The American Military Brit

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This is the American military Britt,

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shedding light on the realities of military life. Now, here's your host, US Air Force Staff Sergeant Christopher Clark. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the American military bread podcast. This is a podcast where we talk to different military members to figure out the full story about the military. And we don't just focus on the rumors such as the Marines being crazy, or the army being stupid, we actually figure out from the people themselves what the story is with the military. So I hope you enjoy this podcast that we have for you today. Hello, everyone, and welcome once again, to another outtake episode of the American military Brit podcast. This is outtakes episode three. And this time, we're going to begin with Aaron now I discussed with Aaron talking about how the military to civilian civilian to military links together and kind of how that worked for him. So he talks about his family is a military family. And for a lot of people, that is the case. For me, my dad was in the Air Force. So that's there's a link there, but also just with people in general, they will have you know, parents, grandparents, who whatever the case may be cousins, brothers, sisters who are in the military, and they follow in those footsteps. And that prepares them for the military that prepares them for transitions and things like that. So here's Aaron talking a little bit about that. Yeah. And can I just ask, like I was looking at, I was looking through your stuff. And it looks like you've got a lot of things going for you basically like you've done a lot of things. How much would you say that your service in the Navy prepared you to do that stuff? Or was it just kind of like you got out you just went for? You know, when you grew up in a military family. My father, my grandfather was a decorated World War Two Army Air Force veteran. And, you know, he shared his stories, it seemed like, every day, you know, he'd always share stories in the magazine cutouts and all that and they were still recognizing them years later. So growing up with dad and my dad was a Vietnam vet, my uncle was a Navy, Vietnam vet, my dad was a Marine. So when you grow up in that, in all my uncles, my grandfather's brothers, great uncles were all military. So you know, out the gate. I didn't have that as a kid living in LA single mom. And you know, I wasn't around that. So when I went to go there in high school, that's pretty much all I knew, you know, outside of playing sports. So when you have that base, that that is there. And it's always being brought up going to the VFW working the bingo, you know, Friday night, bingo night games, and, you know, you just start to get acclimated and understand the brother and sisterhood of veterans. And, you know, before you know it, and we did a lot of give backs on Flag Day, we, we put up flags at the courthouse with all the killed in action vets from our county. And so little by little, you start to appreciate, you know, the military a lot more, and you really can't wait to serve. You know, I wanted to leave my junior year and go to boot camp, and obviously I couldn't but so that is I was well prepared before I went to boot camp. Unlike a lot of people we know they have a rude awakening when they go they're not used to having to clean up after themselves. Right. They've been enabled. I was I was already you know lightyears ahead of a lot of my you know, classmates and boot camp because of the way I was raised.

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Okay, folks, let me tell you a little bit about open general right. So when you enter is open general you come in with the understanding of the Air Force is going to give you whatever job they see fit basically, whatever that job they need help in pretty much. And Lucretia talked about this in her podcast episode and it kind of brought back memories of me and basic training kind of speaking to people asking them because I knew my job was intelligence and I'd ask people like oh, what are you doing? Where are you going? And they literally were just like, I don't know when I came in open general and I was thinking well what's open general because I'd never even heard of that until until then. And I believe it was in basic training one of the weeks the maybe mid to late weeks where they actually found out a bunch of them went to a place and and got I think it was just in like an envelope and a letter or sometimes just telling them what they got selected for. So that was what happened how it happened in basic training but yeah open generals an interesting one I did not go in myself never really thought about taking that choice but me and Lucretia we talked about this in the in the next clip here for just to talk on open general Yeah, that's that's funny that you brought that up because I never even thought of that until now. But we had a couple of guys in our in our flight who did open general and they

