like a big part of your day. And they actually had some pretty good desserts and stuff. So to not be able to participate in that must have really been must have sucked.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Um, I I I spent so much time nervous that first, I would say two to three weeks. I don't I don't remember ever even caring. I just they told me to eat. I remember, you know, trying to sneak a couple of times, getting caught, getting in trouble, but then I realized it wasn't worth it. Right. And then in basic, my family used to send, you know, I used to get things all the time. My aunt used to always send me cookies. And I had to write a letter to her and tell her to stop sending cookies because every time those cookies came, you know, they would really dog me out. You know, give all the cookies away. I can't uh remember having really any of the cookies that she would ever bake to send me because they would eat them in front of me. The drill sergeants would open up the box and pass the box around. I would never get any because I was overweight. Right. So if my aunt was here, my aunt would tell you, I I and you know, I probably still have the letter. I have every letter that was ever wrote to me in the military. I I keep everything. I'm like a pack rat. Uh-huh. So I remember writing her a letter telling her, don't send me anything edible. Nothing. You know, I said they're on me. You know, I said, I and I can't take it. You know, so it it was, it wasn't overtly difficult, but it was it was hard. You know, it was the 90s. But we we were still putting a a nice tough product was coming off the assembly line with the army.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Absolutely. So you get you get through that first three weeks, then things start to kind of settle out for you.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Um, yeah, started losing weight. Uh-huh. Oh, getting in better shape. You know, I could do pull-ups and sit-ups. I remember calling my dad, I think around week three or week four, the buildup for the Gulf War started. Right. Right. And I called my dad and I told my father, I said, Dad, I think, you know, I had never called him because I was having my doubts during that time. I said, Pop, I think I messed up. I said, you know, building up for this war. And I said, I didn't join for this. And my father told me, he said, he said, man, he said, I tried to tell you, but you didn't want to listen. He said, get off my phone. He said, don't call me with this nonsense no more. He said, you gotta man up. And he hung up the phone on me. Wow. So after that, I got in my mind, I said, I gotta man up and embrace this life that I chose for myself. And after that, I did my, you know, my my father wasn't against me going into the military, but he wanted me to do something else. So I I was, you know, hellbent on that life. So when I finally got it and I called him with that nonsense, he, you know, my father was one for nipping, nipping it in the butt. You say you're gonna do something, you do it. You know, my father was big on keeping your word, being responsible. And I, you know, he said, you you sworn oath. So now you got to see it through. He said, Don't call here with this no more.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Good for your dad. Good for your dad, and good for you.

Gas Chamber Trial And Finding Grit

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Yeah. He doesn't remember when I tell him, I tell him that he said, I don't remember doing that. You know, my dad's eight, you know, almost 80 years old now. Yeah. So, you know, he doesn't remember some of that stuff. I say, but yep, and I never called after that with any more woe is me stories because I knew maybe my mom would have listened to him, but I knew he wasn't. Right. You know, so my father was in the Navy during Vietnam. You know, so you know, he he was in the military during a tougher era than what I was in, you know, what we what we served through. Right. Right. So yeah, after that, I didn't call with sob stories. Anytime I called, I just called with, you know, progression. I would call, you know, when we got off the range, or, you know, um, if we went out to the field or road march, I got more excited about it once I accepted, you know, and got used to to military life because it was an adjustment.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Yeah, a little bit of a little bit of a culture shock, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Yeah, exactly. Yep. Yeah. Yep. I've always had structure and discipline, but it was like uh structure and discipline on steroids. It was a whole different ball game, right? Yeah, it was. But once I got used to it, you know, I I started to love it.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

So when you think about basic training um now, what are s what are a couple of things that really stick out in your mind? I mean, other than the pep talk that your dad gave you, what are what are some things that you really think about when you think about basic training?

