Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Episode 57: Omar 'Crispy' Avila, U.S. Army Veteran & Paralympic Powerlifter

Transcript

Episode 57: Omar 'Crispy' Avila, U.S. Army Veteran & Paralympic Powerlifter · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, hurdlers, you are listening to episode fifty seven of Hurdle,
0:04
Speaker 1: a podcast that talks to everyone from top CEOs to
0:07
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and athletes about how they got through tough times
0:11
Speaker 1: hurdles of sorts by leaning into wellness. My name's Emily A.
0:15
Speaker 1: Vadi and today I am chatting with Omar Crispy of Gila.
0:19
Speaker 1: He is a US Army veteran Purple Heart recipient, a
0:24
Speaker 1: total amazing person and also a Paralympic powerlifter that has
0:30
Speaker 1: the current world record pr for the bench press and
0:34
Speaker 1: the deadlift. And you'll have to listen in to see
0:36
Speaker 1: just how insane that is. Spoiler alert, it's more than
0:41
Speaker 1: the fittest man on Earth Matt Frazier. Before we get
0:44
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Speaker 1: Athleticgreens dot Com slash hurdle. Now let's get to Omar's story.
1:20
Speaker 1: Omar and I were connected by a girlfriend of mine
1:22
Speaker 1: that does work with Kilcliff. And if you've never heard
1:24
Speaker 1: of Kilcliff, it's a veteran founded company. They've got energy drinks,
1:28
Speaker 1: they've got clean hydration, and Omar is a big fan
1:32
Speaker 1: of theirs. Anyway, I'm sure the first thing you're wondering
1:35
Speaker 1: is why his nickname is Crispy, and that's because in
1:38
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, Omar suffered seventy five percent burns
1:42
Speaker 1: to his body when he was involved in an ied
1:45
Speaker 1: accident over serving in Iraq as an infantryman with the
1:50
Speaker 1: US Army. Because of this accident, he's now also a
1:53
Speaker 1: right leg amputee. In today's episode, he tells me about
1:57
Speaker 1: the frightening circumstances that's around it that day and the
2:01
Speaker 1: memories he has of getting treatment, of seeing his family afterward,
2:05
Speaker 1: of being told that he had a thirty percent chance
2:08
Speaker 1: of living. Today, he talks about how he came back
2:12
Speaker 1: from the unthinkable and he not only survived this awful situation,
2:16
Speaker 1: but he's also now thriving as a Paralympic powerlifter and
2:20
Speaker 1: public speaker. He has a solid Instagram following of more
2:24
Speaker 1: than two hundred and fifty thousand people, all who draw
2:27
Speaker 1: us such inspiration from his positive attitude, from his positive outlook.
2:32
Speaker 1: We also talk about how it was acclimating back to
2:35
Speaker 1: society and how for a little bit there he fell
2:37
Speaker 1: in with the wrong crowd and actually leaned into going
2:41
Speaker 1: to the gym, into powerlifting to get him through some
2:44
Speaker 1: tough situations and to work through some of that pain.
2:47
Speaker 1: You know. He tells me a story about the first
2:49
Speaker 1: time he walked into a gym. He easily just deadlifted
2:52
Speaker 1: four hundred pounds like it was nothing, and everyone around
2:55
Speaker 1: him just looked at him in absolute bewilderment. There's just
2:59
Speaker 1: so many things about him that make him really special,
3:03
Speaker 1: and I'm so amped to share his story today as
3:06
Speaker 1: always at Hurdle Podcast on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Please
3:10
Speaker 1: do me a favor. Make sure to tag me in
3:13
Speaker 1: what you're loving about this week's hurdle, and also if
3:16
Speaker 1: you have a second, share the podcast with a friend,
3:18
Speaker 1: and then rate and review Hurdle in the iTunes store.
3:22
Speaker 1: I can't beg you that enough. It does really great
3:25
Speaker 1: things for the podcast and gets sit more visibility. And
3:28
Speaker 1: you know that's the goal here, just to be able
3:30
Speaker 1: to spread these stories everywhere. One last note, happy unofficial
3:33
Speaker 1: start to summer and Memorial Day. Please take a second today,
3:36
Speaker 1: whether you're at the beach or barbecuing or starting the
3:41
Speaker 1: Runner's World Run streak that begins today, to think a
3:45
Speaker 1: service member. Remember that the day is all about. It's
3:47
Speaker 1: remembering those that have given the ultimate sacrifice in the
3:51
Speaker 1: name of our country. We are so thankful for people
3:54
Speaker 1: like Omar, for your service, for your bravery, and we'd
3:58
Speaker 1: be lost without you. With that, let's get to hurdling today.
4:08
Speaker 1: I'm chatting with Omar Crispy Avila. He is a motivational speaker,
4:12
Speaker 1: a professional powerlifter and all around badass. And also we're
4:18
Speaker 1: chatting today releasing this episode on Memorial Day, and Omar
4:24
Speaker 1: is an Army veteran. So first and foremost, thank you
4:27
Speaker 1: for your service.
4:29
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, and thank you for the nice words.
4:32
Speaker 2: I wouldn't go that for.
4:35
Speaker 1: Please, You've done quite a bit I'd love first and foremost,
4:39
Speaker 1: I shouted out, your nickname, Krispy, why don't you let
4:42
Speaker 1: the hurdlers in. That's what I call my audience in
4:45
Speaker 1: on where that nickname comes from.
4:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that name was given to That nickname was
4:50
Speaker 2: given to me by a good friend of mine who
4:53
Speaker 2: was also wounded in the war. When I got injured
4:56
Speaker 2: in two thousand and seven, I sus think so many
4:59
Speaker 2: five and burns to the body, putting the fourth degree burns,
5:03
Speaker 2: and I had my right leg and potato below the knee.
5:07
Speaker 2: So when I got to see him, I had heard
5:09
Speaker 2: about his injuries. He caught some shrapnel to the side
5:12
Speaker 2: of the face that ultimately went through h through and
5:16
Speaker 2: through and caused him to go blind. And I remember
5:21
Speaker 2: seeing him across the room and I want to go
5:22
Speaker 2: say hi to him. And when he heard my voice,
5:24
Speaker 2: he's like, Omar, is that you? And I was like, yeah, man,
5:26
Speaker 2: how you been. He goes good. He's like, I heard
5:28
Speaker 2: about your injuries and I was like, yeah, man, I
5:31
Speaker 2: got a little little burns and he goes, now you're Chrispy.
5:34
Speaker 2: So he he gave me that nickname. Probably a couple
5:38
Speaker 2: of months I've had been or about almost a year
5:41
Speaker 2: I've had been wounded and I've been won by that
5:43
Speaker 2: ever since.
5:45
Speaker 1: Do you like it?
5:47
Speaker 2: I do? I love it. It's it's a little it's
5:49
Speaker 2: a dark humor that that's helped my recovery. It's helped
5:56
Speaker 2: me deal with my injuries, my insecurities since day. It
6:00
Speaker 2: was just something that I wanted to take charge of.
6:03
Speaker 2: And I feel like making fun of my injuries was
6:06
Speaker 2: taking charge. And I was going to be the one that,
6:10
Speaker 2: you know, set the tone. I was going to take
6:12
Speaker 2: charge of my injuries, and I let my injuries take
6:15
Speaker 2: charge of me.
6:16
Speaker 1: I love that mentality. So why don't we remind it
6:18
Speaker 1: back and talk about when you decided that you wanted
6:22
Speaker 1: to get into the service in the first place.
6:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I just low backstory. I actually came to
6:30
Speaker 2: this country illegally with my mother and two other siblings.
