SPEAKER_00

Good day, friends, and welcome to Pitbull 214 Podcast. A podcast for vets, their family, friends, neighbors, and really anyone who cares about vets. I am your host for this program, Air Force veteran Rick Parales, and I'm pleased to be here. For our first-time viewers, welcome. And let me tell you a little bit about Fitbull 214 Podcast. This podcast was developed to assist and serve our vets. It does it by identifying and explaining the hundreds, if not thousands, of organizations, services, opportunities, resources out there totally for veterans. The problem is that the veterans and their family members don't often know about them. And this program will try to connect many of those. And let me tell you, and I've seen this, many will enhance the veterans' life. Some will even be life-changing. So that's our primary purpose, but we're also going to tell stories, war stories, the veterans' war stories, by the veterans to the veterans. I believe this could build some camaraderie, uh, veteran community, and that's the case with today's guest. He's going to tell us his war story, and it's riveting. But before we get there, I got a couple more things I want to share with you. Um first, and probably most urgently, is we're in week three of Operation Epic Fury. And from everything I can see, it sounds like we're doing well. We're doing as planned. We've had casualties and we will likely have more. But it sounds like everyone's doing what they are supposed to do. I'm very proud, as I'm sure you are, of our men and women in uniform for everything that they've been doing and continue to do. And just want to let them know and their families know that we will keep them in our thoughts and prayers and pray for them to finish the mission and come back safely to their families, to the loved ones. God bless our troops. A bit of good news is that our podcast just topped 100 subscribers. And I know there's some people out there that are saying, big deal, a hundred. But believe you me, it is a big deal to me and my team. We've been working on this for over a year, and it didn't seem like that was ever going to happen. Now that said, and like I said, I'm pleased, we've got to reach a whole lot more vets if we're gonna be successful. We've got to reach vets everywhere and help them and serve them. So um I thank everyone for what they've done to support this in the past, and I look forward to you continuing to share the program with others. Our guest uh went over the time allotment that I usually allow, but I know when you see his interview, um you're not gonna mind it a bit. Uh, Larry Drawn is a Marine and he was injured in Afghanistan, and he's got an amazing story. And sharing some of his parts for the first time publicly with us here, and I understand it was hard for Larry to do, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it because I think it's gonna give some insight to those folks out there that maybe don't have military relatives or anyone that's been in battle. Uh, it's not an easy situation. And Larry shares it, he talks about it in a very understandable way. So um you're gonna you're gonna enjoy that story. I'm confident. So with that, I am going to go to break and we'll be right back with Pitbull 214 podcast. Pitbull out. Welcome back to Pitbull 214. I am Rick Perales, an Air Force vet, and I am your host for this program. A program to assist our vets, letting them know what's out there for them and their families that they may not know about. Organizations, services, opportunities, events, resources. There are so many out there, so many people that want to help our vets. Unfortunately, the vets don't always know about that. As a matter of fact, they seldom know about it. So that's our main purpose. The second purpose is to do some connection of our vets, our veteran community, by bringing people on to tell their war stories, veterans, by the veterans themselves. And I am so fortunate today to have a good friend of mine, a survivor. He served in, I think he was deployed twice, and he has really acclimated back into life. And I'm not going to steal any more of his thunder. He has a great story, and I'm sure that you guys will be riveted to it. So without further ado, Larry Drawn. Hey, Larry.

SPEAKER_02

Hey, Rick. How you doing today?

SPEAKER_00

So you're a Marine, huh?

SPEAKER_02

Yep, I'm a Marine.

SPEAKER_00

A proud Marine. Proud, very proud. You've got a story, don't you? Somewhat, yeah. Let's start off with talk about you as a child growing up and all the way up to the time where you knew you wanted to be a Marine.

SPEAKER_02

I grew up in Dayton, Ohio, graduated from Meadowdale High School, played sports, baseball, wrestled. Ever since I was younger, I did baseball. Went to college for a little bit. Let me back up a little bit. After I got out of high school, I ended up meeting the love of my life. We dated for a few months before I asked her to marry me. It's my wife now, of about to be 19 years. And I've met her. She's lovely. Yeah, she's gotta be to put up with me. No kidding.

SPEAKER_00

I didn't say that part.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I definitely upgraded in life that one.

SPEAKER_00

I I outpunted my coverage as well. So we're similar like that.

