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Oscar Mike Radio – 502 – Justin Jordan – Warriors Heart · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

0:05
Hello and welcome to Ask Mike Radio.
0:07
My name is Travis, Marine Corps veteran and your host Ask Mike
0:12
Radio's Co producer since to 1 productions.
0:15
What's your podcast doing? I want to thank my sponsors
0:18
Joyce ASAC, VASAC Real Estate, Danielle Rocco with E6 Creations
0:23
and my supporters Case on Shaving Company, Exceptional
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Parent Magazine and Fight Camp. Be your strongest combination.
0:31
So I'm just going to call this down.
0:32
This is the, you know, we're right after 10 years episode
0:37
500. We're we're starting off hot.
0:39
And I always enjoy talking to Air Force veterans and they get
0:46
there, you know, we, we kid them a whole lot.
0:48
We make fun of them. We, we give them some, you know,
0:51
grief. But I joined the Marine Corps
0:53
from an Air Force town. So that it, it's really kind of
0:56
funny how that worked out. And I just want to thank Evocadi
1:00
Public Relations for referring my next guest to me.
1:02
Justin Jordan with the Warrior's Heart has an amazing story, an
1:07
amazing org. He's with Justin.
1:09
Welcome to OM Radio. Well, thank you so much.
1:12
It's it's truly my pleasure. And I'm sure we'll get some jabs
1:15
back and forth, Air Force and Marine, while we have our
1:17
conversation. Oh yeah, I, I got plenty of it.
1:20
You know, I, I went to, you know, this, this, I think it's
1:23
Andrew's in California. And I'm like, wow, this is how
1:27
the other half lives. I mean, there was like, you
1:29
know, cloth napkins on the chow hall.
1:32
It was, it was, it was a different world.
1:34
And I, I joined out of Shreveport Bossier.
1:38
So, you know, some, some of you all have been through there,
1:41
some not, but there was KC 10s beef twos and a 10s at the time
1:46
I was, I was there. So you have a very interesting
1:52
story. You, you joined fairly young at
1:54
19 and you do a, a a lot of different things in the Air
1:58
Force. What was that like going through
2:00
that part of your life, Justin? Well, it was, it was
2:03
interesting. I come from a small town, you
2:06
know, Henderson, KY, you know, so I grew up kind of in the
2:11
1900s, as they say. I'm an old guy now.
2:13
So. And, you know, I just, I wanted
2:16
to get out of that small town and the military represented a,
2:19
a way to do that and travel the world and, and get my education
2:23
paid for. The parents are both teachers.
2:25
So, and I can remember vividly my dad who was a, an
2:28
administrator, He was a principal.
2:30
He said, you know, college isn't for everyone's son and that I
2:37
tried Community College. It didn't work.
2:39
I just man. And then I said, hey, let's go.
2:43
You know, I just really fell in love with the Air Force.
2:45
It was kind of a happenstance. I met the recruiters.
2:48
I had taken the ASVAB from the Army didn't get a warm fuzzy.
2:53
You know, I was like, I don't know, I'm looking for something
2:55
else. Coast Guard was didn't seem
2:57
interested, but I was the Air Force was drawn to them, their
3:01
culture and you know, their their business like attitude and
3:05
you know, and that kind of thing really, really helped me out to
3:12
make that decision and I'm glad I did.
3:13
I spent 20 years in. I like you mentioned, I spent a
3:17
lot of times doing different things in the in the Air Force.
3:21
If I may, it's really interesting because you know, in
3:24
the Marine Corps, especially if if you're, you know, you're
3:28
pretty much except for your B builds doing pretty much the
3:31
same thing. You went in when you, when you
3:33
signed up. But it seemed like from, from
3:36
learning about you that you, you've worn a lot of different
3:38
hats in the Air Force. Was that by design or just the
3:41
flexibility the Air Force had to allow you to pursue different
3:45
career paths? Well, that's a great, that's a
3:48
great question. And actually the I was in the
3:51
same career fair of my entire 20 years.
3:53
It's just it is a very eclectic bunch.
3:56
So we when I started it was called services or excuse me,
4:01
yeah, services. And then it transitioned into
4:06
for support squadron back when I was getting out.
4:08
But basically everything from your cooks to the people that
4:12
work in the child care centers. I mean, that's what mostly
4:15
civilians and NAFTA employees to do that.
4:17
But then your fitness centers, so MWR to to speak, you know,
4:23
Army and Marine Corps language, morale, welfare, recreation.
4:26
Then there's a small contingent that do things outside the lines
4:29
like Mortuary. So I had an opportunity to do
4:34
this. The broad spectrum, you know,
4:36
the, the billeting or the hotel, motel work, you know, and there
4:39
I worked in the gyms, had my professional training
4:43
certification for a while and I worked in a lot of flight
4:45
kitchens. I really kind of felt my, my
4:48
way. And then food rations deployed a
4:50
ton because there's always the need for someone delivering the,
4:53
the, the food. So it, it was just a, it was an
4:58
interesting career field because I didn't have to stay in one
5:01
lane. I wasn't turning the same wrench
5:02
for 20 years on the same aircraft.
5:05
So I got a very good opportunity in it, you know, breadth of
5:07
experience that helps you get these other special duty jobs
5:11
that I was able to do as well. You know, you, you talk about
5:16
the Mortuary job in, you know, a lot of what you do and a lot
5:20
that people can learn about you. Can you kind of go into what
5:24
that job? Is it an MOS field specifically
5:27
or part of an MOS field? It's part of that same services,
5:31
you know, it's now known As for support squadron.
5:33
It's merged with a couple of other career fields.
5:37
No one has ever really explained it better than a crusty old
5:40
chief that I asked when I was a young airman.
5:43
Why do we do Mortuary? He said.
5:45
Son, we own all the refrigerators because we owned
5:48
all the shelves. And and then that's the best I
5:51
could ever figure out, right? Because it just doesn't make
5:54
sense. However, it was a taxing job.
5:58
But you know, basically your duties and responsibilities as
6:03
the NCOIC, which is there's one deep in every base non
6:06
commissioned officer in charge of Mortuary affairs.
6:09
As you act as the liaison to the family for the commander, The
6:13
commander is ultimately responsible for making sure you
6:17
know, the the force support commander that the families of
6:20
the fallen, whether it be stateside or downrange are taken
6:24
care of as well as that person's unit commander.
6:27
So they work for him as a team. So basically you're the
6:31
commander's eyes and ears in every step of the process from
6:34
point of death. Sometimes you go to the site to
6:38
remains inspections at the Funeral Home of choice for the
6:42
family. We're assigning different
6:44
caseworkers like your summary courts officers that will handle
6:48
property and things like that, as well as benefits
6:51
administrators that will go through their benefits with
6:53
them. You are the liaison, the family,
6:55
you are the person that goes with the family, and you view
6:58
all of these things. You make sure that the
7:00
contractors that are doing the embalming are doing it by Air
7:03
Force specs. You're making sure that the
7:05
corners in the local area are doing the autopsies.