6:35
Speaker 2: My dad was already living here. He was an American citizen,
6:39
Speaker 2: and it was just taking too long for us to
6:42
Speaker 2: do all the paperwork and stuff, and my dad was
6:43
Speaker 2: started commuting back and forth to Mexico. So we you know,
6:48
Speaker 2: we came here illegally, as he was advised by his attorney,
6:52
Speaker 2: and then you know, he was going to face some
6:54
Speaker 2: fines in health that we were able to start the
6:55
Speaker 2: paperwork a little faster, so we did that. I was
6:58
Speaker 2: nine years old, and yeah, I came here, and my
7:04
Speaker 2: sophomore year of high school, which was two thousand and one,
7:07
Speaker 2: is when, you know, we finally had everything done and
7:10
Speaker 2: we were going to become citizens. And I remember becoming
7:13
Speaker 2: a citizen about three weeks before nine to eleven happened,
7:18
Speaker 2: and then once time eleven happened, it was I was
7:21
Speaker 2: already a citizen, and they kind of set the tone
7:23
Speaker 2: for me. I felt as an American, you know, I
7:27
Speaker 2: felt proud of be an American, and I was given
7:30
Speaker 2: a chance to be anything that I wanted to be
7:33
Speaker 2: in this country. I was given the opportunity to say
7:36
Speaker 2: that I'm an American and felt proud about it. And
7:39
Speaker 2: when that happened, all I can think of was my brother,
7:43
Speaker 2: my sister, and my mom that you know, they're they're
7:45
Speaker 2: about their freedom. So I decided to join the service
7:48
Speaker 2: right then. And there's a sophomore in high school. I
7:50
Speaker 2: knew that I wanted to go over and fight, you know,
7:54
Speaker 2: those individuals that had struck our American people, and I
7:58
Speaker 2: just I don't know how to explain it. I don't
8:02
Speaker 2: even I can't even comprehend it at it now, being
8:06
Speaker 2: such a young age and feeling proud of me an American,
8:08
Speaker 2: and I wanted to go do something about it.
8:10
Speaker 1: I love that. So he decided to go into the Army.
8:14
Speaker 1: Any reason why the Army in particular.
8:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's you know, I'm not smart enough to their
8:20
Speaker 2: part the air Force and be a pilot. So now
8:23
Speaker 2: I scratched that off. I grew up in South Texas,
8:27
Speaker 2: right next to South Podure Island, and we were always
8:29
Speaker 2: fishing on boats and stuff, and I just remember loving it.
8:31
Speaker 2: But I didn't want to do I didn't want to
8:33
Speaker 2: do that full time. So the Navy was out of
8:36
Speaker 2: the picture. And all of the Marine is pretty cool,
8:40
Speaker 2: and they had some badass people there. When it comes
8:44
Speaker 2: to picking your job, it's very hard. There's such a
8:47
Speaker 2: small department of our military that you know, they pretty
8:51
Speaker 2: much send you where they want. And I read up
8:54
Speaker 2: on the Army, and you know, in the Army, I
8:57
Speaker 2: could be an infantryman and then from there it could
8:59
Speaker 2: have gone to range your school, and then from that
9:00
Speaker 2: I could have been, you know, gone a Special Forces
9:02
Speaker 2: delta and move up. You know, I just move up
9:07
Speaker 2: in my service, not necessarily do one job the rest
9:10
Speaker 2: of my career, because I made up my mind that
9:13
Speaker 2: I wanted to do. I wanted to be a twenty
9:16
Speaker 2: plus year veteran, and that's what I was going to
9:19
Speaker 2: vote my life, and it was going to be for
9:20
Speaker 2: the service. So I wanted to be an infantryman and
9:22
Speaker 2: then work my ranks up, and the Army was the
9:25
Speaker 2: only one that provided that. So that that's why I
9:30
Speaker 2: joined the Army.
9:32
Speaker 1: And so you went to infantry school in two thousand
9:35
Speaker 1: and four, is that right?
9:36
Speaker 2: Yes?
9:37
Speaker 1: And then you deployed to Iraq. I did, okay, So
9:41
Speaker 1: in May two thousand and seven, everything changed everything.
9:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, we our vehicle ran over an IV. It was
9:50
Speaker 2: about two hundred punds of explosives that impacked in the
9:52
Speaker 2: ground through our vehicle up in the air, about three
9:55
Speaker 2: or four feet in the air. And you know, I
9:59
Speaker 2: sat in the trickle of longer than I should have.
10:00
Speaker 2: Turned to good support by fire so the rest of
10:02
Speaker 2: the guys could be evacuated out of the vehicle and
10:07
Speaker 2: start getting treated on. Uh So, as the result of that,
10:10
Speaker 2: you know, when I finally jumped out, I uh, you know,
10:13
Speaker 2: there was no work for me to drum. So when
10:14
Speaker 2: I jumped down, I was on fire. I had been
10:17
Speaker 2: on fire for a little while. Ended up breaking both
10:19
Speaker 2: of my femurs and like I said earlier, seventy five
10:22
Speaker 2: percent burnings to the body good and fourth degree, and
10:26
Speaker 2: the amputation of my right leg, which happened about three
10:30
Speaker 2: years ago. I went nine years doing limp salvage. I
10:35
Speaker 2: had a I had a partial foot amputation kind of
10:39
Speaker 2: like diabetes people get. So I had a partial food amputation,
10:45
Speaker 2: but I had a very pick score from a couple
10:49
Speaker 2: of years before that, I had had found cancer in
10:51
Speaker 2: my foot due to all the chemicals and the stuff
10:54
Speaker 2: that was in the ground and all over. I rack
10:57
Speaker 2: it cost that, so I did. I did at Roll
11:00
Speaker 2: March with a bunch of friends. It was twenty two
11:02
Speaker 2: miles and that injury opened up again and that car
11:06
Speaker 2: just broke and it took six months for it to
11:09
Speaker 2: heal and then didn't even heal, and I didn't know
11:11
Speaker 2: what was going on. So finally, you know, my girlfriend
11:15
Speaker 2: convinced that she's like, you need to go get that check,
11:17
Speaker 2: and I did, and they ended up doing surgery. And
11:19
Speaker 2: while I was in surgery, they took some posters in
11:21
Speaker 2: mission that they had found cancer. So when I came
11:24
Speaker 2: back out, they said they wanted to pull back in
11:26
Speaker 2: and take it all out, and so I backed up,
11:29
Speaker 2: so we did. They took it all loud. It was gone.
11:32
Speaker 2: When they sew my foot and I took the first step,
11:34
Speaker 2: all the stitches opened up, and I mean it was
11:36
Speaker 2: just it wasn't hitting, it wasn't doing anything. And finally,
11:40
Speaker 2: after the third surgery on it, I was just tired
11:42
Speaker 2: of it. I was tired of not being active. I
11:44
Speaker 2: was tired of just being in a witcher and kind
11:46
Speaker 2: of feeling useless. After nine years and I had my
11:49
Speaker 2: life all together and I was out there doing what
11:52
Speaker 2: I wanted to do, and I, you know, I walked
11:55
Speaker 2: into my appointment. I looked at the doctors before they
11:57
Speaker 2: considered what. I said, Look, I'm tired. And the doctors
12:02
Speaker 2: were like, that's what we wanted to talk to you about.
12:04
Speaker 2: I said, doc, let's cut it off. And this was
12:06
Speaker 2: on a Friday, and they told me to enjoy myself,
12:09
Speaker 2: to have a good weekend. Walk in on the Monday,
12:12
Speaker 2: cut my leg off Monday, and then the following Friday
12:14
Speaker 2: I was released it home.
12:15
Speaker 1: Wow. Wow, there's so much to unpack and all of
12:19
Speaker 1: that story. I mean, first and foremost, I can only imagine.