SPEAKER_02

Went to college for a couple months. I always knew in the back of my mind I wanted to go into the military, and but I wanted to try to give college a go. And I realized that wasn't the track I wanted to take. And I had some friends get wounded in Iraq and knowing a bunch of people that got KIA'd in action and stuff like that. So I wanted to do my part to get back, and I woke up on December 14th. I was engaged at the time, my soon-to-be wife woke up on December 14th and decided that today I'm gonna go enlist in the United States Marine Corps. I didn't tell a soul. Let me interrupt right there.

SPEAKER_00

I gotta ask this question. Was it always the Marine Corps?

SPEAKER_02

Did you Yeah, there was if I was no I kind of said your answer.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, continue.

SPEAKER_02

My cousin was in the Marines as well, and they always had the best uniform. And they always like to fight, hunt, run, and shoot. So the Marine Corps was that perfect. The MO for me. And uh so signed up or enlisted. And nobody knew what nobody knew what I was doing. They had no idea. Not even my fiance. Yep. So went to the recruiter, did all that, signing all that stuff. Came back, met up with my fiance, and I told her, I was like, hey, I got something to tell you. She's like I got something to tell you too. And so I told her, she told me to go first. So I told her I enlisted in the Marine Corps, and she goes, I was about to go take my ass fab and enlist in the Air Force. I was like, shoot. And I was like, I said, what do you want to do? She goes, I support you. If this is what you want to do, I'll be there by your side. And that was the answer I was praying for.

SPEAKER_00

And she's been by your side ever since.

SPEAKER_02

Been by my side ever since.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

So at least one person in their family was smart thinking about the Air Force.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, she her dad's retired Air Force. Oh, okay. So, anyways, I left the December 26th. I signed up December 14th and left the day after Christmas and started boot camp on January 1, 2007. So I did my three months at boot camp, which was a great time. Came home from boot camp. My parents weren't too happy with me enlisting, and I knew my dad was sick, but I didn't know how sick. A few days after getting home, right after I got home, the day I got home, I went and saw my dad in the hospital, and he was getting released that day to go home. And a couple days later I was gonna go get him fitted for his tuck so he could be my best man. And mom called me that morning and said he passed away.

SPEAKER_00

But you got to see him one last time.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. Felt like a baby.

SPEAKER_00

Nothing like that. Yeah. That was rough. I lost my dad. I know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02

So that was rough.

SPEAKER_00

So you ended up getting married.

SPEAKER_02

I ended up getting married. After I got back from boot camp and my dad's funeral and everything, I left the day after the funeral. I couldn't do it. I had to go. So I went to school of infantry at uh Camp Geiger, did my training there. We got three choices, like our wish list for duty stations. And I called my wife, I was like, hey, what she moved my three choices, and she's a lizard, so she likes the beach and the sun and all that. And she goes, just pick Hawaii, just by dumb luck. I was like, okay, I'll pick it. That's my number one. And a couple days before we graduated or finished up School of Infantry, we got our orders. And he was like, Drawn, guess what? I was like, what's that? He's like, You're going to Hawaii. I was like, oh crap. I wanted to, but I was like, at that point, I realized I was gonna get stationed like extremely far away from my family. So commuting home was gonna be like almost impossible without an airline. So we got stationed in Hawaii at 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. I had to go to Hawaii and then was there for a couple weeks and then flew home to get married, which was a pain in the butt to do. Had some command issues about getting home. If you ever joined the military, make sure you get everything in writing. Don't just word of mouth it, because if it ain't in writing, it ain't gonna happen. Because they were trying to keep me from going home and getting married, even though I told her from day one when my wedding was. So yeah, make sure you get things in writing. So come home, got married to my gorgeous wife, and went back. I was home for I was gone for 72 hours before I had to report back. They only gave me a day to come home.

SPEAKER_00

Wow, from Hawaii.

SPEAKER_02

From Hawaii. I came in on Friday and got married on Saturday and had to go back to Hawaii on Sunday. Wow. It was stupid.

SPEAKER_00

Like it was And at this time you had no kids yet, right?

SPEAKER_02

No kids.

SPEAKER_00

And your father had left us by this time. You got married, and that was the start of your military experience.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that was the start of my military experience.

SPEAKER_00

When you're MOS, what were you doing?

SPEAKER_02

O311 infantry. Okay. So yep, I flew back to Hawaii, and that's when we started our training. Ramping up after about a month after getting back, got into every school I could, every training opportunity.