7:09
So in that process you get very invested in the family.
7:13
You get very invested in the dignity and respect of the
7:17
fallens of the airmen, soldier, Marine.
7:19
I've done them all. You know it's and you grieve
7:25
without grieving. That makes sense because you
7:28
can't another human can't see another human lose their life
7:31
and not grieve in a certain way, whether you knew them or not.
7:35
You can put it in a special place, but it it will catch up
7:37
to you. In my opinion.
7:39
Let me. Clarify this so you're not only
7:42
dealing with, I don't want to assume it's not just combat
7:47
related deaths. You're dealing with the other
7:50
types of civilian because you know, there's a couple marines
7:54
that I buried in Yuma and they didn't die in combat, but they,
7:57
they, they didn't die in the job either.
7:59
And so you handled those as well?
8:01
Absolutely. Matter of fact, probably 90% of
8:03
my caseload were those type of cases.
8:07
And the ones that are unexpected are those are the ones that get
8:10
you right. I've done my share of, of combat
8:15
related as well. I've been down ranging done
8:18
Mortuary. I've done, done it all.
8:20
And, and the ones that really got me 'cause it, it, you know,
8:24
I say not to, to lessen the sacrifice 'cause I would never
8:28
say that. But what I'm saying is the ones
8:30
that got me were the ones where the families in there, they were
8:33
riding the motorcycle and they were doing everything right.
8:35
And somebody cut them off and, or, or men, they drowned on, on,
8:39
on, on TDY or their vacation or just a stupid freak accident.
8:45
And then the, the, the countless amount of suicides, you know,
8:49
just things that don't make sense.
8:52
Then you're also stuck in the screening process.
8:54
You're working with the family and you're still, if you cannot
8:56
show emotion or you're not supposed to, right?
9:00
But we are emotional creatures. So yeah, it's it's a unique job.
9:09
I felt very, very grateful to be able to do it because I felt
9:14
like it was such a heavy burden that others shouldn't have to
9:17
carry it. You know, I, I can see it in
9:22
your eyes. I'm listening to you.
9:24
And I have to think this is the, the interesting thing about what
9:28
people in the military do now. Maybe you never flew an
9:32
aircraft. Maybe you never dropped a bomb.
9:34
Maybe you never fired your M16 in aggression, but the your
9:41
service had a cost to it, didn't it Justin?
9:44
It really did it cost me my mental health.
9:45
It really, you know, I, I was diagnosed after probably six
9:51
straight years of doing Mortuary.
9:53
You know, keep in mind I was in for 20 years and I did Mortuary
9:56
for six or seven years straight, that one base and in different
9:59
deployed locations so sporadically after that.
10:04
And then I, I, I would find myself struggling with crippling
10:09
anxiety dissociative spells. And if you're not familiar with
10:12
the dissociative spell, it's, I would lose time.
10:15
I would drive home and have so many stacked traumas that I
10:19
would consistently be thinking about them, thinking about them,
10:21
thinking about them. And that would be 100 miles from
10:23
a house and not know how I got there.
10:25
And then the fear and the anxiety and the guilt and the
10:28
shame of what's wrong with you. Shake it off.
10:31
You know, we're we're taught on the, the softball fields,
10:34
baseball diamonds, foot football fields of America to suck it up.
10:38
We're taught in the military that a lot of that, you know,
10:40
suck it up. We have a job to do.
10:42
I don't have time to feel, but my brain didn't know that and it
10:48
wasn't registering. So I continue to have these
10:51
things with which, you know, started to interfere with my
10:53
day-to-day. I could hide it really well, but
10:56
when I you know, I I developed a a thing later on after I started
11:01
getting help and treatment called olfactory hallucinations.
11:06
I would smell anytime I had my AB us at the time on which was
11:09
the airman battle uniform, the Gray 1.
11:12
You might remember anytime I had that uniform on, I would smell
11:17
bodies and you couldn't tell me anything different.
11:22
So then that process of just white knuckling your day, it
11:27
would be to the point of nauseam where I would actually, you
11:31
know, have to go and, and, and vomit in the bathroom and then
11:34
my, my chief. And then they're like, dude,
11:36
what's going on with you? Why are you not at formation?
11:38
Why are you not in uniform? Why all of these things?
11:40
I was a senior non commissioned officer and I'm not acting like
11:44
it on the surface, right? I'm, I'm missing formations.
11:47
I'm doing these things all because I'm trying to just not
11:52
feel this way and trying to white knuckle it and your brain
11:55
don't care. Your brain is going to you know,
11:59
it's going to override all common sense and all other
12:02
things. So then it's looked at its
12:04
behavioral right. You can't see the injuries that
12:08
I have, but I can see that you're not wearing a uniform and
12:11
you're a senior non, you're a senior non commissioned officer
12:14
and you're supposed to be setting the example.
12:17
So then I finally just said, hey, I need help.
12:20
I can't do this on my own. And, and luckily, I'll give all
12:23
the credit to the Air Force because they supported me.
12:26
They allowed me to be the first active duty member to serve on
12:29
alongside with the post traumatic stress service animal
12:32
in 2010. Yeah, yeah.
12:35
They allowed me to really kind of lean into it and say, hey,
12:40
we're going to do something about this.
12:42
It shouldn't be shameful. I just had some great commander,
12:45
Second, Colonel Burrell at the time, who was my commander,
12:48
really leaned into it and said, hey, man, whatever you need
12:51
because your service has the value.
12:54
And I had never experienced that level of support.
12:57
So I really didn't know how to act.
12:58
So they started letting me wear my uniform, PT uniform to work.
13:06
But that's when the, the, you know, the talking around the
13:08
water cooler in the office. What's this Joe do?
13:10
Why does he get to, you know, all of that kind of stuff when
13:12
they don't know or understand? And of course, my commander's
13:15
not going to come out and say, hey, I've given him a waiver to
13:18
be able to wear his PT gear all day.
13:20
He's dealing with some things. They're not going to ask that
13:23
question, but they are going to stand around the water cooler
13:25
and, and you get stop getting invited to the to the things.
13:28
And eventually it led to me just being asked to work from home
13:32
while I was going through my Med board in the last year of my
13:34
service, which was a gut punch. So I went from super supportive
13:39
to just, hey, can you just work from home?
13:40
And, you know, being a Marine, that don't happen, right?
13:44
So, yeah, I lost my identity really quickly.
13:47
I had about a year to think about, man, what do I do?
13:52
And you do you want to talk about suicidal ideations?
13:55
And, you know, I'm going through a process of mental health,
13:59
cognitive breakdown. And I've been asked to be
14:01
isolated for my team. So it was it was scary time.
14:06
And thank God I have a beautiful wife who's also in the military
14:10
going through their own medical board.
14:11
Sharp and she's been and we've been married this July will be
14:14
28 years. What?
14:16
Yeah, fantastic man. We met as both met in the 1900s.