12:22
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine how much pain and what was
12:27
Speaker 1: going through your mind when this happened in Iraq. You
12:31
Speaker 1: literally said, I was on fire. How does one even
12:35
Speaker 1: I don't even know how one proceeds through that situation?
12:41
Speaker 2: You know, neither do I. But you know, thankfully we are.
12:47
Speaker 2: We are the best trained soldiers in the world. And
12:50
Speaker 2: you know we have a great military and we trained
12:52
Speaker 2: for everything. And you know, when that all happened, it
12:57
Speaker 2: wasn't me trying to be a hero. It wasn't me
13:01
Speaker 2: trying to save the day, none of that. It was
13:03
Speaker 2: just what I was taught to do. It was my job.
13:06
Speaker 2: And to be honest with you, when you're there, all
13:09
Speaker 2: you care about is that brother next to you that's
13:12
Speaker 2: fighting with you, that you live with, that you see
13:14
Speaker 2: every single day. You want to fight at your maximum
13:19
Speaker 2: capacity to make sure that you know they survive and
13:23
Speaker 2: to make sure that you know that they're able to
13:26
Speaker 2: do their job. It's just a team effort, you know.
13:28
Speaker 2: It's just they're my family at the end of the day,
13:31
Speaker 2: of their family and you do anything you can to
13:36
Speaker 2: help your family, and that's all I was trying to do.
13:38
Speaker 2: I wasn't, like I said, I wasn't trying to be
13:40
Speaker 2: a hero. I wasn't trying to just do something out
13:43
Speaker 2: of the ordinaria. I was just fighting for my brothers.
13:46
Speaker 1: I mean, I know in that incident, not all of
13:50
Speaker 1: you actually made it out of that scenario.
13:53
Speaker 2: No, Unfortunately, we lost two guys that day. We actually
13:57
Speaker 2: lost one and another one ended up dying the hospital
14:00
Speaker 2: a couple of months later due to his injuries and
14:04
Speaker 2: his burns, did not make it. So, yeah, three of
14:07
Speaker 2: us made it out. All three of us were severely wounded.
14:10
Speaker 2: But we were lucky that three of us made it out,
14:13
Speaker 2: and too were brothers. You know, getting as this is
14:17
Speaker 2: the story. It is. It's part of the job. It's
14:19
Speaker 2: hard to explain, but it's just part of the job.
14:21
Speaker 2: We know what we were getting into and we knew
14:22
Speaker 2: what what could happen, and when it happens is unfortunate,
14:27
Speaker 2: but it is what it.
14:29
Speaker 1: Is, right, And what was the healing process like after that?
14:33
Speaker 1: I mean, seventy five percent of your body, man.
14:36
Speaker 2: You know it was. I spent a whole year in
14:39
Speaker 2: the hospital. About three months out of that whole year,
14:43
Speaker 2: I was in an induced coma medical induce coma, so
14:46
Speaker 2: I wouldn't feel the pain, uh, and they could you know,
14:50
Speaker 2: work on me and then do surgeons and whatnot. I
14:52
Speaker 2: mean I had about thirty five surgeries before I woke up. Wow.
14:56
Speaker 2: But you know, it had it ups and downs. There
14:59
Speaker 2: was days that I was you know, happy that I
15:01
Speaker 2: was live and you know, I saw my family around me,
15:03
Speaker 2: and there was days where I just feel useless. I
15:06
Speaker 2: felt like I was going to be a burden in
15:07
Speaker 2: my family. So a lot of mixed emotions. And then
15:11
Speaker 2: you know when you're finally awake and you got to
15:13
Speaker 2: do pet and you just don't want to do it
15:14
Speaker 2: because you know everything hurts, but you still got to
15:18
Speaker 2: do it to be able to get back to being,
15:22
Speaker 2: you know, being useful and being able to do stuff
15:27
Speaker 2: on your own. So you got to do it and
15:29
Speaker 2: you got to just push through it. So from from
15:32
Speaker 2: from the beginning, it was always encouragement from my family,
15:36
Speaker 2: from from the nurses, from other physical therapists. So you know,
15:42
Speaker 2: it was just it was it was hard, but I
15:44
Speaker 2: don't know, it was just something we needed to do.
15:46
Speaker 1: Bigger than that. I mean, I'm sure you never imagined
15:49
Speaker 1: what life would be like without your life.
15:52
Speaker 2: No, you know, when I was wounded, I don't remember.
15:56
Speaker 2: I don't remember my hands being reformed. I don't remember
16:00
Speaker 2: burns being this bad, and I honestly don't remember I
16:03
Speaker 2: don't remember my legs being dag jacked up. So it
16:07
Speaker 2: was it was kind of a shock for me when
16:12
Speaker 2: when I realized, I was like, oh man, I'm going
16:14
Speaker 2: to have to I'm going to have to adjust to
16:16
Speaker 2: this now.
16:17
Speaker 1: I feel like it goes without saying that. You know,
16:19
Speaker 1: you never entirely the same, so to come back and
16:22
Speaker 1: have to reintegrate into society and try to pick up
16:25
Speaker 1: where you left off and then also have all of
16:27
Speaker 1: these injuries and readapting to life, it's just a new way.
16:32
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure overwhelmed was an understatement. Yeah.
16:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was very hard at the beginning, but like
16:38
Speaker 2: I said, you know, you get used to it and
16:41
Speaker 2: you learned to be okay with it. And I don't
16:44
Speaker 2: explain it was it was just hard knowing that that
16:48
Speaker 2: I survived for a reason, So I wasn't just going
16:50
Speaker 2: to roll over and be sad about it that I
16:53
Speaker 2: was here. And I was deformed.
16:56
Speaker 1: So I hear you okay, so you get back. Obviously
16:59
Speaker 1: the healing process as took some time. So when do
17:01
Speaker 1: you actually get to leave the hospital.
17:04
Speaker 2: So I spend a year in the hospital, like I said,
17:06
Speaker 2: three months and the ICU, and then I spent about
17:10
Speaker 2: another I want to send another three months in the
17:13
Speaker 2: burn unit, and then probably after seven months I was
17:17
Speaker 2: able to leave the hospital, but we stayed on post.
17:20
Speaker 2: You know, this is a military hospital in San Antonio
17:24
Speaker 2: that is world known for burns. So we lived around.
17:31
Speaker 2: We lived in the area, so anytime that I needed
17:33
Speaker 2: to go get a surgery, I would go get a
17:35
Speaker 2: surgery and it was the same day surgery, meaning that
17:38
Speaker 2: I could go home. When I would come to and
17:42
Speaker 2: I was fine and breathing on my own day, let
17:44
Speaker 2: me go home, because you know, it was just proven
17:47
Speaker 2: that you feel faster at home, even though it wasn't
17:49
Speaker 2: my home home. I just felt like I had this
17:52
Speaker 2: space to do whatever I wanted to do there and
17:54
Speaker 2: buy space. I mean, it was just a hotel with
17:57
Speaker 2: two bits in it, but it was better than being
17:59
Speaker 2: a hospital.
18:01
Speaker 1: Right And so now to date, how many surgeries.
18:03
Speaker 2: Have you had since two thousand and seven. I've had
18:07
Speaker 2: a total of one hundred and three surgeries.
18:10
Speaker 1: Wow, but is this like this is everything from reconstruction
18:13
Speaker 1: to two greater and more in depth stuff it is.