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Um, what I really think about the most is what it did for me mentally. You know, I don't know how it is now, but they really like would tear down who you were and then rebuilt you in a different image. And I know I know that was significant because I still carry that today in my life. It it was to a to a point to where you know I had to tone down onto some of that. And I've just most recently over the past five years done that because I realized that was you know kind of being like a detriment more than a help. Yeah. You know, so and I didn't realize it, you know, you think you're always doing everything right as a man or as a father until you realize that you're not. Absolutely. You know, so had to tone down some some of it. But um I remember one particular day they were being nice, you know, not cursing and not fussing and not pushing or shoving or yelling at us. And we actually had time to sit down and eat chow. And this particular day, it was decent chow. I can't remember the meals. We scarfed them down so fast, but it was breakfast. And I, you know, pretty eggs, bacon, orange juice, and no one was yelling at me, you know, or screaming. But we had our gas masks with us this day, but it it wasn't registering what we were doing. So after after chow, after breakfast, we we went on a light, leisurely road march. And as we're road marching, we're walking up to this building with all of this white smoke coming out of the chimney of this chimney. So, you know, we're all wondering where we're going. You know, we're kind of like light talking in formation. It wasn't strict or anything. We were walking up to the gas chamber. Oh gas chamber, and then they turned it back on on us. So I remember there was in my company, I believe maybe 50 of us. We went in first. So I was in the back. I was the last stack of 10. So I got to watch the other 40 people in front of me take off their masks and attempt to give their serial number, name, and rank. And I'm watching no one can do it. So I'm saying, oh, this gas is already burning my exposed skin, my hands, and my neck. So I'm feeling the burn, and I'm watching people throw up and I'm watching people take that first initial breath to try to get their serial number out and getting choked up. So They're doing one at a time. So it seemed like forever before they got to mine. So I remember taking when it got to me, I took a deep breath in my mask and pulled my mask off. And when I opened up my mouth to try to try to utter it without taking a breath, for some reason I couldn't. And I took that first deep breath of that CS gas and I felt it just fill my lungs and and my esophagus and I couldn't get anything out. And by the time that they're they're yelling, and I'm trying, I remember and I remember this vividly. I'm trying my best to get my name, serial number, my name, rank, so I can get out of there. Because they had I had nine, you know, there was nine other people after. Yeah. And we finally got to it, and when they let us out, there was a double door. We ran out to the door and they told us to flap our arms and run around this track. And as I'm running around the track, there's people laid out everywhere, throwing up snot bubbles. You know, I had I had I had upchucked all of that breakfast. And then it realized they did this on purpose. Yeah. So I I threw up, I think I made it halfway around the track before I finally collapsed out there because I could, you know, you couldn't breathe. And they walked us back, you know, all nasty and and and snotted up and mucked up. And I remember they, it was, I think it was a I believe it was a Sunday, and they gave us the rest of the day, I guess, to recover from that. That was a distinctive day. And then, you know, I always love the time on the range. Oh. You know, because up until that point I had never fired a weapon or even been around one. So, you know, the army introduced me to, you know, a lot of fun and exciting things. I used to love the range. Yeah, the range days were always were always a blast, I think. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So and and just learning how to be a soldier. Uh-huh. You know, and leaving that civilian part of myself behind.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

So you uh you make it through boot camp. Did your family come to your graduation then?

SPEAKER_01 24:47

My my actually, my family came and picked me up. They allowed me to go home for about eight hours, you know, um, from Fort Dix. I think we were about an hour and 20 minutes from Fort Dix. So my mom and dad, they came and picked me up in my BDUs. I was in my BDUs. I I came home. My brother was uh big-time football player. So he didn't come, he had practice or something. And I knew my brother was serious about his football. So when I got home, he must have just been getting in from practice. So he he damn near collapsed when he saw me because you know it's been over two months I haven't been home and I'm a different person now. I'm skinny. I think I may have slimmed down from lost 40 pounds, 40, 46 pounds. I lost a lot of weight. So yeah, I was I don't think I was recognizable when I look at some of the photos now. You know, I was just slim, clean-faced kid. Yes. Uh I went home for about eight hours. And I took that time to spend time with my family and go see a few of my friends. And um, they took me back and I graduated that next day from basic training.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Okay. And I got I gotta ask, in that in that eight hours of being home, did you get to have any of your aunt's cookies?

Graduation, MOS Choice, And Secretive AIT

SPEAKER_01 26:11

No, no, I don't remember. I I don't even think I saw I saw my aunt. It was I was home for maybe an hour or so, and then I was making, you know, I started making my runs to see people because I knew it would be a w a a while before I would see anybody again. Right. So I took that opportunity to to just visit and go see some of my friends.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

Yeah. So when you get back to base and it's uh next day's graduation, um what happened what happens after graduation?

SPEAKER_01 26:41

Um, after graduation, uh a bunch of my aunts, my uncle, um, some of my close friends who are like family, they came to my graduation, graduated, and they loaded us onto a bus. I think maybe I spent maybe 20 or 30 minutes with my family. And they loaded us on a bus and we were heading to the airport so um I could go to AIT. And what what uh what what was your MOS? I was uh a 16 Sierra, uh man portable air defense crew member. But I was a stinger gunner, stinger the stinger missiles.