SPEAKER_00

You're still loving it at this time.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I still love it to the day. Yeah. Like you hate the circus, but you love the clowns. I like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I like that.

SPEAKER_02

Got back to Hawaii, did our training, created that team mindset, got to know all the guys I was going to be deploying with. So my wife, she flew out to Hawaii, and we did all that to get her out there, find lodging, housing, get a car. And it was a lot as a young PFC, private first class, to take on at that time. But the good news is I had to grow up faster when I was younger because I had to work a lot and because someone tried to kill my dad when I was younger. So the Marine Corps was a good break. We did our training, our workup. My wife came out, we got all situated there. I got injured right before one of our big training ops. So I had to do rehab on my back, but I got cleared to go to Iraq. Before we went to Iraq, I think it was right around Christmas, is when we found out that my wife was pregnant with our firstborn. He's 17 now, about to graduate high school and go play college.

SPEAKER_00

And you'll see a picture of him. He's a big boy.

SPEAKER_02

So we found out we were pregnant, exciting to call the family and all this. I think it was into December when we found out. And then February, I left for Iraq. So did my first tour to Iraq. That was 2008. It was not a crazy deployment. We lost a few. We lost our battalion commander.

SPEAKER_00

Was it a six-month tour or a 12? A seven-month.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So we lost our battalion commander, one of our company commanders, Corporate Prue at Holmes from a suicide vessel in a shake meeting. Our sergeant major got riddled with ball bearings. He luckily survived. He's an amputee as well. So that was horrible when all that happened. That was a couple months into the deployment. And my wife was pregnant at home, and then So you didn't get injured at all? Not in the first deployment, no. So I flew home. I had to come home early on a red cross. My son was growing too fast. His heart was skipping beats. So they had to red cross me back to be home with my wife because she was borderline bed rest. Flew me home early, got back early, received all the new guys that were coming in. And as a Lance Corporal, I had to take care of a bunch of boot marines. And so once our guys got back, it was full tilt. You know, the Lance Corporal underground kind of coming down the pipe that we already knew where we were going. Not even a month after we got back, we all got word that we were going to Afghanistan. And we're like, oh no, this is gonna get real. So once our unit got back, got through all the leaving stuff, we started our workup for Afghanistan, really intense training. It was actually a lot of fun, a lot of fun training. It was a good time. Yeah. We were training.

SPEAKER_00

I just don't know many Marines that would say that about the camp that I had a good time.

SPEAKER_02

I did. I had a great time all the time. That's you.

SPEAKER_00

I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_02

I like the suck. I really do.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I like being told I can't do something. I like people in my face telling me. I don't know. It just it drives me.

SPEAKER_00

And I see that ever since it wound you.

SPEAKER_02

So just never give up and try to prove people wrong is the mentality I live by.

SPEAKER_00

You were talking about the next deployment.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, the next deployment. Yep. So we did our workup and we found out where we were going. We knew we were going to a bad area. We knew it was very hostile. The units before us didn't really deploy or didn't really go too far outside the wire because of IED's extremely hostile threat. Like they had machine gunners, anti-aircraft guns, they had all the stuff where we were. So found out we're going to Afghanistan, knew we were going to Now Zad Afghanistan, which is Hellman Province. So I told my wife about a couple months before we deploy, I was like, hey babe, I love you guys, but you need to go home. Let's pack up the house. I'm going to send you home with your family. Something's going to happen to me. I don't know if I'm going to die. I knew in my heart that I was going to die. I thought I was going to die. Because I knew I was going to do everything in my might to make sure my guys came home alive. So she looks at me like, You're going to send me home for your deployment. And I said, Yeah, we'll figure housing out when I get back. And she goes, Okay. So we packed up the house and sent her home to be there with family. I was deployed for about from the time I left to when I got blown up was about 30 days. We were on an ambush mission to set up on some insurgents we had in the area. So 30 days later, after leaving, my wife got the call at midnight from the Marine, whoever does the calling out, to let the family know that someone got hurt.

SPEAKER_00

But in that first 30 days, did you have any near misses, close calls, or was it quiet?