18:17
Speaker 2: It goes from reconstruction, it goes from any amputation. Infections
18:22
Speaker 2: and infections was a big, big one. I mean I
18:25
Speaker 2: can probably I'd probably say you I've had about dirty
18:27
Speaker 2: surgery due to infections that they have to go in
18:29
Speaker 2: kind everything open cleaning and close me back up. Wow,
18:33
Speaker 2: but procedures a lot of cosmetic work, you know, business
18:37
Speaker 2: series that I'm going to continue to have for the
18:38
Speaker 2: rest of my life just because of the scar. Burned
18:41
Speaker 2: star tissue will start taking it up again. They will start,
18:46
Speaker 2: uh grabbing my body and and just timing up. I
18:50
Speaker 2: don't know if people who I saw what a scar is,
18:53
Speaker 2: but I mean it'll it's kind of like a bandit
18:55
Speaker 2: and it's just started coming to a rubber band and
18:57
Speaker 2: it'll just start getting real paked to where you got
18:59
Speaker 2: to stretch and if you don't, you know, it just
19:02
Speaker 2: gets hard for you to move and to contracts your body,
19:05
Speaker 2: and you know you got to kind of come in
19:07
Speaker 2: there and cut it and keep going.
19:10
Speaker 1: Are you in pain? Regularly.
19:11
Speaker 2: I don't. Honestly, I don't know if I've gotten used
19:13
Speaker 2: to it or if I'm pretty good at ignoring it.
19:16
Speaker 2: But I mean there are days where, yeah, I do
19:19
Speaker 2: have a little bit of pain, and there's are the
19:20
Speaker 2: days where I'm just fine, and you know, it's just
19:24
Speaker 2: going with life and it just becomes part of you
19:27
Speaker 2: and you get used to it.
19:29
Speaker 1: When you obviously had to come home after the ID,
19:32
Speaker 1: did you, I mean, at that time, you were probably,
19:34
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, planning an entire career kind of around this,
19:38
Speaker 1: So I can only imagine that at times it might
19:40
Speaker 1: have felt like why am I even still doing this?
19:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know that there it was very hard integrating
19:45
Speaker 2: back into civilian world, just because you know, of social
19:49
Speaker 2: media and whatnot. I will see that my brothers were
19:52
Speaker 2: getting ready to go on their second or their deployment,
19:55
Speaker 2: and for me, it was hard not be knowing that
19:58
Speaker 2: I was in part of the flight, that I wasn't there,
20:00
Speaker 2: that I wasn't going to be there to have their back,
20:04
Speaker 2: that I couldn't look over them and make sure that
20:07
Speaker 2: everything went right. That was probably the hardest thing that
20:12
Speaker 2: I faced with every day. And knowing that I was
20:14
Speaker 2: out of the fight and it was it was a
20:16
Speaker 2: two shooting. It would it would consume me because I
20:19
Speaker 2: knew that I was good at my job and I
20:21
Speaker 2: wanted to be there. And that's all I ever kneed,
20:23
Speaker 2: you know, ever since so they became an adult, it's
20:25
Speaker 2: all I did. You know. I had jobs before that
20:28
Speaker 2: in the high school, you know, pe like working a
20:29
Speaker 2: pizza plays and the construction and stuff here and there.
20:33
Speaker 2: But that was my profession. That's what that's what I
20:36
Speaker 2: was good at. You know. It was just like the
20:38
Speaker 2: same thing when a basketball player wakes up and they
20:40
Speaker 2: know what they got to do, you know, a physical
20:42
Speaker 2: therapist or whatever the case is, Like, you know your job,
20:45
Speaker 2: you know what you're good at. That's what I was
20:47
Speaker 2: good at. So it was very hard to transition into
20:50
Speaker 2: civilian world and trying to adjust and trying to do
20:52
Speaker 2: something else to occupy my time and to contribute back
20:56
Speaker 2: to society. It was it was very hard, it really was.
21:01
Speaker 2: And I didn't know what passed I was.
21:03
Speaker 1: Going to take definitely, and so what did that lead
21:06
Speaker 1: you down to do?
21:07
Speaker 2: I was fortunate enough that I received a call from
21:10
Speaker 2: a friend and they had asked me if they didn't
21:12
Speaker 2: come speak to the to the kids at an elementary
21:15
Speaker 2: to come motivate them and speak on them. I think
21:18
Speaker 2: it was either Memorial or Veterans Deck, and was so
21:20
Speaker 2: long ago that I can't remember. And I walked in
21:23
Speaker 2: there and then I gave a speech and these kids
21:25
Speaker 2: were super excited and motivated, and they all came up
21:27
Speaker 2: to me and they wanted to take pictures and all
21:30
Speaker 2: this stuff, and I just felt crazy. I was like, well,
21:31
Speaker 2: what you want to picture with me? And you know,
21:33
Speaker 2: they were like, well, that was awesome. And these are
21:36
Speaker 2: kids that, you know, they shouldn't even really understand what
21:41
Speaker 2: I was talking about, but they did. And I was
21:44
Speaker 2: excited and I couldn't stop talking about it. And I
21:48
Speaker 2: finally asked another friend. I was like, and I told
21:50
Speaker 2: another friend and he goes, dude, well you want me
21:51
Speaker 2: to book these so speaking engagements? And I was like,
21:54
Speaker 2: you think I'm good? And he goes, well, no, but
21:57
Speaker 2: but if you want to take some classes, it'll be great.
21:59
Speaker 2: And I did. I took some classes to learn how
22:03
Speaker 2: to give you know, got to do speaking engagements and
22:07
Speaker 2: then get on the crowd and whatnot. And I started
22:09
Speaker 2: doing it, and the more that I did it, I
22:11
Speaker 2: felt like a little bit of weight was taking off
22:14
Speaker 2: my back every time I was able to tell the story.
22:17
Speaker 2: And now every time I tell my story, I love
22:20
Speaker 2: it because those people remember the names of my brothers
22:24
Speaker 2: that that die that day, and it keeps their memory
22:27
Speaker 2: of life. And two more people or one hundred people
22:29
Speaker 2: whoever been here there they know my brother's names, and
22:34
Speaker 2: that's how you keep their memory of life. And I
22:37
Speaker 2: was like, why this, this is this is the purpose,
22:39
Speaker 2: This is what what I need to do. And I
22:43
Speaker 2: was like, if I can change one life in this
22:45
Speaker 2: building or in this room, that's worth it to me.
22:48
Speaker 2: That's why I'm here. And so I did that. Insteaded
22:52
Speaker 2: doing that for for quite a bit. But you know,
22:55
Speaker 2: living in a small town, I got caught up and
22:58
Speaker 2: hanging out with the with the wrong crowd and people
23:01
Speaker 2: that you know that I went to school with that
23:04
Speaker 2: weren't doing much with their lives, were just hanging around,
23:06
Speaker 2: you know, living with their parents and just drinking and
23:10
Speaker 2: just not doing anything good. And you know, one day
23:15
Speaker 2: I was just like, man, I don't want to do
23:16
Speaker 2: this forever, Like what am I doing? So I went
23:19
Speaker 2: to a strong wing competition that my friend Ronnie was
23:23
Speaker 2: having at his jam that he had just opened up
23:27
Speaker 2: and Darren Brads of Texas where I'm from, it's called
23:30
Speaker 2: are Not And I went to this strong wing competition.
23:33
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, this is awesome, Like right off
23:35
Speaker 2: the bat when I walked in, just the intensity and
23:38
Speaker 2: everybody and there was, you know, screaming and and schearing
23:42
Speaker 2: these guys on and I don't know what it was,
23:44
Speaker 2: it just it attracted me. So that was on a Saturday.
23:48
Speaker 2: I shut up on a Monday to start training, and
23:52
Speaker 2: you know, they were deadlifting that day and I walked
23:55
Speaker 2: in and I did lifted four hundred pounds and everybody
23:58
Speaker 2: was just kind of shocked. They're like, what what's going on?