14:21
You know, my, my kids say that. By the way, my kids are 31 and
14:27
26, so they're not kids anymore. I got grandchildren now, but
14:31
it's. You don't look a day over 28.
14:34
Come on. Thanks.
14:35
I appreciate it, man. I do a lot of.
14:37
I do a lot of we do, you know, I do a lot of the holistic stuff
14:42
and try to stay mind, body, spirit.
14:45
That's part of the healing, right, Moving past there, moving
14:48
through you never I believe that you never get over it right.
14:53
I still have my days. My boss will tell you some.
14:56
It's a struggle to keep me employed.
14:58
Sometimes it really is because I still have, you know, I'm still
15:02
90% for and I and I struggle, but what I do and his
15:07
transitions really well at Warrior's heart because I get
15:10
it. I've been there.
15:12
Those guys that come through the gates and they need help.
15:16
I've walked that path. So when I tell them what I did
15:19
or what I've done in the military, they're like, oh, OK,
15:21
automatic credit. Like they're like, oh, this
15:23
dude, he gets it right. So I have to send there and
15:26
like, oh, this is just some behavioral health exec doesn't
15:29
understand me. No, man, I've been there.
15:32
I've been to treatment. I've done it.
15:33
All right, I get it. So.
15:35
I wanted to ask you not only you, you going through this
15:38
major transition in your life during this time, we're going
15:42
back to 20/12/2013. You also write the book and then
15:45
I cried stories of a Mortuary. NCO was the the book was the
15:52
book a catalyst for healing? Was it like, you know, hey, I
15:56
know I'm leaving the service. I'm going to write this now.
15:59
How the how did the book figure into You know what you did,
16:04
Justin? That's a that's a great
16:05
question. So actually I went in 2011, I
16:10
went to treatment for post traumatic stress.
16:14
I went to an inpatient treatment without my dog.
16:17
And there I found, I mean, it was more of a punitive program,
16:21
you know, like the most behavioral health settings,
16:23
right? Lockdown, single file lines of
16:25
lunch. It didn't, it didn't feel like
16:27
help. It felt like jail.
16:29
But I, I, I found there a counselor that tapped into
16:31
something in me. And writing was just one of our
16:35
assignments on a day-to-day basis was basically to write
16:42
down your traumas. And we would sit down in a group
16:46
every day and read it. We had to handwrite them.
16:51
She wanted you to feel it, right?
16:54
So everybody go around the room and they'd read their stories
16:56
and it was just different variations of the same trauma.
16:59
Typically, I would have a different one every day.
17:01
It was cathartic for me because it was like, I don't have to
17:05
carry this alone. It's out there and then, you
17:08
know, But I never felt worthy of those traumas because I wasn't
17:12
like you mentioned, I wasn't a door kicker, man.
17:14
I didn't take any bullets. The, the places I deployed to
17:17
had, you know, McDonald's and you know, I've, I've deployed a
17:22
bunch of different places, but man, you know, I was at Cobar
17:24
and all of these other places, but man, I wasn't in the fight.
17:27
So I didn't deserve to have PTS Saying that out loud now is so
17:32
absurd, right. So found finding writing gave me
17:37
some relief that I hadn't experienced yet.
17:39
And I was like, and I was trying to find everything that wasn't
17:41
pills because of what I've so many overdoses, what I've seen,
17:47
you know, so many Alcoholics, so many, you know, in my time being
17:52
Mortuary, I didn't want to be any part of that.
17:54
So it was always very mad adverse.
17:57
So I said I rewriting my stories helps me.
18:01
It feels like help even for a moment, right?
18:05
So I wanted more of that. On my way out, that therapist
18:09
stopped me and she said, hey, man, I know you're going through
18:12
a tough transition at home being, you know, kind of asked
18:15
to, to work from home and different things.
18:18
But could you spend that time right?
18:20
You know, when you're when you're allowed to not, not on
18:23
the clock or if you're supposed to be in the computer, but when
18:25
you're allowed to, you know, when you're not on the clock?
18:28
Can you spend that time writing? Because I really think that your
18:31
stories will help others and I think you should write a book.
18:36
And I was like, and I had toyed around with the idea in the
18:39
past, like man, I have an interesting story.
18:40
Not a lot of people know about how it's done and behind the
18:44
curtains, as long as it's done tastefully, respectfully, I
18:47
could see myself. So the second I got home, I
18:49
started writing that book, a hand wrote in 30 days.
18:54
And then I would read it back to myself in the mirror.
18:56
And if it didn't evoke the right emotion in my face that I was
19:00
watching, thinking back, I should have recorded it.
19:03
I don't know, Might have been before video recording time.
19:06
I don't know. It's been a while.
19:07
But but if I read a line and I didn't evoke that emotion in my
19:11
own face because I can't hide it.
19:14
If I'm feeling it, you'll see it in my face.
19:17
I rewrote it because I wanted the reader wanted it to be.
19:25
I wanted them to be able to help carry some of the load, if that
19:28
makes sense, because and that's why I did it because it it was
19:33
selfish in a way, because it helped me.
19:36
And what I can do is put these traumas in this book and tell
19:39
myself that's where they live. Right?
19:43
So happen stance. I just happened to be doing a
19:46
radio interview, not about the book, but there was a guy named
19:50
Scott Ledger. He's passed since and he used to
19:53
do a show called 2100 hours and he would host the veterans to
19:56
tell. He would give them a solid open
19:58
mic hour to tell their stories. To whoever would listen.
20:03
And I called in all the time. And that night he was before I
20:09
came on, he was hosting this guy named Eric Shaw, who had just
20:13
started a publishing company after struggling with trying to
20:17
get his book published, Brave Souls or Brave Rifles.
20:20
So he started his own. He stayed on and listened to my
20:24
interview and heard my story. And he goes, man, if you got
20:26
more like that, I'd be interested in publishing your
20:28
stories. And that was a God moment 'cause
20:33
he stepped in and I was his first outside of himself.
20:35
I was his first publish auth so I didn't have to go and find all
20:40
of these literary agents. God gave me that.
20:43
And since then, man, I can't tell you how many times I've
20:47
gotten messages from people, man, your book help me this on
20:50
the other, you know, people like didn't love it, but that's OK.
20:55
But man, I tell you, I I recently got one from a senior
21:00
non commissioned officer that worked a a pretty severe
21:02
casualty, A dorm blow up and her team was struggling and she
21:06
wanted to buy each one of them a copy of the book.
21:08
She said, man, you hit it on the head.
21:10
I didn't know how to put into words, but I think this will
21:13
help them. And man, it just warrants my
21:15
soul that, you know, since I, I published in 2012 right before I
21:19
got out of the service and that is still helping people.
21:24
It really makes me smile. I don't talk about a lot anymore
21:27
because it's just kind of it's taking its own life.