SPEAKER_02

I would say it was quiet. We had some pop shots. We were ramping up. Like our mission was full-blown ramp up. Our fob got shot at quite a bit. Like we were on a hill, so elevated. It was a local town. So they would shoot and do all sorts of stupid stuff at us. Or try to at least. So, anyways, I was actually at the main fob. I was doing some training. I was learning how to fly some UAV stuff. And I saw that my squad leader came down and I overheard that they were going on a mission in the morning. I was detached from my squad. I was the second team leader. So I had four other guys' lives I was in charge of. Ours was the casualty team, so we had the doc with us as well. So I overheard that our squad was going on a mission. And so I went into the company office and asked if I can get on this mission because my guys weren't leaving without me. It's just, it is what it is. And so the company commander said, No, you're down here. And I was like, sir, I was like, you don't understand. Like, I'm I need to go on this mission. And so he's like, I asked your squad leader. So I radio up to Corporal Pulver. I was like, hey, I was like, put me on. I was like, I'm in for tomorrow. What am I doing? And so we went through the mission brief and he went through with me. And so I told him I was gonna run point. So I moved my fire team up to first team, and then I ran point with my engineer. Literally, I had a hold of him while he scanned the ground for IEDs and I looked out in front of him for IEDs. I think we found like 21 IEDs that morning. We were probably two and a half, three clicks from the fob.

SPEAKER_00

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

We had crossed into the green zone. We had across a Wadi, and this Wadi's known for really big IEDs. So we went through this area called the bombed out doorway. I was a navigational guy, so I knew we were going to set up our ambush. So went through the bombed out doorway, a couple little goat passages, and then into some fields that were bordered off with about four or five foot walls. And we had to cross the danger area, but within a hundred yards, there was a bunch of pine trees and a bunch of trees, and that's where the enemy was dug in and had established their their zone. So my seven Marines bound across this little danger area, it's probably I don't know ten to eighteen feet across of just no cover. So seven Marines ran across that, and then I saw where my radar operator stepped. It was starting to get a little daylight, a little line out, so I saw where he stepped, and I led with my left foot into his footprint, and as I pressed down, I remember saying, Oh fuck. I felt the ground levitate, and then it just shot me straight up in the air. Flying through the air or an unconscious I'll get to that point a little bit. No, you're good. I haven't told a whole lot of people this. I didn't want them to think I was nutty, my dad being gone. This is a rough one for me. But anyway, so I came to a gated area, and my dad was standing there glowing. And as he gave me a hug, he said, We're not ready for you, son. And it was like, oh I've only told a handful of people that.

SPEAKER_00

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02

And then as the words come out of his mouth, it's like somebody grabbed me by my collar and just sucked me back straight down into my body. And then as I'm flying, I see my wife and my son and everybody smiling that I loved and cared about. And as I hit the ground and come back to, I'd already known what happened, I already knew what I had to do to survive. Like before I even realized my legs were like ripped off, trashed. And I knew I took a direct hit. My guy said I flew between 10, 12, 15 feet in the air. I stepped on equivalent to the 155 round. About a hundred pounds of explosive ordnance. Strap metal ripped my hands apart, fingers were hanging off of my gloves. I looked to my left leg was laying up by my head, like banana peeled and shredded. My right leg was completely amputated. Try to set up wasn't a good idea. I rolled over to my radio operator. I was like, hey, you got 60 seconds till I'm dead. Save me. And so I was able to roll over and grab my gun and try to clear it out and roll over to aim down range when my squad leader got to me and ripped me over. And I started trying to find my tourniquets. I started taking other guys' tourniquets, getting them on my legs. As I'm hollering for the Corpsman, my rated operator is calling in the air medevac, and he was a freaking badass. The dude did it flawlessly. Like I actually got to hear the nine line a long time ago. And yeah, flawlessly. And he was like, Whoever trained that dude, that dude was on point. So my squad leader got to me, provided aid. The corpsman got to me and asked what to do and stuff like that. And I just told him, Don't give me any meds, let me fight. Because I knew it was going to be about an hour. My guys had to carry me on a stretcher. I know they had to put multiple tourniquets on my legs. So as my guys were carrying, I wasn't a lot. Let me ask a question.

SPEAKER_00

When you stepped on that, did anyone else get injured, or was it just you? The guy in front of you got far enough ahead.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, he got covered. He was behind cover.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Just you. Just me. Okay. And I had six 40 mics on my waistband and two hand grenades on my chest so it didn't go off.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you wouldn't be there with me today. No, I'd be done.

SPEAKER_02

I'd be in a lot of pieces. Wow. Some here, some there, over there. Yeah, that would have been me.

SPEAKER_00

That's a couple of special moments between seeing your dad, your family, and all that not happening. Because I would have expected it would have divided all that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it didn't. So how far did you intervene or what's that word on the divine intervention that day for sure?