24:01
Speaker 2: I was like, is that Yeah. Everybody's kind of like,
24:03
Speaker 2: what the heck? And I'm like, is that a lot?
24:06
Speaker 2: Because you know I can do more. Sure Enough, the
24:09
Speaker 2: following week, I did lifted five hundred hundred pounds and
24:12
Speaker 2: everybody was just like, dude, there's ys to have been
24:14
Speaker 2: here for years that can't do that, Like you have
24:17
Speaker 2: a gift. And by the encouragement of them and other
24:20
Speaker 2: teammates there, I started taking it very seriously and next thing,
24:25
Speaker 2: you know, them that lifting you know, six hundred plus
24:27
Speaker 2: pounds and just breaking records that no other uh, you know,
24:32
Speaker 2: disabled people have been able to do. And not only that,
24:36
Speaker 2: I was doing regular competitions as regular people and I
24:39
Speaker 2: was getting them. So I knew that that had something.
24:43
Speaker 2: So I started powerlifting, I started doing motivational speaking, and
24:47
Speaker 2: then just kind of helped me get in touch back
24:49
Speaker 2: to myself with hunting in the outdoors. And it was
24:53
Speaker 2: just a bunch of different things that helped me and
24:57
Speaker 2: that I started doing that. I love. The gym was
25:00
Speaker 2: a big part of me because I can walk in
25:02
Speaker 2: there and I knew that I could, just like I
25:05
Speaker 2: do hunting, I leave everything behind. You put your phone
25:07
Speaker 2: on way, you don't touch it. You just concentrate on
25:10
Speaker 2: what's in front of you and and that sens it
25:12
Speaker 2: gives you. It gave me a purpose and I had
25:15
Speaker 2: a task that I wanted to accomplish. You know, you
25:18
Speaker 2: kind of gave me that that sense of being back
25:22
Speaker 2: in the service because you have to be strict with
25:24
Speaker 2: your diet, you have to follow everything to the teeth.
25:28
Speaker 2: And you know, I loved it because I was welcomed
25:30
Speaker 2: by so many people. I mean, people in the industry
25:33
Speaker 2: that should have never been talking to me, like Brandon
25:35
Speaker 2: lily Ed Conbe, Brandon Allen, my buddy Gunner down in
25:40
Speaker 2: LA who you know, he's a trainer for some of them,
25:43
Speaker 2: the greatest actors in this world. And these guys Johner Peter,
25:49
Speaker 2: So that's my boy. The podcast, I love you, and
25:56
Speaker 2: you know he really is you know him, guys like him,
25:59
Speaker 2: the guys over at Sorenate, you know, just a bunch
26:02
Speaker 2: of different people. And I felt the love from the
26:05
Speaker 2: polating community and and just the fitness industry period and
26:11
Speaker 2: I just loved it. And then that's what kept me going.
26:14
Speaker 2: And if I would have never done of those things,
26:16
Speaker 2: it would never open the doors. But that's what I
26:18
Speaker 2: do now, That's what I decided to do after my injuries,
26:21
Speaker 2: And like I said I was, I was going to
26:24
Speaker 2: take charge of my injuries, not my injuries. Take charge of.
26:26
Speaker 1: Means taking a quick break from today's episode to give
26:35
Speaker 1: my sponsor Athletic Greens some love. You know, I hate
26:39
Speaker 1: the word diet. I feel like even when I was
26:41
Speaker 1: losing weight in college, there was nothing about it that
26:45
Speaker 1: felt like a diet. It was just me learning how
26:47
Speaker 1: to adapt my lifestyle to be healthier. And I feel like.
26:51
Speaker 1: That's what I think about when I reach for Athletic
26:54
Speaker 1: Greens in the morning these days. What I eat, it's
26:56
Speaker 1: not about trying to lose weight. It's just trying to
26:58
Speaker 1: get the most out of what I'm putting into my body.
27:01
Speaker 1: And Athletic Greens does that with its adaptagens, probiotics, probiotics,
27:05
Speaker 1: and twelve different servings of fruits and vegetables. By shaking
27:09
Speaker 1: it up first thing in the morning, it helps me
27:11
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27:13
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Speaker 1: that's Athleticgreens dot com slash Hurdle. Let's get back to it.
27:43
Speaker 1: Very impressive to be able to recognize that maybe you
27:46
Speaker 1: didn't want to be hanging out with the wrong crowd
27:49
Speaker 1: and find some solace in a super healthy environment. Aside
27:54
Speaker 1: from that, I mean, I just need to throw this
27:56
Speaker 1: out there that the quote unquote fittest guy on Earth,
27:59
Speaker 1: Matt Fraser or his deadlift pr is listed on the
28:02
Speaker 1: CrossFit website as five hundred pounds. So you in there
28:07
Speaker 1: crushing these numbers and you're doing it with one leg.
28:10
Speaker 2: Man, listen, Matt Fraser knows this very well because him
28:14
Speaker 2: and I are friends, and he knows I cannot lift
28:16
Speaker 2: him every day. But but but if we try to
28:19
Speaker 2: go on a run or something else, he got He's
28:21
Speaker 2: got me.
28:21
Speaker 1: Beat, he's got you be, He's got you. I feel
28:25
Speaker 1: like I have to ask, maybe an oblivious question, do
28:28
Speaker 1: you have a lot of pain when you do stuff
28:30
Speaker 1: like that with the with your nub.
28:34
Speaker 2: No? No, no, I have prosthetics, Dick that I have.
28:39
Speaker 2: You know, it's crazy because I gave a leg up
28:42
Speaker 2: and I have like seven in my garage. I got
28:44
Speaker 2: a leg that that I walk with on a regular
28:47
Speaker 2: I got a running leg, I got a power lifting leg.
28:49
Speaker 2: I got a leg that I wear just for boots,
28:52
Speaker 2: so you name it. I have all these different things,
28:54
Speaker 2: and they're all they're they're all built in a different way.
28:58
Speaker 2: So for example, when I go lift, like my own
29:00
Speaker 2: power lifting leg that's got pushing and stuff on the
29:02
Speaker 2: inside that that helps the impact, so my nuve doesn't
29:06
Speaker 2: doesn't hit the covering fiber very hard to where it's
29:10
Speaker 2: gonna cut me open and do all that. It still
29:12
Speaker 2: happens because my skin is burned on my nubs so
29:16
Speaker 2: it's very sensitive. So I still get cuts, I still
29:18
Speaker 2: get cruises, I still get all that stuff. But it's
29:20
Speaker 2: not as bad as it should And that's why I
29:24
Speaker 2: do it. And now it might be pain, I just
29:27
Speaker 2: like I said at the time, it doesn't register just
29:29
Speaker 2: because my nerves aren't wired the regular way. So if
29:35
Speaker 2: I do feel it, i'll feel it later and I
29:36
Speaker 2: just know how to rehab and what to do with it.
29:38
Speaker 2: And you know, it's just like anything any any sport
29:41
Speaker 2: that any athlete does. I I'd like to think that
29:46
Speaker 2: I listen to my body sometimes, but I really don't.
29:50
Speaker 2: When when it says stop, I try to stop and
29:54
Speaker 2: just take care of the issue right and then you know,
29:58
Speaker 2: reset and get back to it. But yeah, and I
30:00
Speaker 2: mean there's pain, it's not registering reckon in there. But
30:04
Speaker 2: if it's as usually any pain, I do stop and
30:07
Speaker 2: and reset and get back at it or go back
30:10
Speaker 2: to see my prosthetic guy and be like, hey, this
30:12
Speaker 2: isn't working. We need to work on something different. And
30:14
Speaker 2: for the most part, I'm truly blessed that they're about
30:17
Speaker 2: an hour from me, so I get to go in
30:19
Speaker 2: there at whatever time I want and we get to
30:21
Speaker 2: work on something and they know that that the level
30:23
Speaker 2: of of stuff that I'm doing, and they're they're just
30:26
Speaker 2: great because they take care of me every single time.