21:30
So thank you for allowing me to share that part of my story
21:33
because I've kind of, to be honest with you, I've kind of
21:36
moved past the book stage. I mean, it's still out there and
21:39
available, but I don't have to the market it anymore because
21:43
it's it's taking its own life. So.
21:45
Well, it's just I've talked to other veterans who have written
21:49
their stories, whether it's about their PTS trains or post
21:52
transition journey, any aspect of their veterans service.
21:56
And looking at, you know, the, the composition of the book, I'm
22:00
like, this is, it almost seemed like this is your, your goodbye
22:04
to the Air Force. Nothing negative.
22:06
But hey, I'm like you said, you put your Air Force experience in
22:11
this book and we're moving on to the chapter.
22:14
This is back in 2013. Now it's 2026, so time has
22:18
passed. What was the last before we get
22:21
into Warrior's Heart? I really want to get into that,
22:23
but what was the last 1013 years like getting to before we get to
22:28
Warrior's Heart? Well, I can.
22:31
I can tell you that the transition is extremely hard
22:34
from military to civilian life. Before I started working at
22:39
Warriors Hard, I had seven different jobs.
22:41
I would either get in my own way and then add struggling with a
22:44
mental health issue like post traumatic stress disorder, major
22:49
depressive, all the things that I have and then all the aches
22:53
and pains of 20 years of service, you know, and trying to
22:58
go from, you know, 'cause the last duty I had, I worked at the
23:02
Air Force Headquarters level for the Inspector General of the Air
23:05
Force. So I had a really high special
23:08
duty job, 11D. Nobody else in my career field
23:11
had this job. Going from that real big jobs to
23:14
hey, here's your bag of pills at the VA, come see us in three
23:19
months. You know, so I at first I was
23:22
like, hey, I'm leaning into this.
23:23
I'm going to go fishing. I got, you know, I have a
23:25
retirement because I was able to get to 20.
23:28
I'm medically retired after 20. So I get, I'm one of those
23:31
concurrent receipt veterans that gets both retirement and VA
23:35
disability. So I was able to go, I'm going
23:37
to go fishing. But man, you can only go fishing
23:39
so many times. And it got to a point where, you
23:42
know, I look back and laugh now, but it was a big part of my day.
23:45
Like it was weird. I would look forward to the
23:48
mailman coming. Yes.
23:51
And if there wasn't mail or he didn't come, I had the worst
23:55
day. Thank God that I had the
23:58
wherewithal that I'd seen what I'd seen and I didn't turn to
24:02
drinking or drugs, right, 'cause that's what most and what we
24:05
find most people happen, right? They've substitute that because
24:09
then there were days where I know a gun metal tastes like and
24:13
it ain't, it ain't fun, right? So they're just days and days
24:17
and days. I was blessed to have a partner
24:20
that knew and was served herself and said, hey man, enough,
24:26
right? It's time to get help again.
24:28
It's it, no, I'm not going to let you sit around and play Call
24:31
of Duty for 18 hours a day. You know, I'm not going to let
24:34
you sit around and just wait on the mail.
24:36
You're going to get out and get employed.
24:38
You're going to get a purpose again.
24:40
And you know, wives, they can see right through our, our
24:44
mental health or not, they, they can see right through it, right?
24:47
And she's struggling with her own medical issues.
24:49
She was medically retired at 19 years, one month.
24:53
Oh my God, man. Yeah.
24:55
And so you want to talk about feeling kind of some kind of way
24:59
about military service? I I think for the first five
25:03
years she got out, I, I struggled to get her out of bed,
25:07
but she always showed up for me and she still shows up for me
25:10
every day. So that God's blessed me with a
25:14
partner that then we've had our ups and downs.
25:16
That man, he's really blessed me with somebody that really gets
25:19
me and understands the plight. So.
25:22
We'll just just, if I can to lighten up just a little bit.
25:25
Every time I'm, I'm divorced and happily divorced and, but every
25:29
time I think, you know, I'm, I'm in a pretty good place.
25:32
I hear a story like yours. I'm like, you know, what would
25:34
that be like to have a, a true ride or die?
25:37
And, and, and you guys had to, you know, ride a Don.
25:42
I just want to thank you for sharing that because I'm like,
25:44
you know, I'm pretty good. I don't need a wife, but I hear
25:48
a story like that and it's like, well, where would you be without
25:51
your wife? Where would you be without you?
25:52
And I would. I would not be on this earth.
25:55
Yeah, Yeah, I can. Say that equivocally, my wife
25:57
has kept me and and the one thing I will share with you,
26:01
there are days that I don't always feel that way.
26:05
Sure. Anytime you live with someone 28
26:08
years consecutively, you get on each other.
26:10
But I'm going to tell you this, we've always, I believe that a
26:14
promise is a promise. Now, you know, we've been
26:17
through some, I mean, the, the range of things that our
26:19
marriage has seen in traverse is lengthy and long.
26:24
And I can tell you that when we both stood on that altar and
26:27
said to have and to hold till death do us part, that's what we
26:30
meant. So these challenges financially,
26:33
I mean, I've nearly gone bankrupt.
26:36
There's been infidelity, you name it, we've been through it.
26:39
And I'm going to tell you, we stepped by each other side and,
26:43
and you know, now that my children are gone, they, some of
26:47
them still live with us, but, and we get to see our
26:50
granddaughter every day because she lives with us as well.
26:53
We have a unique opportunity to look back and see how blessed we
26:56
really are because not everybody has been able to, to weather
27:00
those straws. And we really have.
27:03
And, and I've learned that at Warner's heart, I've done more
27:07
healing here as a staff member than any sessions I've ever
27:12
done, any type of stuff that just the the professional
27:17
development we do here and the people that lead this place, our
27:23
leadership, our our founders just get it.
27:28
Tell, tell me about Warrior's Heart, because I look at it and
27:32
I've seen a lot of nonprofits, I've seen a lot of, you know,
27:35
third party service providers or VA approved service providers,
27:40
but I'm looking at it. It's in the San Antonio area of
27:43
Texas. It it's, it's it's own little
27:46
ecosystem entity, but it's a really interesting service
27:51
offering for those veterans and needs.
27:54
Tell me a little bit more and how you guys connected with it.
27:58
So thank you for that. It's man, anytime I get the
28:02
opportunity to talk about Warriors Heart, so hang on
28:05
because I'm passionate about this.
28:06
Right. Man Warriors heart is a
28:11
treatment Center for drugs, alcohol, post traumatic stress,
28:14
any type of Co occurrence, psychological disorder that you
28:16
might think it's exclusive to the warrior population.
28:20
Why is that different? Because a lot of the programs
28:23
out there that treat war fighters are not exclusive.
28:25
They have tracked programs and they may do several groups, but
28:29
we are exclusive to that population.