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got like security forces, maintenance? And because those are the two career fields where they just need anybody? Yes, absolutely. Those are the career fields that are most intensive. They require the most physical manual labor, and people drop out of them really quick, like your body either gives out or mentally like you. It's not very sustainable long term. It takes a certain type of person. Yeah, thank goodness for me. I don't know what kind of angels I had watch it over me. But I ended up in the medical field. And I did that active duty for over 10 years before I decided like, well, I didn't, okay, so I didn't necessarily decide. The Air Force was like, you could become a flight medic, like in the flight, surgeon's office doing physicals and that sort of thing for the pilots and the air crew. So not being a medic in the that's a different career field. That would have been cool. No, no, they were not offering that they were offering me to go to physicals. And I was like, Ooh, this is a turning point for me. So I can either decide like to go with that, or do what I wanted to do and use my benefits my GI Bill to go back to school and do what I wanted to do, which was communications. And people kind of looked at me funny. Because I had so much experience in the medical field all I have spent 10 plus years in the medical field, why wouldn't you go into nursing? Why wouldn't you go be a nurse you had? I have my associate's degree my Yeah, I'm CCS. Yeah. So that was ideal, I guess. But I just couldn't see myself working in a hospital for another how long 40 plus years,

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or however long it was gonna be working. So I just did what I wanted to do and went into communications and

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cross trained into the guard into public affairs. So when I talk about public affairs, or communications or journalism, it's because it's like, what I wanted to do. Let's move on to a clip of Tamiya talking about Reserve Officer Training Corps, or ROTC, as it's called this one, I mean, it's a little more than a clip. It's like five minutes long. But this is an interesting one, because I didn't know anything about ROTC. Honestly, I'd heard about it. But I've never actually really spoken to anyone about it. And obviously, with to me, it's a little different, because she went through that versus everybody else on this podcast, who went through basic training in, you know, their specific branch, but she went through Army ROTC, and it was interesting just to listen to her talk about the differences between, you know, she still went to basic training and all that stuff. And I talk about that in here. But it was just interesting to hear how the experience was different coming to UNLV. And being an ROTC So here's to me, can I just, I'm gonna take it back here. So like, basic training and tech school and stuff like that. So do you have you know, you said, you have the guys yelling at you and stuff? Are they like, do they have like the hats on? Are they for uniforms? Everybody? Yes. Training and stuff. Okay. Yeah. So you have that? Was there somewhere that you specifically went for basic training? Yes. Fort Lewis, Washington. Okay. So you went there. And how long was that training? I think it was several weeks in because it was during the summer. So I can't remember the timeframe, but it was several weeks for our basic, okay. And then you go from there to then you go to learn your job, which Oh, well, I learned my job after commissioning, yet. They didn't send me to your specialty school until commissioning. So I got commissioned in 1987. And my specialty school, my tech school was for military police. So I got the branch I wanted. I definitely wanted military police. I knew that because my degree was criminal justice, I knew that I was going to be a police officer. I knew that and I say I knew that because that's part of my mindset, which is why I kind of laugh because I say I don't remember how I ended up getting an ROTC. But part of my mindset is, because when I got married to see, I had no idea that the option for being a military police was even there, you know, but went through my training and all that kind of stuff. And of course, our testing and stuff like that. Military Police was the natural thing for me, and I really enjoyed it. So I went to Fort McClellan Alabama for that training, and actually just saw notification where they said, if you were at Fort McClellan between these dates in this state, you need to get a hold of the VA because there was something we were exposed to. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So I got to follow up on that. But yeah, I was there during those days that they mentioned there, but yeah, so I was a former club. I think that was six, late, four months. I can't remember how long my training school was. That's horrible, isn't it? But I do remember the experience itself, it was it was definitely because of military police. You know, the role of any SP you know, any policing within the military services, you know, we are the police force, you know, we are the corrections we are the you know, I mean all those those functions, so I was able to

Unknown Speaker 10:00
Learn that which was amazing to be able to do that. And then when I came back as a reservists that was also my specialist we had, we actually have a guardian, I think we still have it was the 72nd MP 72nd MP corps here in Nevada. And I was initially a part of that during ROTC so So, so not only said like, I talked about ROTC, not only were we in class, you know, getting the training, you know, we were also mandated weekend, every weekend, we had something, we had annual training. And then we also had service with either the National Guard or the

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the National Guard, I think all our options for the National National Guard, but not everybody opted to do it. You didn't have to as part of your LTC training, you didn't have to, it wasn't a mandate for you to go in the National Guard and be you know, learn to be that citizen soldier kind of thing first. Okay. And then also in basic training, and like tech, school and stuff, are you do they mix men and women together? Because I know some people have given me different answers for this during the time I was in because you're talking 1988?