SPEAKER_03 27:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Yeah, that's what that's what I did. I tried, I I joined the army, I wanted to be an 11 Bravo, but I didn't score high enough on the ASFAB. And I didn't want to take the ASFAB again. And I think I forget what other jobs opened up, but I think I had armor, um, air defense. It was a few other things, uh, trucking. So that was the closest thing. And it looked really interesting from what they showed me, you know, launching the missiles, shooting down airplanes, and we we could also use the missile to blow up lightly uh armored vehicles or or or light vehicles. So I thought that was was exciting. I said, Oh, that'll get me close to you know being on the ground and doing, you know, exciting stuff. So I chose that MOS.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Okay. So you get on a plane, and where does that take you then?

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Uh went to Fort Bliss, Texas.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Fort Hood is where I took my AIT.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

So tell me a little bit about AIT and uh, you know, what happens while you're there.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

Um when I think about AIT, I don't really have much of a memory. And I and I don't know why. I don't have I you know I have like certain things because when you interviewed Jonikins and I was listening to his, I was like, wow, we did do that. Like he brought to my attention that we even went to AIT together. And I don't know, I had to really think and and really go back and say, yeah, we sure did, because we went, we went on a cruise, we just came off of a cruise. And we went to a veterans meet and greet. And we got to meet all of these veterans from all these different eras of Korean War, of a bunch of Vietnam guys, and uh a couple of guys from a global war on terror was on these on these cruises. And we were all going around talking, and you know, he's like, Yeah, with these guys, we went to AIT together, and I was like, We went to AIT together. And he was like, he was like, Yeah, you you don't remember that. And I really had to think, and I said, yo, you're right. So I don't know, I don't think AIT was really that eventful. You know, I remember we used to sneak off posts, we used to go to Mexico. You know, we used to go to Juarez, Mexico. Um, we snuck off posts one day and got tattoos. We used to climb the fence and sneak in the space, and and we went and got tattoos one day. But the the training, I really don't recall. I know we had to get uh confidential or secret clearances and they had to do background checks. I remember that. Um, you know, because what we did, we you we couldn't tell how far the missile went and disclose what the actual missile's capability was, and the training facility was was uh secret with how we how we trained. Right. You know, we couldn't we had to have a clearance fest, some of that, but other than that, remembering everything, I I I have a very short memory of my time at Fort Hood.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Yeah. Well, you know, I think AIT can just be a blur anyway because it's just kind of a that's kind of a blip on the radar. You're just coming off a boot camp, which is traumatic. Yeah, and you're a little bit more relaxed here. It's funny you talk about going to Mexico and doing things like that because my time in the military, I remember anytime they told us not to go somewhere, that's exactly where we went.

Airborne School Fears And First Jumps

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Yeah, and we weren't supposed to, they would warn against it. But we we would we went anyway, right? Yeah, we were all together, you know, everybody's in good shape, you know, everybody can handle themselves. You know, we didn't think you know anything would happen to us, and and not nothing ever did. It was a simpler time, too. Right, you know, so yeah, but AIT went fast. Uh-huh. And then what did you do after AIT? After AIT, I went to Fort Benning for airborne school.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

I I got airborne. I tried to get aerosol, and but they gave me airborne, but I tried to get aerosol and airborne in my contract. I was only able to get one. So after Fort Bliss, I went to Fort Benning for airborne school. Uh-huh. And and that I remember from the day I walked in there to the day I walked out. You know, that was the most exciting time in my training, was doing that.

unknown 31:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

And now how long was airborne school? It was four, four weeks, three weeks, and then uh jump week.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

Yeah, we had uh zero week, week one ground week, week two was tower week, and week three, no, week four was jump week. Okay, yeah, so yeah, I I remember I remember my time in airborne school. I would never do it again. I would never jump out of a plane, but if I did, I remember everything. Uh-huh. Everything. Yeah. That's gotta be exciting, right? Yep, yep. That was that was my most profound military moment. It was going to airborne school. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

What was it like the first time you made the actual jump, though? Was that how'd you feel about that?

SPEAKER_01 32:32

I was scared to death. Yeah. I was actually second man out the door, my first jump. So I'm standing behind the person and I can see everything. And in my mind, I'm saying to myself, I was excited, but I was scared. I was like, ah, I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it. But if I didn't do it, I wasn't getting my wings because they would have put you out. You would have got kicked out. So I knew there was only one way to my wings, and it was out that door. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Yeah, refusal, a refusal at the door gets you kicked out.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Get you kicked out. Yeah. And we saw it happen. We saw it happen to where people, you know, soldiers wouldn't jump. Uh I did I did a jump, and a guy's static line didn't release him from the plane, and had to jump the entire plane and then cut him free. I think that was that was maybe my third jump. Uh-huh. Yeah, my third jump. I I remember the guy's face as I went past him when I exited the plane, because I looked to see what he was doing as I was tucked in my in my L position. I remember his face. Uh, he was a he was a he was an infantryman. So they had to cut him and he had to pull his reserve chute. And I remember they they cleared the plane, they jumped the entire plane, circled around the drop zone, and then he was the only one. And he pulled it, I guess as soon as he was able to clear, I forget how many seconds you had to count. I think three or four seconds, and he pulled his reserve and he landed safely. He was a stud. I don't remember his name, I remember his face, but you know, everybody was on him the rest of the rest of the jump week because I don't think we ever had we didn't have anybody else have a situation of where they had to cut them from the plane.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