28:31
That's military, veterans, law enforcement, first responders,
28:36
if you fit into those categories you can come to when you're
28:38
struggling with addiction and Co occurring psychological
28:42
disorders. We can treat you, but we don't
28:45
do it. Like when I shared my
28:46
experience, you know, I went to a hospital, it was a behavioral
28:49
Health Center. And I say punitive a lot because
28:52
that's what a lot of those programs feel like because it's
28:54
in a behavioral Health Center and they mean well, but it it's
28:58
a punitive type environment. This is a 543 acre ranch in
29:02
Bandera, TX. We've got exotic animals.
29:06
We not only have all the alphabet suit folks and doctors,
29:09
nurses and and all that stuff, but we also have a model that's,
29:15
you know, scientifically works. We we follow the steps, all of
29:19
the things, right. But then they have a periods of
29:22
time where they get to decide that is critical in a warrior's
29:25
healing. Having some say so in your day
29:28
because these men and women have really big giant jobs, right?
29:32
And to take that away from them and say, Hey, you don't have no
29:34
say say on your day. Hey, right, We always say right
29:37
place, right uniform be there, right.
29:40
But in the afternoon they get to choose from elective periods.
29:42
We have a full metal shop, a full wood shop.
29:46
They can they can interact with our canines and our canine
29:49
Academy. We have cooking with chef.
29:52
We have fish with two lakes here in Texas and in, in Virginia at
29:55
our Virginia campus. We have a 30 acre lake.
29:59
So you know, just, you know, we have a wood cha or a wood
30:03
cutting elective, you name it. You can be engaged as much as
30:07
you want. Art.
30:08
We, we reinvested into an art building.
30:10
That's amazing because what we find in the arts is that's where
30:14
the unspoken traumas come out and the things you can't talk
30:18
about or you haven't shared those complex issues come out
30:21
in, in, in the painting. And we've had some amazing art
30:25
pieces come out of here. So in the afternoons from 1:00
30:27
to 5:00, they get to choose where they're at and what
30:30
they're doing right. They'll, they'll sign up for
30:32
different electives and it keeps them engaged.
30:34
And then the evenings, so mornings are like group
30:36
therapies and different movement based type of things, yoga,
30:40
mindfulness, nature walk. We have like 3.2 miles of nature
30:44
trails on, on Warriors Heart. And then in the, they'll do the
30:49
heavier groups, you know, from 9:50 to noon and then from 1:00
30:54
to 5:00, you know, one to five, they do the electives.
30:57
And in the evening period, we work on more social things like
31:00
your warriors Anonymous or a A type LED groups and things.
31:06
They do get their phones when they're with us for after a
31:08
three day like blackout period, you know, where we can
31:11
stabilize. Then they can every night they
31:13
hit from like 6:00 to 5:00 to 6:00 or somewhere around there,
31:16
they can have their phones. And then on the weekends, we
31:18
give them a little bit more grace on time so they can stay
31:20
connected with their family. They can not miss that bill
31:23
because that's what derails treatment.
31:25
A lot of folks, you know, not being able to stay connected.
31:28
Now, sometimes that's a double edged sword where that could be
31:31
a distraction, right? So it's a limited amount of
31:34
time, but they do have access to that and they're around their
31:37
brothers and sisters. So it's warriors, healing
31:39
warriors. That's our mission here.
31:42
Now that doesn't mean that we don't have all the right
31:44
therapists and and all that because we do, we, we boast a
31:48
very large clinical population that treats our warriors and
31:52
what's kind of unique and different.
31:54
We're a 42 day minimum program. Most treatment centers are 28
31:57
days. That's going to say that that
31:59
seems long than usual. It's what we found when we would
32:03
follow the normal and the reason is and the why there is most
32:07
insurance pays on a 28 day cycle so that's why most programs are
32:10
28 days and you get 1 therapist. So that's 4 iterations of
32:14
one-on-one therapy while you're with them.
32:17
We have two therapists per client.
32:20
So each we have a licensed chemical dependency counselor
32:23
and a licensed professional counselor because we're going to
32:25
work on both the traumas and the addiction while you're here.
32:29
So they see each one of those once a week.
32:32
They do do small caseload groups.
32:33
We, we cap our, our clinicians, clinician numbers so that that
32:38
clinician say she has, he or she has 10 clients.
32:42
They'll, they'll also do a small caseload group with those 10
32:45
clients. So they'll see that each and one
32:47
of their counselors for up to four sessions a week.
32:51
So that's go from A4 iteration of treatment to a 24 plus all
32:55
the other things that we do plus not a lot.
32:58
Now, we don't take your belts, we don't take your shoes, you
33:02
know, which is like a good job of making sure that you're well
33:04
vetted before you come in here. It seems more human too.
33:08
Like you're not, You're not being in prison because you're,
33:11
you're treated like you're a person.
33:14
Well, and a war fighter, not only because not or, or a police
33:19
officer or not because you deserve it.
33:21
That's how you deserve to be treated.
33:23
And that's what we believe in. Everyone on our staff believes
33:26
that. And if they don't, they, they
33:29
weed themselves out pretty quickly.
33:30
Because I'm going to tell you, our main goal is to make sure
33:34
you're treated with dignity and respect at all times.
33:37
This is not easy work. We're asking you to do some hard
33:40
lifting while you're here. This is a training program.
33:42
We're training confident, sober warriors.
33:45
And during that time, like any selection or any Q course or
33:48
whatever you go through, it's going to be hard times.
33:50
And that doesn't escape us either.
33:53
Guess what? Men and women get calls while
33:55
they're here and they are going through divorce while they're in
33:57
treatment. How do you handle that?
34:00
Right? Well, you're in the best place
34:01
in the world to handle it because you have access to not
34:03
only your peers, but you have access to the best clinicians in
34:05
the country, in my opinion. So, you know, we boast a really
34:09
high rate of retention. Over 90% of the Warriors that
34:14
start our program complete our program.
34:17
Now just educate me here. What is your role with Warriors
34:20
Hard Justin? So I'm the special operations
34:23
director. So my job here, I've I've like
34:26
in the air, we talked about in the Air Force.
34:27
I've had many different roles here at Warriors Heart in the
34:29
nine years I've been here. Been here almost since we
34:32
opened. I started in admissions as an
34:34
advocate, then I became the admissions director for did
34:37
business development for a couple years.
34:38
Now do special operations, leave it to Tom Spooner and to make an
34:42
Air Force guy special operations director.
34:44
But we, we, one of our core values is we're a little goofy.
34:47
So I think that's, but my job is to, to tackle special projects,
34:52
to work with the founders directly on, on new builds and
34:55
new facilities. You know, sometimes, like for
34:58
instance, when we stood at Virginia took a small team down
35:00
there kind of like an add on team, you know, advanced team go
35:04
in and make sure what everything we need get the right people
35:07
start hiring all of those things and then we we are able to take
35:11
the keys in May and Oakland by September 11th.
35:14
We so it minimizes that time to do those kind of things.
35:19
Any special projects I can incorporate into any team at
35:22
warriors heart. So if maintenance needs help,
35:24
man, I'm out there in the pasture cutting, cutting wood.