30:30
Speaker 1: That's awesome. And I'm curious when did it go from
30:32
Speaker 1: you were just showing up at the gym and lifting
30:35
Speaker 1: up some heavy stuff to thinking, hey, maybe I should
30:38
Speaker 1: start competing in this.
30:39
Speaker 2: You know what it was? It was fairly quick. Like
30:42
Speaker 2: I said, man, my friend Rod, and once you think
30:47
Speaker 2: us of the gym, there like there's a competition coming up,
30:49
Speaker 2: you need to sign up. And I was like, I
30:50
Speaker 2: don't know, I don't want to do that. I don't
30:52
Speaker 2: think I'm ready. And he's like, well, you got to
30:54
Speaker 2: start somewhere, buddy. You got to do a competition and
30:58
Speaker 2: see where you're at and competition, and you know, I've
31:01
Speaker 2: always been a very competitive guy and I've always loved
31:05
Speaker 2: challenging myself and then try to try to be the
31:10
Speaker 2: best guy in the room, just like anyone else. When
31:12
Speaker 2: it comes to being a competitive person. But I was
31:15
Speaker 2: very reserved when it came to that. I didn't really
31:17
Speaker 2: want to do it, And you know, I was so
31:19
Speaker 2: thankful and blessed that I had them because they pushed
31:21
Speaker 2: me to do it and they're like, you're never going
31:24
Speaker 2: to know where you're at and the like, and they're like, honestly,
31:27
Speaker 2: you're probably not going to be good at it, you know,
31:29
Speaker 2: And there was all things that they were they were
31:31
Speaker 2: telling me to fire me up. I knew what they
31:34
Speaker 2: were doing. I just didn't want to didn't really realize
31:37
Speaker 2: it then that they were pushing me to do this thing.
31:40
Speaker 2: And after's so much of them pushing me and telling
31:43
Speaker 2: me that I wasn't going to be able to do it,
31:45
Speaker 2: I signed up and they all knew that I was
31:47
Speaker 2: doing it, and I ended up doing it and I didn't.
31:50
Speaker 2: I didn't win my play a place like I can't
31:54
Speaker 2: remember it was the third or fourth place, I honestly
31:56
Speaker 2: don't remember. And from there I was like, you know what, No,
32:02
Speaker 2: I'm going to beat those able bodied people. I'm going
32:04
Speaker 2: to do it better than them, and I'm gonna I'm
32:07
Speaker 2: going to prove everybody that no matter what life throws
32:10
Speaker 2: it to you, no matter what injuries you think you
32:13
Speaker 2: can't get over. I'm going to prove all those people wrong.
32:16
Speaker 2: And that right there sparks something in me. And even
32:19
Speaker 2: til today, I love proving people wrong. I love when
32:22
Speaker 2: people tell me I can't do something because I'm going
32:25
Speaker 2: to do it better than them, and I'm going to
32:27
Speaker 2: make sure I do it better than everybody else. And
32:29
Speaker 2: there's just the type of person that I am.
32:32
Speaker 1: Correct me if I'm wrong. But you hold the Paralympic
32:35
Speaker 1: records for a few of these lifts.
32:36
Speaker 2: Now I do I do for de dead lift and bench.
32:43
Speaker 2: I just you know, it's kind of already to believe
32:46
Speaker 2: that no one's gone after my uh after I've been
32:50
Speaker 2: breaking them, but they're still there, you know.
32:53
Speaker 1: And what kind of weights are we talking about here?
32:57
Speaker 2: I know we're gonna ask at the time when I
33:01
Speaker 2: did it. I did lift at six sixty five. Then
33:06
Speaker 2: uh then unofficially I've lifted on six ninety five, and
33:13
Speaker 2: then bench was my bench on the world records, I
33:17
Speaker 2: believe it was four five instance, then the unofficial that
33:22
Speaker 2: I pushed was for eighty five.
33:26
Speaker 1: I am trying to imagine what seven hundred pounds like
33:32
Speaker 1: what even is seven hundred pounds to compare to lifting
33:35
Speaker 1: seven hundred pounds, Like it's a car seven hundred pounds,
33:40
Speaker 1: Like I don't even know. I think it's lighter than that.
33:42
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know either, you know, like
33:47
Speaker 2: I never I never did it competitively in high school.
33:50
Speaker 2: It was never. None of that is just uh, I
33:54
Speaker 2: don't know how to explain. It was just a gift
33:57
Speaker 2: that I was giving that I found owned to come
34:01
Speaker 2: from all my injuries. It was something that was there
34:04
Speaker 2: that I had never really taken a look at and
34:08
Speaker 2: you know, like pursuited to see what potential it had
34:13
Speaker 2: till I did. And you know, now, it's just it's
34:17
Speaker 2: just one of those things. I'm glad I did it,
34:19
Speaker 2: and I'm glad that I had those those people behind me.
34:22
Speaker 2: And I really don't care if there's one or there's
34:24
Speaker 2: a one hundred thousand people in the building. I think
34:27
Speaker 2: to shut everything out. I'm focused on what's in front
34:30
Speaker 2: of me. I'm focused on what I got to do.
34:32
Speaker 2: I'm focused that I performed at my best. I'm kind
34:37
Speaker 2: of like being down range, you know, when we did
34:39
Speaker 2: patrols and we were going door to door or we
34:41
Speaker 2: were gonna mission trying to find a bad guy. Everything
34:45
Speaker 2: shuts down, everything is slow, smooth and fast, and you
34:50
Speaker 2: try to take everything in your everything kind of you
34:53
Speaker 2: ever seen those movies where everything slows down but it's fat. Yeah,
34:57
Speaker 2: that's what happens to me. That what had that, That's
35:00
Speaker 2: what it used to happen overseas, And that's what happens
35:02
Speaker 2: when I do stuff like that. Everything shuts down, everything
35:05
Speaker 2: slows down, and next thing you know, you know, we're
35:07
Speaker 2: done with everything. But it was smooth as that sat
35:10
Speaker 2: as smooth. It's just concentration and you get to that
35:14
Speaker 2: place where nothing matters, nothing, and there's just a sense
35:21
Speaker 2: of feeling that that helps fill some sort of something
35:28
Speaker 2: inside of me. Just gets full of that and makes
35:30
Speaker 2: me happy, even even if I don't get the lift.
35:33
Speaker 2: I mean, I've tried to get a lift seven twenty
35:35
Speaker 2: five ones and came up halfway. I almost had it,
35:38
Speaker 2: and I dropped it. And you know, most people would
35:41
Speaker 2: be you know, would be torn and and now that
35:45
Speaker 2: they didn't get it, but I was, I just laughed.
35:47
Speaker 2: I laughed at it, and I walked away and people
35:50
Speaker 2: were like, why are you laughing? Because they got a
35:52
Speaker 2: half way and I don't know if I know any
35:54
Speaker 2: other guys I could do that, And you know, I
35:58
Speaker 2: was just happy about it, and I just walked away
36:00
Speaker 2: and I just like it. It's just a feeling of
36:02
Speaker 2: being there. It taken compare to both the same thing
36:05
Speaker 2: with hunting, you know, as just I don't know how
36:08
Speaker 2: to I really, I mean, I'm trying to explain it,
36:10
Speaker 2: but it is this No.