SPEAKER_00

No question. So how far did they have to carry you?

SPEAKER_02

So it was between right around 45 minutes to an hour. They had to carry me on a stretcher. My squad leader and my company XO didn't let go of the stretcher the entire time. I was 186 pounds when I left for Afghanistan. Plus on my gear and all that fun stuff. Yeah, so I wasn't a light guy. And for them guys to carry me, they had to lift me over top of walls and stuff to get to the trucks. And I don't know. Probably a good five minutes before we got to the trucks, maybe ten. I don't know. I can't keep time at this point. I told my best friend to come over and say, Hey Miller. I was like, tell my wife, my kids, I love them. I'm not coming home. I was just done fighting. I had fought for close to an hour. Or so, maybe l a little bit less at this point. I was just done. I had lost over 70-75% of my blood by this point. It's pretty banged up. And still had a smile on my face. Still like even felt my teeth that were shattered in my mouth, blood. And I was still cracking jokes with my guys, trying to keep them motivated. And then when I was just done fighting, I just told him I l tell everybody I love him. And uh I felt my eyes rolling the back of my head, and that's when Doc smacked me across the face. And uh he was drawn, I can hear the trucks. And I'm like, don't lie to me. And he goes, No, I can hear the trucks, and I was able to gumption enough energy to look over my shoulder, and I I see our first sergeant running across the field and over top of the walls to come help the guys, and everybody hollering at him, Don't do it, because the IED's in the area, and uh didn't care. He came to our aid. They got me to the back of the truck, and as they're lifting me up, I rode over to my other best friend, Mario. I was like, hey, don't tell my wife, she's gonna kill me.

SPEAKER_00

She'll finish the job.

SPEAKER_02

I think she'll kill me. So they got me in the back of the truck, ripped my gear off. And last thing I remember is big needle coming out and then crunching through my sternum into my heart. I don't know, I forget what it's called. It's kind of like a pick straight to the heart. And I blacked out after that. They said I was awake, they said I was very violent. Yeah. And when did you wake up again? So I woke up at Bagram Air Station, which is in Afghanistan. I only woke up shortly for a few seconds there. And I looked at it was my battalion commander. And I woke up and I'm like, I still remember the outline in the haze. I'm like, who the fuck are you? He goes, it's a battalion commander marine. And I was like, Oh, I'm sorry, sir. He goes, Have you talked to your wife? And I said no. And the last thing I remember was saying no. And I went back out. And uh the next time I woke up was in Longstall, Germany. Yep. I had a blonde and brunette waiting for me to wake up. And uh, woke up and I said, Am I in heaven? They're like, No, why? I was like, because you guys look like angels.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you're so quarty. So how long had elapsed from when you got injured to when you saw your angels?

SPEAKER_02

A couple days. Oh days, okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it wasn't so they had you on some heavy, did they induce a coma?

SPEAKER_02

I don't even know. I don't know. Okay. I didn't even care at that point.

SPEAKER_00

But when you woke up that little time, did you know, did you know what happened?

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Pretty coherent for a split second. Okay. I still think my body was just super in shock. Yeah, I was in shock. By the time, like from when I got blown up to by the time I got backstage side, I was only like 115 pounds. I lost like every ounce of muscle I had. Anyway, so woke up and saw them standing there, and I was like, man, I was like, at this point, I didn't care about anything else. I wanted to make sure my boys were okay. That was all I cared about. Yeah. She's like, oh, they're fine. I was like, I need you to call my wife and let her know my boys are okay, and then I got us a handicap placard for Black Friday. So my wife, that wasn't the first phone call she expected to get from me.

SPEAKER_00

But uh, that kills me.

SPEAKER_02

I thought it was pretty funny. That is funny.

SPEAKER_00

If there's more funny to come with your cousins, I know that's coming up soon.