Right. I can't imagine watching that happen and then knowing that I gotta jump. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Like, yep. After the first, after the first first time, I was scared each and every time, but it got easier, you know, every time. I you know, I just have airborne school under my belt. I have five jumps. You know, but I'll tell uh Birch all the time, I say five more than you.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

That's all that matters, right?

SPEAKER_01 34:56

They used to make fun of me. He'd say, Oh, you just got five jumps. I say, I have five more than you. Right. You know, right, just just you know, just airborne school, then you know, but airborne school.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah. I mean that's that's no joke, that's an accomplishment.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Yeah. One what you know, and and it's something that not a lot of people get to to do in the military. Right. So, you know, I'm I'm with uh a select few to you know ever do something like that.

Fort Carson Life And Altitude Acclimation

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Yeah, absolutely. So uh after airborne school, where do you go to from there?

SPEAKER_01 35:35

After airborne school, I went to Fort Carson, Colorado, the Fourth Mechanized Infantry Division. Okay, yeah, where I met back up with Jonikins. We all went to the same place. Yeah, you, Jonikins, and Birch, right? Uh well we I met Birch at Carson. Okay. But um, me, Jonikins, and a buddy of mine, Carl Hickerson, we all went to AIT together and we all got stationed at Carson together.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

So I went to Fort Carson, uh, Colorado, and that's where I did my entire tour there.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

So talk to me about what it was like being at Fort Carson, some of the things you did there.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

Um first, you know, you had to acclimate to the rise in altitude. So when I first got there, I used to suffer from headaches and nosebleeds because I think they give you about, they gave us maybe a month or so to acclimate to the altitude because it was rough. You know, you've I found it hard. I I remember finding it hard to breathe, you know, or or or really any like over exertion. I was extremely tired that first two or three weeks on runs or doing anything. Right. So that acclimation was was pretty, pretty, it was pretty rough. But once I acclimated, you know, things started to to get a little bit smoother because we would run three, four miles, you know, a day. So that was hard when you suck and win when you first get there. You know, and then again, I'm in the army during the time, you know, falling out of runs and all that stuff. That was unacceptable. Yeah. You know, that was stuff that was frowned upon. So it that first few weeks at Carson acclimate, and that it was tough. But once I did, things got easier as far as that was concerned, as far as the physical part of it was concerned.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

Yeah, and then you just so so while you're there, like um, you know, you spent your time at Carson, what was like what was like a a typical day there?

NTC, Gulf War Buildup, And Stinger Live Fires

SPEAKER_01 38:21

I I got to Carson, I was a private, so I was assigned to a Vulcan platoon, uh the M113 with the Vulcan cannon. Uh-huh. So I was a stinger gunner on a Vulcan. It was a four-man tank. Uh, you had the driver, the gunner, the team chief, and then me as the gunner, I would shoot the missiles. They would drop the ramp, I would jump out and provide low to medium range air defense or the vehicle or whoever we were supporting. Because in in our unit, we didn't deploy as a platoon. We would get sectioned off to other units. So, say, you know, uh the first time, my first I guess year, I think I was in a Vulcan platoon. We would go with armor or calve or field artillery and provide air defense for them. So we wouldn't see, you know, people in our platoon or our section for weeks at a time. We would get embedded in different different units. So I thought that was exciting. You know, I just did what I was told, you know, section, uh the our section chief, he would tell me where to go, I would just do it. He taught me how to be a stinger gunner on a from an armored vehicle. And, you know, the best places to provide air defense for whoever it was we were providing it for. And you know, I just I just absorbed everything. You know, and I'm a private, you can't say much anyway. Right, right. All you can do is absorb. You're a sponge at this point. I would just absorb everything because yeah, I I took I took being a soldier, I took it serious. Right. You know, so I I just tried to learn as much as I can. I think I was a I think I was a gunner on the Vulcan for maybe a year. I I I believe, if I can remember correctly. And during that time, we went to NTC, the National Training Center. This was when the army was gearing away from fighting in Europe to turning the fight to the Middle East. Yes. So we would go to those days. Yeah, we would go to NTC, and I remember we painted all our vehicles from the camouflage green to tan. You know, we did a lot of that stuff ourselves. You know, so um and by this time the buildup was almost complete and the invasion of Iraq was about to start. And at this time we were getting training to get ready. And I don't I don't know I don't remember if I think we were told that we were gonna uh be deployed if North Korea tried to do anything to South Korea, but we were getting ready to deploy somewhere, and the war, you know, after 100 hours was over. And I remember getting in formation. I think I was 18 years old, and we were all looking at each other because we were disappointed. You know, you're young, you don't know any better.