35:28
If the shop needs help, I'm over there helping them build a
35:31
tomahawk. If if housekeeping needs help,
35:33
I'm pressure washing, you name it.
35:34
So I get to be the flex play, you know, just.
35:39
Let me ask you this, you've gone through your own journey and
35:44
you've been very clear and candid.
35:46
This is a still a daily battle, like the battles never truly
35:49
over and you choose how you're going to go through that
35:52
journey. But let me ask you, what's it
35:55
like watching a veteran or first responder or law enforcement
36:01
come through and you see yourself in them?
36:05
Oh. Man, that's a that one hits home
36:08
because it happens almost every day.
36:10
Oh, wow. I mean, it's so you talk about
36:15
purpose, right? Yeah.
36:17
You know, I I've, I don't know why I have been, you know,
36:20
people ask me how should how you doing?
36:21
You know, in the morning most people say great.
36:23
I say I'm blessed because I believe it and I'm blessed to be
36:26
able to be a part of their healing.
36:28
You know, a lot of guys will tell us how you saved my life.
36:30
I didn't save your life. The guy that answered the phone
36:33
didn't save your life, you did. You're doing the work and that's
36:38
hard for them to believe. But man, we are as a whole, as a
36:42
collective Warriors heart team saving lives and to see them
36:47
restores my purpose every day because this is just like going
36:51
through treatment. This is not easy work.
36:54
I mean, when you have people that are, that are struggling,
36:58
it, it takes its toll on you. But man, if you have the right
37:01
tools and I'm, I'm, you know, I'm a testament to that, right?
37:04
So even when those days happen, I have the right tools, right?
37:08
So I've been a well equipped war fighter on the war at home.
37:13
And I believe every one of our, our, you know, our staff members
37:17
are on the front lines of the war at home.
37:20
We're saving lives. We've had over 4000 warriors go
37:22
through our program in 10 years. I mean that's 4000 people that
37:28
have the opportunity to regain their purpose.
37:32
And I think that's where we lose them, especially in the veteran
37:34
income when when we lose purpose and you if you have a deep
37:38
understanding of that. So most of our staff do.
37:43
You've seen people then at their lowest when they're really
37:46
struggling and going through that struggle.
37:48
You mentioned divorce during this program and just the, the
37:51
physiological aspects of some abuse of addiction.
37:56
I got to ask you then, Justin, what's it like when either a
38:00
first responder or a veteran just like knocks it out of the
38:04
park or they come back to you in a year and says, you know what?
38:07
I was in the valley and now I'm on the mountain and, and life
38:12
has gotten pretty good. And because, you know, you gave
38:15
yourself in the Air Force, you're giving of yourself now.
38:19
There's a cost to what you do. What's it like when you see it
38:23
work? Then it makes it all worth it,
38:26
right? All the late nights, hard times,
38:28
hard phone calls. I believe the journey I've had
38:34
was because I was supposed to be here to understand the way these
38:42
warriors, this is where I'm supposed to be, right?
38:44
So when I see a warrior that's, and I can see it a mile away,
38:48
like that guy's going to do great.
38:51
We had one not too long ago. And of course, I'm never going
38:54
to share anybody's name or anything.
38:56
This particular warrior, I was like, that guy's going to help a
38:59
lot of people, right? You can just see it in their
39:02
attitude, the lack of ego because we get sometimes you get
39:05
folks that get come through here, the entitlement or this,
39:08
not the other. We get to help them through that
39:10
process, right? Give them some tools.
39:13
Because the one thing that is promised and guaranteed is when
39:17
you leave here, you're going to face the enemy, right?
39:21
Tom Spooner says it often. You, I mean you are, you are
39:24
going to face the enemy. So we have to get them prepared.
39:27
We only got 42 days. So when I see that light turn
39:30
on, usually it happens in the first or second week and they're
39:34
and they start leaning into this program.
39:35
They're like, I'm like, there you go.
39:38
There's another one, right? And there's times when man, they
39:42
miss something and they need to come back.
39:43
And that's OK, right? And what I tell, you know, a lot
39:47
of times families were like, well, we get, you know, Jimmy
39:50
relapse and we don't know what to do.
39:53
And then we're like, listen and always tell the families listen,
39:56
man, if he had cancer, then he fought it.
40:00
And beat it. And then six years later it came
40:03
back. We'd just say, well, we tried.
40:05
Now we just, you know, no, you'd say fight it again.
40:08
And that's what we do. We fight it again.
40:11
And then we start looking at it as the disease that it is,
40:14
killing more of our war fighters than actual war.
40:18
Then we can start to tackle this.
40:19
And I think, I think we're on the road there.
40:26
What's next for Warrior's Heart as as an entity?
40:30
You mentioned there's two locations for Warrior's.
40:32
Heart in 2023 we bought our, we found a Virginia property we
40:38
opened up out there, we have a 60 bed facility there in
40:42
Virginia right about an hour and a half South of DC and and it's
40:46
a 500 plus acre property as well.
40:48
Beautiful, you know, a lot of a lot more equestrian vibes there
40:53
because it was a former like equestrian Center for a
40:56
behavioral Health Center that had an equestrian aspect to it.
41:01
But we offer everything we offer here there in about an hour, 45
41:05
minutes north of Richmond, hour and a half South of DC.
41:09
But as this need it's, I mean it's growing.
41:12
We will continue to look for new facilities.
41:14
Right now, our current project is we're building our
41:16
headquarters here in Texas for our shared services staff and
41:20
our command center, as well as a training center.
41:24
Basically, we do a ton of professional development here at
41:28
Warrior's Heart because man, if you don't take care of your
41:31
staff and have them, I mean, this is hard work, right?
41:34
Then guess what, You're not going to have a Warrior's Heart
41:37
to make sure. So we, we bring in professional
41:39
coaches like Blair Singer and do leadership.
41:42
We in 2021, we took a team of 17 staff members and did the
41:48
mountain leadership course in Africa and we climbed
41:51
Kilimanjaro as a team. You know, and Warriors heart
41:55
does things like that. You know, they buy back into the
41:58
staff that give so much every day, give opportunities to have
42:02
these very high level trainings. So we needed a training center
42:06
to be able to do that. And then also sharing that with
42:08
our community, being able to say, hey, we have this, you
42:11
know, hey, police officers, you need to have a safe place that's
42:15
not a hotel where everybody's out protesting.
42:17
You come to Warriors Heart and we'll provide that that
42:20
conference space for you. You know, so those are the kind
42:23
of things that are on the horizon.
42:24
And then very near future, Oh, we have a podcast studio we're
42:28
building over there too. So that's.
42:30
Really. Yeah, Very nice, very nice.
42:34
Maybe if I get down in Texas, I'll come and check it out.
42:36
You're always welcome, I'd be happy to give you a tour and
42:38
show you around. Absolutely.
42:40
How can people connect with you all to help learn more support
42:46
what warriors hearts doing Justin.
42:48
The easiest way is the website, you know, www.warriorsheart.com.
42:53
We also have, you know, we have advocates standing by.
42:56
If you know someone's strong and have them give us a call.
42:58
The, the, the numbers right there on that website,
43:00
warriorsheart.com tell you all about our programs, what we
43:04
offer. We reach out because I mean, we
43:07
have our admissions advocates are there and they they're
43:11
filled with people they get it that have been there that
43:14
understand. So it's not a typical call.
43:16
And the first thing they ask you is what's your insurance, right?
43:19
I mean, we do accept insurance and that's part of the
43:21
conversation. But the first thing we say is
43:23
what's going. On.
43:25
Sometimes just a listening ear when you're it's your very
43:28
worst. I've had conversations turn from
43:30
tears to laughter in less than 30 minutes.
43:33
You think about how amazing that is.
43:35
I called at Rock Bottom in Rock Bottom's basement.
43:38
They're strung out on whatever alcohol lost my wife, done
43:42
whatever. And in 30 minutes later I'm in a
43:45
mental place where I'm laughing. That's happens every day at war
43:51
or something. Because the people that answer
43:53
the phone are me and you. They are, you know, they are
43:59
LAPD, they are Bowser shitty sheriff.
44:02
They are a wife or a spouse of a military member.
44:05
They are, they serve a veteran, you name it, it's filled with
44:08
people that get it and it's critical to the understanding.
44:12
So they'll call your work through, you know, hey, the
44:18
different process of of getting you in.
44:19
Like I said, we would do a very thorough screening to make sure
44:23
that you meet our level of care. And nine times out of 10, you
44:26
are going to meet our level of care and we are going to get you
44:29
in. If for some reason we can't,
44:31
we're going to refer you to a higher level of care, try to get
44:34
you stabilized or whatever it is that puts you outside of that
44:36
and get you back to us. There's so many nonprofits and,
44:43
and avenues for people, but I think it's, I think it's what
44:47
you said, it's, it's about redefining your purpose and it's
44:50
about having that extended support and it's about being
44:53
treated like a person, not just a, a case file number.
44:58
You know, I'll, I'll close with this.
45:01
And one thing that's kind of worrying me, Justin, is we've
45:03
had this this big focus on the 22 a day for the last 10-15
45:07
years and the number hasn't moved that much.
45:12
Do you, do you really feel like you're kind of organization is
45:16
the way forward to make that number go down and help people
45:19
through that and you're doing something that's missed by other
45:23
clinicians and other types of modalities?
45:26
I don't feel that way. I I I believe it.
45:29
You believe? It, it's, it's, it's, it's a
45:31
core belief I have and why we do certain things.
45:33
I do need to correct you. We're not a nonprofit, just so
45:35
you understand. We we we were a private model.
45:38
Oh OK, it works better, I missed that.
45:41
Yeah, I just, a lot of folks think we are because of the
45:44
great work we're doing. And but we are a private we.
45:47
But we do work hand in hand with tons of nonprofits, Avalon
45:51
Action Alliance, Gary Sinise Foundation, you name it.
45:54
If they're a non profit, that they that they know that we're
45:58
the the real deal. And then so say an advocate's
46:00
having or we're struggling with finances because no one comes to
46:04
rehab on an upswing, right? So if they're struggling
46:07
financially, we'll help Wolf. We're not only that, we'll help
46:10
find them the funding. So we don't want finances to be
46:12
a reason why they can't come to treatment.
46:14
Well, it's very interesting because you're not a nonprofit,
46:18
so you're not trying to raise money.
46:21
You're not trying to. Not chasing donor dollars.
46:24
Not chasing donor dollars. Maybe let's take my screw up
46:28
here and make something positive out of it.
46:31
Is that the way forward? The reason I say that is because
46:34
I just did this analysis on nonprofits in the United States
46:37
for veterans and I'm like, there's almost 100,000 of them
46:41
now and we're still not moving the dial.
46:46
Should people consider doing what you're doing as a business
46:50
and treat like a business and focus on the services more than
46:55
being a nonprofit and just trying to be basically, you
46:58
know, in fundraising mode all the time?
47:00
Absolutely. I believe so because it allows
47:02
us a level to provide a level of care to our warriors that you
47:06
will not get in any government, you will not get in any
47:09
nonprofit subsidized, in my opinion, organization because
47:12
any profits we make we can put right back into the facility.
47:15
I. Was thinking that, yeah, I was
47:16
going to ask you like, like you can reinvest and and invest the
47:20
way you want to. Absolutely.
47:21
And and you know, we're out and bold into a board that can
47:24
change. And I mean, classic cases, so
47:28
many nonprofits, the, the, the founders were voted out after
47:32
two or three iterations of board changes.
47:35
It's hard to get two people to agree on things now get a board
47:37
of 16 to agree on anything, especially when dealing with
47:40
donor dollars, right? So they made a conscious effort
47:44
early on. We're not going to do that.
47:47
We are going to be a private. We will accept insurance and
47:50
that's how we get reimbursed. This is, you know, through
47:54
insurance and like I said, we do work closely with Leonardo
47:58
nonprofits to help warriors find funding that don't have it
48:02
because we don't want to be like, hey, you sorry, can't come
48:04
here. It's never an answer.
48:06
That's never an OK answer for us.
48:07
We're going to find a way. And our advocates are well
48:11
versed on those relationships. We do a lot of business
48:14
development in that world to make sure that when they call,
48:18
they know that we're they're not just sending those donor dollars
48:21
down the tubes. It's to a program that's in my
48:24
opinion the best in the country. And we have the, you know, like
48:27
we talked, we didn't get to talk about the, the, the aftercare,
48:31
the results. We we we have a service called
48:33
Track 9 that does. Let's talk about it.
48:36
Yeah, it's so Track 9 is a thing we subscribe to and our warriors
48:41
spell out surveys every day and they their outcome measures
48:45
because people are as well. What's your, you know, what's
48:47
your rates of relapse, what's this and you know all of these
48:50
things they want they want hard numbers and data.
48:52
So we did that and there's over 200 companies that subscribe to
48:56
this behavioral health centers and we're the top percentage all
49:00
the time. We just got today get
49:02
notification on our internal channels at three of our
49:05
clinicians were were recognized through the Track Now program as
49:09
outstanding clinicians in the field.
49:12
So not only, you know, so I love to beat our beat my chest on
49:15
that. It's because we have the data
49:18
and this year we really we're really working and to get into,
49:23
you know, government, making sure that hey, when there's a
49:26
conversation about behavioral health, you know, in DC, we need
49:30
to be part of that conversation. We need to be the subject matter
49:32
expert because we believe our model is the best model and not
49:36
just for our program because it's even if other people start
49:39
doing it this way, it only benefits the war fighter.
49:43
It only benefits the first responder, the family members
49:46
that are struggling with this disease of addiction and Co
49:50
occurring psychological disorders.
49:52
It's it's really interesting because it's almost this hybrid
49:55
approach where the non public can support the veteran.