Unknown Speaker 11:10
Yes, it was integrated. There were men and women in my class. Okay. And my basic you know what, that's interesting. My basic limb I'm trying to think there had to be men and women, but I know we were berichtet you know, build it in Baird's Barrett in the barracks

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together as

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same sex you know, same sexes. So there was like a,

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you know, women and men, but when and even when I look back at my pictures, there's always men and women, so I don't ever remember being trained specifically women, specifically men. Okay, because I wonder if that's an officer thing because I swear, like enlisted army people were telling me like, it's like, a different spot that they that they go to or whatever, because we had, we had our dorm and like you said, in the, in the barracks that we had a sister flight, they were called. So we go like everywhere, pretty much with them. We'd be in class with them. Like we'd be on this side. They'd be on this side really matched in that in the class together. We were in the class together. Yeah. But separated, like we were on we were in the chair, there was a bunch of chairs on this side, there was a bunch of chairs on this. So we were there. They were there. Now, because I'm even looking, I'm read because I'm a visual person. I'm looking back at my pictures that I took during my, my MP training. And it was men and females. So maybe this year for officers? I don't know. It was it was integrated. Okay. All right. Cool. And then you you touched on Hawaii, that was your first assignment. That was none of that was my, my my leadership training assignment. So that's where you go, and they evaluate you as a as a leader, as an officer, you know, if they're going to commission you or not. So that was my commissioning training spot. Oh, I got you. Okay, cool. All right. Well, we'll and like I said, it was transportation, it wasn't actually what I ended up getting into, you know, being commissioned into, it was just, you know, that we didn't really get an option to go specifically to what we were looking to be commissioned into, because we hadn't been kind of assigned that yet. But they wanted to see that you could work as a leader, you know, so you were being evaluated by your captain and the major and all that stuff while you were there. Because you were the lieutenant you stood up, you know, you you did all the formations you did you know, everything, you know, you did the app orders, you did everything because you were showing that you would be able to be a good officer.

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This next story is absolutely hilarious. And the reason I say that is because for people who haven't been in and don't really know about this, like, you have to realize that when you first come in as a young airman, you anybody who has a bit of rank you're absolutely terrified of. And in this story, Shawn talks about how a major came knocking on his door and he was just, you know, drunk, which, obviously, Shawn, you know, if you remember his podcast, we did get into the, you know, being young at tech school. And of course, you know, it was a college atmosphere. So of course, you're gonna indulge in a little bit of alcohol, right? But he talks about how this major came knocking on his on his door, and he was rude to him. And, you know, it was for a wellness inspection, which we had while I was there, as well, it was just like one of those inspections to make sure no one's doing anything illegal and things of that nature. But let's just say in tech school, it was, it was, you know, like I said, it was a college atmosphere, it would get out of hand at times, but in general, just realize that when you were a young airman, anytime you saw a bit of rank, it's just funny because you would lose your mind and now thinking about it, it's like, why was it like that? But here's Sean talking about that stuff. 21 doing 21 things, you know, like being cool in the service or whatever, living my life and just, you know, it was like rough and then I remember one night we had a guy he come up