SPEAKER_02 41:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

You want to see if this training is gonna work. And I remember, I think me and Bert, we were talking about it the other day, that we remember standing in formation when George Bush announced that the war was over. Or senior Bush if that's your if that's George. But yeah, that the war was over, and I was kind of disappointed. In hindsight, you know, the Lord spared all of us, you know, all of that. But when you're young, you you're not thinking straight.

SPEAKER_02 42:27

Right. Well, and you're you I mean, you're still looking for that excitement, right? That uh yeah. So I I gotta ask, did you ever get to like actually fire the stinger and blow some stuff up? Yep, I did.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Okay I actually I fired a Vietnam era red-eye missile. I fired um a Stinger missile, and I was a team chief and my gunners, I had two gunners. Um the when I when I became a uh junior NCO, I had two gunners, and they each we got selected where they fired the Stinger missile. So I was able to fire one, two, and I was a team chief for gunners who got a chance to do it. And that's cool. It was uh it was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I have uh I have video clips, I have uh newspaper clippings because the new I remember there was a local Colorado uh news agency there and a picture of actual the missile leaving the tube. I don't think it wasn't me, it was another team. But just having that clipping was was just extraordinary in itself. Even though when I look at it now, we never would have got an opportunity to shoot anything down because we've always had air supremacy everywhere we go.

SPEAKER_02 43:55

Right, right. But you never know. Yeah, you never know. So how long were you at Carson then?

SPEAKER_01 44:02

I was at Carson my entire my entire uh tour. I spent um three years at Carson, two years. Two years at Carson. You know, I I would go to other bases because I drove for a colonel at one point. Then I went to a a Stinger team. I was a gunner on a two-man Stinger team for a while. Then I was a lieutenant driver for the Stinger platoon, which I hated. And then finally I got a call to get my own team. And I did that for my final year. I was a team chief and I had two gunners my last year in the Army. And um my second gunner, his his name was Sean Rogers, PFC Rogers. We went on to become the best team in the battalion. Uh one of our training. We we were attached to an infantry unit, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry. And that captain really thought that we were a nice little high-speed air defense team. And he requested us every time they went training. So my last year, me and him, we were never in garrison because they were always out training. But I got to do my last year, I got to do a lot of fun stuff being a part of this infantry unit.

SPEAKER_02 45:34

Oh yeah, they're always doing something.

SPEAKER_01 45:36

Yeah, they were always doing something. We would uh we would um ruck in six miles or you know, because what from what I remember, the armored vehicles would get them to a certain point and then they would dismount and walk or ruck the rest of the way in. So we got to do a lot of that stuff my final year. So that was the closest, and perhaps my last year was the best year in the army was doing that type of stuff. Got to got to do, got to watch them breach. They would let us, they trained us too. So we got to learn a little bit of their tactics. And we even cross-trained, you know, some of their guys on getting them familiar with certain is uh aspects of the missile. We couldn't show them how everything with it. But if something happened to me or him, at least someone would roughly or relatively be able to to fire the missile because we would carry six missiles with us. We would have to dismount. I would have a missile, my gunner would have a missile, and then they would have to pick four infantrymen to carry the other four. And those missiles were 30, I don't know, 20, 30 pounds. It was a lot of weight on top of the weight those guys was already carrying. Oh, yeah, yeah. They don't travel light. Nope. Nope. And we traveled lighter than them. I don't know. I think maybe I would have a 40 or 45, 50 pound rucksack. Theirs would maybe have another 10 or 20 pounds in it. But yeah, that was that was that was the exciting time. You know, to go into NTC, there was a place we used to go in Colorado called Penin Canyon, that we would go for extreme cold weather training, which I hated. Because it would be, I remember one time it 20 below. 20 below. Yeah, it was freezing cold. I I don't like the cold now because of that.

SPEAKER_02 47:50

Yeah, that's that kind of cold that gets right into your bones. Yes, it does. Yep, it surely does. So w what year did you end up getting out of the um out of the military then?

SPEAKER_01 48:01

I got out the summer of 93. Okay. And I I went into the reserves.

SPEAKER_00 48:08

Okay.