49:58
You can, you know, maintain your business purpose the way you
50:02
want to, but everybody wins because again, the war fighter
50:06
wins And it's just you're unique.
50:09
You know, I, I haven't run across very many, very few, you
50:14
know, people doing this as a for profit business, but it makes
50:17
sense and just because I think there's almost too many
50:22
nonprofits now. But the waters get really
50:25
muddied and like, you know, I've been, there's a lot of great
50:28
ones out there. Sure.
50:30
There's ones above reproach. Gary Sinise Foundation strikes
50:34
right off the top. Probably best one I've ever
50:36
worked with. We've Gary believes in US, he
50:39
loves us and he's, you know, actually met with our founders
50:42
and to we have the foremost intelligent people I've met
50:46
running this place. Our founders, right?
50:51
Everybody knows Tom Spooner, Delta Force operator.
50:53
This is kind of vision, but Josh and Lisa Landon, Lori Spooner,
50:57
his wife, those four people, they don't just show up.
51:02
They are here. They they've invested in this
51:03
place. They, they live in our community
51:08
and they're, they're talking to warriors every day.
51:10
And man, I tell you, we're just so blessed to have leadership
51:13
that that allows us to be great, if that makes sense.
51:18
It does. It does.
51:20
And operate in a way that can be beneficial to our, you know, do
51:24
meaningful impact for work, but also have a good time doing it.
51:28
So it's and then just really being and they just created
51:33
something that I get, like I said, I told you, I get
51:35
passionate about it because I love.
51:36
I love it. I love.
51:37
It people I work with and for. So what's next for for you
51:43
personally, Justin? I mean, this organization is
51:46
growing. It's in a really good place
51:47
right now. You're very effective at what
51:49
you do. Is there any other personal goal
51:51
that you have at this stage of your life?
51:54
Well, man, I, you know, I recently started my own business
51:58
on the side with my son. And for me, what would be great
52:01
would be I'm never leaving warriors heart till they drag me
52:04
out of here, right? This is, this is my top one.
52:08
But to see him be successful in that he's struggled.
52:10
He's he's struggled with addiction over his life and he's
52:13
31 now and he's getting his life back and he's starting to, he
52:16
just got laid off from his work. So I said, let's reinvest in
52:19
him. So we started, he wanted to do a
52:21
pressure washing business. So we started a pressure washing
52:23
business. And, and, you know, I, I spent a
52:26
lot of my weekends helping him get it right.
52:28
And I meant to see him be successful in that would be
52:33
what's next for me. That would be That would be a
52:37
great feather of the cat for real.
52:40
Well, there's nothing like a father getting to work with, you
52:43
know, you'll think about it, you know, used to be, you know, you
52:45
work with your son, you work with your dad all the time.
52:47
Now it's a rare thing. So, you know, I think you are
52:50
blessed. Yeah, I am.
52:52
And we, and the cool thing is we bought a fire truck and we work
52:55
out of that fire truck. We're a retired fire truck.
52:57
So it's it's pretty cool. No, that's good marketing right
53:01
there. It is, man.
53:01
You show up, everybody shows up and say what's going on at
53:03
Jenny's house and you're like, they're just cleaning the
53:05
driveway. I.
53:07
Want a fire truck? I'd pay for a fire truck to
53:09
clean my driveway. My wife said most men go through
53:12
midlife processes and buy Corvettes.
53:14
You bought a fire truck. You don't do anything halfway,
53:17
Justin. So yeah, that would be to see
53:22
him be successful would be feathering the cat.
53:24
But like I said, they're going to have to drag me out of here
53:26
because this is this is 7 miles from my house.
53:29
I mean, I've been blessed in so many ways to be a part of this
53:32
and to see so many lights turned back on.
53:36
Man, it's just a blessing. It really is.
53:39
Well, Justin, I want to thank you for talking with me.
53:42
Look, ladies and gentlemen, a different kind of story, you
53:45
know, different kind of MOS. And it really, you know, to me,
53:48
Justin, it shows that sometimes, yeah, there's a cost to what we
53:52
do in military service and people don't see that cost.
53:57
And and you've taken what's happened to you and made it
54:00
better for somebody else. And you said you served over
54:03
4000 people in the last 10 years.
54:06
In the last 10 years, there's been 4000 Warriors go through,
54:09
over 4000 warriors go through one of our campuses, the
54:14
majority of being Texas because we've been here the longest, but
54:17
Virginia also has some of those. Just just you know, factoring in
54:21
the, the, the a, a failure rate, if you will, or a, a non
54:25
completion rate, however you want to call it, that's still a
54:28
lot of lives you've touched over the last 10 years.
54:32
I just, I just would like to know in my mind as we leave the
54:36
ripple effect must be pretty strong.
54:38
I believe so. Like our goal, it's, you know,
54:42
our missions Warriors healing Warriors.
54:44
But our vision is 1,000,000 Warriors home.
54:47
Yeah, so we say welcome home to every warrior that comes through
54:50
the gates and all of our properties because we believe
54:52
that, right? It's they've never truly gotten
54:54
home yet. And this this can be that place
54:59
for them. So the ripple effect is because
55:03
if you take you have seen, I can't tell you how many stories
55:05
like, hey, we've gotten on our alumni.
55:08
You know, we now have an alumni app and an alumni director and
55:12
they're like, hey man, this person and we have a channel
55:15
that's like contacted this person contacted us and said
55:19
they're doing great. They're two years sober and they
55:21
got their family back, right? So that ripple right there is 3
55:25
to 4 plus any future generations that would have been snuffed
55:31
out, right? So we've had guys leave here,
55:35
become the chief of police in their town.
55:37
And I'm talking big cities, right?
55:39
But we've had guys go and be SWAT captains, leave here and
55:44
go. And we had one gentleman get
55:46
promoted in the military while I was here, his commander flew
55:48
down and and promoted him, which just shows the buy in from the
55:53
military community, active duty. They believe in us.
55:56
They want more places like this. They're they're clamoring for
55:59
it. So, and we're going to be here
56:02
to to answer that call. Well, there you have it, ladies
56:04
and gentlemen, Justin Jordan, Air Force veteran and now
56:07
special operations director for Warriors Heart in Texas and
56:10
Virginia. I'll have all the links to
56:13
Justin and his work and Warriors Heart and the Aspect radio show
56:16
post. And you know, Justin, I just
56:18
want to say, you know, what a what a great way to start, you
56:22
know, the weekend, what an uplifting conversation.
56:25
I hope to meet you soon. Thank you so much.
56:27
It was such a pleasure. Like I said, go go find us
56:31
www.warriorsheart.com and and if you got any questions, give us a
56:36
ring. We'd be happy to to answer the
56:38
call. Anthony B, this one was for you.
56:40
Thank you very much for your support.
56:42
I'm Travis Tusk Micro Radio with my guest, Justin Jordan
56:45
Remission flight. We'll see you next time.
56:50
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56:54
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56:57
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