SPEAKER_02

It's coming in the same whole light of stories. But uh, so, anyways, I want to say it was either that day or the day after this gentleman comes walking in the room and he was in a suit all dressed up, and I noticed he had the presidential lapel pin on and stuff like that. And he comes walking over to my bedside and he goes, Are you Lance Corporal drawn? I'm like, Yes, sir. He's I'm on the phone with the president of the United States, which at the time was Barack Obama, and had him on speaker phone and good form for asking. He goes, he's on his way to Germany right now, and he wants you to be the first Purple Heart presented over here when he gets here. And uh, I already knew like I was supposed to be on the Medevac the next day to go home, my wife and my mom. And uh so I was like, very well, sir, Mr. President. And I was like, Do I still get to go home tomorrow? And they both said no. I was like, Where are you guys gonna fly my my wife out here to be present for this? Because she needs to, and they said, No, Marine. And I said, with all due respect, Mr. President, you can go fuck yourself. I was like, You don't rate to give me the purple heart. I was like, the commandant and the sergeant major of the Marine Corps can give it to me. So That probably hasn't happened a whole lot when you probably not. So, anyways, so that uh that night they moved me to a R arrest and recovery room. They got me stable and all that fun jazz. My timeline might be off by a day or two here and there. It's you really don't keep track of time when you're in that situation, it goes by really slow. So I remember they got me in the RR room with a bunch of other guys, and this lady pops in and she's asking all the other guys, just taking count, and she didn't read my name off. And I was like, hey ma'am, I was like, is there a marine on there by Lance Cobal Drawing and for the flight manifest for the next day for the morning? And she goes, No, you're not on the list, I'm sorry. And I said, That's gonna change. And I started remembering screaming for my gunny or any marine liaison that was there to come into my room to get me a phone that I needed to call my wife. And I told her they're gonna make me stay here to get the purple heart. And I remember her like, oh hell no, they're not. So she got on the hook or talked to her dad, and a I even think they reached out to Congress somehow to make sure, because it only took two hours, that lady pops back in the room and she goes, Are you Lance Cobal Drawn? I'm like, Yes, ma'am. She goes, You're going home tomorrow. I was like, damn. Good for you. I was like, I wanted to see my wife more than anything in the world. I'll bet. And uh oh. So got me on that flight back to Stateside, landed, got me on an ambulance, medivaxed me to Bethesda Medical Center at the time. As I'm getting out of the back of the medic, my wife's there. Which was awesome. Didn't want her to see me that way, but it is what it is. So once they got me up to the room and she started crying, and I said, Don't ever cry for me. I was like, I need you here as my support. I was like, if you need to cry, you need to leave the room. I was like, I love you, but please don't cry. Don't feel sorry for me. This was my decision and my choice to better my family and my country. I was like, so just be my support. And so she never shed another tear around me. That's probably a mean thing to do, but I didn't need sympathy, I needed motivation as somebody to put their foot in my ass. Like at that point. I didn't want to eat, like laying in bed, laying in the hospital bed. Everything bothered me. I was allergic to found out I was allergic to morphine, which isn't fun. So I remember my cousin coming into the room and he's standing at the foot of the bed, and I asked him, I said, Hey, my feet itch. Can you scratch them? So he lifted up my bed sheet to go scratch my feet, and he turned as white as your shirt and ran out the door. And it hurt to laugh. It hurt to laugh, but it was funny.

SPEAKER_00

But uh yeah, so now was your son with your wife at the hospital, or you didn't see his own.

SPEAKER_02

My wife and mom, my son didn't come out for a week. Okay. So I know we're a little bit on a time crunch.

SPEAKER_00

But uh this is awesome, man. Yeah, keep it going.

SPEAKER_02

It's a long story. But uh so that following Monday, I think I got it home on a Thursday or Friday. Monday, the Commandant and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps comes walking in my room. And uh the Commandant's Marine in my 30 years of being in the Marine Corps, have I never heard of a Marine telling a president to go fuck himself? He goes, I wasn't expecting that phone call from the president saying one of my Marines told him to go fuck himself. He goes, but I am honored to pin a purple heart on you any day, Marine. So they pinned it to my bed sheet, and yeah, it was a pretty proud moment. Yeah, I got we got a picture of that too that you'll see up here soon. The Commandant and Sergeant Major pinned my purple heart on with my mom and my wife being there by my side, which was pretty awesome. Yeah, so that's that whole tobacco of a story right there. And then I did two and a half years of physical therapy, but I'll back up real quick. The cool thing about the whole story is like I found out my son was coming to visit. And this was I think the day after the Commandant put the thing on my shirt or my bed sh that purple heart on my bed sheet, and my son was coming in town, and I told my wife, my doctor, I didn't want him to see me in a wheelchair. And the other thing was is the Red Cross came in and offered us tickets to go to the Nationals baseball game.

SPEAKER_00

How old was your son at this time? About six?