From Driver To Team Chief With The Infantry

SPEAKER_01 48:09

I I went into the reserve. I think I was in the reserves for a year. I um got uh attached to an MP unit in Orangeburg, New York. Uh-huh. And I did that for about a year, but coming from active to that, I didn't, I didn't I didn't care for it. You know, going from doing something every day to reporting for drill and then sitting around. I think I think I did it for about six or seven months. One, I was driving an hour, two hours to get there, sitting around all day, and then I would have to turn around and drive all the way back home. So after about six months, I said, no, I didn't want to do that. Uh after I went into the inactive reserve two months later, that unit got activated and they went to Bosnia. Oh wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:04

And they didn't call you. I dodged another bullet, no. I dodged another one.

SPEAKER_02 49:11

Yeah. So I wanted to ask you, spent four roughly almost five years in uniform. Um, when you finally like hung up the uniform, what was it like, you know, putting the uniform on for the very last time and knowing that you were you were gonna be done?

SPEAKER_01 49:29

I really don't remember. I I don't I don't remember feeling anyway about it, I don't think. No.

SPEAKER_02 49:39

And it was a different transition too, right? Because you didn't leave active duty. You kind of left active duty and then went to the reserves and then sort of to the reserves, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:47

Got out and found a job. Uh-huh. Um when I when I got out of the army, I think I took uh took a couple of months off. Yeah. A couple of months, you know, just to gather myself and and and just readjust to civilian life. And then I started looking for a job. And with my background, I'm trying to find security jobs. And I remember my mom taking me to these interviews, and I was overqualified for every security job that I tried to apply for. And I was like, I would be the best candidate, you know, to watch your front door. I'm just getting out of the military. So I couldn't, I couldn't land a job. And finally, uh a friend of mine um took my information for FedEx. And within two weeks, I started working. I started working at FedEx, where I spent I spent almost 20 years there. Oh, gosh. And I remember filling out my application because you had this is during the day you had to physically go in and put in applications and sit down and be interviewed. And I remember there were about two or three people in front of me and they're they're taking their applications. Okay, we'll get back in touch with you. We'll get back in touch with you. So I said, Oh, they're just gonna take my application. I'm never gonna hear from them again. I remember the interviewer take my application and got to the part where I was in the military, and they said, Well, can you come back for a second interview? I said, Oh, sure, I'll come back for a second interview within a week. I was at Newark Airport uh working at FedEx, and by this time, all of the weight I had gained up, I'll maybe 35 pounds. Yeah, I'd been out, you know, I had been out of the army for maybe six months, and I had put on all of this weight. And FedEx took that weight off me within six months because I started a whole different kind of boot camp, right? Whole different kind of boot camp. I started out unloading boxes. They would take the uh containers off of the plane, bring it to an unload area, and I did that every day for I think maybe four or five hours a day, with maybe 10 minutes break between flights, and I wind up shedding all of that weight that I had gained because I went from being very active to not being active at all. Right. To going back to being active again, and then I would go to my drills on, you know, I forget what I two weekends. I never made it to the two weekends, the weekend, a month or whatever that was, but I would go to my drills and work. And I was, yeah, I moved back home with my family. I was living with my parents. Um, at that time, my brother was away in college, and it was just me and my sister home with my parents. So I just started my life and working, and I would travel. I would go back and forth to Carson, and I kept in touch with a lot of those guys, and we still keep in touch, but it's only uh, you know, for my buddies that we do stuff, you know, Birch, Jonathan, and and Hickerson. You know, we travel and once a year we get together and just, you know, just have fun and relive the old days and enjoy life now.

SPEAKER_02 53:11

Yeah, yeah, well, you have to, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So in in all that time, did you get married? I've just got married.

SPEAKER_01 53:19

Oh I got married a year, I've been married over a year. Well, congratulations. Yeah, y'all, thank you, thank you. Best best uh decision I ever made. Yeah. But when I was young, I never I wanted to, but it just really like it never worked out. And then you know how you give up on certain things, right? You know, because I I made I made a bunch of bad decisions with these women. But uh my wife came along, and you know, a a good woman changes things in a man's life, and she's been instrumental in a lot of my good fortune these past since I've been with her. We've been together now 11 years. You know, so uh a lot of my good fortune now is because of her. Right. Right. Well, how did you meet? We met at we met at my current job where I work at now. We met and we were friends, we were friends for about of the 11 years, we were friends for about five years. We we were friends. Uh-huh. And when um the opportunity came for me to, and I had already always liked her, and when that opportunity came, you know, I just went out on a limb and she felt the same way about me, and we've been together ever since. Wow, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 54:47

Yeah.

Leaving Active Duty, Reserves, And Near Deployments

SPEAKER_02 54:48

Yeah. So you know, I'm I'm curious, you you uh a lot of guys when they get out of the military bounce around a little bit, but you landed that job at FedEx and stayed there for 20 years. Did did the the were there things that you learned in the military that helped you in that civilian career?

SPEAKER_01 55:08

It it it did. Um, the owner of FedEx, Fred Smith, he was in the Marine Corps. I think I believe he was a Marine Corps aviator. So FedEx is structured like the military. Oh so when I started working there, it was like a real simple transition for me. It wasn't hard because you know, I couldn't just go to my director. I had to they had FedEx had a chain of command, FedEx operated in military time. We opted operated um with deadlines and when we had to have packages delivered and packages picked up, so I was used to that. So it it it became it that was easy. FedEx was a joy until until it wasn't. You know, I've been gone for there, I've been at the job that I'm at now, I'm going into my 15th year, right? The Newark Housing Authority, and I left FedEx, you know, because the culture started to change. When I first started working for FedEx, it was really, and FedEx had a a it's called PSP, people, service, profit. And FedEx would actually put the people before service and profit. And when it started to change and they started to buy all of these trucking companies, I saw like the writing was on the wall, doubling our workloads, but you had the same time to do it. You know, I couldn't keep up anymore. Right. So, you know, I started looking for something else, and I wound up with this job that started me off paying more money and everything, because um, when my second son was born, I was a courier for FedEx working in Midtown Manhattan, Rockefeller Center. I spent 16 years, 16 tree lightings, 16 ball drops, uh beneath all of it. 9-11, I was in Manhattan, 9-11. I saw the horrors of that day firsthand, and um FedEx was just a structured place until they started getting away from what made the company successful, and that was the people. Right. And I've you know, after doing that for so many years, you start to slow down. I'm still a young man, but you know, I had 60 stops, now you got a hundred stops, 120 stops, and you still got six and a half hours, seven hour hours to do it in, and it would just start to become too much. Yeah. So I started, I went out on a limb. I remember having a conversation with my brother, afraid to leave. You know, by this time I have children, you know, I'm taking care of my kids, and and I was afraid to make a that next step. But I was pushed to a point to where I didn't have any choice, and I started working where I am now, which is an adventure all in itself. Because if I would have known what I know now about where I'm at, I probably would have stayed at FedEx and got that last five years and retired and then done it, you know, did something else. Right, right. But um shoot, I can't say that honestly, because I wouldn't have my wife if I did that.

SPEAKER_02 58:55

But right, yeah, everything happens for a reason, you know. I think.

SPEAKER_01 58:59

Yeah. Yeah, but this job I'm at now is a crazy, crazy journey I'm on from day to day. Yeah, yeah, I'll bet. Do you have you have um how many children? I have three boys, three boys. Oh yeah. A 27-year-old, a 21-year-old, and a 17-year-old about to graduate high school. Wow. Yep, yeah. I'm almost done.

SPEAKER_02 59:25

Yep, they're almost all off the payroll, as we say.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

Yeah, no, no, they're still they're still on the payroll. That never changes, does it? Nope, nope. We're still on my parents' payroll. I tell my dad say when my father always telling us, man, when you guys gonna do for you, go there, we eat. He said, When you guys gonna do for yourself, never. So, you know, it never stops. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 59:48

Uh that's why we're parents, I think. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so you know, you've done quite a bit and you've lived a really good full life so far. You got a lot of years left in you, I think. Yeah, yeah. You know, you've got uh a family, um, you know, you've had some adventures uh and all of those things. Um, so is there anything that we haven't covered that you wanted to talk about?

Struggling For Work And Finding FedEx

SPEAKER_01 1:00:12

Um there is so much. Yeah. You know my my my family life has been, you know, my my my parents, my brother, my sister, um, you know, now my wife and my friends have also played an important part too in in the man that I am currently. Because, you know, my family has always been there, supported me, even when, you know, I was having three kids, and you know, I have two women that I have children with. So it was hard for me. You know, my oldest son, I've had my oldest son since he was two years old. You know, his mom lives in another state. So, you know, I've had him and then my other two boys, you know, me and their mom weren't together. You know, we've raised them together, but it was difficult for me, not having, you know, a ton of money back then and and being the one who provided a lot of the financial means. My family really came in and like supported me and helped me through through some of those times because those times were hard. I didn't make a lot of money at FedEx. FedEx was fun, but when I look back, I'm like, yeah, I spent all that time there and I really couldn't take care of myself, which is you know another reason why I left. And that financial burden weighed heavy on me because you know, you want to do the best that you can for your family, and then when you can't, it it takes a toll. But my family has always been there. And even even now, I'm I'm in a really good place and a really good position. You know, I still have the support of my family. You know, the support of having a wonderful wife. And then, you know, I have really good friends. You know, not just the ones I speak of from the army, but at FedEx, you know, I spent, whereas me and Birch, we're thinking thieves, johnnikins, we're we're we're all close and and cute. And we spent two years together. I have my FedEx family that I spent 20 years with that has, you know, been very supportive of me and and always there. So, you know, I'm blessed in in many ways because I really could have been out there struggling, you know, trying to be the best father I could be. And I had a ton of help. Ton of help because the good boys that I have, they work, you know, and no trouble, don't give me any trouble, they don't get in any trouble. And I didn't do all that by myself. Right. You know, I had a lot of help. So, you know, I wanted to express, you know, how important my family has been, how important my wife is, because at the end of the day, you know, she just left out of here to go to go to church. Uh uh a lot of where I am now is because of that woman. You know, so and you know, my my my dad, how I have seen him with my mom over the past 53 years, you know, that's what I always what I always wanted, and I thought that I would never achieve, and I have it. So took me, you know, 50 some odd years to get it, but I finally got it. Yeah. You know, so here you are. Yeah, I got me a you know, a companion, uh, soulmate, a lovemate, you know, everything. She she helped me get my finances back together. You know, because I tell my sons now, you know, they're young, and I tell them all the time, you know, don't worry about, you know, women so much. Women will come. I always tell them to worry about getting themselves in a in a position of where they don't have to work as hard as I do because I have a second job. I have a full-time job, and I I I uh am a director of maintenance at a movie theater part-time. And I I try to impress on them if they work hard now and don't start a family young and and worry about themselves. I said, when you get to be in your 50s like me, I said, maybe you guys can take it easy and you don't have to work as hard as I do. And I'm not killing myself out here, but I work, I work pretty hard. Yeah. So, you know, I try to impress on them to work hard now. You know, enjoy life, but work hard now so that you can, you know, have it easy when you get older. You know, I put a lot of wear and tear on my body, and you know, like I said, I'm home today is my only full day. Right, really home, and and then, you know, I gotta spend time with the my wife and and you know, we clean up and before you know it, it's Monday and I'm back, I'm back to work 14 hours a day, 15 hours a day. So, yeah, my family, you know, I've I've I've I'm living the dream now, you know. So I can't tell you about too many, too many hardships. I really haven't had like anything that was deeply distressing in my life, and those things that have been distressing were self-made. I did it to myself, you know, and sometimes you need someone to uh direct you in the right direction. And fortunately, I've I've I got a villager of that. So with that, well, good.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:11

Yeah, good. You know, typically uh towards the end of the interview, I I ask folks what message would you like to leave with people? But I feel like that's the message.

Manhattan Routes, 9/11, And Culture Shift

SPEAKER_01 1:06:20

Yeah. You know, you know, family, and uh, and and taking care of one another, and taking care of one another is something that you see now that we're not doing as a nation right now. You know, we're really, we're really not. We're watching in real time what I believe is the decline of a great nation. And so many of us are sitting back and watching it happen and saying nothing. You know, I try to speak out. You know, we're just regular guys. It's only for so much we can do, but I try to speak out against what I see that's wrong. My brother tells me I need to shut my mouth and and be quiet, but it it's hard to just sit back and see something's messed up and just not say anything, you know, and hope that it's gonna be okay some days, or and you may have to go out and do something or get your hands dirty or or try to help your neighbor. And we we we're getting away from that, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:27

Yeah, you know, so I think I think as a country too, we've been around for 250 years. I I I I feel like there's always a course correction at some point, regardless of what we think is going on. We'll see, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:42

Yeah, we will, yeah, yeah. No matter how it goes. And and 250 years, we're still young. Yeah. Yeah, we're still young as a country. I was talking to a friend of mine and I posed a question to him, and um he he couldn't answer it. I said, you know, how many years in the 250 years has the United States seen peace? And when I told him 17 to 18 years, he couldn't believe it. I said, Yeah, that's it. You know, I said, we either at war with each other or we're at war with other people, and it's unsustainable. And so, you know, we got to get ourselves together. Well, I would agree. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:23

So well, I um I appreciate you taking time out on a Sunday, your day off, to sit and and talk with me today. Um, I'm glad that we're able to share your story. And uh, you know, Cedric, it's a pleasure to finally sort of meet you face to face. Yeah, yeah, same here.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:39

I appreciate it. I really, I really do. So I can't wait to listen to this. You know, I don't like listening to myself, but this was this was exciting. You know, I don't have the most, you know, exciting story. I'm quite sure you've interviewed people who've done it all, but um it's been pretty interesting.