36:11
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you're I think you're doing a
36:12
Speaker 1: great job. And I think also this show is like
36:14
Speaker 1: such an amazing perspective. I mean, this idea like, well,
36:18
Speaker 1: I got it halfway. I think so so often, you know,
36:21
Speaker 1: we come to a place where we're faced with a
36:23
Speaker 1: challenge and if it doesn't go exactly as we had
36:26
Speaker 1: hoped or planned, it's easy to view that as a failure.
36:30
Speaker 1: But in actuality, like you are so good because of
36:34
Speaker 1: your experience and what's happened to you at celebrating these
36:38
Speaker 1: small wins and keeping things in perspective.
36:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean that's that's a great way to
36:43
Speaker 2: put it.
36:45
Speaker 1: I mean, what's on the radar now?
36:47
Speaker 2: As now I've kind of stepped back and taken a
36:49
Speaker 2: break from power lifting and doing all these things. Unfortunately,
36:54
Speaker 2: like I mentioned earlier, infections is a big part of
36:57
Speaker 2: my burns and my body and whatnot. Right now, I
37:00
Speaker 2: have a open cut on my nub and it's prevented
37:04
Speaker 2: me from from from power of the thing, from doing
37:07
Speaker 2: heavy stuff just because it hurts, starts bleeding, you know,
37:10
Speaker 2: and then the infection has been pretty bad. So we're
37:15
Speaker 2: taking a break from power of the things and really
37:19
Speaker 2: putting a lot of strain on my body. And as
37:21
Speaker 2: I'm getting a little older, so you know, I'm definitely
37:23
Speaker 2: feeling it. I'm I say, oh, I'm thirty three years old,
37:27
Speaker 2: but I started doing this when when I was about
37:29
Speaker 2: twenty three. It's been about ten years since because when
37:33
Speaker 2: I was twenty one years old when I got wounded.
37:36
Speaker 2: So I've been doing this ten plus years now, and
37:40
Speaker 2: you know, you can't do it forever, right It's just
37:44
Speaker 2: one of those things where I feel my body kind
37:48
Speaker 2: of slowing down, and and I'm okay with it. I'm
37:50
Speaker 2: happy with what I did and what not, But you know,
37:53
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna try to give it another crack
37:55
Speaker 2: here soon as soon as my life it was up,
37:57
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm going to go after it and then
38:00
Speaker 2: see what I can accomplish, and then you know, product
38:03
Speaker 2: with and retire from the sport.
38:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean in terms of the public speaking,
38:09
Speaker 1: I can only imagine how rewarding that is to know
38:13
Speaker 1: that you know your experiences, your stories, you're what you
38:17
Speaker 1: have to say is really leaving an impact on so
38:19
Speaker 1: many people.
38:22
Speaker 2: I love it for that simple fact that you know,
38:24
Speaker 2: we as humans tend to look for inspiration from others.
38:30
Speaker 2: And one of the biggest things that I've noticed is
38:32
Speaker 2: when I do when I do my speeches, I've always
38:34
Speaker 2: have people come up to me and one of the
38:38
Speaker 2: most commonly said statements is I could never do what
38:43
Speaker 2: she did. And I stopped them right the end of
38:46
Speaker 2: every single time because they're selling themselves short. And I
38:49
Speaker 2: always tell them, you're selling yourself short. You don't know
38:52
Speaker 2: what you're capable of. Us as humans, every single day
38:57
Speaker 2: that we wake up and fight, we're fighting to stay
38:59
Speaker 2: a lot and that's what I was doing. So don't
39:02
Speaker 2: ever sell yourself short. Always push forward because in the
39:05
Speaker 2: moment that you're putting in whatever scenario it is, you
39:09
Speaker 2: are kind of push yourself to survive and those are
39:12
Speaker 2: around me. So I always tell people, don't sell yourself short.
39:15
Speaker 2: Keep pushing forward, and you'll be surprised what you're cable
39:20
Speaker 2: of when push comes to shove.
39:22
Speaker 1: At this point, I mean, aside from the power of
39:24
Speaker 1: things stuff, you're going to take a step back from
39:26
Speaker 1: that and speaking. Is there anything else that's on your
39:28
Speaker 1: radar of what you want in the next you know,
39:31
Speaker 1: five ten years.
39:32
Speaker 2: You know, one of the biggest things that I that
39:35
Speaker 2: I love doing as well is hunting, providing my own
39:40
Speaker 2: source of food for me and my family. And you know,
39:45
Speaker 2: ten five teen years from now, what I want to
39:46
Speaker 2: do is actually buy some land, air and taxis, have
39:50
Speaker 2: my own with a ranch where I can invite other
39:53
Speaker 2: wounded veterans to come and hunt and put food on
39:56
Speaker 2: their tables and step away from from their every day
40:02
Speaker 2: routine that they have, you know, step out of the
40:04
Speaker 2: cell phone area, step out of the social media platforms.
40:09
Speaker 2: And I say that, but you know, I try as
40:12
Speaker 2: much as I can, and you try to stay off
40:14
Speaker 2: of Instagram and tasook and all that. But I ask
40:16
Speaker 2: what I want to do, and when I'm bringing these
40:17
Speaker 2: guys out and reset themselves, and even if they don't
40:21
Speaker 2: want to hunt, just come out and hang out in
40:22
Speaker 2: the country and taking a deep breath of fresh air
40:27
Speaker 2: and just relax. No agenda, nothing, no pictures, no, none
40:30
Speaker 2: of that stuff. Just come out, relax. If you want
40:33
Speaker 2: to talk with us, talk, I'm here, and try to
40:36
Speaker 2: help as many other veterans as I can and try
40:39
Speaker 2: to give them a platform on social media like the
40:43
Speaker 2: one that I've been blessed that to have and inspire
40:46
Speaker 2: others with and want others veterans to succeed and have
40:49
Speaker 2: the same thing totally.
40:51
Speaker 1: And you mentioned social media. I feel like that's just
40:54
Speaker 1: one of the things that can be kind of hard
40:56
Speaker 1: about coming back home, right.
40:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is the especially because there's there's you know,
41:02
Speaker 2: social media is such a great tool. I love it.
41:05
Speaker 2: It is stressful. There's such a huge division in this
41:07
Speaker 2: country where people for some reason are looking to fight
41:10
Speaker 2: online and if you don't agree with somebody certain political
41:14
Speaker 2: views and then you're against them, and I just it
41:17
Speaker 2: always hurts me. It hurts me deep inside seeing the
41:21
Speaker 2: team that other Americans are fighting with other Americans just
41:24
Speaker 2: because they don't agree with what's going on in this country.
41:27
Speaker 2: And it's just that's probably the only thing that I
41:30
Speaker 2: that I could speak negative on that is. That part
41:34
Speaker 2: is where people are constantly fighting online with one another,
41:39
Speaker 2: are just being mean, and then you see the hatred
41:45
Speaker 2: of some people on there, and it's it's kind of
41:49
Speaker 2: you know, it's just it's just it just bothers me
41:52
Speaker 2: a lot, because you know, I don't I don't care
41:56
Speaker 2: about religions, I don't care about your your sex preference.
41:59
Speaker 2: I don't don't care where you come from. I don't care
42:01
Speaker 2: if you're an American. I love you and I love
42:03
Speaker 2: who you are. And I think we all need to
42:05
Speaker 2: do that. We don't need to realize that we're all Americans.
42:08
Speaker 2: We're all in this together, regardless of what you think
42:11
Speaker 2: or what you believe in. We're all here for one another.
42:14
Speaker 2: And I think we need to get back to that.
42:16
Speaker 2: And that's the only thing that I don't really like
42:18
Speaker 2: about social media right now.