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banging on the door at like 230 in the morning, I opened the I'm I am gone three sheets easily to the wind here. This guy opens the door and he's and I'm like, I'm like What do you want, dude? And it was a major. And obviously the time when you're in tech school officers and majors and people are really above the rank of like Technical Sergeant, you're like, oh my gosh, this guy's like, he's like, he's like royalty, this guy will in my career. And anyways, I'm like, he's like, so I open the door. I'm like, What do you want, dude, and I see it's a major, and he can just see the fear of God in my eyes. And he's like, You need to get out of here now. And I was like, copy all. And so like, I like get dressed. And I go downstairs, right? And like, I'm so intoxicated at this point, after a night out at at this sports bar. It's because Bailey's Bailey Sports Bar. I'm so drunk, that like I can't even stand both me and John. So we're so drunk, we came in stand the position of attention because what this actually is, is a wellness inspection. Because somebody in the dorm, there's been reports that somebody had either drugs or alcohol illegally in the dorm. And it was the firefighters because at the time, our dorms are below, above, the firefighters before they before they moved them over to the new ones. And so they were raising the fire dogs and we were collateral damage because we were above the fire dogs and they put me outside. And like I can't they're like everybody the position of attention. They look at me and Johnson we can't even came at stand. And they're like except for you too. And so like everybody has a position of attention. I'm like literally laying on my back, like passing out on this on this PT pad because I'm so drunk. And so like that was just kind of like the lifestyle but obviously, you know, you're learning your job, you don't really know what's going on. You're going through the books and everything. And so it was a breath of fresh air kind of like a you know, crash, crash college for like six months, and then you finally get your job and you're on your way. Yeah, it was just funny you saying that story, man. I just remember. I remember when we we had to. It was the next day we had on the Sunday when you had to come down there and report for duty. And they just like took attendance to make sure everyone was still alive, you know, from the weekend. And I was I swear I was still I was still drunk. And I was just cursing and just talking just crap to everybody. And everyone was just laughing at me because I was just, you know, still drunk from the night before. Eric's story is his deployment story is one of my favorites, because he really gets into the dangers and talks in detail about a time that they got attacked and whatnot. But this clip here, it goes into a little bit more details, you know, because on his podcast episode, he talked about the CD ROMs and how they would shoot down the mortars and all that stuff. And I'd never really saw those in action. But he kind of goes into details even gives some sound effects as well, which I'm sure you'll enjoy. But he also talks about a story of how a guy like shut up a bunch of people and killed a bunch of people on base. And that's the dangerous thing with these people who deploy a lot and they you know, begin to develop mental health problems and it appears that's what this guy who did this he had those those issues. But Eric goes into details here about the dangers of deployment. So let's listen. That's crazy, man. Because you know, you hear about the CD ROMs and how they, you know, do a good job of kind of shooting thing. Oh, yeah, I guess they don't work all the time. And that's crazy. Like, just so those guys died in there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, dude in it. And like I say it, man. It was that was such a surreal moment, man. Because like I said, it just looked like a scene out of a movie, man. Like those those things were coming out. I mean, just a blazing hot red man. And it just looked like the little things that come out of the star wars going on like, Lila Yeah.

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That's great. Yeah. Cuz I mean, like I said, I would have loved to have gone to Iraq or Afghanistan. But at the same time, I'm thinking, Well, maybe not to be honest. Yeah. And not only that, but when I was over there, I remember there was a guy over there who had they had released some of his duty because he was like, on his third deployment or something like that. And he basically kind of snapped, you know what I mean? It would, I mean, you know, to be expected after at that point in time, so he didn't have a weapon or anything like that. But he always had a security forces guy, a military MP with him. And I remember I was at the BX and I was shopping for some stuff. And I remember I hear gunshots now in Iraq, that's normal. You know, the, the kind of the time that you start getting worried and when you don't hear nothing, you know what I mean? So we got shot at all the time, you know, that was not a big deal. Whatever, right. So I heard the gunshots checked out, went back to my desk, like nothing happened. The TV's on and I'm looking at it and they said there was a shooting at Camp victory. I'm like, What am I How did they like what did

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it start? It starts talking about it. They're like there's a shooting at the mental health facility, blah, blah, blah. And so what happened was that guy he had a session

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As normal that day, he left he wrestled the gun away from his MP went back to the clinic he shot his the doctor that he had the the meaning with and he killed like eight other people in there, man. And the crazy part about it was is that the news knew about it and I was literally right next door to it. Like the mental health facilities right there. The bX is right next to it and I didn't even know about it until I learned about it on the news man. Craziness. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 20:30
I'm glad I just went to Jordan. Right. The worst we had was like some crazy Saudi Arabian guy driving on the bass. Yeah.