SPEAKER_02

Probably eight months. Oh, a baby still, okay. No, he'll be a little older. How old was he when I got he was born in 2008 and I got hit in 09. So he was almost a year. Yeah.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

So about eight or nine months. Yeah. And so I wanted to take him to his first baseball game at the Nationals game. And the doctors, this is by this time, it'll only be 12 days from blast. The doctor said, There's no way. You're still bet. You're in bed. You've not transferred to your wheelchair. Physical therapy hasn't even started working with you. He goes, There's no way. I was like, I was like, my son's not gonna see his dad now.

SPEAKER_00

Again, someone doubting you're challenging.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, someone challenging him. That's right. And he goes, You still have calves and your catheters and all your IVs and everything in your arms. And I was like, let's get them out. Let's do this. And he goes, Are you sure? And I'm like, yep. I was like, we'll switch it to oral meds. And I was like, get physical therapy in here and all that fun stuff. So got physical therapy in there, and I started transferring to the wheelchair and got the finally got the catheter out and got all the IVs and everything out of my arms. I was like ripping them out myself. I had pins in all my hands, and the only thing I could use was two middle fingers and my thumb, but I had big casts on all my hands and arms. And I was able to meet my son downstairs that week and take him outside for the first time with me. I got to go outside for the first time with him, and then 12 days post-blast, I took my son to his first baseball game.

SPEAKER_00

I didn't get a picture of that. Can you send me one? Yeah, I know you have one. I know my audience would love to see that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. So I took my son to his first ball game, and then within that was 12, so about 14 days post-blast, I was discharged to go live with my wife at the Malone house at Bethesda. So I got to spend a couple nights out with my wife. The bad thing was is I woke up and had a pee one morning in the middle of the night, and I didn't realize I didn't have legs and tried to stand up out of bed. Not a great idea. So my wife said she better figure out how to get back in bed. I was like, dang it.

SPEAKER_00

But I think we're a lot lighter now, so she can help you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, for sure. That hurt bad. Thankfully, I landed on my knee and not my actual animal.

SPEAKER_00

You're amazing that you can laugh at all this and cut jokes while you're still injured and going through it all. I love that.

SPEAKER_02

There was a lot. I had to stay positive.

SPEAKER_00

Before we get to the end of the story, what advice would you give to other soldiers who come back physically, aren't mentally, less than what they went out there. They're different.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

When you go in, you're gonna lose a part of you. You gotta lose a part to gain a part. Unfortunately, that's a military mindset. Gotta lose a lot of your caring and your sympathy and which kind of sucks. It is what it is. It's always been a big part of my life to love. And but when you go to the military, you know there's gonna be a lot of loss. There's gonna be a lot of stuff, a lot of people that are gonna regret. You just gotta if you regret something, put it behind you because regret will kill you. It'll eat you alive. When you get out, find something to cope with everything and which is a perfect transition.

SPEAKER_00

Talk a little bit about your family and your what you're doing now, because I think you're a model. I've already bragged about this episode to many people. You're a model of someone that will say, I'm proud to be a Marine, I do it again, and moving forward with your family and your activities. Talk a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no, I mean, be married 19 years this year. I got two kids. My son's 17, about to graduate. My daughter's about to turn 13 here in eight days. Yeah. Integrating back into society was rough. Feeling sorry for myself a little bit. I don't really know if it was feeling sorry, just a lot of anger. Was drinking a lot, just struggling. And like many vets do. Right. And uh so trying to figure out how to cope with that and keep a relationship with my wife, it wasn't easy. It was work. I had to put work in, she had to put work in. Still to this day, we both put work in. And we have our ups and downs. It's life. But I picked up a fishing rod one morning and instead of a bottle and went back to my roots as when I was a kid. I found something to fill that void. And I think a lot of it was I wanted people to understand and know what I went through, which that was especially my wife, which I thought and got in my head, like how selfish of me. I did what I had to do so they didn't have to suffer, so they didn't have to know, so they didn't have to feel what I went through. I sacrificed my life and limb and my mind so they could have a better life, so everybody else in this country could have a better life. And I put all my regrets behind me, and fortunately going to the military, I said I was gonna do it with no regrets so I could sleep at night. And uh that's the mindset I had, and the mindset I tried to tell other veterans that are getting out of the military or going into the military. I was like, whatever you do it with no regrets, people that have regrets, it will eat you alive.

SPEAKER_00

Talk about your hobbies. You just talked about fishing.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, fishing.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's a big one.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, I love fishing, hunting, I love the outdoors. So anything outdoor related is freaking whether it's sports with my kids, fishing, hunting. I love taking veterans hunting, getting them outdoors because that's been a big healing part for me.

SPEAKER_00

Ice hockey.

SPEAKER_02

Ice hockey, yep. Play for the Ohio Warriors sled hockey team. That if you're a disabled veteran or active dear anybody you you like hockey and find a local sled hockey team and go try it out because it's so much fun.

SPEAKER_00

I gotta I got a couple more. You're right, we got to get going. And for my viewers out there, I'm gonna put Larry's contact information there because I feel certain that there are gonna be a few people out there struggling. Maybe they were where Larry was before. And Larry, just talking to someone that knows what you're going through. Boy, that means a lot for Red. So I'm sure he'd be happy to chat with anybody and share whatever he needs to share.

SPEAKER_02

I might have you do my email because I got a spam blocker on. That way my phone doesn't ring a hundred dollars.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we'll do the email and feel free to call him. He's a very open guy. Larry, I want to ask, we're a war right now. What advice borderline of war? Yeah, I'm with you. Yeah. Semantics. But what bothers me are people that aren't supporting our troops. And what's your take? What would you advise the folks out there?

SPEAKER_02

If you don't support our troops, shame on you. If you don't like this country, don't let the door hit you on the way out. If you look at it this way, am I happy about going in and knocking on Iran's door and taking their lunch? I'm extremely happy because they're the ones that supplied all the IEDs and armor piercing stuff for Afghanistan, for the guys in Afghanistan. They helped create all those IEDs and gave them the tools to do so. You know what? I don't wish war and I don't wish death on anybody, but good for America to go uh finally do what every other president wouldn't do and was afraid to do. There was a lot of bloodshed and a lot of blood on the Iranian hands for years.

SPEAKER_00

60 years. 69.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, 69 years. They've created the warmongering in the Middle East. So I'm thankful we went in and freaking.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, I knew that was gonna be your answer. And I tell folks, hey, this isn't political, support our kids. It's amazing. Give them what they need, let them win this, and come back home to their families. And no one knows that more than you. Boy, I know that you enjoyed that. This guy's just amazing, and he's humble too. So I'll call him a hero and he'll say, Oh, shut up. Or maybe worse, you heard what he told the president. Feel free to give them get in contact with them, and you'll see some of the pictures that I put in there showing his life. And I think it's a story that I'm glad we're getting on tape so that we can share it to other people that might benefit from it. So, Larry, thank you so much to give a cup, coffee cup for my guest. And I thank you so much, and I look forward to working with you more with Bill Thurman.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah, it's crazy, Bill.

SPEAKER_00

I like it. Thank you again and pit bull out. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Pitbull 214. And wasn't that amazing? Uh Larry's uh just a special human being, and I thank him for his dedication to this country. He's a Marine, what you expect from a Marine, and he has a story to share, and I'm glad he did it with us. Again, thank you, Larry. Uh uh I look forward to getting out there and playing some golf with you sometime soon as the weather starts getting better. I want to say here, and again, I'm gonna try to keep this part brief. I know we've gone over my usual standard timeframe, but I want to once again solicit input on something you want to see differently, the corrections, but mostly I want to solicit input on program services, veterans that have stories to share that you think would fit my model here. I've got three or four interviews already in the queue ready to go, uh and I've got many more contacts that I'm making, but sooner or later I'm gonna need some help in digging up some more. As I said before, if I am showing you something that you don't have in your area, maybe you can start it. And if you have something in your area that you think is a great idea, I want to share it with everyone else and they can pick up on it. So it's it's a lot of everyone helping everyone else to help our vets, and I appreciate that. Of course, the other thing is I want to make sure everybody shares these podcast episodes, the YouTube channel, with other vets out there and people that care about vets. That's the only way that we'll keep this thing rolling out. Lastly, as I usually do, I want to introduce next week's guest. We're gonna have Elizabeth Harding. She works at Wright State University here in Dayton, Ohio, and she's gonna talk about a program they have at Wright State called the Entrepreneur Boot Camp for Vets. It's a special program that any vet could qualify for. It's a weak boot camp where they teach you how to start your and run your own business. And the one of the best parts is it's free. If you get selected, they pay for all the expenses, including travel and subsistence and your hotel. You might want to look into. And she does a great job there, and I look forward to having her next week, of course. So, with that, I thank you again for being with us. I hope you enjoy the show and spread the word.