42:19
Speaker 1: I think it's really awesome and special when you look
42:23
Speaker 1: at the stuff that you're putting out there and just
42:25
Speaker 1: all the positive things that people are saying in the
42:27
Speaker 1: comments on your page. I mean, you definitely have a
42:30
Speaker 1: great platform there. I think I saw the other day
42:33
Speaker 1: it's upward as a two hundred and fifty thousand people.
42:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, two hundred and fifty thousand. I'm truly, like
42:40
Speaker 2: I said, it's really less to have all those people
42:45
Speaker 2: look at what I do and being so supportive because
42:48
Speaker 2: I try to do as much as I can. Having
42:50
Speaker 2: a platform like that, I love, love connecting with people,
42:53
Speaker 2: and I know a lot of great things have come
42:56
Speaker 2: out of it. I've met a lot of kids that
42:58
Speaker 2: have suffered from burns, and I try to be in
43:01
Speaker 2: the lives as much as possible. I've grown to different
43:03
Speaker 2: parts of the country to meet these kids, and we've
43:05
Speaker 2: done a lot of great things online. We had. I
43:09
Speaker 2: met this young man named Owen who had been He
43:13
Speaker 2: was burned as a young kid. You know, he's ten
43:16
Speaker 2: years old now, but he was burned when he was
43:17
Speaker 2: six months old and he's growing up his whole life
43:21
Speaker 2: like that. And I can't relate to that because, you know,
43:25
Speaker 2: I grew up just an all American background. I played football,
43:30
Speaker 2: I was good at it, I lived in Texas, I
43:32
Speaker 2: did all types of things you can think of, and
43:36
Speaker 2: I was fine with my injuries. But growing up as
43:38
Speaker 2: a kid and realizing how mean some kids can be
43:42
Speaker 2: in this world is you know, it really broke my
43:45
Speaker 2: heart to see this kid being picked on because he
43:47
Speaker 2: was burned. It wasn't his fault, but he was burning.
43:49
Speaker 2: He was being picked on. So I've taken to the
43:52
Speaker 2: liking of that when people sending messages and stuff like that,
43:55
Speaker 2: I try to do grafing for these kids, and I
43:57
Speaker 2: try to get all my followers involved and we hit that.
44:00
Speaker 2: We did one year. This kid loves hats. He's got
44:03
Speaker 2: to wear a hat everywhere he goes because his head
44:04
Speaker 2: is so badly burned that the sun will literally sunburn
44:08
Speaker 2: and skin make blistens and he be bleeding everywhere. So
44:11
Speaker 2: I put it out. I was like, Hey, this is
44:12
Speaker 2: his address. I would love to see how many hats
44:15
Speaker 2: you can get out there. And we lost count at
44:17
Speaker 2: TRED and if you.
44:18
Speaker 1: Had, Wow, that's so so awesome.
44:22
Speaker 2: It is. It's super awesome. And that's what I love
44:25
Speaker 2: about about the platform that I've been given, that we
44:28
Speaker 2: can come together and do cool things like that and
44:32
Speaker 2: and just make somebody's day. And let let lettle Owen
44:34
Speaker 2: know that, Hey, buddy, you know, we know the world
44:37
Speaker 2: can be cruel at times, but we're here. We have
44:40
Speaker 2: your back, and no matter what, you can always reach
44:42
Speaker 2: out and we'll be here for you.
44:45
Speaker 1: I've got to ask you. I mean a lot of
44:46
Speaker 1: people they look at Owen and they see the burns
44:49
Speaker 1: you look. They look, they come to your Instagram profile page,
44:53
Speaker 1: they see you on social media, they see the burns.
44:55
Speaker 1: When you look in the mirror yourself, what is it
44:58
Speaker 1: that you see looking back at you.
45:01
Speaker 2: Honestly, every time I look in the mirror, I no
45:03
Speaker 2: longer see my injuries. It's crazy. I see myself as
45:07
Speaker 2: I used to what I used to look like. I mean,
45:11
Speaker 2: I know I'm different, I know my hands are different.
45:13
Speaker 2: I know that I'm not that, but I still I
45:16
Speaker 2: still see that person before the before the accident. And
45:21
Speaker 2: then that's what gives me kind of the confidence to
45:23
Speaker 2: do what I do every single day, and it keeps
45:25
Speaker 2: me going just because I'm able to do that. I
45:28
Speaker 2: don't think I've ever told anybody that.
45:32
Speaker 1: Hey, you know you you are your own biggest type man,
45:35
Speaker 1: and I firmly believe that in life, you have to
45:37
Speaker 1: believe in yourself first for other people to see what
45:40
Speaker 1: you see.
45:41
Speaker 2: Amen.
45:42
Speaker 1: I always close the podcast by asking the same question.
45:46
Speaker 1: Right now, if you had the opportunity to give the
45:49
Speaker 1: omar a piece of advice, the guy who is you
45:53
Speaker 1: know at his hurdle moment, going through that tough time
45:57
Speaker 1: acclimating back into society, hanging out with the wrong crowd.
46:01
Speaker 1: He gets into fitness, he gets into exercise, and he
46:04
Speaker 1: knows he looks different, but he's working the best he
46:06
Speaker 1: can to do the best he can with what he has.
46:09
Speaker 1: What kind of advice do you give him? Looking back
46:11
Speaker 1: on it right.
46:12
Speaker 2: Now, I wouldn't give myself any advice. Let it be,
46:15
Speaker 2: and I'll let anything everything that's that happened, I just
46:18
Speaker 2: let it be because today I'm at a place where
46:22
Speaker 2: I am comfortable with myself. I am happy. And I
46:25
Speaker 2: wrote something earlier today that said, once the heart feels less,
46:31
Speaker 2: a smile is real. And I went through a lot
46:35
Speaker 2: of struggles. I went through a lot of tribulations to
46:37
Speaker 2: be where I'm at today, and I learned from all
46:39
Speaker 2: that stuff. So I wouldn't want to be able to
46:42
Speaker 2: go back and then spoil something and be like, hey,
46:45
Speaker 2: this is going to happen, bro, just get ready. I
46:48
Speaker 2: would never want to do that. I think everything that
46:50
Speaker 2: I've been through in life has made me who I
46:53
Speaker 2: am today, and I was just I just go back
46:56
Speaker 2: and watch me do it all over again. That's all
46:58
Speaker 2: I would do.
46:59
Speaker 1: Wow, what a perspective, Omar. Thank you so much for
47:03
Speaker 1: giving me your time, for your service, and for your perspective.
47:06
Speaker 1: There are so many people that are just benefiting from
47:09
Speaker 1: what you have to put into the world, and it's
47:11
Speaker 1: really really special.
47:13
Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate that.
47:14
Speaker 1: Please take a moment to leave a quick review by
47:17
Speaker 1: clicking the link with the description to this episode. We
47:20
Speaker 1: all face multiple hurdles in life. I want to hear
47:23
Speaker 1: about yours. Reach out to me at Emily at hurdle
47:26
Speaker 1: dot us. Connect with the podcast on Instagram and Twitter
47:29
Speaker 1: at Hurdle Podcast. Omar. Where do they find you on
47:33
Speaker 1: social media? How can they connect with you? Give me
47:35
Speaker 1: the details?
47:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, everything from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. I am
47:40
Speaker 2: under Chrispy eleven B.
47:42
Speaker 1: I love it. What's the eleven B?
47:44
Speaker 2: That's just the classification in the military to stand that's infantry.
47:47
Speaker 2: That's all right.
47:48
Speaker 1: Well, thank you again for your time. Another hurdle conquered.
47:52
Speaker 1: Catch you guys next time.
48:00
Speaker 2: M