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flightline

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Sean is back yet again with another hilarious story. This one's from from Whiteman a story that honestly I completely forgot about. Because we start off obviously by talking about the LOC that he had to give me but then we get into the fact that you know, we were a bit wild back then in the office and we had all these Nerf weapons and we would shoot each other with the little Nerf guns and all that stuff and like, throw things at each other in the office sometimes during like downtime and whatnot. But it will get a little bit crazy sometimes. And eventually that was put to a stop by the I think it was by the certain major that I was mentioning in his in his podcast, but even like before that I think maybe it was stopped. But that's something that we get into here in this in this clip. So enjoy. To go back to you mentioned an loc letter of counts that counts, I think is what it stands for. But I want to see if Do you still remember this story? Do you remember when you like were told to give me an loc but then you just gave me a warning instead? Because I said something classified over an unclassified. Ah, yeah, I remember that. Like I, I remember you said it, and I was I just kind of like, what did you just say?

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You're like, oh, it was bad. And they were like, you need to do this. And I was like, wow, I was like, Look, it wasn't that big a deal, like first time. So I was like, I'm not going to do. And I'm a brand new airman as well. So I'm like on the verge of crying. I'm thinking, Oh, I've screwed my career up or

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got back to door to door charity work. It was just it was horrible. But that's funny, man. I was just I was hoping you'd remember that story. Because I remember, there were two those two because there was that one. And I'll never forget the time that we had the airman.

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You remember?

Unknown Speaker 22:37
If you remember him throwing the ball that ball into the captain's chili that time Yes, yeah, I remember distinctly they were having a little bit of a ruckus, having a lot of fun. And the next thing I know, this kid, kid just goes in and commits absolute career suicide, throws his ball, just like nerf ball at this guy to get them back this the the officer is at his desk, eating beef stew and like rice or something is something with a thick gravy. And he throws it on this guy. And it just explodes. This gravy just explodes all over his all over his uniform. And all I hear is, hey,

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I'm like at the top of his lungs, and he's like, Get out here. And he's like, You better get control this airman or I'm gonna get control of him for you. And I was like, Oh, my God, I was like, What did you do? I was like, what an idiot. Good Times good times. When you get out of the air force or separate from the Air Force, there's factors that come into play in making your decision. For me, it was pretty easy just because it was a decision for me only it was just what do I want to do? And I wanted to get out. But with Moses, he talks about in this clip, where they kind of talked about in his podcasts kind of before this clip, he was talking about his son and how that's factored in financially to keep him in the Air Force. But like that's, that's one problem that I didn't have to deal with. And he talks about how I'm rich because I don't have any kids. And this is something that my sisters always say as well. They're just like, Oh, you're so rich, because you don't have any kids. And it's like, Well, life is still expensive. Anyway, we kind of talk about these things and what factors into you separating and all that stuff. So here's Moses talking about that.

Unknown Speaker 24:28
It's all financial, pretty much. There's still certain aspects of military I love. And if I were to get out I'd be really sad.

Unknown Speaker 24:36
But there are more things that are stressing me out and I'm just putting up with it. Well, yeah, I can tell you mine. One thing that I definitely miss, especially being a college student is the money that I used to get when I was in the military. So that's like one thing. Like you always say, oh, Chris, you're rich or you are rich. I'm like, I'm not No, no, trust me, like compared

Unknown Speaker 25:00
To the money that I used to have like say back in 2019 when I was still in, not even close mine the way I see it, you're single, you're no obligations, you're saving all your life, your your English, so you already don't have good food choices and probably don't eat much.

Unknown Speaker 25:18
You get used to GI Bill, you're reservists. You also have a job downtown. You're You're rich. Well, yeah, the reason this guy says that is because I'm single. I don't have any kids. That's why you're saying that. Yeah. So I had, like, when I got out, I had the freedom of choice to be like, you know, I'm just thinking about me. Right. But like you said, you've got a wife, you've got a child now. So it's a little different in that case, isn't it? So?

Unknown Speaker 25:42
But yeah, I mean it. Yeah. I mean, I guess you're you're at what, 12 years now, but 12 years. Okay, so you just got another eight actually. So

Unknown Speaker 25:50
11 and a half, but I see. I see it as 12. Close enough. Yeah. So but what you've got 12 years left, or you've been in 12 years? Yeah, that's right. So so yeah, like you've I mean, you're almost there. After you don't know where you're going after Nellis? You don't? Do you think you'll stay here? Like longer? Or are you just going to do the four years or whatever here? And then you go on. It's indefinite now. Okay, so

Unknown Speaker 26:19
we'll see. Okay. Yeah. I'm still just in the Las Vegas. It's it's a lot to take in. Okay. Yeah. Well, we'll see what the future holds for you.

Unknown Speaker 26:31
Okay, let's finish off here with having a clip here from Josh talking about what he plans to do after the military and things of that nature, he actually gets into talking about his, you know, he's a disabled veteran now, and all those kinds of things and just kind of talks about his plans after and being an entrepreneur and starting his business, and just overall, helping people out and trying to give back to the world that helped him out, essentially. And I think it's very admirable the stuff that he's talking about, and it's in very interesting thing that he's doing, you know, he went to college. Now he's doing his whole business thing. And I honestly hoped for the best of luck for him, I hope he does well, and I hope he succeeds in his business. So here's Josh talking about that. And then just, that was literally the moment where I was like, Alright, I will go to school, get a degree and then go into a different agency. But unfortunately, I have now a disabled veteran, I'm 90%. Disabled, like my back and my hips have problems and issues and stuff. But I mean, they were going to happen eventually. It's just the military made it happen quicker. So the way I've gotten around that is just yoga. You know, and that's actually something I wish I would have known going into the military is how to discipline and hold, like Austin is like, stress yourself out and learn how to relax and breathe. Because I think I would have made it a lot further and been a lot more gentle on my body. If I would have had that gentle approach instead of the Marine Corps. Like, pounded in, get the get the peg in, sir, that's a round hole this square will fit in.

Unknown Speaker 28:15
But that's the Marine Corps attitude. But yeah, I just wanted to grow and learn that is about it. That's hilarious, man. But like, obviously, you're doing you're an entrepreneur and all that now like what is the what is the like, ultimate goal now that you've separated? Like, what is your? What is your ambitions in life right now to make money.

Unknown Speaker 28:39
I'm not gonna lie about that. But the reason why I want to make money is to start projects, nonprofits, stuff like that. I don't know I want to do like veterans with furniture and where we get people who have way too much money and just have the, you know, a stain on their couch, like, oh, man, this furniture is no good. Let's just buy the new seasons, and it's gonna go to waste anyway. So why not take it in and then give it to a veteran that can use it or someone with of low community status like social, you know, I mean, like, I just want to help people. That's why I joined the military. That's why I went to college inadvertently, is to learn how to help people.

Unknown Speaker 29:18
Because literally, I just grew up being helped out by society. So just pay it forward. pay it back.

Unknown Speaker 29:27
Thank you for tuning into today's episode of the American military Brett, the outtakes. We're gonna have more outtake episodes coming. So be sure to tune in and listen to all the different things that I unfortunately had to cut out of the different podcasts. So tune in for that to hear some more great content. So thank you for listening and goodbye for now.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai